Naruto opened his mouth, but for a moment, he had no idea where to begin explaining.
Seeing Shion looking both frightened and bashful, as though she were awaiting her "sentence," he suddenly felt a headache coming on-and found it inexplicably amusing.
He pressed his temples, suppressing the emotions stirring inside him.
"Shion, I think you've misunderstood.
What I need is for the Land of Demons and its line of miko to follow my will and contribute to building the Shinobi World in the future.
I don't need you personally to do anything like that."
He paused, watching Shion freeze, then turn red from her neck to her ears, until even her eyes seemed to spin in confusion. He added:
"I'm more interested in the power of your bloodline than anything else.
Do you understand?"
With that, he stopped paying attention to Shion, whose brain seemed to be overheating and smoking, and turned to continue onward, walking a little faster than before.
Now he just wanted to leave the Land of Demons as quickly as possible and head to his next destination, the Land of Snow.
It had been a long time since he had seen Kazahana Koyuki. Bringing the Land of Snow under his control should go much more smoothly.
After that, he would have to concentrate on rooting out the man still lurking somewhere in the Shinobi World-the one called Jigen who was actually Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
In the nearly two years since graduating from the Ninja Academy and embarking on this unusual path, he had almost always been on the move, fighting or planning.
Bringing factions into the fold, consolidating his strength, dealing with potential threats, exploring the unknown...
It was fulfilling, but a trace of weariness was inevitable.
"What a hassle."
Naruto muttered under his breath, unsure whether