Just now, Kushina had still been staring at Naruto with a shocked expression.
Then she screamed Minato's name and ran away.
Now, only a few seconds later, Naruto told Yuhi Kurenai that he was the child of Kushina and Minato.
Kurenai's mind was a complete mess; she hadn't calmed down at all.
Naruto laid out all the information to her.
"It's true. I'm someone from the future who accidentally appeared in this era because of a certain type of energy."
"I came here to live for a while because I wanted to see what Konoha was like in this era."
"Now you understand why I wasn't afraid of Asuma, and why I didn't want to get too involved with you, right?"
After Naruto finished speaking, he sighed when he saw Kurenai's overwhelmed expression.
He walked over, patted her shoulder, then jumped down from the academy building.
He…
Had to explain things to Kushina.
After all, if Kushina misunderstood Minato…
And Minato had no way to explain himself…
Then once Kushina and Minato had a falling-out,
Would Naruto… simply vanish from existence?
…
But it turned out Naruto didn't need to explain at all.
Because the relationship between Kushina and Minato was very good.
When Naruto found them, he saw from a distance that the two were laughing and talking together.
Naruto had been worrying too much.
Instead of disturbing them, he turned and left.
Naruto wasn't returning to the academy.
He was heading back to his residence.
He had decided to stay in Konoha a little longer.
If the system didn't issue any missions, he would simply leave.
Days passed.
The Third Great Ninja War broke out—
Exactly for the reason Naruto expected.
The Red Sand Scorpion killed the Third Kazekage and defected.
Sunagakure hid the truth for a while but eventually it was exposed.
With Sunagakure suddenly leaderless, the other great nations grew restless.
Once international tensions rose, the big countries—already full of old grudges—became aggressive and launched wars.
Small nations normally had the large nations keeping order, so their conflicts were minor.
But now that the great nations had begun fighting, they naturally no longer cared about the small ones.
The entire world fell into chaos.
This happened not long after Obito's generation graduated.
And even when Naruto received the war-mobilization announcement from Konoha,
the system still had not issued another mission.
Naruto knew his trip was coming to an end.
He didn't know what Yuhi Kurenai thought about his true identity.
But he did know that this was probably why Kurenai later protected him when he was a child in his own era.
Hiruzen Sarutobi never assigned Naruto to a team.
Now that war had begun, Naruto naturally would not be deployed.
Besides, Hiruzen didn't dare to use Naruto.
As war broke out, the atmosphere in Konoha grew tense.
Naruto didn't want to get involved in this era's affairs anymore, so he chose to leave and return to the Dragon Vein.
That day, Naruto ate, bathed, and put on clean clothes.
He had no luggage, so he left the village alone.
His destination, of course, was the Dragon Vein—
the only place where he could return to his own era.
But just as Naruto had barely taken a few steps away from Konoha…
An incident occurred behind him.
Obito's team—Obito, Nohara Rin, and Kakashi—was sent to the battlefield.
And the system clearly didn't want Naruto to leave yet.
[Ding~ Mission released: Rescue Nohara Rin, who has been captured.
Reward: +3 simulation opportunities]
Oh?
Three simulations?
Naruto stopped walking, thought for a moment, then changed his route.
He vaguely remembered the plot, but didn't know the exact location.
He also didn't know the exact time it would happen.
But Naruto could simply lurk nearby. It would be safe.
And the system's missions never took that long.
Naruto gave up the idea of returning to the Dragon Vein and instead went to secretly monitor Minato's team.
This wasn't difficult for Naruto—actually, it was very easy.
He could even live quite comfortably during this period.
He didn't need to watch the team constantly.
He could live in nearby towns and villages.
Once Rin was captured, he could teleport over instantly using the Flying Thunder God.
As for knowing exactly when Rin was captured?
Naturally—through Kagura's Mind Eye.
The range and sharpness of Kagura's perception depended on chakra strength.
Naruto's chakra had increased dramatically with his age and bloodline awakening.
In the past few months, his chakra had surged even more.
Plus the system had enhanced his physique several times.
Kurama had already said Naruto's chakra was even stronger than its own.
What scared Kurama even more—
Naruto's chakra was still rising.
In the original timeline, Uzumaki Kagura users could sense incredibly long distances.
Which meant Naruto's Kagura Mind Eye covered an enormous range.
Just like that, Naruto stayed hidden near Obito's team.
After some battles, Kakashi developed Raikiri.
But he couldn't control its speed, so Raikiri was both an advantage and a risk for him.
Kakashi was promoted to Jōnin—
likely the youngest Jōnin in Konoha.
Then the famous Kannabi Bridge mission began.
Naruto didn't intervene. He only observed.
Since the mission was to rescue Rin, naturally Rin had to be captured first.
Otherwise, the system would count it as "preventing" capture, not "saving" her.
The mission began, and Minato temporarily left due to an urgent assignment.
As the Jōnin in charge, Kakashi led the team to destroy the bridge.
However, they were ambushed by Rock Shinobi.
Kakashi was wounded in the fight.
Meanwhile, the enemy used a "phasing" jutsu that made their bodies transparent, allowing them to kidnap Rin.
In that crucial moment, Kakashi reunited with Obito.
When they discovered Rin had been taken, they disagreed.
Kakashi believed the mission was more important.
Obito cared more about Rin's safety.
So Obito said the line Kakashi would repeat for the rest of his life:
"How could you abandon a comrade who has shared life and death with you just for the sake of a mission?"
"People who break the rules are trash… but people who don't value their comrades are worse than trash!"
Kakashi was deeply shaken by Obito's words.
Not long after they parted, Kakashi returned to find Obito so they could rescue Rin together.
But according to Naruto's knowledge, Rin was captured twice.
Once by Rock Shinobi—
which led to Obito's "death" and being saved by Madara.
And once by Madara—
which led to Madara's plan succeeding and Obito falling into darkness completely.
The system mission didn't specify which capture Naruto needed to stop.
So it was impossible that he had to wait for Kakashi and Obito to rescue Rin,
then wait for Madara to kidnap her again, and then complete the mission.
Before Obito and Kakashi even arrived, Naruto had already found the place where Rin was being held.
It was a stone cave.
Naruto walked in openly.
Every Rock Shinobi he encountered was killed instantly.
Finally, Naruto found Rin inside the cave—
kidnapped, terrified, and sinking into despair.
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