Ding—ding—ding—
The school bell rang.
Classes were over.
Sasuke spotted Naruto walking out of the classroom with Shikamaru and Choji.
He quickly stood up and followed after them.
But after just a few steps outside, he frowned and came to a halt.
He watched Naruto say goodbye to Shikamaru and Choji before casually walking off with Hinata Hyuga.
Before Sasuke could decide whether to continue tailing him, Naruto and Hinata had already disappeared past the school gates.
"What the hell is up with this guy?"
Sasuke was filled with questions and wanted answers now.
Of the three scrolls Naruto had given him yesterday, only the storage scroll remained.
The other two had been burned as instructed after memorizing their contents.
Though he hadn't fully mastered the techniques within, he had already engraved them into memory.
Still, it puzzled him.
From everything he'd observed these past couple of days, Naruto didn't seem like someone who would be interested in chasing girls.
With a silent sigh, Sasuke left the school gates and turned toward the small forest.
Meanwhile, in that very forest, the real Naruto was sitting motionless on a stone platform.
Dozens of Shadow Clones surrounded him, each holding various tools and focusing deeply, as if trying to sense something.
Inside the mirror world, Naruto was sharing live-synced information with Minato Namikaze and Kurama.
"Haha, Father, look how brilliant the Third Hokage is."
"He not only gave the Uchiha Massacre a 'reasonable' explanation, he even pinned the recent explosion on Genno the Tool Ninja."
"Then he took off in the middle of the night with his three advisors to the capital of the Land of Fire to visit the Feudal Lord."
"Scared the Daimyo half to death. Last time we couldn't even get basic funding for the village."
"This time? The guy handed it over without a word. And it's more than double what we asked for."
Minato's face flushed in embarrassment.
Onscreen, the Third Hokage had barged into the Daimyo's mansion with elite guards in tow—
Right into the Daimyo's bedroom, no less—
And requested funding while the poor man trembled in fear under his blanket.
This wasn't a budget proposal.
It was practically a robbery.
Kurama, however, watched the scene with great interest.
Such vivid visuals and firsthand immersion were something no previous jinchūriki had ever offered him.
"Heh. Look at that bastard Danzo, totally humiliated."
Kurama chuckled, pointing with a claw.
"Soon as they got back to the village with the money, the Third Hokage immediately stripped Danzo of all power and disbanded Root."
Naruto nodded, then pulled up another stream of synced data.
This time, the footage showed Itachi Uchiha and Jūzō Biwa on bounty missions.
At first, nothing stood out—it all followed what Naruto remembered from the original timeline.
But when the footage reached a scene involving an explosion—
Minato's eyes suddenly narrowed.
"That's… Kannabi Bridge."
"But it's peacetime. Why would anyone hire the Akatsuki to blow it up?"
That caught Naruto's attention too.
Kannabi Bridge, in the Land of Grass, was central to many key events in the Naruto world.
During the war, it had served as a vital supply line for Iwagakure.
They would never destroy it themselves.
And as Minato said, this wasn't wartime.
That only left one explanation—
Obito Uchiha, the maniacal puppet master behind Akatsuki, had issued the mission in secret.
"Huh? What's this kid doing?"
Kurama suddenly frowned.
On screen, Yagura, the Fourth Mizukage and jinchūriki of Isobu, collapsed after being hit by Amaterasu.
"He's got a Tailed Beast, but he fainted just from that?" Kurama growled.
Naruto turned to him.
"What's wrong? Isn't Amaterasu supposed to be strong?"
"It is strong," Kurama explained, "But to a jinchūriki who's mastered their Tailed Beast, Amaterasu's flames are nothing."
"You can burn off that kind of attack with minimal chakra. He shouldn't have gone down so easily."
Naruto thought back to the anime.
Yeah… Amaterasu really was underwhelming.
Gamabunta took it head-on and shrugged it off.
Sasuke, without even awakening his Mangekyō, got hit and walked away.
Orochimaru survived it, Killer Bee, Raikage, even Danzo…
At this point, it had only ever killed a crow and a few White Zetsu clones.
For something hailed as "the strongest black flame," it was honestly… kind of mid.
"Come to think of it…"
Naruto mused, "In all my time in the mirror world, I've never seen Itachi use Amaterasu.
And Shisui never used Kotoamatsukami either."
He was just about to open another window to look up more data when—
BOOM!
Kurama roared, his rage bursting forth.
"RAHHH!! Just as I thought! Those bastards are targeting the Tailed Beasts!"
"They've already begun tracking the locations of the others!"
Minato's face turned grim.
The Akatsuki—founded by the mysterious man who had unleashed Kurama years ago—was now making its move.
"I expected this," he muttered, "but I didn't think their ambition would stretch this far."
"Even Orochimaru lost to Itachi…" Minato sighed as the footage ended with Itachi severing Orochimaru's hand.
Naruto ended the projection, and the trio returned to the sealed space.
"Kurama," Naruto said, "Can I ask you something?"
Kurama grunted.
"What is it?"
Naruto looked at his father, then held out a fist.
Confused, Kurama bumped it with his own.
The moment they touched, Kurama's eyes shot wide open.
"YOU LITTLE—!!"
"That's the most insulting question I've ever heard!"
With a heavy snort, Kurama huffed, shut his eyes, and curled up to sleep.
Minato, baffled, turned to Naruto.
"What… what did you ask him?"
Naruto gave a calm smile.
"Nothing important."
He had simply asked:
"If your senses are so sharp… why didn't you escape when Madara Uchiha tried to capture you?"
Now he knew the answer.
But in his view, the cost of that choice had been far too high.
Back in the forest, Naruto sensed someone approaching.
He dispelled the Shadow Clones and held out his palm—
A Rasengan spun into existence.
Drawing on the feedback from his clones' leaf-cutting training, Naruto tried infusing it with Wind Release chakra nature.
The Rasengan began to emit a sharp, buzzing hum.
But after several long seconds, there was no further change.
Naruto smiled faintly, dispersing the sphere.
He'd wanted to ask his father about it next,
But then he sensed Sasuke's chakra.
A few moments later, Sasuke arrived.
He stood silently, glaring at Naruto atop the stone platform, face grim.
After leaving the village center, he had realized something—
The Naruto at school today…
Had only been a Shadow Clone.
And now, seeing the real Naruto looking at him with that mocking "you're an idiot" expression,
Sasuke wanted to crawl into the dirt.
His face turned red, then pale, over and over.
"You wasted an entire day," Naruto said flatly.
Sasuke's face darkened.
Naruto didn't acknowledge it, his tone remaining calm.
"Did you find the answers you were looking for in the library?"
Sasuke shook his head, pain evident in his expression.
He had suspicions, but no confirmation.
"Told you—you're not calm enough," Naruto said, hopping down.
"You're lost because your worldview is falling apart faster than you can accept."
"You think this is painful?"
"No…"
"If you keep wallowing in your past like this, worse pain is waiting in line."
Sasuke's Sharingan flared.
"What did you say?!"
"Exactly what you heard."
"If you don't grow stronger, you'll end up a slave to your suffering.
Even if you learn the truth, you'll still be nothing but a failure."
Sasuke's face twisted, his crimson eyes filled with hatred.
But Naruto didn't flinch.
He met his gaze head-on.
After a long silence, Sasuke finally deactivated his Sharingan and muttered:
"You're right."
Naruto gave a small shake of his head.
"I get it. Only by breaking yourself down and being rebuilt can you step into a new life."
"Because the version of you born through pain—
That's the real you."
(End of Chapter)
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