Naruto: The Sage Body of Konoha

"I'm not going to Konoha!"

In the meeting hall, Kushina Uzumaki folded her arms, turned her head away, shut her eyes tight, and refused to so much as glance at Heiyan and the others.

"Kushina, don't be childish!"

Ashina Uzumaki scolded, though his tone lacked real authority.

As the clan head of the Uzumaki clan, he fully understood Kushina's fate after heading to Konoha.

This six-year-old girl would become the new jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails, sacrificing herself for the benefit of the entire clan.

Only by doing this could the alliance between Uzu Country and the Land of Fire continue, and only then could the Uzumaki clan receive protection from Konoha.

"Hmph."

Facing the clan head's scolding, Kushina unconcernedly let out a light snort, then turned around and ran toward the door.

Suddenly, everything blurred before her eyes, and she saw a figure blocking the doorway.

It was Heiyan.

"If you don't want to get punched, move out of the way!"

She clenched her tiny fists and swung at Heiyan twice in warning.

True to her nickname, The Red-Hot Habanero, she had quite the temper for someone so young.

Heiyan, however, wasn't fazed by her behavior at all.

"My mission is to escort you to Konoha. Whether you wish to go or not is irrelevant." He said calmly.

Those words ignited her anger instantly.

"Pretentious jerk! Watch me teach you a lesson!"

With a shout, Kushina sprang off both feet and launched herself into the air, throwing a punch straight at Heiyan's face.

Without hesitation, Heiyan extended his right hand. Bending just his index finger, he aimed precisely at the approaching Kushina and flicked it out—fast and accurate.

Finger flick on the forehead!

"Ahhh!"

Kushina took the hit full force. She fell from midair, landing crouched on the ground, holding her forehead with both hands and whimpering from the pain.

"Let's go." Heiyan walked toward her, preparing to reach down and pick her up.

Just then—

"Die!"

Kushina screamed furiously, charging forward like an angry cub using [Rocket Headbutt], aiming straight for Heiyan's stomach.

She hoped this sudden surprise attack would finally knock Heiyan off balance.

However, as expected, Kushina's attempt was destined to fail once again.

Because Heiyan reacted swiftly, taking advantage of his height and long arms to immediately press down on her tiny head with one hand.

"Let go of me!" Kushina shouted, swinging both arms round and round like windmills, but still unable to touch Heiyan.

And just when she was panting from exhaustion, nearly unable to continue—

Suddenly Heiyan released his grip. Unprepared for this, Kushina lunged forward impulsively under inertia and slammed straight onto the ground.

She ate dirt.

"Are you okay?" Heiyan asked mockingly.

"You're making me furious, you big jerk!" 

Kushina jumped up three meters high in anger. She quickly scrambled to her feet and grabbed Heiyan's wrist without saying a word. Exposing her small fangs, she bit down hard.

But in the very next moment, she regretted it.

Because a surge of Lightning Release chakra had instantly erupted from Heiyan's wrist, sending violent tremors through Kushina's body. Her red hair stood straight up, smoking, morphing into a frizzy afro.

At that moment, Kushina finally stopped resisting and wilted completely like a frostbitten eggplant.

She sat on the ground, hugging her knees, letting out soft cries.

"Waaah… I just wanted to stay and fight, to protect the village… I wanted to rescue our captured clansmen…"

Wiping away tears, Kushina sobbed with a pained expression as she spoke.

"Ahh."

Ashina Uzumaki watched the scene unfold, sighing deeply again, his aged face filled with self-reproach.

This girl, Kushina, wasn't rebellious at all—quite the opposite, actually.

It was precisely because of that he felt even more ashamed, believing himself a complete failure as the clan head.

"Chief Ashina," Fugaku Uchiha and Hiashi Hyuga asked in turn, curiosity getting the better of them, "may we ask what exactly happened in Uzugakure?"

"Is there anything we can assist with?"

"It was a man called… Gato."

Ashina Uzumaki slowly uttered a name.

"Gato? Who is he? Is he a ninja?" Hearing this unfamiliar name, both Fugaku and Hiashi were momentarily stunned—they clearly hadn't heard it before.

Yet Heiyan narrowed his eyes slightly, frowning.

The instant he heard that name, an image surfaced in his mind—an image of a short-built man wearing sunglasses, sporting a brown pompadour hairstyle, dressed in a suit.

Gato appeared publicly as a dazzling, ultra-wealthy shipping tycoon, but in reality, his fortune stemmed from collaborating with dark forces and ninjas to engage in illegal activities—smuggling drugs and controlled substances, violently monopolizing sea routes, seizing other companies, and plundering foreign resources.

In his previous life, Heiyan often heard the saying that there were no true villains in the ninja world—Madara, Itachi, Obito, Danzo… nearly every antagonist had a reason behind their actions.

But Gato was different—he was utterly vile through and through.

Dying a hundred times wouldn't have been enough to atone for his crimes.

So Heiyan confirmed with Ashina Uzumaki, "You're referring to the shipping magnate named Gato, right? Is that person very young?"

Based on the timeline, Gato should only be about seventeen or eighteen years old now.

"That's right," Ashina Uzumaki replied, confirming Heiyan's suspicion.

From him, Heiyan and the others finally got the full story behind Gato's organization's conflict with Uzu Country and Uzugakure.

The cause was simple.

Over the past one or two years, Gato's shipping company rapidly expanded using every underhanded method possible, attempting to monopolize Uzu Country's maritime trade routes.

Uzu Country, an island nation.

As everyone knew, whoever controlled the shipping lanes surrounding an island nation essentially controlled its economic lifeline.

For Uzu Country, especially the Uzumaki Clan in Uzugakure, this situation was absolutely unacceptable.

Therefore, conflict between the Uzumaki Clan and Gato's syndicate became inevitable.

The Uzumaki Clan had always been hot-headed by nature—if they didn't agree with something, they would immediately start a fight. They weren't pushovers.

But their enemy this time was Gato—a ruthless scoundrel without any moral boundaries.

He pulled every dirty trick he could think of, hiring countless ninja with his fortune to hound Uzugakure nonstop—even abducting members of the Uzumaki clan.

They had been locked in conflict like this for over half a year.

"This is definitely Gato's usual MO," Heiyan mused after listening.

As depicted in the Naruto chronicles, Gato's first appearance was when he hired Zabuza Momochi and Haku, ordering them to assassinate the bridge builder Tazuna, thereby seizing full control of the Land of Waves.

Before that, he had already publicly severed the hands of a national hero from the Land of Waves as a warning to anyone daring to oppose him.

Truthfully, Heiyan strongly suspected that Gato could only be this arrogant and get away with doing nothing but evil for decades because he had powerful backers—

The Court of the Water Daimyo.

It was possible the high-ranking elders of both the Land of Water and Kirigakure were using Gato as their proxy to gradually annex and control surrounding small countries.

And Uzu Country would be the first target.

It appeared that Uzugakure's impending doom and the Uzumaki Clan's existential crisis were about to arrive.

However, under the leadership of Ashina Uzumaki, no one seemed to realize the gravity of the situation yet.

Thinking about this, Heiyan understood—he needed to do something.

After all, he himself came from the Uzumaki clan. It would be utterly indefensible for him to escape alone to Konoha while watching his entire clan perish before his eyes.

As Heiyan was mulling over the current situation—

A commotion once again erupted at the village gate, signaling the arrival of outsiders.

"It must be the bad guys from Gato's gang!"

Kushina Uzumaki wiped her tears, clenched her fists, and rushed out the door without looking back.

This time, Heiyan didn't try to stop her.

He exchanged a look with Fugaku, Hiashi, and Ashina Uzumaki before falling into step behind her.

Yet, against everyone's expectations,

The figures appearing at the village gate were actually ninja from Konoha—just like Heiyan and his companions.

More precisely, they were Anbu Black Ops from Konoha.

They were a four-man Anbu team dressed in gray armor, each wearing a different animal mask.

Leading them was someone Heiyan recognized—a man with white hair tied into a ponytail, carrying a chakra-infused tanto on his back.

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