The Bonds of the New Generation

Naruto stared at Ino, but said nothing for a long while.

Although Ino's remark about "rogue ninja" had been unintentional, it still revealed the unease most of Konoha felt over the Third Hokage allowing Naruto to become a ninja...

After all, Ino had clashed with him before, so compared to the other seven people of their generation, her relationship with Naruto was somewhat more distant.

Even though her father, Inoichi Yamanaka, knew the truth about Naruto, the Third's ban on discussing Naruto's background throughout the village meant that Ino had largely built her image of Naruto from rumors.

And those who felt distant from Naruto...

Those who had built their image of Naruto through rumors...

Included countless ninjas and villagers in Konoha...

Logically speaking, the Third should have gradually stamped out the unease surrounding Naruto's very existence over the past two years...

Naruto had been allowed to graduate and join the ninja team led by Kakashi—both were signs that the Third had brought him into the Hokage's faction.

Since the Third had already prepared to let Naruto wield the power of the Nine-Tails as a ninja, why would he put the cart before the horse and continue allowing all those negative emotions—hatred, dissatisfaction, and the like—to spread around Naruto?

...Danzo?

It was the only explanation Naruto could think of.

Although Danzo was being watched by the Third and could not openly do anything excessive to Naruto without the Third's approval...

Naruto also knew that Danzo had never been short on schemes in the shadows.

After the Scroll of Seals incident, the Third no longer had the ANBU or the Telescope Technique monitor Naruto.

Yet Root, the organization controlled by Danzo, had still not completely ceased its surveillance of Naruto.

Being watched at all times by such a sinister viper was truly unbearable.

"Naruto!"

Naruto's thoughts drifted away, but Sakura's call immediately brought him back to his senses.

Sakura forcibly pulled Naruto's hand away from Ino's face.

She stared at Naruto and said, "Ino doesn't like this!"

Anger laced Sakura's voice. This was the first time Sakura had shown anger toward Naruto.

The Sakura of before had also feared Naruto's past brutality, so she had always been extremely cautious around him.

After becoming teammates in Team 7, Sakura was no longer as afraid of Naruto as before, but because she was weaker than both Naruto and Sasuke, she had still kept a lower profile.

This time, however, she glared angrily at Naruto for Ino's sake.

"Do you think I enjoy being slandered by her?"

Naruto did not avoid Sakura's gaze.

When Sakura met Naruto's eyes, a trace of fear still surfaced in the depths of her gaze, but she quickly steadied herself.

Sakura held Ino in her arms. Ino was still trembling all over, clearly badly frightened by Naruto earlier.

"Ino... she's just like I used to be. Because she doesn't understand you, Naruto, she was misled by everyone else's rumors... I'll make Ino understand that you're not the person everyone says you are... And I'm not trying to shield Ino. I just... I just hope you can forgive her this once. I know what kind of person Ino is... Ino is actually a really, really good girl—and a girl who knows how to correct her mistakes—Ino!"

Sakura gently shook Ino by the shoulders.

Only after staring at Sakura, who had been defending her, for quite some time did the slightly recovered Ino turn her gaze toward Naruto.

"...I'm sorry, Naruto. I apologize for the nonsense I said earlier."

Her apology was utterly sincere.

"So, Naruto—I apologize to you too. You were defending both yourself and me just now... but I still took Ino's side. Can you forgive Ino for misspeaking this time?"

After Ino admitted her mistake, Sakura also expressed her apology to Naruto.

"..."

"...Fine."

If Ino had not suddenly linked him with rogue ninjas, Naruto would not have cared what she said at all.

"Then, Naruto!"

Just when he thought the matter should have ended there, Sakura called out to Naruto again after hesitating for a moment. "You need to apologize to Ino too!"

Now Naruto truly could not understand, though rather than anger, he felt more curious about Sakura's reason for doing this.

"Why should I apologize?"

Naruto made no attempt to hide his curiosity.

"Because we're companions from the same village in the end. If we're going to let bygones be bygones, we should do it properly! There shouldn't be any lingering resentment in our hearts!"

There was naturally nothing wrong with that reasoning, but Sakura seemed to have overlooked the feelings of the people involved.

Naruto said nothing. He merely stared at Sakura.

The current Sakura was still immature and still did not consider things thoroughly enough, but she was growing much faster than she had in the original story.

Naruto found it rather interesting.

And under Naruto's scrutinizing gaze, most of Sakura's initial anger had already faded.

As the saying went, the first burst of effort was strongest, the second weaker, and the third exhausted.

Once she calmed down again, Naruto's continued silence caused the fear of him that she had accumulated over a long time to surge up all at once like a backlash.

She was finally able to properly consider how she had blindly taken the side of Ino, who had been in the wrong first. No matter how nicely she put it, it was true that she had not considered Naruto's feelings.

Just as Sakura grew increasingly uneasy...

Naruto finally spoke. "I understand. I went a little too far just now too. Forgive me, Ino."

If Ino had not carelessly called him a "rogue ninja," he could not have been bothered to waste time dealing with her.

Naruto's choices for the future meant that he and Konoha's new generation were destined not to walk the same path.

Rather than waste time being angry at Ino, he would be better off considering how to maximize his own gains before defecting.

For instance, whether he should kill Yakushi Kabuto during the upcoming Chunin Ninja Exams...

In the original story's Fourth Shinobi World War, aside from Black Zetsu, Madara Uchiha, and Obito Uchiha—

—Yakushi Kabuto had been the war criminal burdened with the deepest sins.

Of course, Naruto was not considering whether to kill Yakushi Kabuto because his sense of justice was acting up.

It was purely because Naruto felt that he and Yakushi Kabuto were not the same kind of people.

In the future, he and Yakushi Kabuto would certainly become enemies utterly incapable of understanding one another.

Naruto did not want to become a Jinchūriki weapon whose self-will had been erased by Danzo's Sharingan.

Yet Yakushi Kabuto was someone who would willingly discard his own self-will.

The first thing he thought after Orochimaru died was actually to deny the will of "Yakushi Kabuto" and become a brand-new Orochimaru!

Moreover, after Orochimaru was "killed" by Sasuke in the original story, Yakushi Kabuto mastered Orochimaru's various forbidden techniques and even learned Ryūchi Cave's Sage Mode.

Dealing with Yakushi Kabuto by then would become extremely troublesome.

As for the current Yakushi Kabuto, apart from his troublesome medical techniques and intelligence-gathering abilities...

Judging purely by combat strength, he was probably only around the level of Kakashi in his normal state.

That was certainly not meant to belittle Yakushi Kabuto.

During the Chunin Ninja Exams, Yakushi Kabuto was only nineteen or twenty years old, yet the person he was compared to was Kakashi, who had long been famous and possessed considerable skill in using the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

There were not many ninjas in the Shinobi World who could achieve what Kakashi had.

Thinking it over carefully, dealing with Yakushi Kabuto during the Chunin Ninja Exams would indeed introduce all sorts of uncontrollable problems into Naruto's defection plan.

But from a long-term perspective, if Naruto could withstand the uncontrollable factors that might arise after dealing with Yakushi Kabuto...

The benefits he would gain in the future would be enormous.

Hmm... whether to deal with Yakushi Kabuto during the Chunin Ninja Exams really was a choice worth taking the time to weigh the pros and cons of.

As for "forgiving" Ino...

Naruto was merely going with the flow. Insisting on refusing to forgive Ino would be nothing but a waste of time.

Since Sakura had unexpectedly handed Naruto an opportunity to make a big problem into a small one, why not make use of it?

Rather than engage in meaningless arguments...

The priority was to make Ino shut up and ensure that she would not go around telling people, "Naruto is a rogue ninja," words that touched Naruto's greatest taboo!

Naturally, Sakura and Ino had no way of knowing what Naruto was thinking.

They had not expected Naruto to become so easy to talk to again.

Both Sakura and Ino wore lost expressions.

"Girls really are troublesome."

Seeing their expressions, Shikamaru Nara joined the conversation.

He was very good at reading the right moment to speak. The fact that he could interject meant that the conflict between Naruto and Ino had come to an end.

Shikamaru's words finally made Sakura and Ino breathe a sigh of relief.

"How much longer are we staying here? I'm already hungry."

As Choji Akimichi spoke, he opened another bag of chips.

"You really are..."

Shikamaru looked at Choji helplessly, stopping himself before he could finish.

Naruto watched the people before him without saying a word.

The indecisive Third in his later years had perhaps only firmly and resolutely carried out one policy: keeping the new generation of ninjas away from ninja wars and letting them enjoy true peace—even if that peace was still merely part of the Shinobi World's cycle of war.

But looking across the entire Shinobi World, it was precisely because Konoha's new generation had truly experienced peace that they would choose to let go of the hatred that had never ceased since the Warring States Period after the war.

If he could, Naruto would also have been willing to enjoy the bonds between Konoha's new generation.

Those foolish higher-ups in Konoha were ultimately old fools with one foot in the grave. The future had nothing to do with them.

But—Konoha was still controlled by those undying old men trapped in the curse of conflict.

Naruto's current situation was also different from how the original story had unfolded.

Though those differences were subtle, they made an enormous difference to Naruto.

Since Danzo had already used Kotoamatsukami on Naruto before, he would never let Naruto go.

Danzo's current inaction toward Naruto was only because the Third was forcefully suppressing him.

Once the Third died, would the current Danzo still endure as he had in the original story until Tsunade took office? Would he give Naruto enough time to grow?

Naruto would never place his fate in such an uncertain future.

If the future were truly fixed, Umino Iruka in this world would not have died twelve years ago.

The current Naruto had no way to contend against Danzo, who possessed Kotoamatsukami. Before his strength had fully matured—

—only defecting from Konoha could give Naruto a chance at survival.