Aftermath

Izumo Kamizuki and his companions moved like a gust of wind, weaving swiftly through the buildings of Konoha. They first located the parents of the children involved and briefly explained the situation. Upon hearing the news, the parents were frantic with worry and hurried toward the guard station at the Konoha gate.

Meanwhile, Izumo Kamizuki rushed without pause toward the Hokage Office to seek an audience with Hiruzen Sarutobi.

He burst into the Hokage Office, breathless, and blurted out, "Lord Hokage, Menma and the other children were attacked by ninjas from Kumogakure. They are currently at the Konoha gate guard station, and Menma says he has an important matter to report."

Hiruzen Sarutobi furrowed his brows, a surge of worry and anger rising within him. He stood up, donned his Hokage cloak, and said, "We are going there at once."

Inside the Konoha gate guard station, Izumo was still doing his best to comfort the weeping children. As the parents arrived one after another, they felt a wave of relief seeing their children safe and sound, but their hearts ached again at the sight of the tearstains on the children's faces and their dejected spirits.

Naruto threw himself into Kushina's arms and sobbed loudly, "Mom, Yota... Yota sacrificed himself to save us, he fought the spider..." Kushina gently patted Naruto's back, her eyes filled with grief and tenderness.

Menma sat to the side, silently watching the Sealing Scroll in his hand that contained the corpses of the Kumogakure ninjas. He knew this incident would trigger a storm between Konoha and Kumogakure.

Before long, Hiruzen Sarutobi arrived at the guard station. His presence brought silence to the previously noisy room. Everyone looked up at the Hokage.

"Menma, tell me the details of what happened," Hiruzen Sarutobi said, his voice steady and grave.

Menma stood up and began to recount the sequence of events. From their sneaking out of the village to the ambush by the Kumogakure ninjas in the forest, the sacrifice of Yota, and the details of their battle—he laid it all out truthfully.

Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression turned grim upon hearing this. The fact that Kumogakure ninjas had attacked Konoha children near the village was a grave provocation against Konoha.

"Hokage-jiji, we didn't mean to leave the village. It's all my fault; I was the one who suggested we go explore outside," Naruto said, head bowed in self-reproach.

"Now is not the time to assign blame," Hiruzen Sarutobi said. "We must handle this matter with Kumogakure properly."

Subsequently, Hiruzen Sarutobi summoned the high-ranking ninjas of Konoha, including Kakashi and Might Guy, to discuss how to handle the situation.

Back in Kumogakure, the fact that the three defeated ninjas had not returned for so long caught the attention of the village's leadership. They began investigating the whereabouts of the three, discovering that the last place they were seen was the forest near Konoha.

When Fourth Raikage A of Kumogakure heard this, he frowned. He knew well that if this matter were not handled correctly, it could easily spark a war between the two villages. After all, tensions between Kumogakure and Iwagakure were already at a breaking point, and adding Konoha to the mix would only increase their pressure.

On the Konoha side, Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to first dispatch an envoy to Kumogakure to convey Konoha's stance, demanding a reasonable explanation for the incident and an apology for the act of attacking Konoha children.

Kakashi volunteered to serve as the envoy. Carrying the evidence provided by Menma—the Sealing Scroll containing the corpses of the Kumogakure ninjas—he set out on the road to Kumogakure.

In Kumogakure, Kakashi was met with a cold reception. The ninjas of Kumogakure were filled with hostility toward him, believing that Konoha had murdered their comrades.

Kakashi remained calm. In the Kumogakure conference room, in front of their high-ranking officials, he opened the Sealing Scroll, displayed the corpses of the three ninjas, and detailed the events that had transpired.

After hearing this, Fourth Raikage A of Kumogakure fell into deep thought. Though he was unwilling to believe his own ninjas would attack Konoha children, the evidence was right before his eyes, and he was forced to re-examine the matter.

Following a heated discussion, Kumogakure ultimately decided to send an envoy to visit Konoha to jointly investigate the truth of the matter with them.

Konoha welcomed the envoys from Kumogakure. The negotiations between the two sides took place in a classified conference room in Konoha. The representatives of Konoha, led by Hiruzen Sarutobi, included elite ninjas such as Kakashi and Might Guy.

Kumogakure was led by Fourth Raikage A, accompanied by several ninjas skilled in diplomacy and intelligence analysis.

The atmosphere was tense from the very start of the negotiations. Hiruzen Sarutobi said with a stern expression, "The fact that your village's ninjas attacked our children near Konoha is a grave violation of the principles of peaceful coexistence between ninja villages. This not only posed a great threat to the lives of our children but was also a trampling of Konoha's dignity."

The Raikage of Kumogakure frowned and responded, "Lord Hokage, what we have seen so far is only the evidence provided by your side. While the corpses are indeed those of our Kumogakure ninjas, we do not yet know the full picture, and we cannot conclude that it was our fault based on this alone."

Kakashi continued, "Lord Raikage, the children present were innocent. Surely your village's ninjas attacking them is indefensible? These children are the future of Konoha; their lives are infinitely precious."

A Kumogakure ninja retorted, "Our Kumogakure ninjas would not attack others without reason. Perhaps there was a misunderstanding; for instance, they might have mistaken your children for enemies."

Might Guy slammed his hand on the table and stood up, saying, "What kind of misunderstanding leads them to strike with such lethal intent? Those children nearly lost their lives. If they hadn't possessed some strength of their own, they would likely be dead by now. This cannot be explained away by a simple misunderstanding."

The Kumogakure envoys were silent for a moment before the Raikage spoke: "We also wish to uncover the truth. If it is indeed the fault of our ninjas, we will not shirk our responsibility, but we require a more in-depth investigation."

Thus, both sides began to re-examine the sequence of events. They discussed every detail, from the time the children left the village and their route, to the situation after they encountered the spider, and the timing of the Kumogakure ninjas' appearance.

During this process, Konoha provided detailed descriptions from the children regarding the battle, such as the ninjutsu used by the Kumogakure ninjas and the dialogue between them.

A Kumogakure ninja raised some questions, challenging whether the children had initiated any provocative behavior. The eyes of everyone in the room turned toward Naruto, Menma, and Shikamaru, who were present as both victims and participants in the meeting.

Upon hearing this, Naruto stood up angrily and said, "We were just playing in the forest! We were only defending ourselves after encountering danger; how could we possibly have provoked your ninjas?"

Shikamaru added, "Before we were attacked, we didn't even know they were Kumogakure ninjas. And Yota sacrificed himself to protect us—doesn't that alone speak for itself?"

Menma spread his hands helplessly and said, "Actually, it's just that you Kumogakure people hate our father, the Fourth Hokage. After all, the last Great Ninja War caused your village significant losses. They probably saw that my brother and I look like him and decided to strike."

As the negotiations deepened, the Kumogakure ninjas gradually realized that there was a major problem on their side.

An intelligence analyst from Kumogakure said, "Based on the current situation, the presence of our ninjas near Konoha is suspicious in itself. Furthermore, judging by the children's descriptions and the traces left at the battle site, it is highly likely that this was a premeditated attack."

The Raikage's face turned ugly upon hearing this. He knew that if this were true, Kumogakure's reputation in the ninja world would suffer a massive blow.

After a long period of negotiation and evidence analysis, Kumogakure was finally forced to admit that their ninjas were at great fault, and they also had to acknowledge the risk of Iwagakure and Konoha joining forces to retaliate against them.

Fourth Raikage A of Kumogakure stood up and solemnly apologized to Konoha: "Lord Hokage, after our detailed investigation and analysis, we have found that it was indeed the grave fault of our ninjas. Our village is willing to bear the corresponding responsibility. We will severely punish the families of those three ninjas and provide Konoha with sufficient compensation."

Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded and said, "Konoha accepts your apology. However, I hope that such an incident will never happen again. While there is competition between our ninja villages, peaceful coexistence is the only path for the long term."

Raikage A breathed a sigh of relief and expressed his agreement: "Lord Hokage is right. We will strengthen the management and education of our ninjas to prevent similar incidents from occurring again."

Konoha accepted Kumogakure's apology. The matter seemed to have been settled, but the trauma it left in the hearts of the children would not be so easily healed.

After experiencing this, Naruto and his companions became more mature and resilient. They understood that peace was precious and that they needed to constantly improve their own strength to better protect Konoha and everything they cherished.

On the training grounds of Konoha, one could often see them training diligently. Naruto worked even harder to practice the Multi Shadow Clone Jutsu and the Rasengan, vowing to become a ninja as powerful as his father.

The other companions also trained hard in their respective areas of expertise, knowing that only by becoming strong could they better protect themselves and those around them when facing similar dangers in the future.

Menma sat on a wooden post, watching the others work hard, and smiled with a sense of relief. He took out the scrap of Yota's clothing, and as he watched, the fabric turned into particles and slowly dissipated.

Menma also realized the severity of the situation. After all, this was the world of Naruto, where things like spiders, centipedes, and snakes could be used as summons, and they were often massive in size.

If Yota hadn't sacrificed his soul to take that spider down with him, the final outcome would have been unthinkable. At the thought of this, Menma clenched his fists and looked toward Naruto in the distance.