Chapter 65: Epilogue of the Third Volume
The wind howled in his ears. Bone-chillingly cold.
"Jump down!"
The earth was approaching. The plants, flowers, and birds in his pupils were rapidly enlarging.
"It's several hundred meters high here. You'll definitely die if you fall to the ground!"
His hands and feet were cold. His heartbeat was accelerating crazily.
"This is your training... If you don't want to die, then think of a way yourself!"
Jiraiya's emotionless words were still by his ear, but the threat of death was getting closer and closer.
"Naruto, this time you must open that door yourself!"
If this goes on, if this goes on, I'm really going to die!
I don't want to die—
Hurry, hurry and remember how that power came out—
Damn it, hurry, hurry!
Hurry, I'm running out of time—!
At the last moment, the massive texture of chakra finally erupted like a waterfall from the bottom of the cliff—
"Summoning Jutsu!"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!
"Naruto succeeded!"
"No, this is bad... the timing of the jutsu was too late!"
A dim vision, his whole body in excruciating pain. Sticky blood seemed to cover his entire body, as if he were soaked in warm water.
A giant toad was looking down at him.
No emotion could be seen in its lantern-sized, orange-yellow eyes.
The Summoning Jutsu, it seems to have succeeded?
Jiraiya-sensei, did you see? I did it...
So tired, so exhausted. I just want to sleep like this...
The world in his vision lost its color, turning to black and white.
The last image was of three figures rushing over.
"He's not dead yet! Quick, Shizune, start emergency treatment now!"
"...Medical Ninjutsu!"
The voices seemed to come from the edge of the sky.
Intermittent, ethereal, with no sense of reality.
"Lady Tsunade... fractures... massive internal bleeding... intracranial..."
"...Hold on... Naruto..."
"...Hold on... you... can't die..."
I just want to sleep like this...
So tired...
All the sounds gradually faded away.
All the images slowly disappeared.
A dead silent darkness. Nothing else.
It seemed that everything had ended here.
Drip, drop. Drip, drop.
Drip.
The sound echoed in this cramped, dark prison.
A deep and terrifying voice suddenly sounded in the darkness.
"It's so dark..."
"So dark!"
"Why did it get dark... could it be...!"
"Hmph! My power...!"
A faint glimmer of light began to shine again in this absolutely dark cage.
Gradually, bit by bit, it grew brighter and brighter!
"You can't die!"
"You cannot die!"
The voice gradually became clearer.
A cool liquid dripped on his face. It was cool and itchy.
Color and patterns returned to the world in his eyes.
Ah... I'm not dead...
He struggled to raise his hand and grasped the precious necklace Tsunade wore around her neck.
"This bet... I won, right..."
A miracle was born.
A gentle breeze rustled, lightly moving the curtains in the hospital room.
The bright sunlight shone on Naruto's face. The faint sound of conversation and the warm sun woke him from his sleep.
"Naruto, you're awake! Hmph, if you slept any longer, you would have missed your match with me!"
The one who spoke was a heroic young lady. Although her features were not peerlessly beautiful, between her bright eyes, white teeth, and radiant smile, she had a different kind of awe-inspiring, valiant air.
She took out an apple with her right hand. Without any visible movement, with just a light turn of her wrist, the peel was shaved off by her wind-natured chakra.
The handsome youth in blue clothes and white pants next to her took the apple the girl handed him, took a bite, and smiled faintly. "What on earth were you training? How did you get so seriously injured!"
Naruto jumped off the hospital bed, stretched his body, and felt the strength coming from all parts of his body, without any sense of obstruction. It was as if the injuries he had before falling unconscious had not left any trace on him; as if he hadn't been injured at all, but was just too tired, and after a good sleep, he woke up feeling refreshed. The recovery ability of a Jinchuriki was truly something to behold.
Taking the small piece of apple from Sakura's hand, Naruto gave a brilliant smile. "You'll both find out soon enough!"
He swallowed the piece of apple in one bite and said indistinctly.
"Sakura-chan, you have to be careful during the match! If you're not careful, you might just lose to me!"
The response he got was a sneer from the girl.
Has he learned to preliminarily control the Nine-Tails' power? Sakura guessed based on the plot of the original story.
By now, the butterfly effect had become more and more obvious. Not only were the details becoming more and more different from the original story, but even some of the major trends had begun to slowly shift.
For example, Tsunade, who was supposed to be brought back to Konoha after the end of the Chunin Exams, had now been brought back so much earlier. This showed that Konoha was more vigilant than in the original story and had already realized the possible danger.
So Sakura wasn't too sure what Jiraiya had actually taught Naruto.
And the culprit who had caused all these changes was the transmigrator, Haruno Sakura. Perhaps it was the intelligence she had submitted that had pierced through a layer of denial that everyone was unwilling to believe, or perhaps it was the combat power and value she had displayed after the battle with Orochimaru that had given her words a certain weight. Or perhaps, these current situations were themselves another possible future that was not shown in the manga...
In short, Konoha seemed to have quietly made preparations in secret.
Although she didn't know the specific details.
But things were developing in a good direction.
Knowing this was enough.
A hundred thoughts spun in the girl's mind, but she still didn't forget to bicker with Naruto.
"Tsk tsk tsk, Naruto, you say this after every training session. It's been over a hundred times, hasn't it!"
"Damn it! The past doesn't count! I'll definitely beat you this time!"
"Hohoho, the whining of a defeated dog is so pitiful! But even if you say that, I won't go easy on you!"
"Don't you underestimate me! I've learned a new ultimate move! I can definitely beat you to a pulp!"
"Hey, you two, stop messing around in the hospital!"
The summer sun was as passionate as the feelings between the young boy and girl.
However, at the same time, on the horizon, a thunderstorm was quietly approaching.
An unpredictable destiny. Where will the future lead?
Sakura could no longer answer this question accurately.
But the her of today already had enough confidence to face this world timeline that was gradually diverging from the original story.
End of Volume Three.
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