Chapter 10 — Sasuke: If Kaguya Is Innocent, I'll Eat My Words
Another bright, sunny day!
In the backyard—
"Kaguya, Kaguya, let me tell you something! My dream is to become Hokage!" Naruto Uzumaki shouted excitedly at Kaguya.
Because of what had happened the night before, the seemingly simple-minded girl from the Ōtsutsuki Clan had successfully fooled a twelve-year-old boy who had barely begun to understand the world.
"What's going on with them? Why did their relationship suddenly get so much better?" Sakura found it extremely strange.
As for Sasuke, his expression was unusually dark. To make matters worse, Kaguya actually lifted a brow at him, making his teeth clench on the spot.
This woman!!!
"What did you do to him?" Sasuke stepped forward and demanded.
Kaguya wore an innocent expression, but Naruto immediately spoke up. "Sasuke, Kaguya is my savior!"
"Huh?" Sasuke was dumbfounded.
What exactly had she told him?
"You probably don't know this, but if it weren't for her, I might've been eaten by ghosts! I'm really grateful to her!" Naruto said earnestly.
Hearing that, Sasuke's face darkened even further. This idiot really believed whatever people told him, without the slightest bit of a shinobi's caution.
An ultra-super-mega idiot!
"Idiot." After throwing out that single word, Sasuke turned and walked off.
Naruto's eyes widened. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Sasuke was seriously so irritating.
Seeing this, Kakashi let out a quiet sigh. Naruto was too naive—so naive it circled all the way back to stupid.
"Looks like she told Naruto something," Kakashi muttered in surprise, glancing at Kaguya.
"What is a Hokage?"
Kaguya had become a little curious about the title Naruto kept bringing up. Over the past few days, he had constantly been talking about becoming Hokage.
"A Hokage is someone really, really amazing. Especially the Fourth Hokage—he was the great hero who sealed the Nine-Tailed Fox twelve years ago…"
As he spoke, Naruto's voice gradually lowered. The moment the Nine-Tails was mentioned, he remembered what Mizuki had said back then.
[You're the one who killed Iruka-sensei's parents. You're the demon fox that destroyed our village!]
[You're nothing but a demon fox nobody needs!]
Those cruel words echoed over and over in Naruto's ears. Even his bright blond hair seemed to lose some of its usual energy.
"What's wrong?" Kaguya couldn't help asking.
"N-nothing! Anyway, a Hokage is just someone really amazing!" Naruto forced out a strained smile.
That only left Kaguya more puzzled. In his eyes, she seemed to catch a trace of… fear.
Could it be that the Hokage had bullied him?
A bold conclusion formed in her mind.
That had to be it.
Don't worry. I'll definitely help you teach that so-called Hokage a lesson!
"Why does Kaguya feel kind of innocent?" Sakura said.
Innocent? Innocent my ass!
Even Sasuke, who was usually calm, cursed inwardly. If she were really innocent, would she be sneaking into people's rooms at night and pulling shameless stunts like that?
After fooling around in the backyard for quite a while, the Emperor—now fully recovered—also came over and said he wanted to show them around the Land of Ancestors.
Naturally, they agreed at once. After all, they still knew very little about this country.
But when the Emperor drew near Naruto Uzumaki, a trace of coldness seemed to flash through his eyes.
Both Sasuke and Kakashi caught it immediately, and their vigilance rose at once.
It seemed something big was about to happen.
Along the way…
"This beautiful princess, this is the—"
"This is the military strength of my Land of Ancestors. The neighboring Other Nation is far beneath us…"
The Emperor's gaze remained fixed on Kaguya almost the entire time, as though he had completely forgotten Kakashi and the other three existed.
All of them frowned slightly. It was obvious now—the Emperor had likely set his sights on Kaguya.
"What kind of tree is that? Why is it so huge?!" Naruto's eyes widened as he stared at the towering tree in the distance, utterly stunned.
He had never seen such an enormous tree in his life.
Kaguya also turned to look at that giant tree, and her expression slowly changed, as though it had stirred some deeply unpleasant memory.
The Emperor, carefully observing every reaction Kaguya showed, explained, "That great tree is known throughout the world as the God Tree!"
"The God Tree?" Everyone paused.
"It is said that thousands of years ago, the God Tree descended from the heavens and rooted itself in this world in an instant, causing all mankind to fear it," the Emperor said slowly.
"A God Tree that fell from the sky?" The four of them were in disbelief.
"That's incredible. I really want to go take a closer look," Naruto said with obvious interest.
"I would advise against that. Anyone who approaches the God Tree will be drained dry and turned into a corpse in an instant," the Emperor said, glancing at Naruto. Though his gaze was filled with malice, he did not reveal it openly.
"Drained into a corpse?" Everyone was shocked again.
Sasuke's eyes narrowed slightly as his two-tomoe Sharingan appeared. He wanted to see for himself what was so strange about this God Tree.
But in the very next second… cold sweat began pouring down his back.
Through the Sharingan, he seemed to see something almost impossible.
That was… chakra!?
The energy gathered within the God Tree was actually chakra!?
In an instant, he shut his eyes and forced himself back to normal, his heart pounding violently.
Kakashi's expression had also grown grave. Just like Sasuke, he had clearly seen something, and it made his heart tremble.
Such terrifying power was actually being gathered there?
....
And inside Naruto Uzumaki's body, behind those black sealing gates…
"That is… the Ten-Tails!?"
The Nine-Tails was deeply shaken. Its crimson slit pupils flew open wide in disbelief.
It had actually sensed… the aura of the Ten-Tails!?
Was it that God Tree outside?!
What was going on? Hadn't the Sage of Six Paths already dealt with the Ten-Tails long ago?
Its fur practically stood on end.
Outside—
"Ugh…"
Naruto's face gradually became unnatural. For some reason, the longer he looked at the God Tree, the more uncomfortable he felt, as though something was staring at him…
"What's wrong, Naruto?" Sakura asked in concern.
"I don't know. It just feels really uncomfortable when I look at that God Tree," Naruto muttered.
"That can happen?" Sakura paused.
"It really feels awful, like something's watching me," Naruto said seriously.
Kaguya said nothing. She stared at the God Tree with deep wariness in her eyes, then murmured something under her breath.
In an instant, that watched feeling vanished from Naruto.
"Huh? It's gone!?" Naruto exclaimed in surprise.
"So you were just making a fuss again, right? Just like before, going on about ghosts and all that," Sakura said helplessly.
"It was real! I really felt it just now, and then it disappeared!" Naruto protested.