Konoha's Genius is a bit Ordinary?

Deep within the ruins, Natsuro lay in a lake formed by the veins of natural energy. While the lake was still vast, its water level had noticeably dropped compared to when he had first discovered it.

Natsuro couldn't help but feel a bit helpless. Although this mineral vein was a source of natural energy, it wasn't pure natural energy. He had to convert it before it could be absorbed.

His absorption speed had been increasing, but the progress toward transforming his body felt interminable.

This left him puzzled. If it was this hard to transform, how did people train before chakra was discovered?

Now, Natsuro understood. This transformation process wasn't strictly about transformation, it was part of the training itself. However, since Natsuro wasn't directly using natural energy in combat, it was hard to measure his progress.

He reckoned that, by the standards of the pre-chakra era, his current state would already be quite formidable.

Even without a clear measure of his strength, the effects of his training were evident. His physical constitution had significantly improved, which in turn increased his chakra reserves. Based on this trend, he was confident.

Once the training was complete, his body should be able to open the first few gates of the Eight Gates Formation without injury. Exactly how many gates he could open would only become clear upon completion.

Moreover, if he converted the natural energy in his body into chakra, his current reserves would be far beyond what he originally had.

This gave Natsuro reason to believe that when his training was done, his chakra capacity would no longer be an issue.

On this day, Natsuro's training was interrupted as he sensed the energy from the mineral vein dissipating and felt the surrounding walls trembling.

Breaking from his meditation, Natsuro activated his sensory ability.

"Naruto? What's he doing here?" Natsuro's expression turned peculiar.

If Naruto was here, it confirmed that these ruins were indeed the ones from the original story, he had simply skipped this arc while watching.

Recalling Naruto's track record, Natsuro felt uneasy. Once Naruto resolved everything, would these ruins still be intact?

The disappearance of the ruins wasn't his concern, but what about the mineral veins? These were crucial for his training. He couldn't let Naruto recklessly destroy them.

Natsuro focused on Naruto's battle. Naruto's opponent seemed to be absorbing the energy leaking from the mineral veins, but their use of the energy was crude, he simply harnessing the raw power of natural energy without understanding or refining it.

Watching the dissipating energy, Natsuro's expression grew stranger.

He moved to the point where the energy was leaking and sat down. Instantly, all the escaping energy was absorbed by him.

"This is such a pain," Shikamaru muttered, feeling exasperated as he watched his opponent, a bat-like figure flying erratically through the air.

How did things escalate to this point? All he, Sakura, and Naruto were supposed to do was team up for a D-rank mission to locate a lost ferret.

Then, a dark knight suddenly ambushed them, followed by the appearance of a massive mobile fortress that even alerted the Sand Shinobi.

Now, they had ended up in these enormous ruins…

Shikamaru still found it ridiculous, but there was no choice but to focus on solving the immediate problem. Hopefully, Naruto was managing his side.

Naruto, meanwhile, was gritting his teeth, glaring at the mastermind behind everything. His opponent, despite being the true villain, had managed to deceive everyone.

Naruto looked at the fallen old man and the blonde-haired boy, Temujin, lying on the ground. Temujin had been used and betrayed by Haido, who stole the Gelel Stone Shard from his body, the very source of his strength.

Haido then revealed that he was the one who had killed Temujin's parents. The person Temujin had been serving all along was, in fact, his greatest enemy.

Nothing hurt more than a broken heart, and that perfectly described Temujin's current state.

Naruto, deeply empathetic, was now seething with rage.

He had almost defeated Haido, but a surge of violent energy suddenly suppressed him.

Naruto could sense the energy was tricky to deal with, but Haido didn't know how to control it properly. If given enough time, Naruto was confident he could handle it.

Then, Naruto watched as the energy surrounding Haido's body disappeared.

The battlefield fell silent.

"What?! How is this possible?! Why is it gone? Greyl Stone, grant me more power!" Haido shouted in panic.

He hadn't even begun to enjoy the intoxicating rush of power, so why was it gone already? No matter how much Haido screamed, not a shred of energy returned to him.

"Could it be? Has the Greyl mineral vein run dry after all these years? How could this happen?!" Haido roared in anger.

The old man lying on the ground also noticed the scene. Though wracked with pain and unable to stand, his face showed confusion.

It didn't make sense. Could the Greyl vein really have run dry?

Regardless, this was a good thing. The old man sighed in relief, if the vein was depleted, Haido wouldn't be able to use it for evil.

"You bastard! Looks like even fate has abandoned you!" Naruto declared as red chakra flared from his hand, forming a vibrant and dangerous Rasengan.

"No, stay away!" Haido stumbled backward in fear.

"A scumbag like you, who manipulates others, doesn't deserve forgiveness!" Naruto roared, dashing forward and slamming the Rasengan into Haido's chest.

Boom!

The overwhelming power sent Haido flying, his screams echoing until he smashed into a wall. The Greyl Stone embedded in his chest shattered, and his chest was left grotesquely mangled—a wound even Tsunade couldn't heal.

Naruto then rushed toward Temujin to check on him.

The old man watched the scene with a satisfied smile, then glanced at the ruins. Perhaps the Greyl vein really had been exhausted.

Even if it hadn't, the ritual platform needed to access its power had been destroyed.

The old man recalled a broken mechanism he had seen earlier. Maybe someone had already taken the core, leaving only residual energy behind. But that was no longer his concern.

With the power gone, Temujin no longer needed to sacrifice himself to open the temporal rift. It was over…

Natsuro sensed Naruto and his team leaving and the ruins' entrance being bombarded shut. He let out a breath of relief.

It seemed the mineral veins were safe for now.

These veins were critical to Natsuro's training, and he had been ready to intervene if necessary.

Thankfully, it hadn't come to that, saving him the trouble of explaining why he was here.

Closing his eyes, he leaned back and immersed himself in the natural energy of the lake once more.

The next day, Natsuro paid a rare visit to the Hokage's office to request Naruto's mission report.

"Hm? Why are you suddenly so interested in Naruto's mission?" Tsunade asked curiously, handing over the report written by Shikamaru.

"Just happened to stumble across it, so I got curious," Natsuro replied as he skimmed through the report.

Reading about how a simple task of retrieving a lost ferret had spiraled into chaos, Natsuro paused. All he could think was, Typical Naruto.

Natsuro confirmed that he must have missed parts of the original story, though it likely wouldn't matter much.

"That brat Naruto always ends up in bizarre situations during his missions. He also has a knack for picking up odd people," Tsunade said, shaking her head as she reviewed the report.

Unusual developments during missions weren't unheard of, but no team seemed to encounter them as frequently as Naruto's.

"Well, it's Naruto after all," Natsuro said with a smile after hearing Tsunade's comment. The perks of being the protagonist, he thought.

At that moment, the door to the Hokage's office opened, and an unexpected guest entered—it was none other than Jiraiya.

"Oh? Natsuro is here too? Perfect," Jiraiya said, initially intending to find Tsunade but pleasantly surprised to see him as well.

"What are you doing here?" Tsunade asked, rubbing her temples with an irritated expression.

It wasn't entirely Tsunade's fault. Recently, numerous hot springs had reported incidents of customers feeling they were being spied on. Without even needing evidence, Tsunade had pinned the blame on Jiraiya, so she had no reason to greet him warmly.

"Don't be so harsh. I'm here to let you know that I'll be leaving the village soon to investigate the Akatsuki organization," Jiraiya said, scratching his head and smiling awkwardly.

Tsunade and Natsuro were both visibly surprised.

"Also, I plan to take Naruto with me. His foundational skills are too weak, and I need to train him to fill in these gaps," Jiraiya added.

"Does Naruto know about this yet?" Tsunade asked after a moment's thought. She didn't refuse, though.

"Not yet. I wanted to let you know first before I go to him," Jiraiya replied.

"Fine, but be careful. Focus on gathering information and don't act recklessly," Tsunade cautioned. She was curious about the Akatsuki and their sudden emergence.

"Haha, I didn't expect you to actually care about me," Jiraiya said with a hearty laugh.

"Get lost!" Tsunade snapped, her forehead veins popping as she picked up a scroll and threw it at him.

"Jiraiya-sensei… have you gained weight?" Natsuro suddenly asked, his tone casual.

Jiraiya froze.

Tsunade looked him over as well and nodded. "Not just old, but you're getting fat too."

Jiraiya sighed in despair. He had been training Naruto, and that Hyūga girl kept bringing large amounts of food for Naruto. Naruto couldn't finish it all, so he would share it with Jiraiya.

Even with both of them eating, they were always stuffed to the brim. As a result, Jiraiya ended up like this. Naruto had gained a little weight too.

Jiraiya even began to suspect that the Hyūga girl was fattening Naruto up like a pig.

But one day, when she stayed to eat with them, Jiraiya realized how wrong he had been. It wasn't her fault and it was simply that they both ate far too little compared to her appetite.

"Ahaha, you must be imagining things," Jiraiya said awkwardly, making an excuse before quickly slipping away.

Natsuro watched Jiraiya's retreating figure without much concern. If it were just Jiraiya, he might have worried about him acting rashly.

But since Jiraiya was taking Naruto along, there was no need to worry. With Naruto around, Jiraiya wouldn't have the opportunity to act recklessly.

A few days later, at Konoha's gates, Natsuro, Sakura, and Hinata stood together, seeing Naruto and Jiraiya off.

Naruto waved enthusiastically as he walked, a smile on his face, looking at the three standing behind him.

However, when he noticed that Sakura's gaze wasn't on him, he felt a twinge of disappointment. Then he saw Hinata beside her, waving shyly at him.

Suddenly, Naruto paused. He caught sight of a figure.

Sakura's gaze swept around, searching, but she couldn't find the familiar figure she was looking for. Her expression dimmed slightly.

Unnoticed by Sakura, a figure wearing a plain white mask without any pattern appeared atop Konoha's gates.

Sasuke's eyes met Naruto's as the latter turned to look. The two exchanged a smile before Sasuke's figure vanished once more.

As for why Sasuke chose not to meet Sakura, it was because he had heard Natsuro say that if Sakura saw him, she would devote all her attention to him, making it difficult for her to grow. Sasuke understood Sakura's intense feelings for him, so he decided not to see her.

Natsuro also watched Naruto and Jiraiya disappear into the distance, his gaze deep.

"So, we've reached this point," he thought. "That means the Akatsuki's actions will begin soon."

The curtain was about to rise!

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Currently on Chapter 237 - The Danzo's Punishment Begins