____________
[— Manga Scene —]
On the night before the finals, Naruto sat on his bed with the blanket wrapped around his knees.
'I couldn't sleep… because I'm really nervous.'
…
"Even my Sharingan… can't see chakra points."
"The strongest genin in Konoha… is on my team, and he is…"
"Hyūga Neji!!"
…
Naruto walked alone through the village streets.
Conversations stopped. Heads turned. A mother pulled her child one step aside.
'Everyone has those… strange eyes…'
Then the boy raised his head and placed both hands behind his neck.
"Hahahaha! I can summon a toad now, so I should be fine!"
And he continued on his way toward the training ground.
[— End Scene —]
…
Konohagakure:
Inside the hall, most of the readers were occupied with the name that had closed the scene.
Hyūga Neji.
The strongest genin in the village.
The boy whose chakra points even the Sharingan could not see.
The Third Hokage, however, had not moved past the page before it.
He stared at a simple drawing: a crowded street, a blond child in the middle of it, and the people around him opening a path without even meaning to.
'No one spat at him. No one insulted him. No one raised a hand against him.'
'They only looked.'
The old man released the smoke from his pipe slowly, turned the page, then returned to it.
Because he knew where those looks had come from.
'When that disaster takes place in the future, thousands of people who saw the beast with their own eyes will remain in the village. And the Hokage—most likely me—will issue a law forbidding anyone from speaking about the matter in front of the younger generation.'
'A simple law. Its purpose is obvious: to keep the child from growing up hearing that he is a monster.'
Hiruzen set his pipe aside.
'But the law closes mouths, Hiruzen.'
'It does not close eyes.'
He looked at the drawing again: the adults who knew and remained silent, and the children who knew nothing and imitated their parents without understanding why.
'I stopped people from saying why they were afraid. So the fear remained without an openly stated reason, and became even heavier.'
'That child never heard a single word explaining what was happening… so he invented an explanation for himself. That there was something inside him, something he did not understand, that deserved all of this.'
'I wanted to protect him from one word… and instead, I protected him from all words.'
For the first time since the manga had begun, Hiruzen Sarutobi considered that a decision he would make in the future might be wrong.
…
In the quiet corner of the hall, Kushina was not crying.
She was comparing.
"A few pages ago, we were reading about the boy from the Sand."
She spoke quietly, her eyes still on the drawing.
"A child whose father tried to kill him, whose village classified him as a dangerous weapon, and whose family left him in a house no one entered. Of course he ended up alone. Anyone would have."
"And this one?"
Minato asked.
"This one walks through his own street. In his own village. Among people who know his name, know where he lives, and buy vegetables from the same shop."
The girl pointed at the page.
"And not one of them walks beside him."
"…"
"This is worse. Much worse, Minato. The first one had everything taken from him, so he had nothing left to lose. But this one was left with everything… except a single person willing to speak to him."
At the front of the hall, Uzumaki Mito had listened to the entire exchange without turning around.
Then she spoke, in a quiet voice heard only by those seated near her.
"And you, little one?"
Kushina raised her head.
"When was the last time someone spoke to you about what you carry?"
"…"
"Not me. I know, and that makes the conversation far easier than it should be. I mean someone else. Anyone else in this village. When was the last time someone sat beside you and said: I know what is inside you, and that is all right?"
Kushina did not answer.
Because she could not find the date.
"This village does not hate the bearers of tailed beasts, Kushina."
The elderly woman closed the volume over her finger.
"It simply does not know what to say to them. And when people cannot find the words, they remain silent. When they remain silent for too long, the one standing in their midst begins to believe they are alone."
…
[— Manga Scene —]
At the training ground, between the three wooden posts, Naruto noticed something moving behind one of them.
"Hinata… are you all right now?"
"Huh?! Na… Naruto-kun…"
"Why did you come here? Isn't today the main match?"
"I… um… you know, I only came here to see the training area. Ever since I became a genin…"
"You don't need a reason! Who cares about the reason?!"
"Oh… oh… yes, sorry…"
"Hey, Hinata… Neji is your relative, right?"
"Y-Yes."
"Is he strong?"
"Y-Yes."
"…"
"B-But maybe you can beat him, Naruto-kun."
"Hahahaha!! Yeah! I'm strong!"
…
Complete silence.
…
"Um… when you encouraged me… I felt like I had become stronger than before…"
"After the preliminary exam, I started to like myself more… and I… I think I can change…"
"I will not go back on my words… that is my ninja way."
"And I think I owe that to you, Naruto-kun."
"Hahaha! Ahahaha!! That's what you think? Huh? Yeah, I'm really influential!!"
[— End Scene —]
…
In the eastern section of the art store's hall, where the Hyūga clan was seated, the first thing everyone did was make sure.
Many eyes returned to the same page two and three times: the girl standing, walking, speaking, moving her hands in front of her chest.
"She is all right."
An elderly woman from the clan said it before she even realized she had spoken.
"Look. She is standing without help."
"And only a few weeks have passed."
Added a man beside her.
"That night, when they carried her out of the hall, all of us thought we would never see her again."
The eastern section relaxed slightly.
But the relief did not last.
After a few moments, a shinobi seated in the middle rows said something that brought every conversation to a stop.
"Weeks have passed since her fight, and none of us has yet said the sentence everyone is thinking."
"And what sentence is that?"
"The boy who nearly killed her is of our blood. And he exists because of our proposal."
A heavy silence fell.
Ever since the clan had read its fate in the previous volumes, they knew exactly what separated that boy from that girl in the future: one house that commanded, another that obeyed, and a seal placed on the foreheads of half the children.
They also knew that this division was not yet history.
It was still only a proposal lying on the clan council's table, unsigned for months.
"It is a proposal meant to protect the clan."
One of the elders finally spoke, in the tone of a man repeating words he had memorized.
"Two tigers cannot rule the same mountain. Without order, we would tear ourselves apart from within, just as other clans have."
"Perhaps."
The first shinobi replied.
"But we have just seen what that order does after twenty years. It tears us apart from within, only slowly and systematically. Is that better?"
"Watch your tongue."
"I am only reading what the shop owner drew for us, Uncle."
The elder did not reply.
…
Then the discussion shifted, as it always did whenever it approached a place no one wished to enter.
Ever since the finals bracket had been announced, the eastern section had been divided over another question, one that had nothing to do with clan councils:
Did the blond boy have any chance against Neji?
"No."
A young jōnin from the clan said it while turning the page.
"I am not saying that out of bias. I say it because I fight with these eyes every day. That boy attacks from the front, loudly, and with large numbers of clones. The Byakugan sees in every direction and can close chakra points with a single touch. The match will end before he understands what happened."
"That would have been true a month ago."
An older shinobi replied.
"But you are reading the same pages I am. The boy summoned the chief toad of Mount Myōboku after three weeks of training. Three weeks. How many jōnin in this village can do that?"
"And what use is a toad the size of a castle inside a closed arena, against an opponent who fights at arm's length? It would crush him beneath its weight or stand there uselessly. Summoning is a weapon for an open battlefield, not a duel."
"Then we agree that he has become stronger, and disagree only on whether that strength will help him here."
"We agree on that."
At the edge of the row, a man who had not joined the discussion until then finally spoke.
"You are discussing the wrong fight."
Those around him turned.
"Neji will defeat him or fail to defeat him, and either way, the result will be one or two injuries and a match ended by a referee. But look at the bracket. The boy who carries the sand is there as well."
"And what of it?"
"What of it is that the boy killed while smiling, and today's manga explained in detail what lives inside him and why he became that way."
The man spoke calmly.
"The blond boy's true opponent is not our clansman."
"It is the other thing that resembles him."
…
In the middle of all that, Masanori took part in neither discussion.
He had returned to the page at the training ground and read one line for the third time.
I started to like myself more… I think I can change.
Then he raised his eyes toward the eastern section.
Dozens of his clansmen, divided between those calculating Neji's chances and those calculating his opponent's, measuring distances, chakra points, and the weight of summons.
'Not one of you stopped at what the girl said.'
'A daughter of our clan just declared that she had changed. And that the credit belongs to an outsider.'
The man looked at his two sons: Hiashi on his right, Hizashi on his left, both occupied with the argument like everyone else.
'And we are calculating who will win the match.'
…
In the quiet corner, Kushina had recovered some of her usual mood.
"Did you notice what she said?"
She pointed at the page.
"I will not go back on my words. That is my ninja way. That is his line! We have heard him say it dozens of times! The shy girl stole that idiot's sentence and threw it back in his face!"
Minato was still looking at the drawing.
"I do not think she stole anything."
"Then what did she do?"
"She finally found someone who told her that she mattered."
"…"
The boy turned the page quietly and added nothing more.
Kushina continued looking at him for a long time, then returned to her volume without comment.
There had been a year, only a few years ago, when she had been the new girl in that village, with red hair that the Academy children mocked every day.
Then one person, without warning and without reason, had told her that her hair was beautiful.
And that person had never known what he had done with that single sentence.
…
Far away from all of that, in a place untouched by light…
"The latest update, Madara-sama."
The old man turned the pages slowly and stopped at the scene in the training ground: a girl standing behind a wooden post, declaring to a blond boy that she would not go back on her words.
"Slogans."
His voice was rough, and he did not raise his eyes from the page.
"The world is filled with them. Children collect them the way they collect stones, then grow up and throw them away in their first real battle."
"I suppose so, Madara-sama."
"Do not suppose. Know."
Madara turned the page.
"History is not made by beautiful sentences, Zetsu. It is made by strength, fear, and self-interest. Words are only what the weak tell themselves at night so they can sleep."
Then he fell silent and continued reading.
One page passed.
Then two.
The old man said nothing else.
But after a while, he went back.
He turned the pages in reverse, slowly, and stopped at an older scene in the same volume: a blond boy speaking about an Academy teacher who had taught him the meaning of his own existence.
Then farther back: a boy with broken limbs crawling across the ground, while his teacher told him that hard work was meaningless if he did not believe in himself.
Then farther still: a girl returning the same sentence to its owner, saying that the credit belonged to him.
'…'
Madara's fingers stopped on the paper.
'Three children. No exceptional talent, no great experience, and no special resources.'
'No one gave them anything that could be measured. They gave one another only words.'
'And yet each of them changed after hearing them.'
In the darkness, the red eye slowly rose from the page and stared at nothing.
'Hashirama did not defeat me with strength.'
'I fought him countless times, and every time I was stronger than I should have been. Yet he would reach out his hand and speak. About the village. About peace. About dreams fit only for children.'
'And I, who rejected every word he said… built my entire plan upon a single sentence I told myself that night: this world is broken, and it will never be repaired.'
'I said it once. Then I repeated it. Then it became certainty.'
Madara closed the volume very slowly and placed it atop the pile.
"Madara-sama?"
"…"
"Shall I bring you the next update at the usual time?"
'And when exactly…'
'…did I begin to believe my own words?'
____________
Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
____________
Chapter 218: The Main Event Begins!
Chapter 219: Neji vs. Naruto! (End of Volume 11)
Chapter 220: Between the Two Volumes
Chapter 221: Anime Episode 20 — A New Chapter Begins! The Chūnin Exams!
____________
Support the journey and unlock advanced chapters!
If you're enjoying Rob's story, his journey of publishing the Naruto manga inside the Shinobi world, and the impact it has on the world, and you want to know what happens before everyone else… there's always a way to stay ahead.
I work on this novel every day, developing its world and chapters, and every bit of support helps me keep delivering higher-quality content at a faster pace.
By supporting me on Patreon, you'll get exclusive access to advanced chapters before they're released to the public. You can move ahead in the story and read up to 30 chapters in advance!
📚 Support Tiers:
$5 → Read 5 advanced chapters
$10 → Read 10 advanced chapters
$15 → Read 15 advanced chapters
$20 → Read 20 advanced chapters
$30 → Read 30 advanced chapters
Every bit of support, even a small one, makes a real difference and helps me continue writing this journey that we're experiencing together.
Join now and start reading the stacked chapters before everyone else:
Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/BlackStar_BH
Thank you to everyone who supports the story and believes in this world. You are the reason it continues. ❤️
____________