316 - Naruto: The Tenseigan Ascendant (Patreon)

316 - Tracking Shinno

"Wow!"

Perched on Naoki's shoulders, Shion shouted with delight.

"All right, all right. No need to yell," Naoki said.

"Naoki, we're flying! We're really flying!"

She clapped her hands and kept laughing. They were thousands of feet above the ground, but she showed no fear at all.

"Do you remember what I told you before we left?" Naoki asked.

To deal with Shinno, Naoki first needed to find his hideout. Under cover of darkness, he had quietly taken Shion out of Konoha, hoping she could sense Moryo's location.

Shion was too excited to hear him. She pointed upward. "The Moon is so big tonight. It's beautiful!"

Naoki looked up too.

In Tenseigan Chakra Mode, he felt a strange pull toward the Moon. He knew it came from the resonance between his Tenseigan and the giant Tenseigan there.

For now, that giant eye remained under the control of the Otsutsuki descendants on the Moon.

If Naoki was right, the only Otsutsuki left there were radical members of the branch family. They wanted to destroy the shinobi world the Sage of Six Paths had created and build a new one in its place.

He had no idea whether he could reason with them. To keep them from tracing the resonance back to him, he cut off the connection between his Tenseigan and the giant eye.

"Naoki, can we go to the Moon someday?" Shion asked.

"Not yet."

"When, then? I want to see it!"

Naoki smiled. "When I'm strong enough to beat the bad people up there, I'll take you."

He had already seen what the giant Tenseigan could do.

In sheer chakra, it held at least a hundred times as much as his own Tenseigan.

Unless Toneri Otsutsuki made the same mistake he had in the original timeline and let Naruto and Hinata destroy that giant eye, Naoki would not be able to defeat its keepers with any confidence until his Kekkei Mora project succeeded.

Shion pouted. "You're teasing me. There can't be bad people on the Moon."

"Why not?" Naoki tapped her nose. "And what did I tell you before we came out? This isn't a sightseeing trip. See if you can sense that creature."

Shion concentrated, then pointed southeast. "I... I think it's that way."

"How far?"

"Really, really far."

'Southeast of the village. The Land of Whirlpools? The Land of Hot Water? Maybe the Land of Tea?'

An open stretch of sea lay east of the Land of Fire, with those small countries scattered across it.

Farther east lay the Land of Water and Kirigakure.

In the original timeline, Shinno had launched a massive air raid on Konoha after completing the Zero-Tails. Naoki remembered the Sky Ninja approaching from the sea east of the Land of Fire.

'He must be hiding in one of those countries.'

Naoki flew east with Shion.

After several hours, they reached the Land of Fire's eastern coast. He checked their bearing and asked her to sense again.

She pointed farther east.

"That puts him in the Land of Hot Water."

Naoki kept flying.

Once they had crossed the sea and the Land of Hot Water's peninsula came into view, Shion spoke up. "I can feel him. He's close."

"Close?"

Naoki descended into a forest and released Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Dense trees surrounded them, their leaves lush in the moonlight.

Shion pointed, her hand trembling.

The closer they came to Moryo, the more frightened she grew. Without Naoki beside her, she might already have been in tears.

He rested a hand on her shoulder. "I'm here. You're safe."

"If we find his hideout, can we really kill him this time?" she asked quietly.

"We can."

Beyond a thicket, Naoki spotted a guard post. He activated the Byakugan and saw Sky Ninja headbands on everyone inside. They were survivors of the force Konoha had once defeated.

He skirted several more posts and found a vast supply depot.

Crates were stacked high, and shinobi in Sky Ninja uniforms were carrying them away, apparently to move them elsewhere.

Naoki no longer needed Shion to pinpoint Shinno, so he took her away without attracting attention.

Back in Konoha, he went alone to the Uchiha compound. He called Itachi to Shisui's house and said, "I've found where Shinno is hiding."

Shisui's expression darkened. "The Shinno who wrecked several streets of the village?"

Naoki nodded.

Itachi looked at him. "What do you want us to do?"

"The God Organization is going after him."

"When?" Shisui asked.

"As soon as possible." Naoki continued, "Shinno is Moryo's jinchuriki now. He's powerful, and he has plenty of Sky Ninja survivors with him. I need both of you on this mission."

Shisui and Itachi exchanged a look, then nodded together.

"Homura is responsible for Shinno," Naoki said. "She'll lead the operation. The three of you will go together."

Shisui blinked. "Homura?"

He had heard of Homura Uchiha, but he had never worked with Naoki's Fire Release clone. He knew little about her.

Itachi asked, "And you? Are you coming?"

Naoki shook his head. "Not this time."