"Sasuke… what's wrong with you?"
Sakura Haruno withdrew her fist and stood amid the ruins, looking up at the familiar yet unfamiliar face within the Susano'o. Her voice carried worry—and a trace of pain she couldn't fully conceal.
Taking advantage of the moment, Naruto rushed to the Third Hokage's side and firmly positioned himself in front of him, shouting at Sasuke:
"Sasuke! Why are you attacking the village?! Aren't we all comrades?!"
Sasuke didn't even spare Naruto a glance.
His gaze was locked entirely on the pink-haired girl below—the one who had just knocked his attack off course with a single punch.
For the first time, a visible ripple passed through his cold Sharingan eyes.
Surprise.
And a hint of appraisal—like encountering a kindred existence.
"Sakura," Sasuke said, his voice still low, but the boiling killing intent from before had receded slightly, replaced by scrutiny.
"You've gotten stronger too."
Sakura nodded. The emotions in her upturned gaze were impossibly complex—heartbeats of reunion, worry for the present, and a goal that had never once changed.
She took a deep breath and spoke earnestly:
"Yes. I've been working hard. From the very beginning, my goal was to catch up to you and Naruto—so that Team Seven… could be together again."
She had shouted those words countless times in her heart.
Only now did she finally have the right to stand before him and say them aloud.
"Leave," Sasuke said coldly.
"I don't want to kill you."
The Susano'o faded, though the distance in his tone remained.
But Sakura did not retreat.
She exhaled, forcibly suppressing the emotions surging within her, her eyes hardening with resolve.
"Sasuke, I'm not letting you go. If something happened… is there really nothing that can be talked through?"
"Talk it through?"
Those words were like striking a fuse.
The rage and grief Sasuke had been suppressing detonated instantly!
The Susano'o erupted back into existence, its immense pressure crashing down like a tidal wave.
"My entire clan!" Sasuke roared, his voice like a wounded lone wolf—raw with blood and tears.
"From the elderly to infants still in their cradles! They were slaughtered with the tacit approval—no, the orchestration—of Konoha's higher-ups!"
"How do you expect me to talk about that? What good are words?! Can words bring the dead back to life? Can they wash away the injustice done to the Uchiha?!"
The earth-shattering accusation struck like thunder.
Leaf shinobi and civilians who had known nothing of the truth froze in disbelief, their eyes turning toward the Third Hokage.
Officially, the Uchiha Massacre had always been blamed solely on Itachi Uchiha.
Yet now, from the mouth of the clan's lone survivor, such a horrifying truth was laid bare.
Sakura and Naruto were utterly stunned. They turned sharply to look at Sarutobi Hiruzen, who stood behind them—ashen-faced and silent.
Naruto blurted out, unable to stop himself:
"Third Grandpa… is what Sasuke's saying… true?"
Under countless gazes filled with shock, doubt, and anger, Hiruzen let out a heavy sigh. The wrinkles on his face seemed to deepen all at once.
Trying to steady the situation, he spoke in as measured a tone as he could manage:
"Sasuke… there are misunderstandings here. Many complicated circumstances that aren't as simple as you think. Before things get any worse, we can sit down and talk. I'll tell you everything I know—"
"Hahahaha… talk?"
"And before things get worse?"
Sasuke burst into bitter, mocking laughter.
"How utterly shameless, Sarutobi Hiruzen! I attacked the village, killed ANBU, split Konoha in two!"
"And in your mouth, that still doesn't count as 'worsening the situation'?"
"So what—do I have to kill everyone you think deserves to die before it finally becomes 'serious'?"
"To preserve your laughable stability and the façade of the Will of Fire, you can so casually erase Uchiha blood?"
"Disgusting. Absolutely disgusting."
His words cut like blades.
Sasuke no longer placed any hope in dialogue. The Susano'o surged with even more terrifying chakra—he had clearly decided to enforce his so-called justice with sheer power.
Ignoring the Third Hokage's ashen expression, Sasuke turned his gaze back to the two standing in his way. His voice carried the last shred of patience he was willing to grant the past.
"Sakura. Dead last."
"For the sake of what Team Seven once was, my target is only Konoha's higher-ups. Don't force my hand."
For Sasuke, this mercy was already the greatest concession he could make.
But Naruto stepped forward instead, placing himself even more firmly at the front.
His expression had never been more serious.
"Sasuke! I won't let you do this! Whether it's the higher-ups or anyone else, they're all Konoha's comrades! I'm going to stop you!"
"Stop me?"
Sasuke sneered, as if he'd just heard the world's biggest joke.
The towering Susano'o radiated crushing pressure as his voice dripped with contempt.
"With what? Naruto Uzumaki—tell me, when exactly did you start thinking… that you could beat me?"
Before the absolute power of the Susano'o, beneath the gaze of Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan steeped in hatred, Naruto's declaration sounded painfully fragile.
Sasuke's patience was gone.
Seeing Naruto still stubbornly standing in his way, the last trace of warmth vanished from his eyes.
"If you want to die," he said coldly,
"then I'll grant your wish."
The Susano'o's massive arm swung down, a chakra blade packed with annihilating power slashing toward Naruto at terrifying speed!
Naruto gritted his teeth. A gigantic Rasengan, more than ten meters across, formed as he thrust both hands forward.
BOOOOM!!!
A deafening explosion rang out!
He barely managed to block the strike—but the overwhelming recoil made his throat tighten as blood sprayed from his mouth, his body sent flying backward.
The gap in power was still enormous.
Sasuke's eyes were icy. The Susano'o raised its hand again, a lethal chakra arrow forming at its fingertips, locking onto the fallen Naruto.
This time, there would be no mercy.
"Naruto!"
At that critical instant—
Sakura moved.
Her figure shot into the air like a bolt of pink lightning, fist clenched, momentum unstoppable as she drove straight toward the massive Susano'o's head!
"Hmph. Reckless."
Sasuke didn't even turn around. He casually swept the Susano'o's other arm toward her—certain this blow would swat the nuisance away.
But in the next moment—
BOOM!!!
A collision far heavier than any before erupted—so deep and crushing it felt as though space itself had been struck.
The scene Sasuke expected—Sakura being sent flying—
did not happen.
◇ BONUS & SUPPORT ◇
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 10 reviews — drop a comment!
◇ 1 bonus chapter for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 70 chapters ahead on P@treon → patreon.com/Sagamaster789