"Huh? Where'd he go?" The Kirigakure’s Anbu stared at the steaming hot meal. One second, he saw the guy sitting there eating, and the next, he was gone.
As he muttered to himself, he suddenly felt a tap on the back of his head, which immediately annoyed him.
"Get lost!"
Tap.
He was tapped again, and the Kirigakure’s Anbu grew even more irritated. But since he was still on a mission, he couldn’t make a scene, so he simply slapped the person behind him and whispered.
"Get lost!"
The response he got was an even harder slap, which actually hurt him. The Kirigakure’s Anbu couldn’t take it anymore and turned around angrily.
"You!"
"Me what?" Naruto stood there with his arms crossed, staring at him.
He looked very ordinary at the moment, no different from any other villager walking on the streets of Kirigakure. He is the kind of person who could disappear into a crowd.
Even if he was discovered, Naruto wasn’t worried. After all, he could just use a Transformation Technique to change his appearance again.
"N-Nothing." The man, dressed in casual clothes, turned around and wanted to leave.
"You were spying on me just now, and now you want to leave after getting your fill? Is that how the world works?" Naruto grabbed him and slammed him against the wall.
The Kirigakure’s Anbu was surprised, and he tried to struggle. However, he found desperately that he couldn't get free no matter what.
After flapping a few times like an old duck, he gave up.
"What do you want?" The Kirigakure’s Anbu asked nervously.
"What do I want?" Naruto sneered, staring at the Anbu and said, "You’ve seen my innocence, and now you want to leave? Naturally, you’ll have to pay a price."
"Price?" The pupils of the Kirigakure’s Anbu shrank sharply, and terrible thoughts came into his mind. He trembled all over and asked, "What exactly do you want to do?"
“Hehehehe!”
Soon, the man was stripped of all his money and then ruthlessly tied up, gagged with a cloth strip and stuffed under a table.
Naruto sat with one foot on the guy, eating with chopsticks in one hand while counting the money with the other.
After setting aside the amount for the meal, he tossed the rest into his sealing space.
After finishing his meal and paying the bill, he left the restaurant and changed his appearance again.
Under the sunlight, Naruto blended into the crowd and disappeared once more.
"It's possible." Mei nodded and said, "Ao, you are responsible for this matter. Find this person as soon as possible and find out his purpose for coming to Kirigakure."
"Yes."
…
In the village.
"Kirigakure is so huge! Why does it feel like no matter how much I walk, I can’t get anywhere?" Naruto gasped for breath, sitting on a stone step to rest.
"I can’t keep wandering around like this. I’ve already attracted the attention of Kirigakure’s Anbu. If Terumi Mei finds out, she’ll spit lava at me, and that’ll be trouble."
As if on cue, just as Naruto was about to stand up, he noticed several figures approaching him in a pincer formation.
"Are you serious? Damn it!" Naruto took off running.
‘I only robbed someone of their money, and now, after the younger one was beaten, the older one came. This was never-ending. I had to run before they caught me.’
Naruto was still thinking about getting close to Chojuro. If he got caught, how could he finish his mission? So, he chose to just run for now.
Naruto sprinted and parkoured his way through the village, leaving a group of Jonin in the dust.
At a corner, Naruto leaped onto a wall, rolled, and used a Transformation Technique to change his appearance again, blending into the crowd.
"Hurry! He’s over there!" Ao led the charge, jumping onto the wall.
The other Jonin followed, landing on the wall like a row of sparrows. On the other side of the wall was one of the three main roads, crowded with people.
"We lost him!" Ao gritted his teeth and felt the sting of humiliation for the first time.
Mizukage Building.
Mei sat at her desk, looking at the frustrated Ao with some amusement. She blinked in disbelief, then stood up with her chest puffed out.
The sound of high heels hitting the floor startled Ao, who was looking down.
"Lost?" she asked.
"… Yes."
Ao felt a little ashamed. If it was someone else who had lost the target, he wouldn’t have taken it seriously. But since even he, a person with a Byakugan, had lost the trail, things were not that simple.
"It seems that we underestimated him. That guy has the strength of at least an Elite-Jonin." Mei said.
At this time, she’s dressed in a formal suit, looking mature and capable.
Her legs were clad in black stockings, and her shirt seemed ready to burst at the seams. In the hands of certain artists, her aura would resemble that of a white-collar worker or a strict teacher.
How to describe it? It was the kind of beauty that saved fabric. Or the kind of teacher who might scold you in public, but secretly slip you her measurements.
"That man looked utterly ordinary. He must have used a Transformation Technique. He seems to prefer hiding himself."
"Mei-sama, that person is very dangerous. I suggest we immediately organize a team to…" Ai said, but was interrupted by Mei halfway through his words.
"No, the young Shinobi in the village are still inexperienced. If a large-scale tragedy occurs, we can’t afford it." She pursed her lips and said.
"I'll take Chojuro and go look for him. Ao, you stay here and handle the official business."
"This…?" Ao was stunned.
"Mizukage-sama, this isn’t appropriate. I..." Ao did not want to stay here to deal with tedious official business, and would rather go outside to hunt down troublesome invaders.
"Okay, no need to say more! It's decided!" Mei clicked her heels and swayed her hips as she left, leaving a bewildered Ao behind.
Meanwhile, Naruto was soaking in a bathhouse.
To avoid being tracked, he had transformed into Sasuke’s appearance once again. After all, no one here would recognize him.
With a trendy hairstyle, he was a handsome guy who would turn heads on the street.
"No one should be able to recognize me now that I'm like this, right?" Naruto grinned and stood up from the bathtub with a splash.
The guy next to him was about to curse, but when he turned and saw Naruto’s... weapon... his eyes widened.
He was about to change his choice of words, but when he looked up and saw Naruto’s current face, he fell silent.