Naruto: Let the glory of the giants spread throughout the ninja world!

The entrance to the Forest of Death resembled the mouth of a giant beast, swallowing up wave after wave of examinees.

The moment Ryukura Akira, Haku, and Zabuza, disguised as "Kozuki Momonosuke," stepped into the forest, the light suddenly dimmed.

The iron gate behind them slammed shut with a clang, signifying that this would be their battlefield for the next five days.

Instead of moving forward, the three of them stopped in place, forming a simple triangular formation back to back, and observed their surroundings.

"A new future, do you see it?" Zabuza asked in a low voice, his gaze sweeping across the dark, dense forest.

Ryukura Akira was silent for a moment, then slowly said, "I saw three scenes."

"explain."

"The Nine-Tails and the One-Tails are fighting in the Forest of Death." Ryukura Akira paused.

"The Third Hokage is fighting two people, and the examiner, Mitarashi Anko, is fighting one person in the Forest of Death."

Zabuza's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

Nine-Tails Naruto Uzumaki. The red-haired boy from Sunagakure, the One-Tailed Beast. If these two Jinchūriki were to fight in the forest…

"Can you see the result?"

Ryukura Akira shook his head: "It's fragmented; you can't see the cause and effect, nor the ending."

Zabuza didn't ask any further questions. He took out a scroll from his pocket—a security mission manual that the Third Hokage had given him privately before his departure.

He unfolded it, glanced at it, and then put the scroll away again.

"I'm going on a mission." He looked at the two of them, his tone still cold, but with a hint of barely perceptible caution, "Take care of yourselves."

"Don't worry, Mr. Zabuza." Haku nodded with a smile.

Zabuza glanced at Ryukura Akira, said nothing, and vanished into the depths of the dense forest in a flash.

Ryukura watched him leave, then took out his own scroll from his pocket.

"The Book of Heaven".

He raised an eyebrow and handed the scroll to Bai Kan: "Good luck, a great start."

Bai took the scroll, glanced at it, and laughed, "Then all we need to do is snatch the Book of Earth, and we can complete the mission ahead of schedule."

"Let's go find the lucky one."

The two did not try to hide their tracks; instead, they walked openly through the forest.

Less than half an hour later, a group of unlucky Kusagakure examinees bumped into them.

"Hey! You two!" The leader of the grass ninjas' eyes lit up when he saw there were only two of them. "Hand over the scroll, and I'll spare your lives!"

His two companions behind him also surrounded him with sinister smiles.

Ryukura Akira turned to look at Bai.

Bai tilted his head, his face completely innocent: "Shall we make a move?"

Let's finish this quickly.

As soon as he finished speaking, Bai's body disappeared from the spot.

Three seconds later.

The three ninjas lay neatly in the pile of fallen leaves, fast asleep peacefully.

Shiro patted non-existent dust off his hands, bent down and pulled a scroll from the leader's body, handing it to Ryukura Akira.

"The Book of Earth"

Ryukura Akira took it and placed it together with the Book of Heaven in his arms.

mission completed.

"Let's go." He packed up the scroll and looked into the depths of the forest. "The mission is complete, time to take a stroll."

Bai, standing beside him, asked curiously, "Aren't we going to turn in the mission?"

"There are still more than four days left." Ryukura Akira stretched. "It would be a shame to come all this way and not see what's going on."

Bai thought for a moment, then smiled and nodded, "That's true."

The two strolled leisurely through the Death Forest.

Occasionally, one could hear sounds of fighting and screams in the distance, and occasionally see figures darting swiftly through the tree branches.

Neither of them seemed inclined to interfere; they simply continued walking leisurely.

"Xiao Ming," Bai suddenly spoke up, "are you really not handing over the task just because you want to wander around?"

"Hehe, Bai is as smart as ever," Ryukura Akira smiled at Bai. "Actually, I want to interfere in some things."

Bai frowned. "Xiaoming, you should tell Zabuza-san."

"I have nothing to hide from Zabuza-san." Ryukura Akira shook his head. "But you see, despite Zabuza-san's cold demeanor, once he knows what I'm going to do, he will definitely stop me."

"What exactly do you want?"

Ryukura Akira was silent for a moment before slowly speaking: "Actually, there were three people fighting the Third Hokage. And the third person is the same person who fought Mitarashi Anko."

Bai was stunned: "What does this have to do with your adventure?"

"Of course it's related." Ryukura Akira's voice suddenly lowered, trembling slightly. "Those two who fought the Third Hokage..."

He looked up, his eyes filled with complex emotions: "I saw their faces, exactly like the First Hokage and the Second Hokage on the Hokage Rock."

Bai froze on the spot.

"How is that possible?" His voice became hoarse. "The dead cannot be brought back to life. Isn't that common sense?"

"No." Ryukura Akira shook his head. "People can be brought back to life. These past few days I've seen some fragments about the Fourth Shinobi World War."

He paused, took a deep breath, and said, "I saw the Fourth Hokage of Konoha, the one who should have died long ago."

He opened his mouth, but found himself unable to speak.

"So I suspect that guy has a direct connection to the Fourth Shinobi World War." Ryukura Akira walked up to Haku, looking directly into his eyes. "He may possess some kind of ninjutsu that can revive the dead."

"I want to try to stop this disaster at its root."

"But," Bai stepped forward urgently, "can the two of us really defeat an existence capable of overturning the entire ninja world?"

His voice held an unusual panic: "Should we just tell the Third Hokage? At least it won't be that dangerous."

Ryukura Akira smiled.

"Haku, telling the Third Hokage is useless." His tone was calmer than that of a twelve-year-old boy. "Since that guy dared to fight the Third Hokage in Konoha, it means he's not afraid of being captured at all."

"I wasn't planning on defeating him." He paused, "I just wanted to get a feel for his abilities beforehand."

"As for the danger,"

Ryukura Akira suddenly whistled and revealed a sly smile.

"How could someone as afraid of death as me possibly go myself?"

He silently chanted in his mind: "System, deploy your body and position yourself behind me."

Bai saw a huge burst of steam suddenly erupt behind Liu Cangming.

What followed was a beast-like growl.

A strong wind swept in from behind Akira Ryukura, making his hair fly wildly.

A huge foot landed beside him, causing the ground to tremble slightly.

Bai looked up and saw the giant from that day.

It stood quietly behind Ryukura Akira, its blood-red eyes gazing down into the dark forest.

Akira Ryukura turned around and waved at the giant: "Ohayo, Giant-chan~"

Then he turned to the dumbfounded Bai and explained:

"I've been communicating with this big guy these past few days. It's actually kind of a parasite of mine—in a sense, as long as I'm alive, it's immortal."

"And there's a connection between us now." He pointed to his eyes. "We can share vision and feelings, but right now I can't take care of my body and the giant's body at the same time."

"Shiro, based on the fragments I saw, the battle between Mitarashi Anko and that guy has likely already begun. I need you to protect me, to protect my body."

He paused, his gaze sincere:

"That's the real reason we're 'strolling around.' Actually, even if you hadn't asked, I would have told you the truth."