"He founded Konoha because he'd had enough!" Tsunade's voice trembled with fury. "He wanted to build a village where children could grow up in peace—where they wouldn't have to learn how to kill before they even understood what life was!"
Her chest rose and fell violently. Her eyes were bloodshot. Beneath that blazing anger lay a grief so deep it seemed bottomless.
"But his only grandson… Nawaki…"
Her voice dropped suddenly, growing lower—and more dangerous.
"Didn't get to grow up in the very village he placed all his hopes in."
The final words were squeezed out through clenched teeth.
Her gaze shot toward the corner of the office—toward Hiruzen Sarutobi, who had remained silent, smoking his pipe.
There was naked killing intent in her eyes.
"Tsunade!" Jiraiya stepped between them in an instant, cold sweat forming at his temples. "Calm down! The old man—"
"I truly had no part in that matter," Hiruzen said quietly.
He took a slow drag from his pipe and exhaled. The smoke blurred his weary, complicated expression.
He raised his eyes to meet Tsunade's.
"Tsunade. No matter how much selfishness or calculation I may have had… I would never—never—have laid a hand on Nawaki."
"Hmph." Tsunade turned her head away with a cold snort.
She did not refute him—but the tension in her body and the rigid line of her profile showed she had not forgiven anything.
Jiraiya quickly tried to smooth things over.
"I believe the old man, Tsunade. Otherwise… you wouldn't have only killed Danzō Shimura to vent your anger, and let—"
He glanced at Hiruzen and didn't finish the sentence.
The implication was clear.
Tsunade fell silent for a moment. The rage on her face seemed forcibly suppressed, only to condense into an even colder smile.
"I know," she said flatly. "Otherwise I wouldn't have endured this long… and taken on the damn title of Hokage."
Jiraiya exhaled unconsciously, thinking the worst had passed.
But Tsunade wasn't finished.
She turned back to the window, gazing out over the village. Her voice was terrifyingly calm—yet sharp enough to pierce the heart.
"But not doing something…"
"Doesn't mean you didn't know."
Her profile was stark beneath the light.
"Things like this—are they rare in Konoha?"
She tilted her head slightly, her gaze brushing past Hiruzen before settling on Jiraiya.
"Some people may not have blood directly on their hands."
"But they simply… chose not to stop it."
"They turn a blind eye. For the sake of the 'greater good.' For 'stability.' Or… for certain unspeakable interests."
"They watch it happen. And afterward, they put on a face of grief and claim innocence."
"Isn't that also being an accomplice?"
Silence fell over the Hokage's office.
Jiraiya opened his mouth—but every word lodged in his throat.
He looked at Tsunade's upright yet solitary back.
Then at his teacher, Hiruzen Sarutobi, who seemed to stoop even further beneath an invisible burden.
Outside, the heavenly curtain still flickered with unsettling images.
Inside, the air had frozen solid.
All the explanations. All the justifications. All the words of "for the sake of the village."
Before Tsunade's quiet yet crushing accusation of "not stopping it," they seemed stripped of color—revealing something darker beneath.
Within the Heavenly Curtain
Time seemed suspended.
Naruto, Sasuke, and Neji were still reeling from Sakura's earth-shattering words.
It was Naruto who finally broke the silence.
He lifted his head. His once-sky-blue eyes—now clouded with too many emotions—locked onto Sakura.
"Sakura… I can tell you're telling the truth."
His voice was dry.
"But…" A bitter confusion surfaced on his face. "Why do you say things like 'we of the Divine Knights' and 'your shinobi world'?"
His voice dropped, almost trembling.
"Don't you… consider yourself part of this world anymore?"
The words struck like lightning.
Sasuke and Neji's expressions changed instantly.
They had been so overwhelmed by the truth about "invaders" that they had missed the subtle but critical shift in Sakura's stance.
Now that Naruto had pointed it out, those details became painfully clear.
Her tone. Her detachment.
The faint sense of standing outside it all.
Sakura fell silent.
That brief silence made countless hearts across the shinobi world rise into their throats.
Then she suddenly gave a soft laugh.
"Does it even matter?"
She asked calmly, her gaze sweeping across their darkened faces.
Does it even matter?
The four words fell like icy water over everyone present.
She hadn't said it outright—but her stance was obvious.
"I think I understand now," Neji said, his voice restrained yet edged with anger. "Why your power systems never appeared in this world before."
He stared at her, searching beneath that calm exterior.
"Because you simply didn't care, did you?" Sasuke continued coldly. His Rinnegan churned with anger—at betrayal, at being looked down upon. "To you… this world doesn't amount to anything."
He couldn't accept it.
Couldn't accept that a former comrade would look at the world they had fought and bled for with such indifference.
Naruto said nothing.
He only stared at her.
Shock. Pain. Confusion.
Memories flickered in his mind—of a pink-haired girl who once blushed shyly, who called out "Sasuke-kun," who healed his wounds.
When had she… changed?
Across the Shinobi World
Reactions exploded everywhere.
Only now did most people fully grasp the meaning behind Sakura's quiet question.
She—Sakura Haruno—no longer regarded herself as part of the shinobi world.
She stood somewhere higher now.
On the side of the Divine Knights.
Looking down upon the world of her birth with something close to divine detachment.
"Traitor!"
"She's forgotten her roots!"
"Has power made her lose herself?!"
"Who does she think she is? A god?!"
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