Fake! All Fake!

Land of Waves, Tazuna's home.

A loud "bang" echoed through the house!

It made the woman busy with chores tremble slightly.

She was Inari's mother, a virtuous widow.

"You must be that old geezer Tazuna's daughter, right?..."

Before she could even recover her senses, an arrogant voice came from the doorway.

She turned around to find two strangers blocking the entrance, wearing sinister, wicked grins.

"Who... who are you?..."

Her tone was tense, her expression flustered.

The woman gripped the mop in her hands, staring at the two uninvited guests in terror and trembling.

"Who are we? Heh heh..."

One of them chuckled, stepped forward, and slashed his blade down casually.

In the blink of an eye, the handle of the mop in the woman's hands was sliced in two.

"Ah?..."

The woman shrieked, but at that very moment, a blade was already pressed against her fair neck!

The cold light was chilling, the edge incomparably sharp.

"Who am I?"

The man sneered, licking his crimson lips:

"I don't think your father, Tazuna, would be unaware of exactly who he shouldn't have offended recently, would he?..."

"You... you were sent by Gato!..."

The woman's eyes were filled with terror.

Though she was a housewife, she realized the truth immediately.

"That's right, come with us. I believe that old bastard Tazuna will be here to reunite with you soon enough, heh heh heh..."

The other man chimed in with a mocking, sarcastic tone.

But just then.

Suddenly, a loud crash came from behind the kitchen door.

It sounded as if something had been knocked over.

"There's someone else?"

The other man was, after all, a ninja.

Though trash, he was more than capable of dealing with defenseless commoners.

He rushed into the kitchen, and after only a few seconds, dragged Inari out from behind the kitchen counter.

Seeing Inari shivering, the man paused, then seemed to recall something:

"I seem to remember this little brat was adopted by Tazuna's son."

"Since he's not his own flesh and blood, let's just kill him to avoid any future trouble..."

Having done wicked deeds so often, they had become numb.

What they feared now was not being killed by a stronger ninja.

On the contrary, they feared more that when they were past their prime, they would face retaliation from the survivors they had spared in their youth.

Seeing this, the woman suddenly disregarded her own life and screamed at the top of her lungs:

"If you dare touch a single hair on Inari, I will bite my tongue and kill myself right now!..."

Her tone was resolute, her expression incomparably determined.

Seeing this, the two men exchanged glances and temporarily lowered the blades pointed at Inari, lost in thought.

The sharp blades glinted, and the mother was in pain and despair.

The glimmer of light that Inari had caught a glimpse of from Naruto over these past few days gradually flickered out.

"It's fake, it's all fake. What 'effort can change fate'? What 'resistance'?"

"Naruto, you're lying to me!"

"A fisherman's son like me could never fight against fate!"

"Never mind fate, I can't even beat one of Gato's underlings right now, I can't even save my own mother..."

"Effort? What's the use of effort!"

"If I hand over the fish I worked so hard to catch, will they let my mother go?"

"Will my father come back to life if I work hard to build the Land of Waves?..."

"It's all fake, all fake!..."

His heart roared, like a surging river, stirring up waves.

Naruto's image in his mind gradually faded.

The sunlight gradually dimmed, like dark clouds pressing down on a city, about to collapse.

After a long silence.

Seeing that the woman cared about Inari, the man holding her hostage's eyes darted, and he immediately spoke:

"Since you care so much about this kid named Inari, then take him with you."

"When that old geezer Tazuna arrives, your whole family can be reunited, heh heh heh..."

Hearing this, the woman's body trembled:

"No! No, no!... You can't take Inari, or I'll bite my tongue and kill myself!..."

Seeing the woman about to resort to her old tricks again, another man glanced at his accomplice and advised:

"He's not her biological son anyway, why don't we just let it go?..."

He didn't want to cause unnecessary trouble.

After all, this was an important part of Gato's plan, and there could be no mistakes.

But the accomplice holding the woman heard this and said:

"Heh heh... Do you believe her nonsense?"

"What?..."

"Heh heh, a cunning rabbit has three burrows. If I were someone who opposed Lord Gato, I would also claim that my son was not my biological son."

"After all, if I die one day, I can still leave behind a descendant, right?..."

Hearing this, the other man suddenly realized:

"So that's how it is! I understand now!..."

"You dare to threaten us?"

"Go! Go break that kid's legs and teach this woman a lesson to make her behave!..."

"No!..."

Her weakness exposed, the woman let out a desperate roar.

But the man holding her hostage leaned closer, whispering in a perverted tone:

"Heh heh heh, madam, be quiet. You don't want us to harm your son, do you?..."

Hearing this, the woman fell into deep despair.

She knew she couldn't threaten them anymore.

After all, broken legs were better than losing her life.

The man, holding his sword, grinned and approached step by step.

But Inari's eyes were vacant, staring blankly at the sword in the man's hand, lost in thought.

As if his soul had left him, he had completely given up the idea of escaping.

The sword was raised high and slashed directly at Inari's legs.

It carried a terrifying sound of breaking wind, like the wail of a demon.

Seeing this, the woman closed her eyes in despair, tears streaming down her face.

But at this critical moment.

A cold glint arrived first, flashing and disappearing.

Immediately.

A figure suddenly appeared in the air!

The person was not tall, but very handsome.

He held a Ninja Sword, standing quietly, without a word, as if he had always been in the room, unchanged.

It was Sasuke, who had returned from training!

"You... are you human, or a ghost!..."

The man who had just raised his sword above his head was so frightened that he stumbled backward.

Then, calming down, he exchanged a look with his accomplice, his eyes sharpened, and he was about to launch a surprise attack on Sasuke simultaneously.

Sasuke, though he hadn't seen their expressions, seemed to know what they were thinking.

He slowly turned sideways, pointed to his own neck, and then pointed to them.

What did he mean?...

Seeing this, the two of them almost simultaneously touched their own necks.

But immediately, their gazes shifted, as if they had turned their heads?

What did they see?

Two headless corpses, gushing blood, stood silently, unmoving.

The clothes on their bodies looked somewhat familiar?

The two murmured, their consciousness gradually blurring, and then, their vision went black, and they fell into eternal slumber.