Chapter 232 The Battle of Destiny (Part 2)
"Uchiha brat, stop yelling at me!" Kurama bared its teeth at Sasuke, who had been speaking without warning. Then, Kurama subtly adjusted the chakra fluctuations within Naruto's body.
Inside the sealed space, Naruto, affected by Sasuke's genjutsu, instantly regained consciousness. Sasuke's consciousness, which had invaded the sealed space using his eye power, was also instantly expelled.
On the battlefield outside, the clash between the Tailed Beast Cloak and Susanoo temporarily came to an end.
Expelled from the sealed space, Sasuke staggered back several steps on the water's surface. The intense pain emanating from his body was a stark reminder that his newly awakened Mangekyou Sharingan was struggling to continuously use Susanoo, even the most basic skeletal Susanoo.
"Naruto, do you really think you can stop the war all by yourself?" Sasuke wiped away the blood and tears streaming from his eyes, then gritted his teeth and asked, "Have you forgotten your teacher's teachings?"
Naruto could tell that Sasuke was trying to catch his breath, but he didn't point it out. He simply said calmly, "I never intended to stop the war. On the day the war begins, I will return to the village and do my part."
"Then why are you leaving?" Sasuke questioned. "Do you think the bonds we comrades share are so insignificant?"
"No." Naruto shook his head. His body, covered by the Tailed Beast Cloak, glowed with a pale golden light under the combined influence of the splashing water and the sunlight overhead. "You are all my most cherished comrades." "
But there are many people in this ninja world suffering from the pain of war, people who have no way to help, and they need my help," Naruto said.
"Then why are you leaving?" Sasuke roared. "Can't we help you with what you want to do?"
"It's different, Sasuke. Some things, if done in the village's name, will be seen as a provocation against other countries, potentially triggering war prematurely. I think you know better than I do that the village isn't ready for a full-scale war yet," Naruto said, shaking his head.
"What exactly do you want to do?" Sasuke, panting heavily, straightened up after the pain from using Susanoo had subsided slightly and asked Naruto. Naruto
raised his right fist. "If you want to know, let's bump fists."
"Bump fists?" A cold smile tugged at Sasuke's lips as he approached Naruto step by step, raising his fist.
However, the next moment, Sasuke's fist landed heavily on Naruto's face.
"If you want to fist bump, wait until I take you back and apologize to everyone, then we can do it slowly." The Mangekyou Sharingan pattern in Sasuke's right eye slowly rotated, blood tears slowly flowed down, and dark lightning gathered in his hand, forcefully stabbing towards Naruto's shoulder.
Caught off guard by Sasuke's sneak attack, Naruto's face was twisted by the punch, and when he regained his senses, Sasuke's attack was already upon him.
Two golden chakra arms suddenly extended from behind Naruto, transforming into a shield to block in front of him.
However, the moment the shield touched the black lightning, the hard and thick chakra shield actually began to crumble. This black lightning actually possessed the property of disintegrating chakra, and after contacting the shield, this black lightning also began to spread along the chakra cloak.
Seeing this, Naruto decisively severed the chakra shield. A large mass of golden chakra, imbued with black lightning, fell to the ground and was completely devoured in just a few breaths.
"Is this... your eye technique?" Naruto took a deep breath and then said.
"That's right. You have no chance against these eyes." Sasuke sneered, as dark lightning spread out from him, and a purple skeleton appeared out of thin air, slowly merging with the black lightning.
"I've said it before, Sasuke." Naruto's voice deepened, each word like a waterfall of icy cold.
"Anyone who stands in my way... I must defeat." He slightly raised his head, his gaze passing over Sasuke, as if staring into a more distant and heavy future, "Including you."
"Arrogant bastard!" Sasuke roared, his Susanoo, wrapped in black lightning, fiercely attacking Naruto.
Naruto withdrew his gaze, his eyes filled with unprecedented determination. Just as Sasuke's attack was about to strike, his body transformed into a golden streak of light and vanished before Sasuke's eyes.
"So fast!" The speed Naruto unleashed at that moment completely exceeded Sasuke's expectations. He had thought that with the awakened Mangekyou Sharingan, he would be able to keep up with Naruto's speed, but it was clear that Naruto hadn't used his full strength.
Appearing behind Sasuke, Naruto raised his hand and conjured a Rasengan, slamming it heavily into Sasuke's back. This time, Naruto held nothing back. He understood that escaping from Sasuke's current state without using his full power was clearly impossible.
Caught off guard and struck hard, Sasuke's body crashed heavily into the pool, splashing water everywhere.
Sasuke quickly rallied, and the Chidori, crackling with black lightning, exploded at the bottom of the pool, breaking through the surface and hurtling towards Naruto.
Naruto's eyes narrowed, and eight chakra arms extended from behind him, converging in front of him. A jet-black chakra sphere rapidly condensed and compressed.
Once the Tailed Beast Ball was complete, Naruto grasped the sphere, imbued with terrifying destructive intent, and unleashed a bolt of lightning upwards.
At this critical moment, on the verge of another devastating collision—
Naruto's azure eyes, now covered by the Nine-Tails' vertical pupils, met Sasuke's icy Mangekyou Sharingan gaze. Through
the billowing smoke, mist, and destructive energy fluctuations, through the ruins of the Valley of the End and the roaring torrents,
Sasuke clearly saw the resolute ice in Naruto's eyes crack open in that instant, like the final groan before a glacier collapses.
At that moment, a smile bloomed completely on Naruto's face, a smile carrying a tender farewell.
His lips parted, the sound not loud, yet it drowned out all the surrounding echoes, clearly penetrating the space, carrying a strange calm, and crashing into Sasuke's eardrums, striking the center of his Mangekyou Sharingan's cold vision:
"Sorry, Sasuke... After I finish what I need to do, you can beat me up however you want."
A deep roar echoed from Naruto's left palm as golden chakra surged within it, causing its light to burst forth.
The instant the words left his lips, Sasuke's newly formed Mangekyou Sharingan trembled violently! Deep within the cold patterns, reflected not only the deadly golden light of the Rasengan, but also Naruto's gentle, farewell smile! That smile was more penetrating than any attack, piercing the Mangekyou's cold insight and reaching the deepest recesses of Sasuke's consciousness!
"What a joke!" Sasuke roared, fiercely thrusting Chidori towards his opponent.
A terrifying energy surge erupted once more, centered on the two.
The mountains on either side groaned in agony. The two colossal stone statues, symbols of past legends, appeared so fragile before the shockwave. Already weakened by the impact, the statues were almost instantly torn apart, melted, and ripped away by the energy! Countless boulders the size of houses were flung like projectiles by an invisible giant hand, carrying destructive kinetic energy as they hurtled into the distance. The air
itself was burning, distorting! Wherever the shockwave passed, space trembled and blurred violently. All vegetation, rocks, and landforms on the surface were wiped away as if by an invisible eraser, leaving only bare, molten earth, scorched red and glowing from the intense heat. The water in the pool below the explosion's epicenter was evaporated by a mere 3 centimeters.
A gigantic, mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke billowed and rose, composed of countless pulverized rock fragments, rising steam, burning dust, and the lingering, violent chakra energy from the explosion's core. It possessed an eerie blend of gray-black and dark red, with residual lightning flashing and exploding within, emitting muffled echoes like the final gasps of a dying beast. The smoke and dust rapidly spread, engulfing the canyon, obscuring the sky, and turning daylight into an apocalyptic, gloomy yellow.
The air was thick with the pungent smell of ozone, the sulfurous stench of melting rocks, the salty, fishy smell of rising lake water, and a suffocating, deathly dust scent unique to the aftermath of destruction.
When the earth-shattering, ear-piercing roar finally subsided, leaving only the rumbling of the collapsing mountains and the clatter of tumbling rocks, the Valley of the End was unrecognizable. The majestic mountain walls on both sides had been sheared and collapsed, forming huge gaps; the once-mighty stone statues were now broken and cracked, charred black. Thick, destructive dust continued to settle, completely shrouding this once sacred valley in a gray haze symbolizing end and destruction.
As the dust settled, only Naruto remained standing on the water. However, he didn't look well; his once-glowing Tailed Beast Cloak had become somewhat dull, and his forehead bandage was covered with winding scorch marks left by black lightning.
Naruto gasped for breath as a chakra arm reached out from behind him, scooping the unconscious Sasuke from the nearly boiling water and tossing him onto the shore.
Having done this, Naruto deactivated the Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and turned to leave.
"Hey, are you just going to leave like that?" Just then, a voice rang out behind Naruto.
Hearing this voice, Naruto instinctively shrank back, then turned around with some difficulty, his expression stiff as he looked at the newcomer.
"Sensei..."
Uchiha Touko, holding the unconscious Sasuke in one hand, looked at the stiff Naruto before him with a half-smile.
"What do we do? What do we do? Kurama-nii-san?" Inside the sealed space, Naruto asked frantically. Naruto was very clear about his own strength; although he could defeat Sasuke, it didn't mean he could cause any trouble against Uchiha Touko.
However, the Nine-Tails inside the sealed space immediately lay down and pretended to sleep the moment it sensed Uchiha Touko's appearance, hoping that Naruto wouldn't get involved when he was being beaten up.
"You just ran off like that? Did you bring any money?" Uchiha Touko's voice rang in Naruto's ears. "I don't want the scandal of Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki begging on the streets to spread throughout the ninja world in a few days."
"Huh?" Uchiha Touko's words made Naruto pause for a moment. It seemed that his teacher hadn't come to forcibly take him back.
"Looks like you didn't." Uchiha Touko shook his head helplessly, took out a scroll from his body, and threw it over.
Naruto caught it and checked it with his chakra, finding that the scroll was full of banknotes, gold, and various kinds of food.
"Teacher..." Naruto was at a loss for words because of Uchiha Touko's attitude.
"Sigh, Gato was telling me a few days ago that he wanted to develop this place and the surrounding area into some kind of tourist attraction to make money. Now it seems like that's not going to happen." Uchiha Touko shook his head helplessly after looking around at the mess.
"Teacher, I'm sorry," Naruto said.
"You really should apologize." Uchiha Touko turned around and looked at Naruto, a hint of annoyance on his face. "If you wanted to go out and make your way in the world, couldn't you have told me? Did I think I would stop you from going out to train? Now look what's happened, you've made such a commotion. If I didn't issue you a warrant, I wouldn't be able to handle it. You'll be a rogue ninja whether you want to or not."
"Huh?" Naruto's mouth dropped open. Uchiha Touko's words completely stunned him.
"But before you leave, can you tell me, my dear teacher, what exactly do you want to do?" Uchiha Touko asked with a half-smile.
"Time is of the essence, teacher, let's bump fists." Naruto raised his right fist towards Uchiha Touko.
Naruto was completely unprepared for Uchiha Touko, knowing that if his teacher wanted to capture him, he wouldn't need to ambush him; with his current strength, he was utterly powerless against Touko.
"You've even learned this?" Seeing Naruto's expression, Uchiha Touko showed a hint of surprise, then stepped in front of Naruto and bumped fists with him.
In the next instant, Uchiha Touko understood Naruto's struggles, his decisions after understanding his own ninja way, and his plans for the unification war.
"His ideas and plans are somewhat naive, but not entirely without feasibility," Uchiha Touko said, nodding after withdrawing his hand. "If you still hold onto your ideas after traveling the ninja world, then go for it."
"Teacher..."
"I never expected that among the three of you, you would be the first to truly find your own path," Uchiha Touko smiled. "Also, I have a task for you."
"A task?" Naruto was taken aback.
"Yes, while you're training in the ninja world, keep an eye out for a secret organization called 'Kara'."
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(End of Chapter)