Chapter 351:
After all, they were from the same village. Boruto even recognized Konohamaru and Mirai as his older brother and sister, and they had even held him when he was a child. Because of that, the battle between Boruto and Konohamaru and Sarutobi Mirai wasn't nearly as intense as the fight between Kakashi and the darkened Shunhi.
Shunhi and Kakashi exchanged jutsu while repeatedly widening the distance between them.
The constant exchange of ninjutsu, interspersed with bouts of close-quarters combat, quickly drained Kakashi's chakra and stamina. In contrast, the darkened Shunhi showed no signs of fatigue at all.
Kakashi was fully aware that he was no match for Shunhi, but he couldn't figure out why Shunhi wasn't using his full power in the fight.
Just then, a lightning storm suddenly erupted over the Rain Village's tower in the distance.
Debris from the damaged tower rained down, crushing nearby residential buildings. And to make matters worse, Boruto had arranged for Mitsuki to be inside that tower, hoping to keep him safe.
Seeing the explosion at his childhood home and unable to understand the enemy's intentions, Kakashi stood dumbfounded. Shunhi, meanwhile, flashed a slight smile before putting on a panicked expression and dashed toward the ruined tower.
On the way, he crossed paths with Boruto, who was also running toward the tower while shouting Mitsuki's name.
But the tower had already been reduced to complete rubble. No matter how loudly he called out, there was no response. Boruto fell to his knees before the ruins, tears running down his cheeks. He clenched his fists and pounded the ground in anguish.
"So this was all your conspiracy?"
Shunhi turned to Kakashi and said slowly, enunciating every word.
"Conspiracy?"
Kakashi looked bewildered.
"You three lured me and Boruto away so a fourth could kill Mitsuki."
Lightning Blade sparked in Shunhi's hand. Without giving Kakashi any chance to explain, he launched an attack.
"Sixth!"
Sarutobi Mirai called out anxiously as she saw Kakashi clearly at a disadvantage against Shunhi.
"Mirai, Konohamaru, get out of here—now!"
Kakashi seized a brief opening to create some distance, and the moment he spoke, he used the Body Flicker Technique to escape.
Despite their retreat, Shunhi made no move to stop them.
"Boruto, are you alright...?"
Boruto remained silent.
"I suppose I can take this as a declaration of war from the Hidden Leaf against the Rain Village. You didn't just kill my guest—you also destroyed one of the village's landmarks."
Simply put, it was like demolishing the Statue of Liberty right in front of the Americans.
And Boruto believed Shunhi. After all, back when Boruto was still Hokage, Shikamaru had once covertly targeted Mitsuki.
His desire to avenge his companion was burning with intensity, but the Hidden Leaf was also the place he had grown up in. These conflicting emotions caused Boruto great pain.
In the end, Boruto made a choice.
"Uncle Shunhi, I'll join you... but we can't hurt the villagers."
Avoiding harm to the villagers and only destroying buildings in the Hidden Leaf was the only compromise Boruto could think of to ease his guilt.
"Alright."
Shunhi nodded. Just destroying the village's structures—he and Boruto alone were more than enough to handle that.
Hidden Leaf Village.
Thanks to the help of the ninja, the reconstruction of the Hidden Leaf progressed rapidly. Especially with Yamato, the master house-builder—so long as his chakra was sufficient, he could continuously use Wood Release to build homes.
In just a week, the village had already regained its former prosperity. Sakura's health was also gradually recovering.
Although she could no longer fight, Sakura was now able to fully devote herself to medical ninjutsu.
"Good morning, Naruto." A new day dawned. In the Hokage's office, Shikamaru dumped a pile of reports onto Naruto's desk. "Here's today's workload, Naruto."
"This is way too much!"
Looking at the towering stack of papers that exceeded his own height, Naruto grimaced.
"Well, the village was just rebuilt. Naturally, there's a ton of paperwork needing your signature."
Shikamaru smiled.
"Geez, they rebuilt the village way too fast..."
Naruto had just finished complaining when an explosion suddenly rocked the village.
"That direction is..."
Shikamaru narrowed his eyes, looking toward the source of the explosion.
"The front gate!" Naruto, who had instantly entered Sage Fox Mode, stood beside Shikamaru. "It's Shunhi! Shikamaru, I'm counting on you to evacuate the villagers—I'll stop him!"
"Alright..."
Before Shikamaru could respond, Naruto had already darted off in a flash of light.
"Minato, are we really not going to help?"
Kushina looked at the man beside her. By now, she had grown used to her starfish-like body, just as Minato had adjusted to his sponge-like form.
"...Let's trust Naruto."
Minato shook his head. After all, Shunhi had already ordered them not to interfere.
Shunhi's overwhelming power was undeniable—not only had all the superpowered beasts withdrawn into hiding, even S.H.I.E.L.D., lacking its director, had no choice but to lay low.
That said, had Naruto been harmed in any of the recent attacks, Minato and Kushina would've long since stepped in.
At the Hidden Leaf's front gate—
"Sasuke?" Naruto landed on the rooftop and moved beside him. "Didn't expect you to get here so fast."
"Sakura and I were just taking a walk in the park nearby."
Sasuke offered a brief explanation while keeping his eyes on the darkened Shunhi.
"What? Sakura's here too?"
"Yeah. Right now, the only people capable of protecting her are the two of us, so it's safer to keep her close."
Sasuke shared his reasoning.
"Makes sense..." Naruto nodded, then looked toward Shunhi. "Sasuke, do you think we can stop him this time?"
After all the times Shunhi had attacked the village, Naruto was already thoroughly enraged.
Sasuke glanced at Naruto and replied, "If you haven't come up with a new move, then probably not."
"True enough..." Naruto chuckled. "Let's do this, Sasuke!"
"Yeah!"
Naruto charged in first, with Sasuke close behind. The two moved as one, clashing with Shunhi head-on.
Their taijutsu battle echoed throughout the Hidden Leaf, every collision producing shockwaves that cracked the air.
"They've already started fighting, huh..." Shikamaru muttered as he looked toward the battlefield. Then he turned to the Leaf ninjas around him and ordered, "Help the villagers evacuate the village as quickly as possible!"
"Yes!"
The Leaf ninjas responded in unison.
To buy time for the villagers to escape, Naruto and Sasuke had deliberately engaged Shunhi in close combat. If they fought with ninjutsu at range, stray attacks could destroy buildings—or worse, hit the civilians.
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