Late at night.
Silence engulfed everything.
Uchiha Izumi's slender figure darted through the darkness.
After skillfully casting a Mangekyō illusion on the tool-like Yūgao Uzuki to extract information, she had pinpointed Naruto's movements.
She learned where Naruto was headed tonight…
The orphanage.
Why would Naruto go to the orphanage?
Because that woman, Nonō, had deceived him… or so Yūgao had said.
Izumi soon arrived at the quiet orphanage in the dead of night.
The children were, of course, asleep. It was eerily silent.
However, in one of the rooms, a faint light still flickered.
"Naruto... he's in there..."
With her Mangekyō activated, Izumi clearly saw three chakra signatures burning.
One belonged to Naruto. Another to Yūgao Uzuki.
And the third... was unmistakably Yakushi Nonō's.
Hiding in the shadows, she quickly caught their conversation.
"Hey… Director, why did you lie to me…"
Naruto's voice was low and filled with doubt.
"I waited so long for you to come back… You came home so late again—who did you lie to this time?"
"…"
Izumi listened in silence.
In truth, after breaking into Yūgao Uzuki's mind, she had learned many things about Naruto.
Along with the recent incident with the demon spirits…
What Naruto did to the shrine maiden made everything clear to Izumi.
The ANBU kunoichi Uzuki Yūgao, the Hyūga maid...
The shrine maiden, this woman named Nonō, even Hyūga Hanazuki, the matriarch of the Hyūga clan's main branch... all had been, or were about to be, harmed by Naruto in some way.
Of course, it wasn't entirely Naruto's fault.
The Nine-Tails sealed within him was overwhelmingly powerful.
They once mistakenly believed it had been killed, but the recent demon spirit incident proved otherwise—the beast was still alive.
This realization enraged Izumi deeply.
Tonight... might be the best opportunity to confirm whether the Nine-Tails truly survived.
"Come on... hurry up already!" Izumi muttered darkly from the shadows.
"...Naruto…"
Sister Nonō, with a divine body and a sorrowful expression, looked at him with deep regret in her eyes.
"I didn't mean to deceive you…"
"That's what all bad people say, Director... I've heard it too many times..."
Naruto lowered his head, hiding his expression from Nonō.
Considering all Naruto had been through, surviving one betrayal after another…
Nonō knew he had likely been lied to and manipulated more times than she could count.
"You… betrayed my trust!"
Suddenly, Naruto lifted his head, his face filled with anger and sorrow.
"Answer me, Director—who did you go deceive this time?!"
"…"
Nonō shook her head, unable to meet his gaze.
Forced back by Naruto's relentless questioning, she finally...
Thud!
Her back hit the wall, the curve of her S-shaped spine and her body fat cushioning the impact.
Now cornered, she looked pained facing Naruto's aggressive stance.
Amid this relentless back-and-forth...
Nonō finally confessed: "Ugh... I… just came back from the Uchiha compound…"
Uchiha?
Naruto narrowed his eyes, instantly alert.
Shisui Uchiha was on the brink of death.
The Uchiha massacre was imminent.
Before that happened, it would be a race between him and that old bastard Danzō.
As Danzō's subordinate, Nonō had access to countless secrets. Maybe… there was something to gain from the Uchiha side.
And now it seemed… he was right.
"Explain everything..."
Naruto's sudden cold tone made Nonō hesitate, but under the current circumstances, she didn't question it too much.
Despite the obvious height difference between them…
Nonō felt as though she were the one being looked down on.
"I…"
Nonō began to speak haltingly about her recent mission.
After taking Naruto to see Danzō, she was assigned a new mission.
To infiltrate the Uchiha.
Root had waited for years.
They chose a certain Uchiha ninja named Uchiha Kawahara.
Kawahara was a Genin.
Weak-willed, average talent, hadn't awakened the Sharingan, orphaned and single…
He spent his days idly working in the Konoha Police Force, guarding the supply gate.
All these factors made him the perfect target for replacement.
In his home…
Root agents assassinated him and erased all traces, allowing Nonō to take his place.
The problem?
Kawahara was a man.
Nonō was a woman.
Their body shapes were vastly different.
So how did she disguise herself?
"...Face-Peel Technique…"
Nonō confessed this with a sorrowful expression.
"Hm?!"
Naruto's senses went on high alert, his face turning grim.
The Face-Peel Technique—a jutsu developed by Orochimaru.
One literally rips off someone's face and uses a jutsu to wear it as their own.
From head to toe, one can transform.
(See the original manga scenes where Orochimaru took over a woman's identity or his true face emerged after possessing Gen'yumaru.)
With this "skin mask," perfect impersonation was possible.
"I see…"
Every Uchiha ninja attended clan meetings where they discussed... their coup plans.
Therefore,
By becoming a spy, Nonō had embedded herself deep within the Uchiha clan.
Danzō was constantly monitoring the Uchiha's movements.
The increasingly powerful and arrogant Uchiha had no idea they were being watched like hawks.
Konoha's upper echelons knew their every move.
"Keep going…"
Naruto demanded.
But Nonō didn't want to reveal the darkness of the village to him.
Seeing her hesitate, Naruto furrowed his brow.
Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed Nonō—
Clutching her "front-mounted upper body armor" with a firm grip.
Nonō let out a pained shriek the moment he seized one side of her gear.
Smack!
She immediately covered her mouth, trying not to make a sound.
If she was too loud, she'd wake everyone in the orphanage.
From the force of Naruto's grab, she lost her balance and fell onto the sofa nearby.
"Ugh~!"
Still covering her mouth, Nonō whimpered, Naruto's grip still unrelenting on her "armor."
Then, she looked up and saw Naruto's cold, expressionless face.
"Speak…"
Naruto pressed on.
And at that moment, Nonō finally realized the true extent of her influence on this child.
He became like this… because of her.
Mistakenly thinking Naruto's darkness was her fault, Nonō began to pray for divine forgiveness...
And everything happening here...
Was being watched in full, wide-eyed horror, by Izumi—her face twisted with dread.