The chakra within Naruto and Sasuke had also been drained by ninety nine percent. The two of them felt extremely weak upon waking up, their whole bodies were powerless and they were very hungry.
Fortunately, Minato and his wife had already prepared food. After wolfing down a meal, the two of them managed to recover.
"My chakra is almost all gone. Ashura's chakra is gone too..." Naruto felt he had become much weaker again. Before, he could sense that Ashura chakra.
"It's the same for me. Not only is Indra's chakra gone, but even the ocular power in my eyes..." Sasuke covered his own dim Rinnegan. The six tomoe inside had completely disappeared.
"That evil guy, he stole our power."
The expressions on both their faces were very ugly.
"It's not like that. We all misunderstood Ryun. He is not evil, he..."
Before Namikaze Minato could finish speaking, Naruto couldn't help but interrupt. "Dad, have you gone crazy..."
"Listen to me finish first..."
Minato told the two of them all the information he had learned from Ryun.
"What. All these things were told to you by him. Is he deceiving you..." Naruto's face was full of disbelief.
Sasuke's mind was very calm. Although Minato's words also shocked him greatly, he would not blindly deny that Uncle Ryun. He would only objectively analyze the reasonableness and truthfulness of these words.
"Naruto, Uncle Ryun's words might be true. Do you remember what the Sage of Six Paths said before, that his mother Kaguya... came from beyond the sky."
Hearing Sasuke's question, Naruto immediately calmed down. Then, he nodded with a grave expression. He did remember the Sage of Six Paths saying that the Otsutsuki clan came from beyond the sky, and that people of this clan were mostly not good news.
"Son... you need to understand one fact. Our lives, and even the life of the entire world, are in his hands. What good would deceiving me do for him. We can't help him with anything..." Minato sighed and said.
In his view, Ryun was willing to share these things with him simply because he thought highly of him.
"..."
His father's words left Naruto speechless.
"The fact that you two survived is all thanks to your mothers... If it weren't for Asuna's and Mikoto's relationship, plus the fact that Ryun's mother happened to be revived, you two might be dead by now..."
As soon as Minato said this, Naruto and Sasuke's faces instantly turned pale.
"Right, where is my mother? Where did my mother go?" Sasuke only now realized his mother was missing.
"Mikoto stayed behind at the Shadow Manor. Kushina asked me to tell you, after you wake up, go to Otogakure yourself..."
Hearing this, Sasuke visibly relaxed. But when he thought about having to go to Otogakure to see Ryun again, a feeling of timidity couldn't help but arise in his heart.
"I'll go home first to recover my chakra. After that, I'll... go to Otogakure..." Sasuke brushed it off.
To be honest, he felt too ashamed to go there again, especially now that he knew Ryun wanted to face the extraterrestrial enemy alone.
"Wait a moment. I still have something to make clear to you..."
Minato repeated the words about 'the world can only have one ninja village'. As soon as he said this, Naruto instantly jumped up again.
"What. Uncle Ryun is too overbearing. Even if I can understand the pressure he faces alone against the external enemy, the necessity of absorbing everyone's chakra...
But taking away the chakra seeds, crippling all ninja, only allowing Otogakure to exist, that method is too much, right? Isn't that cutting off the livelihood of ninja?"
Naruto's expression was impassioned. In his view, a dictator is an evil existence.
"Maybe after unification, there won't be any more war. A dictatorship isn't necessarily a bad thing. Your mother and I, and Mikoto have already decided to join Otogakure..." Minato helplessly revealed this matter.
That light, casual sentence instantly made Naruto's face flush red with anger.
"Your mother, and Sasuke's mother, have already made a guarantee in front of Ryun, guaranteeing that you two would join Otogakure. This is also the reason he didn't take away the chakra seeds inside your bodies..."
"He can take them away. Sasuke and I won't submit to him anyway. We won't betray Konoha either..."
Naruto's face was full of stubbornness, still adhering to the beliefs and principles in his heart. But the words his good friend Sasuke said next instantly broke his defenses.
"You speak for yourself. Don't include me. If you don't want to join, then stay in Konoha and be an ordinary person... I still want to be a ninja. I have no problem joining Otogakure..."
Sasuke was afraid of facing Uncle Ryun, but he was not resistant to joining Otogakure. On the contrary, he was very willing.
"Sasuke. How can you..."
"Since you don't want to join Otogakure, I won't force you. But your mother and I promised Ryun we would join Otogakure, we can't go back on that. Naruto, you live well here from now on. I'll send living expenses to you regularly. In the future, find yourself a suitable, virtuous wife, have children and live a stable life. That's pretty good too..."
A ninja represents combat power, but in the end, it's just a profession. Not being a ninja isn't really a big deal. After all, many villagers in Konoha Village are not ninja and don't cultivate chakra.
The average lifespan of ordinary people is even higher than that of ninja. Naruto has already died once. Minato didn't want to see his son take risks again. He only wished for his son to live peacefully to old age now. Whether he is a ninja or not doesn't matter.
"Dad. Even you... Damn it."
In the end, Naruto still chose to compromise, with tears in his eyes...
He was already an adult. If he wasn't a ninja and didn't have a skill to rely on, he'd probably really just become a useless person who mooches off his parents... He simply couldn't imagine such a terrible life.
After Sasuke left, Minato looked at the dejected Naruto and couldn't help but sigh softly. Then, he began to comfort him.
"Good child... Dad knows you're sad, and understands how you feel. After all, both our dreams were to become Hokage. The demise of Konoha Ninja Village makes us more unwilling, more sad than anyone else..."
Hearing these words, Naruto was clearly stunned for a moment.
'That's right... Dad's dream was also to become Hokage. Leaving Konoha to join Otogakure must hurt him more than anyone...' Naruto somewhat regretted giving his father attitude earlier.
"The ninja villages of the various nations becoming history is the general trend. Although Konoha Village might not have a Hokage anymore in the future, if we can't be Hokage, we can strive for the Sound Shadow position..."
"Ah?"
Hearing this, Naruto couldn't help but widen his eyes.
"Your dad here is in his thirties and won't give up easily. Ideals, aspirations, ambitions are still there... You just turned sixteen. There are many days ahead, and there will be many opportunities. As long as you dare to venture and dare to act, this world might still have a place for you. Why should you be disheartened?"
These words awakened the dreamer. The words of Minato, this kind father, ultimately enlightened Naruto.
"I understand, Dad."
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📖 Like the story? Read 120 chapters ahead!
🔗 patreon.com/atomelectron
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━