Yugito calmly strode through the night sky, leaving Otogakure and ignoring the inn where the Kumo delegation was staying. She didn't look any different from when she left, but the faint smile at the corner of her mouth betrayed her abnormality.
The werewolf Zetsu, transformed into Yugito, had his problems, such as the fact that he didn't possess Yugito's memories, which is why he didn't return to the inn.
Of course, Jugo created a good enough reason, the whole village descended into chaos while the Oto ninjas searched for someone who had stolen confidential information.
Dodai quickly noticed the anomaly, even more so shortly after when the Oto ninjas arrived to search.
Dodai thought quickly and created a shadow clone, transforming it into Yugito. This was supposed to fool Oto's group.
His thoughts wandered as he considered what Yugito had accomplished to cause such a stir in Otogakure, but he only hoped that Yugito would manage to escape the pursuit.
The ninjas of Oto knew nothing about the chess game between Jugo and Kumo, but they were truly enraged by the news of the theft of confidential information, making everything more credible. This included Guren, Jugo had heard some saying in his previous life about deceiving his enemies, first deceiving his allies, and that's how this situation arose.
This really infuriated her, but unfortunately the Chunin Exams hadn't finished yet, so she couldn't expel these unwanted guests, but security around every important location in the village and regarding outsiders had been greatly increased.
Even the civilians seemed outraged by this, which made their reception of the foreign ninjas incredibly bad, to the point where it was difficult to even find a place to eat without being kicked out. Fortunately, the nobles and merchants did not suffer the same fate.
But all of this happened in the future, "Yugito", on the other hand, was still running through the night sky, clearly heading towards Kumo, but Jugo made her run directly towards a pair that was near her path.
Sasori and Deidara would hardly meet normally, but having Yugito take a long detour to prevent tracking was completely plausible, so making them meet wouldn't be difficult.
This werewolf Zetsu didn't just aim to give Yugito a plausible death, instead, he had a second objective, to place a backdoor in the Ten-Tails. This Zetsu had Jugo's curse upon him, and he wanted to see if he could get the Gedo Mazo to absorb this curse and transform the future Ten-Tails into a werewolf or something like that. That would be interesting.
Overall, Jugo was just throwing out bait to see if the fish would bite, he didn't care much about Zetsu's fate. The only thing he did with him was strengthen his transformation, so even when Zetsu died from being sucked in, he would still look like Yugito.
This was an inferior version of the transfiguration curse, requiring more energy and preparation, but it was entirely possible.
//-//
(Naruto's POV)
Naruto smiled as he walked through the village, it had been a long time since he'd returned, so his excitement was at its peak.
Walking with long strides and chest held high, looking around for obvious changes, he resembled a rooster strolling through his territory.
Behind him, Jiraiya was also looking around, but he was only remembering his "liking" for Konoha. When he says "liking", he's referring to "familiar" breasts and buttocks.
Smoke billowed from his nostrils as he walked, clearly enjoying the view, the villagers waving and smiling at him, clearly clueless about what that pervert was thinking, even if they did know, so what? This is a war hero, a student of the beloved Third Hokage and teammate of the current Hokage, that was enough for Jiraiya to dismiss any accusation of harassment with a slap on the wrist, except of course if he were caught by Tsunade.
In that case, breaking a few bones would be considered normal. Luckily, Jiraiya was used to it.
Naruto with long hair was recognizable, his change in height and hair didn't hide his standard features, blond hair, blue eyes, and those whiskers on his cheeks, as if mocking the losses suffered by every civilian in that village for over a decade.
Even when walking with Jiraiya, the faces of the civilians would close up as soon as they saw Naruto, some would just stare at him, others would look away, and the most hateful would stare at him clearly with deep hatred. The years hadn't been enough to ease their pain.
This caused Naruto's smile to slowly fade, it was easy to forget the bad things over time, focusing only on the good. It was only upon returning that he remembered who he was.
The demonic fox of the leaf village.
Jiraiya also seemed to awaken from his "research", he looked at Naruto's slumped shoulders and his face, which had acquired a persistent but hidden sadness, and sighed lightly. The pain of loss overwhelmed him, he remembered Minato and Kushina, and also felt ashamed to leave this child alone, but he had things to do, find the chosen one.
Naruto was important, but the ninja world was even more important. Jiraiya sought peace like ants seek sugar. He looked up, feeling the weight of the world on his shoulders, everything he had neglected through his lewd hobbies returned with full force.
"Will this world ever be free of hatred and achieve true peace?" - He thought, feeling the hatred of the villagers, Jiraiya found himself increasingly confused, at times he seemed not to believe in the old toad sage's prophecy, but... he forced himself to believe, because the alternative was something he could not bear.
Naruto and Jiraiya soon arrived at a place that brought a smile to Naruto's face: Ichiraku Ramen. His friends might be far from the village at the moment, but... this place was the first place where Naruto discovered what happiness was.
Perhaps Ichiraku's ramen was good, but that's all it was, just good food indeed, but if it were something miraculous, that place would have expanded a long time ago.
What truly made this the best food in the world for Naruto was the tastes that no one else could experience, a place where little Naruto could face Teuchi and Ayame's smiles and eat hot, delicious food without being kicked out or receiving inferior food.
For Naruto, this place was warmer and more comfortable than his own home, so the smile that appeared on his face was completely genuine, especially when he saw a familiar figure there, with brown hair in a ponytail.
The man turned his head, a horizontal scar cutting across his nose was all Naruto needed to confirm it. -Iruka-sensei!