Chapter 339: Naruto Unleashes a Furious Attack on Hiruzen Sarutobi
The fabric of space warped with a sickening lurch.
When the solid sensation of earth finally returned beneath their feet, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Senju Tobirama, and Senju Hashirama found themselves standing beneath an unfamiliar sky. They had been dragged into an entirely different dimension.
"This is..."
Even the three battle-hardened Hokage stared in stunned silence. Their eyes widened as they took in the vast, boundless horizon. This was no mere pocket dimension or genjutsu illusion. This was a complete, breathing world.
"Space-Time Ninjutsu..." Tobirama muttered, his crimson eyes darting across the landscape. His usually stoic face tightened into a mask of absolute gravity. "No. This has already surpassed the scope of any Space-Time Ninjutsu. To manipulate reality on this scale..."
"Is he... creating a world?" Hashirama's usual easygoing demeanor vanished. The God of Shinobi looked around, his dark eyes reflecting deep shock.
Hiruzen's heart plummeted. A cold dread pooled in his stomach. Against an enemy possessing such godlike, unfathomable power, did the desperate counter-plan they had whispered about moments ago even have a fraction of a chance?
Before the three reanimated Hokage could process the sheer scale of their disadvantage, the air ahead of them rippled. Uchiha Akira materialized from the distortion, his posture relaxed, his dark eyes sweeping over them with cold amusement.
Without a word, Akira raised his right hand. His thumb and middle finger met.
Snap.
The space beside him warped with a sharp hum.
Several figures materialized out of thin air. Uzumaki Naruto, Hyuga Hinata, Gaara, and Temari stumbled slightly as their boots hit the alien soil.
Naruto was the first to regain his balance. He blinked, scratching his spiky blond hair as he scanned the unfamiliar surroundings. "Teacher?" he asked, looking up at Akira. "How did we end up all the way out here?"
Before Akira could answer, a hoarse, trembling voice echoed across the clearing.
"Naruto!"
Hiruzen stared at the blond boy, his jaw dropping. The Third Hokage took a staggering step forward, his voice cracking with disbelief. "How... how are you here?"
Naruto froze. He turned his head, his blue eyes locking onto the old man in battle armor. "Third Old Man?" The boy blinked, taking in the sight of Hiruzen's ash-flaking skin and the dark, unnatural cracks lining his aged face.
Beside Hiruzen, Hashirama tilted his head, studying the boy with intense curiosity. Beneath the child's bright exterior, the First Hokage could sense a vast, turbulent ocean of chakra—a dark, boiling energy that felt distinctly familiar. "Who is this child?"
Hiruzen swallowed hard, forcing his voice to steady. "First-sama... he is the Jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails."
"A Jinchuriki?" Tobirama's gaze sharpened into icy daggers, instantly locking onto Naruto. The Second Hokage let out a harsh, derisive scoff. "Hmph! As expected of an evil Uchiha! To stoop so low as to weaponize and control a Jinchuriki."
Naruto stood paralyzed for a few seconds. Then, the gears in his head finally clicked into place. His eyes widened to the size of saucers. He thrust an accusing finger at Hiruzen.
"Hey, you... aren't you supposed to be dead?!"
Akira, standing calmly with his hands resting in his pockets, offered a mild explanation. "It is the Edo Tensei—the Impure World Reincarnation. A forbidden jutsu that binds the souls of the dead to living vessels, forcing them to walk the earth in another form."
"Edo Tensei?" Naruto muttered, chewing on the unfamiliar syllables. He nodded slowly, grasping the basic concept even if the mechanics eluded him. The old man was a walking corpse.
But in the very next second, the realization fully set in.
The lingering confusion in Naruto's eyes evaporated, replaced by a raging, white-hot inferno. The bastard old man had actually crawled back into the living world.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi! You bastard old man!" Naruto roared, his voice tearing from his throat with years of repressed agony.
"You—" Hiruzen flinched, completely taken aback by the sheer venom in the boy's voice. He had expected confusion, perhaps fear, but not this raw, unadulterated hatred.
"Don't 'you' me!" Naruto stomped forward, jabbing his finger aggressively at the Third Hokage's face. "You knew! You knew everything! You knew I was the orphan of the Fourth Hokage! The son of the hero who died to protect the village! The one who became a Jinchuriki just to save everyone!"
Naruto's chest heaved, his breath hitching as the dam broke. "But you just sat there and watched! You let the entire village treat me like a plague! You let them spit on me, curse me, and chase me out of stores!"
He took another step, his voice cracking. "You made me drink expired milk and eat cheap instant noodles just to survive! I wore ragged, oversized clothes that other people threw in the trash! Not a single person was willing to look at me, let alone be my friend! I was completely alone!"
Tears welled in Naruto's eyes, hot and furious. "Is this what you meant by 'protecting' me?!"
The rapid-fire accusations struck Hiruzen like physical blows. The aged Hokage's face crumpled in panic, his hands raising defensively. "Naruto... I... I had to do it. It was to prevent the Fourth's enemies from discovering your true identity... it was to keep you safe—"
"Shut up!" Naruto screamed, cutting him off as tears finally spilled over his cheeks, leaving wet tracks down his whisker-marked face. "Stop trying to fool me with those pathetic, hypocritical excuses!"
He wiped his face aggressively with his sleeve. "Protect me? Leaving me to freeze in the winter and starve in the streets? Letting everyone look at me like I was a monster that needed to be put down? Is that your idea of protection?!"
Naruto gestured wildly toward Akira, his eyes shining with fierce, unyielding loyalty. "If Teacher Akira hadn't taken me in as his disciple, I'd still be rotting in that filthy apartment, choking down moldy bread all by myself! If it weren't for Teacher, I would still be the dead-last loser that everyone laughed at!"
Naruto glared at the old man, delivering the final, crushing blow. "You don't deserve the title of Hokage at all!"
Hiruzen froze as if struck by lightning. The breath left his lungs. 'He... he became Uchiha Akira's disciple?'
"That's right!" Naruto snapped, reading the shock on the old man's face perfectly. The boy puffed out his chest, his posture radiating immense pride and unshakable confidence. "Uchiha Akira is my teacher! He is ten thousand times the man you are! You're just a hateful old hypocrite who spouts pretty words while secretly letting a child suffer in the dark!"
Naruto's voice echoed across the barren landscape. "If Teacher were Hokage, Konoha would be ten thousand times better than the rotting village it was under your hands!"
That final sentence hit Hiruzen with the force of a mountain. The Third Hokage stumbled backward, his boots dragging against the dirt. The light in his reanimated eyes completely extinguished, leaving behind nothing but hollow despair.
It was a devastating, unmatched blow to his soul. The child he had sworn to watch over—the child of his beloved successor—truly believed he was unfit to lead.
Even Tobirama, who had maintained a cold, calculating silence, could no longer stomach the revelation. His crimson eyes swept over his broken disciple, his voice dripping with absolute, undisguised disgust.
"Hiruzen!"
The sharp bark made the Third Hokage flinch.
"You have disappointed me beyond measure," Tobirama sneered, his tone cutting like a blade. "The son of a village hero should have been raised with honor and glory. Yet you allowed him to bear the stigma of the Nine-Tails alone? You let the villagers bully and starve a child under your direct protection?"
Hiruzen opened his mouth, but no words came out. He was completely stripped of any defense.
Beside him, Hashirama let out a long, heavy sigh. The First Hokage's shoulders slumped, his dark eyes softening with deep, paternal sympathy as he looked at the trembling blond boy. "Child... you have suffered far too much..."
Through it all, Uchiha Akira had not spoken a single word. He merely stood with his arms crossed, watching the pathetic farce unfold with cold, detached amusement.
Finally, Akira stepped forward. His voice was smooth, carrying a quiet authority that commanded the attention of everyone present. "You two are both Jinchuriki," he said, glancing between Naruto and Gaara. "You have both tasted the absolute dregs of human malice. You know the crushing weight of true loneliness."
Akira slowly raised a hand, pointing a single, steady finger directly at Hiruzen.
"Naruto. I am giving you an opportunity," Akira declared, his tone turning dangerously sharp. "You and Gaara. Together. Tear down this so-called Third Hokage."
A dark, triumphant smirk ghosted across Akira's lips. "Go, Naruto. Take every ounce of pain, every cold night, and every starving tear you endured... and return it to him a thousandfold."
At Akira's command, the lingering grief and sorrow on Naruto's face vanished, replaced by a fierce, feral grin.
He slammed his fists together, his knuckles cracking loudly in the tense air. A surge of dense, blue chakra began to radiate from his small frame. "Now you're talking, Teacher!" Naruto grinned, baring his teeth. "I've been wanting to punch this old geezer's face in for a long, long time!"
Beside him, Gaara remained perfectly silent. His pale, stoic face betrayed no emotion, but the cork on the massive gourd strapped to his back popped open. A dense stream of golden sand poured out, swirling around his feet like a living, breathing serpent.
Gaara understood. He, too, had been branded a monster. He had lived in that same suffocating darkness. Naruto's pain echoed deep within his own soul, and his sand hungered to exact vengeance on the boy's behalf.
"You... you two..." Hiruzen stammered, his lips trembling as he stared at the two young Jinchuriki preparing to attack him. His mind was entirely blank, paralyzed by a mixture of guilt and horror.
"Monkey, you truly are utterly useless," Tobirama's icy voice cut through the tension once more. The Second Hokage glared at his former student with sheer contempt. "How did you manage to sit in the Hokage's seat for so many decades? You couldn't even placate a single Jinchuriki child, instead nurturing a resentment so deep it has turned him into our enemy."
Tobirama scoffed, crossing his arms. To fail at basic emotional management—it was practically a disgrace to Tobirama's own teachings.
Unable to watch the tragedy unfold any longer, Hashirama stepped forward, raising his hands in a placating gesture.
"Stop this! There is no need for more fighting!" the First Hokage pleaded, his voice ringing with earnest desperation. "Can't we just sit down and talk things over? Violence will solve nothing here! Hatred only breeds new hatred!"
Hearing those words, Akira let out a low, dark chuckle. The sound was entirely devoid of warmth.
"First Hokage," Akira drawled, his eyes narrowing into mocking slits. "Do you truly still cling to such pathetic, naive delusions even in death?"
Akira gestured toward Naruto, his voice dropping into a dangerous, icy register. "When this boy was starving in the freezing rain, when he was beaten and chased through the streets like a rabid dog by the very village you founded... where was your precious dialogue then? Why did no one try to 'talk things over' with him nicely when he was powerless?"
Akira took a slow step forward, his overwhelming presence pressing down on the three Hokage.
"Now, he finally has power. He finally has the strength to stand up and carve out the justice he was denied." Akira's lips curled into a ruthless sneer. "And your first instinct is to tell him to let go of his hatred? To forgive his abusers?"
Akira tilted his head, his dark eyes locking onto Hashirama's.
"Senju Hashirama... don't you think that is utterly ridiculous?"
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