With Yakumo...
The sun was going down on the sky of Konoha. Apparently, Yakumo and Sai were having Ichiraku Ramen. To Yakumo, having dinner with a friend that you no longer recognized was very uncomfortable
Sai: "Is something wrong, Yakumo?"
Teuchi and Ayame also noticed this.
"You're acting kinda strange, Ayame-chan." Ayame smiled at her. "Is there a problem?"
Yakumo looked up, trying to reassure them. "N-nothing, actually."
Suddenly, multiple figures dropped in front of the Ichiraku Ramen stands, weapons ready. The leader of the Root Anbu squad nodded to Sai.
"Target acquired." The leader said coldly. "Yakumo Kurama, for supporting the traitor, Naruto Uzumaki, your presence are required to Lord Danzo. Cooperate at once."
Yakumo didn't get to react as Sai drew his sword to her neck.
"Stand down." Sai's expression turned hollow within a second. "You stand no chance against Roots."
The pressure was extreme.
"What to do?" Yakumo began to panic. "I'm all cornered."
Then...
"AAAHH!"
Sai turned to the source slightly, and it only took that amount of time before being knocked out with a pan. Yakumo looked and her eyes widened instantly.
The Root Anbu squad was taken out very quickly. Either they got pierced by a stick made of noodles, or got burnt by some explosions
"My, my. Daring to make a mess in my stand? Big mistake."
Yakumo turned to see Teuchi, with heat spheres floating behind him.
Yakumo: "W-what?"
"Good choice when coming here, Yakumo." Ayame smiled as she held the frying fan, which now glowed with chakra.
"Wait, you two are shinobis as well?" Yakumo asked in disbelief.
"To be more exact...I was the Yondaime's teammate." Teuchi smiled kindly. "Along with Mikoto Uchiha. But I retired a long time ago. Ayame is my daughter and apprentice."
Yakumo chuckled slightly at this. "Naruto's mind is gonna explode hearing this."
Ayame: "Anyway, mind explaining all the mess happened just now, Yakumo-chan?"
Yakumo hurriedly explained everything-Danzo's puppet strings on Sai, the secret files, and Danzo's full-scale move against Naruto. Before she could even finish, a flash of golden yellow light illuminated the interior of the ramen stand. Naruto materialized out of thin air, a special Flying Thunder God kunai gripped tightly in his hand, his eyes burning with an intense, icy resolve.
"Yakumo!" Naruto's head snapped toward her, assessing her for injuries.
"I'm fine!" Yakumo said quickly, pointing down at the unconscious ROOT operatives scattered across the dirt. "Teuchi-san and Ayame-nee took them out!"
Naruto blinked, his sharp gaze shifting from the sizzling chakra frying pan in Ayame's hand to the fiery heat spheres slowly dissipating behind Teuchi.
"Teuchi-jiji...?" Naruto muttered, genuine shock cracking his usual calm composure.
"I'll explain my past over a fresh bowl later, kid," Teuchi said, his warm, fatherly smile returning as he wiped down his counter with a rag. "Right now, Danzo has crossed the line. You took his core leverage, and he's burning his bridges to silence you before the Hokage realizes what's happening."
"I know that." Naruto nodded as he picked up two pieces of paper, and tapped them on Sai's forehead. As he wrote the kanjis within seconds, he then spoke. "That's why I came prepared. We just have to stall as long as possible."
"Stall?" Ayame titled her head in confusion. "For what?"
"Danzo, he's coming." Naruto narrowed his eyes as he slammed his palms on each of them. The first one tag was to dispel Kotoamatsukami. And the second one, it took him a while to unravel it, but he managed to remove the seal Danzo put on Sai.
Sai gasped violently, his eyes snapping open. The hollow blankness shattered, replaced by sheer, agonizing clarity as his real memories rushed back.
"N-Naruto...?" Sai choked out, clutching his head in pain. "Danzo... he used Shisui's eye on me... I gave him everything... I betrayed-"
"You didn't betray anyone, Sai," Naruto cut him off firmly, gripping his shoulder. "He forced you. But it ends tonight."
Suddenly, the night sky above the street went completely black. The surrounding buildings were swallowed by a suffocating, unnatural aura of deathly silence. Dozens of dark figures materialized on the rooftops, surrounding the ramen stand from every conceivable angle.
At the center of the street stood Danzo Shimura, his wooden cane tapping against the cobblestones with an ominous click.
"Naruto Uzumaki." Danzo said with a hollow voice. "Your actions are considered as treasons against Konoha. As an elder of Konohagakure, I declare you to be sentenced to death. Surrender now, and I may give you a reduction."
"You're no elder." Naruto narrowed his eyes. "And you made a big mistake coming here."
"Bold words coming from a dying prey." Danzo grinned slightly. "We shall see how long you'll last."
Then, Danzo lifted his cane. "Attack!"
As Naruto's battle went on in Konoha, there was another battle occurred outside Konoha. A battle with time.
Inside a bar of a town near the border, a white-haired old man was having his best time drinking sakes, and surrounded by girls.
Suddenly, a scroll appeared on the desk. Jiraiya's head suddenly snapped as he realized where the scroll came from.
"The Namikaze's emergency headline?" Jiraiya muttered. "That shouldn't be possible."
Then, he turned to the girls around him. "Alright, thanks for the service. I'm having my business now."
After the girls left, he then picked up the note written on it.
Deliver this to the Daimyo as soon as possible.
The paper in Jiraiya's hand trembled slightly as his sharp eyes devoured every single word. Attached to the Namikaze emergency scroll were precise, undeniable copies of ROOT's off-the-books ledgers: the Uchiha massacre orders, the illegal abduction and conditioning of Minato's eldest daughter, the splitting of the triplets, and the unauthorized cloning projects using the Fourth Hokage's DNA.
"That absolute bastard..." Jiraiya growled, his face twisting into a mask of pure, unadulterated fury. The relaxed, drunken demeanor vanished in an instant, replaced by the terrifying aura of a Legendary Sannin. He bit his thumb, slapped his palm against the floorboards, and summoned a swift messenger toad, sealing the documents into a heavy scroll. "Take this directly to the Fire Daimyō's palace! Do not stop for anything!"
Back in the heart of Konoha, the quiet street around Ichiraku Ramen had transformed into a bloody meat grinder.
Dozens of elite ROOT operatives surged forward from the rooftops, swords drawn, their silent, mechanical chakra filling the air. But they weren't facing an ordinary child.
"Ayame, cover the left!" Teuchi barked, his calm, ramen-chef persona completely discarded. With a swift weave of hand signs, three scorching spheres of refined Fire Release chakra shot outward, incinerating four ROOT assassins mid-air before they could even land on the street.
Ayame moved like a blur, her chakra-infused frying pan striking with absolute, bone-shattering force. "Don't you dare touch my shop!" she roared, deflecting a barrage of poisoned Senbon and kicking a masked operative straight through a wooden fence.
Sai stood back-to-back with Yakumo, his sketchbook open as ink-drawn beasts tore into the surrounding enemy lines. Yakumo's eyes burned with absolute focus; every time a ROOT agent got close, her subtle, terrifying genjutsu caused them to strike their own comrades, trapping them in endless loops of horrific nightmare visions.
At the center of the storm stood Naruto.
He didn't use flashy, massive ninjutsu. His movements were frighteningly minimalist, stepping smoothly inside the guards of ROOT's deadliest killers, disabling their chakra points with precise finger strikes and leaving a trail of unconscious bodies in his wake.
Danzo watched the absolute slaughter of his elite forces with a growing, bitter rage. The boy wasn't just surviving-he was commanding the battlefield with the cold, calculated perfection of a seasoned general.
"Useless fools," Danzo spat, his hand moving to the dark bandages covering his right arm. He unwrapped the cloth, revealing the pale, grotesque arm studded with glowing Sharingan eyes stolen from the Uchiha clan. "I will break you myself, boy!"
Danzo lunged forward, his wind-infused cane slashing through the air like a razor blade.
Naruto didn't shrink back. He drew his father's Flying Thunder God kunai, his blue eyes locking onto the ancient tyrant with a freezing, absolute calm.
"You stole my family," Naruto whispered, his voice carrying an icy weight that echoed through the empty street. "You broke my friend. You tried to turn my home into your personal chessboard. It ends tonight, Danzo."