When Naruto returned, he only saw Zabuza lying next to Haku, and his thoughts drifted far away...
The snow was still falling, drifting sparsely across the land, the gloomy sky seeming to whisper unspeakable words.
"This is the fate of a ninja."
Upon hearing this, Naruto turned around and saw Kakashi, Sasuke, and Hinata rushing over.
Kakashi ignored Naruto's surprised look and continued speaking to himself:
"Ninjas are all like that..."
Kakashi wanted to say something more, but Naruto ruthlessly interrupted him.
"Alright, stop your boring lecture. I was just blinded by the snow."
Seeing Naruto's indifferent attitude, Kakashi was somewhat helpless. What happened now? Did he say something wrong?
Seeing Kakashi's bewildered expression, Naruto simply said:
"You'll understand when you're my age."
Kakashi:???
Kakashi really didn't want to continue on this topic, so he changed the subject and asked about the fate of the captured Root ninjas.
At this moment, Naruto also thought of the Root ninjas who were not all dead. These were the ones who had escaped from the last time. Naruto was also thinking about how to deal with these guys. After all, these people all had the Tongue Danzo Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal on them, so they would not be able to reveal any information about Root.
As for taking them all back to see that old Hiruzen Sarutobi?
Danzo and Hiruzen Sarutobi are in cahoots, so close they'd share a pair of pants. Naruto doesn't believe him.
"Kill them all?"
"What? You killed them all?"
Kakashi stared at Naruto in shock, as if he found what he had just heard utterly absurd.
Wiping the cold sweat from his forehead, Kakashi felt he could still struggle a little longer. He asked hesitantly:
" Naruto, why did you have to kill them all? They... were Konoha ninjas after all."
Kakashi's words were already quite tactful; he didn't want Naruto to become so bloodthirsty, otherwise, over time, Naruto might lose himself.
But Kakashi's words only earned him Byakugan and merciless mockery from Naruto.
"Tch, these are all Danzo's Danzo. Should I let them go and let them continue to cause me trouble?"
Kakashi still tried to struggle.
"But we can also hand them over to the Hokage and let him deal with them..."
"Heh, hand it over to the Hokage? Kakashi, wake up, don't be naive. Why were they able to come? Do you really think Danzo would dare to do this so openly without the Hokage's orders?"
"I... I..."
Kakashi is smart, but he's too lazy to bother with these scheming people and doesn't want to waste time thinking. He just spends all his free time reading his little yellow book— Icha Icha Paradise.
"Alright, what about that old man Hiruzen Sarutobi? You know much more than I do. Leave one to go back, and kill the rest."
After Naruto finished speaking, he didn't wait for Kakashi's reply or not, and went to Sasuke and Hinata, handing each of them a Kunai.
He patted the two men on the shoulder, signaling them to get to work quickly.
Sasuke was decisive. After all, Danzo had caused the Uchiha Danzo a lot of trouble. A few years ago, he even tried to wipe out the Uchiha Clan. If it weren't for Naruto's heroic efforts, his father's grave would probably be several meters high by now.
Arriving at a Root ninja who was tightly bound, he thrust forward without a word, piercing the man's heart. The man twitched a few times on the ground and then remained motionless.
Compared to Sasuke, Hinata was not so decisive. Seeing how easily Sasuke had dealt with the enemy, her face turned pale, but she still took her Kunai and walked up to another Root.
I'm sorry.
After saying that, Hinata closed her eyes and thrust her weapon at the person in front of her.
A sharp sound of a weapon piercing flesh, followed by the man's painful scream.
"Ah!"
Upon realizing she hadn't been able to let that person leave without suffering, Hinata could only apologize frantically.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry."
But she showed no sign of stopping with her Kunai, apologizing as she Kunai stabbed the Root ninja lying on the ground.
Naminggen stared in horror at the seemingly harmless little girl before him, racking his brains but unable to understand why such a thing had happened.
The pain and torment made him miss his Lord Danzo. At least when they made fatal mistakes, Lord Danzo would give them a quick death. But now? It was just too agonizing.
In the end, Naruto couldn't bear to watch any longer. He walked over to Hinata, snatched the Kunai from her hand, and slit the throat of the Root man who had been suffering so much, sending him away peacefully.
"Remember to look carefully next time."
Naruto wiped the blood off Hinata's face and then patted her head with his clean hand.
Hinata simply nodded, looking somewhat dejected. She hadn't expected that she couldn't even handle such a small task.
Sasuke on the other side had gone on a killing spree, and he finally got his chance. Who could stand it when those Root guys were digging up graves in the Uchiha's graveyard all the time?
He had long harbored resentment towards them.
"Hmph, just you wait, Danzo. Once I become powerful, I'll personally kill you."
"Alright, stop reminiscing, come help."
"Oh, coming."
Sasuke and Naruto gathered the corpses of the Root ninjas together.
Fire Style: Great Fire Dragon.
Fire Style: Great Fireball.
The two men, one on the left and one on the right, each used Fire Style technique to perform a free physical exorcism on these Root ninjas. The flames burned fiercely, illuminating their faces.
Kakashi watched the two men, who seemed unusually skilled, and couldn't help but twitch his lips. Murder, arson, and cover up the crime?
Most importantly, the two of them were so skilled that it was outrageous.
He was genuinely curious about how Fugaku usually taught these two kids.
"Alright, let's lock this last survivor up for now. Once the bridge is repaired, we'll bring him back to Konoha and hand him over to the Hokage for judgment."
"Tch, who cares about you?"
Naruto found Kakashi's decision troublesome; how could that old man possibly admit it?
Actually, Naruto really misunderstood Hiruzen Sarutobi this time. Danzo secretly sent the Root members out with them, precisely to seize the opportunity and take down Naruto, the Jinchūriki.
" Lord Danzo, Lord Danzo, something terrible has happened!"
At this moment, in the Root Base, Danzo was sitting on his small chair, leisurely drinking tea.
"Slurp, slurp, whew."
Upon hearing the Danzo, Danzo glanced at the newcomer indifferently and spoke slowly.
"What's wrong? I'm perfectly fine."