“How could this be? The hatred Sasuke carries runs so deep!” Sakura Haruno covered her mouth in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes, her voice trembling with despair. She couldn't imagine that the hatred and entanglement between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha were so intricate.
Sakura Haruno's eyes widened as she stared into the distance, as if she could see Sasuke's lonely and resolute back. At this moment, she knew deeply that the hatred in Sasuke's heart was deeply ingrained and could not be easily erased. With such a deep-seated blood feud against Konoha, how could Sasuke possibly return to the Village?
Recalling every moment she spent with Sasuke, Sakura Haruno's heart twisted in pain. She had once hoped so much that Sasuke could let go of his hatred and return to Konoha to live with everyone.
However, reality was so cruel, shattering her hopes in an instant.
At this moment, if the information Sakura Haruno heard was truly what had happened, then Sasuke's fate seemed to be sealed. With his entire clan wiped out by Konoha Village, the hatred in Sasuke's heart burned like a raging fire, unceasingly.
Not to mention whether he could return to the Village, even if he did, it would likely only be to seek revenge against the Village. After all, to Sasuke, Konoha Village was his enemy, the culprit who took everything from him. However, the ones who acted against the Uchiha Clan in Konoha Village were all high-ranking Konoha officials.
These individuals held high positions and power; how could they easily surrender themselves to death? They would surely mobilize the entire strength of Konoha.
Sakura Haruno couldn't help but worry about Sasuke's future, and at the same time, she was filled with anxiety about Konoha Village's future.
Given Sasuke's talent and his allegiance to Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, a powerful rogue Ninja who even killed the Hokage, if left unchecked, he would one day cause immense destruction to the Village, and the Village would not simply let it happen.
Thus,
Between the two sides,
They were already completely irreconcilable enemies!
And as a member of Konoha, with her entire family living in Konoha, how could she defy Konoha's orders?
“In that case, Sasuke can never return to Konoha, even if he comes back, it will only be a dead end!” Under Sakura Haruno's cherry blossom-red hair, her eyes were already brimming with tears, and her hands were tightly clenched. Clearly, when it came to Sasuke, she momentarily even forgot about the safety of Uzumaki Naruto, who was captured inside.
Why is it like this!
What should I do?
To protect both the Village and Sasuke…
Sakura Haruno's heart was incredibly conflicted, completely unable to think of how to bring Sasuke back. Having always made bringing Sasuke back her goal, she could only deceive herself, believing that all the information she was hearing now was just a tiny possibility.
Sai, standing nearby, also sighed helplessly, thinking to himself, “The darkness of the Village can never be escaped! These kinds of things, as long as the Village exists for one day, will never be avoided. So Sasuke was like this too!”
Recalling the betrayal and massacre that befell the Uchiha Clan, which was a shadow and darkness that the entire Konoha Village could not erase, this series of sickening events reminded Sai of his upbringing in Root, where he and his brother fought and killed each other. To protect him, his brother willingly died by his hand, allowing him to live, which once made Sai believe the world was entirely dark.
It wasn't until Uzumaki Naruto appeared that Sai slowly began to develop his own thoughts and regain his emotions.
“Therefore, Naruto, I will absolutely not let you down!” Sai secretly resolved, his paintbrush already rapidly deploying. With the appearance of a blank scroll, the dark ink, combined with his Yin Release Ninjutsu,
Black rats emerged from the scroll, surrounding the entire central location of the Dragon Vein, encompassing it from the outside.
This way, during the battle later, he could use the Super Beast Imitation Drawing technique to set up the battlefield.
Similarly, while Sakura Haruno was lost in her thoughts and Sai began to prepare his battlefield Ninjutsu, Yamato, as the captain, was also frowning. Seeing Sakura's despair and the sadness that even a Root-trained person like Sai couldn't help but show, he felt a pang of distress, muttering, “Damn it, Konoha Village, how did it become like this!”
“It would be great if Kakashi was here. If he were, he would definitely be able to guide everyone better. I really can't lead everyone out of the current predicament!” Yamato thought with a headache. When Kakashi's face appeared in his mind, he turned his head and specifically looked at the young Kakashi opposite him, a helpless expression on his face.
The young Kakashi, let alone leading everyone,
At this stage, he probably couldn't even take care of himself!
On the other side,
“Is this the darkness of the Village?!” Minato Namikaze's voice echoed in his mind for a long time, carrying disbelief and deep disappointment. His eyes gazed at the scene before him, as if trying to see the truth hidden within the darkness.
The usually smiling, gentle, and kind Minato Namikaze now had no trace of a smile on his face. His expression became stern and serious, and beneath his calm exterior, anger burned like a flame in his heart, his hands tightly clenched.
Minato Namikaze pondered, “The targeting of the Uchiha Clan, the future extermination of the clan…” This thought constantly swirled in his mind, making his mood increasingly heavy.
He couldn't help but think of the Ninja of the Uchiha Clan, Uchiha Fugaku, Uchiha Mikoto, and Uchiha Yashiro. These people were kind and friendly in his memory; they, like other villagers, hoped to get along well with Konoha and had no ill intentions.
However, such a seemingly harmless group of people would suffer such a tragic fate in the future—their entire clan annihilated.
This fact greatly shocked Minato Namikaze's heart; he could not accept such an outcome. He began to have some doubts and dissatisfaction with Konoha's higher-ups, and many questions arose in his mind regarding their decisions and actions.
That was something he had never thought of before. Questioning Konoha's higher-ups was considered a "treasonous" thought.
At the same time, Minato Namikaze's heart was also filled with disgust for the existence named Uchiha Itachi. Compared to how Konoha's higher-ups targeted the Uchiha, considering the entire Ninja World and other families in Konoha Village, as long as the Uchiha Clan did not directly rebel, they would never personally slaughter the Uchiha Clan. However, Uchiha Itachi's actions directly caused heavy losses to both Konoha and Uchiha.
Only someone with ten years of brain thrombosis could come up with such a thing.
It shouldn't be like this.
"No matter what, I must become Hokage to end this Village's filth, let the fire will completely illuminate everyone, and prevent the Uchiha's tragedy!" Minato Namikaze's eyes showed a sharp look, and he had already made up his mind that he must become Hokage as quickly as possible, and then personally change everything in Konoha and eliminate the darkness within it.
Thinking of this, he looked at Akimichi Choza, Shibi Aburame, and Kakashi Hatake beside him, nodding firmly at them, expressing his desire to change everything.
He then looked at the few people opposite him.
Although they had never met, Yamato and the other two, who also wore Konoha headbands, began to signal cooperation with their eyes.
At this moment, they even communicated using Konoha's operational code, and soon began to arrange their battle plan.
... "Since you said you can tell me the answer to anything I want to ask, can you tell me why you said I plagiarized your Ninjutsu? Could it be that the Ninjutsu here was created by someone else...?" Uzumaki Naruto clutched his wound, slumped on the ground. His eyes were filled with stubbornness, and various possible questions flashed through his mind, but at this moment, in despair, he could no longer think calmly and could only blurt out some words to buy time.
And deep in his heart, he was frantically calling out to Nine-Tailed, hoping to use the powerful strength of the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox to escape the current predicament.
Although, he had once over-relied on Nine-Tailed's strength, which led to him hurting Sakura, making him feel guilty.
However, at this moment, in this life-or-death situation, Uzumaki Naruto, in despair, had no other choice.
"Hey, Nine-Tailed, if you don't want to die with me in this world, then quickly give me your power as rent!" Uzumaki Naruto roared deep in his heart, his voice echoing continuously in his sealing space, as if the whole world could hear his cry.
In the Eight Trigrams Sealing Space within him, it was a dark sewer scene, with a cold atmosphere pervading, and dirty, turbid water everywhere. That was the manifestation of darkness that could not be hidden even under Ashura's will's interference, it was Uzumaki Naruto's "true" concretization.
And at the very center of this sealing space, there was a dark cage, as if it were a forgotten corner.
Only at the gate, the sealing jutsu with the talisman stick, told outsiders that this was the main body of the sealing space.
Suddenly, a pair of scarlet eyes opened sharply in the dark cage, those were Nine-Tailed's eyes, revealing a powerful and majestic, chaotic and evil aura.
With this sight, dark red Nine-Tailed power continuously surged out from the cracks of the cage.
It gradually submerged Uzumaki Naruto's thought form, and began to climb along his feet, intending to drown him.
"Naruto! You finally came to beg me again!" Nine-Tailed's voice rang out in the sealing space, with a hint of dissatisfaction and sarcasm. "Didn't you say so confidently back then that you would never use my power again? What about now!"
In his mind, Nine-Tailed's words were full of ridicule.
"Less talk, I am currently in a parallel time-space, and now I have encountered an unimaginable enemy. If I die here, you, as the Tailed Beast sealed within me, should logically be buried with me completely." Uzumaki Naruto, unaware that Tailed Beast would be reborn, threatened Nine-Tailed in his heart.
However, by accident, Nine-Tailed became angry instead.
"What? Parallel time-space?" Nine-Tailed was stunned for a moment, and immediately accepted the previous memory to check it. Being one with Naruto, he could also read the other's memory, and soon knew everything based on Naruto's memory. He immediately became furious, and couldn't help but secretly think; "Damn brat, I didn't expect you to be able to travel to a parallel time-space. If this kid dies here, even I don't know if I will be the one to resurrect, after all, there should be another me in this world. If so, after I die, will all my power gather together, or gather on another Nine-Tailed?"
You're pushing me to the brink!
Naruto!