Chapter 454 - The Adventures of Naruto Uzumaki 20.

Chapter 454: Chapter 454 - The Adventures of Naruto Uzumaki 20.

[Chapter Size: 2300 Words.]

Canon World, Land of the Sea, 63.

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The sound of the stream echoed in a corner of the Land of the Sea, while a man in a loose-fitting kimono sat atop a rock near the river, watching the water flow.

A small tool, a bubble pipe, went to his mouth as he began creating bubbles, shifting his eyes from the river to them as they floated and moved forward almost on their own, or rather, as that same man decided, heading into the forest.

A certain sound of relief echoed when he seemed to have identified something and, soon afterward, someone came out of the forest carrying a sack.

"I’m back, Utakata-Sama."

"You took your time." Utakata said.

"Were you worried about me, Utakata-Sama?" Hotaru could not help but comment, flashing a smile and leaning forward.

"No." Utakata replied in a dry tone, while she looked at him somewhat indignantly.

"How can you say that, Utakata-Sama? I’m your apprentice."

"I don’t remember agreeing to anything like that." He said in a calm, though dry, tone.

"That’s unfair! You said you were going to train me."

"I never said that."

"You could train me, Utakata-Sama."

"I could, but I won’t do something like that."

"Oh, Utakata-Sama! You know those men aren’t going to stop chasing me. I need to become strong and turn into a good kunoichi. Only you can prepare me." Hotaru said, but Utakata did not respond.

She dropped the sack and approached, crossing her arms and staring at him, while Utakata seemed not to know very well how to deal with that.

"What are we going to do now, Utakata-Sama?" She simply asked, changing the subject as if she had already decided that the previous discussion was over.

Utakata stared at her for a moment. He did not speak this time to the point of refusing, but he seemed quite thoughtful.

"How about we go to a village?" Hotaru asked, causing Utakata to frown and her to notice immediately. "You really don’t like villages, do you?" she murmured.

"Not villages, but Ninja Villages. I like small villages very much. You yourself are proof of that, aren’t you?" He said, seeming to touch on a sensitive point, while she shrank back a little.

"I know, but if it weren’t for you, I would be lost. So I believe you can protect me." Hotaru said.

"Don’t be so positive. We’re still being pursued." He said seriously, while she nodded, but moved a little closer to the rock and sat beside him, also looking at the stream. There were still a few bubbles floating, and Hotaru could not help but pay attention to them.

"You were from the Mist Village, weren’t you?" She asked carefully, even though that was not exactly a question, while she could even see Utakata’s body stiffen. "Utakata, I didn’t mean to..."

"It’s all right." He interrupted her with a sigh as he looked at the river again. "As I said, Ninja Villages like to see people as tools to be used. It’s a system I’ve wanted to stay away from for a long time."

"So, Utakata-Sama, can we finally start training?" Hotaru returned to the subject. The mood had become a little gloomy, while he looked at her and then at the bag behind her.

"Then get up." Utakata said.

Hotaru immediately stood up, looking at him with a gleam in her eyes, full of expectations. "Are you going to train me?"

"Pick up the bag with the supplies first."

"What?"

"Pick up the bag."

"That’s it?" She asked, disappointed.

"We’ll start with discipline first, but I’m not training you. I’m just helping you with your foundation." Utakata replied, making her grumble as she went over to the bag left a few meters away and picked it up.

"Let’s begin. I’m not going to let you keep throwing our supplies around, understood?" His words echoed while she muttered something under her breath.

"I heard that."

"I didn’t say anything, Utakata-Sama." Hotaru said immediately, making him simply shake his head as the two continued on, leaving that stream behind.

Some time later, Utakata actually ended up training her in the basics. They were in that forest, not far from the river, while Hotaru sat in the lotus position, training her control.

"You’re smiling." Utakata said with a frown, while Hotaru displayed a small smile.

"I’m not. I’m training." Hotaru replied before receiving a small tap on the head with a piece of parchment Utakata was carrying, making her flinch.

"To begin with, you should be concentrating, not talking or expressing your opinion while you’re trying to focus your chakra."

"Sorry. It’s just that I’m happy to be trained by you, Utakata-Sama." Hotaru replied.

"This is nothing. I’m only helping you not waste chakra. Don’t be foolish." He replied, while Hotaru pouted, but kept her eyes closed.

This continued for a while, until Utakata, looking at his "apprentice," suddenly began observing the forest. Everything started becoming quieter and quieter.

Something was happening. Utakata could feel it, while Hotaru, seeming to have noticed something troubling her master, immediately opened her eyes.

"Is something wrong?" Hotaru asked carefully, while Utakata continued looking around.

"I don’t know." He said, but he could feel that something was very wrong, as though someone were watching him.

"I think someone is watching us." He said carefully, while Hotaru became alarmed.

"Do you think it’s them? From your Village?" She asked carefully.

"I don’t know, but a Village will never forget a tool that escaped." Utakata also came to the conclusion that they were most likely ninjas from Kirigakure.

"Did they come to get you?"

"Most likely. After all, I am, just like you, a weapon they could never forget." He replied in a serious tone. Utakata hated the Bloody Mist and knew they would never leave him alone.

"Let’s get out of here." Utakata said in a serious tone, while Hotaru nodded, quite worried, looking at the forest in silence.

They headed out of the clearing while, behind them, something emerged from the ground.

A White Zetsu appeared, watching the two of them leave while a smile emerged on his face. He dove into the ground again and disappeared, while, elsewhere, he reappeared right in front of six men, all wearing black cloaks with red clouds and with eyes bearing strange patterns.

"I found him." White Zetsu replied with a smile, while one of the six men with a Rinnegan, the one who led them using Yahiko’s body, nodded.

"There are other ninjas hunting the girl who’s with him." Zetsu added.

"The girl doesn’t matter. We’re only going to hunt the jinchuuriki." Pain replied, while Zetsu merely nodded, watching with a smile, seeming quite interested in what was happening.

At the same time, one of Naruto’s clones standing in the lotus position to increase his sensory range frowned in a corner of the Land of the Sea before exploding into smoke.

Naruto, who had already sensed something, blinked a few times as he received the memories. He could sense the chakra of some Zetsus. He noticed at least five within his range in the country. Even dozens of kilometers away, there were at least five of them scattered around.

"Did you notice something?" Yamato asked.

"Yes. The Akatsuki is already here." He said, causing the entire group to let out a sound of surprise, especially the Kirigakure ninjas.

"Are you sure?" The masked man asked.

"Yes. The Akatsuki has some creatures that can move through the earth. They gather information and also relay messages, while almost no one can sense them. I’m basically one of the only people in the world who can sense them." He said. Naruto did not sense them through chakra, but through emotions, through hatred and the strange feeling of that artificial life.

"What should we do, Naruto?" Sakura asked, while Naruto seemed thoughtful.

"I’d like to meet this jinchūriki alone." Naruto said, looking at the Kirigakure ninjas.

"That’s impossible. We need to take him back to the Mist." One of them replied immediately.

"You must already know how much he hates your Village. He won’t trust you."

"But the Bloody Mist period is already over." Another of the ninjas protested.

"Yes, but he doesn’t know that and he also doesn’t trust you enough to believe your words. I’m also a jinchūriki. I understand a little better how he feels. Maybe I wasn’t hunted by my Village, but now I understand a little better the feeling of being a weapon." Naruto replied, while Yamato looked away. Sakura looked shocked, Sai seemed to understand him, while his eyes remained fixed on Naruto.

The Kirigakure ninjas said nothing. Naruto was not wrong. Jinchūrikis were weapons used by the Villages, a demonstration of military power and a threat of possible use whenever they needed to intimidate or destroy an enemy.

No one there could be hypocritical enough to deny that. Even Naruto, having been treated the way he was by the Leaf Village as a monster, with some people seeing him as more than a weapon, as a person, at least a small part of the population and people in the upper ranks, could no longer be naive enough to believe that the Village did not also see him as a strategic weapon. Besides despising him during his childhood, he was also needed to be used whenever the Village required it.

People like Danzō would have used Naruto without thinking twice. He only received better treatment because of Jiraiya-Sensei, Tsunade Obachan, Kakashi-Sensei, and the many friends he had made over the years. If anyone could understand Utakata, it was him.

"Just give me a few hours. As much as we already know what happened to him and his master, and as much as we tell him that the Bloody Mist era is already over, he won’t believe your words. You know that." Naruto said in a serious tone, while the special Kiri ninjas exchanged glances.

"All right." The leader replied, while he could feel the others’ protesting gazes.

"Remember that we’re standing in front of the nine-tailed jinchūriki with control over its chakra. He could be much stronger than us." The leader said, following the same reasoning as Naruto, while the others nodded.

"Besides, I’m going alone. Sai, Sakura, and Captain Yamato will stay with you. You must protect the perimeter. We can’t let the Akatsuki get close. Pain is extremely powerful." Naruto said while looking at Yamato, asking for his authorization, and he nodded. That was all Naruto needed, and then he faced them.

"I’ll go on ahead, then." Naruto made a clone to guide the group before disappearing.

He reappeared a few kilometers away, picking up the kunai his clone had left on the ground and advancing in the direction where he had sensed something.

Immediately, something entered his sensory field. Naruto opened his eyes. "Found it." He said as he shattered the wood beneath his feet and surged through the trees at the same time.

Naruto continued advancing until he finally began to find something among the trees.

"Bubbles?" He said, unable to dodge at the last moment, and it burst. He was so focused on what was ahead of him that he had not paid attention to his surroundings. Not that a simple bubble could be declared an enemy, but he could have sensed the abnormal chakra before bursting it.

Utakata, who had been moving forward, suddenly stopped and looked back without saying a word, while Hotaru looked at him worriedly.

"Something wrong, Utakata?" Hotaru asked carefully.

"Someone’s coming. They’ve already found us." He replied with a certain distaste before taking his tool and placing it in his mouth.

Naruto continued advancing. He could already see the caution from the other side, that bubble was a kind of signal to the user, Naruto could also sense several others scattered around, while he wore an awkward smile.

"It seems there are still some things I have to improve." Naruto grumbled. It wasn’t as if he had become perfect after training all his powers. He had never done any missions or practical training in the last six months, or during the last month back in that world.

He lacked practical missions. But, in any case, he moved forward and quickly sensed several bubbles beginning to appear ahead of him.

They were all traps.

Anyone else would have dodged and tried to go around the area while Utakata managed to get away, although he did not know how large Naruto’s sensory field was. In any case, he advanced, dodging with his own body and using ninja maneuvers to pass through the various bubbles scattered throughout the area. There were thousands, not hundreds, but tens of thousands at that moment, all scattered throughout the forest.

"He really went to a lot of effort to prepare a defense to slow me down..." Naruto murmured as he continued advancing, until he began to sense even more bubbles. "This is bad." He said upon realizing that, this way, he would not be able to get through in time and could spend a long time chasing him before reaching him, if he had to keep changing his path every time he got close.

Then, he took a kunai and threw it into the sky, making it pass between the bubbles. Naruto disappeared from the forest and reappeared in the sky, grabbing the kunai as it moved upward, before falling, while observing everything from about fifty meters high. He saw an area where the bubbles were coming from and threw the kunai in that direction.

The kunai passed through the trees and fell into the forest, moving forward and bursting some newly created bubbles, while Utakata was surprised, but not as surprised as he was the next moment, when, suddenly, someone appeared on top of the kunai, stopping while staring at him.

Hotaru immediately prepared herself to fight, while Utakata also narrowed his eyes.

"Who are you?" He asked very cautiously, while Naruto sighed.

"It’s good to meet you for the first time, Utakata and Saiken." Naruto directly said the name of the bijuu inside him.

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