Sakura faintly sensed something ominous.
"We can't let our guard down. When we leave the village this time, we need to carefully check for any deviations from the original story."
Naruto nodded calmly. "Don't worry. I can enter the spirit realm instantly now."
If an emergency happens, just have the Nine-Tails pay the rent immediately.
At worst, you can rip off the talisman sealing the door and pretend everything is over. You can always stick it back on afterward.
Soon, the day for the cat-catching mission arrived.
Compared to the original storyline, the physical abilities of the three had improved dramatically, so the kitten was swiftly captured by Naruto's inevitable fate.
When the kitten bared its teeth and claws, trying to scratch Naruto's face, Naruto immediately declared that he wanted to imitate Pan Hong and feed the kitten a fire dragon fruit—but Sakura stopped him.
The frightened kitten was successfully handed over to the daimyo's wife.
Naruto seized the opportunity to start fooling around.
He sat cross-legged on the floor, stretched lazily, and said slowly, "So these are the village missions? This really doesn't require any technical skill at all."
Iruka, sitting beside the Third Hokage, shouted angrily, "Idiot! You don't have any experience at all!"
"You start with simple missions to accumulate experience. Everyone goes through this process!"
"I don't know who you are," Naruto scratched his eyebrow, "but I do know I can catch a month's worth of cats in a single day. The guy next to me is training Water Release, and as for Sasuke—no need to say it—he already mastered all of the Uchiha clan's Fire Release techniques before graduation."
It was worth mentioning that Sakura's chakra nature included the water element. To eliminate the Land of Waves replica, she had already begun practicing standard Water Release ninjutsu.
"Haha, youthful ambition is a good thing," Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a chuckle, exhaling a ring of smoke as he prepared to explain Konoha's mission-ranking system.
Naruto interrupted him mid-sentence. "Stop. We already know all that. Either give us a C-rank mission, or give us every D-rank mission for the year. The sooner we finish them, the sooner we can take our annual leave."
Kakashi looked awkward and tried to grab Naruto, but Naruto anticipated his move and immediately released a Shadow Clone.
Meanwhile, the original body was secretly observing the NPC Tazuna from the Land of Waves behind the door.
Naruto hid in a corner behind the wall, carefully watching the slightly drunken Tazuna pacing back and forth.
His posture and expressions showed no signs of possession, so everything appeared normal.
After a while, upon hearing Sarutobi's order, Kotetsu opened the door and walked in.
Naruto immediately left and headed to the Konoha ninja tool shop, purchasing a large number of ninja tools—mostly explosive tags, military pills, and other items capable of delivering powerful one-time bursts of damage. The goal was to ensure saturation bombardment during moments when the enemy's chakra was weakened.
Elsewhere.
"I'm sorry, Lord Hokage. I'll talk to Naruto properly later," Kakashi said apologetically.
"In any case, your mission is to protect Mr. Tazuna and ensure that he can safely complete the bridge," Hiruzen replied calmly, nodding.
Before this, Kakashi had privately spoken with Sarutobi several times.
Given Naruto's recent abnormal behavior, Hiruzen instructed Kakashi to observe him secretly—to find out what Naruto wanted—while keeping things low-profile so as not to arouse Danzo's suspicions.
That was why he hadn't pursued responsibility for the earlier incident involving Naruto and Sasuke beating someone up.
After some time, they arrived at Konoha's main gate.
"Help me carry some of this," Naruto said casually, tossing one ninja tool pack to Sakura and another to Sasuke.
He had already informed both of them beforehand.
"You're very well prepared," Kakashi said calmly on the surface, though inwardly he was slightly surprised.
Was this really the same careless dead-last student?
"Wow, the kid's pretty cautious," Tazuna smacked his lips, exhaling a breath of alcohol toward Naruto.
Naruto glanced sideways. "Wow, this old drunk really puts on a convincing act."
"Naruto!" Sakura apologized angrily to Tazuna. "How can you speak to an elder like that? I'm sorry, sir—please don't cause trouble when you're drunk."
Naruto shrank back. "Oh, uncle, don't hit me. I'll buy you a drink later."
Tazuna's face turned pale and bruised-looking. "Are you mocking me?"
Sasuke expressionlessly motioned for everyone to move on.
Rustle, rustle…
Kakashi began chatting with Tazuna about the Land of Waves.
Naruto and Sakura noticed the drainage ditch along the road.
According to the original plot, the first two enemies would hide in a roadside puddle and attack Tazuna from behind.
Rustle, rustle…
A moment passed.
Sasuke, Kakashi, and Tazuna all seemed perfectly normal.
Wrong.
One hundred fourteen thousand five hundred fourteen times wrong.
Where's the puddle? I'm asking you—where is the puddle?!
Sakura shot Naruto a glance. Her right fist slowly clenched, her fingertips turning white.
The worst-case scenario had come true.
Had another time traveler interfered, altering the course of events?
Naruto felt as though he was facing a powerful enemy. Without hesitation, he immediately entered the spirit space.
He wouldn't give the enemy any chance to react. He would unleash his strongest move right away.
It felt like suddenly plunging from land into deep water. Naruto's body experienced a momentary pressure, and when he opened his eyes again, he was already inside the spirit realm.
The surrounding darkness didn't slow him down. He quickly reached the Nine-Tails.
"Big Brother Nine-Tails, now's your chance to prove your worth," Naruto said bluntly. "Lend me some chakra. Not much—just a little."
The Nine-Tails slowly turned over, completely ignoring him.
During this time, he had endured Naruto's verbal assaults like a flood washing over him. To get some peace and quiet, he had recently decided to play dead.
If you really are an evil human, the moment the seal breaks, I'll tear your mouth apart!
Naruto wasn't surprised. He jumped to the door and began tearing at the talismans sealing it.
Hearing the noise, the Nine-Tails immediately turned around.
"Kid, did you stir up trouble again?" the Nine-Tails chuckled darkly.
"Just tell me—are you giving it to me or not?" Naruto paused.
"Hahahaha…" The Nine-Tails revealed massive white fangs. "How arrogant! You look down on me all this time, and in the end you still want to take advantage of me!"
"Chang Kuang, go sit with Yunshan," Naruto said expressionlessly. "Give me a clear answer. If you don't pay rent, I'll boil you and eat you. Besides, you're only half a Nine-Tails. Worst case, I'll just go find the other half."
The Nine-Tails' pupils shrank. "You actually know I'm only half?"
"I also know that if you keep babbling, I'll go to the True Waterfall, drain all your chakra, and turn you into an ordinary fox."
Naruto wasn't joking. This was something he had actually done in the original story before the Fourth Great Ninja War.
The Nine-Tails fell silent. He couldn't understand why this brat knew so much about tailed beasts.
He was clearly just a container…
Man and fox fell into a temporary stalemate.
…
Meanwhile, while Naruto was negotiating with the Nine-Tails, something strange happened outside!
A thin mist began to drift through the surroundings, gradually obscuring everyone's vision.
Hidden Mist Technique!
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All the fanfiction is 30-chapter ahead but this "A Witty Life in the Naruto World" is 30 chapters ahead there