Naruto's Shadow Clones shared his full thoughts and personality, despite knowing they weren't the original. They would obey the original's commands during critical moments like battle.
As one of Naruto's clones sprinted through the village with Tamako, he felt an overwhelming surge of anger.
He channeled some of his chakra into the weakened Tamako to help her recover, but compared to their massive chakra reserves, it was barely a drop in the ocean.
"Naruto-sama," Tamako spoke, still weak but much better than when she had been inside the house. "Please take me to Lady Tsunade. The battle is still raging, and the second line of defense needs my command."
Tamako had once stood by helplessly as her own home was destroyed, forced only to flee and hide. Even now, while everyone else in the village fought to protect it, she still felt powerless.
But this time was different. She loved this village deeply—even if Tobi's feelings for her were fake, the flames devouring the streets, the corpses littering the alleys, the panic in the people's eyes, and every person fighting—it was all real.
Although she wasn't a ninja or a warrior, she wanted to do whatever little things she could to protect this new home.
"Alright," Naruto said, changing his route and running along the rooftops toward the village's higher ground—the location where the Hokage stayed during wartime. "You don't need to expend much chakra to summon your control panel, right?"
He noticed Tamako was still suffering from the side effects of chakra depletion.
"I can do it. Don't worry about me, Master. I'm more worried about you," she replied sincerely, tightly gripping the collar of Root's shirt Naruto wore. "That masked man..."
He was the source of it all—the reason behind everything happening today, everything related to the Akatsuki organization before that, even events far earlier. He bore responsibility for the death of Naruto's parents.
"I know," Naruto didn't need reminding; he was already furious enough. Once he dispelled the Shadow Clone and absorbed the details about the village from Tamako, he'd only get angrier.
They didn't need to say anything else—Tamako simply let herself take comfort in Naruto's presence for now.
Before long, they reached the rooftop of the Academy and found Tsunade surrounded by Anbu guards.
Tsunade noticed them arrive, clearly caught off guard.
"Tamako? Naruto? I thought it would take you all day to get here."
"She summoned me back when Fake Madara appeared at my place," Naruto said, setting Tamako down so she could stand on her own. "My real self is fighting him there."
A stunned expression flashed across Tsunade's face before hardening into seriousness as she cracked her knuckles.
"Lady Tsunade…"
"You want me to give you orders?" Tsunade asked, her tone dangerous.
"Well...no?" Naruto hesitated. "But what about the rest of the village?"
"You're his target, Naruto! If he gets you, he wins!"
"The village comes first! I'm just a ninja, but I can defeat him! I'm strong enough!"
"Minato, the Yellow Flash, was plenty strong too! Just look what happened in the end!"
Tsunade shouted, her voice trembling with anxiety, so much that even her Anbu guards exchanged uneasy glances. "I nearly lost you in Amegakure, and now you're telling me this man—*not* Nagato, Jiraiya's student—is behind all this?! No way! I won't let you face that masked bastard!"
Naruto didn't argue further. He knew Tsunade was serious—she genuinely feared for him. In a village where she had so many villagers needing care, the fact that she still worried about him always caught him off guard.
As Hokage, it could actually be problematic if he wasn't indeed crucial to this situation, but he couldn't help but feel deeply moved. He truly loved her like family—the old woman who had become more than just his Hokage.
Before Tsunade could unleash another deafening roar, Naruto's Shadow Clone stepped forward and pulled her into a tight embrace.
Her words died in her throat, cut off mid-sentence.
He'd never hugged her before. Sometimes she'd casually throw an arm around his shoulders, and he never stopped her. At times, he might even lean into it. But he had never initiated physical contact himself. He was the closest thing she still had to family, yet she could never allow herself to become too attached, given their positions within the Konoha ninja system. She was his Hokage, and he was her subordinate.
But here and now, she no longer had the strength to rebuild those walls—and he responded in kind.
"I will win," whispered Naruto's Shadow Clone solely to her, missing the flicker of surprise in her brown eyes. "Let me handle this. I will defeat that guy, reveal his true form to the world, and end this once and for all. Please. You must let me take care of this."
Tamako said nothing, and the Anbu guards followed suit, continuing their duties—protecting Tsunade and assisting Tamako with setting up the control panels to orchestrate the village's defensive protocols.
"When I first became Hokage, those days were really tough... I know I was quite difficult back then, but you took me in and believed in me," Naruto's Shadow Clone continued. "I'm not a kid anymore. Let me do this."
"If you lose..." she gripped Naruto tighter, her concerns mounting.
"I won't lose."
Before Tsunade could react, the Shadow Clone vanished in a puff of smoke.
"Damn brat. That damned kid."
Her gaze shifted toward Naruto's home, where a large tree protruded from the mountain, then returned to the village directly in front of her—the village she should protect.
If that masked man was truly responsible for this invasion, as Hokage, she should be the one facing him—even though she was a Medical Ninja.
She bit down hard enough to draw blood, then pounded the mechanical Eight Gates drum, escalating the battle into its next phase.
"Tamako, focus the attacking statues near you to District 19! Those bastards are tunneling underground from west of the aqueducts, using the bridges as their breakthrough point!"
"Yes, Lady Tsunade," Tamako replied, directing the attacking statues according to the Hokage's command. She needed to believe in her master—that was the only way she could support him right now. "Please be careful, Naruto-sama."
If he lost and was taken away—away from her, away from everyone—she didn't know what she would do.
******
Naruto and Tobi were locked in fierce combat, their battle raging from the rooftop of Naruto's home to the forest several kilometers away.
The fight intensified. No matter how Naruto tried to lure him in, he couldn't land a single Chidori strike on Tobi—and that was the only technique he had that could truly harm him.
"You're such a pain to fight," Tobi said, standing on a tree branch opposite Naruto, who stood on another.
"Let me ask you honestly—what do you think you'll gain from this fight? You can't even lay a hand on me. You just don't have the skill. Go ahead—give it your best shot! Throw every ninjutsu you've got at me—it won't matter. None of it works on me. I just have to stay clear of that one thing I can't come into contact with. What use is your Sage Mode anyway?"
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