GA: Chapter 201 – Minato's Refusal to Accept It; The Fate of the Parallel-Timeline Naruto
Golden Flash: "The target—a Naruto from a parallel timeline?!"
Golden Flash: "How could this happen?! How is something like this even possible?!"
Golden Flash: "Naruto has the Nine-Tails sealed inside him—how could he be on the verge of death?!"
Minato didn't believe it. Or rather—he refused to believe it.
Even knowing it was true, the idea that his son from a parallel timeline had been near death, undergone soul fusion with a transmigrator, and had that transmigrator take on Naruto's identity going forward—how could he possibly accept that?
Child of Nature: "On the verge of death doesn't mean death. It only means Naruto had been pushed to that state by someone—or several people. As long as nothing further happened, the Nine-Tails would have allowed him to self-heal."
Child of Nature: "It was precisely in that window that the transmigrator's soul descended into Naruto's mindscape."
Child of Nature: "What I'm uncertain about is what the soul fusion actually entailed—was it Naruto's willing choice, or was it forced?"
Child of Nature: "If it was the former…"
Bai Xuan didn't finish the sentence—but everyone could fill in the rest.
If it was Naruto's willing choice, it meant Naruto had no desire to keep living. That he had wanted to escape a reality that had shown him no kindness—one that could only be described as cruel.
Ordinary Group Owner: "So the Naruto who exists now—is he still Naruto?"
Child of Nature: "You can think of him as an entirely new Naruto."
Child of Nature: "Even if this Naruto was born from the soul fusion of transmigrator Liu Yun and Naruto Uzumaki—resulting in a new personality entirely—he was granted the identity of Naruto Uzumaki. The rank of Naruto Uzumaki. Not Liu Yun's. The world itself has acknowledged him. Do we really need to be the ones to deny it?"
Child of Nature: "What matters most is your own feelings about this, Minato."
Child of Nature: "Destroying Konoha. Unifying the shinobi world. And in the end, resurrecting that parallel world's versions of you and Kushina—and handing power over to them. From where I stand, he reshaped Naruto Uzumaki's fate in a meaningful way, and built an environment of genuine peace for ordinary people."
Child of Nature: "He is neither kind nor evil."
Child of Nature: "If you're willing to open the mission and grant access to the Naruto world—I won't feel guilt about killing him."
Child of Nature: "If you're not willing, I understand that too."
Uchiha Dance King: "He accomplished what I never achieved—unifying the shinobi world. Every hidden village, every shinobi, every civilian under one nation. This new Naruto is considerably stronger than the original."
Uchiha Dance King: "False peace is not peace—only an uneasy standoff between powers who fear each other. The moment one side weakens, war follows."
Uchiha Dance King: "Only unification is the true path to peace."
Look at Overman—every powerful civilization had one voice. The voice of that civilization's chief god.
Angel civilization. Demon civilization. Styx River civilization.
A civilization without internal unity—how could it ever speak of peace?
In the original Naruto, even after Naruto and Sasuke defeated Kaguya Otsutsuki and things seemed to settle into something beautiful—so what?
How long could that fragile beauty hold?
Once Naruto and Sasuke died, as he and Hashirama had, war would return.
The Most Ancient God Slayer: "This old man naturally wants to kill him and claim the mission's rewards."
The Most Ancient God Slayer: "But this old man also respects your wishes."
Umaru: "Even if it wasn't a true father-son relationship—the Minato from that other world really did fail Naruto."
If not for that Minato's miscalculation, Naruto wouldn't have had to endure what he had. Wouldn't have been pushed to the edge of death.
Whether the fusion was willingly chosen or not—did that even matter so much?
A Naruto who had been despised by everyone, rejected by everyone, tormented by everyone—could he really have never once thought about dying?
Golden Flash: "I…"
Golden Flash: "Please give me some time."
Golden Flash: "I want to find him. And talk to him."
Minato wrote it into the group.
His emotions right now were deeply tangled. He had been focused entirely on changing his own world's future—and had never once thought about what was happening to the Minato in a parallel world. That Minato hadn't joined the chat group. He would still follow the original fate.
And Naruto in that world—he would live through the same wretched childhood.
He knew how deep the darkness ran in Naruto's heart. And yet Naruto had still shown that kind, uncomplicated face to the world—he had always been so proud of that. And so guilty for it.
If he could have wished for anything, he genuinely wished Naruto had let himself be a little more selfish.
That he had made those who hurt him pay, rather than spending his life trying to earn their recognition.
Now a darker Naruto had emerged—and yet Minato found no real joy in it. Only because this Naruto wasn't the original.
But who was ultimately responsible for pushing Naruto to that edge? Who was responsible for creating the conditions that led to the fusion with the transmigrator?
Wasn't it him?
If he hadn't—no. Even without his sacrifice, that didn't mean Naruto's childhood would have been happy. But at least the appetite people like Hiruzen and Danzo had for the Nine-Tails' Jinchūriki would have been directed somewhere else. Not at Naruto.
Surely, any version of Naruto's life would have been better than what the memory copies showed.
Lighthouse Tycoon: "I know this isn't the best moment to ask given how heavy things are—but… why is the point reward only fifty thousand? Everything else is the same as Master Kau's mission, but the points are massively lower."
Lighthouse Tycoon: "This mission's difficulty is Low-Medium—simpler than the last Medium."
Lighthouse Tycoon: "Even the number of people required is the same—five."
Lighthouse Tycoon: "But Master Kau's was a million. Why is Minato's only fifty thousand? That's a pretty staggering difference."
Lighthouse Tycoon: "Is this Dark Naruto just that much weaker?"
Lighthouse Tycoon: "But the difficulty is still Medium-low—how weak can someone be if they unified the shinobi world? He has to be at least Kaguya-tier."
Even if Kaguya was weaker than Mo Rong from last time—fifty thousand was still extremely low.
Lin Fengjiao: "That's a fair point. It might also be that the Rule-Level Item he's carrying is significantly weaker than the one Mo Rong had."
Turn Da gu into Soup: "The last mission target was genuinely strong. I honestly wonder—if I hadn't been holding the Ox Charm and had my strength multiplied a hundredfold, whether even my power would have been enough to overpower him."
Sacred Master: "Where exactly did you get the confidence you were suppressing him?"
Sacred Master: "Drop the 'wonder.'"
Sacred Master: "You punched him while holding the Ox Charm and he only stumbled back a few steps. I genuinely don't know how feeble your base form must be."
Turn Da gu into Soup: "…"
Turn Da gu into Soup: "I can't help that my base stats are low."
Turn Da gu into Soup: "I feel like I've gotten a lot stronger. And after transformation, it amplifies what I already have—even without the Ox Charm, I can crush normal monsters without breaking a sweat."
.....
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