The heavy, gold-trimmed curtains of the Grand Pavilion had been pulled back, revealing the pale light of a freezing morning.
High above the rough, snow-capped peaks, the sun was a faint milky, struggling to break through a thick blanket of grey clouds.
On the balcony, Naruto and Sakura stood close, discussing their next move in low, serious tones, their voices completely lost to the steady whistle of the mountain wind.
Inside, Mini-Sasuke sat cross-legged, enthusiastically describing a technique to Hinata, his hands cutting through the air.
But Hinata was miles away, her pale eyes fixed entirely on the balcony, watching the way the clouded sunlight caught the back of Naruto's head.
The peaceful rhythm of the morning vanished in an instant.
Near the entrance, Ino and Karin paused, a heavy futon frozen between them. They both tilted their heads toward the thick wooden door.
"Do you hear that?" Ino whispered.
Karin pushed her glasses up, her expression turning sharp. "Mumbling. Someone is right outside, but the chakra feels... strange. Too fast."
Without a knock, the door slid open with a sharp clack. A figure stepped through the doorway, breathing heavily as if he had run across the entire wasteland of Tetsu no Kuni.
It was Rock Lee, his green jumpsuit dusty and his face unusually scared.
Lee's voice ripped through the quiet morning like a sudden crack of thunder. "What are you all doing here?!" he shouted, his body vibrating with a restless, terrifying energy.
Before anyone could react, Lee moved like a green shadow, charging toward the balcony and throwing the sliding doors open with a violent bang, letting a rush of freezing mountain air into the room.
"Lee-san! What the...?" Sakura jumped, spinning around. "We were talking!"
But Lee didn't listen. He reached out and grabbed Naruto's shoulders, shaking him violently. "Naruto-kun! What are you doing here? I thought you would have taken everyoneelse by now! Why are you still standing here?!"
Naruto blinked in pure disbelief, his annoyance flaring. "Gejimayu... could your talk wait just a second? I was in the middle of something really important with Sakura-chan."
"Naruto-kun!" Lee insisted, his face inches away, his voice cracking with pure desperation.
"We are the one! We are the only one who can move them all before it's too late! Why are you just standing here watching the clouds?"
The heat in Naruto's chest exploded. His face turned a deep red, and he shoved Lee's hands away with a violent jerk.
"What the heck?!" he shouted, his voice echoing out over the snowy plains. "I told you, I was doing something important! And what are you even talking about? Taking everyone where? Speak sense, Gejimayu!"
As the echoes of their shouting died down, a heavy, suffocating silence filled the pavilion.
No one spoke, but their minds were racing.
Karin stood frozen with a stack of futons in her arms, sensing Lee's horribly spiked chakra.
Ino stared at the balcony doors, her hands trembling slightly, unable to process the complete panic in Lee's eyes. Hinata stayed sitting on the floor, her pale eyes wide and distant, utterly chilled by Lee's words.
On the balcony, the shouting matched fiercely.
"Naruto-kun!" Lee yelled, his voice cracking with desperation.
"Gejimayu!" Naruto shouted back, his face turning a deeper shade of red.
"Naruto-kun!"
"Gejimayu!"
"NARUTO-KUN!" Lee shouted one last time. Before the echo could even leave his lips, he lunged forward.
With a burst of great speed, Lee grabbed Naruto's wrist and threw himself over the railing, pulling Naruto with him.
Below the balcony, an elderly vegetable vendor was carefully arranging his freshest cabbages. Lee, a master of movement, descended through the cold air.
With a deafening CRUNCH, he landed directly onto the wooden vegetable stall below, sending cabbages and radishes flying into the air.
"MY CABBAGES! MY PRECIOUS CROPS!"
the vendor screamed, waving a wooden crate wildly as nearby sellers stopped and stared, their faces turning red with anger at the intruder.
Up above, Naruto had managed to dig his fingers into the cold stone of the railing. His body jerked as he caught his weight, leaving him dangling halfway off the edge, his legs kicking at empty air.
"Naruto!" Sakura screamed, leaning over the edge with her heart in her throat.
"GEJIMAYU, WHAT THE HELL?!" Naruto yelled down, his face a mix of shock and pure annoyance as he struggled to maintain his grip. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?"
Lee looked up from the smashed vegetables, ignoring the angry vendor who was now poking him with a broom. "Naruto-kun!" he shouted, his voice filled with a strange, fierce loyalty.
"I will distract everyone here for as long as I can! Just take the chance and go!"
Hinata, Ino, and Karin rushed toward the edge. Sakura was already there, leaning far over the side with her hand outstretched.
"Take my hand Naruto!"
Naruto grunted, his fingers slipping on the cold stone before he reached up and firmly grabbed her hand. With a strong pull, Sakura pulled him back over the railing. He landed with a heavy thud, gasping for air.
Before he could even stand, the girls surrounded him.
"Naruto, what on earth was that?" Ino asked, her eyes narrowed. "What did he mean by 'distraction?' Distraction from what?"
Karin stepped forward, adjusting her glasses with a sharp flick. "He's acting like we're being hunted." she muttered, looking down at the market. "What exactly did he say to you before he jumped?"
Hinata didn't shout. Her voice trembled slightly. "Naruto-kun, he said... he said he thought you would have taken us all by now. Where did he think we were going?"
"I don't know!" Naruto finally admitted, running a hand through his messy blonde hair, his brow furrowed. "He's talking like the world is ending, but he won't give me a straight answer."
Inside the inner room, Tenten finally blinked her eyes open, rubbing the sleep from her face.
The room was strangely empty except for Mini-Sasuke, who stood perfectly still, staring intently toward the balcony.
Tenten walked over, her hair slightly messy. "Hey," she asked softly. "What's the matter? And where's Lee? I thought I heard him yelling earlier."
"He came in like a whirlwind..." Mini-Sasuke explained, his voice calm but serious. "He charged onto the balcony. He grabbed Usurantokachi in a weird way, and after they argued for a bit... he just jumped."
Tenten's eyes went wide. "Jumped? Jumped where?"
"Down into the market..." Mini-Sasuke said. "He tried to take the idiot with him, but Naruto managed to balance himself on the railing and didn't fall all the way down."
Just then, the sliding doors creaked as Naruto, Sakura, Ino, Karin, and Hinata filed back into the room, their faces pale with worry and frustration.
Tenten stepped toward them. "Ino, what's going on? Why is Lee acting like a madman in the street?"
Ino sighed, crossing her arms. "We don't know, Tenten. It's... it's weird. He looked at Naruto and said, 'I thought you would have taken them all by now.' "
"When he jumped..." Sakura continued, her green eyes serious, "He shouted that he would 'distract everyone here'for as long as he could so Naruto could 'take the chance and go.' "
The room went dead silent. The words felt heavy, like stones dropped into a quiet pool.
Why was Lee—the most honest person they knew—acting like they were runaways in a war zone?
The stillness of the room was suddenly shattered by a sound that made everyone freeze.
It was the rhythmic, frantic thud-thud-thud of feet hitting the wooden floor—the light, slapping sound of bare feet running at full speed.
The sound echoed through the hallway outside, getting closer and closer, accompanied by a muffled, angry argument between two voices moving rapidly together.
No one moved. No one spoke. The air in the Pavilion felt thick as the group communicated in a silent language of glances.
Ino and Karin exchanged looks of pure confusion, trying to recognize the chakra. Hinata pulled her shoulders in, her breath hitching in her throat as her pale eyes searched for a place to hide.
Tenten stood her ground, her gaze calculative as she counted the seconds between the footsteps.
In the center of it all, Naruto and Sakura's eyes locked onto each other in a long, heavy gaze. Naruto's eyes were questioning, asking if she was ready, while Sakura's green eyes held a sharp, steady flash of resolve.
They didn't need words to know that the peace of the morning was officially over.
The heavy silence was sliced thin by the sound of wood sliding against wood. The traditional shoji door—the delicate paper-and-wood frame—was thrown OPEN with a sharp, violent snap.
The traditional shoji door was thrown open with a sharp, violent snap.
Inside the Grand Pavilion, the group stood like statues as the freezing air of Tetsu no Kuni rushed in.
The doorway was completely empty. No shadow, no figure—only a dark, silent tunnel of a hallway that made the tension feel suffocating.
Naruto's body coiled like a spring, while Hinata gripped her sleeve so hard her knuckles turned white.
Near the back, Mini-Sasuke stared at the thick shadows, his bottom lip trembling. 'A ghost,' he thought. 'It has to be a ghost.'
Suddenly, a clumsy, muffled weight groaned against the adjacent paper wall. With a violent RRRIP, the delicate white paper shredded like silk, and a figure came crashing through the frame, landing in a messy heap on the floor.
As the dust settled, the true source of the dread stepped through the actual doorway.
Framed by the dim morning light, a young boy stood tall in a traditional yukata.
When he looked up, his eyes burned a piercing, bloody red, spinning with the two tomoe of the SHARINGAN.
The room went completely still. The figure struggling on the floor was Neji—the usually flawless genius of the Hyuga—now flushed and disheveled, while an Uchiha stood over him with eyes like burning ashes.
Sakura stepped back, her hand over her mouth as her blood ran cold. 'If Sasuke-kun has activated his Sharingan in a hotel... what kind of difficult situation were they stuck in?'
Sasuke stepped into the pavilion, his Sharingan glowing like a warning signal in the shadows.
"Where is Lee?" Sasuke asked, his voice low and cutting.
Neji pulled himself free from the wooden scraps, his usual calm completely replaced by a hard, focused edge. "There is no time for that," he snapped, his voice tight as his gaze flicked to the window. "EVERYONE—JUMP! NOW!"
The command hung in the air. They were five stories up, surrounded by a biting winter wasteland.
Before the group could even process the madness of the order, the stillness of the pavilion was murdered by a new sound—the heavy, rhythmic clank-clank-clank of armored Samurai sprinting down the wooden corridors, their shouting voices closing in by the second.
The reality of the danger crashed down when Sasuke moved. Without a word, he hoisted Mini-Sasuke up, carrying him securely like a precious, fragile weight.
At that exact moment, Neji sprinted toward the balcony railing and disappeared over the edge in a silent, professional dive.
"What's happening!?" Mini-Sasuke whispered, trembling as he clutched at Sasuke's yukata. "Where are we going and...? Why did he jump?"
Sasuke didn't look down. His eyes were locked on the open sky. "There is no time for an explanation," he said, his voice echoing through the room like a gavel. "Everyone... JUMP!"
Naruto didn't wait any longer, vaulting over the railing first into a blur of orange against the grey sky.
Sakura followed immediately, her pink hair whipping in the wind, with the rest of the group diving right behind her into the terrifyingly steep fifth-story drop.
Below in the market, an elderly vegetable vendor was muttering over his battered stall, "At least it can't get any worse."
Suddenly, the air above him whistled.
Sasuke, holding Mini-Sasuke tightly to his chest, plummeted from the sky and landed with a bone-shattering CRASH directly onto the wooden cartons, splintering the wood into a thousand shards.
"GAH!!"
Sasuke let out a sharp, muffled grunt of pain as his boots hit the wood, the impact vibrating violently up through his legs.
Mini-Sasuke let out a small, pained whimper, his face buried deep in the older Sasuke's yukata; the air had been knocked completely out of his lungs, and he trembled from the shock of the landing.
The shopkeeper stood frozen, his eyes bulging and his mouth hanging wide open. Then, his face turned a violent shade of purple.
"AGAIN?!" the vendor shrieked, his voice reaching a pitch that could shatter glass. "Are you people raining from the sky?! My shop! My vegetables! My life's work! You monster in yukata! I'll have your heads!"
He began waving a broken piece of a wooden crate in the air, looking like he was about to have a heart attack, while the rest of the group landed in heaps around the snowy street.
The market street was a masterpiece of total disaster. The pale morning light, still trapped behind the thick grey clouds, shone down on a scene of pure, high-stakes comedy and chaos.
The vegetable vendor had finally reached his breaking point. His face was no longer just purple—it was a deep, dangerous shade of beet-red.
He grabbed a jagged, broken piece of a wooden crate and began swinging it wildly like a club.
"You sky-demons! You falling nightmares!" he shrieked, charging toward Sasuke, who was still lying flat on his back in the middle of a sea of crushed cabbages.
Sasuke let out a heavy, rattled breath and opened his arms wide. Mini-Sasuke, who had been tucked safely against his chest, scrambled up. The boy was shaky and wide-eyed, his small hands covered in green vegetable juice, but he was unhurt.
As the shopkeeper brought the wooden plank down for a massive, vengeful strike, the air seemed to shimmer. Zip! In a blur of movement that the human eye couldn't even follow, Sasuke used the Body Flicker Technique.
One second he was a target on the ground; the next, he was a shadow standing directly behind the old man. With a swift, surgical strike to a vital point on the neck, Sasuke knocked the wind out of the vendor.
The man crumpled into his own pile of mashed greens, snoring before he even hit the floor.
"Annoying..."
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📢 AUTHOR'S NOTE 📢
HELLO MY PRECIOUS LITTLE CABBAGES 🥬💥😭
Yes.
YES.
I KNOW WHAT YOU ALL ARE THINKING.
"Author-sama... wasn't this already published in Volume II? 🤨"
And to that I say:
🧎♂️✨ Please spare my life.
This chapter is actually a VERY IMPORTANT repeated timeline section for Volume III 😭⚡
So before anyone throws Rock Lee's explosive training weights at me—LET ME EXPLAIN 💀
A lot of you probably noticed:
👀 "Wait... where are the older characters?"
👀 "Where is Older Sasuke?"
👀 "Where is Minato?"
👀 "WHERE IS THE SNAKE MOTHER-IN-LAW DEMON?!"
AND THE ANSWER IS:
✨ patience ✨
This chapter is intentionally written from the perspective of the people inside the Grand Pavilion who have absolutely NO IDEA what kind of cosmic nonsense is happening outside 😭🙏
Meanwhile somewhere else:
🟡 Minato is teleporting like a golden mosquito.
🐍 Orochimaru is emotionally adopting people against their will.
⚫ Older Sasuke is folding space-time itself because apparently normal entrances are illegal for him.
BUT—
the characters in THIS chapter don't know that yet 👁️👄👁️
SO PLEASE TRUST THE PROCESS 😭⚡
I promise the upcoming chapters WILL mention:
🔥 Older Sasuke
🔥 Minato
🔥 Orochimaru
🔥 The hallway disaster
🔥 The actual chaos happening behind the scenes
Right now your poor babies are just:
🏃 jumping off buildings
🥬 destroying cabbage economies
❄️ surviving Tetsu no Kuni
💀 and getting traumatized by Rock Lee
ALSO CAN WE TALK ABOUT THE VEGETABLE VENDOR FOR A SECOND 😭😭😭
That man woke up peacefully to sell cabbages and suddenly:
➡️ Lee fell from the sky
➡️ Naruto almost died
➡️ Sasuke cratered his entire shop
➡️ random children started raining from the fifth floor
Brother is fighting for his LIFE 💀🥬
Anyway thank you for reading Chapter 21 ⚡❄️
AND PLEASE DON'T KILL ME FOR THE REPEATED TIMELINE 😭🙏
The real storm is only beginning.
— Author who is currently hiding from the cabbage vendor 🥬🏃♂️💨
⚡ NEXT CHAPTER ⚡
The streets of Tetsu no Kuni descend deeper into chaos as Samurai close in from every direction.
Separated from the others and cornered in the freezing alleyways, Sakura encounters a mysterious cloaked shinobi whose presence feels strangely... comforting.
But in a world where even a single word can alter destiny—
what happens when instinct becomes stronger than time itself?
👉 Chapter 22: When Instinct Overrules Time
SNEAK PEEK LINES 💬
"Maybe he's being targeted by debt collectors!"
"I can feel the Samurais' chakra closing in. We don't have much longer!"
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—With love, one forehead poke away from collapse,
Sakura Shinomiya 💫
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