Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 135 Unexpected Situations

The squad, who had rushed out of the city at the crack of dawn, was startled by a figure that suddenly appeared out of nowhere. A little girl who looked exactly like Tuya appearing in broad daylight was indeed a bit frightening. However, the other party quickly dispelled the transformation spell, and a white-haired, golden-eyed young man sighed in the smoke.

"I've been discovered." Naruto mentally cursed this ill-timed encounter. "I need to keep my main body away from Fukushiro for now. I don't know how wide her senses are."

This unexpected encounter not only startled poor Karin, but also startled Naruto.

After entering the city, Naruto had already been very restrained with his chakra, so at least ordinary sensory ninjas wouldn't detect anything unusual about him. But the problem was, the ones who came weren't ordinary sensory ninjas. Naruto had a habit of using his normal senses around the clock, only using his super senses for special needs. To this day, he still couldn't determine the principle behind his super senses, and besides, he wasn't sure whether he should share it, so he had been keeping it a secret.

Of course, keeping it a secret didn't mean he hadn't tested it. He had sent clones outside to observe how others perceived him after he used his super-sensory perception. He discovered that, whether at close or long distance, once the perception was activated, a portion of the natural energy in that area would synchronize completely with him for a short period, and he himself would no longer be able to use his ability to conceal chakra. This made him appear as bright as a lighthouse in the eyes of his clones, and he was constantly expanding outwards. This wouldn't be a problem on the battlefield, but it was a fatal flaw in intelligence gathering. On the day he entered the city, he carefully scanned the entire city, confirming that there wasn't a single sensory-type user before daring to unleash his super-sensory perception. When he sensed familiar chakra approaching, he was so busy with his own happiness and the tasks at hand that he overlooked the seemingly ordinary chakra reactions of the two people beside Sasuke.

As long as it's not Orochimaru, then it's not a problem!

However, the moment Karin activated her sensory abilities, he knew something was terribly wrong. His opponent immediately severed their connection, so quickly it seemed like only the blink of an eye, followed by an intense sense of dread emanating from that direction. Naruto, already transported to his location, decisively created a shadow clone to remain behind while his main body fled like the wind. He wasn't sure if Karin could see through his chakra concealment trick; it was better to avoid her… after all, his chakra concealment skills were truly lacking…

"...Her?" The first to react was Mo Yu, this young man who didn't look like an Uchiha revealed his Uchiha side. "Is someone hindering your plans? Who is it? I'll take care of her."

Naruto smiled helplessly, his forehead covered in cold sweat. "She didn't hinder the plan, it was just a minor incident, don't get worked up."

"Did Lord Jinlun just transform into my likeness?" The little girl on the camel's back peeked out from her mother's arms, her face full of curiosity. "Wow! Is this a magic trick that my sister also performed?"

The parents covered the child's mouth and smiled apologetically.

“I’m sure it’s the same one~” Naruto didn’t mind that the transformation technique was called a trick at all. “I borrowed Tuya’s appearance so that I could catch the bad guys.”

"...You've become like her? What about the other children?" Old Zi, who knew the situation best, snapped out of her daze and asked anxiously.

"They've reached the village." When he hastily chose Mo Yu's coordinates as his landing point, some of his techniques couldn't be hidden anymore. Since he was too lazy to pretend, he patted the camel with one hand and Mo Yu with the other, and they disappeared in an instant.

Old Purple's pupils dilated again, and he subconsciously took two steps back. The last time he retreated was the moment when Golden Wheel suddenly appeared, which was even more terrifying than Golden Wheel's chakra, comparable to that of a tailed beast.

"Who are you?! Why do you know the Flying Thunder God Technique?!"

Naruto clapped his hands and said calmly, "Is it strange that my surname is Namikaze and I know the Flying Thunder God Technique?"

Old Purple's expression was stiff, but his emotions changed in an instant, so fast that Naruto couldn't quite grasp them. However, he calmly stood still and waited, because he knew that Old Purple would definitely not transform into his tailed beast and fight him at this critical moment.

After a long while, the middle-aged Jinchuriki seemed to have calmed down, and his first words were, "Are you Konoha ninja?"

That doesn't seem to be a problem, does it?

"No, we have broken free from the shackles of the ninja village and act only according to our own beliefs."

Old Purple, who had never had such a thought before, couldn't quite understand the meaning of those words, but he sensed the unspoken message: "But you still come from Konoha."

"No ninja can escape their homeland."

“Our hometown is our past, that’s undeniable. But what truly shapes us is this world, not a ninja village.” Naruto didn’t care that Rōshi had guessed this information. No normal person would think that Konoha’s past, present, and future could exist in the world at the same time. “You have been walking in this world for so long, you should know that feeling very well, that feeling... that you can’t stop the war no matter what you do, and that your comrades are always leaving no matter how hard you try.”

"What does this have to do with what you're doing now?" Old Zi spoke quickly, seemingly calm, but actually unable to contain his sorrow. He instinctively avoided answering, as if trying to escape the topic.

Naruto said, "I am making a new attempt, searching for a path that no one has ever walked before, to end the history of human infighting at its root."

“…You’re crazy.” Old Zi took another half step back, but his vigilance had faltered. He was not calm; he simply couldn’t calm down.

Naruto was still laughing, speaking his mind with utmost sincerity and candor: "Is it really me who's gone mad, or is it the world that's sick? So many people yearn for peace, yet the world remains this wretched state. Shouldn't I learn from the failures of those who came before me, and find and eradicate the true root of the problem?"

Lao Zi's emotions went from initial shock to wariness and fear, and now to disbelief, yet she was also watching him intently.

What answer did the other party want? Naruto couldn't guess, but he was willing to share and clearly knew what the Jinchuriki desired most. However, a direct answer wouldn't resonate with them enough.

"Or should I, like you, solve problems by running away?"

Old Zi's pupils dilated slightly.

"Why did you leave Iwagakure? Do you remember?"

To be a human being, not a weapon.

"Problems don't disappear just because you run away. You run away, but you're just creating a void. The void is still there, and it still needs someone else to fill it."

……Chinese……

"I can't guarantee that my method will work, or even that it will succeed. But at least I tried, and I have no regrets."

"And you, Lao Zi? What about your efforts?"