151. All-Out World War

Tap, tap, tap...

Naruto walked slowly from the end of the light and shadow, the crisp sound of his wooden sandals echoing with every step. Moonlight wove through his plain kimono, casting a soft halo that clearly outlined his figure.

Regular, high-intensity training had naturally left its mark on him. His once slightly thin frame had become tall and powerful; beneath the fabric, the contours of his broad shoulders and chest muscles were faintly visible.

But even so, the kimono belonging to Daigo Tono was still a bit too large for Naruto. He wore it loosely, the front not fully closed, revealing skin from his neck down to his chest. Unfinished water droplets rolled slowly along the texture of his taut skin, sliding past his collarbones and over his well-defined, chiseled abdominal muscles, before finally disappearing deep into the folds of his clothes.

Daigo Tono wore an expression of disbelief. He could hardly believe his eyes; how could this bumpkin from nowhere suddenly look so radiant just from taking a bath?

Xin's gaze darted back and forth between Naruto and Daigo Tono. Even without sign language, Daigo Tono could clearly understand the silent questioning in his eyes.

[Doesn't he look good?]

[I don't know!]

Daigo Tono retorted with his eyes.

Sitting on the sofa, Ino watched the increasingly strange expressions and eye contact between her boss and Xin. Having intended to feign modesty, she could no longer suppress the curiosity churning within her. She ran to the doorway, thumping her feet, and looked out into the hallway.

At just one glance, Ino froze.

Naruto's freshly washed blond hair no longer stood up in its usual unruly fashion; instead, it had been tamed by the water, clinging damply to his temples and the back of his neck. A few longer bangs hung flat before his eyes, making his signature azure blue eyes appear even deeper and brighter against the moisture, like a clear sky washed by rain.

The soft moonlight outlined Naruto's increasingly sharp jawline. The lingering childishness of the past had almost faded, replaced by a growing sense of composure and heroism. Yet, when he met Ino's gaze, the curve that subconsciously tugged at the corners of his mouth instantly revealed a familiar, gentle intimacy.

He quickened his pace. The night breeze swept through the long corridor, gently fluttering his slightly open lapels and the damp blond hair on his forehead. Moonlight danced on him in tiny, fragmented points of light, like a layer of flowing gauze.

Naruto arrived in front of Ino and stopped, tilting his head slightly as if curious about the girl's expression:

"Ino, I'm done washing."

—The same voice as always, but the figure before her was a sight she had never seen before.

Like jade cleansed of its impurities, having shed the dirt covering its surface, it finally revealed its true form.

"..."

Ino subconsciously held her breath, her mind going blank.

The entire world seemed to have vanished.

She could only see those moist blue eyes opposite her, and hear only the sound of her own heart, pounding like a drum in her chest, nearly breaking free from its constraints.

Her lips parted, but not a single word could escape.

"Hoo—"

Sarutobi slowly exhaled a column of gray-white smoke, the ash in his pipe making a "hissing" sound.

The smoke briefly condensed into a thin mist before him, veiling his furrowed face in shadow.

He had just finished his visit to the Hyuga clan and was on his way back to the Hokage office building.

Although the night had long since soaked into every inch of Konoha, the concept of going home after work was still too much of a luxury for the Hokage.

The village's established development plans, the probing of neighboring countries, secret reports from the Anbu, budget deficits, and the new names on the list that needed to be carved into the Memorial Stone... the mountains of scrolls piled on his desk were the very weight a Hokage had to bear.

Precisely because of this, it seemed that every generation of Hokage inevitably faced family problems.

"...Oh, the Fourth and the First are exceptions."

The Fourth had sacrificed himself shortly after becoming Hokage, so he hadn't had time to encounter such issues.

The First had the Second to assist him—or rather, most of the paperwork and policy formulation were actually handled by the Second. Thus, he had the free time to talk heart-to-heart with his best friend Madara Uchiha on the back mountain, run all over the world to capture the nine Tailed Beasts and bring them back to Konoha to distribute, and accompany his favorite little princess Tsunade to play gambling games.

But the Second and the Third didn't have it so good.

One was either researching all sorts of disgusting forbidden techniques or staying vigilant against the naturally evil Uchiha, never even finding the time to start a family, remaining unmarried and childless his entire life... incidentally, most of the forbidden techniques he researched were also used to disgust the Uchiha. The other had been Hokage for nearly forty years, racking his brains, yet still faced constraints at every turn. Not only had all three of his disciples left him, but he couldn't even maintain good relationships with his second son and his grandson...

"...Am I getting old?"

"Greetings, Hokage-sama!"

The unconscious thoughts in his mind were cut short. Sarutobi looked up at the two guard ninjas saluting him at the entrance, only then realizing he had already returned to the Hokage building.

He took an imperceptible breath, removed the pipe from his mouth, and with his usual gentleness and calm, nodded slightly. His steps were steady as he climbed the wide stairs, his figure gradually merging into the bright light inside the building.

"Hokage-sama." As soon as Sarutobi walked into the building, a ninja came forward to report, "Kakashi-sama is already waiting in the Hokage office."

"Mm." Sarutobi said, "When did Kakashi arrive?"

"Around six o'clock, just as the sky was turning dark."

"Understood."

Sarutobi walked straight toward the office and pushed the door open. Kakashi was indeed already inside.

"Hokage-sama." Kakashi stood up to salute.

Sarutobi stepped forward and gently patted his shoulder: "You've been waiting a long time, sorry, I talked with Hiashi for a bit too long."

"It's fine, I was able to get some rest here as well."

Sarutobi's gaze swept over Kakashi's bandaged right hand. He nodded without saying anything, signaled for Kakashi to sit, and returned to his desk.

"What is the situation?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi got straight to the point, addressing the matter at hand immediately.

"The sealing team brought by Danzo is working at full capacity to apply seals to the rift. Although it isn't finished yet, the expansion of the rift has at least temporarily halted since I left," Kakashi said.

"And Jiraiya?" Hiruzen asked.

"Lord Jiraiya is still remaining there for the time being. He stated that he would only consider leaving once the rift is completely sealed and it is confirmed that nothing can pass through from the other side," Kakashi said, then lowered his voice slightly to add, "He told me privately that he is uneasy about Lord Danzo's strength. If an enemy of the same caliber as the previous one were to invade, things would easily go wrong if we don't have a top-tier combatant stationed there."

"...However, Lord Danzo seems to have picked up on Lord Jiraiya's intentions, so the two of them have been having some... unpleasant interactions," Kakashi added.

Hiruzen, however, did not care about this. In his view, it would be a miracle if someone like Danzo, who walked around with a sour face all day, could get along with anyone. Even he, with his famously good temper, sometimes felt like taking his pipe and smashing it against Danzo's head. Given Jiraiya's personality—seemingly easygoing but actually as stubborn as a mule—it was already a success that they hadn't started fighting.

"Then do you think the sealing team can successfully seal the rift?" Hiruzen pressed.

"No," Kakashi's answer was exceptionally decisive.

"Why?" Hiruzen asked, surprised.

One had to understand that while sealing techniques might not have the same flashy presence as those high-effect ninjutsu, they were one of the core, indispensable forces maintaining the rules of this world. They could seal Kaguya Otsutsuki at the highest level, seal a Tailed Beast at the lower level, and could even be adapted to produce effects like reflection, imprisonment, space transfer, and even time interference. It was no exaggeration to say they were the most profound and unique power in this world.

Therefore, Hiruzen had originally held some confidence that the sealing would succeed. Of course, he wasn't blindly optimistic that it was guaranteed, but Kakashi's ironclad denial still caught him off guard.

"I don't mean that the rift is absolutely impossible to seal, but rather that we must deploy all subsequent actions under the premise of the worst-case scenario: 'sealing failure'," Kakashi's expression was extremely grave. "This is the consensus between Lord Jiraiya and myself."

"You and Jiraiya?" Hiruzen keenly caught the implication. "Did you discover something on the other side?"

Hiruzen knew that out of the entire Konoha side, only Jiraiya and Kakashi had crossed the rift to investigate the situation on the "other side."

"Yes." Kakashi stood up and took a sealed box from his robes.

In fact, personally handing this item over to Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi was the core mission of his return to the village.

"Although there is some kind of powerful Information Barrier that prevents the direct transmission of written and spoken information, visual information can still be understood," Kakashi explained as he opened the box, which contained a neatly stacked pile of photographs.

His tone became incredibly heavy: "The photos we recovered are enough to prove... that the world on the other side has already successfully conquered or completely destroyed at least one other world. Our Konoha—no, the entire Ninja World—is not the first world they have encountered."

"Therefore, Lord Jiraiya and I are in agreement."

Kakashi looked up, a grave and resolute light flickering in his single eye:

"We must prepare ourselves... for the outbreak of a total world war."