"If… if the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki is already under the influence of the beast, and the radicals within the clan catch wind of this…"
Itachi's brows tightened into a deep, knotted frown. His face had gone pale.
It was clear now.
The Academy instructor at the time had completely failed to grasp the deeper significance behind Naruto's change in behavior—how it could set off a chain of unpredictable consequences.
There had been no protocols to contain the incident, no attempt to classify it. Even Sasuke, who had witnessed everything firsthand, hadn't been told to keep it confidential.
To most villagers and shinobi, Naruto was still the 'demon fox'. If news spread that he had displayed such aggression at the Academy, it would inevitably stir public unrest.
And given how tightly the Konoha Police Force monitored the village…
The hawkish Uchiha would hear about it for sure.
To them, this might look like the perfect moment—when the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki was at his most vulnerable, the easiest to manipulate.
"It looks like… I'll have to speak with Third Hokage."
Itachi murmured to himself: "If this clan, blinded by its own selfishness, is about to do something that will hurt the village…"
"Then, for the sake of Shisui's dying wish… I have no choice but to seek out that man."
That man—
Was Uchiha Obito.
By chance, Itachi had once discovered Obito's whereabouts—and learned that this lost clansman bore a deep hatred for the Uchiha clan.
To Itachi, that hatred was the perfect weapon—one that could be turned against those in the clan who had forsaken the Will of Fire and sought to plunge the village into chaos.
Two Mangekyō Sharingan, joined in secret.
If they struck without warning, Uchiha Itachi was confident he could annihilate the entire clan.
Through the lens of his Hokage-like mindset, the clan had already been abandoned. His sole concern was the survival of Konoha.
An Uchiha clan constantly on the brink of rebellion—plotting to awaken the Nine-Tails—was nothing more than a ticking time bomb.
And if that meant sacrificing an entire clan to remove it, so be it.
Better that… than waiting for the explosion to tear the village apart.
"Sasuke, you're a remarkable shinobi. You've already done more than enough."
Itachi forced down the storm inside him, crouched down, and flicked his brother's forehead. But the gesture lacked its usual warmth—hurried and distracted.
"Don't overthink things. Just train hard. As long as your big brother's around… you'll be fine."
After speaking, Uchiha Itachi turned and left without hesitation.
He was going to see the Third Hokage.
Sasuke stared at his brother's retreating figure, emotions stirring in his heart more than ever.
Even someone like my brother—the number one genius—was so shocked by Naruto's progress that he's going to report it directly?
Sasuke let out a long sigh.
"If I don't get first place on this term's exam… I really don't know what Father will say to me."
"Lately, things haven't been great between Father and Nii-san either. And it feels like some of the clan members are starting to misunderstand him too… I really hope they can resolve it soon."
What Sasuke didn't know—
Was that if events continued to unfold on the same timeline as in the original history, his brother was about to orchestrate a once-in-a-century reconciliation for the clan.
The kind no one could refuse.
At that very moment, while Uchiha Itachi was in the Hokage's office speaking with Sarutobi Hiruzen…
Naruto—whose recent display of power had already thrown all of Konoha into a state of tense activity—was sitting with eyes wide in excitement, listening intently to Kazuki explain the steps for using a Kekkei Tōta technique.
Next to him sat the Nine-Tails, both of its fox ears perked straight up.
"Wind, fire, and earth chakra… combined in specific proportions, form Dust Release."
Kazuki raised his left hand, each of his five fingers flickering with a different elemental chakra.
"It's not just Dust Release. As long as you learn how to balance and merge different chakra natures correctly, any Kekkei Tōta can be mastered."
"Watch closely how I fuse them. Pay attention to how each of the three types of chakra interact, support one another, and form a stable structure…"
As he spoke, a dust-gray barrier once again spun into shape in Kazuki's palm—pure Dust Release.
"Naruto, want to try it out? It's not difficult. You just need to find the right feel to learn it."
Kazuki smiled, eyes squinting slightly. "If you're ready, hold out your hands."
"I'm in! Kazuki-nii, I've been dying to learn something even cooler than before!"
With eagerness lighting up his face, Naruto rushed to stand in front of Kazuki, obediently holding out both hands.
Kazuki gave a small, approving nod. With a flick of his fingers, the pale, gray-white Dust Release barrier gently formed within Naruto's palms.
"Th-This… This is harder than maintaining a Shadow Clone!"
Naruto focused all his attention on controlling the restless swirl of chakra in his palms. Sweat poured down his forehead in fine, steady streams.
This was far more difficult than he'd imagined.
Even worse—
The unstable Dust Release in his hands looked like it was about to explode at any moment.
Even the Nine-Tails stared, dumbfounded.
Is he really going this far just to learn it?
Unlike most jutsu, the Nine-Tails could usually endure them with brute force alone…
But if caught within Dust Release, even a Tailed Beast would be in real danger.
[Snap.]
Kazuki snapped his fingers, and in an instant, the volatile Dust Release chakra in Naruto's palms dispersed before it could explode.
"Naruto, there's no doubt about it—you're an incredibly gifted child."
"Don't be afraid to take risks. I'll be right here to keep things under control. I believe in you. You can master Dust Release—it's really not that much harder than the Shadow Clone Technique."
Naruto tried again and again to maintain the Dust Release in his hands…
And each time he failed, Kazuki calmly helped disperse the unstable chakra, then conjured a fresh Dust Release sphere and passed it to him once more.
Bit by bit, the Nine-Tails' expression began to change.
Something about this didn't sit right.
Kazuki… really might be about to teach Naruto how to use Dust Release.
Damn it. Now I want to learn it too…!
The Nine-Tails stared blankly at Kazuki's method of instruction.
When it came to learning a Kekkei Tōta, the actual steps, if broken down, were quite simple.
It was like the old joke: how do you fit an elephant into a refrigerator? Step one, open the door. Step two, put the elephant in. Step three, close the door.
Mastering Dust Release was, in theory, just about fusing the chakra natures of wind, fire, and earth, harmonizing their properties, and then using shape transformation to construct a barrier that could disintegrate matter down to the atomic level.
It sounded utterly absurd on paper…
But in front of the Nine-Tails, that was exactly how Kazuki was teaching Naruto—if not even more outrageously.
The true barrier to mastering ninjutsu lay in the finesse required to handle both nature and shape transformations.
There were countless shinobi across the entire ninja world who had mastered the wind, fire, and earth chakra natures. At the very least, there were thousands of them…
Yet among all of them, only the Second Tsuchikage, Mū, and his disciple Ōnoki had ever managed to wield Dust Release.
Even Tobirama, a master of ninjutsu, and Orochimaru in later generations, had never succeeded in replicating this Kekkei Tōta.
It was easy to talk about it—much harder to do it.
Wind, fire, and earth chakra natures were merely the ingredients of this high-level dish called Dust Release.
In the hands of a true master, those ingredients could become a divine feast. In the hands of the average shinobi, they might still yield a passable meal—like some of the more advanced Five Elements techniques.
But Kazuki was different.
He didn't start by handing Naruto raw ingredients.
He first cooked the entire dish—and then had Naruto gulp it down, bite after bite.
Having mastered Dust Release to its peak, Kazuki could control this deadly barrier technique with flawless precision.
Even someone like Naruto—just a greenhorn fresh from the Academy—could maintain a Dust Release barrier with his own chakra under Kazuki's guidance.
This was something even Ōnoki and Mū had never achieved.
They could only cast Dust Release as an attack, using its deadly nature as a weapon. They could never wield it like Kazuki did—effortlessly, like a toy at his fingertips.
After all, they were only mortals. But Kazuki had already reached the level of a true middle-tier Ōtsutsuki!
"…So this is what it feels like…"
Beads of sweat slowly gathered on Naruto's forehead as he concentrated with everything he had, maintaining the Dust Release technique Kazuki had handed over. With total focus, he followed the chakra flow and gradually engraved its rhythm into his muscle memory.
Many things in life came down to just that one moment of clarity.
Once you found the key to the door, everything afterward was so much easier.
And Kazuki—relying on his mastery of Dust Release and a synthesis of techniques from the strongest shinobi across the world—had forcibly handed Naruto that key.
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