Naruto: From Ninja Academy to an Early Grave

After the Akatsuki withdrew, Makoto's group followed Gaara's scent and tracked him into the Land of Rivers by dusk.

They encountered no difficulties along the way. The Akatsuki hadn't bothered covering their tracks at all. It was almost as if they wanted to be followed.

Standing atop a hillside, Kiba and Akamaru sniffed the air.

"Makoto-sensei, we're close. The target is in that direction."

Shino adjusted his sunglasses. It was good news that he hadn't needed to use his Minute Fragrance Beetles. It meant the precious insects he'd worked so hard to obtain could continue living for a long time.

Makoto said, "Hinata, focus your vision and examine the direction Kiba indicated."

"Yes, Sensei!"

Forming a one-handed seal, the young girl concentrated her eyesight to maximize its range in a single direction.

"Ten kilometers ahead, two shinobi are lying in ambush, but the way chakra flows through them is... strange.

"Twelve kilometers ahead, there's a cave protected by a barrier. I can see through it, though. Inside is another shinobi with similarly strange chakra. There's also someone lying on the ground... It's... it's the target of this mission."

Temari anxiously asked, "Is it Gaara? What's happened to him?"

Hinata hesitated before answering.

"There's... no chakra flowing through his body anymore."

The kind-hearted girl couldn't bring herself to bluntly state the cruel truth that Gaara was already dead. But in the shinobi world, if a person's body no longer had any chakra flow, the implication was obvious.

"How could this happen?" Temari cried. "Were we too late?"

Kankurō clenched his fists.

"Don't give up. Let's hurry over there. There might still be a chance."

Makoto wasn't surprised.

This world was clearly different from Adult Sasuke's timeline. He had no idea what method the Akatsuki had used, but somehow they'd extracted the One-Tail from Gaara far more quickly instead of taking three full days and nights like he remembered.

As for those people with abnormal chakra flow, they were probably the result of the Shapeshifting Technique. But there were three of them, which meant Sasori and Deidara hadn't stayed behind to throw their lives away.

Unlike Temari and Kankurō, Chiyo didn't panic over Gaara's death.

Instead, she found herself marveling at Konoha's young shinobi and how complete their team composition was.

What an enviable village.

It never lacked specialists of every kind, and their capabilities were unbelievable. An unassuming Hyūga girl could actually see everything happening more than a dozen kilometers away.

She had lived for so many years and had never heard of anyone from the Hyūga Clan being able to see that far.

On a battlefield, such an ability would be every enemy's worst nightmare.

It seemed the rumors spreading throughout the shinobi world were true.

Over the past few years, Konoha's overall strength really had been advancing at an unimaginable pace.

Of course, she knew it was all thanks to the new training system created by Higashino Makoto.

She simply hadn't expected its effects to be this astonishing.

...

The group rushed forward at full speed.

As expected, just as they neared the cave, the enemy stepped out to block their path.

Kisame rested Samehada on his shoulder, flashing a mouthful of shark-like teeth.

"Well, well. You've all got some skill after all, finding this place so quickly."

"You must be Higashino Makoto-san of Konoha. Interested in sparring with me? I've been very curious about your strength."

Makoto replied, "So you're the infamous monster of Kirigakure, Hoshigaki Kisame. If this were your real body, I'd be interested. Unfortunately, both you and Orochimaru are nothing more than special clones."

"Well, well. Looks like the Leader's technique isn't all that impressive if you saw through it so easily."

Orochimaru shook his head.

"No, Kisame. It's not that the Leader's technique is lacking. It's simply that the man before us is far too extraordinary."

Everyone else: "..."

How was that easy?

They had all thought these were the real bodies. So the abnormal chakra flow Hinata had noticed was because they were special clones.

Makoto gave his orders.

"Team Seven, Team Eight—these two are yours. With your current strength, this should be an easy fight."

"Yes, Sensei!" ×6

Kisame grinned.

"My, my. Feeling pretty confident, aren't you?"

Orochimaru smiled faintly.

"No, Kisame. If that's what you think... you'll die. They're only clones, but it would still be rather embarrassing if a group of Konoha brats defeated us, wouldn't it?"

"Fair point. Looks like I'll have to get serious."

Kiba looked toward Orochimaru.

"Hey... that's Orochimaru, isn't it? One of Konoha's legendary Sannin?"

Naruto nodded.

"Yeah. That's him."

Sasuke stepped forward.

"Kiba, Team Eight can handle Kisame. Team Seven has some personal business to settle with Orochimaru."

Orochimaru smiled at him.

"You've grown, Sasuke. It seems you still remember what happened during the Chūnin Exams. In that case... come with me."

Once both sides had chosen their opponents, the battle began immediately.

As usual, Kisame opened with Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave, instantly turning the battlefield into a vast lake and creating the perfect environment for himself.

Kisame immediately followed up by using Water Release: Thousand Feeding Sharks, summoning a massive school of sharks to lurk beneath the water, intending to tear apart anyone trapped within it.

But he had miscalculated.

The three members of Team Eight weren't swallowed by his Water Release. Instead, they swiftly evaded the successive waves crashing toward them.

Kiba and Hinata landed on the water's surface, seemingly unconcerned that it was completely saturated with Kisame's chakra.

Before the sharks could even reach them, the pair smashed them apart.

Shino, meanwhile, rode an enlarged Senjutsu insect through the air.

Kisame frowned.

This wasn't anything like the Aburame Clan he knew.

The battle that followed quickly confirmed his suspicions.

The supposedly insect-controlling clan wasn't even trying to drain his chakra with their kikaichū. Instead, they had turned into an air force, constantly spitting out spiderweb-like threads to bind him.

Even the Inuzuka and Hyūga Clans—both close-combat specialists—had started fighting at long range. With her Byakugan active, the Hyūga girl relentlessly bombarded him with Eight Trigrams Air Palm, leaving him no chance to calmly weave hand seals.

The Inuzuka clan's dog was even more ridiculous.

Who had ever seen a dog spit out wind blades?

Why do all of you have so much chakra? And why are you all freakishly strong, too?

For a moment, Kisame began questioning reality itself.

It felt as though the shinobi world had suddenly become a completely unfamiliar place.

After finally managing to close the distance, he discovered that even the Shapeshifting Technique weapon, which possessed Samehada's chakra-absorbing properties, couldn't digest his opponent's chakra.

Samehada took a single bite...

...then immediately spat it back out as though it had been poisoned.

In the end, overwhelmed on every front, Kisame was blasted high into the sky by Hinata's Eight Trigrams: Mountain-Shattering Strike, sending him directly toward Shino.

Kisame's eyes lit up.

Spinning around, he drove his blade straight through Shino's mount.

But Shino had already leapt clear.

The pierced Senjutsu insect exploded, transforming into countless tiny insects that completely engulfed Kisame.

By the time he fell back to the ground, every last bit of his chakra had been drained, and he had reverted to the appearance of a White Zetsu.

Hinata immediately stepped forward, took out a sealing scroll, and stored the corpse inside.

That was something Makoto had drilled into them repeatedly.

Never waste an enemy's corpse.

...

On the other side, Orochimaru's Shapeshifting Technique clone was defeated even faster.

The Hidden Shadow Snake Hands he launched during a sudden turn was sliced apart by Sasuke's lightning-coated blade, turning the snakes into roasted serpents.

The disgusting Formation of Ten Thousand Snakes was burned to charcoal by Naruto and Sasuke's combined Wind-and-Fire attack.

An oddly appetizing aroma of grilled meat drifted through the battlefield.

The summoned Manda had barely finished cursing Orochimaru before Naruto blasted him back to Ryūchi Cave with a miniature Rasenshuriken, not even giving him time to figure out what was happening.

While leaping to evade another attack, Orochimaru was suddenly struck from behind by Sakura, who flashed behind him and flattened him with a single punch, instantly reverting him into a White Zetsu.

As Orochimaru received the memories transmitted by his clone while carrying out another mission elsewhere, he also began questioning reality.

Sakura's final punch reminded him all too vividly of the days when Tsunade used to beat him senseless.

Although a White Zetsu Shapeshifting Technique clone possessed sixty percent of the original's chakra, he had never expected it to lose so quickly.

The situation made one thing painfully clear.

Even if his real body had been there, the outcome probably wouldn't have been much different.

Konoha's new generation was astonishingly powerful.

For the first time, Orochimaru felt like a relic abandoned by the old era.

The new age was no longer one where one of Konoha's legendary Sannin could thrive.

Looks like I'll have to find an opportunity to return to Konoha and learn this new training system.

Otherwise, the next time I run into that fool Jiraiya, I'll either die from his laughter... or from his fists.

While the Konoha youngsters battled their respective opponents, Makoto and the other three had already arrived before the riverside cave.

Chiyo couldn't help asking, "Those were Kirigakure's monster and one of the Legendary Sannin. Even if they were only special clones, you're really that confident in your students?"

Makoto smiled.

"That? I'm not worried at all... Oh? They finished already? My adorable students really are capable."

Chiyo: "..."

This is getting ridiculous, Konoha.

You can't keep doing this! How are the other four great shinobi villages supposed to survive if your younger generation is this absurd?

Kankurō didn't have time to worry about any of that.

He hurried forward, intending to push aside the enormous boulder sealing the cave entrance.

His little brother's life still hung in the balance.

Makoto grabbed him by the arm.

"Don't waste your strength. There's a barrier on it. Even if you plastered it with an entire crate of explosive tags, you wouldn't blow it open."

Glancing at the sealing talisman, Chiyo asked, "What kind of barrier is this?"

"The Five Seals Barrier. There are identical sealing talismans at the other four positions. All five have to be removed simultaneously before it can be opened."

Temari frowned.

"But there are only four of us. Would Shadow Clones work?"

"No. Shadow Clones are made entirely of chakra, so the moment they touch the talisman, they'll be absorbed. Besides, there's also a sophisticated trap hidden within the barrier. Removing the seals normally will trigger the mechanism."

Chiyo looked at him.

"Something like this shouldn't be difficult for you, should it?"

"Of course not. It's easy. Since it's a barrier, all I have to do is destroy the internal chakra connections without triggering the trap."

Chiyo: "..."

That's not easy at all.

I've lived this long, and I've never once heard of anyone dismantling a barrier that way.