The Power of Belief

"Ah... that..." Naruto smiled, bracing his hands on the steps behind him as he looked up at the distant blue sky and white clouds.

Sasuke also looked into the distance, remaining silent.

Hinata lay unconscious beside them.

Gazing at the clouds on the horizon, Naruto murmured, "Let's put the Uchiha matter aside for now. Let me tell you about myself... Do you know who my parents were? One of them was the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki—ah, a Jinchuriki is someone like me, with a Tailed Beast sealed inside their body—and the other was the Fourth Hokage."

"..." Sasuke abruptly turned to stare at Naruto.

Naruto noticed Sasuke's gaze but did not turn around. He merely smiled indifferently and sighed softly. "On the day I was born, the seal on the Tailed Beast inside my mother loosened because of childbirth. A man who knew about it infiltrated Konoha, extracted the Nine-Tails, and controlled it as it wreaked havoc throughout the village..."

"As you know, the Nine-Tails was sealed away by the Fourth Hokage at the time, and I was the vessel—his newborn son... By all rights, the thing inside me should be the enemy who killed my father and mother. I should hate it to the bone, right? But... but..."

Inside Naruto, the Nine-Tails lay sprawled on the water's surface, listening to Naruto's words outside. Its eyes were slightly closed, and no one knew what it was thinking.

Sasuke could not help but be moved. He had never known that Naruto's background concealed so many secrets.

Naruto's hands tightened slightly against the steps. After a moment of silence, he said, "My master once said that if peace really existed, then I should seize it! I hated it, and Kurama hated me too—hated Konoha, hated everyone... But where would hatred come from without suffering and pain? I suffered because my family was destroyed and my parents died. But what about it?"

"From the moment it was born, people called it 'the embodiment of hatred' and 'an omen of misfortune'... But was that really right?"

As he said this, Naruto was instantly bathed in golden light. Casually raising his right hand, he aimed it at a large tree in the nearby greenery.

Crack, crack, crack.

The tree actually began to grow before their eyes, rising higher and higher as branches spread and leaves unfurled...

Sasuke stared in shock. He had never known Naruto possessed such a state. He could clearly feel that this golden Naruto exerted a pressure on him greater than anything he had ever experienced.

Sasuke instinctively activated his Three Tomoe Sharingan and looked at Naruto, his eyes immediately widening in disbelief.

If an ordinary person's Chakra was like a flickering flame in their lower abdomen, then in Sasuke's Sharingan vision, Naruto's abdomen was like a massive blazing sun, dazzling and scorching...

Could such immense Chakra really not be an illusion?

Golden flames burned around Naruto's body—solidified Chakra. "This is the true Chakra of the Nine-Tails. You saw it too. It's a power brimming with the vitality of life..." The golden light faded, and Naruto withdrew from Golden Body Mode.

"Ever since the wife of the First Hokage, Kurama has been trapped in Konoha, never seeing the light of day. Ever since it was born under the Sage of Six Paths, it has been feared and coveted by humans... Humans fear such a terrifying Chakra monster, yet greedily desire to possess its unmatched power. So where does the source of all this hatred lie? With generations of people? War? Ninja? The Sage of Six Paths? Or Chakra itself?"

Sasuke fell silent, yet his heart was deeply shaken.

That shock came from this realization: while he had spent every day and night obsessing over his family's vengeance, Naruto, who was the same age as him, had already been thinking about war and peace... The contrast gave the ever-proud Sasuke a genuine jolt.

"I don't hate Kurama. Really! Thanks to the experiences of my Future Self, I came to understand that Kurama is a victim too. I don't hate it, and I don't hate the person who controlled Kurama either. He was also merely a victim of this immense hatred. I don't want to hate anyone, and I don't want to kill anyone... If peace truly exists, then I'll hold onto it tightly!" Naruto's eyes became firmer than ever.

Reading made people wise. Reading drove people to think.

At first, Naruto had only read in order to be different from his Future Self, to make up for that future self's shortcomings. But after broadening his knowledge and learning, he had begun, without realizing it, to think and seek answers through books.

He had borrowed the Hundred Trials Ninja Chronicle from his master Jiraiya and respectfully read it through once more.

Suddenly, a voice sounded before them. "That child Itachi began thinking like a Hokage at the age of six, about the village and the clan..."

Sasuke jerked his head up. It was actually the Third Hokage, who had appeared there without a sound. Sasuke asked in a low voice, "So... Itachi... Itachi..." His voice could not stop trembling. His fists clenched so tightly that his nails dug into his flesh.

"The truth of that night—once you have truly gained strength, go ask Itachi yourself." The Third Hokage puffed on his pipe, his aged voice sounding hoarse.

"Damn it, damn it! Why does everyone treat me like someone who has to be kept in the dark?! You all know! You all know, so why won't you tell me?! The people who died were my parents, my family! Itachi, Itachi..." Sasuke growled in fury, his body shaking uncontrollably.

"Because knowing wouldn't help you," Naruto said calmly, turning his head to look at Hinata beside him. She still had not awakened; the Third Hokage had probably used some method on her.

He continued, "Since Itachi chose to hide it from you, he obviously wanted this hatred to become the force driving you forward. His..." He had wanted to say, "His time is running out too," but stopped himself. "He needs you to become strong—strong like him, stronger than him. The destruction of the Uchiha came from a power even Itachi could do nothing against... So the only thing you need to do is keep growing stronger, as Itachi wished."

Sasuke looked up at Naruto, then at the Third Hokage. Confusion filled the eyes of the twelve-year-old boy.

"Turn your desire to uncover the truth into the motivation to grow, Sasuke. No matter what, you are a ninja of Konoha." The Third Hokage exhaled a puff of smoke.

The Third Hokage had seen Naruto's subtle influence on Sasuke over the years. He also understood Naruto's intentions well. The boy did not want Sasuke to be abandoned by the village as he had been "before," nor did he want Sasuke to be isolated at the village's edge.

The Third Hokage knew full well Sasuke's enormous future potential. Naruto had worked hard to show him that Sasuke might not betray the village. Sasuke was only a child who understood nothing and had been kept in the dark about everything.

The Third Hokage approved of Naruto's silent efforts. That was why Kakashi could guide Sasuke.

In Danzo's eyes, that would have been no different from aiding the enemy. Without question, the best course would have been to kill Sasuke effortlessly while he was still young.

But the Third Hokage was willing to do this. He was willing to believe in Naruto, believe in Sasuke, believe in the Child of Prophecy, and believe even more in the flame of will passed down through generations. He believed Konoha's foundation was not the exclusion of outsiders, nor hatred, resentment, hostility, prejudice, and suspicion. It was acceptance and inclusion, friendship and goodwill, tolerance and understanding; it was the struggle of generation after generation, the power of believing in one another.

In this chaotic ninja world, that might have sounded laughable. Yet the ninja villages that mocked it had their origins in this very Konoha, and Konoha itself had been founded upon a beautiful dream shared by two men during an age of endless war.

The Third Hokage believed in the future Hokage, Naruto Uzumaki.

He would entrust Sasuke to him.