"Ah!"
Orochimaru screamed as his entire body instantly disintegrated into countless small snakes.
"What are you screaming for? Can't you form Hand Seals with your feet?"
Naruto grabbed one of the snakes and crushed it.
With Orochimaru's tricks, his real body had been nowhere near here from the moment the battle ended.
"I'd say you look more like a snake now, with only your legs and torso left."
Naruto watched as the Sealing Barrier came down.
On the rooftop,
Hiruzen Sarutobi lay where he had fallen, no longer breathing.
Even his soul had been taken by the Death God.
Naruto had merely managed to take one of Orochimaru's pairs of arms because he had arrived early.
"That guy Orochimaru is way too cautious. Too bad his soul was so weakened by his own techniques. Otherwise, this whole Substitution Style would've been pretty good."
Naruto returned to his normal form.
All eyes turned toward the rooftop.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was dead!
Konoha's security was rapidly crumbling.
[Host has failed the mission to save Gaara. Punishment Points: 200]
[The host failed to turn the tide. Even the Third Hokage's death couldn't save the evil host. Punishment Points increased to 500]
The mission had failed?
Naruto looked at the spinning wheel.
"Give me five pulls!"
Naruto folded his arms. Only five prizes remained in the pool.
Even the worst one was "Three More Tries."
A mournful wind swept through Konoha's forest.
Everyone was in exceptionally low spirits.
Except Danzo.
"Hiruzen, this is truly heartbreaking!"
Danzo kept his hands hidden in his sleeves.
He could barely stop himself from laughing out loud.
Who else had seniority like he did now?
The Hokage Position was practically his for the taking!
"It's time for Konoha to start over, with Root taking the lead."
Danzo looked at the desolate streets.
Naruto was eating takoyaki.
"Damn it! Is that Minato Namikaze's son?"
Danzo felt deeply uncomfortable when he thought about Naruto's fight earlier.
Naruto Uzumaki had joined forces with Hiruzen Sarutobi to defeat Orochimaru.
What a nuisance!
There couldn't be a second Minato Namikaze.
"Danzo, the meeting is starting. Since Jiraiya refused to become Hokage, we need to discuss a new plan."
Jiraiya? What Jiraiya?
Danzo's face darkened.
He'd been standing here, ready to take the throne, while they'd been planning to make Jiraiya the Fifth Hokage?
Not a single person had ever cared about Shimura Danzo!
But since Jiraiya had refused, the Hokage Position would surely belong to him!
"Jiraiya recommended Tsunade! It looks like Konoha will be saved!"
Hearing his old friend say that,
Danzo's face turned ashen again.
So none of you care about me at all!
At the Ichiraku Ramen Shop,
Naruto ate his usual dozen or so bowls.
"Naruto, you're not eating very much today."
The man named Teuchi, whom everyone had long since come to call Ichiraku, sensed Naruto's sadness.
"It's true that many people are struggling to accept the Third Hokage's passing, but life goes on."
Yeah.
Naruto finished his fifteenth bowl of noodles.
After paying, he walked out of the ramen shop with his head lowered.
He really had no appetite today. That was why he'd eaten so little.
Why?
It was all because of the last five-pull draw.
[The host is utterly evil. The prizes this time are too awful to look at]
[Taijutsu: Painful Sky Leg]
[Summoning Technique: Enma]
[Sealing Technique: Dead Demon Consuming Seal]
[Five Elements: Great Barrage Technique]
[Three More Tries]
Naruto immediately used "Three More Tries."
But after just one spin,
the entire prize pool turned gray.
[Two draw attempts remain unused]
[The Punishment Points Prize Pool is being upgraded. The Epic Prize Pool will open in three days]
"I'm miserable."
For the past few days, Naruto had been unable to focus on food or tea. Aside from training in his new jutsu,
he'd been waiting for the system's prize pool to finish upgrading.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's funeral began.
Everyone had arrived.
Danzo silently watched from behind the gathered figures.
Rain poured down.
Everyone in Konoha stood in the rain.
Jiraiya gazed at his teacher's gravestone.
His heart was full of questions.
Where was the Child of Prophecy? When would the endless turmoil in the Ninja World finally end?
Would the day of peace in the Ninja World really come?
Konohamaru wept bitterly.
He was inconsolable.
"The Hokage wouldn't want to see you so upset."
Iruka had expected Naruto to be devastated and was just about to comfort him.
Then he saw that Naruto's eyes weren't wet with tears at all. They were bright and alert.
"Iruka-sensei, why isn't everyone going to get revenge?"
"Konoha is so cowardly!"
Naruto wasn't sad.
The dead couldn't be brought back to life. If revenge was needed, then get revenge. Why waste time grieving?
Naruto had no feelings for Hiruzen Sarutobi. In fact, as the evil, dark power inside him accumulated, he had begun to feel a little disgusted.
But what were these people doing?
In Jiraiya's current state, shouldn't he go find Orochimaru and kill him?
In the end, the ones with real fire in their hearts were the generation of the Konoha 12.
When Sarutobi Asuma died,
the first thing Shikamaru did after recovering from his grief was set out for revenge.
When Jiraiya was lost at sea,
Naruto, too, emerged from his grief determined to grow stronger and avenge him.
Naruto didn't understand the older generation of ninjas' concerns and reservations, and he didn't care in the slightest.
"No, that's not it."
"Orochimaru was already a traitor. We've been searching for him all these years, but he's too powerful, and he's hard to track down."
Iruka tried to explain, worried that Naruto might be so devastated that hatred would consume him.
"This is so strange."
"Everything in the Ninja World is a mess: intelligence, factions, clans."
Naruto murmured to himself.
The entire Ninja World needed to be purged!
"Naruto!"
When Iruka turned around, Naruto had already vanished without a trace.
Strange.
Why was this kid acting so oddly today?
He was still just as strong, but before, he'd burned with a fierce warmth, using fire to drive away the cold. Sometimes the rain would douse his flames, but he'd wait for another chance to burn again.
Now, Naruto was like a block of ice, freezing even the rain that fell on him!
The next stretch of time would be all-out training!
Naruto practiced every jutsu he'd acquired.
He also sparred with the Nine-Tails often.
He used the Nine-Tails' chakra in three ways.
First, he transformed it and used it alongside his own chakra.
Second, he transformed it and stored it in the Yin Seal for healing.
Third, he kept it as pure Nine-Tails Chakra, to use when activating Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.
On top of that, Naruto had all five chakra natures—Wind, Lightning, Water, Fire, and Earth—so it didn't take long for him to master all five elements.
Today, he was practicing the Summoning Technique at home.
Not Toad Gamabunta, Katsuyu, or the ferocious Rabbit Family.
Enma!
"Where am I?"
Ever since Hiruzen Sarutobi died, Enma had been in a terrible mood.
He hadn't expected to suddenly find himself back in Konoha.
"Are you the kid who fought alongside Hiruzen Sarutobi?"
Enma hadn't expected anyone outside the Sarutobi Clan to learn this Summoning Technique.
It was Naruto Uzumaki!
Could this be Hiruzen Sarutobi's final wish?
Enma's eyes filled with tears. Even on the verge of death, Hiruzen had left Konoha a legacy.
Strange.
Something about Naruto seemed off to Enma. Why did the kid's expression look a little unkind?
"Enma, quickly turn into the Adamantine Ruyi Staff!"
Naruto picked up the pace of his training.
Because a visitor would arrive tomorrow.
The Returning Traitor, Itachi Uchiha!