Tsunade took a deep breath. Pain and sudden understanding flashed through her eyes.
"But—"
"But what if… after Sakura followed that Hawk-Eye and left—she didn't give up on saving Naruto?"
"What if she really did find a way… and forcibly removed the chakra that was influencing his mind?"
Jiraiya sucked in a sharp breath. In that instant, he fully understood what Tsunade was implying.
Tsunade's voice trembled as she continued:
"Think about it."
"A child shunned by the village from birth, branded a demon fox."
"A child whose parents sacrificed themselves for the village, yet whose identity was hidden—who grew up alone."
"A child whose most important companion was forced into defection, whose parents were driven to suicide, while the true culprit was never punished…"
"And don't forget—Sasuke Uchiha."
"When that chakra—"
"The chakra that forcibly made him 'kind,' 'forgiving,' and 'selflessly loving'—"
"When that shackle was suddenly shattered—"
"All the emotions that had been suppressed… the real emotions that belonged to Naruto Uzumaki alone—"
"The loneliness, the grievance, the rage, the hatred accumulated over more than ten years—"
"They would erupt in an instant… like a volcano."
"At that point…"
"His act of destroying the shinobi world would no longer be hard to understand."
This hypothesis connected every fragment revealed by the Sky Screen into a single, terrifying chain of logic.
Sakura Haruno's future actions were not meant to harm Naruto.
On the contrary—
They were meant to save him.
But that salvation might release a being who had been suppressed for far too long—
one who carried an overwhelming mass of unresolved pain and hatred—
A world-destroying demon.
The Hokage's office fell into deathly silence.
The sheer weight of this possibility seemed to freeze the air itself.
It was as if they could already see that future—
"I will destroy this world… starting with Konoha."
Naruto, freed from his shackles, standing atop the ruins of the village—
the light in his eyes replaced by flames of vengeance that could burn the world to ash.
"…What a sin," Jiraiya groaned.
He covered his face with one hand, shoulders trembling.
He thought of the Great Toad Sage's prophecy.
Destruction… or reform.
He had spent his life searching for the Child of Prophecy, hoping to bring peace and change to the shinobi world—
Only to realize that the student he had placed all his hopes in
was himself a tragic contradiction.
To save him
might mean the destruction of the world.
Not to save him
would mean condemning him to live forever as a puppet with a manipulated will.
This cruel choice nearly broke the legendary Sannin.
Jiraiya slowly lowered his hand. His eyes were bloodshot, filled with pain and confusion as he looked at Tsunade.
"Then… what do we do now?" he asked hoarsely.
"Help me, Tsunade… I—I'm about to lose my mind."
Tsunade's chest heaved. A fire with nowhere to go burned inside her as she slammed a fist into the wall beside her.
"What do we do? What can we do?! We take it one step at a time!"
"Damn Sarutobi… damn Danzō… and damn that cursed chakra!"
"This is a sin… a goddamn sin…"
"I seriously regret coming back to clean up this mess!"
"And this damn village—maybe it should've been destroyed sooner!!"
Her roar was filled with helplessness and rage.
Jiraiya could only answer with an even more bitter sigh.
Ninja Academy
The atmosphere in the classroom was just as unsettling.
All the students—
including Sasuke, who had just been fighting with Naruto moments earlier—
had stopped moving.
They stared at Naruto Uzumaki in unison.
Shock.
Fear.
Pity.
Disbelief.
Naruto, meanwhile, was completely panicking.
The Sky Screen's words—reincarnation, puppet, manipulated will—
combined with his classmates' strange gazes—
A chill shot from his feet straight to his scalp.
"No—no! That's not true!" Naruto shouted in a panic.
"I'm not a puppet! I'm not being controlled!"
He frantically patted his chest, his head, his body—
as if trying to grab or expel something invisible.
"What is it?! Where is it?! Come out already!!"
Sweat poured down his face. Fear and self-doubt filled his blue eyes.
…Am I really me?
Naruto looked at his classmates' silent, complicated expressions—
especially Sasuke's gaze, which carried scrutiny and a hint of… pity.
"I… who am I, really…?" Naruto muttered, voice trembling.
"Tch. How pitiful."
Sasuke crossed his arms and clicked his tongue, breaking the silence.
"Didn't expect you to have it worse than I imagined, dead last," he said coldly.
"Having your thoughts and will influenced by some mysterious chakra your whole life…"
"Hmph. If it were me, I'd rather just die."
The words pierced straight into Naruto's deepest fear.
A nearby student hesitated, then asked cautiously:
"Hey, Naruto… if—just if—someone really did kill your parents… or destroy Konoha…"
"…would you really forgive them, like the Sky Screen said?"
"Of course not!!"
Naruto jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on, fists clenched, voice roaring.
"If anyone did that, I'd beat them down! I'd beat them down even if it cost me my life!!"
"Beat them down?" Sasuke sneered, stepping closer.
"Just beat them down?"
"And then what?"
"If they're lying on the ground, crying, apologizing—
telling you they had no choice, that it was for some greater dream, or for 'world peace'—"
"Wouldn't you hesitate?"
"Wouldn't you think they were understandable?"
"And then… forgive them?"
"Sasuke—you—!!"
Naruto's face went pale. His lips trembled as he tried to shout back—
But his throat felt blocked.
"You hesitated," Sasuke said coldly.
Naruto clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his palms.
He glared at Sasuke, fury burning in his eyes—
yet he couldn't form a single convincing rebuttal.
Only one word escaped his teeth:
"Sasuke—!!"
That roar was filled with panic, helplessness, and a rage born from having an unbearable truth exposed.
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