Inuzuka Kiba: "Kankuro is definitely going to have a bad time."
Kankuro: "I don't need you to remind me!"
Senju Hashirama: Hahaha~
Senju Hashirama: I'm actually starting to look forward to seeing how Black-Framed Naruto will deal with Sunagakure.
Senju Tobirama: "Brother, I think Black-Framed Naruto will probably just take them over while he's at it."
Orochimaru: "The Second Hokage's suggestion is quite likely."
Orochimaru: "Actually, strictly speaking, Konoha, Sunagakure, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, and the Hidden Mist can be divided into four parts rather than five."
Orochimaru: "Sunagakure sent many elites this time; capturing them would be equivalent to taking half of Sunagakure."
Uchiha Izuna: I think Naruto will change his strategy slightly. Reshaping the Ninja World... killing everyone... the karma would be too great. He'll definitely accept surrenders and submissions.
Uchiha Izuna: With their local high-level officials present, it will save a lot of effort when reshaping the Ninja World in the future.
Uchiha Izuna: In short, if he wants to reshape the Ninja World without destroying it entirely... then unifying the whole Ninja World is an absolute necessity.
Uchiha Izuna: But the workload won't be small.
Nara Shikaku: "..."
Nara Shikamaru: "..."
The father and son seemed to see their future days of waking up earlier than chickens and sleeping later than dogs.
But they soon thought of their ancestors chatting away in the chat room.
It seemed that the ones who should be most worried weren't the Naras, but these deceased ancestors.
Edo Tensei... ["Naruto doesn't need to step in."]
[Sasuke took a step forward.]
[The atmosphere instantly became tense.]
[Temari silently lowered the iron fan on her back.]
[The corners of her mouth curled up slightly.]
[That black-haired handsome guy can be left to Kankuro.]
[As for the blond handsome guy, just like her... she would take care of him herself.]
[The pink-haired one?]
[Just ignore her.]
[As a face-con, Temari was actually in a pretty good mood right now.]
[Unfortunately, Naruto didn't give her more than a glance.]
[Nor did he look much at Kankuro.]
[His gaze went past the two of them, looking behind the tree behind them.]
["Damn it!!!"]
[Kankuro growled.]
[This was a blatant disregard for him.]
[Kankuro immediately flicked his fingers.]
[Clack, clack, clack—]
[The Crow Puppet made a strange sound.]
[Immediately after, the Crow Puppet lunged forward like a sharp sword.]
["Heh!"]
[Sasuke sneered.]
[He immediately activated his Sharingan.]
[After activating the Sharingan...]
[...the world before Sasuke's eyes changed.]
[And that so-called puppet, at a single glance...]
[...he saw ten thin Chakra threads connected to the Crow Puppet.]
[Following the ten Chakra threads controlling the Crow Puppet...]
[...he saw the source, which was the tips of Kankuro's ten fingers.]
["I see."]
[Sasuke reached into his ninja tool pouch.]
[Intending to use shuriken to cut the ten Chakra threads controlling the Crow Puppet.]
[And then seize the Crow Puppet once it lost control.]
[Naruto didn't look away.]
[As if the Crow Puppet attacking him didn't even exist.]
[Looking down on a puppet master?!]
["I'll make you pay!"]
[Kankuro moved his fingers, and the Crow Puppet's speed surged.]
[Click—]
[At the same time, Temari had already unfolded the iron fan on her back, revealing the three stars on the fan surface.]
["Stop it, Kankuro."]
[Just then...]
[...a cold voice came from behind the tree.]
[Everyone present, except Naruto, was startled.]
[There's someone else?!]
[Sakura's and Sasuke's pupils constricted sharply.]
[They hadn't sensed the other person's presence at all.]
[Temari was surprised; she hadn't expected Gaara to stop the fight.]
[She was still planning to see how capable that man was.]
[And Kankuro's whole body shuddered again.]
[Because the sand from the gourd on Gaara's back had appeared in front of Kankuro again.]
[Furthermore, some sand had appeared under his feet at some point.]
['Heavy bloodlust.']
['Shukaku's Jinchuriki... as expected, he's not that simple.']
[Naruto glanced at Kankuro.]
[Noticing the deep fear in his eyes.]
[Whoosh—]
[In the next instant...]
[...a figure appeared in front of Naruto.]
[Short red hair.]
[The character for 'Love' was engraved on his forehead.]
[No eyebrows, and heavy dark circles under his eyes that even eye makeup couldn't hide.]
[His aura was restrained, but beneath that restraint was endless madness and bloodlust.]
[Whoosh!!!]
[Just then...]
[Sasuke threw a shuriken.]
[Spinning at high speed, the shuriken—infused with Lightning Release Chakra through nature transformation—flew toward the back of the Crow Puppet.]
[In Sasuke's Sharingan vision...]
[...at this angle, the lightning-infused shuriken could instantly sever all ten Chakra threads controlling the Crow Puppet.]
[It was very fast!]
[It was like a bolt of lightning streaking through the air.]
[However...]
[...just when Sasuke thought he had succeeded...]
[Pfft!!!]
[...the shuriken infused with Lightning Release nature transformation pierced into a mass of sand.]
[Sand?]
[Sasuke's brows furrowed.]
[Sakura was also somewhat taken aback.]
[Seeing the sand that had blocked Sasuke's thrown shuriken, their expressions changed slightly.]
[Because that mass of sand had actually flowed out from the sand gourd on the back of that strange, red-haired man.]
[It was now slowly returning to the sand gourd on the red-haired man's back.]
[A very eerie ability.]
[Controlling sand?]
[This was the first time they had ever seen such a thing.]
[Naruto's eyes brightened slightly.]
[Watching from a close distance...]
[...he discovered the secret behind the red-haired man's control over sand.]
[However, as his gaze fell upon the sand gourd on the red-haired man's back again, a hint of complexity appeared in his eyes.]
[This feeling... it was very familiar to him.]
[After blocking Sasuke's shuriken, Gaara remained expressionless.]
[He glanced coldly at Sasuke.]
[Letting his gaze linger for a moment on the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.]
[Then, without looking back, he said, "Put away your puppet."]
["You're an embarrassment to our village..."]
["Losing yourself in a squabble is the most unsightly thing."]
[Gaara's calm voice was like a knife, stabbing into Kankuro's heart.]
[Kankuro lowered his head slightly and didn't argue.]
[He just silently withdrew the Crow Puppet.]
[He glanced at the shuriken that still had a faint flicker of lightning.]
[He knew that if Gaara hadn't stepped in just now, Crow would likely have been taken by that man with the strange eyes and presented to Naruto.]
["Do you know why we came here?"]
[Gaara glanced at the silent Kankuro.]
[He didn't say anything more.]
[After withdrawing his gaze, he tilted his head up slightly to look at Naruto, who was nearly a head taller than him.]
["My apologies."]