Chapter 71: No Turning Back
Naruto swung his blade.
The blood on Senbonzakura splattered out and fell to the ground.
Then, Naruto turned around. His Sharingan faded away quietly as he looked toward the Hokage building in the distance, ready to move forward.
Sakura and Ino had been looking at Naruto's back just now, so they didn't notice those scarlet eyes.
Seeing that Naruto was about to leave, Sakura and Ino were startled for a moment and quickly asked:
"Naruto, where are you going?"
Kiba and the others seemed to have been frightened by Naruto at this point. They couldn't speak—they just stared at him in astonishment.
Naruto didn't respond. The Zanpakuto in his hand was clenched tightly, radiating strong killing intent.
Step by step, he moved forward.
Just as Naruto was about to leave—
Suddenly, several familiar figures appeared again.
Kakashi, Kurenai Yuhi, and Asuma arrived at the same time.
Seeing the corpses all over the ground and the blood of the Root ninjas, Kurenai suddenly gasped. She covered her red lips with her slender palm, her face full of astonishment and shock. She had no idea what had happened.
When Asuma and Kakashi saw it, they also sucked in a breath. Their faces were full of shock.
"What happened?" Asuma asked urgently.
No one responded. They could only look at Naruto with complicated eyes.
Kakashi took a deep look at Naruto. He saw the small traces of blood on Naruto's face and seemed to guess something.
But Kakashi didn't speak. He didn't know what to say or how to say it.
His heart was full of shock and complexity.
After Asuma saw the pitch-black Zanpakuto in Naruto's hand, he also reacted. His body shook violently.
His eyes went wide as he looked at Naruto in disbelief.
Soon, Asuma hurriedly yelled and asked:
"Uzumaki Naruto, tell me—what happened here!"
Naruto didn't speak. He just looked at Asuma with cold, extremely indifferent eyes.
After Asuma saw that cold stare, he shivered immediately. He felt as if he had been thrown into an ice cellar, being watched by Shinigami themselves.
But soon, Asuma regained his senses. He took a deep breath, suppressed the shock in his heart, and shouted:
"Do you know what you're doing!"
It seemed Asuma had guessed the general situation through the looks on Ino and Sakura's faces and the blood on Naruto.
He guessed who had killed these Root ninjas and the miserable villagers.
Asuma's shout finally made Naruto speak.
Naruto stared at Asuma indifferently and said calmly:
"Step aside."
Asuma froze for a moment.
But he quickly ignored Naruto's words. He needed to find out what had happened here.
Then, Asuma shouted:
"Tell me! Do you even know what you're doing?"
"Killing a ninja from your own village is a serious crime! You'll be executed!"
Ridiculous. Did Naruto care about that?
Now that he had chosen to act—
Then there was absolutely no reason to fear the consequences.
What he had to do was make the people of Konoha feel pain.
Make them understand the consequences of directing their malice at Naruto.
Naruto didn't answer Asuma's yell. Instead, he stared at Asuma with cold eyes, a flash of killing intent in his gaze.
Then, Naruto said calmly:
"Whoever stands in my way—dies."
As the words fell—
Naruto raised Senbonzakura in his hand, ready to strike.
Kakashi, Kurenai, and Ino all shouted at once:
"No, Naruto!"
"Naruto, stop!"
Kakashi quickly activated his Sharingan, trying to stop Naruto's attack.
But Naruto's speed couldn't be tracked by Kakashi.
Even with his Sharingan active, the three tomoe spinning wildly—he couldn't catch Naruto's movements at all.
Kakashi tried to block Naruto's hand, but he missed.
The blade came down.
Senbonzakura swung in an instant.
The figure flashed.
Only a slicing sound was heard.
Then, everyone saw it—Asuma's pupils were wide with shock. His face was stunned.
A cloud of blood splattered from Asuma's body.
A blood-red slash mark appeared on Asuma's chest.
Puff!
Asuma spat out a mouthful of blood and stumbled back several steps, his face full of horror.
He couldn't believe it—Naruto had actually dared to strike.
And his movement had been so fast that even Asuma couldn't see it clearly.
Kakashi had his Sharingan active, but he still couldn't stop Naruto.
Asuma wasn't dead, but after being slashed by Naruto, he staggered back and didn't dare stand in front of Naruto again.
Naruto stared coldly at Asuma. He withdrew his blade, flicked the blood off it, and said calmly:
"If you dare stand in front of me again, I will kill you."
An extremely cold voice, full of killing intent, rang out faintly. Everyone now believed Naruto's words completely.
Asuma finally understood—Naruto hadn't been threatening him. He truly would kill him.
Immediately, Asuma quickly backed away to get out of the way. He didn't dare stand in front of Naruto again.
Seeing that Asuma's life wasn't in danger, Kakashi and the others exhaled and let go of their tension.
Kakashi looked at Naruto with complicated eyes.
He had never imagined Naruto's strength would be this terrifying.
Before, watching Naruto's performance, he had already tried to overestimate him as much as possible. He had assumed Naruto was hiding his true strength.
But he hadn't expected it to be this scary.
So scary that even with his Sharingan active, he couldn't see Naruto's speed clearly.
Kakashi took a deep breath and said with complexity:
"Naruto, don't make any more mistakes. If you go any further, there's truly no turning back."
"Come with me to the Third Hokage now. Explain what happened. Maybe the Third Hokage will forgive you."
Kakashi glanced at the Root bodies. They had received news that Root was going to attack Naruto, so they had come specifically to find him.
But unexpectedly, every single Root operative had been killed by Naruto.
Hearing Kakashi's words, Naruto sneered and said:
"Turn back?"
Ridiculous.
Now that he had struck, how could he possibly turn back?
This day had been a long time coming for Naruto.
Thirteen years.
Kakashi didn't understand anything. He had never experienced it. He didn't know the true cause of any of this.
And yet he was telling Naruto to turn back.
Naruto had done nothing wrong. So why should he turn back?
What he was doing today was what he should have done long ago.
He should have done this a long time ago.
Seeing that Naruto wouldn't listen to him at all, Kakashi wanted to say more.
But at that moment—
Dozens of black figures flashed past. Ninja in black combat uniforms suddenly appeared in front of everyone.
These black-clad ninja were extremely fast. They moved with agility. Every single one of them was powerful.
As soon as they appeared, they surrounded everyone.
Their eyes locked onto Naruto.
Seeing these black-clad ninja, Kakashi and the others' pupils contracted. They recognized them instantly.
It was ANBU.
ANBU had arrived as well.