"The Fourth's son." After Naruto finished this sentence, an extremely mocking smile appeared on his face.
"Naruto..." Opening his mouth, Sasuke didn't know what to say. This was the first time he knew about Naruto's situation. Comfort? Or sympathy? Alone and lonely - so Naruto was the same as himself.
But he had once possessed a warm home and felt his parents' love, while Naruto had lost his parents from the moment he was born. Clearly the hero who saved the village, yet hated by the villagers.
Naruto had never mentioned these things before. The Fourth's son, the Nine-Tails fox - this information was somewhat overwhelming.
Haku at this time didn't know what to say. He suddenly felt Naruto's experience was very similar to his own. The difference was that he had personally killed his own father.
But having been treated as a monster since childhood, he could understand Naruto's feelings. Although not a jinchuriki, Haku knew that feeling of loneliness to death.
"Nine-Tails Mode!" Golden-red chakra wrapped around Naruto. Perhaps because Naruto was still too young to fully master it.
The current Nine-Tails mode wasn't the pure golden chakra from the original work, but rather mixed with some demon fox cloak imagery - for example, teeth becoming sharp, fingernails and hair becoming somewhat longer.
Although it caused some damage to Naruto's body, for Naruto's current body, there was no impact.
Unlike the pure demon fox cloak, Naruto in Nine-Tails mode had no tail, so there was no issue of rationality being affected.
In three years, Kurama inside Naruto's body had actually completely acknowledged Naruto's existence. Perhaps Naruto was the first person besides the Sage of Six Paths willing to communicate with him.
In any case, Naruto's current impure Nine-Tails mode was completed with the help of the Golden Silkworm Gu and Kurama. According to Kurama, after just three more months or half a year of training, Naruto could perfectly use its chakra.
By then, Naruto in Nine-Tails mode would look exactly like in the original work.
"Thanks, Kurama!" Naruto subconsciously said, not caring whether the Nine-Tails inside him could hear.
"Come on, monkey mask - let's compare and see who's more like a monster!" Naruto in Nine-Tails mode not only had greatly increased speed but also considerably enhanced strength.
Kakuzu's two hearts momentarily couldn't keep up with Naruto's rhythm. No, rather at this time Naruto's speed was almost like teleportation.
"Naruto at this time is so strong! Or rather, even stronger than Kakashi." The two tomoe in his eyes spun crazily, trying to record Naruto's movements.
However, unfortunately, Naruto's speed wasn't purely physical speed - it also mixed in something similar to Body Flicker Technique but faster.
Not only that, even keeping up with Naruto's movements was very strenuous for Sasuke's eyes.
"Nine-Tails Claw!" Materialized golden-red chakra was condensed by Naruto into a huge sharp claw, fiercely grabbing toward one of the masked monsters.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness." The other masked monster naturally wouldn't let Naruto succeed, releasing a powerful Lightning Release jutsu at Naruto.
This was a jutsu with very strong destructive power, forcing Naruto to leave his previous position in a siege-relief-by-attacking-the-base strategy.
Powerful lightning-attribute chakra condensed into a sharp lightning spear, turning compressed lightning into a sharp spear to pierce the enemy. It could casually pulverize rocks - a technique with extremely high lethality.
Even with Naruto in Nine-Tails mode having greatly improved defensive ability, being stabbed by this lightning spear would result in serious injury.
But the sharp claw condensed from Nine-Tails chakra could freely extend and retract. Naruto was determined to land this Nine-Tails Claw strike. Although the following lightning spear was fast, Naruto's nearly teleporting movement was faster.
Not only did it fail to hit Naruto, but the other masked monster was fiercely caught by the sharp claw condensed from Nine-Tails chakra.
"Although in this state my strength has been greatly enhanced, I can only maintain it for 3 more minutes at my current state. Must fight quickly - once Nine-Tails mode is released, I'll fall into a brief weakened state. This is also because my mastery of Nine-Tails mode isn't thorough enough."
"Ordinary physical attacks don't seem very effective on these two monsters, and the jutsu I know aren't particularly destructive techniques. Looks like I can only use techniques unique to Nine-Tails mode."
"Weakened Version: Tailed Beast Ball." A small black sphere slowly condensed in Naruto's other hand.
Then Naruto fiercely pressed it onto the mask of the black masked monster he'd grabbed earlier, then instantly left using the weakened version of teleportation.
"Took care of one!" For Naruto in Nine-Tails mode, even using Tailed Beast Ball wasn't difficult, but that consumed too much chakra and was too wasteful for dealing with just one of Kakuzu's hearts.
For the current partial demon fox cloak state Nine-Tails mode, even if Kurama wouldn't extract chakra that originally belonged to him from Naruto, Naruto still couldn't persist for long.
The current Naruto was twelve years old, not sixteen. His current body was still in development stage - not suitable for excessive overdraft consumption.
"Wind Release: Super Destructive Rasengan."
The other masked monster, sensing things were bad, planned to escape, but absolutely didn't expect to receive an attack from another side.
A huge light blue sphere fiercely ground it to pieces.
"Who?!" Naruto was the first person present to react. After all, at this time he still had Nine-Tails mode on - his perception was greatly enhanced.
"Don't worry, Naruto. This isn't an enemy." The Golden Silkworm Gu on Naruto's head spoke for the first time in front of others.
"Yo, good morning everyone." That black clothing familiar to Sasuke, the fan pattern family emblem, and those familiar Sharingan eyes.
"You're from the Uchiha clan?" Sasuke looked dazedly at this youth who didn't seem much older than him.
"That's right. I'm called Uchiha Musashi."
"Poof" - two of the four masks on Kakuzu's back suddenly broke. Kakuzu reacted immediately - two of his hearts had actually been destroyed.
This slowed down his hand movements, giving Zabuza and Kakashi a chance to breathe.
Kakashi was forced to use his most powerful jutsu, Lightning Blade. And Zabuza also broke an arm.
"Could it be that chakra just now? Among those brats is someone who can kill my hearts. Looks like I must quickly finish off these two guys. Who's there?"
Kakuzu shouted loudly toward a nearby shadowed position.
"Worthy of being Taki Village's S-rank rogue ninja, Kakuzu-dono."
"Such outstanding perception ability."
Two people in black clothing emerged from the shadows.
"You two - could it be... could it be?" Cold sweat slid down Kakashi's forehead. Was today really just bad luck? How were these guys popping out one after another?
"Uchiha Sou." "Uchiha Gi."
"Greetings." *2
Didn't check the almanac before going out - how were these guys appearing one after another? First the Demon Zabuza Momochi, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist, then Taki Village's S-rank rogue ninja Kakuzu appeared. Finally, Uchiha clan members who should have disappeared without a trace came.
Kakashi's heart at this moment was almost collapsed. Everyone knew the Uchiha clan's remaining survivors had absolutely no good feelings toward Konoha ninjas.
So the question was: calculate Kakashi's current shadow area of psychological trauma.
"You're that brat Itachi protected even while betraying the family?" Musashi with a rogue appearance, digging his ear while sizing up Sasuke.
"What do you mean by that?" Hearing Musashi mention Itachi's name, Second Young Master Sasuke instantly got excited! Especially the unclear tone in Musashi's words and the information revealed - what did "protected" mean?
"Literal meaning." Musashi couldn't be bothered to answer his question. He only came here to resolve Kakuzu's problem.
If left alone, even if Naruto tried his utmost, he couldn't possibly take down the veteran Kage-level powerhouse Kakuzu.
As for Kakashi and Zabuza, even more impossible. Even in their prime, they couldn't be Kakuzu's match, let alone after fighting earlier.
Although Meruem didn't care much about changing the plot, that was only for changing some harmless issues - at least that's what Meruem thought.
If the protagonist and male lead number two, Sasuke and Naruto, died, that would truly be painful.
Then it would really be eyes going dark, completely blind.
"I want you to answer me!" Originally meeting fellow clan members again should make Sasuke very excited and happy, but once it involved the topic of Itachi, Sasuke couldn't stay calm anymore.
Completely disregarding the strength Musashi just displayed, he actually wanted to attack him.
"Kid! Don't be too arrogant." At a speed the group couldn't react to, Musashi firmly pressed Sasuke's head to the ground.
"What are you doing to Sasuke?!" Naruto in Nine-Tails mode, seeing his good friend being bullied, instantly got angry.
"Stop, Naruto. This is their family matter - outsiders shouldn't interfere." The Golden Silkworm Gu immediately stopped Naruto. Fortunately, Naruto could still listen to the Golden Silkworm Gu's words.
"You know what? I should have killed you because of your brother. Although even without him, I estimate our Uchiha clan would have ended up like this anyway, but a traitor is a traitor. However, considering you're just a pitiful person and even just someone's chess piece, I'll spare you for now." Musashi played a qualified Uchiha clan member.
"Want to know the truth about the Uchiha clan? Next time we meet, I'll tell you." A light whisper rang in Sasuke's ear. After hearing Musashi's words, Sasuke, who had been struggling, momentarily froze. A voice in his heart told him that the family massacre wasn't as simple as he imagined.
It might not even have been done by Itachi. This terrifying thought - as soon as it arose, Sasuke snuffed it out. But in the deepest part of Sasuke's heart, he still hoped Itachi wasn't the murderer.
(End of Chapter)
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