How Kurama Leads Naruto Astray

"What's wrong?" Sasuke asked, noticing Naruto's strange expression.

Naruto wasn't sure how to explain it, so after a pause, he said, 

"Uh... Kurama woke up... but he's acting up... seems worse than before."

Sasuke: "...."

Alright, I get it. Don't say another word. I really don't want to know what's wrong with that thing.

Naruto was speechless. He returned to his inner world and looked at Kurama: "Kurama, this lady's name is Sara, not Saori. You've got the wrong person."

"Trust me, they are the same person," Kurama said, still a bit confused, but the smile on his face remained as mischievous... uh, wise.

Naruto rolled his eyes and then turned to leave the inner world, leaving Kurama alone, happily muttering, "Ehehe, I want to be Saori's dog," creating a rather joyful scene.

Of course, only Kurama was happy.

At the door, Sara looked at Naruto and Sasuke's strange expressions and asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing," Sasuke shook his head and explained, "It's just that someone is acting a bit strange right now, but don't mind it. It's just a normal thing."

Sara's face became even more puzzled. Though these two didn't seem like bad people, something about them felt off. It was as if they weren't from the same world, and she couldn't understand what they were saying.

But she shrugged it off. Anyway, she needed to take these two to the Konoha ninja.

Sara motioned for them to follow and then turned to head outside. Naruto and Sasuke didn't hesitate and followed her. Just as they stepped out of the room, two strange puppet-like figures appeared beside them.

Naruto instinctively became alert, but at that moment, Sara's voice came: "Don't worry, these are puppets powered by Roran's dragon vein energy. They're here to protect Roran and won't harm you."

Of course, if Naruto or Sasuke showed any signs of being unusual, Sara wouldn't hesitate to control the puppets to subdue them.

After hearing Sara's words, Naruto and Sasuke withdrew their chakra and allowed the puppets to settle beside them. As expected, the puppets didn't attack but scanned them with eyes resembling infrared rays before following them without taking any further action.

Naruto and Sasuke understood this was Sara's way of keeping an eye on them and nodded in acknowledgment.

Following Sara from the ruins beneath Roran, they made their way up to the ancient city of Roran. The sight completely stunned them.

Giant skyscrapers comparable to Kurama's height, bright neon lights everywhere, countless residents walking around as if celebrating a festival. What stood out the most, however, were the puppets patrolling everywhere and the powerful dragon vein chakra flowing through the pipes.

How did this country get destroyed?

Sasuke was stunned. Just these puppets alone could probably conquer several small countries. The five great nations would probably have to pay a price if they wanted to fight against this kind of strength. And the prosperity here was beyond anything their time had, maybe even more.

How did such a superpower get destroyed?

Sasuke looked at the joy on the faces of the surrounding residents and, for a moment, felt lost: "Naruto, could it be we've traveled to the future?"

There was no way around it—this was too unbelievable. The power, the national strength, the unity of the country. Everything here was perfect. The happiness on everyone's faces was genuine. While they couldn't feel the power of the puppets, they were very familiar with the dragon vein chakra.

With all that, it would not be an exaggeration to call this the future.

"I don't know," Naruto said, looking completely confused.

In the inner world, Kurama, who had finally snapped out of it, frowned: "Wait, you guys came to Roran? What about the Six Paths guy? Didn't he send you back to the proper time?"

Naruto, still looking blank, stared at Kurama, and then explained everything that happened after Rikudou Sennin sent them back.

Kurama was completely stunned: "You're telling me, you and Sasuke teamed up and killed the centipede?"

"Yeah, is there a problem with that?" Naruto scratched his head.

After taking a direct hit from Amaterasu and the Vajra Lock, Naruto didn't believe that guy could still be alive.

"This is a big problem!" Kurama's whole fox form was shaken. 

"I knew something was off! These residents are real people, not puppets. Sara's mother isn't dead, but Mukade is... What kind of messed-up storyline is this? Grandpa Hagoromo must have done this on purpose!"

With Grandpa Hagoromo's power, it's easy for him to send them to any time period. It's clear that the old man intentionally brought Naruto and Sasuke to this era. He must have some purpose behind it.

"Wait!" Kurama suddenly realized something. "If Mukade is dead, then where did these puppet people come from? Without Anrokuzan, Roran shouldn't have developed these puppets."

So, Mukade is probably not dead, but something must have happened to him, preventing him from controlling these puppets now.

Kurama's face turned serious. "Naruto, focus on sensing the chakra around us. That Mukade guy is probably not dead."

Naruto was shocked. "He was hit directly by Amaterasu and I sealed his chakra with the Diamond Lock. How did he survive that?"

"Possibly," Kurama shook his head. "And it's actually a pretty likely possibility."

Without Mukade, there's no Anrokuzan. Without Anrokuzan, there are no puppets. Without puppets, Roran's fate of destruction wouldn't happen. But Naruto and Sasuke are definitely in a Roran that's already been destroyed.

Either the storyline has changed but the overall story hasn't, or this isn't the world Naruto and Sasuke came from!

Alternate world!

Kurama narrowed his eyes. "Old man, what are you up to…"

"I get it now." Seeing the seriousness on Kurama's face, Naruto immediately became serious too.

Following Sara, they passed through a bustling marketplace. Along the way, many people greeted Sara respectfully, and she responded warmly to everyone. From this, it was clear that the queen of Roran had a close relationship with the common people.

After a few minutes, the three of them arrived at the top floor of the tallest building. Inside, they saw a noblewoman who looked very much like Sara sitting in the front. Below her, there were officials, and on the other side, three masked ninjas were standing.

From their attire, it wasn't clear where these three ninjas were from, but it could be safely assumed they were Anbu.

As Sara entered, all eyes naturally turned to them.

Naruto almost immediately shouted, "Mukade!"

Up at the top, next to the queen, sat the familiar figure—a thin, sickly man radiating the aura of someone close to death.

The queen furrowed her brows but didn't say anything. Instead, she turned her attention to Mukade.

Mukade lifted his head and looked at Naruto. His cloudy eyes were devoid of any light. "It's you guys. Eight years… you've finally arrived."

Naruto's sudden momentum disappeared, and he stood there, completely dumbfounded, staring at Mukade.

Sasuke activated his Sharingan and scanned Mukade. A cold smile appeared on his face. "I see. You swapped your body for a puppet to avoid Amaterasu's flames. But the Diamond Lock still took away your control over chakra. Now, you're nothing but a half-puppet, barely alive, clinging to life using the dragon vein chakra."

Mukade fell silent.

At that moment, Sara suddenly turned to them, her face full of anger. "Enough! Don't you dare insult Anrokuzan!"

"Sara!" The queen spoke up, immediately stopping Sara's shouting. Then, she took a deep breath and looked at Naruto and Sasuke. "You must be the two Konohagakure ninjas Anrokuzan spoke of, the ones from the future?"

Naruto and Sasuke exchanged a surprised look.

Sasuke spoke up first. "Yes, Your Majesty."

"Good." The queen nodded. "Our Roran is facing a great disaster. If you can, will you help us?"

Sasuke was even more surprised now; for a moment, he didn't know what to say.

Wait, this plot is way too weird, right? It's like everyone knows we're coming, everyone knows what's going to happen, everyone knows why these things are happening—except for Sasuke and Naruto, who know nothing.

Helping out... that's fine, but shouldn't we at least be told why?

Probably noticing Naruto and Sasuke's confusion, the Anbu ninja who had been silent nearby spoke up. "Since you're Konohagakure ninjas, let me ask—are you both jounin or special jounin? Or are you Anbu directly under the Hokage?"

"Uh... neither," Naruto scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "We're Genin."

The room fell silent.

The leader of the Anbu was completely confused. "You're genin? genin who can use Fire Release ninjutsu that even the Third Hokage couldn't stop? genin who can use the Uzumaki Clan's secret technique, the Diamond Lock?"

In the minds of both Konohagakure and Roran, Anrokuzan—who had been mentioned by the girl as the one who was defeated and sealed by two ninjas—was at least special jounin level, possibly even an Anbu from the Hokage's direct team, with special ninjutsu.

Forget the black Fire Release ninjutsu, the Diamond Lock technique was too recognizable. If the Third Hokage hadn't forbidden it, Kushina had been ready to join them just to meet the future Uzumaki Clan members.

And now you're telling me you're chunin?

Genin this ridiculous?

Is future Konohagakure really that strong?

"Cough." Sasuke cleared his throat and explained, "We've been training outside the village for a long time for some reasons and never took the village's ninja exams, so we've always been genin."

Well, that explanation made sense.

The leader of the Anbu sighed in relief. He thought future Konohagakure was truly that outrageous.

After calming down a little, the leader of the Anbu spoke again, "In that case, I'll be in charge of leading you two for now. I'll tell you the mission objectives soon, but for now, just follow my orders, alright?"

Sasuke was silent for a moment, then looked at him. "I need to confirm your identity."

"No problem," the Anbu said as he reached into his cloak and tossed a scroll to Sasuke.

Sasuke caught the scroll, opened it to take a quick look, and used his Sharingan to make sure it wasn't a genjutsu or fake. Then he nodded, tossing the scroll back. "I need to know your code names."

"Water." The leader of the Anbu placed his hand on his mask and shifted it slightly, revealing a Konohagakure insignia beneath it. "I'm directly under the Third Hokage's Anbu. You can call me Water."

"Butterfly, Hokage's direct Anbu." A slightly chubby ninja next to him did the same.

"Insect, Hokage's direct Anbu." Another ninja took off half of their mask.

"Uchiha Sasuke, Konohagakure genin," Sasuke replied.

"Uzumaki Naruto, Konohagakure genin," Naruto said with a smile.

At this moment, the leader of 'Water' paused for a second.

Inside their minds, Kurama's entire world view collapsed. "Something's off. This place isn't right. It's not a parallel world. It really is Roran, but wait, why is this happening? Anrokuzan should've been dead, there's no chance for him to cause trouble. So, why did Roran fall?"

"Why? This doesn't make sense!"

---

You can read 10 Chapters ahead on my

pat reon.com/GMadman