Chapter 7: Hanabi—Music!

“Give it back!”

Hanabi spun around, dodging Naruto who was lunging at her. In passing, she tied a red string around the Scroll of Seals, reinforcing the seal for a second time. However, in reality, Hanabi’s chakra had already permeated inside along with the action.

To accelerate her training, Hanabi always wore Jingliu’s black gauze blindfold. To perceive the outside world, she basically relied on constantly dispersing her chakra in minute amounts. This gave her proficient means of chakra control; copying a few ninjutsu from the scroll was simply a piece of cake.

“Give it back, quick!” Naruto was getting anxious. He ran over, only to be gently guided by Hanabi, causing him to lunge to the other side.

“Naruto, you are an idiot, but I don’t think you would do something like stealing the Scroll of Seals.”

“Hanabi, don’t interfere with my mission!” Naruto fell flat on his face, eating dirt, but turned around and pounced again.

“Seeing how hard you’re working, you must be learning the ninjutsu inside, right?” Hanabi squatted down in front of Naruto. “Let me think. Someone must have said something to you. For example, that you could graduate if you got the scroll?”

“Eh?” Naruto was startled.

“Mm, let me guess. This afternoon when I was talking to you, there was a fly buzzing around nearby… It was Mizuki, wasn’t it?”

[Detective Hanabi has arrived!]

[So this afternoon was indeed intentional!]

[Holy crap, she really knows everything. I’m crying.]

[There must be super powerful ninjutsu in there, but Lady Hanabi doesn’t care at all.]

[What a reckless waste of a heavenly gift, she’s not even looking at it!]

[In my opinion, the ninjutsu in this scroll probably aren’t anything good.]

[Actually, this is a typical Japanese mindset to mess with people: I have an invincible secret manual, but eh, I just won’t read it, making you die of anxiety.]

“Naruto. Do you know?” Hanabi looked at the shocked Naruto. “The so-called Scroll of Seals records Forbidden Jutsu. That means techniques that violate ethical norms or techniques that will harm the user. In other words, nothing in here is good stuff.”

While speaking, Hanabi had already copied several techniques.

Although she acted like she didn’t care, a thief never leaves empty-handed. Since she was already here, how could she not pluck some wool (take advantage) while she was at it?

Surprisingly, the Impure World Reincarnation was actually in there, along with the Four Symbols Seal and the Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.

Besides these, the Summoning Jutsu and the Hidden Lotus were also there.

Mm… that’s right. The Summoning Jutsu, capable of summoning creatures, was actually a forbidden jutsu. It was in the original work too.

Lack of interest was one thing, but what needed to be recorded still had to be recorded.

I might not use it, but I cannot be without it.

That’s just how it is.

“Telling you to take the Scroll of Seals, telling you to learn the ninjutsu inside. Naruto, do you really think the content of a ‘makeup exam’ would be like this?” Hanabi asked a soul-searching question.

“Then Mizuki-sensei…” Although Naruto was an idiot, he wasn’t intellectually disabled. After hearing Hanabi’s words, he understood—Mizuki was deceiving him.

“Naruto! Hanabi, you’re here too! Thank goodness!”

After the Scroll of Seals was stolen, the Third Hokage mobilized the villagers to search for Naruto. Iruka was also called out.

Upon finding Naruto and seeing the Scroll of Seals in Hanabi’s hands, he breathed a sigh of relief.

“Hanabi, quickly give me the Scroll of Seals. Naruto, you guy, how could you do such a reckless thing!”

As Iruka spoke, he walked toward Hanabi.

“Okay, Iruka-sensei, here is the scroll—”

Hanabi threw the scroll directly to the side.

Iruka’s gaze was attracted by the scroll, but in the next instant, Hanabi had already closed in, the kunai in her hand thrusting forward!

“Clang!”

The sound of metal clashing rang out, and “Iruka” was knocked flying by Hanabi.

“H-Hanabi?! Why did you attack Iruka-sensei!” Naruto was stunned when he saw this scene.

His brain capacity wasn’t enough to tell him what exactly had happened.

“Damn it, how did you know I wasn’t Iruka…” “Iruka” was knocked to the base of a tree. The Transformation Jutsu wore off, and after a puff of smoke, Mizuki’s appearance was revealed.

“Ehhhh?!” Naruto was dumbfounded.

And right at this moment, the real Iruka walked out from the side with a complicated expression, clutching the Scroll of Seals.

Iruka had arrived before Mizuki. But finding Hanabi talking to Naruto, he decided to observe for a moment.

Hanabi spoke very loudly, clearly speaking for him to hear.

However, before Iruka could come out, another “Iruka” walked over. Without a doubt, the one transforming into him was that Mizuki over there.

“Why did it turn out like this?” Naruto was completely confused.

“They just don’t want you to learn the ninjutsu inside and undo the seal on yourself. Let me tell you what’s going on, Naruto.” Mizuki leapt up and stood on a tree branch.

“Bastard, don’t say it!” Iruka panicked, immediately realizing what Mizuki intended to do.

But Mizuki was looking down from high ground and wasn’t afraid of Iruka rushing over. Furthermore, Iruka was holding the Scroll of Seals and feared Mizuki snatching it.

Mizuki sneered: “Twelve years ago, the village established a certain rule. A rule that kept a certain secret from you, Naruto Uzumaki, specifically.”

“Only me? Why?!” Naruto’s eyes widened.

“Don’t do it, Mizuki!” Iruka threw a kunai, but it was knocked down by the giant Demon Wind Shuriken Mizuki carried with him.

Mizuki continued: “That is the rule that one must absolutely never speak of Naruto’s true identity as the Demon Fox—That’s right, the Nine-Tailed Fox that killed Iruka’s parents and destroyed the village is you, Naruto Uzumaki!”

“Eh?”

The shocking truth plunged Naruto into silence.

“Naruto.” Iruka wanted to go up and comfort Naruto, but Mizuki’s gaze remained focused on the Scroll of Seals in his hands.

Iruka didn’t dare to act rashly to avoid the scroll being snatched by Mizuki.

Hanabi’s action of throwing the Scroll of Seals to Iruka had actually put Iruka in a passive position.

“That guy Mizuki, he actually blurted out the truth.” The Third Hokage saw the current situation through the crystal ball. But he looked worriedly toward Hanabi.

Hanabi was one of Naruto’s few friends. Now that Hanabi knew about this, would she distance herself from Naruto?

[Here it comes, here it comes, the typical Japanese anger displacement mentality.]

[Classic, too classic. It’s the year 4202, and we can still see such a classic plot.]

[Don’t just call it classic, they are still using it now. New anime all follow this trope.]

The scene was silent, but the anime-watching crowd over there discussed it quite heatedly.

“Pfft.” A laugh broke the silence.

Hanabi laughed out loud.

“What are you laughing at?!”

Mizuki was anxious.

There were three people opposite him now: Hanabi, Naruto, and Iruka. The situation was in a stalemate. Once more people arrived, his plan would fail.

Even with just two people, Mizuki might have been bold enough to attack, but the current situation was actually unfavorable to him. So Mizuki wanted to instigate Naruto, not necessarily to make him stand with himself, but just to make him stand against Iruka.

Instead, this Hanabi here was more troublesome.

His plans had been interrupted by her repeatedly; it was almost as if she was doing it on purpose.

“Oh my, I just find this clown’s drama very amusing. Mizuki-sensei, you have a talent for being a clown.”

Hanabi’s voice was unhurried.

Yes, that’s right. She knew Mizuki was anxious, so she was doing it on purpose. She just wanted to mess with Mizuki’s head.

“Nani?!”

Not only Mizuki, but even Naruto and Iruka beside her looked at Hanabi with strange gazes.

“The villagers are merely ignorant and weak. Because the object of their hatred was sealed away by the Fourth Hokage, they had no target left to hate. Thus, they attributed their suffering to an ignorant child, venting their hatred because a child… cannot fight back. Ah, truly just like ignorant beasts. Ah, no, even beasts… at least know how to protect their young.”

– What is she saying?

Naruto’s brain capacity wasn’t quite enough.

But he roughly understood. Hanabi seemed to be… speaking up for him?

Yeah, that should be it, right?

Mizuki over there naturally understood Hanabi’s meaning. But words like these couldn’t break Mizuki’s defense. Mizuki smiled contemptuously; he thought Hanabi would have some profound theory, but it turned out to be nothing more than this. A brat is just a brat.

“But you—it is because of incompetence.”

Mizuki lost his cool instantly.

“There is no meaning for a Chunin to take the Scroll of Seals. The ninjutsu in here, forgive my bluntness, you probably can’t even understand them. Even if the Scroll of Seals were given to you, you couldn’t make any waves. You are just a clown. For someone as incompetent as you, there must be a mastermind behind you. But for an executor like you, no matter what happens, your end won’t be good. You are actually a discarded pawn.”

Mizuki threw his giant shuriken directly: “Bastard!”

Naruto hadn’t broken down yet, but Mizuki broke down first.

“Hanabi!”

Mizuki’s attack was very sudden. Iruka rushed over hurriedly but failed to intercept it.

“Hanabi!”

Seeing the giant shuriken tear through Hanabi, Naruto let out a scream.

However, Hanabi’s image subsequently vanished directly like a reflection in the water (Mirror Flower, Water Moon).

Then, Hanabi’s voice came from the other side: “It was a Genjutsu.”

“Nani?!” Mizuki turned his head to look at Hanabi on the tree branch to the side.

He was instantly startled—When did Hanabi appear over there?!

“I mean, during the graduation exam, I really did use Genjutsu. For you not to have even realized this, are you truly a Chunin?” Hanabi smiled as she revealed the truth about the graduation exam.

“I knew it… I just knew it!” Iruka over there covered his face.

Although Hanabi had shown no flaws, based on Hanabi’s usual behavior, Iruka felt something was wrong; her demeanor was slightly different from usual. Looking at it now, she was indeed messing around back then. And Mizuki… naturally hadn’t noticed.

“Mizuki-sensei, you really are lower than a maggot.”

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