Naruto: Different Path

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Naruto quickly returned to Konoha and headed straight to the Hokage's office. 

Tsunade's expression clearly showed that another difficult situation had arisen. 

Once the office door was shut, Tsunade, resting on one hand, asked, "Do you remember the mission I sent you on to the Land of Lightning last time?"

Naruto nodded. That mission hadn't been long ago, and the events were still fresh in his mind. 

He asked, "Does that mean the Land of Lightning is convinced we were behind it, and they're preparing to retaliate?"

Tsunade sighed and shook her head. "No." 

"During that mission, although we successfully made the Raikage suspect the Land of Water, preventing them from joining forces against Konoha, conflicts between the major nations never truly cease." 

"Not only the Land of Lightning, but also the Land of Water has great ambitions." 

"The fact that the Land of Water was willing to consider an alliance with the Land of Lightning shows they've been planning to target Konoha for some time."

Naruto understood. Between nations, interests always come first, and from a certain perspective, all the other countries could be considered potential enemies of Konoha. 

He asked, "Has the Land of Water taken any action yet?"

Tsunade nodded slightly. "Recently, several ninjas stationed along the coastline of the Land of Fire have gone missing." 

"While there's no concrete evidence, the coastline faces the Land of Water, with only the sea in between." 

"Typically, no one but the Land of Water would operate in that area, and this has been the case for a long time.

"Danzō wanted to handle this mission in his usual way—similar to how you went to the Land of Earth last time." 

"However, if that approach fails, it could trigger a full-scale war in the ninja world." 

"Luckily, there wasn't much support for his plan during the meeting, so the decision is now mine."

Naruto wore his mask and black cloak and said, "Well, leave this mission to me. After all this downtime, I'm ready for some action." 

Tsunade, however, remained serious. "The Land of Water is currently testing Konoha's strength." 

"If we don't handle this correctly, it could escalate into war. Naruto, I want to hear your thoughts."

Naruto responded, "This mission is different from the last. The enemy is in the shadows while we're in the open, which makes it especially tricky." 

"The Land of Water's ninja techniques are excellent for concealment, and since this is near the sea, to be honest, I'm not fully confident." 

"But if you send anyone else, only Jiraiya-sensei might be able to pull it off, and I'm sure he's busy with other important tasks right now."

Tsunade frowned, surprised. "I never thought someone as confident as you would say that, but as you've pointed out, you're the best person for this job right now." 

"I'll let you decide who you want to bring for the mission. You can choose anyone from the ANBU, but make sure this mission succeeds."

Naruto thought for a moment. "We'll need at least two four-man squads." 

"The three people who accompanied me last time will be fine, but I'll need to select a few others from the available personnel." 

"However, I do have one request."

Knowing the importance of this mission, Tsunade figured Naruto's request would be difficult but asked anyway, "What's your request? Let me hear it, and I'll see if it's doable."

Naruto said, "I want to bring Hinata Hyūga along."

Tsunade immediately rejected the idea. 

"Not. First, a genin can't participate in such a dangerous mission." 

"Secondly, Hinata is the heiress of the Hyūga Clan's main branch. Hiashi would never allow it, which is beyond my authority as Hokage."

Naruto knew Tsunade had a point, but his main goal was for Hinata to grow stronger through this experience. 

He explained, "The Mist Village's ninja techniques are very troublesome. With Hinata's Byakugan, their techniques would be much less effective." 

"While there are other sensory ninjutsu users, none can compare to the Byakugan." 

"With her help, we'd greatly increase our chances of success."

Tsunade replied, "I could send a member of the Hyūga's branch family with you. They also possess the Byakugan."

Naruto countered, "The branch family's Byakugan often has limitations, and I don't trust them as much. Coordination with unfamiliar teammates increases the risk of something going wrong."

Tsunade knew Naruto's request, though bold, wasn't unreasonable. However, it wasn't something she could easily agree to without Hiashi's consent. 

Deep in thought, she closed her eyes briefly, then said, "Naruto, if you can convince Hiashi, I'll allow it. But time is short—you need to depart by tonight."

With Tsunade's words, Naruto rushed to the Hyūga residence as quickly as possible, arriving at Hiashi's home in no time. 

He opened the door to find Hiashi instructing Neji in training. Seeing the two getting along well, Naruto could tell Neji had started to open his heart. 

As Naruto entered, both Neji and Hiashi turned to look at him. Neji asked, "Naruto, what brings you here in such a hurry?"

Naruto nodded at Neji in greeting, then turned to Hiashi. "Hiashi-sama, I've come to ask for your help. This is a confidential matter—can we speak privately?"

Sensing Naruto's urgency and having a good impression of him, Hiashi quickly led him inside to sit down. 

Without wasting time, Naruto said, "Hiashi-sama, I'm here to request your permission to take Hinata on a mission with me."

Naruto then explained the details of the mission. After hearing everything, Hiashi frowned deeply. 

The danger of the mission was evident, but as Naruto pointed out, Hinata needed training. 

Her timid nature even led Hiashi to consider making her younger sister, Hanabi, the clan's heir. 

But despite Hinata's shortcomings, she was still his daughter, and this mission was far too dangerous.

Noticing Hiashi's hesitation, Naruto quickly added, "I swear on my life that nothing will happen to Hinata."

Hiashi gazed deeply at Naruto and said, "I have my concerns." 

"Many seek the Byakugan, and Hinata, as the heiress of the Hyūga Clan, has many eyes on her." 

"Though you're hailed as Konoha's genius and promised to protect her, whether you can do so depends on your strength."

Standing up, Hiashi continued, "If you can defeat me, I'll agree to your request. Let's go to the training grounds." 

"Show me just how strong Konoha's genius is."

Hiashi led the way to Konoha's training grounds, and Naruto followed closely behind. 

Giving up before even trying wasn't Naruto's style, regardless of whether or not he could defeat Hiashi. 

Hiashi assumed a standard Gentle Fist stance and asked Naruto, "Are you ready? If you are, then come at me." 

Just from his stance, Naruto could sense that Hiashi had no openings. 

He wasn't like Neji—his Byakugan had no flaws, and his overall strength surpassed Neji's. But this only excited Naruto more. 

Facing a skilled opponent made the fight interesting. Naruto began by testing the waters with Shadow Clones. 

While Naruto's taijutsu wasn't bad, the Gentle Fist style was formidable in close combat. 

Coupled with the Byakugan's ability to easily spot weaknesses, Hiashi took down Naruto's clones in a single strike. 

Realizing that close combat wouldn't be effective, Naruto and the remaining clones retreated, throwing a barrage of shuriken as they fell back. 

Hiashi effortlessly dealt with the shuriken, giving Naruto the opening he needed. He quickly formed hand signs. 

"Wind Style: Tornado!" Naruto shouted, followed by 

"Fire Style: Dragon Flame Jutsu!" 

Combining the two, he created the powerful "Tornado Flame."

The immense wind pressure trapped Hiashi at the centre of the storm. The fire element added a dangerous threat, but Hiashi remained calm. 

His body began to spin as chakra surged around him. It was the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. 

When Hiashi performed it, its power far surpassed Neji's version. 

The strong chakra flow nullified Naruto's attack, and the flames flickered harmlessly beside Hiashi, unable to harm him. 

It truly was the ultimate defence. When Hiashi stopped spinning, the flames had completely vanished. 

Naruto widened the distance between them once again. "Earth Style: Earth Dragon Bullet!" 

A massive dragon made of earth rose and charged toward Hiashi, but he easily dodged it. 

Hiashi swiftly closed the distance, saying, "Attacks like these are meaningless against me. You'll lose if you don't show me your real strength." 

Naruto knew his long-range attacks weren't very effective, but seeing Hiashi approaching rapidly, he cast another jutsu: 

"Earth Style: Earth Flow River!"

Hiashi was forced to use Revolving Heaven again to avoid being trapped by the river of mud, but this only stalled his advance. 

Suddenly, Hiashi shouted, "Eight Trigrams Air Palm!" Naruto felt a surge of powerful chakra coming so fast it was like teleportation. 

He didn't have time to cast another jutsu and immediately activated his Thunder God Armor. 

The impact struck his armour, and even through the shield, Naruto felt the intense pressure. 

He was knocked back several meters, but he wasn't hurt.

This was Naruto's first time seeing this technique, and its power far exceeded his expectations. 

This was just a spar—Hiashi hadn't been using his full strength. If he had, Naruto might have been seriously injured. 

Upon seeing Naruto's Thunder God Armor, Hiashi praised, "Impressive. You've grown much stronger since I first saw this technique." 

"But I wasn't going all out just now. Be careful because now I'm getting serious."

As Hiashi raised his hand, Naruto knew an even stronger attack was coming. In a hurry, he used an Earth-style technique to hide underground. 

Hiashi's Air Palm struck the ground; Naruto felt violent tremors even underground. 

If that hit had landed directly, he could have been seriously injured. While hiding, Naruto tried to come up with a strategy. 

The Byakugan could see him underground, but Hiashi hadn't moved yet. 

If Naruto attempted a sneak attack, Hiashi would notice—there were no blind spots for the Byakugan. 

Moreover, Revolving Heaven was difficult to break, and ranged attacks would only be met with more Air Palms. Hiashi was a troublesome opponent.

After careful thought, Naruto realized that his only option was to use his strongest attack to break through Revolving Heaven. 

He moved through the ground to create more distance, but as he resurfaced, Hiashi's Air Palm hit him again. 

This time, Naruto used his Lightning Release to withstand the blow, but the force of the impact still caused internal damage and sent him flying backwards. 

Concerned that he had struck too hard, Hiashi quickly called, "Naruto, are you all right?" and rushed over to check on him.

Naruto quickly stood up and raised a hand, saying, "I'm fine. But now I will use my ultimate move, so be ready!" 

Naruto's injuries had already mostly recovered thanks to his rapid healing ability. 

Seeing Naruto back on his feet, Hiashi prepared for what was coming, assuming his Eight Trigrams stance.

Naruto created hundreds of Shadow Clones, and several clones began forming hand signs. 

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!" they called out, launching large-scale fireballs at Hiashi. 

He couldn't avoid such a wide-range attack and had to rely on Revolving Heaven to defend himself. 

While Hiashi was preoccupied, Naruto's other clones gathered chakra, forming multiple Rasengans. 

After their prolonged exchange, Naruto noticed that Hiashi couldn't move while performing Revolving Heaven; if he did, the spinning would stop, leaving him vulnerable.

Naruto seized the moment when Hiashi deflected the fire jutsu and struck with a Rasengan. 

However, the chakra from the Rasengan couldn't break through Hiashi's Revolving Heaven. 

After three seconds of stalemate, Naruto's clone was blown away by the force of the chakra. 

Just as Hiashi was about to stop his technique, another one of Naruto's clones attacked with another Rasengan, forcing Hiashi to keep spinning. 

If Hiashi stopped, he'd be hit by the Rasengan, so he had no choice but to continue Revolving Heaven.

Though each attack lasted briefly, Naruto's endless supply of Shadow Clones kept coming, each armed with a Rasengan, relentlessly bombarding Hiashi's defence. 

Revolving Heaven was a Hyuga clan speciality, particularly among the main family, and Hiashi could normally maintain it for a long time. 

However, faced with Naruto's endless onslaught, Hiashi was forced to use a large amount of chakra. This turned into a battle of chakra endurance.

As time went on, Hiashi began to tire. Knowing this was just a sparring match, he saw no point in pushing himself to the limit, so he stopped Revolving Heaven. 

Naruto also ceased his Rasengan barrage. Hiashi wiped the sweat from his forehead and sighed, "You're truly remarkable." 

"I never expected you to devise a way to counter Revolving Heaven." 

"I've never seen anything like it. But what surprises me even more is the amount of chakra you have. Without that, this method wouldn't have worked."

Naruto, having expended a significant amount of chakra, responded a bit sheepishly, 

"Your Revolving Heaven's defence is so strong that breaking through it with a single technique seemed impossible." 

"I had no choice but to wear you down like this. And besides, you weren't going all out either, so I don't consider this a true victory."

Hiashi noticed that Naruto showed no fatigue despite the long fight and said, "There's no need to be modest." 

"If we kept going, you would've won through attrition. As for Hinata, I won't interfere anymore, but whether or not she agrees to go is her decision." 

"If she does, protect her, just as you promised."

Naruto nodded earnestly. "You can count on me. I swear Hinata will be safe." 

He then quickly headed to Hinata's residence. When he asked her to join the mission, Hinata, though shy, didn't hesitate to accept.

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