At this point, Naruto's voice held a trace of lingering fear, along with chilling coldness and ruthless fury.
"At that moment, I almost lost my mind completely!"
"Sasuke, do you know? That day, I came so close to losing control and killing Konohamaru with my own hands!"
"That day, I almost couldn't stop myself from slaughtering the entire Sarutobi Clan, making them all pay for my suffering with their lives!"
Naruto spoke with absolute certainty, without the slightest exaggeration. The killing intent rolling off him laid bare the truth of every word.
That day, he had been just one step away from giving in to darkness and unleashing a massacre.
Seeing the lingering brutality in Naruto's eyes, seeing him on the verge of breaking down, Sasuke understood in an instant.
He finally knew what had truly caused the drastic change in Naruto's personality!
It wasn't his childhood suffering or the injustice surrounding his origins, but the blow he had suffered on the day he became Hokage!
This was what had utterly crushed all of Naruto's kindness and gentleness.
It had turned that boy who embraced everything into the Seventh Hokage, patient and calculating, decisive and ruthless!
Sasuke's expression grew utterly grave. He stared fixedly at Naruto on the Sky Screen and, in a low voice, asked the question on everyone's mind, enunciating every word.
"What exactly did Konohamaru do?"
That single question instantly seized the attention of the entire Shinobi World.
Everyone held their breath, staring intently at the Sky Screen.
Everyone understood now.
The greatest turning point in Naruto's life, the deepest source of his descent into darkness, the hatred he would settle even at the cost of wiping out the Sarutobi Clan-
None of it came from going hungry as a child, being ostracized, or having his origins