Naruto: From Extra to Savior

Mizuki now had a clear idea of what this mission was really about.

The difference between Danzo Shimura and Tsunade as village leaders was obvious. Danzo, used to underhanded methods, aside from being decisive in his willingness to kill Deidara, had little else going for him. His rigid hardline approach only created unnecessary enemies for Konoha, dragging the village into one conflict after another. As for Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, their indecisiveness made it clear that they lacked the capacity to lead such a massive village like Konoha. They were more than capable as advisors or assistants, but as Hokage candidates, they were seriously lacking.

After Tsunade's return, things changed. The tensions among the three ninja villages were quickly resolved, zeroing in on the most critical issues while easily setting aside secondary concerns—even when it involved someone like Deidara.

Seeing Mizuki understood his role, Tsunade gave a slight nod. "You already know our village's biggest problem. As long as we don't make mistakes, outside enemies aren't scary. What's truly intolerable are the traitors within our own ranks. This time, we need to clean house—thoroughly."

Within less than a month, the village had been attacked multiple times—an unacceptable situation for Konoha, the reigning dominant force in the ninja world. Outsiders found it simply unbelievable. Orochimaru's destruction plan had reached its final phase, and except for the tiny bit of intel Hayate Gekko sacrificed his life to bring back, the Intelligence Division had proven completely useless.

Red Sand's attack wasn't that bad, but Uchiha Itachi and Kisame Hoshigaki invaded Konoha like it was empty space, unnoticed until Mizuki discovered them. Not long ago, Orochimaru's subordinates tried to infiltrate the village. Fortunately, their power was limited, and they were defeated quickly. If not for tracking them back to Orochimaru's hideout by following the clues, we might never have caught any of them.

All these incidents pointed to a serious internal issue—not just due to prolonged negligence lowering our guard. Worse yet, there were likely traitors or even spies hiding among us, opening the gates for our enemies and causing the village to always react too late, responding with unusual sluggishness every time we were attacked. And this incident involving the Land of Earth was no different.

"The enemy's mistakes in the Land of Earth were so obvious, Iwagakure's leadership couldn't possibly ignore them. Making such a big deal over just Deidara was unnecessary," Tsunade said, lifting her teacup for a sip before continuing, "the truth is, the village isn't as invested in Deidara as it seems. Going to war with an entire ninja village just because of one young man isn't worth it."

"Not invested?" Mizuki asked doubtfully. "Deidara's identity clearly isn't insignificant."

"We have other intelligence sources—though still incomplete, they're not entirely empty…."

"If that's the case, I won't ask further…" Mizuki understood well enough—most likely, the information came either from Itachi Uchiha or Jiraiya's end.

With that in mind, some things finally made sense.

It shouldn't have been such a big deal. Between two major ninja villages, as long as no one went overboard snooping around for intel or pulling dirty tricks like mind-reading — which nobody likes — it should've been straightforward. But things didn't go as planned. A bunch of folks ended up tipping their hands. Konoha had its fair share, but Iwa? They spilled way more than they should've.

"You get the idea. Someone else from the Tsuchikage's side will come later to coordinate; those sent by Iwagakure these past few days are just here to keep an eye on Deidara…"

"And also watch us…"

Tsunade nodded. "That's inevitable. As long as we make sure Deidara doesn't leak anything he shouldn't, they're just a bunch of annoying pests."

"I see." If these useless guys really were going to partner with him, Mizuki was already thinking about whether he should just give up outright. An A-Rank Mission being dragged down by useless partners like this? That's really pushing Mizuki's limits. "Then I'll just avoid them."

"Do whatever you want. We still have a few days to prepare, and we need to do things to draw attention elsewhere. The problem on Iwagakure's side is even worse—the Tsuchikage has significantly lowered Deidara's status for internal cleansing purposes."

"So you want me to play executioner for a while?" Though doing something like this unsettled him slightly, Mizuki had the necessary resolve. Not everyone can be a destined child and save the world just by talking, especially not against age-old enemies like these. If he got the chance, Mizuki wouldn't hold back either.

"Make it clean—no evidence left behind. Otherwise, it'll be hard to explain face-to-face. If things go wrong, abandon the mission. Wait for our signal."

They both clearly understood the unspoken rule. Even if everyone knew Konoha was behind it, as long as nothing leaked out, everything was fine. But if the news spread everywhere, for Iwagakure's dignity, the Tsuchikage definitely wouldn't let it slide.

"I understand the situation now. Still, what exactly is Suna's stance in this? Why would they get involved?" Mizuki couldn't wrap his head around why Suna would stay so calm around their old enemy, Iwagakure—it just didn't make sense.

"The situation in Suna's messy, but we can confirm one thing—they're reliable. For now."

"That's good at least; we aren't completely alone." Suna's situation was even worse than Konoha's—outright betraying their allies through sneak attacks, only to lose the war and surrender. Their losses were severe, and without a Kazekage currently, temporary leadership was maintained by Chiyo and other elders acting in the Kage's stead. At times like this, as long as they didn't recklessly stir up trouble and obediently remained reliable allies, Konoha would handle the rest. This incident had already caused massive damage, compounded by their guilt. Had this happened before the Konoha Destruction Plan, seeing Konoha reconcile and cooperate with their old rival Iwagakure would've been enough for them to cut ties on the spot.

"As for manpower, don't worry—you'll receive some support since this mission is critical. While the village itself remains our top priority, we'll assign you several helpers. You can also propose a list naming no more than three people."

"Oh wow, that's great!" Mizuki couldn't hide his delight at hearing this offer. "First, I want Shikamaru Nara on my team."

"No way that's happening."

Tsunade shot him down flatly, "He's got other stuff to do. The village depends on him for a lot of things."

"Oh well." His first choice got rejected right away. Mizuki felt extremely disappointed. No wonder Tsunade keeps Shikamaru Nara running around nonstop.

"Then pick someone else. Neji Hyuga." Since the level-headed planner he worked best with, Shikamaru Nara, wasn't available, choosing a powerful warrior like Neji Hyuga wasn't bad either. His overall strength is already on par with a Chunin, and when he goes all out with the Gentle Fist, he can even rival a Jonin.

"That works. Neji hasn't been assigned any missions since getting injured during the Chunin Exams. He's available now."

"The next one's Aoba Yamashiro." A capable ninja like Aoba Yamashiro, who he shared life-and-death experiences with on the battlefield, also had an excellent personal relationship with Mizuki. They understand each other inside out, so teamwork won't be an issue at all. Sure, Hayate and Raijin Butoh are stronger, but they're kind of dominating personalities. Mizuki didn't really know them well either, so it might be tough to work with them. Compared to those two, Aoba Yamashiro's confident yet mellow personality suited Mizuki much better.

"Aoba Yamashiro..." After thinking for a moment, Tsunade said, "That works too. Who do you want as the last member?"

"Shino Aburame. I need his reconnaissance ability." Mizuki was great at planning if you had a base set up, but things got trickier when you were out on the move.

"No problem. Kurenai Yuhi is injured, and we haven't assigned a squad leader to them yet. There's no spare Jonin available right now anyway. The whole Genin squad's free right now."

"Then that's it. I don't have any special requests anymore. Other than that, please quickly provide me with intelligence regarding personnel from Iwagakure and Sunagakure."

"That goes without saying. I'll get it to you soon enough. You should prepare yourself well first. It won't be long before this mission starts." Since Mizuki's requests were quite reasonable, Tsunade readily agreed. "Originally, this mission was extremely dangerous and troublesome. But since several experienced Jonins recommended you, I believe in your capability too."

Then Tsunade lifted the ninja records she held in her hand. "Now you can officially call yourself a Jonin. But mess up this mission, and your Jonin status might not survive past a week."

Unexpectedly hearing a cold joke from Tsunade, Mizuki couldn't help but feel startled, then laughed and said, "You won't hear me failing, that's for damn sure..."

"I hope that's true. Although the village's situation isn't great right now, we can still afford to pay a Jonin's reward." After finishing the serious discussion, Tsunade shifted topics. "By the way, didn't Jiraiya ask you for some of your 'Omnipotent life-saving pills' the other day?"

"Yes, I happened to have some leftover stock, so I gave him a bit."

"Is that so! What an idiot!" Upon hearing confirmation from Mizuki, Tsunade muttered involuntarily.

"Um... If there's nothing else, I'll go first."

"Hm. After leaving, tell Shikamaru Nara who's waiting outside to come in."

Mizuki rarely got downtime before missions, and today was no exception — he didn't really feel like doing anything. Everyone seemed busy, like Asuma Sarutobi, who'd been absent for two days already. Rumor had it that with Konoha now under the Fifth Hokage, many matters required negotiation with the Fire Daimyo, so someone familiar like Asuma Sarutobi, who'd once served as a Guardian Shinobi, would be more effective in those talks.

Surprisingly, Mizuki ran into Naruto Uzumaki, who was idly wandering around — something quite unusual.

"Why aren't you training? Naruto..."

"I'm looking for Teacher Kakashi. Have you seen him, Teacher Mizuki?"

"Not sure. Probably with Sasuke."

"Tch! No sooner did I leave for a few days than Sakura starts training with Sasuke daily!" Naruto grumbled, clearly annoyed. "And Teacher Kakashi keeps giving special lessons to Sasuke all the time!"

"You're not satisfied with Lord Jiraiya's teaching?" Mizuki asked.

"Not really," Naruto frowned thoughtfully before replying, "Though the Pervy Sage did teach me some pretty good stuff. Like this..."

With that, Naruto created two [Shadow Clones] and began forming a Rasengan.

"See, Teacher Mizuki? With this jutsu, I beat a super powerful enemy in one shot!" Naruto proudly declared. "This is definitely no worse than Sasuke's [Chidori]!"

"You mean this?" Mizuki extended his right hand, producing a light blue Rasengan in his palm. Since he had nothing better to do anyway, teasing Naruto a bit could be fun.

"Huh?! How come you can use this too, Teacher Mizuki?!" Naruto exclaimed in surprise. "The Pervy Sage told me this was a jutsu invented by the Fourth Hokage! How come you can use it too—and even better than me?..."

"You're not the only one. Teacher Kakashi can use it too."

"Tch! That means the Pervy Sage tricked me! Next time I'll force him to teach me an even stronger technique!"

Mizuki watched Naruto storm off with a scowl and couldn't help but smile. Sure, the Rasengan showed peak chakra shape transformation, but honestly, it wasn't all that technically complex. For someone like Mizuki, with top-notch chakra manipulation skills, using it was extremely simple. Though it packed serious power, the technique just didn't fit Mizuki's style. Techniques that couldn't incorporate chakra nature transformation weren't particularly useful for Mizuki at the moment. Also, the Rasengan consumed quite a lot of chakra. Even with the Breath-Sealing Art, Mizuki didn't really enjoy using it — it wasn't much more powerful than his fire-based ninjutsu enhanced with chakra nature transformation, especially up close.

After Naruto left, Kakashi's voice cut in from behind Mizuki: "You've got nothing better to do than mess with Genin?"

"Don't take it seriously, Kakashi. Just a small joke. So, are you ready?"

Kakashi handed him a stack of documents. As Mizuki flipped through, the first page contained a ninja record. Seeing that he'd received what he needed, Mizuki put it away first, planning to read through carefully once he got home.

"Thanks, Kakashi." The records on shinobi from Iwagakure and Sunagakure were finally in hand.

So the mission must be coming up soon too.

"Mizuki, I get why you'd want Yamashiro Aoba, but what about Shino Aburame and Neji Hyuga? Putting Genin on such a risky mission doesn't seem right. What exactly were you thinking?"

"Kakashi, I wanted to find a few capable people. Even getting Yamashiro Aoba took quite some convincing from Lady Tsunade. There was no way I'd be allowed anyone else. For this mission, the main combat strength relies on me..."

"I'm glad you have that awareness and confidence, but are those two really the best choice?" Never mind other concerns — both Neji and Shino come from powerful clans. If anything happens to them, it'll cause serious issues.

"I've thought carefully about both of them. Aside from his immense strength, Neji can stay out of direct danger thanks to his Byakugan. And Shino's insect techniques also keep him at a safe distance. They'll be safe as long as I'm still breathing."

<><><><><><><><>

Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!

~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!

<><><><><><><><>

~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!

~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!

patreon.com/Tansnovel

<><><><><><><><>