Naruto: The Sage Body of Konoha

Within the Land of Fire.

In an endless forest, a three-man squad was moving eastward at full speed toward the border.

It was Heiyan, Fugaku Uchiha, and Hiashi Hyuga.

Although this was their first mission together, the team's composition alone was more than enough to handle any S-rank assignment.

Among them, Fugaku was seasoned in personality and experienced in missions, excelling at handling various emergencies and unexpected situations along the way. If enemies were encountered, his mastery of genjutsu and the power of the Sharingan could end the battle without spilling a drop of blood, while also extracting valuable intelligence.

Hiashi served as the eyes of the squad, using his Byakugan to survey terrain and locate the best routes for advancement. Should combat break out, he could use the Byakugan's long-range vision and penetrative sight to detect enemies early, helping the group avoid traps and ambushes.

Finally, as the squad leader, Heiyan had one word to describe him:

Powerful.

He was the team's foundation and their primary source of strength in battle.

That said…

While officially classified as an S-rank mission, the reason behind that ranking came down to one factor: Kushina Uzumaki's special identity—as the future jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails.

However, aside from the Third Hokage, Mito Uzumaki, and Heiyan himself, no one else—even teammates Fugaku and Hiashi, or Kushina herself—knew this secret.

Let alone shinobi from other villages.

Therefore, removing this special circumstance, the mission itself posed practically no difficulty at all—it barely qualified as a C-rank.

There would likely be no battles at all during the course of the mission.

Extremely easygoing.

"At this pace, going from Konoha to Uzugakure and back again should take no more than ten days," Heiyan calculated mentally.

As dusk approached, strong winds began blowing through the sky, dark clouds gathered, and thunder rumbled.

Judging by this weather, camping outdoors tonight would be unwise.

So, to beat the storm, the exhausted trio made it to a small town and checked into a tidy inn for the night.

After taking a bath and changing clothes, the trio went to the inn's restaurant to enjoy dinner.

Outside, fierce gales howled and torrential rain poured.

Inside the dining hall, people of all kinds gathered, eating meat, drinking alcohol, and chatting boisterously—an atmosphere filled with liveliness.

At such a place, you could always hear unusual anecdotes or rumors related to the shinobi world.

The table next to Heiyan's group was occupied by several ninjas from Takigakure, whose conversation caught his attention.

"Have you heard? The Uzumaki clan in the Land of Whirlpools is secretly preparing some huge conspiracy lately!"

One ninja whispered mysteriously.

"What kind of plot? Hurry up and tell us!" His companions immediately urged eagerly.

"You might already know this…"

He leaned in and whispered hastily, "Because the Uzumaki sealing techniques can perfectly subdue Tailed Beasts, they're secretly gathering these beasts to turn them into ultimate war machines… planning to invade surrounding nations…"

"Is that really true?"

"Are your sources reliable?"

Everyone present seemed visibly startled.

"It's absolutely real—we've heard similar things too."

At this moment, several shinobi from Kumogakure also stepped over to join in, nodding in agreement.

"It's said this information came from Kirigakure. Their tailed beast seems to have drawn the interest of the Uzumaki Clan."

"Not just Kiri, Cloud Village too! Their jinchuriki has been losing control recently, and people suspect the Uzumaki are secretly pulling the strings."

"The Uzumaki are terrifying. We must unite together to stop their evil plans."

The crowd murmured among themselves, clearly fearful and hostile whenever the Uzumaki Clan was mentioned.

Heiyan frowned upon hearing this.

Clearly someone was deliberately spreading rumors against the Uzumaki Clan, making ninja from surrounding countries resent Uzugakure.

At this rate, the destruction of Uzu Country was only a matter of time.

"Seems like the Uzumakis aren't very popular," Hiashi Hyuga chuckled slightly with a shake of his head.

"This clan possesses the fearsome Tailed Beast Sealing Technique and generally has bad tempers. Naturally they've made many enemies."

Fugaku Uchiha expressed his opinion on the Uzumaki Clan, commenting, "Without Konoha's alliance, Uzugakure would've likely been destroyed long ago."

Though these two usually opposed each other and liked to play devil's advocate, their view on the Uzumaki Clan surprisingly aligned:

This was a failed clan.

Of course, if they knew Heiyan himself was an Uzumaki, they might have thought twice about their opinions.

Heiyan simply looked at the two and said nothing.

In his opinion, though, the Hyuga and Uchiha clans—two powerful families in Konoha—weren't much better than the Uzumakis.

Speaking of which, descendants of the bloodlines left behind by the Sage of Six Paths and his younger brother could really only be described in one word: A mess.

As for the Uchiha Clan? Everyone's practically mentally ill, eventually getting exterminated by their own kin.

The Hyuga Clan wasn't wiped out, but they used the Caged Bird Seal for slavery. Despite constantly boasting about being Konoha's strongest clan, they ended up with only a handful of members.

The Kaguya Clan—equivalent to Kiri's Uchiha—were all battle-crazed maniacs who ended up eradicated after failing to overthrow the village, leaving not even a good reputation behind.

The Uzumaki Clan was also famously hot-tempered, quick to fight over anything, finally perishing under attacks from multiple great nations.

Viewed this way, only the Senju Clan appeared relatively normal. But today, only Tsunade remained from what once was the great Senju Clan.

While Heiyan was reflecting emotionally,

"What do you think? Could the Uzumakis' attempts to collect tailed beasts possibly be instigated by Konoha? After all, Leaf Village and Uzugakure are allies."

People at the next table started discussing again.

"Do you even need to ask?"

Someone replied confidently, "Konoha has long secretly colluded with the Uzumakis, planning to threaten or even destroy other countries using tailed beasts as weapons..."

However, before this person finished speaking, Fugaku interrupted.

"Nonsense!"

Fugaku snorted coldly, mocking without mercy, "Tailed Beasts were originally captured by the First Hokage and then distributed among various ninja villages precisely to eliminate warfare and achieve peace. If things were really as you described, why would Konoha go through all this trouble in the first place?"

"Who's this brat? Let adults talk—don't interrupt!"

Everyone snapped in anger after being shouted down, but soon someone recognized Heiyan, Fugaku, and Hiashi's identities.

"They're the Three Greatest Prodigies of Leaf Village! How could they appear here..."

"Hurry—let's get out of sight before they notice us. We can't afford to pick a fight with them."

Everyone's expressions changed drastically as they quickly scattered from the restaurant back to their rooms.

Meanwhile,

In a corner of the restaurant, several ronin exchanged glances. They all saw shock in each other's eyes—and wild excitement.

"The one in the middle with the short white hair is Heiyan."

Someone whispered softly.

In an instant, all their gazes locked onto Heiyan, their eyes filled with greed, as if gazing at a walking one hundred million taels' worth of silver.

Hmm?

Heiyan sensed something and turned his head toward them.

The men instantly changed expressions, hastily stood up, and hurried off in different directions.

Though they themselves lacked the strength to take on Heiyan, selling that information immediately would still fetch a handsome reward.

"Heiyan, what are you looking at?"

At this moment, Fugaku and Hiashi saw Heiyan's expression change and asked.

"We seem to have been targeted." 

Heiyan said calmly, "You'd better prepare mentally. Our journey ahead might not be as smooth as before."

Upon hearing this, both felt a jolt through their bodies.

However, as battle-hardened prodigies who had weathered countless battles, they felt no fear—only exhilaration surged within them.

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