The training field was still lively.
Suddenly, a breeze swept lightly across the field.
A person wearing an animal mask knelt on one knee in front of Shin-chan.
"Lord Shinnosuke, there is an urgent mission."
The noise on the training field came to an abrupt stop.
"Got it." Shin-chan nodded at him. "I'll head over right away."
The Anbu's figure flashed and vanished on the spot, leaving as silently as he had come.
The training field was quiet for a moment.
Then it exploded.
"Was that Anbu just now?"
"He was wearing a mask, so it had to be Anbu!"
"He called Nohara-senpai 'Lord Shinnosuke'!"
"Anbu are elite forces directly under the Hokage." Suzune's voice was the loudest, almost shouting. "So exactly how strong is Nohara-senpai?"
No one answered that question.
Everyone's gaze followed that red figure.
Shin-chan turned around. "Sorry, that's all for today."
He waved at Guy, Rin, and Shizune. "I'm leaving first."
Rin nodded. "Go. Be careful."
Shin-chan's figure flashed and disappeared from the training field.
"Teacher, is Nohara-senpai a jōnin?"
"Teacher, why would Anbu kneel to him?"
"Teacher, what rank of ninja is he?"
Teacher Ibuki took a deep breath.
He wanted to know too.
Seven years ago, Shin-chan couldn't even throw a shuriken properly. Now, he had already reached the point where even Anbu had to kneel on one knee and address him as "Lord."
Teacher Ibuki's feelings were very complicated.
...
The Hokage's office.
"Kirigakure is moving again." The Third Hokage pushed a map to the edge of the desk. "In the Land of Waves."
Shin-chan lowered his head and looked at the map. He did not joke around as usual.
"Kirigakure's Anbu have begun moving near the eastern coastline of the Land of Waves." The Third Hokage pointed at the map. "Their numbers are not small."
His gaze fell on Shin-chan.
"These past few years, I have rarely assigned you missions outside the village." The Third Hokage paused. "Now, your strength is already sufficient."
Shin-chan looked at the position of the Land of Waves on the map and said nothing.
"To what extent can you use the Flying Thunder God Technique now?"
"As long as there's a jutsu formula mark, I can reach that place at any time."
"Go to the Land of Waves and leave a formula mark there." The Third Hokage pressed his finger on the position of the Land of Waves. "Then support Kakashi, Uchiha Che, and the others."
"Got it."
Shin-chan turned and walked toward the door.
The Third Hokage called out to him. "Shin-chan."
Shin-chan turned back.
"Judge for yourself. If you encounter danger, prioritize your own safety."
"Don't worry, Grandpa Third."
After saying that, he vanished from the doorway.
The Third Hokage looked at the empty doorway, picked up the pipe on his desk, and put it back into his mouth.
Shin-chan was very fast.
After leaving through Konoha's gate, his feet almost never touched the ground. Branches sprang beneath his feet, and the shifting light and shadow of the forest swept rapidly across his body.
After running for about fifteen minutes, Shin-chan suddenly felt that something was off.
He kept feeling as if someone was watching him.
Shin-chan's speed did not change. His perception fully opened.
Everything was normal.
But that feeling was still there.
The moment Shin-chan stepped on the next branch, chakra erupted beneath his foot. The red figure accelerated through the forest, so fast that his outline could barely be seen.
But the feeling of being watched still remained.
While traveling, his right hand pressed against the bark of a tree. The instant his palm left, a black formula mark appeared on the bark.
He continued running forward.
Five hundred meters. One kilometer. Two kilometers.
That feeling continued following him.
The instant he stepped onto another branch, Shin-chan activated the Flying Thunder God Technique. The branch lightly bounced back, but he was already gone.
Two kilometers away, beside the tree trunk where he had left the mark, Shin-chan's figure appeared out of thin air.
The feeling of being watched disappeared.
"It's been a long time since I played tag." Shin-chan stood on the tree and swept his gaze over the surrounding treetops. "Who could it be?"
If someone was tracking him, then that person should be looking for him right now.
If he searched from behind now, maybe he would run into them.
And at the place where Shin-chan had vanished, the bark of a tree slowly bulged outward. White Zetsu poked half his body out of the trunk and tilted his head, looking in the direction where Shin-chan had disappeared.
"Strange. Did he notice us?"
"He probably only sensed something," another voice sounded from his body.
Black Zetsu was embedded in half of White Zetsu's face, and no light could be seen in the depths of his pupils.
"Sensed what?" White Zetsu looked puzzled. "We were moving inside the tree. We didn't make any sound at all."
"Maybe it was intuition." Black Zetsu paused. "Or perhaps his sensory ability is stronger than we estimated."
"But wasn't he running forward just now?" White Zetsu glanced at the treetops. "How did he suddenly disappear?"
Black Zetsu was silent for a while. "It should be the Flying Thunder God Technique."
"Flying Thunder God Technique?" The expression on White Zetsu's face went from confusion to even greater confusion. "What's that?"
"Space-time ninjutsu," Black Zetsu said in his habitual low voice. "The caster marks a location with a jutsu formula, then teleports himself there. It's a ninjutsu developed by the Second Hokage."
"Sounds powerful."
"It doesn't just 'sound powerful.'" Memories from long ago stirred in Black Zetsu. "In the entire history of the ninja world, the number of people who can freely use space-time ninjutsu can be counted on one hand."
"No way." White Zetsu sounded somewhat surprised. "Isn't he only twelve and already able to use it?"
"He must have left a formula mark somewhere," Black Zetsu muttered to himself.
Things were more interesting than he had expected, but also more troublesome.
A ninja who could use the Flying Thunder God Technique meant that no location could truly trap him. Any encirclement would only be a matter of an instant to him.
It seemed they could not deal with him using methods meant for ordinary ninja.
White Zetsu waited beside him for a long time. Seeing that Black Zetsu had stopped talking, he asked, "Then what do we do?"
"Retreat," Black Zetsu said. "Right now, there is no need for us to make direct contact with him."
The pitcher-plant leaves began to close, wrapping around the black-and-white body within.
"Flying Thunder God Technique." Black Zetsu's voice came through the gaps in the leaves. "Konoha has raised another interesting brat."
The leaves closed completely, and Zetsu's body sank into the tree trunk.
A few minutes later.
A kunai nailed itself into the tree where Zetsu had just been staying.
Shin-chan's figure appeared beside the kunai, tilting his head as he looked at the spot where Zetsu had disappeared.
"Pitcher plants can burrow into trees?" He reached out and knocked on the trunk. Solid. "A new species?"
There was only the sound of wind blowing through the treetops in the forest. No one answered.
Shin-chan circled halfway around the tree again. After confirming there were no clues left behind that he could track, he pulled the kunai out of the trunk and put it back into his ninja tool pouch.
"Oh well."
In any case, that feeling of being watched had disappeared.
Shin-chan jumped back onto the treetops. Chakra erupted beneath his feet, and the red figure once again swept toward the Land of Waves.
~~~
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