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Chapter 123 - You're still young, you don't understand!

This shouldn't have happened to the jinchuuriki of the Nine-Tails. In any case, not with the one who turned against them.

Who would have thought that the jinchuuriki of their village would rebel? Damn it! There was never a hint of a problem before!

Previous fears turned out to be true: senjutsu is a dangerous art, and it should not be spread. However, it belonged to Mount Myboku, and it wasn't up to her to decide. Otherwise, Naruto wouldn't have gotten a single chance to master it, wouldn't even have known about its existence.

"Stop it, Naruto! Everything we did had good reasons! All this is for the sake of the village! Necessary sacrifices!

— Some things just have to be done by someone. All for the sake of the village, for the sake of the Will of Fire! Only by obtaining the power of Uchiha Yue, our Konoha will be able to become great again!

— Where the leaves dance, the flame flares up. Someone always has to sacrifice themselves. Naruto, you're still young, you don't understand. When you get to my age, you realize that there are things that just need to be done!

— Sasuke voluntarily sacrificed himself for the sake of the village! I know you've been fooled, talked into it, and that's how you've become!

"You know, Naruto? Sasuke left with a smile. He never complained once. He did it voluntarily! He gave his life for Konoha! Do you really want to devalue his sacrifice?

"You can't do that!" Stop it, Naruto! Sasuke sacrificed himself, those... those commoners sacrificed themselves too, and all this to light Konoha's path! Don't let their sacrifices be in vain!

Jiraiya took a deep breath and, looking at Naruto, continued his exhortations. He spoke as if he were uttering the ultimate truth; as if everything Naruto knew was lies and fiction; as if the savages from the Land of Fire had volunteered to become test subjects themselves, and Sasuke had voluntarily agreed to an operation similar to the execution of a thousand cuts.

He believed that Naruto had fallen under someone else's influence, succumbed to the persuasions of that mysterious man who had staged the attack of the Nine-Tails. Jiraiya believed that it was only necessary to clarify everything, and Naruto would understand. Although he was talking complete nonsense, and there was no question of any volunteerism — they were all forced to volunteer.

But he was sure Naruto didn't know the truth. Everything he knew, he had only heard from the words of that damned stranger.

Whose words will he believe — his own or a man of unknown origin?

Of course, his own!

From his point of view, from his position, everything he did was right. Not to mention Uchiha Sasuke, the spawn of the cursed clan, even the son of his teacher, as he now believed, had to sacrifice without hesitation. What can we say about some handful of savages, not even residents of Konoha.

After all, it's not his son.

It was akin to how he used what he had seen in the women's bathhouse as material for his books. After all, it wasn't his wife.

"Ha ha ha, Jiraiya, what a skilled liar you are! Naruto roared with angry laughter. "Do you really think I don't know anything?" Did you see anything? I am well aware of what you were doing, animals! What kind of "for Konoha's sake"?! It was all for your own sake! For the sake of satisfying your nefarious desires!

Just listen, is that what people say? To justify themselves, they were willing to put aside all shame. Knowing full well what they had done, they were still trying to trick him. Did they take him for a fool?

"If it was for the sake of the village," he thought, "why didn't you volunteer yourself? Why didn't you experiment on yourself?"

In the end, it was just generosity at someone else's expense.

In the distance, Kakashi silently watched the scene.

— The Nine-tails…

He took his hand away from the bandage and opened the crimson eye. Covering his eye with his palm, he felt the power contained in it. It seemed to him that Obito was standing behind him, sharing his power with him.

"Obito, look at this. I will not waste your gift!"

Kakashi took a deep breath, and the next moment his eye transformed: the Sharingan with three tomoe was replaced by a Mangekyo pattern.

Ever since Uchiha Yue had defeated him with a single blow, almost taking his life, Kakashi had been acutely aware of his own weakness. He needed a new, more powerful force. And he found it, not so much because of his tireless training, but because of the shock of seeing Yue's Mangekyo Sharingan back then. He had managed to unleash the true power of that eye.

— Weakness…

He stared at Naruto, searching for a vulnerable spot in his movements. Against such a huge opponent, the attack had to hit the target exactly. Attacking the chakra cover was pointless — you had to aim at Naruto's body itself.

Amidst the endless ruins, Jiraiya, taking advantage of the moment when Naruto was distracted by the fight with the others, hurriedly performed the Summoning Technique. Two toad sages appeared in front of him.

"Child Jiraiya, why did you summon us?" Fukasaku asked. "Have you really found a way to destroy Uchiha Yue?"

He and Shima looked at their student with displeasure. They were already very disappointed in him, but Jiraiya had grown up before their eyes, and there was still some affection between them. Besides, they needed their envoy in the human world right now. In any other situation, they would have already terminated the contract.

—No, not yet, Sage Fukasaku, Sage Shima," Jiraiya shook his head and said in embarrassment, —This time I called you to enter Sage Mode and pacify the jinchuuriki who has gone out of control!"

He lied again. Not "not yet", but "already failed". While developing a plan against Uchiha Yue, they did not inform Mount Myoboku. They were well aware that Myoboku and Konoha's goals were different: Konoha longed to get the Uchiha's eyes in order to become great again, while Mount Myoboku sought only to destroy them.

How could they tell the toads about their plan?

Of course, he did not openly admit this, saying only that he had not yet achieved success. Of course.

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