"Mmph--! Mmph--!"
Hearing the desperate, miserable wails coming from not far away and personally witnessing Naruto use all kinds of unheard-of cruel punishments on the young master, even Tenzo, who was currently serving as Naruto's guard, could not stop his whole body from shuddering.
More than once, he had the undignified urge to turn and flee... So how could Number Two, who stood on the same side as the young master and was his companion, possibly fare any better?
"Monster... No, that's not right. A demon... This guy must be a demon..."
Although he was covered in injuries, Naruto had deliberately avoided his vitals and healed him in time. Thus, aside from being bound by layers of seals and unable to move easily, Number Two had no other serious problems.
Because of that, from beginning to end, Number Two was "fortunate" enough to see every bit of Naruto's vicious cruelty, a brutality completely unsuited to his age.
It even made the firm resolve Number Two had originally prepared to hold, his determination to guard their intelligence to the death, begin to shake violently.
'Did we... or rather, did our village once make enemies with this guy somewhere? No... That shouldn't be right... It can't be that a single careless sentence from that brat brought on such inhumane treatment, can it? Just how important is that girl named Hinata in Konoha?
Why would kidnapping her draw out such a terrifying little monster? Why did the intelligence the village provided never mention this at all?!'
Just as Naruto had said, after he followed the guidance of the Flying Thunder God mark and found them, the young master's foul mouth had completely enraged him. Everything that happened in the brief span of time after Naruto attacked could almost only be described as a flash of lightning.
Naruto's attacks were so fast that Number Two could not even defend or counterattack. He did not even have time to see Naruto's shadow clearly, only vaguely catching a golden afterimage flashing by.
As a result, even though Number Two possessed great brute strength and rich combat experience, the instant the thought that he and the young master were under enemy attack appeared in his mind, he was struck and sent flying by a familiar yet even stronger high-speed rotational force.
His throat tasted sweet, his vision went black, and he passed out on the spot.
Shortly after waking up, he unexpectedly saw the young master in such a wretched state that even his own mother would not recognize him. Naturally, Number Two fell into a dazed state full of question marks--Who am I? Where am I? What was I supposed to be doing?
The reason Naruto had been able to find them so accurately was actually very simple.
Back at the border, when "Minato Namikaze" had disguised himself as his father to save Ibiki's life, he had not only knocked Number Two back with a Rasengan, but had also used the opportunity of close physical contact to habitually leave a Flying Thunder God mark on his body, just in case.
Because Naruto could not yet confirm Hinata's safety, he was afraid of acting rashly and did not dare teleport directly to her side. However, after comparing their positions and discovering that Number Two was gradually heading toward the same route on his pursuit path, he naturally reacted at once.
He realized these were the bastards who had kidnapped Hinata and did not hesitate to use the Flying Thunder God Technique to launch a direct ambush. His first move was a scarlet Rasengan mixed with Kurama's chakra.
Under that full-power strike, after only a single meeting, Naruto easily removed Number Two, a strong accomplice, from the board and knocked out the young master, who was rotten beneath his gilded shell.
Then, with the ready-made templates in front of him, he used two Shadow Clones and the Transformation Jutsu to perfectly replace the two of them and smoothly regrouped with "Hyuga Hiashi."
As for the foul-mouthed young master? Like the brat Naruto had met during the previous exam, he could only be considered an unlucky punching bag who had delivered himself at the wrong time.
Now, he also had one unexpected use: the nonhuman tortures Naruto continued inflicting on him produced intense visual and auditory stimulation, accelerating the collapse of Number Two's mental defenses.
This was preparation for later using the Yamanaka Clan's power to enter his mind and read his memories, so they could prepare follow-up retaliation against the Hidden Cloud Village.
Of course, this was not to say that among the elite members selected by the Root Organization, there was no one more suited than Naruto to replace Number Two and the young master and serve as an insider.
Rather, driven by his own selfishness, unless there was no other choice, Naruto still wanted to try using his own two hands to rescue Hinata from the enemy--just like the heroic rescue his father had once performed for his mother.
Because of that, after confirming that every ambush force was in place and ready, Naruto was no longer as anxious as he had been at the start.
Instead, he developed a hint of the wicked amusement of a cat toying with a mouse, patiently waiting for the Hidden Cloud group's own flaws to show so he could use the camera he had specially sent people a thousand miles away to buy and record decisive evidence that the Hidden Cloud Village could never argue away.
After all, among this seemingly close group of four, Number Two and the young master had not only been replaced by Naruto's Shadow Clones, able to betray them and launch a surprise attack at Naruto's will at any time.
Even the blond young man who claimed to be from the Hidden Cloud Village and specialized in Lightning Style was, upon closer inspection, merely Naruto's true body [the Naruto currently torturing the young master was only a Shadow Clone as well] displaying the adult version of himself under the disguise of the Transformation Jutsu.
And that unknown jutsu which occasionally pierced through solid stone flooring with ease, vividly displaying the penetrating trait of lightning-nature chakra... even thinking with one's toes, one could guess it was simply Chidori, the prototype of Kakashi's original Lightning Style jutsu, Raikiri.
As one of the few people close to Naruto's father, Kakashi had visited Naruto and Sasuke several times during the year and more that Jiraiya trained them. Because of that, not only did Naruto fulfill his promise to have Kakashi teach Sasuke the Chidori, he also learned the move along the way.
Because Naruto's own chakra affinity leaned more toward wind, he was not especially good at Lightning Style. As a result, when Naruto used Chidori, the chakra consumption was far higher than Sasuke's and Kakashi's, making it a case of twice the effort for half the result.
However, first, Naruto could rely on the natural advantage of the Uzumaki Clan's enormous chakra, along with Kurama's plentiful chakra supply, to easily ignore this drawback. Second, while the consumption was much greater, the power was absolutely undiminished.
In other words, among the five people who all seemed to be on the same side, strictly speaking, three of them were actually standing with Konoha... Which meant "Hyuga Hiashi" and Number Three, who looked so confident?
They were nothing more than a pair of turtles in a jar, smugly congratulating themselves.
At the same time, just as Naruto was recreating the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty one by one on the young master without holding back, "Hyuga Hiashi" and the others, who had yet to see any change, began growing restless and uneasy exactly as Naruto expected...
...
"It's about time to close the net... If this drags on any longer, who knows whether they'll notice something wrong, panic, and hurt Hinata."
Seeing that both the repeatedly dodging "Hyuga Hiashi" and the watching Number Three were gradually showing hints of hesitation and impatience, "Number Two" and "the young master" exchanged a glance.
Since they were originally the same person, they instantly understood each other's thoughts and quickly began moving in perfect coordination.
"Stop right there!"
With a shout, "Number Two" imitated the methods Number Two had shown in Naruto's memory and materialized lightning-nature chakra into a suit of lightning armor covering his entire body. Before Number Three could react, he "impulsively" turned into an afterimage and vanished from where he stood.
The next second, he intercepted the space between "Hyuga Hiashi" and the blond young man.
"Haven't you caused enough trouble?!"
With eyes wide and an angry shout, the "powerful" Number Two not only yanked the battered "Hyuga Hiashi" aside, but also turned slightly and just barely avoided the blond young man's merciless thrust.
The instant the young man flashed past him like lightning, Number Two raised a leg and delivered a "swift and powerful" whip kick, sending the young man, who still wanted to continue his pursuit, flying back like a ball.
He rolled several times across the ground before finally stopping and slowly standing again, shocked and wary.
"Lightning armor...? No, no, no. This is far weaker than the lightning armor of the Fourth Raikage-sama and the Third Raikage-sama... But why would Hyuga Hiashi's guard know this move? And isn't the Hyuga Clan focused on Gentle Fist? How can he use ninjutsu too, and Lightning Style at that...? Could it be..."
Seeming confused while secretly laughing inside, Naruto pretended to examine them seriously and muttered, quietly amplifying his voice with chakra. Every word he said entered "Hyuga Hiashi" and Number Three's ears accurately. After a short pause, he frowned, looking suspiciously back and forth at the four people before him.
"You... aren't members of the Hyuga Clan, are you? Who exactly are you?!"
"Oh? That observation and reaction speed... Looks like you're not as dull as I imagined."
Seeing that Number Two's unauthorized action had made the unknown young man suspect their group's identities, "Hyuga Hiashi" was displeased. However, first, it was not suitable to waste more time on such a minor issue, and second, Konoha still had not reacted at all from beginning to end.
His vigilance had unknowingly slipped lower and lower. After a moment of thought, he relied on their clear numerical advantage of four against one and returned to his original voice, giving up on continuing to hide his true identity.
"I don't know who you are... but you fool, open your eyes and look closely! I am not that useless coward Hyuga Hiashi!"
As he spoke, "Hyuga Hiashi" freed one hand. Holding the unconscious Hinata firmly in his arms with only one arm, he slowly raised his other hand before him. Then, with a calm expression and silence, faint sparks of electricity appeared around his fingertips.
At this moment, because his caution had not fully vanished, "Hyuga Hiashi" still kept a small safeguard. Afraid that walls might have ears, he did not directly state his identity. He merely used lightning-nature chakra as an indirect acknowledgment of the man's guess.
"Huh? Since when does the current Hidden Leaf Village's Hyuga Hiashi know Lightning Style? Wait... a Hyuga Hiashi who can use Lightning Style..."
Although Naruto already knew the answer, he still pretended to mutter in confusion to avoid making the man notice anything wrong. Then, after a short pause, he seemed to realize something and stared at "Hyuga Hiashi" in shock. As his eyes moved up and down, he continued stammering,
"Wait. Don't tell me... not only the guards are... even you are...!"
"Nonsense. Otherwise, did you think my subordinates would watch you attack me, the head of the Hyuga Clan, and do nothing?"
Seeing Naruto's slow, stunned reaction, "Hyuga Hiashi" froze for a moment before realizing that the young man had only noticed something was wrong with the guards' identities and still had not realized that even the target, "Hyuga Hiashi," was fake. He shook his head with a helpless urge to laugh, then rolled his eyes.
"I really don't know what the Fourth Raikage-sama saw in you. You only discovered something was wrong now... Your strength is barely passable, but your observation and judgment are truly hard to praise."
"Er... So... So after all this time, not only did I mistake the target... this whole thing was an absurd case of allies fighting allies?!"
Seeing the lightning jumping around the man's fingertips in direct response, a successful-plan smile flashed through Naruto's eyes. At the same time, he raised a hand and scratched his head awkwardly. With an embarrassed grin, he dispersed the chakra he had been gathering in his hand.
Then, raising both hands to show he had no intention of attacking, he slowly walked toward them.
"Hehe, I... I didn't know you were on our side. After all, before I left the village, the information the Fourth Raikage-sama gave me never mentioned that the village had sent anyone else besides me to Konoha for a mission... Sorry for offending you earlier. Please forgive me, forgive me."
"Hmph. You still have the nerve to say that?"
While coldly snorting and complaining on the surface, "Hyuga Hiashi" secretly spread his sensory ability around Naruto, probing the approaching boy again and again.
Only after confirming that Naruto had truly dispersed his gathered chakra just as he appeared to have done, and that there were no signs of him secretly preparing ninjutsu [Chidori required hand seals], did he finally breathe a sigh of relief.
He no longer pulled away and, for the time being, regarded Naruto as a companion as he teased him.
"It's lucky we reacted in time. Otherwise, that first move of yours might really have caused the embarrassing mistake of killing a comrade from the same village!"
"Hehe, right, right. No helping it. This hotheaded, impulsive temper of mine is an old problem. I've never been able to fix it... Thanks to your quick reaction, brother, or I really would have caused a huge mess."
With acting skills refined enough to deceive even an old fox like Danzo, Naruto easily gained "Hyuga Hiashi" and the others' trust. Keeping the awkward smile on his face and making himself look like a simple fool who only knew how to charge ahead, he seemed to notice Hinata just then.
Stopping in front of "Hyuga Hiashi," he curiously poked Hinata's sleeping cheek with one hand, frowned slightly, and lowered his voice to ask,
"Hey, brother... Since you're all here on a mission from the village like me... is this Hyuga Hinata in your arms also one of our comrades in disguise?"
"Oh, you mean this little girl? Of course not. This is the genuine eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan, and our mission target this time."
After repeatedly observing Naruto and seeing nothing strange from this boy who looked especially foolish once he had lost that unstoppable killing intent, "Hyuga Hiashi" believed his words even more and lowered most of his guard.
Hearing the question, he raised the corner of his mouth and lowered his voice as well, sounding half explanatory and half boastful.
"I got this little girl in my hands effortlessly... Look. Even now, she still doesn't know she's been kidnapped. She's still dreaming her sweet dreams under the effects of the drug."
"Oh... so it was a drug. No wonder we made such a commotion and she still didn't wake up... Oh, right. There's one more thing I forgot to tell you earlier."
"Hm? One more thing? What is it?"
"It's this... Does it feel that comfortable, holding my Hinata all this time?"
After hearing his boast, Naruto quietly sensed Hinata and confirmed that, just as the man said, she had only lost consciousness and fallen asleep. There were no other wounds or abnormalities on her body. Only then did he breathe a long sigh of relief inside.
His hand, which had already been poking Hinata's cheek, slid down and wrapped securely around her small waist. At the same time, he lifted his other hand, which should have been completely unprepared. Without any hand seals, a high-speed rotating ball of deep blue chakra formed out of thin air.
Tilting his head slightly, he gave an innocent, harmless smile and slammed the Rasengan straight into "Hyuga Hiashi's" remaining arm, the one still holding Hinata.
"Since you like hugging someone else's wife so much, then... this ignorant arm can count as the interest you owe me!"
Author's note: The part where Naruto tortured the young master was too bloody and had to be blocked... Anyone who wants to see it can join the group. After a while, I'll try to restore the original version and upload the txt file to the group files.
Also, don't let me see anyone complaining about the Naruto setting having cameras or whatever. The first movie already had a movie-making setting, and the Land of Snow even produced advanced technology like holographic projection.
Following that setup, given the tech level of the Naruto world, cameras already existing isn't impossible. If they can be used to shoot movies, they shouldn't be considered especially rare.