Naruto shinden

Prologue
“Mom, is hokage-sama going to coming out soon?”

The small palm of a hand gripped tightly to the hem of the skirt fluttering by

his face.

“Yeah that’s right, you’ll see him soon”

Quietly, the mother looks up to the shrine dedicated to the gods on the hill.

Among the modest crowd on the piled sandstone was a meeting happening between

the 7th hokage and the Daimyo of the Land of Stairs.

Tons of people had gathered at the foot of the hill just to catch a glimpse of

the “hero” on his first visit since he had taken office.

The air around the slope of the hill gently sways, making the thin smoke of an

orange flame rise.

No one understood why it burned.

For the 4,000 years of recorded history, the flame at the top of the hill

continued to burn even through the rainy days. The indelible flame is regarded

as a blessing from the gods and a curse from the devil, since ancient times

it’s been worshiped and been the subject of awe.

Eventually, as the fourth shinobi world war ended with the five great

countries in agreement of social peace, and once the rumors of the mysterious

flame that burned in the corner of a small country reached the ear of Kakashi

Hatake, the hokage at this time, had a team of investigators dispatched.

Their research, consisting of both science and ninjutsu, resulted in the

reveal of a large deposit of natural gas that sat beneath the hill. Natural

gas erupted from underground while the geothermal heat ignited the flame.

The heat from the never-ending bonfire caused a gentle breeze, shaking the

petals of the dull wild violets that bloomed.

The 7th hokage and daimyo of the Land of Stairs came out of the temple exactly

at their scheduled time. Seems like the meeting went off without a hitch.

“Hokage-sama!”
“Seventh! Over here!”

“Do a rasengan!!”

Cheers rose from the crowd gathered by the staircase.

In response to seeing the cheering crowd, the 7th hokage lifted his arm to

form a rasengan just as from behind, his escort from Konoha rushed to push

down his arm in restraint.

“Hokage-sama, please don’t show off your rasengan so carelessly! It could

affect national security!”

“Whaaat? It’s fine. Just a little-...“

The seventh hokage sourly frowned, reluctantly lowering his arm.

Naruto Uzumaki.

The Village Hidden in the Leaves’ top shinobi, the protector of the Land of

Fire, the young leader holds the position of 7th hokage. His hair a bright

blonde, his eyes reminiscent of ramune soda in the summertime

He’s reaching his mid-thirties, but from his juvenile innocence, you’d never

guess.

It’s no secret that he’s the jinchuriki to the nine-tailed fox, but his face

looks closer to that of a racoon than a fox. His big eyes, nose, mouth, in

addition all moved well, making his expressions rich. It wasn’t just his

expressions that were flashy, it was every slight move he made, catching the

eye of the people all around you. He’s your average “smooth talker” type of

leader that pulls you in, but in his case, the love he gives breaks through.

Naruto stopped his feet suddenly in the middle of the staircase, narrowing his

eyes as he threw his gaze far off in the distance. He was sure that he’d be

able to see visible skyscrapers that were lined in the distance behind the

clouds from his view. The dull field connected to the foot of the hill

abruptly ended at the border of the capital and switched completely to a

cosmopolitan view interwoven with inorganic material.

Since the natural gas underground could be easily obtained in the area, it

became widely used as a source of fuel for in the five great nations for
large-scale transportation, causing the Land of Stairs to rapidly develop.

Their Gross Domestic Product increased seventeen times over a decade ago,

their infrastructure improved, welfare enhanced excessively, and life

expectancy increased by 20 years.

There is so much money. What’s missing is tradition, and the story of a hero.

“Hokage-sama, how was your visit to the Land of Stairs?”

Waiting at the bottom of the staircase for the 7th Hokage were interviewers,

surrounding and pointing a microphone at him.

“I was happy to experience the development of the Land of Stairs first-hand.

I had also accompanied the investigators dispatched by the previous hokage. To

be able to get a feel for the Land of Stairs development like this, I’m glad

I came.”

After the hokage gave his comment, a shrill voice rose with “please come

again!”

“haha... well we’ll look for another opportunity”

As the hokage answered softly laughing, applause erupted from all over the

crowd.

The long-established hidden village leaders, everyone in the Land of Stairs’

aspiration. In particular, they had great confidence in the hokage, the leader

of the hidden leaf village. Over 10 years ago, this country, whose livelihood

still depended on their blacksmith industry, received a grant for development

assistance by the Land of Fire’s daimyo Madoka Ikkyu and the sixth hokage.

After passing laws for refining the natural gas underground, the country’s

total production per capita grew three times bigger than that of the Land of

Fire, and aid was discontinued. Though they never forget the support they

received in poor times.

The more people like you, and the greater influence you have, the more enemies

you’ll inevitably have. At this time, the person who’d been asked to

assassinate Naruto Uzumaki was surely one of them. Looking at Naruto’s

profile as he continued with the media correspondence, Aze Yanaru narrowed his
sharp eyes. He was an assassination specialist shinobi, changing his

appearance with a transformation jutsu as he approached Naruto.

While the usual strategy to assassination is aiming at your target while

they’re alone, Yanaru often picked places conspicuous and visible to the

public. Unexpected attacks in places with an unknown number of witnesses. What

makes this possible is the use of shadow clones enclosing in a four-man cell.

With his kekkei genkai, Yanaru can share his stored accumulated memories when

his clone disappears, not only with his original body but with the rest of his

clones. It’s a great advantage to have the ability to exchange information

closely should there be any unexpected situations at the site of

assassination.

His shadow clones, A, B, and C, all 3 of them placed and already aiming at the

hokage’s life. On the other hand, only three escorts were guarding the

hokage.

The bounty presented was enormous. If one were to succeed in this job, you’d

have enough to live comfortably for 3 generations.

Yanaru looked at the crowd gathered at the foothill, taking a deep breath to

release his nervousness. The life of the seventh hokage for money. Something

much more than natural gas.

One of Yanaru’s clones, A, hid himself in the thick leaves, aiming at the

seventh hokage from atop a tree.

On the path the hokage walked, there was a luxurious rug, dyed a luxurious red

from sappanwood dye. The root was clear, there was almost no open space

anywhere or blind spots in the perimeter, so aiming from there was a good

location. No doubt that Shikamaru Nara, one of the hokage’s right hand men,

would complain, but he persisted on by the side of the stairs, since this hill

was the most sacred site in the country.

“A” gripped a small firearm in one hand, reciting and confirming his plan.

A state-of-the-art photon gun, issued by his employer, a weapon that emits a

400,000-watt high power (maxima laser) to attack enemies from a distance. The

intense heat from the laser instantly transmits from cell to cell, even if it
were to hit the tip of your hair, your whole body will heat itself in a few

minutes, causing you to burst from the inside out.

He raised his face again, readjusting his grip. The questions from the media

are pouring in with rapid succession and without hesitation towards the

seventh hokage.

“Does the Land of Fire import gas not only from us but also from the Land of

Wind? I know that the Land of Wind has been closely tied to the Land of Fire

for a long time, but what do you think about the rumors that both countries

are trying to exclude natural gas from the market by favoring each other?”

“eeeeeeh? Who says that? The kazekage is an old friend, but negotiations

between countries are another story.”

“Then, there’s no favoritism?”

“No, no. We do import a lot of your gas, but we wouldn’t suddenly switch

over if Gaara gave us a friend discount.”

Laughter erupted from the reporters. Whether it was natural or calculated, the

seventh hokage cleverly dodged presumptuous questions from the press.

“A” checked his watch. It was decided that there’d been enough time to

cover the area. Soon, the hokage was to walk on that carpet made just for him

then head out a boat seaplane. Plenty of chances.

Aim there.

Licking his dry lips, “A” clutched the photon gun even tighter.

*whoosh*

The wind of the shot grazed his cheek.

“huh?”

The moment he looked off to the side,

Byi-i-in!

As it shook the air, the shot pierced the body of a tree. “A” was stunned,

shrinking himself back into the branches of the tree.

The hokage should’ve been safe from any distance but for some reason he was

under attack.
When and why did they find out about this place? Who shot the beam? Where was

he? His thoughts still confused, he rammed his hand in his pocket ready to

fight back.

The leaves overhead sway as they fall down. The gloved palm of “A” held his

grip on the photon gun.

“eh....”

A man looked up, eyes sleepy, like the gaze like a goat. The face of a man who

hid his face with a cloth mask.

He didn’t recognize him. This man...

“Kakashi Hatake-”

A kunai sank into A’s throat before he could finish saying the name. The tip

of the blade cut through bone and flesh, blood splattered onto the fresh

leaves around him.

A puff of smoke.

“A” disappeared without a trace.

As “A” disappeared, the memory of what happened right before he died flowed

into Yanaru’s body and the body of the others, “B” & “C”.

The last view of “A” was the worst imaginable.

Kakashi Hatake. The man with listless eyes, at first glance he seems

ambitionless and naiive, shinobi are still deceived by this appearance even

while part of the five great nations. His face, the former hokage, is well

known, too.

Being the man who first sent a research team for the natural gas, he was no

less popular than the seventh hokage in the Land of Stairs. Despite this, none

of the people in the crowd noticed him, a sign that Kakashi is completely out

of sight.

After retiring from the 6th hokage title, he spent his days reading the news

from the paper and enjoys visiting hot springs as his hobby. However true,

he’s still on the scene, participating in security for the 7th hokage.

“B” slowly kicked at the dirt beneath his straw sandals.

Kakashi Hatake removed his first blade, deliberately letting the clone see

himself. Intimidation was the purpose. Since the opponent had no chance of

winning against Kakashi Hatake, the third-rate assassinate reluctantly

withdrew. Celebrities had to be self-aware of such disgusting guys. That’s

the reason why he let his head fall, to show the difference in strength, that

there was no room for resistance. “B” pulled his sweaty hand out from his

sleeve.

Easy does it. Stop shaking and looking upset. He got rid of his disturbing

behavior as not to be found out. He sucked in a deep breath of air. Moments

later as he went to exhale, something covered his mouth.

“―――!!”

It continued on, he put his hands up to his neck as he were being strangled,

tiny gasps leaking out. “B” instantly clutched at the wrist of the unknown

person who covered his mouth.

Thin. A woman’s wrist.

“B” tried to kick back his left foot to somehow escape, but he missed. His

toes kicked up and ended up in the air, causing him to lose his balance. His

hunched body held in a firm one-legged hold by the woman, finally stopping

“B” from stirring about.

When the brain becomes deficient in oxygen, it ceases to function.

Within the light-headesness and the daze of fading consciousness he could

faintly feel something soft touching his back. She was a woman, after all.

The female ninja with Kakashi Hatake who was guarding the 7th Hokage. She had

the excellent skill of getting rid of someone without anyone in a crowd

noticing, with little room for them to resist her powerful strength.

......Sakura Haruno。

He was convinced she was the one who had gotten him (B),but couldn’t confirm

if his guess was correct or not. Without even a glance at her face, she

tightened her strangle around his neck.

“B” vanished into smoke.

What was going on? Security wasn’t insufficient?

“C” was impatient.

For Kakashi Hatake, he didn’t know a person who didn’t know Sakura Haruno’s

reputation as being a go-getter with brilliant technique in endurance, the two

of them being a part of the 7th hokage’s security. In a face to face fight

with 10-1, you wouldn’t even be considered a challenge.

The 7th hokage walks toward the boat seaplane.

“Calm down”, “C” told himself.

I’m a clone. Even if I were to be attack, I’d just disappear, I won’t

die.

Five seconds passed since “B” vanished. Even if he no longer had his

comrades, he was safe. They haven’t noticed he was the assassin.

“C” touched the photon gun hidden within his jacket.

It’s ok. I can do it.

He takes a deep breath and waits for the hokage to step in front of him.

A little more......

Just a few more steps......

Then, across the red carpet’s pathway, he noticed a black-haired man

standing. He stood out as the tallest man in the perimeter.

While everyone’s eyes were all on the hokage, he only gave his attention to

the masses of people, rather than to the other heroes of the Land of Fire.

His handsome features were too famous among other shinobi.

Sasuke Uchiha――

Are you participating in security to this monster?

It’d be impossible to go with a front facing attack. In a moment of

judgement, “C” pulled a woman within arms reach towards him.

“Don’t move! I’ll kill this woman!”

He shouted with the gun’s barrel to the woman’s temple as the crowd screamed

and scattered.

Sasuke stopped the hokage in his tracks, stepping in front of him in defense.
How convenient. The photon gun had the power to shoot through seven men lined

up in a row.

I’ll shoot them both!

The man went to lift his arm and point the barrel to Sasuke’s chest.

Somehow as he went to move his arm, his fingers moved.

His lightly bent middle finger moved, pulling the trigger.

A laser emitted from the barrel pressed against her head, shooting through

the woman’s temple.

BANG!!

Countless crows flew from within the ruptured head.

“huh?”

Ebony feathers flutter around.

“C” fell to his knees as he suddenly became lethargic, unable to stand up.

Genjutsu.

Even as he realized it, he couldn’t resist against from closing his

eyelids.

――POOF!

“C” vanished with a small pop.

All the other clones had been taken care of.

Yanaru bit his lip.

Kakashi Hatake, Sakura Haruno, then Sasuke Uchiha. Guarding the 7th hokage

was too extravagant today. Considering the strength of the hokage himself,

this was overkill. Today’s inspection didn’t seem to be of important matters

anyway.

In spite of that, could those rumors be true?

The 7th hokage was suffering from a serious illness, one that had weakened his

combat power levels to that of the general public... according to prior gossip.

Hearing a story like this, you’d take it with a grain of salt, but it was

soon becoming reality. If this weren’t the situation, this lineup of

personnel would make your head spin.

Regardless of the state of affairs, it was a once in a lifetime chance.

“Hokage-sama”

Yanaru stood stopped in the middle of the carpet, looking back at the hokage

walking behind him.

“Hmm”

Naruto Uzumaki stopped mid-step, turning his worry-free blue eyes towards

Yanaru. These three days Yanaru had followed him, he had no doubts about his

security.

Yanaru approached the hokage, at an angle to make sure he was in a blind

spot. He had a kunai ready to plunge into the hokage’s chest within his

sleeve.

With its tip wet with dangerous poison, he went for the kill. Within a

moment, his entire body had stiffened.

He couldn’t move. Hands nor feet. He couldn’t even blink.

“......What a drag ー”

Naruto let out a sigh of relief.

“Good grief, how time consuming. Are you the last of the thugs?”

“Ha”, Yanaru took a breath. Naruto’s palm sank into the pit of his stomach.

His thoughts start to fade white and hazy. He fell forward, supported by

Naruto’s arm.

“Moegi, Udon, this is the original guy’s body”

The two young escorts behind Naruto stepped forward, supporting Yanaru’s body

from both sides.

He wasn’t to tell them to let go, but his throat was stiff, he couldn’t

move, his body wouldn’t even move to let him escape.

The only thing that worked properly were his ears. He could hear the cheers of

the people. Apparently, the crowd of citizens were oblivious to the battle

that happened in front of them.

His unconscious body was slowly dragged along, Yanaru was handed over to the

guards awaiting their orders.

The 7th hokage responded with dignity to the cheers before him as he proceeded
up onto the boat seaplane’s ramp. Looking back at the crowd as he entered the

ship made the cheers grow louder. The 7th hokage turned back to a small

jumping boy, shaking his hand.

When the boat seaplane took off, the hokage moved from the staff and into the

interior of the ship, heading for his cabin prepared in the back.

Immediately as he pulled on the door, he looked around at his surroundings,

making sure no one was watching before slipping into the room.

As he entered the cabin room, there was Naruto Uzumaki, rolling around on

the middle of the floor.

“Hn!”

Both of his hands and feet were tied up and he was carefully gagged.

“Now, you know I don’t know what you’re saying.”

Naruto’s mouth screamed as soon as he removed the gag wet with saliva.

“Shikamaru, you bastard!! Untie this rope right now!!”

“It couldn’t be helped. You won’t listen to us.”

“I told you I’d go out on my own today!”

POOF!

The usual poof sound.

Shikamaru, who had transformed into the 7th hokage had gone to the meeting,

scratched his head as he returned to his original form.

“ The meeting was mostly on his requests. Gas importing prices remain

unchanged but price increases. So ,I don’t know, but there were assassins

trying to shoot at you. After all of this, replacing myself with you was the

right thing for me to do.”

“......what?”

Hearing of an assassin made Naruto’s complexion change.

“Was there any damage?”

“I don’t want this to get out. Who do you think we were guarding?”

Shikamaru casually untied Naruto’s rope. It was a reinforced rope, made by

the scientific ninja team, formed by concentrated chakra. With Naruto’s

current physical strength, he couldn’t break it.

“There was an assassin in a four-man cell consisting of three shadow clones

and his original body. The clones were handled by the security team. His

original body was captured by my shadow possession and handed over to the Land

of Stairs. I hope his employer can talk his way out of this one.”

“the security team... no way”

In response to Naruto’s bad feeling, three figures come down from the ceiling

boards without a sound. Kakashi Hatake and Sakura and Sasuke Uchiha, today’s

security team for the 7th hokage.

As Naruto looked at all three of their faces, he dropped his head, looking

down.

“...I told you guys I don’t need an escort...”

The frustration was unbearable.

Being in such a condition, he didn’t want to need so many people devoted to

protecting the hokage.

Chapter 1
Part 1

This unusual phenomenon started half a year ago.

This period was extremely hectic, new regulations going into effect overlapped with a meeting of all

five kage. Off and on for a few days now, my state of health had been declining. I felt absentminded
and

negligent with a slight fever, I thought it was due to my being sleep deprived since I hadn’t been

sleeping at all.

“Naruto, this is bad. Is it possible for you to put out another shadow clone?” Shikamaru entered the

hokage’s office late that night, past 2 am with horribly dark bags under his eyes.

” At the last moment, the intelligence institute’s chakra researched progressed. That in itself is

good news by the grace of god, but thanks to the change in figures for the conference, almost
everything

has to be replaced. We don’t have sufficient hands.”

“oh――......”

Naruto replied apathetically, raising his face from his computer.

The numbers on the spreadsheet software irritate his eyes. He leaned back into the back of his chair,
repeatedly blinking his eyes as he formed a seal (hand sign). The usual.

――In that moment, a severe pain, as if his body was tearing itself in two, penetrated through to the

back of his chest.

「Ah-AH......!?」

「Naruto!?」

Naruto collapsed forward, hitting his head loudly on his desk while his knees fell to the floor.

The pain disappeared within a moment as it came in waves, leaving him with just a lingering
numbness.

“What’s wrong, Naruto? Is it some kind of pain?”

Shikamaru looks at him, the skin between his eyebrows wrinkling.

“no...... just for a moment, must have been something in my chest.”

Naruto unsteadily stood up.

What was that just now? It was a pain he had never experienced.

Was it because I formed a sign......?

Once more and slowly this time, he tried crossing his fingers into the seal.

POOF!

A poof was heard, appearing was a clone.

“there......you’re out......”

“just now, how was that?”

“oh, it was like... this...gre-great... intense... pain, it was overwhelming”

The clone imitated Naruto while teasing that “it didn’t seem so painful”, all while slapping

Naruto’s shoulder.

“Do you have high blood pressure? ... All you eat is ramen”

“SHUT UP! I’m not that old yet, you know!

“............”

The two of them quarreled, Shikamaru’s facial expression was cold as they motionlessly and fixedly

stared at each other.

With this current administrative system, Shikamaru knew that the burden of currently being hokage
was

too great. Amendments were frequently being submitted to the daimyo, but their opposition to
anything

that greatly changes tradition was strong.

For more than a long time, Naruto was forced to be unreasonable.

Despite this, it was painful not to say he needed a rest. For starters, being hokage meant being the
top

position in a “shinobi village”, which is responsible for the national defense for the Land of Fire.

As it should be, but as the era of war grew older over time, the whole country has grown dependent
on

shinobi, the power of the hokage growing proportionally as well, regardless of their intention. Yet so

the shinobi village was the head of the military, so to speak. They were their own administration. As

such, the hokage position is extremely delicate, it greatly relies on the discretion of the individual,

and there were no substitutes.

“If you want more peace of mind, drink this.”

Shikamaru handed him over some kanpouyaku (Chinese herbal medicine) the medical team had
compounded.

He swallowed it, drinking an energy drink as it went down. He had forgotten the pain that ran
through

his chest for a moment as he got back to his work.

A month later, the second wave of severe pain came.

With his son Boruto, they were in the training grounds at dusk. The five kage conference was over,
he

was watching over his training. Filling in for his master who couldn’t come for a while.

“Ha! Hoh! Da! De-Ya!!”

Boruto threw shuriken four times in a row, flying cleanly while spinning as each one pierced the east,

west, north, and south.

It was shuriken and kunai training, which Boruto was not good at.

“Wo――――aah! I hit the target――!”

“Yeah, it feels good! Then next, practice applying a tighter curve.”

“Eh ー? there more to this than when I learned the rasengan.”

Boruto pouted then turned bitterly back at Naruto.

“Isn’t this more of Sarada’s thing in our team? It’d probably be better to leave shuriken to her,

you know”

“You too. When you become a shinobi, you won’t always get to team up with your same team.”

“I mean- I just don’t know how to get it to curve. Are there any tips or tricks to it? A trick?!”
Tricks......

Naruto put his hand on his hip while he thought.

“Got it! You can curve a rasengan, right?”

“A little”

“Try and get it to feel like that”

“......wh-what?”

Boruto’s blue eyes look up to Naruto, beaming with expectations.

“So, when you want to bend a rasengan you......”

Naruto lost his train of thought.

It was like moving your hands and feet, an unconscious action. He couldn’t find the words to
verbalize

the movement that made sense.

“...... I’ll just show you; I’ll do one. Look”

I can’t say it to you.

“Ah- I got it” Boruto said surprisingly, giving a big nod.

“I get it... same feeling. So... that feel- “

This guy... really is my kid.

As Naruto grew happier, with all his heart he ruffled Boruto’s blonde hair which was standing on
end.

“What are you doing- stop it!”

Boruto moved his body out from Naruto’s hand, shrugging his shoulders. Despite acting like he hated

it, his face was happy.

“Alright, back to training. Dad’s going to make obstacles with earth style, so this time try to hit

the target while avoiding them.”

“heh, heh”

Boruto turns his back to Naruto, shuriken in hand.

Naruto clasped his hands together, his usual go to hand seal when building up chakra.

*heart thump*

Suddenly his heart has rapidly beating. The deep pain he remembered spread deep into the back of
his

chest.

“――――~~~Hh!!”
As not to scream out in pain, Naruto clenched his teeth.

He held his chest, trying deep breaths. Boruto who was turned away from Naruto was unaware of
anything

happening.

“Boruto......this is bad”

Naruto desperately concentrated his strength to his shaking throat, disguising himself as calm.

“Dad, I’ve got kind of...... urgent business”

“Oh- ok, see you later”

Boruto looks back at the dissatisfied voice.

Before he could, Naruto kicked up at the ground. He leaves the place at such a high speed it looked
like

he just disappeared.

The training grounds were surrounded by forests meant for practice. Running through the trees,
Naruto

rushed to Konoha’s old town.

His heart beat faster and faster.

It wasn’t normal.

If he got to the hospital quick enough, Sakura-chan would examine him.

*heart thump*

A tremendous pain spread throughout his whole body, forcing Naruto to dramatically slam on the
ground.

He tried to pull himself together, digging his nails into the dirt, but he couldn’t find the strength

to wake his body up.

「Gu......h!」

It’s useless. There’s no way I’m going to get to the hospital.

Crawling, he managed to escape through an aviary in the forest. It was built a long time ago to raise

messenger hawks and was active up until the shinobi world wars, but it hasn’t been used for many
years

now. The walls that had been exposed to rain and winds were close to collapsing. Naruto had leaned

against the wire mesh for support when a screw fell loose. The chain-link buckling under him as it
sent

Naruto tumbling inside the shed.

“Ha、aah......Guh、shit......”

The inside of the shed was terrible. Old feathers stained by rainwater scattered throughout left a

strange odor. Naruto crawled his way through on the floor scatter with rotten sawdust and into the

corner of the shed as he crouched.

It’d be unlikely that any one from the village would see him in such a figure. The miserable figure of

the 7th hokage who should be able to protect the village. He was almost certainly anxious.

“Guuh、ah、ah、Aah......h!”

A wave of severe pain rushes and spreads throughout his whole body.

Squeezing in through the pain little by little were never-ending spasms that welled up within his

body.

Naruto rounded out his back, clenching his teeth.

“Ku......u、......hu、hu ー u......”

When did he get covered in mud, he thought.

He slumped has back against the wall, looking up at the ceiling where boards were missing as he let

out a deep breath. In the meantime, the pain went away. His face was a mess of sweat, tears, and
saliva.

“......training, I couldn’t even make it to the end”

He intended to just monologue, but there was a reply back in his head.

――you care about that kind of thing, don’t you...

“What is it, Kurama...... did you wake up?”

――If your vessel was yelling like that, you’d wake up too.

He could hear Kurama’s voice clearly now, even though he had a habit of waking up moody.

――Surely, I was thinking someone had attacked us... Naruto what the hell happened

“ok, I get it!”

Naruto stood up with his hand on the wall after wiping his face with his sleeve.

“just, every time I try to form a hand seal, my chest suddenly hurts......”

――......signing a seal?

“Yeah. It happened as soon as I tried to form a seal, both this time and the last time.”

――Naruto.

Kurama’s voice lowered.

―― If you don’t start gathering some reliable friend and start investigation this as soon as

possible, you’ll regret it.

“investigate?”

Yes...

Kurama continued, nodding slowly.

―― When the Sage of Six Paths stayed in the country of Redaku, he had the same symptoms. At the

time, it seemed to be cured somehow... Naruto, I don’t know if that’d be the case with you.