"C-clone!?"
Every shinobi lining the street gaped.
Kurenai couldn't help blurting, "By 'clone'… you mean Kage Bunshin?"
"What else?" Naruto arched a brow, amused. "You seriously thought you lot could seal my real body. Twice?"
The gathered shinobi went slack-faced.
So the one they'd been fighting all this time wasn't Naruto's true body—just a plain shadow clone.
"Quit spouting nonsense." Asuma took a drag on his cigarette. "Something that keeps up with this many of us can't be a mere shadow clone. You want us to drop our guard and let you out, right?"
At that, Konoha's shinobi finally loosened with relief, wiping cold sweat from their brows.
Right—how could a monster like this be only a clone? If it were, how terrifying would the original be?
Naruto snorted. "Frogs at the bottom of a well."
Asuma's face darkened—but he still didn't believe Naruto's claim.
Jiraiya, however, felt a lurch of dread. He looked toward Hiashi—bruised, swollen, and still not fully recovered. "Hiashi, check him."
"I know." The veins around Hiashi's eyes bulged; pale irises fixed on Naruto as he opened the Byakugan (White Eye).
"The remaining chakra is low, but the body is abnormally tough. That suggests the original body… No—his blood, meridians, everything is off…"
Sweat rolled down Hiashi's temple as he murmured. A shadow clone perfectly mimicked the original's looks, but being a ninjutsu construct, its blood, pathways, and chakra composition were all telltale if you looked closely enough.
Finally, he aimed his sight at Naruto's abdomen and drove the Byakugan to its peak.
Seconds ticked by.
Hiashi went pale. "It's a shadow clone. I don't see any Nine-Tails chakra inside him—and his total chakra shouldn't be this low if he were the original…"
"No kidding," Naruto curled his lip. "This body's been out for almost half a month. And the original only loaded me with taijutsu. I was close to timing out anyway."
Silence fell like a shroud over the street—so still you could hear heartbeats.
Panic and shock rippled through the ranks.
If a mere shadow clone was this absurdly strong, then if Naruto's true body came in person… wouldn't he just steamroll Konoha?
A thin smile tugged at Naruto's mouth. "Jiraiya—since you've already figured out who I am, the real me will be here soon. Got a plan for how you'll stop me?"
Jiraiya's face went iron-blue.
He had no useful answer at all.
Hiruzen drew in a slow breath and forced a smile. "Naruto—"
"Save it." Naruto's voice went cold. "You think I'm still that little brat?"
"Sit tight in Konoha and wait for your sentence."
With that, he poured everything into a single kick:
"Rankyaku: Shūdan (Storm Leg: Perimeter Sever)!!"
With a howl, the old monkey's face on the Kongō Nyoi (Adamantine Nyoi Staff) twisted in a shriek of agony.
One of the gold bars was carved a third of the way through—dark blood oozing along the cut surface.
Bang!
A puff of white smoke—Naruto's body vanished without a trace.
No one doubted it now: this Naruto had been a shadow clone. Which only made the truth more terrifying.
Just how strong was the real Naruto?
After a moment's silence, Hiruzen spoke. "Jiraiya, Kakashi, Guy—clan heads too. To my office. We need to discuss our next steps."
The shinobi traded worried looks, then followed Hiruzen in grim silence.
"Edo Tensei (Reanimation Jutsu)!?"
On the route from the Land of Rain to the Land of Fire, Naruto sat atop the shell of the Three-Tails, Isobu, staring at Shisui in mild surprise.
He hadn't expected this taboo that surfaced late in the original timeline to come up here and now—from Shisui, of all people.
Shisui gave a wry nod. "It's what Itachi told me. Back then, people in Konoha were ready to use that forbidden jutsu."
"To… wipe out the Uchiha clan?"
Naruto's brows lifted. He hadn't expected that thread in the massacre.
On second thought, it fit. In the original story, Itachi fed Konoha no proper intel after joining Akatsuki.
But if he'd been cornered by Konoha—forced to slaughter his clan to protect his brother—that was a… more coherent motive.
Shisui nodded silently. "According to Itachi, the one Konoha wanted to bring back with Edo Tensei was the Second Hokage…"
"Got it." Naruto's expression cleared with sudden understanding.
Shisui blinked. "Naruto-sama, how did you know just from 'Second Hokage'?"
"Do I need to spell it out?"
Naruto shook his head slightly.
"The whole 'Uchiha are born evil' thing—that's Tobirama's catchphrase. He loathed the Uchiha.
If you summon him and tell him the clan is plotting rebellion, he'd absolutely green-light wiping them out."
Naruto snorted. "Disturbing the dead—Hiruzen really would go that far, huh? What a lovely karmic stain to add."
Shisui slowly shook his head. "Naruto-sama, I think Tobirama-sama accounted for all of this."
"True." Naruto nodded. "If he truly didn't want to be disturbed, Tobirama wouldn't have left the jutsu behind.
He left it so that, in Konoha's hour of crisis, they could reanimate him to save the village."
"The reason it's never been used is likely that Konoha doesn't want to terrify the other villages."
"Once Edo Tensei is unleashed, Konoha becomes the enemy of the world. No one will tolerate a technique like that."
Shisui agreed with a grave nod.
Those brought back by Edo Tensei were effectively immortal demons. And it wouldn't just be Konoha's own dead; other villages' powerhouses could be stolen and controlled as well.
If word got out, every hidden village would converge to crush Konoha.
With that chilling thought, Shisui couldn't help voicing his worry. "Naruto-sama, with how openly we're preparing to strike Konoha, I fear they might cast aside every restraint and use Edo Tensei…"
(End of Chapter)
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