"Granny Tsunade! What's this news about Sasuke defecting?! Could it be some kind of misunderstanding!?"
Before he even arrived, Naruto's voice rang out ahead of him.
Menma's defection had only happened a little over half a month ago.
Now Sasuke had defected too?!
Naruto simply couldn't accept such a development.
"Naruto, calm down first. This isn't one hundred percent confirmed yet. It's also possible that Sasuke was abducted."
Defection was defection.
For anyone else, there wouldn't be any sugarcoating it. But when it came to Menma and Sasuke, there could be other interpretations.
Again, as long as the two were truly willing to have a change of heart...
Tsunade was one hundred percent confident she could "whitewash" both of them.
She could let Menma and Sasuke continue wearing their Leaf forehead protectors and walk openly on the streets of the Hidden Leaf Village.
This was Tsunade's "favoritism" toward Naruto.
"Abducted? Is that it? Yeah, it must be! Then we have to go rescue Sasuke immediately! Granny Tsunade!"
Rationally, Naruto understood, but emotionally, he couldn't accept it. You could say it was Naruto's self-hypnosis—whether it was Menma or Sasuke, Naruto truly regarded their departures as "involuntary choices."
"Yes, I called you here for exactly that reason. Naruto, the village is extremely short on manpower right now. I can't assign too many people to help you. I can only assign one person; the rest of the members you'll have to arrange yourself. I must warn you first: the people who took Sasuke are Orochimaru's elite subordinates. Their strength is formidable."
Tsunade clasped her hands on the desk, speaking with a solemn expression.
"Yeah, I get it. Don't worry, Granny Tsunade. Uh? One helper... who are you talking about?"
Naruto nodded solemnly at first, then, as if just realizing what she said, asked with a confused look.
"Oh, speak of the devil and he shall appear. Come in."
Just as Tsunade was about to say the helper's name...
Footsteps came from outside the door.
Followed by a crisp knock-knock on the door.
Tsunade called out loudly.
The next second.
With a creak, the door was pushed open. As a familiar spiky ponytail came into view...
"Oh!? Isn't that Shikamaru!"
Naruto's eyes lit up instantly, and he shouted with a touch of pleasant surprise.
"Huh? It's Naruto. Why are you here too?"
Shikamaru was also stunned for a moment upon seeing Naruto.
"You're just in time, Shikamaru. I called you here because there's a mission I need to entrust to you. The same goes for Naruto. Currently, the village lacks combat power. This mission is entrusted to the two of you to execute. You can find the remaining helpers yourselves, just report it afterward. The mission objective is to retrieve the abducted Sasuke Uchiha. Here is the latest intelligence gathered by the reconnaissance squad. Shikamaru, Naruto, use this as a preliminary reference."
As Tsunade spoke, she signaled Shizune to hand the intelligence scroll she had received earlier to the two boys.
"!?"
Shikamaru's eyes nearly popped out of his head when he suddenly heard the mission details.
What the hell?
Sasuke was abducted?
No matter how he heard it, it felt incredibly surreal.
Shikamaru subconsciously took the scroll. Scanning the contents and seeing the words "Sound Ninja" and "Orochimaru," his pupils constricted sharply.
Smart as he was, he could naturally see the fishy details here.
Abducted?
That probably deserved a massive question mark.
However, Shikamaru wouldn't say that out loud here. Leaving aside that this was the tone set personally by their Fifth Hokage, just with Naruto standing there, Shikamaru wouldn't shoot his mouth off. He would just treat it as an abduction.
"Right, I understand, Lord Hokage. Time is tight, let's head out, Naruto."
Although Shikamaru usually seemed incredibly lazy, when faced with serious business, he would immediately get into the zone. This could be considered a tradition of the Nara Clan.
"Oh? Huh!?"
Just as Naruto was about to say something else...
Shikamaru bowed to Tsunade and strode out with large steps.
Sasuke and the others had already been gone for half a day. If they didn't hurry up and chase them, they definitely wouldn't make it in time.
They had to catch up to those people ahead in the shortest time possible.
Naruto and Shikamaru left together.
They sped around the village in a loop. Among the companions they sought for the special action squad, in terms of relationships, Choji, Kiba, and Shino were the first ones who came to mind.
Then, there were Rock Lee and Neji, who were willing to join voluntarily.
The former was purely warm-hearted and old-fashioned, while the latter had a different attitude toward Sasuke solely because he had been defeated by him.
Perhaps describing it as an obsession would be more appropriate.
This was clearly a lineup even more luxurious than in the original story.
But whether they could successfully retrieve Sasuke in this life still warranted a massive question mark.
Just before the squad was about to depart...
Sakura Haruno, who had somehow gotten wind of the news, appeared immediately at the main gate of the village.
"Naruto-kun, I want to join the squad too!"
Sakura looked at Naruto with determination.
Just like in the original story, Sakura in this life still held an obsession bordering on infatuation for Sasuke.
Sasuke's departure was completely unacceptable to the current Sakura Haruno. She absolutely had to join the squad to personally save Sasuke and bring him back.
Yes, save. Sakura refused to believe Sasuke had left the Leaf willingly.
"Sakura, I will definitely bring Sasuke back. Trust me. You should stay in the village."
Naruto looked at Sakura with a firm expression.
"No, Naruto, I mean..."
Sakura looked anxious and wanted to say more.
"Sakura, Sasuke left last night. It's been a long time already. We don't know where they are now. We have to move at full speed to even have a chance of catching up, so..."
Naruto paused, leaving the rest unsaid.
But Sakura immediately understood.
Ultimately, it was the gap in strength—that glaring chasm right in front of her.
Sakura's expression dimmed instantly.
The thought she had to let go of.
Finally, Sakura looked at Naruto with a pleading expression and said, "Naruto, please... please bring Sasuke back!"
"Yeah, I definitely will, Sakura. That's a promise!"
Naruto gave a thumbs-up, speaking with an unprecedented seriousness.
And in his heart, he added a line: 'Not just Sasuke, but Menma too. I'm going to bring them all back!'
Only, what Naruto didn't know was...
In this life, that promise of his could never be fulfilled.