Not to mention that Sasuke had barely started his journey when his ultimate target had already fled ahead of time.
After enjoying a special curry meal at a mysterious curry shop in the wilderness, they'd incidentally picked up a side quest.
Simply put, the curry shop owner Granny Sansho's son, "Karashi," had gone astray, thinking he should go out and make his mark in the world but ended up on the wrong path.
Now this kid was wreaking havoc on neighboring villages together with a group of rogue ninja.
"So we're supposed to be looking for the Akatsuki organization, right?" Sasuke said, walking out of Granny Sansho's shop with his mouth still red from the spicy curry. "Why are we taking on this unrelated business?"
Since leaving Konoha, the only thing he wanted to do was find Uchiha Itachi and kill him.
"Hmph, whatever Naruto-san says to do, we do it." Before Naruto and Jiraiya could speak, Karin was first to retort. "He's definitely got his reasons. You 'dead last' who can't even master transformation properly should stop complaining."
She'd been annoyed with Sasuke since the moment she met him. Not showing even a bit of respect to Naruto-san... truly too arrogant.
This was the first time Sasuke had been called "dead last," which was quite a novel experience.
"You—"
Sasuke stared at Karin with unfriendly eyes, while Karin glared back fearlessly.
"Alright, stop arguing first." Jiraiya stepped between them, interrupting their dispute. "Let Naruto explain."
"Sasuke, you haven't fully mastered that fruit's power yet, right?"
With these words, Sasuke's face showed understanding.
Indeed, it'd been a day since leaving Konoha, but whenever Sasuke tried to transform into Misfortune Wolf form, he always got stuck in "beast form," consistently failing when trying to change to the more combat-suitable "beast-human form."
Actually, this progress was already quite fast. Even the so-called "genius" Rob Lucci had spent considerable time fully mastering the beast-human and beast form transitions.
But with Karin's precedent of mastering three-stage transformation on the same day, Sasuke's progress seemed relatively slow in comparison.
"Anyway, that village is on our route. We'll help them solve their problem in passing."
"These enemies are perfect for you two to get familiar with your abilities. Just practicing alone won't lead to much improvement."
Seeing Sasuke not responding, Naruto revealed his reasoning.
Of course, besides letting Sasuke get used to his power in real combat, Naruto's heroic "addiction" also prevented him from ignoring injustice right before his eyes.
"Besides, with you two's strength, solving this small problem shouldn't take much time, right?"
Finally, Naruto rarely used provocation.
But this was Sasuke's weakness.
Sure enough, after hearing this, he stopped talking about revenge and strode to the front of the group with glaring eyes.
Naruto and Jiraiya exchanged smiles at this sight, while Karin pursed her lips.
Finding those villainous rogue ninja was much simpler than imagined.
Following the villagers' guidance, Naruto's group hadn't gone far when they encountered the "Black Hoe Family" in the act of villainy.
These guys were actually burying villagers alive.
Sasuke wasted no time preparing to attack directly, but Naruto grabbed his collar and pulled him back.
"Your opponents aren't them. Leave these people to Karin."
Saying this, he lifted Sasuke with one arm and pulled back his arm forcefully.
"Wait—"
Sasuke seemed to realize something and quickly turned his head, seeing Naruto's smiling face.
"This way's faster!"
Whoosh. Sasuke's entire body became a flying arrow shooting toward the opposite mountaintop, making Jiraiya cover his face.
"Naruto, your methods are too rough..."
To this, Naruto only responded with a polite smile.
He'd already sensed someone observing them from far away. It was two figures, one large and one small, with considerable strength—about the same as the "Demon" Zabuza from before. They were probably the leaders of this group.
"Naruto-san, which one of these people is Granny Sansho's son?"
Behind them, Karin was already surrounded by cloaked figures.
But she showed no fear, her dismissive attitude instantly enraging these guys. They all threw off their robes, revealing sharp steel claws on their hands.
This seemed to be their standard equipment.
Ignoring any concept of fair fighting or numerical advantage, they rushed straight at Karin.
Only then did Naruto's voice leisurely drift over: "Don't worry about it. After beating them all up, you can slowly figure out who's who."
A kid who'd gone astray... even if they came to bring him back, some appropriate punishment was necessary.
"Die!"
The Black Hoe Family's subordinates let out the typical roar of small fry.
But their steel claws didn't pierce flesh as usual, instead hitting something much harder.
It was a golden "bird-person" floating like a deity. Their claws had just been blocked by this being's golden feathers.
"Enemies of this level can't even serve as practice."
Considering she still needed to spare their lives, Karin didn't use feather attacks and instead raised her fists.
"I'll just beat you all up!"
On the mountaintop, Kurosuki Raiga looked at Sasuke, who'd crash-landed, his face twisting into a distorted smile.
"Coming to deliver yourself? Looks like I need to hold a funeral for you—"
Saying this, he directly drew his two special ninja swords, the Lightning Swords: Kiba.
This guy was indeed one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, and the first wielder of the Lightning Swords. After the Seven Ninja Swordsmen were kicked into the "Lucky Three Treasures" by a certain Konoha genin, he'd fled the battlefield.
Later, he left the Mist and became a rogue ninja.
As a rather famous player from last season, Kurosuki Raiga's strength wasn't to be underestimated. At least before eating the fruit, Sasuke alone would've had difficulty dealing with him.
Crossing his dual swords, lightning quickly gathered and covered toward Sasuke.
He didn't care about fair fighting.
But the expected scene of Sasuke being electrocuted didn't appear.
Under the lightning, a magnificent giant dog turned its head to stare at him.
When their gazes met, all the fear and madness Kurosuki Raiga had ever experienced poured into Sasuke's mind.
The giant dog slowly opened its mouth, black-red flames "burning" away all the surrounding lightning.
"You... really smell terrible."
"What are you supposed to be?"
Kurosuki Raiga couldn't smile anymore, looking at Sasuke who'd transformed from human to Misfortune Wolf.
Though he didn't know what a Misfortune Wolf was, this didn't prevent him from sensing an enormous threat from his opponent.
"Damn it!"
The Lightning Swords slashed again, dozens of ball-shaped lightning bolts quickly engulfing Sasuke's form.