"What?!!" Zabuza's eyes narrowed with fury.
Haku's face immediately turned grim. Of all times, now?!
Zabuza tightened his grip on his Kubikiribōchō. Haku stepped in front of him.
"Zabuza-san!"
Zabuza shot him a quick glance. "What good would running now do?"
It wouldn't do any good.
Haku clenched his teeth. "It must be that bastard Gatō!!"
Zabuza agreed. If he survived this, Gatō would be the first to feel his blade.
Almost all the Kirigakure ninjas Zabuza had brought retreated behind him and Haku.
Tap, tap, tap—
The footsteps were heavy, oppressive, and the Kiri ninjas behind them were trembling like leaves in the wind. And indeed, the one approaching was none other than the Fourth Mizukage.
"Yagura Karatachi, I never imagined you'd find us so quickly."
Obito: …
"Ahem," it was time for the real performance to begin.
Obito cleared his throat, recalling Minato-sensei's description of Yagura Karatachi as a gentleman who treated ladies with courtesy. He nodded at Zabuza, then turned toward the 'girl' standing next to him, performing a gentlemanly gesture.
"Shall we talk?" he asked Zabuza.
In truth, his earlier actions had already exposed his identity to both Zabuza and Haku. Only Zabuza realized everyone had been deceived. His hand tightened around his blade, gritting his teeth as he roared at this impudent fool who dared to impersonate the Fourth Mizukage.
"Talk about what?"
"Uh…" Obito delivered his prepared line, "How about this? Why don't you and your companion come back to Kirigakure with me? I'll let bygones be bygones."
The other Kiri ninjas believed that Yagura Karatachi was trying to trick them into returning for torture. They immediately urged Zabuza, "Don't listen to him! Zabuza-sama! He can't possibly genuinely accept us, the Missing-nin!!"
They were all terrified, remembering Minato-sensei's description of Yagura Karatachi's second trait. His hair stood on end...
"Hey! Don't just blurt things out! Did I speak to you?!" Obito snapped. "I told Zabuza and the lady beside him to think it over!!"
Uh—
Aaaah!! I'm such an idiot!!!
How could Yagura Karatachi not know the names of his subordinates? And he's an adult! He wouldn't call a fifteen- or sixteen-year-old girl 'young lady'!!!
Haku: …
Zabuza sneered, "Forgive and forget?"
The moment the words left his mouth, a two-meter-long blade shot straight at 'Yagura Karatachi'.
Obito, terrified, opened his Sharingan. The two-tomoe Sharingan spun rapidly, and time around him slowed.
Thanks to the intense training Kakashi (the younger version) had given him over the past two days, Obito managed to dodge the strike.
Zabuza: "The Sharingan? Who would've thought Kakashi could be so foolish? If you're going to impersonate Yagura Karatachi, at least learn his personality first!"
Obito: "..."
I'm the one who messed up! Blaming Kakashi for being stupid is wrong!
Quickly returning to his original form, Obito reached behind him and grabbed the Flying Thunder God Technique kunai that Minato-sensei had given him.
"Where exactly did I slip up?" he muttered to himself, buying time as he channeled chakra into his kunai.
At that very moment, Minato Namikaze sensed a reaction from his Flying Thunder God seal and instantly materialized beside him! Seeing Obito no longer in his Yagura Karatachi form, he knew immediately that the cover had been blown.
"My apologies for the interruption," Minato said politely.
As they departed via the Flying Thunder God Technique, they overheard Haku answering Obito's earlier question.
Haku: "I'm male."
Obito: "What?!!?"
Minato: "..." What had Obito done to force that handsome boy to say such a thing?
The yellow flash vanished in an instant.
Zabuza and Haku, however, were even more stunned than Obito!
The person possessing the Sharingan, who had transformed into Yagura Karatachi to deceive them, wasn't Konoha's Kakashi Hatake? It was another young ninja, a boy one or two years younger than Haku?
Could the Uchiha clan massacre years ago have been a lie?
That couldn't be right—it was common knowledge throughout the ninja world.
Moreover, what puzzled Zabuza even more was...
Why did that fleeting glimpse of the blond man resemble the legendary Yellow Flash of Konoha so closely? The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, who had died twelve years ago?!
Wasn't the previous visitor just impersonating the Fourth Mizukage to deceive them?
Then, like a mantis catching a cicada unaware of the bird behind, why did the Fourth Hokage show up?
Are the Fourth Mizukage and Fourth Hokage really that familiar with each other?
But if they truly were close, the impersonation wouldn't have been so obviously fake...
Zabuza needed time to digest and analyze this information, along with the other party's motives.
Meanwhile, Minato Namikaze and Obito Uchiha had already returned to Naruto's side via the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Naruto and Sasuke were practicing the Water Walking Technique under the supervision of young Kakashi.
Due to the fluid nature of seawater, the surface beneath their feet offered far less stable support than tree trunks. What looked simple proved surprisingly difficult in practice.
Upon his return, Obito witnessed over thirty Naruto Uzumaki standing on the ocean surface. Like dumplings in boiling water, they kept tumbling into the sea—plop, plop, plop-plop-plop. Once all thirty shadow clones had sunk, the real Naruto would surface, create dozens more clones, and continue the drill.
"That's totally cheating, dude!!!"
"We're both the worst students! Why are you so damn good?!"
Sasuke scowled, harboring this resentment for ages.
But pride kept him from begging Naruto to teach him the Shadow Clone Jutsu.
Instead, he just cursed under his breath as Naruto's clones kept tumbling into the churning sea.
But Naruto was so used to Sasuke calling him a super idiot that it barely registered.
Spotting the Fourth Hokage and Obito returning, Naruto bounded over in three leaps!
"So?! Did you complete the mission from the scroll?"
Obito wasn't sure either. He hurriedly pulled the inexplicably appearing mission scroll from his ninja pouch and opened it to check.
The others stopped training and gathered around.
...
For more chapters, feel free to follow me on P@treon.
(100 Chapters Ahead)
[email protected]/PinkSnake