The Sarutobi compound had been reduced to ruins, its three thousand shinobi completely annihilated.
Just as Itachi and Obito had wiped out the Uchiha clan in a single night—
so too had four beasts of tailed beast–level power, alongside the Uchiha elites, erased the Sarutobi in the span of a single day.
"Congratulations. You've just witnessed the extinction of the Sarutobi clan with your own eyes."
Naruto sat down beside the Third Hokage, patting him on the shoulder. It was just like that time long ago when Naruto had sat by the stream, grilling fish—only now, their roles were reversed.
"Sandaime."
Watching the Sarutobi wiped out, watching Konoha fall under the invasion of the Sand and Sound—
at last, a portion of the long-festering darkness in Naruto's heart had been released.
A person who is fundamentally normal—forced to grow up in an environment steeped in hostility, surrounded by malice at every turn, compelled always to suppress their true emotions and never vent—inevitably develops cracks in their mind. Truthfully, nearly every shinobi's psyche bore such cracks.
Naruto had often wondered: what if he had never met Kakarot? What if he had never trained in the Kame Sen-ryū?
Most likely, he too would have become just like in the original timeline: a people-pleaser, so starved of affection that he would be moved to tears by the smallest kindness. He would have deceived himself, burying his darkness deep within, his chakra radiating warmth and sunshine on the surface—while concealing bottomless shadows beneath. Just as Karin had sensed the first time she met him.
Or else, he would have completely broken, collapsing into madness—becoming nothing but a killer, a monster ruled entirely by the lust for destruction and slaughter.
Those without sensory ability would never understand just how crushing it is to survive in an environment drenched with malice.
The stronger the sensory perception, the more one felt. The more one felt, the heavier the toll.
"Why… why do this?"
The Third's hoarse voice rasped out at last.
"It was Danzō, wasn't it? He must have told you something, twisted the truth, poisoned your mind."
"How should I put it, Sandaime…" Naruto shrugged with a helpless smile. "He may have committed every crime imaginable, but this time—you're wrongly blaming him."
"Because from the moment I was born, I've remembered everything."
"I saw my parents die before my eyes. I saw my father entrust me to you. I knew exactly who he was."
"The Fourth Hokage."
The Third's eyes widened at those words, dawning realization and guilt flooding his face.
"It was all me and Danzō," he said heavily. "All the sins fall on us alone. Why condemn my clan? They are innocent."
Naruto could feel clearly—there was no true remorse in him. And even if there were, what of it? So he felt guilt—yet made no effort to atone. Then he would tell others: "See? I feel guilty. Isn't that enough?" And the apologists would gather to shield him.
In the end, Sarutobi Hiruzen was a politician.
If he truly felt guilt, he should have acted—rather than playing at contrition with empty words.
Naruto regarded him with scorn, his voice dripping in mockery:
"Even now, you can't resist dragging Danzō down with you. Some friend he was to you."
"Innocent, you say? Truly innocent?"
Naruto laughed coldly.
"Didn't the Sarutobi benefit from your position?"
"You commit crimes, and your clan reaps the rewards of those crimes."
"And I'm supposed to punish only you, the ringleader? Why?"
The Third replied righteously: "They never enjoyed any such benefit!"
"Really, Sandaime? Let me ask you this."
"Where did my parents' estate go?"
"Where did the Uchiha clan's wealth go?"
"Where did the Uzumaki nation's treasures go?"
"Even the Shimura clan's property—where did it end up?"
Without a moment's hesitation, the Third answered:
"All those resources were contributed to the village—for the sake of its development."
"How generous you are with other people's wealth. Truly fitting for Konoha." Naruto sneered, pressing further.
"The Uzumaki clan's sealing arts—you found them useful, didn't you? Yet somehow, only Sarutobi shinobi were allowed to learn them. The Uchiha's fire techniques—you took those too, didn't you? And folded them neatly into the Sarutobi scrolls."
"Do you think I don't know what really happened to Uzushio back then?"
The Third fell silent. No reply came.
The very model of a politician: change the subject, or say nothing at all.
"Sandaime, believe it or not, all of that—I don't even care. It's the past. And as for money, I can earn as much as I want. Look at me now—am I not the richest man in the world?"
"I've never cared for money. Never touched it. I'm not interested."
"My happiest days were when I collected my monthly stipend and treated myself to a bowl of Ichiraku's ramen. I still remember the price of their tonkotsu ramen back then. With my allowance, I could eat it several times a month. After all, nowhere else would sell food to me."
"Do you remember? The little hut I built by the lakeside. All I ever wanted was to live there in peace."
"Fishing, farming… a simple, self-sufficient life."
Naruto's voice softened, lost in memory. "It was simple, but warm. It was my home."
"But it was destroyed."
"That was you, wasn't it? You ordered it."
Before the Third could respond, Naruto continued:
"Did you know? I've been able to sense malice since I was a child."
"The very next day, I could feel it—it had been you."
"The change in your malice—there was no hiding it from me."
Naruto smiled then—but not the bright smile of the Fourth Hokage. Wearing Hattori's face, his grin was twisted, uncanny.
"I chose to hide. But you still wouldn't leave me alone. So in the end, I had no choice but to face you head-on."
"You started this game. You don't get to decide when it ends. That's up to me."
He leaned close, whispering in the Hokage's ear:
"My shinobi way has always been this: kindness repaid, debts avenged."
"You destroyed my home. So I will destroy yours."
"That's fair, isn't it?"
Naruto's words dripped into the old man's ears like poison, instilling the idea again and again: You made me what I am. All of this is your responsibility.
"Kill me."
The Third closed his eyes slowly. He had accepted this fate.
"Kill you? Oh, no. I wouldn't dream of doing something so crude. How could I ever kill our beloved Hokage-sama?" Naruto shook his head. He had long since planned what to do with Hiruzen.
"There's someone much more fitting for the task. Someone you've been thinking of all this time, haven't you?"
"Your dear old friend, Shimura Danzō."
With that, Naruto turned his back on him.
The Third still lived—he was to be delivered as a gift to Danzō.
"Naruto."
Sasuke's voice stopped him as he started toward the ruined Sarutobi grounds.
"Did you really want a peaceful life?"
Naruto narrowed his eyes.
"Eavesdropping, were you?"
With Sasuke's level of skill, there was no way he could ever sneak past Naruto's senses. Best to defuse it outright.
"So you heard. Well, it's not exactly a secret."
"That was just a lie I told him."
Sasuke: "…"
As expected, Naruto's nature was wicked to the core.
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