Upon seeing Menma's icy demeanor,
Tazuna's heart tightened. He hurriedly stepped sideways to stand between his grandson and Menma, just as he was about to say something.
"Menma!"
Kakashi had also noticed that Menma's emotions were somewhat abnormal. Frowning, he called out in a deep voice.
As though Kakashi's words had jolted him awake,
"Sorry. I was out of line. I just thought of something unpleasant."
After Menma took a deep breath, he calmed his emotions and reined in his killing intent.
By then, Inari no longer had the courage to yell and scream as he had before. His entire body trembled uncontrollably, as though all his strength had left him. He collapsed into his mother's arms, clinging tightly to her and burying his little head in her embrace, not even daring to look at Menma again.
Tsunami held her son tightly as well, casting Menma a fearful glance. At first, she had thought these young ninja were still children, but she no longer thought so.
Ninja were ninja, after all.
Tazuna felt as if he were about to collapse.
At that moment,
No joke—Tazuna had truly been afraid that Menma would attack his grandson.
Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, standing farther back, all looked at Menma with varying degrees of surprise. After all, that sudden outburst clashed strongly with Menma's previous image.
Menma himself seemed to realize that as well.
"How utterly stupid."
After muttering those words in a low voice—whether they were directed at Inari or himself was unclear—he clasped his hands over his head and walked toward the staircase outside the living room.
Watching Menma leave,
Naruto wanted to say something, but ultimately chose not to.
Honestly,
At that very moment,
Naruto had felt the urge to berate Inari too. Although Naruto in this life had not suffered