The guard grabbed Naruto by the collar, dragging him like a dead dog.
At that moment, Naruto turned his head and was shocked to see his three teammates—Yamato, Sakura, and Sai—in the exact same predicament as him!
Defeated! All of them were defeated in an instant!
These guards were terrifyingly powerful, one after another!
What kind of horrifying nation was this Shinobi Empire?
"Captain Yamato, Sakura, Sai! Are you guys okay?" Naruto shouted, worried.
"Ugh… look at our condition, how could we be okay! Ah… my arm hurts so much…" Sakura grumbled weakly.
Her entire body was also immobilized.
"These people are strong, and the abilities they use are unlike anything I've seen."
Sai spoke, and though his expression remained flat, Naruto could sense the shock in his heart.
"Cough, cough, cough… they're indeed too strong. Each one of them, in Konoha, would probably be among the top elite Jonin." Yamato said.
*THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!* *THUD!*
Accompanied by four dull thumps, Naruto and his three teammates were thrown together like dead dogs.
Slowly, a crowd of civilians gathered around them.
They kept their distance, pointing at the four.
The guards who had just attacked, along with others who had newly arrived, tightly surrounded them. One of the guards spoke:
"Speak. Are you going to confess honestly, or resist until you die?"
"I really don't get you people. You're clearly this weak, yet you dare attack the Ryuumyaku site. If you want to die, just stab yourselves with a kunai. Why go through all this trouble?"
"These guys must be discarded losers. Isn't one of them from the Senju clan? Maybe they're trying to disgust us by using him?"
"Clearly bearing the same family name and abilities as the Shinobi Emperor, yet becoming ninja village remnants—truly deserving of death!"
"The glory of being associated with the Shinobi Emperor alone should be something to be grateful for, yet they throw it away. These people are beyond saving."
The group stared at Naruto and his three teammates, talking in hushed tones.
The words they spoke made Naruto and the others' heads spin.
These people are seriously calling us weak?
That's outrageous! We're elite Konoha ninja, not weak at all!
It's just that you guys are too strong!
The four grumbled inwardly.
Yamato, however, showed a slightly flickering gaze:
"I think there's a misunderstanding here. We're not the ninja village remnants you're talking about."
"Not remnants, yet you wear headbands? And attacked the Ryuumyaku fortress? Don't tell me you're going to say this is just cosplay?" one guard sneered.
"We're indeed not cosplaying. But our identities are clearly different from what you know. Our actions this time were only to see the Ryuumyaku…"
Yamato was about to say more.
But Naruto beside him suddenly shouted:
"Hey! Hey, hey, hey! You're Kankuro, right? Why are you here too?"
"!?"
Yamato, Sai, and Sakura immediately followed Naruto's gaze.
Inside the steel fortress, a man who looked strikingly like Kankuro, with eight mechanical spider legs on his lower body and four mechanical arms on his upper body, moved slowly with the help of his spider legs.
"Kankuro? Is that really Kankuro?"
Sakura looked slightly shocked and doubtful.
Meanwhile, the guards who had initially surrounded them became extremely respectful upon seeing Kankuro:
"Kankuro-sama, why are you here? These rebel remnants are just a few weaklings. They're not worth your effort."
"Kankuro? Really Kankuro?" Sakura was slightly stunned.
The Kankuro before her was vastly different from the one she remembered!
The oil marks on his face were gone, his gaze was much sharper, and his body looked far stronger.
Though it had been three years since they last met, this change was too drastic, wasn't it?
And somehow, he even seemed a bit handsome? What was going on?
"Hey! Kankuro! It's me! Uzumaki Naruto! You haven't forgotten me, right? How's Gaara doing? I heard he became Kazekage?" Naruto shouted excitedly.
If his body weren't immobilized, he'd probably be jumping up and down.
"Hmm? You know me? And Gaara? Uzumaki Naruto…"
Kankuro, approaching, looked slightly surprised, carefully observing the shouting Naruto.
"Hey, hey, hey! You can't have forgotten me, right? The Chunin Exams three years ago!" Naruto reminded.
"Shut up! Filthy ninja village remnant! As if Kankuro-sama would know someone like you! Don't try to get close!" a guard, seeing Naruto still trying to ingratiate himself, scolded with disgust.
"But I really know him!" Naruto said, unwilling to accept it.
"Uzumaki Naruto… Uzumaki Naruto… this face… this hair color, why do you look so much like the Twin Star of the Capital?"
After a moment, Kankuro, staring at Naruto, suddenly looked shocked.
"Twin Star of the Capital? What's that? I'm Uzumaki Naruto from Konoha! Under the Hokage's orders, I came to catch that jerk Mukade! Do you know where that jerk Mukade is?"
"Because of that jerk, we don't even know why we ended up here! By the way, where is this place? Why is it so weird?"
Naruto was a bit confused but kept shouting.
"Mukade? Why does that name sound so familiar?" Kankuro muttered.
"Sir, a few days ago, someone named Mukade caused trouble here and was caught and thrown into prison." a guard reminded.
"Oh, that's him. Though I don't know why your face looks so much like the Twin Star of the Capital, since you dared to rebel, I definitely won't let you go! All of you, throw them in prison too."
After saying that, Kankuro turned to leave. He seemed completely unconcerned with Naruto and his three teammates in front of him.
Perhaps in his eyes, these four were just petty thieves.
Meanwhile, Sakura, Sai, and Yamato, hearing those words, felt their hearts sink.
Thrown into prison?
If they ended up in prison, wouldn't that be the end of them?
The guards in front of them were incredibly strong, one after another. They weren't sure they could escape.
Unless Naruto used that power… but… would that even be possible?
It would make him go berserk and attack indiscriminately!
The entire city would be destroyed!
Naruto definitely wouldn't do it!
Thinking of this, Yamato quickly said:
"Kankuro…-sama, though it's hard to believe, could you listen to an explanation of our origins?"
"Oh? These rebels are quite talkative this time. Alright, go ahead and say it."
The mechanical spider legs under Kankuro's body moved nimbly, turning him back to face Naruto and his three teammates.
Yamato honestly explained everything.
After listening, Kankuro and the guards beside him showed slight changes in their expressions.
"Are these guys messing with us?"
"I think it's just the delusions of rebels!"
"You don't need to make up excuses like this to beg for mercy. Did you think we'd let you go just because of that?"
"How ridiculous! Konoha disappeared 22 years ago. Although Tsunade-sama is currently working in the capital, she never served as this so-called Hokage."
The guards chimed in, refuting the four's words.
"We're not lying! This is all because of the Ryuumyaku, because of that jerk Mukade! That's why we ended up here, and that's why we wanted to see the Ryuumyaku! We thought it might help us get back!" Naruto shouted.