Chapter 586: Forgive Me, Dad

Naruto's little trick of tossing the Flying Raijin kunai into Konoha's septic tank earned immediate approval from the viewers outside.

One had to admit, Naruto's growth rate when it came to underhanded tactics was astonishing.

He couldn't even use space-time ninjutsu himself, yet after merely watching Kakashi and Obito clash a few times, he had somehow grasped the core principle of countering it.

Naruto truly was a genius.

Then again, although Naruto himself couldn't use space-time ninjutsu, he had encountered opponents who could.

Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, for example, possessed a technique that allowed him to rewind time.

Granted, Urashiki had ultimately been taken out by Jiraiya's toad poison before Naruto could personally fight him, but Naruto had still witnessed the whole thing firsthand.

Perhaps that was when the first seed of an idea about countering space-time abilities had taken root in his mind.

Later, during his "betting duel" against Makoto, Naruto had faced Makoto's ability to erase time and brilliantly developed a countermeasure similar to leaving a marker behind.

He repeatedly entered Sage Mode.

If his sensation of natural energy suddenly spiked at a particular moment, that meant Makoto had just erased time.

Naruto still lost in the end, of course.

But failure was the mother of success.

Between Kakashi's battles with Obito and Obito's shameless habit of escaping everything with Kamui, Naruto had received plenty of inspiration.

Kakashi had even explained the details of Obito's eventual capture.

At one point, Obito had been trapped with Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags ahead of him and Izanami waiting behind him.

Faced with such a hopeless situation, Obito had come up with a stroke of deranged genius: he covered himself in filth so Uchiha Naori wouldn't dare physically touch him, thereby avoiding the trigger condition for Izanami.

When Naruto heard that story, he had secretly kicked himself.

If only he had thought of something like that during his duel with Makoto, maybe he could have stolen a small victory.

Unfortunately, there were no second chances.

And if Naruto thought about it carefully, he probably wouldn't have dared use such a limitless tactic against Makoto anyway.

After all, Naruto had personally witnessed—and even helped cause—the day Makoto used Crazy Diamond on Konoha's septic system.

Countless people in the village, Kakashi-sensei included, had experienced something truly horrifying.

Naruto had no desire to risk suffering the same kind of backlash.

So his brilliant little countermeasure had gone unused all this time.

Today—

At last—

His moment had arrived!

'Come on, Dad.'

'Let me see what you're really made of!'

…

By evening, Kushina returned home with a dark expression.

The moment she stepped through the door, she punched apron-wearing Minato straight into the wall.

The repairman living next door heard the impact and silently began gathering his tools.

Once the noise stopped, he would probably have another wall to patch.

"Were you the one who spread those rumors outside?"

Kushina demanded.

"What rumors?"

Minato, still embedded in the wall, looked completely bewildered.

"Hmph. You probably don't have the guts."

Kushina narrowed her eyes.

"Then it must've been Naruto. That brat's gotten awfully brave."

She walked over to the window, opened it, and clapped twice.

An ANBU immediately appeared.

After hearing the report about Naruto visiting the archives and what he had done that morning, Kushina clenched her fist.

"So it really was him."

"And those worthless villagers."

She issued an order.

"I'll deal with Naruto. You take care of those villagers."

Kushina knew perfectly well that people infected by the Will of Bullying couldn't be deterred by death or threats of violence.

Kindness and reform didn't work either.

And if neither method worked…

Then why not use violence?

At least beating them up would make her feel better.

Kushina turned toward Minato.

"You have five minutes to bring Naruto back here."

"If you fail, you're dead."

"…"

Minato shuddered.

Ignoring the several ribs she had just cracked, he immediately activated Flying Raijin and vanished.

Flying Raijin did provide some awareness of the destination before teleportation.

Primarily, it allowed the user to sense nearby chakra.

That was one of the reasons Minato could use the technique so efficiently on a battlefield.

It was also how Flying Raijin: Guiding Thunder could accurately redirect something like a Tailed Beast Bomb to an empty location before it detonated.

But that was the limit.

Flying Raijin's core function was still instantaneous movement.

It did not grant clairvoyance or let Minato magically see the destination beforehand.

And because he was desperate to find Naruto and had absolutely no reason to suspect his own son—

Minato activated the technique without hesitation.

He teleported directly to the Flying Raijin kunai.

For the first instant after arriving, Minato couldn't even tell where he was.

It was strangely warm.

Something surrounded him from every direction.

For half a second, Minato thought Naruto might have tossed the kunai into a hot spring.

Then the smell hit him.

And Minato understood.

A silent scream escaped his soul.

There was a reason it was silent.

Opening his mouth would only make things worse.

Fortunately, in the very next instant, Minato pushed Flying Raijin to its limit and teleported to a mark he had left outside the village.

He dropped to his knees.

Tears of despair streamed down his face.

His position in this household was already miserable.

And now even Naruto was bullying him.

Thank goodness they didn't own a dog.

Otherwise, Minato strongly suspected he would rank below it.

For the first time, genuine anger began rising in his chest.

Fine.

Kushina beating him was one thing.

But what right did Naruto have to treat him like this?!

He was going to catch that brat, drag him home, and let Kushina punish him properly!

Minato spat out what little he could, stripped off the worst of his ruined clothes, and raised his head with renewed determination.

"Naruto.

"You're not getting away."

Then he activated Flying Raijin again.

…

Of course, Naruto knew perfectly well that one trip through the septic tank wouldn't be enough to make Minato abandon the pursuit.

So he had prepared another layer.

Multiple Shadow Clone Technique.

Minato began teleporting all over the village in search of Naruto.

In truth, he didn't even need to hurry.

He could take two casual steps and see two or three Narutos somewhere nearby.

Shadow clones were a technique that even Ōtsutsuki Isshiki and Ōtsutsuki Kaguya couldn't reliably distinguish from the original.

Minato naturally had no easy way to identify the real one either.

His only option was to check them one by one.

"Naruto!"

Minato approached one of the clones.

"Are you the real one? Hurry up and come home with me!"

"Yo, isn't that our famous Green Flash?"

Several Konoha villagers spotted Minato, who had been forced to remove most of his filthy outer clothing and was now left in little more than his underlayer.

They immediately started approaching with mocking smiles.

"Don't worry. Lady Hokage might not want you anymore, but we—"

Then they got closer.

Their expressions changed instantly.

"Ugh! What the hell is that smell?!"

"What did you do?!"

"Stay the hell away from us!"

The villagers recoiled in disgust and scrambled backward while cursing.

Watching from outside, Kakashi's visible eye suddenly gleamed.

Wait.

Could it be…?

The Will of Bullying feared neither death nor violence—

But it feared sewage?

Meanwhile, Naruto's shadow clone slowly rose to his feet and faced Minato.

"Dad…"

He put on an unusually solemn expression.

"Forgive me.

"This will be the last time."

Naruto reached out and lightly poked Minato's forehead with one finger.

Then, with his other hand, he thrust forward a balloon filled with something Minato absolutely did not want anywhere near him.

It was the same basic trick Naruto had once used against Kiba and Akamaru during the Chūnin Exams.

"Rasengan!"

PFFT.

SPLAT!

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