He has even mastered Haki, and you say this is Naruto?

That person's name is Uzumaki Shanks?

At this moment, Naruto felt extremely complicated inside. It was as if something inside him had shattered, and a glimmer of light appeared in what was once complete darkness.

In his memory, from the moment he was born until now, he had always been alone, hated by the entire village.

Every time, he stood outside the crowd, watching as the other children were taken home by their parents — and he was always the last to leave.

Even though he did nothing wrong, everyone blamed him for everything.

He desperately wanted to be acknowledged, because being hated… really hurt.

It was precisely because of this that he wanted so badly to become Hokage. If he became Hokage, then even if he died, he would be recognized by everyone, accepted by them, and respected by them.

Naruto's heart had always been filled with darkness and loneliness, and that's exactly why he yearned for recognition so much.

And in this moment, a faint light had finally pierced through his inner darkness.

"Uzumaki Shanks… the youngest of the Four Emperors, the founder of the New World."

"He's also named Uzumaki?"

Naruto snapped back to reality — it was nearly nightfall.

He had been sitting alone under the tree all day. His mind was in chaos, and right now, there was only one thing on his mind:

He needed to confirm something.

Without delay, Naruto rushed off.

Before long, he found Sakura.

"Sakura, do you know who the Four Emperors are?"

"Four Emperors? What's that? Naruto, what's going on with you?"

Sakura noticed something was off with Naruto — it looked like he had encountered something very exciting.

"It's… Uzumaki Shanks."

"Uzumaki Shanks? Never heard of him."

"Sasuke… Sasuke should know, right?"

Naruto immediately thought of Sasuke. At this time, Sasuke should still be training. Sure enough, Naruto found him quickly.

Sasuke looked at Naruto, and then at Sakura following behind him, puzzled about what was going on.

"Uzumaki Shanks? Four Emperors?"

"Is this something Naruto just made up?"

Sasuke exchanged a glance with Sakura. It did seem possible.

"Naruto, maybe Kakashi-sensei knows. It's evening now, and Kakashi-sensei should be here soon. Just ask him directly."

Sakura suggested. They had a mission today, but Kakashi hadn't come to officially end it — as usual, he always dragged it out.

Sure enough, as the sun began to set, Kakashi finally appeared, looking sleepy as always.

Naruto, seeing Kakashi, felt like he had found hope.

"Kakashi-sensei, have you heard of… the name Uzumaki Shanks?"

"Never heard of—"

Kakashi casually responded, but then suddenly stopped.

His sleepy eyes instantly became alert.

"Uzumaki?"

Why would that name appear here?

Seeing Kakashi's reaction, Sasuke and Sakura also realized — this name wasn't made up by Naruto?

Kakashi collected himself.

"I haven't heard of him."

As soon as he said that, he felt three sharp, hostile stares — Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura were all glaring at him like they were about to go to war with him.

"Alright, Naruto. Tell me what's going on."

At this point, Kakashi had no choice.

Kakashi didn't know the full story, but he didn't rule out that someone might have leaked some information behind the scenes.

During Naruto and his teammates' "interrogation," Kakashi brushed them off. But from him, they learned one important fact: Naruto really is surnamed Uzumaki.

Upon learning this, both Sasuke and Sakura felt genuinely happy for Naruto deep down.

However, if they wanted to uncover the full truth, they needed to go to the Land of Waves.

A few days later, with preparations complete, Kakashi led the team out of Konoha.

"Hiruzen, you're just letting Kakashi take Naruto out like that?"

"What else? Naruto's already a genin. In the past, genin were already going to war."

The Third Hokage answered Danzo bluntly. Danzo naturally wanted to keep Naruto firmly under control, but to the Third Hokage, that was just too cruel.

"But Naruto's different — he's Konoha's jinchuriki."

"Exactly why he needs real experience."

The Third Hokage nodded seriously.

Danzo had no argument — he knew the Third wouldn't just let things slide. Plus, Danzo had his own matters to deal with — Orochimaru had scheduled another Sharingan transplant surgery for him, and he needed more money.

"Hiruzen, the ANBU budget is due."

"Cough…"

Upon hearing this, the Third Hokage's health seemed to worsen again.

Meanwhile, Naruto's team was already on their way.

When Dazna saw Naruto again, his smile vanished.

He couldn't believe it — the mission was really being handled by a bunch of kids? Was it because he paid too little and no stronger ninja were willing to come?

Fortunately, their teacher — Kakashi — looked strong enough.

"Mr. Dazna, please tell us more about the Land of Waves along the way. As ninja, we need to understand what we're dealing with."

Kakashi also wanted to hear more about this so-called "New World."

But unlike with Naruto, Dazna didn't blurt things out to Kakashi.

Instead, he gave a proper briefing about the real situation in the Land of Waves.

The entire country had long been under the control of Kaido — and even more so after he became a pirate.

He controlled not only the ships, but also forcibly assigned all technicians to work in shipyards.

As for why Dazna wasn't captured? Because he wasn't a shipbuilder — he was just a bridge builder.

That's why he and others could still move freely in the Land of Waves.

Kaido didn't care about them, and the pirates saw the locals as worthless.

Thanks to Kaido's cunning, and his alliance with Zabuza, the No-Blade Pirate Crew adopted a new rule:

"No harming defenseless civilians. No looting from commoners."

At first, the pirates didn't understand this, but after Zabuza led them in hijacking a ship from the Hidden Mist, they understood:

Their captain played on a different level. If they were going to rob, it had to be big — robbing civilians was beneath them.

"So, the captain and vice-captain of the No-Blade Pirate Crew likely won't get involved."

Kakashi understood.

Because Dazna wasn't important enough, the top brass wouldn't show up.

"That actually makes our mission much easier."

"But Kakashi-sensei, if that's the case, how will we find out about Naruto's background?" Sakura asked anxiously.

"Ah… well!"

"Gathering intel is a core skill for ninja. This mission won't end quickly — gather as much information as you can in the Land of Waves."

Kakashi scratched his head and gave them a side mission.

From what Dazna said, it didn't seem like Shanks was a secret. Even low-level pirates knew about him, so it shouldn't be too hard to find out.

Of course, Kakashi himself would also gather intelligence.

On the way, the group encountered no enemies — not even the ambush from rogue ninjas seen in the original story.

After reaching the Land of Waves, Dazna began organizing a bridge crew.

The next day, Kakashi personally escorted the construction team to the bridge. Seeing that those "brats" weren't there, Dazna let out a sigh of relief.

"Lord Ninja, are your three students out gathering information?"

"Mm."

Kakashi nodded.

"Sir, you should have them be cautious. Those pirates might not harm kids, but a few days ago, two rogue ninja pretended to be related to the Four Emperors' Shanks, saying they were also from the Uzumaki clan…"

"Now they're still strung up at the docks."