Naruto's body was sent flying by that vicious flash of cold steel. As he fell from the top of the four-hundred-meter-tall Buddha statue, 😲🏆 ☝🐨
his eyes were still clouded with confusion and deep sorrow. He couldn't bring himself to believe what had just happened.
"Naruto!"
"Snap out of it!"
"He's not your father anymore!"
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails, which now knew Naruto's "true identity," had already adopted the haughty, tsundere demeanor of a thoroughly "tamed" beast.
It did its utmost to rouse Naruto from his grief. After all, he was the son of the Sage of Six Paths!
Wind roared past Naruto's ears...
Blood streamed from him as he hurtled through the air, swirling into long, twisting ribbons of red...
A deep gash had been carved across Naruto's chest. Its ferocity was clear from the fact that it had pierced straight through his heart and even cut into his spine.
Yet Naruto felt no pain. He only felt hollow inside. So many people, so many things, everything in the village... They could have filled his heart completely.
But now the village was gone... His comrades were all dead...
And even his beloved father had become an enemy...
Did that mean...
He would have to kill his own father with his own hands?
"Naruto!"
"Naruto! Come on!"
"Pull yourself together!"
"What happened to your ninja way? Your never-give-up ninja way?!"
"Weren't you going to surpass all the Hokage before you?!"
"The village can be rebuilt, but if you fail now, the hopes of Konoha—even the entire Ninja World—will be extinguished forever!"
"Naruto..."
Inside the sealing space, the Nine-Tails continued to urge Naruto on, never giving up on him.
But to Naruto, each of the Nine-Tails' deep roars sounded distant and hollow...
Still.
As Naruto fell, the horrifying wound