It is obvious that although Iruka was aware of Mizuki's movements at a critical moment, it was so obvious that for Iruka, Mizuki's first target was not him at all, but Naruto. If he wanted to save himself, Iruka would have had plenty of time to react and dodge this attack. Even if you just leave without any disregard, you will definitely be able to save your life unscathed from the Wind Demon shuriken that is thrown at a fast pace!

Because of this, in the face of this escape opportunity that can be easily guessed almost with his toes, Iruka chose to give up without the slightest hesitation. Instead, he calmly went to his death, trying to use his own flesh and blood to fight for Naruto's life! And in the eyes of Mizuki, who can do whatever it takes to achieve the goal, it is undoubtedly a foolish move that outweighs the losses!

"Hahaha——! Stupid Iruka! It's really a touching picture that he is willing to give up his life for the sake of a monster......"

After seeing the Wind Demon shuriken thrown, Iruka firmly maintained Naruto's entire body from beginning to end, covering the posture of protecting him in his arms, allowing Mizuki to easily judge that even if Iruka regrets running now, it will definitely be too late! And at the same time that he felt complacent about the bright prospect of winning the double kill in one fell swoop, Mizuki also completely tore the hypocrisy on his face, and laughed out loud with his true nature exposed.

"So, my dear 'best friend'...... In order to help me achieve my goal, please accompany that monster and die together...... What the?! ”

It's a pity that Mizuki, who is proud of himself, is absolutely unexpected...... From the moment he underestimated Naruto too much and tried to use Naruto to achieve his ambitious goals, the end that awaited him was destined to lose everything!

No, no, in Mizuki's stunned exclamation, in Mizuki's eyes, it was purely a weak chicken that could only snuggle up to Iruka's arms and wait for death, but at some point, he appeared behind Iruka's defenseless back. And then raised his hand unhappily, as if he was favored by the goddess of luck, or Mizuki's purpose in throwing the Wind Demon Shuriken, just to pass it on to Naruto, and he just inserted his petite palm directly into the round hole of the Wind Demon Shuriken! Then he grasped it with his five fingers together, and he didn't see any superfluous movements, so he met Mizuki's unbelievable gaze, and blocked and stopped the wind demon shuriken that was spinning at high speed!

"This ...... How is this possible......"

And the difficulty of doing this is obviously incomparable compared to directly hitting and blocking the attack of the Wind Demon Shuriken. So much so that after rubbing his eyes repeatedly, convinced that what he saw was not an illusion, Mizuki, who thought he had won from beginning to end, finally faintly appeared a little panicked and scared. And while secretly swallowing his saliva, he muttered to himself as if he doubted life.

"Weird...... Monster...... This stinky little ghost is really a monster......"

"Hmm......? Doesn't it hurt ......? ”

At the same time, Iruka, who had not waited for a long time to guess in advance, could not help but slowly open his closed eyes. And then subconsciously confirmed that Naruto, who was blessed in his arms, was still intact and obediently snuggled in his arms, and while secretly breathing a sigh of relief, he slowly turned his head to see what was going on.

"Whew...... It's great that Naruto is okay...... But what's really going on? Could it be that someone else arrived in time to save the ...... Wait...... Wait a minute?! ”

It was also this subconscious action that made Iruka, who was unexpected, suddenly look at the back of Naruto standing behind him with a stunned face, firmly holding the Wind Demon Shuriken. Then he looked back and forth in amazement, almost without thinking, and instinctively exclaimed.

"Is there something wrong with my eyes...... This...... This is...... There are two Naruto?! ”

"Huh? Two Naruto? What's going on......"

It was also under Iruka's silent exclamation that Mizuki, whose face was full of astonishment, began to gradually come back to his senses. Immediately subconsciously followed the prestige, followed Iruka's slightly upright movements, and saw the figure of "Naruto" who was still lying on the ground honestly, and suddenly like Iruka, there were question marks on his head.

"Doppelganger...... No, looking at Iruka's previous actions, the little ghost head that was pressed under him should also be a physical existence, and it is not an ordinary doppelganger technique at all, which can be done...... Could it be that someone else pretended to be Naruto and came to the rescue? ”

Obviously, even the ambition and conspiracy that Mizuki is brewing is indeed not small...... But in the final analysis, Mizuki, who was born as an ordinary person, has the same status and resources as Iruka. Even because during the mission, in order to complete the task, he did not hesitate to kill his companion who was on the mission with his own hands, and then lied that the cause of his companion's death was a serious leg injury, and he lost his qualification to be a ninja school teacher. The amount of information that Mizuki can have is even less than that of Iruka, who is responsible for the head teacher!

"That's right, anyway, that stinky boy, but the monster that the four generations of Hokage finally sealed...... It makes sense that someone will be in charge of watching and watching......"

Because of this, despite Mizuki's ambition, in his unheard cognition, the ninjutsu that he can identify is only the transformation technique, the stand-in technique, and the doppelganger technique, which are three basic low-level ninjutsu that even ordinary children can easily master. So much so that Mizuki not only relied too much on blade assistance when he wounded the enemy. What's more, no matter how much you guess and ponder, you can't associate the scene that happened in front of you with the technique of shadow clone! And in the face of the unknown, under the influence of the panic born of instinct, even though Mizuki was unwilling, but in this long-term dilemma, he began to involuntarily derive the idea of retreating and running away.

"Tsk, if you don't come sooner or later, it's just that at the juncture when I'm about to succeed, it pops up and spoils my good deeds...... It seems that there is no hope of getting the Book of Seals. It's better to take advantage of the opportunity of that stinky little ghost's emotional instability and the possibility of running out of control at any time, and quickly escape from the village. ”

Of course, even at this moment, in the bottom of my heart, I began to have the idea of retreating and giving up. But in order to avoid falling into a dangerous situation where he could only passively escape, Mizuki quickly restrained his shocked expression on the surface, and turned to a decent appearance, deliberately pretending to be calm and composed, trying to bluff the "impostor Naruto" in front of him, so that he did not dare to attack him easily.

What's more, even if he started to do it, Mizuki didn't think that he had no chance at all, so he could only obediently tie his hands and wait for death......

You know, since you dare to fight the idea of the Book of Seals, then Mizuki must have anticipated in advance the danger that he will become an enemy of the entire village after the plan is revealed......

In other words, if Mizuki was not brave or resourceful, or was blinded by interests, he gambled his net worth and his life desperately...... Then it can only be said that Mizuki, who seems to be poor in donkey skills, actually has a hidden hole card!

That is the power given to him by the adult he met before the plan was implemented......

"Huh? I didn't run away right away...... Should you be praised for being too brave, or should you be too ignorant? ”

However, before Mizuki's mind could turn sharply, he regained his lost confidence. Naruto, who was regarded as an impostor, seemed to see through Mizuki's thoughts, and the corners of his mouth rose slightly. Then he raised his hand and poked his temple with his fingers, while staring at Mizuki's figure indifferently, until Mizuki's whole person was inexplicably uneasy, and then he sneered and mocked coldly.

"Now that you already know, I am the reincarnation of the nine-tailed demon fox back then...... So, with a little brain, it's easy to come up with it, right? Just by relying on the spell mark that Orochimaru has put on you, can you have a one-on-one confrontation with me, the head of the Nine Tailed Beasts? ”

"What......!?"

At the moment when Naruto's words fell, Mizuki used his subconscious exclamation to confirm what Naruto said, and just hit the biggest hole card that Mizuki relied on to carry out the plan! It was even more difficult for Mizuki to regain some confidence, and it completely collapsed! As a result, Mizuki's body trembled and trembled, and he felt more and more mysterious about the figure of the little guy in front of him, who should have been weak. As he tensed his muscles as if he were facing a great enemy, he clenched his teeth and asked in disbelief.

"Impossible! I never mentioned this kind of thing to meet Orochimaru-sama and receive Orochimaru's gift...... Who the hell are you! And how do you know this? ”

Because of this, Mizuki, who was in a panic, would never have imagined......

Although Naruto relied on his own perceptual probing that he had quietly launched during the previous silence, he confirmed that there was indeed another chakra in Mizuki's body. And then with the completion of the original plot of the anime, I guessed that the true face of this chakra was most likely a half-finished spell mark given by Orochimaru after Mizuki defected to Orochimaru...... But in the end, these are just conjectures, and there is no substantial ironclad evidence!

In other words, the words that were confided in the contempt and disdain...... In essence, in fact, it is just a small scam used to bluff him into telling the truth by taking advantage of Mizuki's gradual retreat, which leads to a flaw in the psychological defense line!

"Sure enough, it has something to do with Orochimaru...... However, if I'm not mistaken, Mizuki should have been beaten into prison by the crown prince and then defected to Orochimaru, and obtained the power of the curse seal, right? ”

After determining that Mizuki dared to provoke his "monster" and didn't worry that he would go out of control at all, the biggest hole card that would take his life was his ignorant admiration for the power of the spell seal, which made Naruto secretly breathe a sigh of relief. Then he frowned involuntarily, and began to slowly relax at the same time, and whispered to himself as if no one was around.

In other words, no matter how much I follow the development of the original plot, I will work hard to restore it. But under the influence of the butterfly effect, after all, it is the development of the original plot, which has produced a lot of offset errors...... Then, if it goes on like this, the future situation will go on, but I am afraid that there will be no way to use the original plot as a 100% reliable source of information to prepare in advance......"

Of course, he said that, but for Mizuki, who had already taken the initiative to expose his hole cards right now, Naruto was not worried at all.

After all, not to mention Naruto himself, after all these years of hard work, he has a huge number of various hole cards...... Just according to Naruto's own strength, even if he relies on his own strength, he will face the four people of the Otoshinobi who are full of the power of the curse mark in the original plot. Most of the time it can be solved easily without much effort! Not to mention that Mizuki, who is already weak and can't even maintain the power of the spell mark for too long, is alone!

What's more, the reason why Naruto had endured everything he could before, letting Mizuki be wild in front of him, and trying to restore the direction of the original plot, was to further determine what degree of butterfly effect he would have caused from the surprise of the strength shown between Mizuki in front of him and the original Mizuki. And with the cooperation of Mizuki's "honesty", after getting enough information to satisfy Naruto, Mizuki's road of pretending to be forced also announced is completely coming to an end!

"Anyway, thank you so much for your cooperation, Mizuki-sensei...... If I didn't have you, I'd have a lot of headaches, where would I go to find a perfectly qualified test subject like you, and so ignorant and easy to control? ”

Thinking of this, Naruto's facial muscles moved, revealing an extremely "warm" "friendly" smile. Then, without waiting for Mizuki to respond, he swung the Wind Demon shuriken in his hand and revived it to spun at an accelerated pace. While pouring his own chakra into it, the already sharp edge of the blade emitted a sharp and piercing whistle under the rendering of the light blue chakra.

"So, in return for your thanks...... I promise, I'll just beat you up and get angry, but I'll never take your life!" ”

It is obvious that at this moment, the night that shrouded Konoha Ninja Village has shown signs of fading due to the passage of time...... And for the rest of the village, it is a sign that they will slowly wake up from a good night's sleep.

But for Mizuki......

A nightmare that will last a lifetime has just begun......

(End of chapter)