"How'd you figure it out?" the white-haired shinobi in the headband asked.
"Heh..." The transformation technique dispersed, revealing the wounded Iruka leaning against a tree trunk to the rogue Chunin.
Mizuki cursed elaborately.
Nearby, leaning against another tree, hid a blond boy in an orange jumpsuit. He clutched the scroll of secret techniques with all his might. The kid still couldn't believe what Mizuki had told him. But bit by bit, it was all falling into place.
He was a demon. That's why everyone hated him. Everyone knew. But why hadn't anyone told Naruto? Why keep him in the dark?
The two teachers' conversation didn't drag on. He finally realized the rogue Chunin was telling the truth. Iruka-sensei and everyone else could hate him just fine. But then why had Iruka-sensei treated him to ramen, always cheered him up? Why had the teacher shielded him from that massive flying shuriken earlier? And why was he trying to protect him now?
Suddenly, all three on the clearing felt a strange faint tremor. It wasn't like an earthquake's ground shake; more like the whole world was rattling. Space rippled like water.
After a bit, everything quieted...
*Boom*
Abruptly, a massive impact echoed from deep in the forest, a few miles from the trio. The shockwave even reached them. The standing Chunin barely stayed on his feet.
"Bijuu! What was that?" the stunned Mizuki demanded, forgetting all about Iruka.
The sound was like someone blowing up a warehouse full of explosive seals. The shinobi froze for a moment, staring toward the presumed blast site.
No further explosions followed, just distant caws of startled birds and cries of frightened beasts. So Mizuki calmed down, though he stayed vigilant. Time was tight now; he had to hurry with his plan, then get the hell out. ANBU would show up at the explosion site soon.
"Hm..." The rogue shinobi narrowed his eyes. "Whatever it was—doesn't matter. I was gonna deal with you later, Iruka... but I've changed my mind! I'll finish you first, then the brat."
Mizuki grinned madly and slowly drew his Fuma Shuriken from his back. In the next moment, he spun the weapon and charged the wounded shinobi.
"You're done for!"
*Boom*
Space tore open; a bald guy in shorts and a Hawaiian shirt leaped from the portal vortex.
"What? Already night?" Saitama looked around for familiar landmarks, but only forest surrounded him.
The portal behind the hero began closing gradually, and the guy wondered why it had been noon just recently but was now deep night.
"Now how do I find my way to Z City? Damn! Gotta check on Genos quick. Guess I'll go by feel—and the faster, the better."
Picking a direction, he hit serious speed right away and ran wherever his eyes took him. Monstrously huge tree giants blurred past on either side. Sometimes the tree giants got unlucky and met Saitama, but the bald hero didn't care much. A couple moments later, he spotted some people on a small clearing beyond the trees and stopped.
Saitama's joy knew no bounds. People! Lady Luck was definitely smiling on him today. Meeting anyone in an unfamiliar forest at night was a miracle—a gift from the heavens.
In the next instant, a massive shuriken came flying straight at him, slicing through branches.
"Wha—..." was all the hero could say as he stopped the blade between two fingers... an inch from his eye.
"This is trouble," Saitama thought. If the people were hostile, he'd probably never find out where he was or how to reach the nearest city.
"Who's there? Show yourself!" shouted the guy with white hair and a headband, rising from the ground.
Saitama stepped out with hands raised, still gripping the huge shuriken in one. He didn't want to provoke the strangers, so he plastered on the dumbest face he could muster.
He was greeted by a curious scene. One guy was badly wounded and sitting against a tree; a small log lay near him. The headband guy was a bit beat up but on his feet. Both wore the same weird uniform with green vests. The third was a little kid in an orange jumpsuit with blue accents.
"At least one of 'em has decent style," Saitama thought, "though yellow with red would've been better..."
What surprised Saitama most was the kid's stance: legs spread, fingers forming a weird cross, his hard gaze flicking between him and the headband guy.
"Who the hell are you?" the white-haired one asked. "And what Bijuu luck let you snag my Fuma Shuriken? Hand it over now."
Caped Baldy lowered his arms and stared puzzled at the metal hunk pinched between his fingers.
"Oh. Sorry, gimme a sec to return it..."
Saitama needed to get back to Z City ASAP. If he cleared up this misunderstanding, maybe they'd point him home. So he decided to be polite and give the weird metal thing back to the stranger.
*Whistle*
"Oops," the bald hero muttered.
The white-haired guy barely escaped the shuriken's path with a replacement technique. Who knew the headband guy wasn't gonna catch his toy?
The shuriken sliced the log that popped up in the air and hurtled toward the nearest tree, embedding halfway up the blade.
"What Bijuu crap? You crazy?" Mizuki bellowed. "You're dead!"
After the replacement, the shinobi charged straight at the bald stranger, drawing a kunai from his pouch. Rage clenched his jaw and shook his body...
The Chunin should've stopped yapping earlier and hurried to finish things. But no, he decided to toy with his victims. And everything was going fine until that explosion deep in the forest during the scroll chase. Mizuki had nearly bailed, but after the long quiet, he pressed on to kill the teacher Chunin, then grab the scroll and the kid.
But then everything went sideways. The snot-nosed brat tripped him up and stopped his attack on Iruka. Distant rumbling echoed. And to top it off, his last Fuma Shuriken vanished into the woods, lopping branches.
Then, moments later, some bald dude emerged with his Fuma Shuriken. One bright spot for the rogue Chunin: the guy looked dopey and nothing like a shinobi. So Mizuki figured he'd off the unwanted witness, then the little Jinchuriki and wounded Iruka.
Thoughts of failure only fired up the Chunin, and accelerating, he struck precisely at the bald stranger's eye.
"Wh-what...?" Mizuki whispered, stunned.
The guy stopped the kunai practically at his eye. The shinobi tried to yank it free but couldn't. It was like it'd been sunk into bedrock up to the hilt.
The stranger's dopey face took on a sharp, piercing, cold expression.
"Quit poking me with your metal junk," he said grimly. "Better tell me how to get to Z City."
"Huh...?"
The question came from everyone at once. None on the clearing could make sense of what this bald man was on about. What Z City? Nothing like that for hundreds of miles. There was the Land of Fire capital, Hidden Leaf Village, and small settlements. Probably no such city on the whole continent.
Snapping out of his brief daze, Mizuki tried wrenching the kunai again. No dice.
"Go to hell, baldy!" the Chunin growled.
A powerful wave of yaki* crashed over the clearing, making everyone break out in cold sweat.
(Yaki—murderous intent; ki—energy. "Yaki" feels more fitting here.)
The corner of Saitama's mouth twitched, and the kunai in his hand shattered to fragments.
Above all else on earth, Caped Baldy hated two things. First, mosquitoes. Second, anyone calling out his baldness. What could he do? His grueling training had led to this, stripping him of his hair.
"YEAH! I'M BALD! GOT A PROBLEM?" Saitama roared.
But he reined himself in and calmed down. He needed to get to Z City, so yelling wouldn't get anyone to show him the way.
The shocked white-haired guy dropped to his knees and trembled after a couple seconds. Fear, probably. Saitama figured no talking with that one, so he headed for the others. He hadn't gone a few steps when the headband guy grinned slyly, leaped up, and attacked again with a kunai.
"You're really pissing me off with your metal junk!" Saitama yelled, launching the hapless Chunin into flight.
The white-haired guy smashed into a tree from the uppercut, his body slowly sliding down and dangling from a thick branch. Unclear if he was out cold or dead.
"So, about Z City? You guys gonna help me find the way?"
"Sure, dattebayo!" the blond kid replied chipperly. "Right, Iruka-sensei?"
"Uh... yeah, Naruto. We'll help him," the shinobi replied with slight hesitation. "Thanks. We wouldn't have handled that without you..."
Saitama stared at the wounded guy in confusion:
"Handled what? What's even going on here?"
No one got to answer, because five masked figures landed before him, then five more to his left. The ten quickly spread out, encircling the clearing. Two mednins dropped beside Iruka and started first aid.
In the next moment, a man in light robes and a hat strolled out from behind the trees. In the moonlight, his gray goatee was visible.
"Hokage-sama!" Iruka tried rising, but the mednin forced the Chunin back down and examined the wounds.
"Old man!" Naruto yelled happily. "We caught the traitor... and I learned a cool new technique. And we met this awesome bald dude! Get this, he took out Mizuki with one punch... and then..."
The hyper kid's info flood threatened to become verbal diarrhea. The ANBU exchanged glances.
"Enough, Naruto," Hiruzen cut the boy off sternly.
The Hokage assessed the scene, eyed Mizuki's body dangling from the tree with interest, then fixed a piercing gaze on the outsider. Tense silence fell over the clearing.
***
Read the story months ahead of the public release — early chapters are available on my Patreon: patreon.com/Granulan