“What did our Kyoka do today? Did you listen to your mother while at home?” Mr. Izumi couldn't help but smile the moment he saw his daughter. He leaned down, picked her up, pressed his face against hers, rubbing against her gently as he asked with extreme tenderness.
Fine strands of black hair brushed against Izumi Kyoka's face, tickling her and making her laugh incessantly as she repeatedly tried to push Mr. Izumi's face away.
It tickles, it tickles, it's so itchy.
Mrs. Izumi looked up at the sky; the three or four o'clock sun was still hanging high. It was clearly not her husband's usual time to finish work. She stood up and took the bag from her husband's hands: "Why are you back so suddenly?"
Hearing his wife's question, Mr. Izumi first set down his daughter in his arms and patted her head. "Go play! Daddy needs to talk to Mommy about something."
Izumi Kyoka, having been set down, seemed quite familiar with such actions, obediently taking her doll and running off to one side.
“The higher-ups are transferring us to Yokohama next week, so we'll likely have to work overtime continuously for a long time; we decided to take some time off in advance instead.” Mr. Izumi sat at the table and took a sip of tea, his peripheral vision catching his daughter as she crouched down, seemingly observing the creatures in the grass.
“Yokohama? It seems a bit chaotic lately. I heard that the leader of their largest underground power, the Port Mafia, might have changed, right?” Mrs. Izumi asked, her temperament resembling that of a Yamato Nadeshiko, yet the content of her words was nothing like what an ordinary person would say.
"Yes, our current mission is also somewhat related to them," Mr. Izumi said, leaving the matter implied.
While the two were talking, a man dressed entirely in tight black clothing, wrapped so tightly that his features were indistinguishable, rushed toward Mr. Izumi from a corner, holding a dagger in his hand.
Mr. Izumi and his wife seemed to have been frightened by the person who suddenly appeared, sitting there motionless and allowing the man in black to charge toward them.
Just as the sharp weapon in the man's hand was about to pierce Mr. Izumi's heart, the seemingly stunned Mr. Izumi leaned his body slightly backward, skillfully dodging the fatal blow.
The man in black cried out in dismay, immediately feeling a sharp pain in his back as he was slammed to the ground with such force that he instantly lost all ability to move.
The assassin struggled to turn his head, only to see the target smiling, a gun pointed directly at his head. At this moment, Mr. Izumi's aura was so chilling that he bore no resemblance to the ordinary office worker he had been before.
It turned out that the seemingly defenseless Mr. Izumi was actually a secret intelligence operative for the Government, while his wife was an assassin with special abilities.
The two were not only husband and wife, but also partners.
Mr. Izumi, who held a wealth of secret intelligence, had experienced this kind of assassination scene countless times; he had long since mastered it, to the point where he even had the leisure to comment on the black-clad man's attire.
“The assassins these days are really getting worse and worse. Have you been watching too many TV dramas? Wearing black in broad daylight—do you feel like you aren't inconspicuous enough?”
Hearing such words, a flash of shame and anger flickered in the assassin's eyes. The original plan had been to carry out the assassination after nightfall, but who could have guessed the target would return so early? Having missed such a timing, he might not find such a perfect opportunity again, so he had no choice but to proceed with the mission ahead of schedule.
Mr. Izumi didn't care what the assassin was thinking and simply smiled as he fired a shot at him. Perhaps because the distance was too close, a few drops of blood splashed onto Mr. Izumi's face.
What was happening? The relaxed smile on Mr. Izumi's face froze; he suddenly discovered that his body was beginning to lose control.
"What's wrong?" Mrs. Izumi keenly sensed that her husband, who had his back to her, seemed to be in an unusual state.
Mr. Izumi turned around as if his limbs were uncoordinated, his hand slowly rising to aim the gun in his hand at Mrs. Izumi.
Amidst her shock, Mrs. Izumi saw fiery red patterns appear on her husband's face, spreading from his face across his body.
Mr. Izumi saw the astonishment in his wife's eyes, yet he still uncontrollably pulled the trigger.
The moment the bullet was fired, Mrs. Izumi's ability [Yasha Hakubyaku] was passively triggered, the sword of her humanoid ability sliced through Mr. Izumi's body.
Another drop of blood splashed onto Mrs. Izumi's face, she felt a burning sensation on her skin, while simultaneously losing control over her body.
This feeling! Mrs. Izumi suddenly understood; the opponent possessed a mental control-type ability, the medium for that control was blood.
In the courtyard, the little girl in a kimono, who had been crouching to observe the bushes, seemed to suddenly remember something as she stood up and turned toward the house.
"Daddy, can I go outside to play?" Completely unaware of what had just happened to her parents, Izumi Kyoka walked toward the house.
Mrs. Izumi's facial muscles twitched as she felt her hand uncontrollably draw a knife toward her daughter.
Absolutely not! A flash of determination crossed Mrs. Izumi's eyes; her concern for her daughter allowed her to miraculously break free from the enemy's control for a moment, enabling her to issue a final command to Yasha Hakubyaku.
"Mom!" The little girl's eyes widened as she watched, completely defenseless, as the sword in the hands of the white-haired humanoid ability user plunged through her mother's back and into her own body.
!
A person crashed straight through the roof, falling from the sky right in front of them, even knocked away the humanoid ability.
Mrs. Izumi watched helplessly as a drop of blood splashed onto the face of the blonde youth who had descended from the sky.
Immediately following that, the blonde youth froze for a moment before red patterns began to appear on his face; he then took on an expression of agony, shouting something as if he were arguing with someone inside his mind.
Uzumaki Naruto felt incredibly unlucky. While fighting in the Fourth Shinobi World War, he discovered that this war was essentially caused by the various Uchiha who had left the village, not to mention how he had been chasing after the rogue Uchiha Sasuke all these years and still couldn't catch him!
Under these circumstances, he naturally developed "Sasuke Leaving the Village PTSD."
So after the dust settled on that earth-shattering battle, it hadn't even been two days since Sasuke left the village before Naruto, unable to suppress his urge to chase after him, left a letter and followed close behind.
As for what should be done back in the village, well, Naruto thought that Kakashi-sensei would definitely be able to handle it.
As it turned out, Sasuke did catch up, the two of them were finally managing to search the ruins in harmony. But that guy, the Sage of Six Paths, had popped out from some random corner and used a technique, leaving him not only inexplicably appearing in this strange place but also separated from Sasuke!
Inside Naruto at this moment, the assassin, who had just successfully launched a sneak attack, found himself in a massive space. A blonde youth stood opposite him, with a nine-tailed fox by his side.
The assassin was shocked; his ability had never encountered such a situation before. Was the guy opposite him really human? Why was there a fox inside him!
But this didn't stop him from beginning to use his mental control ability.
“Ah, my head!” Uzumaki Naruto crouched down, clutching his head with a distorted expression.
The Nine-Tails, who was resting, was also startled awake by the sudden appearance of the human. Immediately following that, it discovered that the human, who looked like a tiny insect in its eyes, had come to seize its territory, was actually attempting to use mental control on Naruto.
It was so angry that both of its fox ears stood up in fury.
What a joke! Besides the Uchiha Clan, someone actually dares to compete with it for mental control over the Jinchuriki!
In an instant, all the frustration of being controlled by the Uchiha Clan all those years rushed back, the Nine-Tails unleashed its divine courage, slapping the assassin.
The poor assassin had never encountered a creature like a Tailed Beast before; without even a proper resistance, the Nine-Tails was simply swatted away like that.
“Finally finished.” Uzumaki Naruto wiped the non-existent sweat from his forehead. “That was close, believe it! Thank goodness you were there, Kurama.”
He was truly not good at breaking through this kind of mental control ability.
"Hmph, this level of mental control is far inferior to the Uchiha, yet you still think you can steal control from me." While the Nine-Tails' face remained impassive, its nine tails flickered and lashed behind it.
"That's right, that's right, Sasuke's Sharingan is indeed very powerful." Naruto agreed half-heartedly, nearly getting slapped down by one of the Nine-Tails' tails.
This kid is beyond help, all he knows how to do is mumble about that Uchiha Sasuke all day. The Nine-Tails impatiently kicked Naruto out of the mental world.
Then Naruto saw two people lying on the ground, looking like they were about to collapse.
Ah, what should I do? These two look like they're dying!" Uzumaki Naruto panicked, "I don't know any medical ninjutsu!
Izumi Kyoka looked at her father and mother, who lay collapsed in a pool of blood, threw herself beside them, beginning to cry.
Mom! Dad!
"Ah! Why is the kid crying too? Don't cry!" Naruto said, flustered.
[Idiot, quickly take out your Wood Style necklace]
The Nine-Tails couldn't stand it anymore.
Uzumaki Naruto hurriedly took out the Wood Style necklace, examined it, placed it on the man whose breath was weakest. Soon, the man's fading breath began to gradually recover.
"Thank you." Mr. Izumi regained his senses after the assassin transferred control, but his injuries were too severe, leaving him able to do nothing but watch the events unfold.
He felt he had regained a bit of strength and struggled to find his phone to hand it to his daughter. "Kyoka, don't be afraid."
“Do you still remember how I taught you to handle this kind of situation before?”
Izumi Kyoka seemed to remember something; she wiped away her tears, took the phone, made a call.
After a chaotic and frantic ordeal, Uzumaki Naruto finally managed to get the two of them to the hospital safely.
Due to being sent to the hospital in time and the healing from the Wood Style necklace, both Mr. Izumi and his wife survived, leaving them without any irreversible major injuries.
Realizing there was nothing more he could do, Naruto began to observe his surroundings; after all, having undergone so many years of Ninja training, his information-gathering skills were quite decent.
So after taking a look around, Uzumaki Naruto blankly realized that the place he was currently in didn't seem to be the Shinobi World.
“Where on earth am I!” Naruto muttered, rubbing his chin in dissatisfaction. “What is that Sage of Six Paths guy up to?! Why did he bring me here, where did he put Sasuke? Arghhh!”
At the thought of being separated from Sasuke again, he irritably ran his hands through his hair, feeling incredibly depressed.
“You also have the surname Uchiha? Then may I ask, are you related to Uchiha Izuna?”
We are relatives, yes—the kind where you'd have to call him your ancestor in daily life.
Uchiha? Uzumaki Naruto's ears sharply caught the words "Uchiha," and he suddenly turned toward the source of the voice.
“Then you two must be the best-looking ones in your family,” the host, who was holding the microphone, exclaimed in admiration.
"You're mistaken, my appearance isn't anything special in my family." The man on the television shook his head. He was strikingly handsome, but the words he spoke left those listening in shock.
Uzumaki Naruto stared at the person on the television with his mouth wide open in shock, he could no longer hear what was being said next.
“Huh? Isn't that.. isn't that Kakashi-sensei's someone?" He stared at the familiar face on the television. Although he didn't know why the scar on the man's face was gone, it didn't stop him from recognizing his identity. Wasn't this Uchiha Obito, the man who had fought them for half the Fourth Shinobi War?
But wasn't Uchiha Obito already dead? Naruto felt as though he had been greatly startled.
What is going on? Why is a dead person appearing on television?
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Author's Note: This chapter is part of tomorrow's ten-thousand-word update. Since many readers will likely only follow the story up to this point, this is a gift. Thank you all for constantly following my books and for being so patient with my whims.
As a writer, seeing you enjoy what you read is the greatest affirmation I could receive. I wish you all happiness every day! Thank you to all the little angels who gave me Overlord Tickets or nourished me with Nutrient Solution between 2021-05-10 20:42:21 and 2021-07-08 17:52:50~
Thanks to the little angels who provided nutrient solution: Lengyue (7 bottles); Baozi Laixi, Yixiguang (1 bottle each);
Thank you all so much for your support, I will continue to work hard!
Chapter 38
Uchiha Sasuke, who saw this same scene on the television..
“Is that Uchiha Obito? Why is he appearing on TV?”
Uchiha Sasuke tilted his head to the side and asked Oda Sakunosuke about his doubts.
Because his injuries were severe, Uchiha Sasuke was currently lying in bed recovering. To prevent him from feeling bored during his recovery, Oda Sakunosuke, who was highly experienced in caring for the injured, even put the television on for him.
Because he wanted to gather intelligence from the television, Uchiha Sasuke accepted this behavior.
Just like that, Uchiha Sasuke unexpectedly saw someone who had long since passed away on the television, for a moment, his emotions became quite complicated.
Although he already knew of Uchiha Obito's existence, knowing and seeing a living, breathing person standing before him were two completely different feelings.
Moreover, since he could see Uchiha Obito there, it meant that everything Oda Sakunosuke said was true, his brother Uchiha Itachi was indeed here as well.
Regarding his older brother Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Sasuke both wanted to see him immediately and, because of the hatred he had carried for so many years, truly did not know what kind of emotion he should use to face him.