"Blow them away!"
"Reduce all of them to dust!"
"Hahahaha!" Naruto roared with wild laughter, his arm draped around Hinata as he directed five Tailed Beasts to unleash a relentless barrage of Tailed Beast Balls.
Explosions kept shaking the skies. The forest was turned into scorched wasteland. Rivers changed their courses. Mountains were flattened into level ground.
Tonpei was utterly stunned. He had always known Naruto possessed great strength, but he'd never imagined the boy could become this powerful.
Hinata's Byakugan scanned for enemies. No matter where they hid, none could escape the piercing gaze of her Byakugan.
As soon as Hinata locked onto an enemy, a Tailed Beast Ball would immediately be launched straight at them.
Explosions roared across the skies, their blinding flashes illuminating the battlefield. The scene looked like the end of the world, and it was the first time Hotaru had ever witnessed such a horrifying war.
"Ugh—!" Hotaru suddenly doubled over and vomited.
She was having a stress reaction. Just imagining that one day the same fate might strike her own homeland made her stomach twist.
The presence of five full-powered Tailed Beasts created a doomsday-like atmosphere, vividly depicting the brutality of warfare.
"Still want to bring the Tsuchigumo Clan back?"
"The Tsuchigumo Clan only flourished during war and chaos. With peace, it was bound to fade away. Just because you control one Kinjutsu, forget about reviving your clan—you should focus on living your own life."
Naruto spoke without holding back.
When Tonpei looked at Naruto, all he saw was a bloodthirsty god of death.
Hotaru was just a young girl, brimming with noble ideals—but her lack of experience left her dreams unsupported.
She crumbled to the ground. War surpassed anything she'd imagined before. Each explosion from the Tailed Beast Balls hit her like a blow to the chest. This was the first time she truly felt the terror of large-scale Ninjutsu.
Meanwhile, miles away,
A handsome man was traveling along when he suddenly sensed something strange within his body.
The man wore long-sleeved light-blue clothing, bangs covering half his face. His name was Nagare.
He was the Six-Tailed Jinchuriki, and a Rogue Ninja from Kirigakure.
After defecting, Nagare fled the Land of Water, drifting endlessly from place to place.
Nagare stopped mid-stride, sensing an internal disturbance—the Six-Tails was stirring.
"Why is the Six-Tails stirring within me now?"
Nagare looked ahead, feeling a strong gust of wind blowing toward him.
"Something major must've happened over there."
Nagare was incredibly strong, and being the Six-Tails' host, after only a moment's thought, he decided to go check out what exactly was going on.
After rushing forward some distance, devastation stretched before him as far as the eye could see.
Nagare stood stunned. Before him lay an endless expanse of scorched earth. The entire forest was gone.
"This…" Nagare's expression darkened. Even with all his knowledge, he couldn't begin to guess what kind of force had obliterated such a vast area.
"What exactly could have annihilated such a massive forest?"
Now on high alert, Nagare pressed forward, searching for answers.
As a rogue ninja who had completely severed ties with his past and lived a drifting life, Nagare found this strange phenomenon intriguing. He decided to dig deeper.
Nagare made his way forward, conducting an investigation until he finally arrived at the territory of the Tsuchigumo Clan, standing before their fortress.
Nighttime.
Tonight was unusually quiet—the usual sounds of chirping insects had completely vanished.
For the first time, Hotaru witnessed an explosion powerful enough to destroy a vast area. For the first time, she felt restless and uneasy.
Tonpei prepared a meal that they all shared together.
Naruto was wolfing down his food with uncontainable energy.
Sighing, Tonpei said, "I'm the only attendant left in the fortress. All the other attendants are gone."
Besides Hotaru, there had once been several other attendants serving within the Tsuchigumo Clan's fortress. Naruto had saved those attendants, but they later died during a thief's sneak attack.
Now, only four people remained inside the fortress.
They were Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, Tonpei, and Hotaru.
Looking at Naruto with deep meaning, Tonpei found himself liking him more and more. He was convinced Naruto was the perfect match for Lady Hotaru.
Glancing at Hinata, Tonpei couldn't help but find her presence inconvenient. After all, Hotaru and Naruto would make a much better couple.
After finishing his meal, Naruto turned to Hotaru and asked, "Aren't you going to eat? Not hungry?"
"You just used a devastating jutsu and wiped out so many lives. How can you eat like nothing happened?" Hotaru retorted.
"Hehe," Naruto grinned proudly. "Someone like me—who doesn't let things get to them—has seen way too much to be shaken up by this."
"If you'd known from the start what their forbidden jutsu really was, would you still have let them implant it in you?"
Hotaru gawked at Naruto, stunned.
Even Tonpei was taken aback.
This was one of the Tsuchigumo Clan's deepest secrets—their forbidden jutsu was embedded directly into a living body. At that moment, Hotaru carried the forbidden jutsu embedded in her back.
"Why do you know so much about the forbidden techniques?" Tonpei questioned.
"I'm gonna be the Hokage someday. There's nothing I don't know," Naruto declared, thumping the table confidently, exuding authority without needing to raise his voice.
His words left both Tonpei and Hotaru stunned into silence.
If anyone else had shown such knowledge about the forbidden technique, Tonpei would certainly have eliminated them immediately.
But Naruto was different—he was just too powerful. His ninjutsu surpassed anything the Tsuchigumo Clan could muster. Clearly, he didn't care about their so-called forbidden jutsu at all.
"I want to abandon the forbidden jutsu," Hotaru murmured with sorrowful eyes. "But it's already part of me… There's nothing I can do about it now…"
"Bull! There's always a way!" Naruto shot back confidently.
Tonpei was completely floored: "There's actually a way to undo the forbidden jutsu? Even Hotaru herself doesn't know—how come *you* do?"
"I know everything," Naruto declared boldly, striking a proud pose.
Hotaru gazed at Naruto, her eyes sparkling with admiration.
Naruto asked, "Hey, Hotaru, do you have some hot-looking teacher or something?"
"A handsome teacher?" Hotaru shook her head. "No, I only have my grandfather. He's the one who taught me."
Naruto immediately spat out the tea he was drinking.
"Oh man! I showed up too soon!"
Naruto mused inwardly: Six-Tailed Jinchuriki Nagare was supposed to show up first, meet Hotaru, fall for her, and then I'd step in to fix things.
To my surprise, Nagare hadn't arrived yet—and here I was, meeting Hotaru first. Well, that's it... everything's messed up now.
Naruto stole a quiet glance at Hotaru.
Hotaru quickly turned her head away, but her cheeks had already turned bright red.
Naruto couldn't take it anymore. He wasn't even the slightest bit interested in this girl.
Naruto cursed, "Damn it! Nagare is taking forever to show up—now I've stolen his thunder. I'm doomed, completely doomed!"
Tonpei had no clue what was going on. He didn't even know who Nagare was.
Looking over at Hinata, Naruto thought to himself: I can't let Hotaru fall for me… Now there's only one choice…
Suddenly, Naruto wrapped his arm around Hinata and poured alcohol straight into her mouth right in front of Hotaru.
"Hinata," Naruto said with a grin, "why don't you feed me some sake? I wanna use your cute little mouth as a cup—it's called kissing sake."
"Using your lips as a cup makes the drink taste even better."
Then Naruto leaned in and kissed her, sipping the sake straight from her lips.
Hotaru's entire face turned bright red.
Tonpei felt a sharp pang of bitterness in his chest.
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