"Is this still the Land of Wind?"
Temari walked through the dense forest, unaware that she had gotten a little lost.
She shouted for a while but couldn't find Naruto, who was somewhere nearby practicing ninjutsu.
"There's no other way… I'll have to find another route."
Temari reached behind her back, took off her giant fan, unfolded it completely, and swung it with all her strength to perform her ninjutsu.
"Wind Style: Flurry of Air Flow!"
As the iron fan swept through the air, a fierce wind roared across the sand and trees, stirring up tremendous force.
—Somewhere in the jungle—
Naruto heard the sound and sensed that the source carried his own Flying Thunder God mark.
Is someone fighting?
And among those fighting… someone has my mark?
Better check it out.
Among the Sand Shinobi, the only one who carried Naruto's Flying Thunder God mark was Temari.
Sensing the location, Naruto used the Flying Thunder God Technique and instantly teleported to the scene.
When he arrived, he saw only Temari.
"Temari, what happened?" Naruto asked in confusion.
After spending a few days together, the awkwardness between them had mostly faded.
Temari shook her head. "No enemies. Someone from Konoha came looking for you. They asked me to call you back to the village. I couldn't find you, so I used ninjutsu."
"I see." Naruto shrugged. "Honestly, I don't really want to go back. They can just label me a rogue ninja."
Temari froze, stunned. "Huh? Naruto? Did I hear that right?"
Naruto nodded seriously. "Yeah. If you really need help, you can take one of my Shadow Clones with you."
With that, he formed a seal and created a Shadow Clone, while the real Naruto continued practicing his Wood Style.
Seeing how determined he was, Temari sighed and held her forehead. "Alright… but if that's the case, does our marriage still mean anything?"
Right.
Naruto and Temari's marriage had originally been arranged to strengthen the alliance between Sand and Leaf.
Now that Naruto wanted to become a missing-nin, what would happen to that arrangement?
Naruto thought her words made sense—but he'd already grown used to life in Sunagakure.
The place was nice. Peaceful.
No one ordered him around, no one spied on him, and no one treated him like a monster.
It was a simple, quiet life—and Naruto didn't want that to change.
As for "the plot"?
What plot?
Wouldn't the world keep spinning even without him?
Without Naruto, there would still be power-hungry fools and villains running around.
And if Konoha didn't have Naruto or the Nine Tails, its threat level would only drop.
But what did that have to do with him?
Naruto didn't feel like he owed Konoha anything.
He'd been bullied and isolated since childhood, treated like an outcast.
He couldn't even buy things without being glared at.
After years of that, it was hard to feel any affection for the village.
As for Konoha's "training" and the First Hokage's scrolls he used—those could easily be repaid with his parents' legacy.
At this point, Konoha was nothing more than a name to him.
Just a place where a few of his friends—and a few old fools—happened to live.
After a moment of thought, Naruto turned to Temari. "About the marriage… Temari, do you actually like me?"
"Huh?" Temari averted her gaze, her voice softening. "Why are you asking that all of a sudden…"
"Honestly," Naruto said, "I only agreed to the engagement because of the Kazekage's orders. But after spending time with you… you're actually pretty great."
Temari wasn't usually shy, but even she blushed when he said that.
Naruto could already tell from her reaction. "Alright then. About the marriage—let's just follow Lord Rasa's arrangements for now. If he doesn't cancel it, everything's fine."
"And if he does?" Temari asked quietly.
Naruto didn't reply. He just smiled at her.
Realizing what that meant, Temari's cheeks turned even redder.
"I understand," she said softly. "Keep practicing, I'll head back first."
When Temari left, Naruto resumed his training.
That night, he lay on a branch formed by his Wood Style and stared up at the calm night sky.
He thought about the past few days.
After training nonstop, he'd realized how hard it was to actually improve his combat power.
The stronger you get, the harder it is to break through.
Practicing ninjutsu only made him more familiar with techniques—it didn't raise his strength by much.
At this point, his combat power was still about 2,000 short of his mission goal of 150,000.
In other words, several days of training hadn't made much difference compared to his natural growth.
Should I use the simulation instead? he wondered.
Opening his system panel, Naruto checked his stats.
Six simulations left.
He could use them to boost his power—but he didn't have any incense left. He'd need to return to Sunagakure to buy some.
He still had over 10 billion silver taels and four Nine Tails summoning cards in his backpack.
Money wasn't an issue.
As for the summoning cards, he didn't plan to strengthen Kurama anytime soon.
Naruto's own combat power was still far below the Nine Tails'.
What if Kurama got too strong again, and Naruto couldn't suppress him with seals?
Sure, they were "friends"—but that friendship worked only because their powers were roughly equal.
If Naruto weakened, Kurama could easily take over his body.
Even though the fox now seemed to trust him, laughed with him, and acted friendly… Naruto still stayed cautious.
Because his past life had taught him one thing:
You can trust people—but never completely.
That's just advice. Take it or leave it.
…
Using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Naruto returned to his hotel, took a bath, and changed clothes.
He'd heard that doing so before simulating improved luck.
Maybe it was just superstition—but it felt good anyway.
Meanwhile, outside Sunagakure—
Four figures appeared in the desert.
"Hey, hey, are you serious?"
A young man with blonde hair grinned. "This is a picture of Itachi's little brother! He's still so arrogant—why aren't you reacting?"
Sasori glanced at Deidara and snapped, "Shut up. You're too noisy."
They were joined by Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame.
Kisame grinned, flashing his shark-like teeth. "What's wrong, Itachi? Feeling the pressure?"
He took the photo from Deidara and handed it to Itachi.
Itachi accepted it without thinking—and froze after a single glance.
In the photo, Sasuke was wearing a cat servant costume, staring at the camera with a shy expression…
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