In the blink of an eye, the year was Konoha 46. Nine-year-old Kyosuke had successfully passed the exams and become a Chunin.
In truth, Kyosuke's actual combat strength had long been recognized as Jonin-lite; however, he spent all his free time meticulously balancing his cultivation—refusing to neglect Ninjutsu, Taijutsu, Medical Ninjutsu, or Sealing Jutsu. He wasn't very proactive about taking official missions to build a resume, so his formal promotion to Chunin was much slower than Kakashi's rapid ascent.
Fortunately, the five interconnected avatars shared the massive burden of all this varied cultivation in the dream space. Otherwise, even if Kyosuke worked himself to death, he wouldn't have been able to learn so many complex disciplines simultaneously.
One day, after having a massive meal at Kushina's house and smoothly learning some advanced Sealing Jutsu while he was at it, Kyosuke encountered a masked Root ninja blocking his path home.
"Uesugi Kyosuke. Your strength has been recognized by Lord Danzo. We strongly hope you will join Root and make true contributions from the shadows of Konoha."
Hmph, be a brainwashed slave in Root?! I'm a man who's going to become the Hokage!
Kyosuke didn't even blink. He said directly, "I refuse!"
The Root ninja wore a blank porcelain mask, hiding his expression, but Kyosuke keenly felt the sudden, chilling killing intent radiating from the operative. However, Kyosuke wasn't afraid in the slightest and confronted him without yielding an inch, his hand resting casually near his sword hilt.
Seeing that simple intimidation had absolutely no effect on the boy, the Root ninja stopped talking, turned around, and melted into the shadows.
Sakumo Hatake is dead, and Danzo holds blackmail leverage over Orochimaru. The old war hawk probably feels that no one can threaten his position as Hokage anymore, Kyosuke thought, his heart feeling a bit heavy. I've heard that the Root organization has been making frequent, aggressive moves lately, vigorously expanding its ranks.
Kyosuke only hoped that Minato could smoothly become Hokage just like in the anime, and not get derailed down an unimagined, tragic path due to Kyosuke's own butterfly effects.
At this exact moment, Minato Namikaze—whom Kyosuke was so concerned about—was standing in the Hokage's Office alongside Aburame Shibi and Akimichi Choza, accepting a highly classified mission.
"The ancient Dragon Vein beneath the desert city of Roulan possesses a massive, terrifying amount of Chakra," the Third Hokage explained, taking a puff from his pipe. "Currently, the geopolitical situation is unstable. The Sand might attempt to weaponize the Dragon Vein in the impending war. Only the royal bloodline of the Queen of Roulan can seal the Vein."
Hiruzen looked at Minato. "Your mission is to travel there, seal the Dragon Vein, and ensure that absolutely no one can use it."
Accepting the command scroll, Minato, as the appointed team leader, made a respectful suggestion.
"Hokage-sama, although Kakashi and Kyosuke are currently only Chunin, they are both exceptionally excellent ninjas. I hope you will allow them to participate in this mission."
Does he want to train them on an S-rank? Hiruzen thought.
The Hokage took another long puff of smoke, considered the sterling service profiles of Kyosuke and Kakashi, and finally nodded. "Very well."
The next morning, as soon as Kyosuke opened his front door, he saw Minato standing there with a bright smile. "Minato-sensei, why are you here so early?"
"Let's have breakfast together, my treat," Minato said happily. "We'll talk while we eat."
During breakfast, Kyosuke learned he was being dragged on an S-rank mission. His face fell immediately, and he scanned Minato up and down with a highly suspicious gaze.
"This mission sounds incredibly difficult and politically sensitive; you shouldn't be bringing a fresh Chunin like me along. Minato-sensei... it couldn't possibly be because I look for Sister Kushina every single day to learn Sealing Jutsu and act as a third wheel on your dates, so you're deliberately taking revenge on me by throwing me into danger, right?"
Minato's face turned beet red, and he waved his hands in frantic denial. "Don't talk nonsense! This is to actively train you! If you want to become a truly strong shinobi, you can't just focus on safe, closed-door cultivation; you must also experience the intense tempering of actual, high-stakes combat. Besides, I've called Kakashi along this time too!"
"Then why is your face so red?!" Kyosuke accused.
"The food is just too spicy!"
"This is plain glutinous rice porridge, and you literally just added a spoonful of sugar to it..."
"..."
A moment later, the five-man team gathered at the gates and set off. Since the city of Roulan was located deep within the Land of Wind, and tensions were high, they all wore masks to hide their Konoha identities.
Traveling at high speed across the desert, they reached the towering, bizarre city of Roulan a few days later. They agreed on a time and place to regroup, and then scattered into the crowds to gather intelligence.
Kyosuke vaguely remembered the plot of Roulan. It seemed to involve Naruto accidentally traveling here from the future, teaming up with a young Minato to defeat a puppet-master villain and seal the Vein.
However, Kyosuke couldn't remember the specific details of the movie, and he had entirely forgotten the main villain's name.
Finding a deserted, shadowed alley, Kyosuke swiftly caught a suspicious-looking local and used a simple Sharingan-lite Genjutsu trick he had developed to extract information smoothly.
So the young heroine is named Sara, and the big villain Minister is called Anrokuzan. What a 'great' fake name; it sounds incredibly 'loyal' beyond words at first glance, Kyosuke mocked internally.
He used Genjutsu on several different people across the district to confirm the accuracy of the news, then met up with the rest of the team.
The group pooled their gathered intelligence and got a clear picture of the political situation.
Six years ago, Anrokuzan had arrived in Roulan and persuaded the then-Queen to combine the limitless power of the Dragon Vein with Anrokuzan's advanced Puppet Technology, allowing the isolated city to achieve massive, rapid architectural development.
However, a while ago, the Queen of Roulan died under highly suspicious circumstances, and her young daughter, Sara, was about to officially become the new Queen.
"In that case, we need to quietly secure Sara and use her bloodline to seal the Dragon Vein," Minato deduced, formulating a plan. "However, Anrokuzan is clearly a powerful rogue ninja and may be connected to the Sand military. We must complete this mission quickly before an army arrives."
Minato began assigning tasks. "Shibi, Choza, we three will continue deeper into the central towers to find the exact locations of the Queen and Anrokuzan. Kyosuke, Kakashi, you two stay outside the city perimeter and be ready to provide emergency support at any time!"
"Yes, Captain!"
Minato's group of three infiltrated the towering city again, while Kyosuke and Kakashi took up guard positions in the desert ruins outside the city walls.
A few hours later, the muffled sound of a massive explosion echoed from within the central city. Kakashi immediately stood up, drawing his blade to go support them, but was suddenly stopped by Kyosuke's hand on his shoulder.
"Careful. Someone is watching us."
Kyosuke's hands blurred through seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
A huge fireball blasted outward, slamming directly toward a seemingly empty sand dune.
"Wood Release: Wood Locking Wall!"
A thick row of hard, interlocking wooden pillars instantly erupted from the sand, perfectly blocking the roaring flames. As the smoke cleared, a man wearing a strange mask, with short brown hair and pitch-black pupils, appeared.
This is Yamato! Is he in this part of the movie plot too? Kyosuke was deeply surprised by Yamato's sudden appearance, but he remained on high guard.
Kakashi looked at Yamato's forehead protector, which bore the leaf symbol, and said in deep confusion, "Wood Release? You are a Konoha Ninja? Why are you out here?"
Kakashi had many questions. For example, when did the village magically acquire a Wood Release ninja? This was the legendary Kekkei Genkai of the First Hokage; in the history books, the sheer power of Wood Release was described in one word—invincible.
Furthermore, the political relationship between Konoha and the Sand was currently incredibly tense. Minato's team had to wear masks and hide their identities to do a black-ops mission in the Land of Wind, yet this supposed Konoha ninja actually wore his headband openly. Why?!
Could it be that he is a secret Anbu arranged by Hokage-sama to help us from the shadows? Kakashi wondered.
Of course, Kakashi couldn't have possibly imagined that Yamato came from twenty years in the future. In Yamato's timeline, Konoha and the Sand were staunch allies, and Yamato's team had been officially invited by the Kazekage to hunt down the rogue Mukade in the Land of Wind, so they naturally didn't need to hide their identities.
Compared to Kakashi's confusion, when Yamato saw two unfamiliar, masked ninjas lurking outside Roulan, he immediately assumed they were Mukade's mercenary accomplices. He was highly vigilant.
"Who are you?! Why are you here?!" Yamato demanded.
Facing Yamato's harsh questioning, Kyosuke and Kakashi remained completely silent.
Kyosuke knew the time-travel plot but couldn't show it. Kakashi, on the other hand, wasn't sure if Yamato was really a Konoha ninja or a spy using a henge, and he absolutely didn't dare expose his own identity while performing a top-secret assassination mission.
At this moment, Yamato was deeply worried about Naruto's safety inside the city and was quite anxious. After waiting a moment without receiving a response, he decided to strike first.
"Since you won't talk, I'll capture you for interrogation! Wood Release: Great Forest Technique!"
Yamato extended his right arm, and numerous strong, thick branches and vines grew wildly from his flesh, rushing like a wave of pythons toward Kyosuke and Kakashi's position.
Kyosuke and Kakashi immediately scattered to dodge. The massive vines hit the ground where they had just stood, kicking up blinding clouds of wind and sand.
"Wood Release: Wood Clone Technique!"
A new, identical Yamato grew seamlessly out from the writhing branches and rushed toward Kyosuke, while the original Yamato gripped a kunai and sprinted directly toward Kakashi.
Seeing this, Kyosuke couldn't help but laugh out loud. "Using a mere clone to deal with me? I'm really being looked down upon here."
This was an injustice to Yamato. As a powerful Anbu veteran with extremely rich combat experience, Yamato would never underestimate any enemy. He only intended to use the Wood Clone to stall Kyosuke temporarily, planning to turn back and deal with him properly after he had swiftly finished off the smaller Kakashi.