For the Future, Not the Present

Kakashi's Sharingan had yet to close, its scarlet pupil reflecting the direction in which the hunter-nin had vanished.

"That so-called hunter-nin precisely struck Zabuza's neck with Senbon—a spot that would not kill him immediately, but could induce a state of suspended death. He went to the trouble of carrying away the heavy body instead of disposing of it on the spot."

Naruto's voice was even.

"And Kirigakure's hunter-nin, to ensure nothing goes wrong, would prioritize destroying the target's brain and heart to prevent any possibility of information leaking."

His words struck directly at the faint, hazy confusion that had just arisen in Kakashi's mind.

Kakashi slowly pulled down his forehead protector, covering the Sharingan. He looked at Naruto. This student could always use the simplest words to dissect the most complicated situations.

"You mean Zabuza isn't dead. That hunter-nin was his companion?"

"Exactly." Naruto turned around, his blue eyes utterly calm. "That means we'll be facing two enemies from now on, not one. And one of them specializes in long-range ambushes with Senbon."

That was the information Naruto had gathered.

When the masked ninja had appeared, Naruto's senses, tempered a thousand times over by psychic power, had caught something more fundamental than chakra.

It was a pure, absolute "loyalty."

A will capable of offering up everything without hesitation in order to protect someone.

In the bloody universe of Warhammer, such a quality was the foundation upon which the strongest warriors were forged, the very material Imperial commissars desired most.

For the first time, Naruto felt a trace of interest in the people of this world.

Night descended over Tazuna's home.

Under the dim yellow light, Sakura used tweezers to hold an alcohol-soaked cotton ball as she carefully cleaned the torn wound on Naruto's shoulder. Flesh and blood were mangled together; the sight alone was frightening.

Every time she wiped it, her fingertips trembled despite herself.

Yet Naruto sat like a stone statue, bare-chested, allowing the alcohol and medicine to eat into his wound without so much as twitching a brow. It was as though the body being treated was merely an object that happened to belong to him.

Sasuke leaned against the opposite wall, arms folded over his chest, his black eyes locked onto Naruto.

In his mind, he replayed the daytime battle again and again from the perspective recorded by his Sharingan.

Naruto crashing into the Water Clone like a cannonball.

The sound of the Kubikiribōchō tearing through flesh.

That fleeting opening forcibly ripped open in the attack.

That had not been a companion's self-sacrificing devotion.

Sasuke understood clearly that it had been an exchange of tactics, cold to the extreme.

Naruto had traded a part of his own body for the possibility of victory.

A shoulder wound in exchange for an opening that guaranteed a hit on the target—the optimal solution.

Before such pure purpose, even his obsession with revenge seemed insignificant. The realization sent a chill up his spine, yet it also ignited an even fiercer flame.

He had to become stronger, strong enough that he would no longer be a piece on someone else's board.

"All done." Sakura finally finished bandaging him and let out a long breath, her forehead covered in fine beads of sweat.

Naruto rolled his shoulder, his joints making faint sounds as though he were testing the performance of a new component.

"Thanks for the trouble." He put on his shirt, his tone flat.

In the living room, Kakashi gathered everyone together.

"You've all heard Naruto's analysis." He broke the silence. "Zabuza is very likely still alive, and he has gained an accomplice. The next battle will be more dangerous than today's."

His gaze swept over his students.

"So, starting tomorrow, we'll begin emergency training. The goal is to help you better use chakra and improve your strength in a short period of time."

It was a standard, prudent plan for a jonin instructor.

"Sensei, I have a plan."

Naruto walked to the window and looked out at the village shrouded in night and poverty. It was lifeless, without even the faintest sense of living people.

Kakashi's words were interrupted, and he froze for a moment.

"Naruto?"

"We train. We become stronger. Then what?" Naruto did not turn around. "We defeat Zabuza, complete the mission, and leave. What happens to this country?"

His voice was not loud, but everyone present fell silent.

"Gato will hire the next 'Zabuza,' or ten, or a hundred wandering samurai inferior to Zabuza. The outcome will be the same."

Naruto slowly turned around. His gaze passed over Kakashi, Sasuke, and Sakura before finally settling on the trembling Tazuna.

"The root of the problem is that this country has lost both the ability and the will to resist."

"Therefore, during this time, I will turn the civilians here into a militia capable of protecting themselves as much as possible."

Those words were like a deep-water bomb dropped into a placid lake.

"Y-you... what did you say?" Tazuna's lips quivered. He could scarcely believe his ears. "A militia? You want people like us, who carry hammers and fishing nets, to fight ninja and samurai? Are you joking? That's impossible!"

"That goes beyond the scope of the mission, Naruto." Kakashi's expression also turned serious. "Our mission is to protect the client until the bridge is completed. Training civilians, that..."

"A people unable to defend themselves do not deserve peace."

Naruto cut him off coldly.

"Waiting for charity from others is the stupidest and most unreliable act in the universe. Konoha cannot protect this place forever, and we cannot remain here forever."

There was an iron-like authority in his words, something utterly unsuited to his age. It was a tone forged only on countless battlefields piled high with corpses and drenched in blood, when issuing certain-death orders to subordinates.

"I will give them weapons. I will give them the will to fight. Only when they take up blades themselves and understand how to defend their homes with blood will this country's true salvation begin."

"This is the only solution that will solve the problem once and for all."

Kakashi looked at Naruto, and for an instant, he seemed to see a distant figure.

That figure had once used the same unquestionable posture to carry out what he believed was "right."

Tazuna collapsed onto the floor. Naruto's words had frightened him with their coldness and cruelty, yet beneath that cruelty, there seemed to be a trace of... hope?

Sasuke lowered his head. No one saw that his body was trembling slightly.

Not from fear.

From excitement.

Turning unarmed civilians into an army?

That crazed, overbearing, yet incomparably efficient line of thinking filled him with an unprecedented thrill.

This was true strength.

Not mere ninjutsu or power, but a force of will capable of changing the balance of the world.

"I object." Kakashi finally spoke. He had to fulfill his responsibility as the team leader. "This is too dangerous. It will provoke Gato and make him resort to more extreme measures. And civilian casualties..."

"War always brings casualties." Naruto's answer held no emotion. "Using the smallest sacrifice to achieve the greatest victory is a commander's responsibility. I will calculate the cost."