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Night.
In Iruka's room, he lay in bed unable to sleep, his thoughts once again drifting back to that day.
A giant demon fox lashed its tails, roaring with a low, menacing growl.
A ninja picked up the young Iruka, who was still a student at the academy, and carried him away from the battlefield.
Yet, at the time, he was very reluctant, because...
"Let me go! My parents are still fighting!"
Yes, during the battle against the Nine-Tails, Iruka's parents had also joined the fight. And they never returned.
"Iruka-sensei, get up quickly!"
Just as Iruka was lost in his memories, urgent knocking accompanied by a shout came from outside his door.
Iruka's eyes widened. Had something bad happened? This sounded urgent!
He quickly got out of bed and opened the door. Outside stood Mizuki, looking very anxious.
"What's wrong?" Iruka asked.
Mizuki spoke urgently. "Come quickly, assemble at the Hokage's office! It seems Naruto has taken the Scroll of Seals!"
Iruka was shocked. The Scroll of Seals was an extremely important and forbidden object.
"What?! You said the Scroll of Seals?!"
*****
Elsewhere, in a forest, Naruto held a massive scroll, unrolling it and studying it with great seriousness.
"Let me see... the first jutsu is the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique?"
Naruto held his head, looking pained. "What the... why does it have to start with the jutsu I'm worst at?"
*****
Meanwhile, at the Third Hokage's location.
A group of Konoha ninja had gathered, speaking indignantly.
"Hokage-sama, this incident absolutely cannot be dismissed as a mere prank!"
"The Scroll of Seals contains dangerous items sealed by the First Hokage himself. If misused..."
"If it's taken outside the village..."
"That would be a catastrophe!"
Hearing these words, Iruka, who stood nearby, grew increasingly anxious.
But the Third Hokage spoke with a calm expression. "Yes. Go and bring Naruto back!"
"Yes!" everyone responded in unison before immediately dispersing.
*****
On the roof of a tall building somewhere, Kagaya watched this scene quietly and curled his lip.
Haku asked curiously, "Kagaya, are these ninja searching for something?"
Kagaya countered, "Does it look like it to you?"
Haku shook his head. "Not really. If they were searching for something, their search area is too small and too scattered. It doesn't look like a proper search at all. It seems more like they're just putting on an act. Only two people seem to be genuinely searching for something; they both ran off into the distance."
Kagaya smiled slightly. "Well, there you have it. They're just acting."
This whole situation was implausible no matter how you looked at it. Only people like Iruka and Mizuki, who didn't know much about the Scroll of Seals, would believe this little play.
A mere academy student stole the heavily guarded Scroll of Seals from the top ninja village in the world, and easily broke the seal to open it?
Who would believe that?
It was absolutely certain that the Third Hokage intentionally let Naruto steal it, and had even undone the seal on the Scroll beforehand. Otherwise, with Naruto's current abilities, not one, not ten, not a hundred, not even a thousand or ten thousand Narutos could have stolen the Scroll of Seals.
These ninja were also just acting along with the Third Hokage. Kagaya didn't recognize most of the ninja in this group; they were probably summoned from the Anbu.
This further confirmed that the Third was putting on a show. Otherwise, if the Scroll of Seals was truly stolen, why wouldn't you call top-tier fighters like Kakashi or Might Guy? Why call a bunch of random-looking ninja?
Only those summoned from the Anbu could the Third trust completely to act out this play with him.
As for why the Third let Naruto steal the Scroll of Seals...
Well, Kagaya figured that while the Third sought stability, he was also genuinely compassionate. Seeing that Naruto couldn't even pass the academy graduation exam, the Third probably wanted to help him, and thus thought of the Fourth Hokage.
What was the Fourth Hokage best known for? Without a doubt, the Flying Raijin and the Rasengan. The Third didn't know the Rasengan, and Jiraiya, who did know it, wasn't in the village. That left only the Flying Raijin.
The Third was likely thinking of testing whether Naruot had any talent for learning the Flying Raijin. After all, Naruto's father had terrifyingly high talent in the Flying Raijin; there was no reason Naruto shouldn't be able to learn it.
However, teaching forbidden jutsu was prohibited. No matter what, the Third couldn't directly teach it to Naruto.
Forbidden jutsu were, by definition, forbidden. As the Hokage, he had to lead by example, avoiding the use of forbidden jutsu whenever possible!
So, the Third could only "accidentally" let Naruto steal the Scroll of Seals, while Naruto would "coincidentally" break the seal and learn the jutsu on it.
Of course, what the Third never expected was that when Naruto opened the Scroll, he wouldn't even glance at the Flying Raijin, but instead master the Shadow Clone Technique—the very technique he had always been worst at—to perfection.
Naturally, the Third was unaware of this development at the moment.
Kagaya looked down at the Third Hokage issuing orders to the ninja below and couldn't help but smile. Naruto might not be interested in the other techniques on the Scroll of Seals, but he, Kagaya, was very interested.
Thinking this, Kagaya disappeared from the rooftop with Haku.
What Kagaya didn't know was that after he left, the Third Hokage below glanced towards the spot where he had vanished!
After all, this was the Third Hokage! His strength was formidable. Kagaya was completely unaware that the Third had actually detected his presence!
However, the Third didn't take any action, behaving as if he had noticed nothing, and silently walked back to his office.
'Kagaya, is it?... I failed that child... With him there, Mizuki probably won't be able to cause much trouble. I was originally worried that Iruka alone might not be a match for Mizuki. But now, it seems even ten Mizukis would probably be useless.'
The Third saw Mizuki's true character clearly. This time, it was a plan to kill three birds with one stone: it would allow Naruto to (potentially) learn the Flying Raijin, allow for the arrest of the traitor Mizuki, and, additionally, place the blame for Naruto stealing the Scroll squarely on Mizuki.
Mizuki and Iruka were also a bit naive. They completely failed to realize that among all the ninja the Third had just assembled, only the two of them were genuinely searching for Naruto.
Naruto's whereabouts were being constantly monitored by the Third using his Crystal Ball Technique, and many Anbu were hidden around Naruto to prevent the Scroll of Seals from being truly lost!
*****
Kagaya looked at Haku. "Haku!"
Haku nodded and began leading Kagaya to find Naruto.
Kagaya had never been good at long-range sensing. At close range, with his Mangekyō Sharingan, his perception was terrifying, but long range was a different matter.
So he needed to rely on Haku. After three years of training, Kagaya realized that Haku was truly a genius. Just one example: Haku could perform hand seals with one hand!
In the entire Naruto series, Kagaya previously only remembered Itachi being able to perform one-handed seals. Now, there was also Haku.
Including Kagaya himself, the three of them were the only ones in the entire ninja world who could perform one-handed seals.
No one else could.
In other delicate areas like Ice Release, sensory abilities, chakra control, and so on, Haku was exceptionally skilled.
After three years of training, Haku undoubtedly possessed the strength of a top-tier Jōnin!