"Crunch, crunch, crunch..."
In the distance, on a high tree branch, hidden among the green leaves, a handsome man appeared—one in five thousand years.
That's right, this person was none other than Naruto Uzumaki!
Ahem, this title is no exaggeration. It's a title that the Ninja World Daily awarded Naruto after a survey of ten thousand people.
Of course.
In the options for the most handsome man in five thousand years, only Naruto Uzumaki, Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, Third Tsuchikage Ōnoki, and Natsuo Hatake were available.
But... you have to admit, he's the one you know!
What?
Who is Natsuo Hatake?
You don't know him, do you?
Then hurry up and choose the one you know!
In any case, after more than ten thousand votes, Naruto's good looks directly surpassed all humans of the past five thousand years.
He was hailed as—the most handsome man in five thousand years!
Although, upon seeing the survey, Naruto's reaction was a straight-up "old man on the subway with his phone" face.
Naruto sat in a relaxed and comfortable position. He held a bag of Lay's cucumber-flavored potato chips in his left hand and used the technique he learned from Choji in his right—Finger-Chip-Clamp Jutsu.
He was feeding himself chips one by one.
"Hmm?"
Naruto paused in confusion, looking over to see the two men standing still.
What? Why did the two men who were fighting suddenly stop moving?
Oh.
A moment later, Naruto understood.
They were having a genjutsu battle.
"Genjutsu..."
This was indeed a specialty of the Uchiha clan.
An Uchiha who couldn't use genjutsu wasn't a good Uchiha.
Seeing the two standing motionless, with no "brother vs. brother" drama to watch for the time being, Naruto, with nothing else to do, began to assess their genjutsu abilities.
Naruto was very familiar with Sasuke's genjutsu prowess.
Ever since Team 7 was formed, Sasuke had hounded him multiple times, wanting to spar with him in the training space.
The two had dueled countless times in the training space, and there was no shortage of genjutsu clashes.
Of course, the main content of the genjutsu clashes was Sasuke trying his best to resist Naruto's genjutsu attacks.
Sasuke's genjutsu... is not weak.
Naruto gave a half-hearted compliment.
He couldn't be so blunt as to say: Sasuke's genjutsu is way too lame, right?
He had to save Sasuke some face.
As for Itachi Uchiha's genjutsu abilities?
"Crunch, crunch, crunch..."
As he put another chip in his mouth, Naruto savored the flavor for a moment, and his eyes flashed with memories.
Naruto had met Itachi Uchiha in the duel arena.
As for his strength...
Naruto tried to recall, but nothing came to mind.
This person seemed to have left no impression at all.
There was only one possible reason for this: Itachi Uchiha's strength was too weak, so much so that Naruto had no memory of him.
There were too many enemies in the duel arena; only those who were a little stronger left an impression.
He heard that Itachi Uchiha's strength was said to be in his genjutsu.
No wonder he didn't leave an impression.
Because with genjutsu, if the power gap between two people was too great, it would have no effect on him, Naruto.
He couldn't remember the specifics of Uchiha's strength, but he was probably stronger than Sasuke!
Sasuke will definitely lose this battle.
There was no doubt about that.
The genjutsu ability of the Uchiha clan was, in the end, a competition of ocular power.
And the difference in ocular power between the Mangekyo Sharingan and the three-tomoe Sharingan was a chasm!
After all, the evolution from three-tomoe to Mangekyo was a qualitative change.
It's not like a Mangekyo would lose to a three-tomoe, right?
However.
Naruto stared at Sasuke, giving him an encouraging look.
Sasuke, you have to stand tall!
Stay strong, don't embarrass yourself!!!
I'm not expecting you to win, but at least don't look so pathetic!
"Crunch, crunch, crunch... Delicious!"
Naruto finished the chips in his hand and reached into the bag again.
Hmm? Only one last chip left?
Upon this discovery, Naruto instinctively looked to his left and right.
Luckily, Choji isn't here.
Thinking of Choji, he seemed to have a certain obsession with the last chip in a bag.
Naruto always felt that Choji was very similar to the sixth brother in the movie Shaolin Soccer, played by Lam Chi Chung.
The sixth brother's obsession with eggs was on par with Choji's obsession with the last chip.
He sensed that Choji was indeed still in the village, and Naruto breathed a sigh of relief.
He couldn't use the Flying Thunder God Jutsu to snatch my last chip from this far away, could he?
He wanted to eat it right away, but after thinking for a moment, Naruto stared at the chip, deep in thought.
"Forget it!"
Naruto sighed. They were good friends, after all.
Swoosh!
A flash of golden light, and Naruto suddenly disappeared. But in the next instant, another flash of golden light, and Naruto was back.
He was still in the same relaxed and comfortable position, as if he had never moved.
Meanwhile, in the Village Hidden in the Leaves, a bewildered chubby boy was staring blankly at the chip bag in his hand.
He opened the bag and looked inside, only to find it completely empty.
Not a single chip!
Where's the last chip?
"NARUTOOO!!!" Choji screamed at the sky in a hoarse voice.
This had clearly happened before!
Unfortunately, the culprit had already gotten away.
Pop!
Naruto pulled out a new bag of chips from his backpack and opened it.
He took out a chip with his right hand as usual and put it in his mouth, looking up to continue his boring observation of the "duel." No, his observation of the "standoff."
Sasuke and Itachi were still standing in place, motionless, in a confrontation.
From the outside, it was impossible to tell who had the upper hand.
At this moment, Naruto felt a bit bored. His gaze involuntarily shifted to the other spectator on the scene—Kisame Hoshigaki.
Naruto had never really heard of this person before.
He must be some unknown nobody.
Is his strength also just average?
Naruto hadn't even dueled a character like this in the arena; he wouldn't be much of a challenge.
However, they had briefly crossed paths at the dango shop earlier, and now that he was seeing him in person, Naruto wondered if his face was really not that of a Fish-Man.
Are they sharing ideas?
Naruto scanned Kisame up and down once and lost interest.
The only thing he found noteworthy about this person was the big sword he was holding; if he recycled it, it should be worth a little money.
His gaze shifted back to the two "dueling" men.
It landed specifically on Itachi Uchiha.
Itachi Uchiha!
This was the first time Naruto had seen him in person.
Looking at that cold face, who would have thought that he was once Naruto's nightmare when he was a child?
That year, Naruto was six years old.
Having transmigrated to a completely unfamiliar world, Naruto had been cautious and walked on eggshells since childhood.
Ever since he learned of the power of the Sharingan and even the Mangekyo Sharingan, Naruto had looked up to the Uchiha clan.
Who would have thought that one night, this person would single-handedly slaughter the entire Uchiha clan of several hundred people?
Although many years later, he knew the inside story—for example, that he wasn't alone that night, and that the Uchiha clan wasn't as strong as he had imagined.
But what did Naruto know back then?
Just think about it.
The Uchiha clan, as the largest clan in the strongest village in the ninja world, Konoha, should have had at least a hundred three-tomoe Sharingan users and no less than a dozen Mangekyo Sharingan users, right?
How could such a powerful clan be annihilated overnight by a thirteen-year-old kid?
It was truly a shock!
Just how strong was this Itachi Uchiha?
At that time, Naruto felt that the depths of this world's waters were simply too profound!
Unfathomable!
It's so dark! So dark!
And how insane must Itachi Uchiha be to do something like this?
How many other insane people were there in this world?
Others didn't know, but for those few days, Naruto couldn't eat or sleep. He always felt that someone was out to get him in the dark.
Because of this, Naruto skipped school for several days in a row.
He hid in the safe bunker he had built, becoming a true "bunker boy."
Of course.
All of the above were just guesses made by the six-year-old Naruto.
He later learned that the Uchiha clan was "just this strong?"
They didn't even have many Mangekyo!
And Itachi Uchiha was "just this strong?"
In the end, it was all a letdown!
Now, facing Itachi Uchiha again, facing the man whose strength was unfathomable back then and who made him walk on eggshells, Naruto only found it laughable.
However, even after all these years, a question still lingered in Naruto's mind.
Why did Itachi Uchiha do it?
Why did he suddenly decide to kill his own clan out of nowhere?
Unless Itachi Uchiha himself answered this question, there was probably no accurate answer.
Even with Danzo's complete memories, Naruto still couldn't correctly guess Itachi Uchiha's thoughts.
From Danzo's memories, this old dog had too many and too deep prejudices against the Uchiha.
He wasn't objective enough.
Especially his prejudice against the Uchiha clan.
Naruto closed his eyes and recalled for a moment. Putting aside Danzo Shimura's personal views, through the real events that happened in those memories, he found that the conflict between the village and the Uchiha clan was already at a point of irreconciliation and on the verge of erupting at any time.
If not handled properly, it would have led to a war between the Uchiha clan and the village of Konoha.
From the perspective of an outsider, Naruto found it very strange.
How could a clan and its village become so hostile to each other?
He continued to review Danzo's memories.
Looking back, Naruto found that in many of these events, Danzo's dirty hands were at play.
Naruto couldn't help but feel speechless.
This Danzo Shimura... he really wanted to get rid of the Uchiha clan and was fanning the flames everywhere.
And the Uchiha clan.
Putting aside Danzo Shimura's prejudice, the Uchiha clan wasn't a bunch of simpletons either.
Neither side was completely innocent!
"Tsk, tsk, tsk."
Remembering this history, Naruto couldn't help but click his tongue.
What a waste! What a complete waste!
The Uchiha clan, what a good bunch of workhorses... no, what a good bunch of talent. And they all died just like that?
And the Hokages.
Whether it was the Second or the Third, Naruto, looking through Danzo's memories, felt that their political skills were quite average!
Didn't they know the three steps: invite, execute, and make your subordinates your pawns?
If I, Naruto, were in charge...
Hm, Naruto decided he should probably hold that thought.
But was the Uchiha clan truly irreconcilable with Konoha?
Naruto didn't think so.
The Hokages weren't all fools. In his memories, his own father had tried to do something about it.
Before he became Hokage, he had taken in three disciples, one of whom was an Uchiha.
He wondered what his father, Minato Namikaze, was thinking at that time.
Perhaps there was a genuine desire to reconcile with the Uchiha?
Especially after his father was confirmed to become the Fourth Hokage.
On the day the news was announced, many people in the Uchiha clan were probably overjoyed, right?
A Hokage's disciple!
According to the pattern of Hokage succession in Konoha, the future Hokage would definitely come from one of his father's three disciples.
With an Uchiha becoming the Hokage's disciple, wasn't there hope for them to reach the highest position in the future?
"Sigh..."
Thinking of this, Naruto couldn't help but sigh.
What a pity!
The fate of the members of his father's team, the Minato Squad, was truly a sad story.
In the end, only Kakashi was left; the others all died.
No, one of them was in a state worse than death.
And it was this person, who was in a state worse than death, this person who was originally the hope of the Uchiha clan, who later, through one event, completely sealed the fate of the Uchiha clan.
That was—the Nine-Tails Attack!
Obito Uchiha! You did so much evil!!!
Whenever he thought of this, Naruto couldn't help but feel a surge of anger.
Suddenly, Naruto's right hand, which was reaching into the chip bag, stopped.
"It's over?"
Naruto's eyes lit up. The battle between the two was over; it was time for him to make his entrance!
At the same time.
"Huff, huff, huff..."
Sasuke, who had emerged from the genjutsu, could no longer support himself. His legs went weak, and he knelt on the ground, his lungs heaving like a broken bellows.
"Ahhh~~~!!!"
At the same time, he couldn't help but cover his right eye, wailing miserably.
Sasuke's exposed single eye was completely dazed, unable to focus.
It seemed that he couldn't accept what had just happened in the genjutsu.
Kisame looked at Itachi Uchiha, who remained standing, then looked at Sasuke, who was wailing on the ground. The outcome of their match was very clear.
"It seems that Mr. Itachi won."
A smile spread across Kisame's lips, a movement that made his face look slightly ferocious, like a monster.
As expected, Mr. Itachi won.
Kisame had never doubted this result.
He completely acknowledged Mr. Itachi's strength.
"Ah..."
On the other side, the winner, Itachi Uchiha, also let out a low moan, covering his eyes as if in pain.
"Mr. Itachi?"
Kisame looked over in confusion, only to see a trail of blood flowing from under Itachi Uchiha's tightly-covered hands.
"Your eyes, Mr. Itachi."
"I'm fine."
Itachi Uchiha's voice was as cold as ever, as if everything in the world was irrelevant to him.
However, Itachi Uchiha couldn't help but look up at his brother, who was kneeling on the ground, wailing in pain.
'Sasuke's ocular power is this strong!?'
Itachi Uchiha's eyes couldn't hide his shock.
He thought to himself that he was in a healthy state and had a pair of Mangekyo Sharingan, yet he almost couldn't suppress Sasuke's three-tomoe Sharingan.
Just how strong was Sasuke's ocular power?
Naruto would say: Of course! After being abused for nearly half a year, even an idiot would know how to deal with genjutsu!
If he wasn't unsure of Itachi Uchiha's current position, Naruto would even suggest that Itachi Uchiha sign up for his class for further training.
Itachi Uchiha just watched coldly, his silence unwavering.
Facing a Sasuke with this level of ocular power, Itachi Uchiha was unsure if it was "time" yet.
And Kisame, on the other hand, was constantly scanning back and forth between the two, his mind deep in thought.
Suddenly, Kisame and Itachi Uchiha's expressions changed in unison.
Their gazes all turned to a nearby giant tree.
On a branch of the giant tree, a figure suddenly appeared.
The person had a head of golden-yellow hair and wore a white coat, standing coolly on the high branch.
A smile hung on his lips, and his tone was relaxed, as if everything was under his control.
"Hey, Sasuke, looking a little rough, aren't you?"
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New novel dropping tomorrow, stay tuned!
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The Only Player in the Marvel World
For a prize of ten million dollars, Du Mu is trying to clear a large-scale virtual game called "The Marvel World".
Unbeknownst to him, when the game started, he had already transmigrated into the real Marvel Universe, becoming the only player in this world.
Nick Fury: Du Mu is an excellent agent, he just doesn't like to follow orders. Every time I give a mission, he skips it.
Tony Stark: I don't know what happened, that day I teamed up with Du Mu, and when I came back, I was left with only one pair of underwear.
Banner: My situation is exactly the opposite of yours, only my underwear was stolen. I got so angry I transformed into the Hulk, and I was on the front page of every major news outlet that very night.
Thor: Du Mu said he had already maxed out his Justice Value to 1000, then he picked up my Mjölnir and ran off.
...
Facing the complaints of a group of superheroes, Du Mu calmly states: "These are all operations allowed by the game. If you have a problem, go talk to the game planner."