Inside Future Sasuke and Jiraiya’s room.

Neither of them was sleeping; instead, they sat silently on chairs.

After a long silence, Jiraiya broke it, asking, "You're not entertainers, are you? Tell me, what exactly is your objective? If you don't answer honestly, I'll deal with you right here!"

Future Sasuke sighed.

He had guessed it; in Jiraiya's eyes, he was certainly already a dangerous individual.

Future Sasuke could only answer to a limited extent, "There's a person named Urashiki who wants to obtain the Nine-Tails chakra."

Jiraiya's eyes narrowed, "I suspected you weren't entertainers, but I didn't expect you to mention the Nine-Tails."

Future Sasuke continued, "We are Ninjas from a small village, ordered to take Urashiki's life. We came here knowing his target was Konoha's Naruto Uzumaki."

Jiraiya asked in a deep voice, "Then, why does he want the Nine-Tails chakra?"

Future Sasuke shook his head, "We don't know his intentions either, but without a doubt, he wants to gain immense power, thereby threatening the entire Shinobi World. You should know there's an Akatsuki that targets Tailed Beasts, right?"

Jiraiya's expression grew more serious, "The Akatsuki?"

Future Sasuke nodded, "Our village believes Urashiki is connected to that Akatsuki, so we want to follow Naruto Uzumaki, protect him from Urashiki's sneak attacks, and then kill Urashiki."

Jiraiya asked, puzzled, "If that's the case, why don't you seek help from Konoha?"

Future Sasuke recalled the intelligence he had received from Asuma Sarutobi and replied, "The current Konoha makes us hesitant to enter rashly; the risk is too great for us. Since Naruto is outside Konoha, we came directly to him.

Please rest assured, we have no ill intentions towards Naruto. Once Urashiki is dealt with, we will leave immediately and not bother you."

Jiraiya thought for a moment and then asked, "So, you know the Akatsuki very well? Can you disclose any intelligence?"

Future Sasuke refused, "Sorry, the Ninjas of our village have strict regulations; we cannot reveal intelligence casually. This time, I had no choice but to tell you this. If we had ill intentions, there were many opportunities to act just now."

Jiraiya stroked his chin and then asked, "Then when will that Urashiki arrive?"

Future Sasuke replied, "Within these two days. Our purpose in coming is to protect Naruto, who is being targeted by Urashiki."

Jiraiya gazed at Future Sasuke, "Then I'll tentatively trust you for now. But if you make any suspicious moves, I will eliminate you without hesitation!"

Future Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. It was good that he could reason with him; things wouldn't be so troublesome now. All he had to do was wait for Urashiki Otsutsuki to appear.

The next day.

Since he had already laid his cards on the table with Jiraiya, Future Sasuke no longer needed to continue his disguise.

Initially, Future Sasuke had been wondering what he should perform in Tanzaku Town.

So today, the four of them were strolling around Tanzaku Town.

However, it was unfortunate for Jiraiya; he had wanted to chat with Tsunade again, but Tsunade had already left with Shizune.

Jiraiya now inexplicably felt like he was a lone wolf, a bit desolate.

Jiraiya regretted every day that if he had stayed in Konoha to look after Naruto Uzumaki, perhaps everything would have been different.

But unfortunately, everything was now a fixed fact; there were no 'what ifs.'

Nothing happened today, and by evening, they returned to the inn to rest.

The next day, Naruto Uzumaki went to the forest outside Tanzaku Town to train.

Currently, Naruto Uzumaki's physique was already capable of opening the Eight Inner Gates, but he could only open one gate by himself. With the Nine-Tails's assistance, he could open two gates.

The Eight Inner Gates required daily training. He hadn't trained yesterday, so he had to make up for it today.

Boruto Uzumaki stared in amazement at Naruto Uzumaki's high-intensity training.

Boruto Uzumaki quietly asked, "Master, was Dad that diligent at this time?"

Future Sasuke replied, "Although he was very diligent, he doesn't seem to be able to compare to him."

Future Sasuke watched Naruto Uzumaki's training, which reminded him of Rock Lee.

Jiraiya leaned against a tree trunk, his gaze almost constantly on Future Sasuke and Boruto Uzumaki.

Although he temporarily trusted them, he couldn't let his guard down.

Future Sasuke suddenly trembled and looked gravely towards the sky.

A voice came from the sky.

"Oh my, I didn't expect the plan to be disrupted. Troublesome guys, I'll harvest you all together."

In the sky, a man with pale skin, long light blue hair tied in a high ponytail, no eyebrows, two dots on his forehead, a horn shaped like a headband on his head, and holding a red glowing fishing rod, floated in mid-air.

And this person was Urashiki Otsutsuki, whom Future Sasuke and Boruto Uzumaki were pursuing.

Boruto Uzumaki exclaimed, "Urashiki!"

Jiraiya used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Naruto Uzumaki, looking gravely at Urashiki Otsutsuki in the sky, "So this is the person you were pursuing."

Future Sasuke nodded, "That's right, his strength is not to be underestimated! Be careful."

Naruto Uzumaki glanced at Future Sasuke, then at Jiraiya, realizing that the two of them must have had an open conversation last night.

Urashiki Otsutsuki's gaze fell on Naruto Uzumaki, "Finally, I've met you, Naruto Uzumaki!"

Naruto Uzumaki looked at Urashiki Otsutsuki with cold eyes, "What? You know me?"

"Of course! You're quite famous!"

Urashiki Otsutsuki swung his red glowing fishing rod, striking at Naruto Uzumaki.

Naruto Uzumaki dodged backward. The hook struck the ground with great force, creating a crater and instantly raising dust.

Future Sasuke immediately drew his Ninja Sword and slashed at Urashiki Otsutsuki.

Urashiki Otsutsuki agilely dodged Future Sasuke's slash, while swinging his fishing hook at Naruto Uzumaki again.

Naruto Uzumaki instantly drew his Ninja Sword.

"Wind Breathing, Sixth Form: Black Wind Mountain Mist!"

Naruto Uzumaki swung a wind blade upwards, simultaneously spreading sword qi from it, blocking the fishing hook.

Future Sasuke and Boruto Uzumaki looked at Naruto Uzumaki in surprise.

What kind of Ninjutsu was that? They had never seen it before.

Future Sasuke warned, "Be careful not to let the hook pierce your body; your Chakra will be hooked out!"

"What a troublesome guy." Jiraiya formed hand signs.

"Wild Lion's Mane Technique!"

Jiraiya extended his hair, forming a lion's head shape, and entangled it towards Urashiki Otsutsuki in the air.

Urashiki Otsutsuki's eyes suddenly turned into blue Rinnegan. Just as he was about to be entangled by Jiraiya's hair, he transformed himself into several red glowing paper cranes and disappeared from everyone's sight.

Urashiki Otsutsuki reappeared in another location.

Jiraiya looked at Urashiki Otsutsuki with difficulty; he had the ability to fly, the casually swung fishing hook was powerful and could hook out Chakra, and he even seemed to have teleportation abilities.

This enemy, it seemed, would be very difficult to deal with.