That shameless declaration - one that placed the fate of the entire shinobi world on the gambling table - completely enraged the Kage present.
"Don't be so arrogant, Naruto Uzumaki!"
"We are the ones who bear the title of Kage!"
"We will never let you do whatever you please!"
Naruto faced the five rulers' furious rebukes with naked contempt. There was no anger on his face, no hesitation either. He only lifted one hand and flicked it lightly, as though brushing away a few buzzing flies.
"These grains of sand aren't even half as good as me."
In the end, his gaze returned to Sasuke. Within those cold eyes lay something impossibly complicated - regret, determination, and perhaps even the faintest trace of farewell.
Then his figure vanished from before everyone's eyes as if he had never been there at all, leaving behind only shattered ruins and a declaration that the war of the end times had begun.
***
The real shinobi world fell into a deathly silence.
The Fourth Shinobi World War... started by Naruto Uzumaki of Konoha? A war that would decide the fate of the entire world? The sheer amount of information crashing down all at once was so great that everyone needed time to digest that final and most terrifying glimpse of the future.
Then the noise exploded.
"What kind of cursed place is Konoha?"
"First Uchiha Sasuke, who can intimidate the Five Kage, and now Naruto Uzumaki, who wants to destroy the world?"
"Does Konoha specialize in producing saviors and destroyers? Why are all these monsters from there?"
Amid the uproar, accusations and distrust poured toward Konoha from every direction. What began as fear among civilians and ordinary shinobi quickly spread upward, rising from the streets to village leadership itself.
Almost the moment the sky-screen fell silent, official inquiries from the other four great villages started flying toward the Hokage's office like a snowstorm.
Every one of those documents was sharp in tone, but all of them demanded the same thing: Konoha must explain Naruto Uzumaki, explain the so-called world-ending crisis he had revealed, and take immediate action.
Among them, the Fourth Raikage's message was the fiercest of all.
"Hiruzen Sarutobi! Hand Naruto Uzumaki over at once! We of Kumogakure will keep him under supervision. We cannot allow him to become a future threat. If Konoha chooses to shield him, then you make yourselves the enemy of the entire shinobi world!"
***
At the Ninja Academy in Konoha, the atmosphere was no better.
"N-No... that's not it!"
Even Naruto Uzumaki - slow to read the room sometimes, stubbornly optimistic almost all the time - understood what those fearful, disgusted, monster-like gazes meant. The heavens had shown a future version of him who declared he would destroy the world.
How could that possibly be him?
"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Naruto yelped, springing up like a cat that had just had its tail stepped on. He flailed both arms and shouted so loudly the classroom walls seemed to shake. "Why would I destroy the world? I'm going to become Hokage! The Hokage everyone recognizes!"
In his panic, he even pointed at Sasuke beside him as though grabbing for the nearest life preserver.
"If there's a world-destroyer here, it's definitely Sasuke! Just look at that arrogant face - he already looks like a villain!"
But his defense sounded thin even to his own ears.
"A fox spirit is still a fox spirit..."
"Of course it's him. He was the one who brought disaster here..."
"Stay away from him."
The whispers were low, but each one cut like a needle dipped in ice. In the children's simple world of right and wrong, Naruto was the demon fox. If disaster was coming, then of course it had to be because of him. That felt natural to them.
And compared with the future vision of Sasuke Uchiha - calm, handsome, powerful, the very picture of a righteous savior - the contrast only made things worse.
One was beautiful, composed, and respected even by the Raikage. The other was the blond boy they had always been taught to fear, standing in the heavens with a cruel smile and declaring the end of the world. Instinctively, they found it easier to believe Sasuke.
Even so, despite thinking of Naruto as the future destroyer, not a single classmate truly dared confront him.
That fear ran too deep. It lived in the body before it ever formed into words. So they could only reject him with their eyes, with whispers, with the subtle shift of their desks and shoulders as they distanced themselves from him.
Naruto stood alone in the middle of the classroom.
He looked at the empty space opening up around him and the eyes full of fear and disgust fixed on his body. He opened his mouth as if to explain himself again, but it felt like something was jammed in his throat. A crushing grievance welled up inside him, followed by a loneliness so cold it nearly stole his breath.
For a moment, he suddenly looked very small.
***
The images in the sky continued to shift, showing the preparations for war that followed the Five Kage Summit.
After the Kazekage, Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Mizukage returned to their villages, they issued the highest-level war mobilization orders without hesitation.
Countless shinobi were recalled from missions, training grounds, and even from the middle of their leave. Troops assembled. Supplies were gathered. Communication lines were opened. The entire shinobi world, like a dormant war machine that had been forced awake, began to grind into motion with frightening speed.
What stunned the people watching was not merely the scale of it, but the unity.
The five great nations had spent years fighting, scheming, and distrusting one another. Yet under the threat of the world-ending crisis, they had cast aside old grudges and formed an unprecedented common front. No one in the present era had imagined such a thing was even possible.
But when the image shifted to Konoha, the atmosphere became far more subtle.
The future Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, had also issued a summons. One after another, the heads of the great clans stepped forward to declare how many shinobi their families would contribute.
"The Hyuga clan will deploy one hundred and twenty shinobi!"
"The Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi clans will mobilize a combined total of one hundred and fifty!"
"The Aburame clan..."
The numbers rose in a steady stream. Several dozen here. A hundred there. All of it matched what people understood to be normal for a powerful clan within a great village.
And then the entire tone of the scene changed.
A young clan leader stood up.
He still carried a trace of youth about him, but his bearing was unnaturally steady, as if hardship and responsibility had hammered him into early maturity. When he spoke, his voice was clear and firm enough to cut through all the discussion in the room.
"For the Will of Fire, and for the shinobi world! The Sarutobi clan will field a three-thousand-strong shinobi army, to be placed at the Hokage's command!"
Silence.
Then came the gasp.
"T-Three thousand?"
Not only did the clan heads shown in the sky go pale with shock, but nearly everyone in the real shinobi world watching that scene was struck dumb at the same time.
A single clan... deploying three thousand shinobi?
What did that even mean?
That number was almost equal to the full military strength of an entire small hidden village. How could the Sarutobi clan have grown to such a terrifying size without anyone noticing? How deep did Konoha's foundations actually run? And just how many trump cards were still hidden beneath its peaceful surface?
The scene shifted again.
Young Sarutobi Konohamaru returned to his clan's territory and called the elders together for a meeting. The atmosphere in the room was tense, the older generation clearly shaken by the scale of what had just been pledged.
One elder finally spoke, worry plain on his face. "Clan leader, three thousand people... isn't that too many? The clan's resources, the losses we may suffer in war... I fear..."
His concern was obvious. He was not afraid of the order itself so much as what it might cost. If the war losses were too great, the Sarutobi clan's foundation could be damaged beyond repair.
Konohamaru turned his head and looked at him.
His eyes were far too calm for his age. There was no youthful impatience in them, only a flat certainty that made the elder's spine stiffen at once. When Konohamaru answered, his tone was level, but it carried weight that could not be ignored.
"Do I need to explain what becomes of the Sarutobi clan if we lose this war?"
The elder froze.
In that instant, he understood. He thought of Naruto Uzumaki, who had declared the end of the world, and of what reckoning might follow if the allied forces were defeated. Cold sweat burst across his forehead at once.
Compared to total destruction, what were resources? What were losses? If the world itself burned, then whether the clan preserved its strength or not would mean nothing at all.
The argument died in his throat.
And as the sky-screen continued to hang above the world in solemn silence, that one declaration - the Sarutobi clan, three thousand shinobi strong - sank into the hearts of countless watchers like a stone falling into deep water, sending ripples of fresh dread outward without end.