"Wait, Guy!"
Kakashi tried to stop him, but he was a second too late. Might Guy had already opened his mouth.
As shinobi, and with this matter involving a jinchuriki, they should not have spoken carelessly. The dead were dead, and the living still had to go on living. Besides, no one even knew yet whether this thing was a genjutsu or something else entirely.
Kushina Uzumaki: Great! Is that Might Guy? Is Kakashi there? Where is Naruto? It's Naruto Uzumaki!
Mikoto Uchiha: Resurrection... quiz rewards... forget that for now. Sasuke, are you all right? Tell your mother. Are you still alive?
The two mothers were frantic.
Of course, there was someone else in a panic too.
Rasa: Hey, hey, hey, hold on! Everyone in Sunagakure, listen carefully! The plan is canceled! Don't let Orochimaru succeed!
The Sand shinobi were all shaken.
Their Kazekage had died, and no one had noticed. Yet the plan had still continued right on schedule.
This was bad.
Kushina Uzumaki: Mikoto? Mikoto, how did you die too?
Mikoto Uchiha: We'll talk about that later. Sasuke, did you see that?
Sasuke, who had been changing clothes while waiting for Kakashi to come escort him into the arena, suddenly felt his eyes burn red. Tears blurred his vision.
"Mom... Mom, I'm still alive!"
"I'll kill that bastard with my own hands!"
Five years. Five whole years.
And now, it felt like a dream. He could actually hear his mother's voice again.
Inside the arena, Naruto rubbed the back of his head.
"Uzumaki Kushina?"
"That's weird. This is the first time I've ever met someone with the same last name as me."
Hyuga Neji opened his eyes and stared at the idiot in front of him. Once again, he found himself speechless.
Wasn't it obvious?
High above, in the stands, Orochimaru watched Hiruzen Sarutobi's face shift between shadow and light, and the sight delighted him.
"Sarutobi-sensei, you look a little nervous."
"Oh?"
"It must be because there are things you deliberately kept from us, right?"
"Yes, that does sound like you. After all, if everyone knew Naruto-kun was a hero's son, who would carry the hatred of those fools?"
"I'm truly sorry, Sarutobi-sensei. You must have done it all for Konoha's sake."
Each word from Orochimaru was like a giant hand tightening around Hiruzen's throat.
One by one, the shinobi of Konoha turned to look at the Third Hokage.
Naruto Uzumaki: "Auntie, do you know me? What a coincidence. Your son has the same name as me."
Everyone: "..."
Third Tsuchikage Onoki: "Looking at it this way, it doesn't seem like a genjutsu at all. It can even drag up the dead... The Third Hokage is a crafty old fox."
Fourth Raikage: "That's right! If that old man were in my Hidden Cloud, we'd have dragged him out and beaten him to death already!"
Though they were mortal enemies, the moment they sensed the winds turning against Konoha, they immediately found common cause.
Fifth Mizukage Mei Terumi: "What exactly is with those gold and black screens?"
Fifth Mizukage?
For a moment, many people were startled. Kirigakure had a new Mizukage?
Kushina Uzumaki: Stop interrupting! Naruto, I'm your mother! How do you not know me?
Kushina Uzumaki: Don't tell me you don't even know your father was the Fourth Hokage!
A terrible feeling rose in Kushina's chest.
The instant those words appeared, the entire arena fell silent.
That demon fox... was actually the son of a hero?
What kind of sick joke was this?
The new generation of genin all stared down at Naruto, who still looked dazed and foolish. Kiba Inuzuka's jaw nearly hit the ground.
Neji froze for a long moment. Then, all at once, a relieved smile spread across his face.
Kushina Uzumaki: What the hell is going on?!
Kushina Uzumaki: Third Hokage, didn't I tell you to take good care of Naruto?!
Kushina Uzumaki: This is what you call taking care of my son?
Kushina Uzumaki: Minato, get out here and die! I know you're in the chat room too!
Kushina's furious messages flooded the chat room one after another, each one sharper than the last.
Every question was aimed straight at Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Minato Namikaze sank without a trace.
Naruto stood there dumbfounded.
And Hiruzen, under the weight of those questions, began to sweat.
Even Mikoto Uchiha, who was Kushina's close friend, was cowed by the sheer force of her rage and didn't dare interrupt.
***
[Ding!]
Right then, the comparison system's voice rang out again.
To Hiruzen Sarutobi, it sounded like heavenly music.
And he was far from the only one who felt that way.
Kakashi discreetly wiped away cold sweat that wasn't actually there. He was genuinely panicking. Terrified, in fact, that Kushina would say his name next.
Fortunately for him, the system's voice cut in, and Kushina's messages were muted.
[Content loading complete.]
[Viewing countdown begins...]
[Ten... nine... one!]
[Friendly reminder: Please watch carefully and participate actively in the quiz for rewards.]
[Comparative viewing begins!]
Buzz-
The moment those words fell, the massive gold-framed screen on the right lit up.
[Land of Fire. Konoha.]
[Three years have passed since the Nine-Tails' attack.]
[Baby Naruto has been taken in by the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, and has lived at the Sarutobi clan compound for three years.]
[Today is the day Naruto is being sent away to live alone.]
The scene shifted.
[Top floor of an old apartment building.]
A shinobi of the Sarutobi clan pushed open the door. A stale, moldy smell rushed straight into his face.
"From today on, this is your home," the Sarutobi clansman said, turning around to look at the child with naked disgust in his eyes.
At his feet stood a thin little boy, looking helpless.
He had blond hair, bright blue eyes, and the most eye-catching thing about him was the three whisker-like marks on each side of his face.
"This is your living money for this month. When it runs out, figure it out yourself."
After speaking, the Sarutobi shinobi tossed down an envelope containing three thousand ryo and turned to leave, as if he couldn't bear to stay there for even one more breath.
The child was left standing alone in the doorway.
That child was Naruto Uzumaki in his earliest years.
"This is... Naruto?" Sakura Haruno stared blankly.
The truth was, almost everyone recognized him at once.
Even those cockroaches recognized Naruto.
And in fact, a good portion of the instant noodles in Naruto's apartment had come from Sakura's own hands.
Shikamaru sprawled across the railing, squinting at the golden screen overhead.
"So it's comparing two films... two completely different lives of Naruto Uzumaki?"
"This should be the Naruto from our world. The Naruto we know. So what about the other one?"
Not everyone could react as fast as Shikamaru.
On Konoha's side, the atmosphere had already grown much heavier.
Kushina's words had shoved Konoha into an ugly, humiliating position. But no one could really blame a mother who loved her son. If things had reached this point, then Konoha itself was the one at fault.
Orochimaru, meanwhile, was having the time of his life.
Especially from this close, he could clearly see every subtle twitch in Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression.
"How interesting."
The only pity was that among the living, no one in Konoha dared speak too freely. The Third Hokage was still alive, and he was sitting right there in the stands.
Orochimaru sighed inwardly.
At this rate, it would be impossible for Hiruzen Sarutobi to die as a hero.
And more than that, Orochimaru had an unsettling feeling. If he insisted on pressing forward...
The Fourth Hokage, who hadn't been able to be resurrected through the Impure World Reincarnation...
Kushina Uzumaki: Naruto? My child... Fine, fine. You old monkey, this is how you took care of Naruto?! Three thousand ryo a month? You're really fucking generous! Where is my inheritance?!
Kushina Uzumaki: Minato, if you don't get out here and say something, Naruto won't need to recognize you as his father anymore!
Fourth Hokage Minato Namikaze: Cough, cough... squeak~
The moment that line appeared, the entire arena went dead quiet all over again.
Then someone's shoulders started shaking.
Then another.
Then, somewhere in the stands, a suppressed laugh slipped out.
The Fourth Hokage. The legendary Yellow Flash. The man who had once terrified entire battlefields and become the pride of Konoha.
And under Kushina's fury, that same man had actually replied with nothing but a weak, pitiful "squeak."
Naruto blinked hard at the screen.
Fourth Hokage.
Father.
The words struck him like stones one after another, each one landing deeper than the last.
His mother was Kushina Uzumaki.
His father was Namikaze Minato, the Fourth Hokage.
He wasn't just some nameless orphan nobody wanted. He wasn't some freak that had crawled out of nowhere carrying the Nine-Tails in his belly. He had parents. He had a family. He had once been wanted.
For a brief second, Naruto's chest tightened so much he couldn't breathe.
Then he looked up at the golden screen again, almost desperately, as if he could tear more truth out of it by force.
The image in the sky still showed that filthy apartment, that tiny figure standing alone in the doorway with an envelope at his feet.
That was him.
That had really been him.
No comforting lie. No misunderstanding. No trick.
From the stands, countless eyes turned toward Hiruzen Sarutobi.
Some were shocked. Some were suspicious. Some were angry. Others simply looked disturbed, as if they had just realized that the story they had always believed might not have been the whole story after all.
Hiruzen's expression dimmed further.
There were things a Hokage could explain. There were things a Hokage could defend. There were even things a Hokage could bury.
But once the dead themselves started speaking, and once the truth began playing out in front of the entire world, words alone no longer carried much weight.
Neji watched all of this in silence from where he lay on the ground.
A son of heroes. Yet raised like that.
His lips curved, but there was no mockery in it now.
Just a bitter, complicated understanding.
So that was how it was.
Not everyone was trapped by destiny because they were weak. Sometimes, fate itself was simply rotten from the beginning.
Sasuke stared at the screen with clenched fists.
Sakura's face had gone pale.
Shikamaru's lazy gaze sharpened little by little.
Even Kiba, who rarely thought deeply about anything, found himself unable to say a word.
Because for the first time, the noisy idiot named Naruto Uzumaki was no longer just the class clown, the dead-last, the village joke.
He was suddenly a child standing alone in a dark room with too little money, too much silence, and no one willing to stay.
And above all of them, the system continued to hum with that indifferent, mechanical authority, as if none of the shock, rage, or grief below mattered in the slightest.
The movie had only just begun.
And already, the hidden ugliness of one world was being ripped open in front of everyone.
If this was only the beginning of Naruto's life in this world...
Then what, exactly, would the other screen reveal?