"Sensei..."
Naruto subconsciously started to ask something, then suddenly fell silent.
"Not every question has a single answer."
Seemingly knowing what he wanted to ask, Kun'shiki's tone was calm: "I will only teach you knowledge, history, and philosophy; I will provide you with the tools and perspectives to answer questions."
"You don't need to, and you cannot, give a perfect answer that satisfies everyone."
"You only need to be sure that the answer you arrive at after careful consideration is better than the solutions currently proposed by everyone else in the world."
"If you are, then you can do it without hesitation."
"..." Uzumaki Naruto pursed his lips. "I don't understand, Sensei."
"Just as I don't believe that Hashirama Senju's approach of 'One Country, One Village' and distributing the Tailed Beasts to maintain balance was the perfect, optimal solution to end all wars."
Kun'shiki continued: "However, it was the best answer he could conceive of, better than everyone else's, given the historical limitations of the time."
"History proves that his actions indeed brought a relatively long period of peace to the shinobi world, though it was fragile and full of hidden dangers. Therefore, I still acknowledge his effort."
"And you..."
He paused here, then continued: "You are my student. You have studied the knowledge of two worlds."
"Therefore, the answer you give should, logically, be better than that of anyone else in the shinobi world."
Upon hearing this, Naruto's eyes flickered slightly, and his previously heavy mood gradually became calm.
Yes.
Regarding the question of "How to bring peace to the shinobi world," the fragile balance maintained by the Five Great Nations through shifting conflicts and exchanging interests is clearly a failing grade.
And the two leaders of the Akatsuki organization—one died due to his own naivety and idealism, and the other devolved into the extreme of terrorism—their answers are also incorrect.
Everyone has their own answer; there is no perfect score.
There is only the matter of whose answer is better than the others.
So, what he needs to do is not conceive a perfect solution, but use the knowledge he has learned to think and seek out the best answer.
At the same time, he must pay the price and bear all consequences for putting that answer into practice.
So...
"What is my answer?" Naruto thought. "What is the root cause of war? And how can war truly disappear from this world?"
And, can I truly find the answer if I stay in Konoha?
Just as he was deep in thought.
"Huu..."
A sigh of relief came from beside him.
Uchiha Sasuke slowly closed his eyes. When he opened them again, the eerie scarlet Three-Tomoe Sharingan had faded, reverting to their dark color.
Fine sweat beaded on his forehead. Clearly, maintaining the Sharingan for high-precision assistance had consumed a great deal of his energy.
On the operating table in front of him, the severely injured Konoha ninja, though still unconscious, was breathing much more steadily. His wounds were perfectly sutured and immobilized.
The young medical ninja wiped the sweat from her brow and looked up at Sasuke, her eyes filled with genuine gratitude: "Thank you so much, Sasuke. We really owe you."
Hearing this, Uchiha Sasuke gave a slightly weary smile and shook his head: "I was only helping out on the side. You were the one who performed the actual surgery."
In truth, this Konoha ninja's injuries could have been healed by Tsunade or Shizune using the Mystical Palm Technique.
However, the Mystical Palm Technique, an "A-rank ninjutsu," is not something just anyone can master. Most medical ninja simply have a better understanding of Chakra than ordinary doctors.
Without the dynamic vision and perception of Sasuke's Sharingan to precisely pinpoint the location of blood vessels and nerve bundles that were too fine for the naked eye to track, it would have been impossible for this young medical ninja to complete such a high-difficulty surgery independently.
Speaking of which, in the past, when performing such difficult, delicate surgeries on the battlefield, the role of the "human microscope" was often played by the Hyūga Clan's Byakugan.
But today...
Sasuke subconsciously glanced across the chaotic shelter, his brow furrowing slightly.
He didn't see a single member of the Hyūga Clan.
Even Hyūga Neji, who had long dominated the top spot in the upper classes and possessed exceptional talent despite being from the Branch House, was nowhere to be seen.
Theoretically, all students and teachers from the Ninja Academy should have been transferred and settled here. This meant it was highly possible that something unexpected had happened to the Hyūga Clan...
"Forget it, it's none of my business." Sasuke shook his head to clear these thoughts, and his gaze fell on the busy figures moving among the wounded.
They were members of the Uchiha Clan.
Some Uchiha ninja with activated Sharingan were using their perception, just as he had, to assist the medical ninja with various delicate procedures.
Other Uchiha clan members who hadn't awakened their Sharingan were quietly taking on heavy manual labor: moving the wounded, distributing supplies, maintaining order, and comforting the frightened children...
This sight would have been almost unimaginable in the past.
The Uchiha Clan was once known for being arrogant, isolated, even gloomy, and quick to anger—far removed from an image of "healing and saving the injured."
But now, Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Sasuke, learning from past lessons, naturally knew that their clan's poor reputation was one of the reasons the Uchiha had fallen so low.
Compared to the thankless work of the Military Police Force, being medical ninja was clearly a better way to change Konoha's inherent impression of the Uchiha Clan and to earn the goodwill and reputation of the civilians.
"Interesting."
Inside the sealed space, Kun'shiki sat atop the Nine-Tails' head, observing the changes in Naruto and Sasuke.
Both Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, as well as the rest of the new generation, had grown up without realizing it, undergoing private transformations.
Uzumaki Naruto was the top theoretical student in the Ninja Academy, while Uchiha Sasuke was the top practical student.
With the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, if Uchiha Sasuke wished, he could essentially graduate immediately, completely overpowering his peers in strength.
Similarly, the knowledge Uzumaki Naruto possessed completely overpowered his peers.
Therefore, Naruto and Sasuke had managed to become friends, though they were friends who held a silent, mutual respect.
However, while their styles had changed, their fundamental natures had not.
Take Uchiha Sasuke, for instance. The reason he aspired to become Hokage was certainly not because of some Will of Fire.
After all, he hadn't been put under a Kotoamatsukami. Becoming Hokage was simply a means to restore the Uchiha Clan.
Ultimately, compared to other people who were of no consequence to him, Uchiha Sasuke cared more about his own clan and prioritized the Uchiha over Konoha as a whole.
This was the biggest difference between him and Uchiha Shisui and Uchiha Itachi.
It was also the biggest difference between him and Naruto now.
Naruto's perspective was focused on humanity as a whole, while Uchiha Sasuke only wanted the Uchiha Clan to thrive.
If things went smoothly, they were only one or two years away from graduating and becoming Genin.
Once they left the Academy, the divergence in their paths would become increasingly apparent until they walked different roads, perhaps even drawing blades against each other.
This was not about right or wrong.
This was a conflict of ideology.
This was a conflict of position.
And this was the result Kun'shiki desired.
"Meow."
Just then, as Uzumaki Naruto was deep in thought, a faint meow interrupted him.
He subconsciously looked up and saw a familiar black shadow pounce over, accurately leaping onto his head and curling up in a comfortable spot.
"Kuro?" Naruto was slightly startled, a warm smile spreading across his face. He gently stroked the soft, warm fur on his head.
"Where have you been? I was worried something happened to you since I haven't seen you for so long..."
However, before Naruto could ask more questions, a sudden, loud commotion erupted from the direction of the shelter's entrance.
"Where is the Third Hokage?!"
A woman holding a child could no longer bear the endless fear and waiting. She suddenly stood up, her voice sharp and piercing with terror, even bordering on madness!
She frantically scanned the surroundings, trying to find that familiar figure among the busy ninja.
But he wasn't there.
"Why hasn't the Third Hokage shown up? He'll protect us! Right? He'll come!" she screamed loudly.
Her question instantly created a ripple of panic among the crowd.
"Yeah! Where is the Third Hokage-sama?"
"Why haven't we seen the Third Hokage this whole time?"
"Ninja-sama, please, tell us! Has the Third Hokage-sama... met with an accident?"
People desperately clung to this last, fleeting hope, asking urgently with sobs in their voices. More and more people were infected by this emotion and began to stir.
Their eyes turned toward the Konoha ninja maintaining order, desperate for an answer that would bring them peace.
However, facing these expectant and fearful gazes, the young Chūnin and Genin instinctively lowered their heads, averting their eyes.
This subconscious silence and evasion undoubtedly intensified the fear in people's hearts.
Despair spread like a plague, uncontrollably, within the crowded, dim, enclosed space.
"Everyone, please calm down! Maintain order!"
Iruka, his arm injured and wrapped in a blood-soaked bandage, had to endure the pain. He immediately stood on a raised platform, shouting with all his might, trying to pacify the out-of-control crowd.
"The Third Hokage-sama is outside leading the other ninja to defend against the enemy! We must believe in the Third Hokage-sama, believe in Konoha! We are safe here! Please maintain..."
Though his voice was loud, he knew very well that Hiruzen Sarutobi was not in Konoha, making his voice carry an undisguised tremor.
Safe?
Are we really safe?
As if to answer his weak reassurance and to crush the last shred of hope for everyone, an explosion, louder and much closer than any before, suddenly erupted, slamming hard against the shelter's incredibly heavy door!
BOOM!
The entire underground space shook violently. Dust and rubble rained down from the ceiling. The lights flickered madly, constantly alternating between brightness and darkness!
"Aah!!"
Uncontrollable screams of panic erupted, completely drowning out all other sounds!
"What's going on?" Iruka's face changed drastically. He spun his head to face the shelter's door, a profound sense of foreboding rising in his heart!
CRASH!!
Another, even more terrifying, loud bang!
The reinforced, supposedly indestructible alloy door at the center bulged inward, as if some monster had slammed into it with brute force!
Is it the enemy? Have the enemies found this place?!
This thought instantly flashed in the minds of everyone who witnessed the scene.
The next moment, before anyone could react.
Shhh!!
A thin, scarlet thread, highly condensed from blood, pierced through the thick door from the outside!
The blood thread then lightly sliced sideways, cutting through several Konoha Genin and civilians standing near the door.
Splat! Splat!
The dull sounds of flesh being easily cut and separated rang out one after another!
The expression of terror on the faces of those pierced by the blood thread instantly froze.
Their bodies split smoothly in two along the line cut by the blood thread. Organs and blood gushed out like a broken dam. Their mutilated corpses slid limply to the ground...
Some people weren't even hit in a vital spot, and half their bodies crawled on the floor, wailing in agony.
"A-a-a-ah!!"
People who witnessed this horrific scene up close let out heart-wrenching screams!
"This is bad!" Iruka suddenly turned his head toward Naruto. Knowing Naruto's identity and importance, he immediately realized the enemy's likely target.
BANG!
The alloy door, sliced open and weakened, violently collapsed inward, slamming onto the ground with a deafening crash, raising a cloud of billowing, blood-scented smoke!
"Looks like I found it sooner than the Boss."
Accompanied by a triumphant voice, a figure walked slowly and unhurriedly through the blood-tinged smoke and dust.
It was En Oyashiro, wearing the black cloak with red clouds.
He stepped over the collapsed door and the blood and scattered limbs as if taking a leisurely stroll, his mocking gaze sweeping over the crowd in the shelter, who had frozen solid in terror.
"Ah..." A civilian closer to him was about to let out a bloodcurdling scream from extreme terror.
Pfft!
A very faint but perfectly clear sound of a blade entering flesh rang out.
A thin arrow, condensed entirely from blood, shot from En Oyashiro's fingertip, accurately piercing the person's forehead.
The person's scream cut off instantly, the look of terror frozen on their face as their body slumped backward.
En Oyashiro slowly raised his other hand and placed a finger over his lips: "Shhh."
In the entire shelter, everyone who had opened their mouths and was about to scream was instantly choked. All sound was violently swallowed back.
The shelter fell once more into a suffocating silence.
En Oyashiro nodded slightly, seemingly quite pleased with the "quiet" he had violently enforced. His gaze swept over the crowd and landed on the direction where Uzumaki Naruto had been standing earlier.
However, that position was now empty. Iruka had also vanished.
"Heh." A frivolous, low laugh escaped En Oyashiro's lips. "Futile struggling."
He didn't bother to search for the two hiding rats. Instead, his gaze turned to Shizune, who was subtly positioned at the core of all the Konoha ninja present.
Swoosh!
His figure instantly vanished from its spot, appearing like a ghost directly in front of Shizune.
Shizune's pupils constricted violently. Her cheeks puffed out, and a poison mist mixed with several poisoned needles erupted from her mouth!
This was her unique secret technique, transforming Chakra within her body into a special, potent poison that instantly became a lethal mist upon contact with the air. Even a single breath could be fatal.
The poison mist completely enveloped En Oyashiro!
However, facing the deadly mist, En Oyashiro didn't even shift his feet. He simply tilted his head to dodge the needles and reached out to grab Shizune's slender neck.
"Gasp!" The immense force instantly cut off her breathing.
En Oyashiro stood within the poison mist, even tilting his head back slightly and taking a deep breath, inhaling a small amount of the deadly purple mist.
Then, he slowly lowered his head, his fingers tightening slightly. His blood-red Ketsuryūgan eyes savored Shizune's pained expression of suffocation as he spoke with a contemptuous tone:
"Do you think poison holds any meaning for a 'freak' who can manipulate every single drop of his own blood, and even transform it into any shape he desires?"
Shizune felt a cold mental energy forcefully invade her brain through his eyes. Her consciousness became hazy, her body stiff, unable to even move her fingers.
Genjutsu!
This is the legendary Ketsuryūgan?!
En Oyashiro slowly turned his head, his gaze sweeping over the trembling civilians again.
"Don't be afraid." His tone suddenly softened slightly. "I am not a bloodthirsty maniac. I only came here to take one person."
"As long as you hand him over, I promise I will leave immediately and will not harm any of you."
His tone made it sound like he was discussing a trivial matter. A faint glimmer of hope instantly lit up in the eyes of the crowd.
"Ni-Ninja-sama..." A man slightly closer to him used all his strength to squeeze out a barely audible voice: "W-Who are you looking for?"
En Oyashiro's gaze landed on the man, and he chuckled mockingly: "A brat who looks a lot like a fox."
Hearing this, the people present realized almost instantly who he was talking about.
"Oh, right. To save everyone some time," En Oyashiro added, as if suddenly remembering something. "From now on, for every ten seconds he doesn't come out..."
He raised his free hand and extended a finger, a thread of scarlet blood beginning to slowly condense at the tip.
"...I will kill one person at random."
"So," whether on purpose or not, En Oyashiro suddenly looked toward Uchiha Sasuke in the distance, pointing his finger at him. "Let's start with you."
"Ten..."
En Oyashiro's cold countdown, laced with a mocking smile, echoed clearly in the silent shelter.
"Nine..."
It felt as though an invisible hand was firmly gripping everyone's throats, squeezing the air of despair even thinner.
Seeing the finger pointing at him and feeling the intense aura of death, Uchiha Sasuke narrowed his eyes and made a signal with the hand behind his back.
The meaning of the gesture was...
—Hide well.
In the corner of the crowd behind him, an area not covered by the shadow of the collapsed debris.
Iruka firmly clamped his body over Uzumaki Naruto's mouth, his arms wrapped around Naruto like iron hoops, using all his strength to restrain the fiercely struggling body of the boy.
Seeing Sasuke's gesture, Naruto made muffled "ooh-ooh" sounds in his throat, his body erupting with a strength unusual for his age. He twisted madly, trying to break free.
"Naruto! Calm down!" Iruka put his mouth next to Naruto's ear, whispering in a voice only the two of them could hear: "You can't go out! Absolutely not!"
"That guy is definitely a madman who enjoys killing. You absolutely cannot trust his words! Even if you go out, he will never spare anyone here!"
"His target is you. Going out is walking right into his trap! Everything will be over then, do you understand..."
However, just as his voice fell, Iruka suddenly felt the incredibly strong Naruto, who had been struggling fiercely in his arms, abruptly cease all movement.
It was as if all his strength had been instantly drained, and he became exceptionally quiet.
Iruka was stunned. He instinctively looked down at Naruto in his arms.
Naruto's azure blue eyes were staring straight ahead. The earlier anger and urgency were gone, replaced by a strange calmness and a hint of a smile.
Iruka involuntarily followed Naruto's gaze and looked up.
It wasn't just the two of them.
Almost at the same moment, En Oyashiro's exceptionally sharp perception instantly caught the strange shift in the atmosphere.
He had been enjoying the fearful gazes concentrated on him, but now, he clearly felt that the gazes aimed at him had changed.
That was... surprise?
And the focus of those gazes didn't seem to be entirely on him?
"Something's behind me, isn't it?" En Oyashiro muttered, as if talking to himself and asking the air.
The moment the words left his lips, En Oyashiro spun violently!
His movement was incredibly fast, holding nothing back. All his blood, power, and Chakra instantly poured into his right leg. With a piercing shriek that tore the air, he delivered a devastating kick directly behind him.
BAM!!
An overwhelmingly dull sound of flesh impacting flesh suddenly exploded!
However, the expected scene of shattering bones and a figure being launched away did not happen.
"A wall?"
No, it's not a wall...
En Oyashiro felt as though his full-power kick had landed squarely on an impossibly thick, colossal rock face!
An unimaginably powerful recoil shot up his leg bone, instantly numbing his entire right leg, leaving a faint, sharp pain!
The figure he kicked remained perfectly still, not even a corner of their clothes fluttering.
"Wh—" En Oyashiro's smile instantly froze. His pupils contracted violently, and an unprecedented chill instantly ran through his entire body.
How is this possible?
His eyes wide with disbelief and horror, he slowly moved his gaze upward, following the outline of the solid abdominal muscles his foot had struck.
He passed the broad chest, crossed the firm shoulders...
Finally, his gaze met a pair of lowered, azure blue eyes.
Those eyes were looking down at him with icy scrutiny.
"Tell me." Hyuga Kawa's gaze was that of someone examining a dead object. "The number of your accomplices, and their location."
The muscles in En Oyashiro's cheek twitched uncontrollably. A stiff smile split his lips: "I don't know..."
Before he could finish, Hyuga Kawa made no unnecessary talk, no hand seals, no power-up, not even a warning.
His action was simple, direct, and utterly brutal. He merely raised his right fist, and drove it straight into the center of En Oyashiro's chest.
THUD!!!
An incredibly dull sound of corporeal impact suddenly detonated!
En Oyashiro's body shot backward, slamming viciously into the incredibly hard rock wall of the shelter!
RUMBLE!!
The massive impact made the entire wall violently tremble and groan. A spiderweb of cracks instantly spread outward from the point of his impact!
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