Sakura, Hinata, Ino, Shikamaru, Kiba, Chōji, Shino, and Rock Lee stared at Naruto in shock! They'd never seen Naruto this furious before!!
"You bastards who don't understand anything..."
Making a throwing motion, Naruto hurled the Wind Style: Rasenshuriken in his hand with all his rage!
"You have NO right to insult the Hokage or Sasuke's brother!"
For this attack, Naruto had even added the Nine-Tails' power and sage mode to his Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!
The massive wind shuriken left his hands!
Flying straight toward the 'Barrage Wall' that had slandered the Hokage and Itachi Uchiha!!!
At the same time!
The Mangekyō pattern unique to both him and Itachi appeared in Sasuke's eyes!
Susano'o! Kagutsuchi!!
The purple Susano'o warrior wielded a Black Flame arrow and shot it directly at Naruto's Wind Style: Rasenshuriken!!
'The only thing that can help fire burn stronger... is wind...' Kakashi's ears seemed to hear Naruto's whisper from when he'd first learned his chakra nature.
Before his eyes, Sasuke Uchiha and Uzumaki Naruto stood side by side!
Their powers merged! Creating an attack that even the Second Hokage praised!
Flames rapidly burned across the text insulting the Hokage and Itachi!
The Amaterasu flames would never be extinguished!
The Ten-Tails also took the opportunity to struggle again! Attempting to escape the suppression!
However...
["Ding—!"]
A crisp sound like a prank rang out!
"!!!!"
The Amaterasu flames were completely absorbed by the Barrage Wall—the milky-white surface showed not even the slightest damage!
Instead, the struggling Ten-Tails looked like a dried-up tree branch! It lay limply on the ground, having lost all energy to struggle!
At the same time, those flowing right-to-left texts that the people inside called 'barrages' disappeared! In their place appeared a chibi tree with lush branches and leaves?!
A huge red eyeball grew in the middle of the little tree's trunk!
Similar to the Rinnegan in Obito Uchiha's eye socket, it also had circular patterns.
But the eye in the tree trunk was red and had nine tomoe—more than the Rinnegan!
Before everyone could figure out what this cute chibi tree meant, or guess the connection between the Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan and Obito Uchiha's Rinnegan...
A specially processed voice appeared in everyone's ears:
["Having a friend like Uzumaki Naruto is the worst luck for Sasuke Uchiha!"]
What?!
Both Naruto and Sasuke, whose names had been called out, froze.
"WHAT?!"
Naruto immediately turned into a walking meme, looking like he wanted to dive in there and bite someone!
His classmates immediately defended Naruto. During the Chūnin Exams, every single one of them had risked their lives trying to bring Sasuke back! And someone actually thought having friends like them was Sasuke's bad luck?!!
Are you kidding me?!!
["Question for Sasuke Uchiha: Do you agree with the statement 'Having a friend like Uzumaki Naruto is the worst luck for Sasuke Uchiha'?"]
"WHAT?!" Naruto became a complete meme, jumping up to argue with that thing. "Even if I hit you once with a Rasengan! You can't take revenge on me like this!! You bastard! If you've got guts, fight me one-on-one! What's the deal with trying to drive a wedge between people's relationships?!"
He hopped around left and right like a small animal, making boxing motions at the 'Barrage Wall.'
"..." Tobirama Senju: "Is this kid maybe a bit... airheaded?"
Minato Namikaze scratched his face, giving the Second Hokage an apologetic smile, thinking his son looked adorable no matter what.
'Plop—'
A small object fell from the sky, landing in Sasuke Uchiha's hand.
It looked like a TV remote control, but with only two buttons—red and blue.
Recalling the question that thing just asked—whether he agreed or not...
Red and blue... probably one button represented agreement, and the other represented disagreement.
Just as Sasuke was thinking, that eerie voice from the 'Barrage Wall' appeared again—
["Question for Sasuke Uchiha: Do you agree with the statement 'Having a friend like Uzumaki Naruto is the worst luck for Sasuke Uchiha'?"]
["The red button on the selector represents agreement, the blue button represents disagreement."]
["—Please make your choice, Sasuke Uchiha."]
["Additionally, this vote is anonymous. Please be aware."]
This...
How thoughtful. The vote is anonymous, which means...
Wait, if only Sasuke is choosing, what's the point of making it anonymous?!!
Shikamaru analyzed: "Based on those 'barrages' we saw earlier, maybe more people will answer the same question later. Otherwise, the necessity of an 'anonymous vote' doesn't make sense."
"But what's the point of this kind of question?" someone from the Allied Shinobi Forces asked. "Why pick such a critical moment during the war, though it did help us suppress the Ten-Tails at least."
The one feeling the most socially dead was Uzumaki Naruto. He had no idea who he'd offended or why they'd ask Sasuke this kind of question!!
Chōji told Naruto to think carefully about who he'd offended recently, but no matter how hard Naruto thought, he couldn't figure it out.
Perhaps afraid that in Sasuke's eyes, he really was just an annoying pest who'd been causing him trouble all along. From the moment the question appeared, Naruto stopped looking in Sasuke's direction and didn't ask for his answer...
"Lord Madara..." Black Zetsu emerged from the ground with just his head, voice raspy: "Don't let these things affect our plan."
Madara Uchiha glanced at Black Zetsu. He didn't like being urged, much less being ordered around.
Sensing Madara's anger, Black Zetsu wisely retreated back into the ground after achieving his goal.
The Second Hokage rationally suggested Sasuke figure out that thing's purpose before making a more correct choice.
Kakashi came to Sasuke's side, calling out to him: "Sasuke..."
He didn't know what to say...
But he was the one who'd carried the unconscious Naruto back after he fought with Sasuke at the Valley of the End, trying to stop Orochimaru from taking Sasuke away.
He was also the one who personally witnessed Naruto kneeling in the snow, head buried in it, begging the Raikage to spare Sasuke.
And he knew about Naruto being in such pain he could barely breathe after learning Konoha was classifying Sasuke as a rogue ninja, and hearing the hidden truth about Itachi from Obito.
"Naruto, he..."
The words reached his lips, but Kakashi felt that Naruto definitely wouldn't want Sasuke to know these things.
"Sasuke Uchiha." Sai looked at the man who was stronger than himself, more useful in this battle. "Do you really think having Naruto as a friend is your misfortune?"
"Sai!!" Naruto growled disapprovingly. He didn't want to pressure Sasuke into giving an answer that wasn't from his heart.
But Sai ignored Naruto, instead confronting Sasuke Uchiha even more directly.
From the moment Sasuke arrived on this battlefield, Sai had become aware of his own growing anxiety. He was originally created as a replacement for Sasuke Uchiha. Now that the real deal was back, did that mean he was no longer needed?
Compared to Sasuke, HE was the one who truly cherished his friendship with Naruto!