"Good! Kill them all!"
Gaara wears a crazed smile.
But the moment the words leave his mouth—
he collapses.
Temari's heart jumps. She quickly catches him.
"What do we do?" Kankurō asks nervously.
Temari exhales in relief.
"It's fine. Shukaku won't come out."
"Huh?" Kankurō hasn't caught on yet.
"During the viewing, all aggressive actions are restricted. Chakra circulation is much harder."
"I noticed earlier—Gaara showed signs of rampaging, but there wasn't any chakra leakage."
Kankurō blinks.
"That… does seem right."
"He'll be fine. Gaara's just… too tired," Temari says softly.
She wears the smile only an older sister can.
Kankurō rubs his nose.
Now that she mentions it, he remembers—
Gaara almost never sleeps well.
Two days without sleep and he's already on edge.
Let alone Gaara, who has been deprived of rest year after year.
With Shukaku no longer posing a life-threatening risk, Kankurō's thoughts finally settle.
He glances at Rasa's regretful messages about missing the quiz.
And shakes his head.
Gaara turned out this way—
their father bears no small share of the blame.
"Sleep. Shukaku can't act during the viewing anyway. Get some proper rest."
Kankurō's voice reaches Gaara—and Shukaku inside the seal.
Shukaku roars madly, shrill and violent.
But with chakra circulation suppressed—
Gaara hears none of it.
Ino excitedly clings to her mother's arm.
"Mom~!"
"I got a reward too!"
"Aunt Kushina can even be revived… so my five-times talent boost must be amazing!"
Yamanaka Lino flicks her daughter's nose.
"Silly girl. Your talent was never bad to begin with."
Nearby, Sakura watches with envy, quietly clenching her fists.
She wants a reward too.
Five-times talent—
then she wouldn't always be holding everyone back.
Neji takes a deep breath.
He calms the storm of emotions in his heart.
The Caged Bird on his forehead is easy to remove.
The one in his heart is not.
Byakugan purity?
Does the Byakugan even have levels of purity?
Once he calms down, Neji catches the key point.
He has never heard of such a thing.
After all, he has never had a truly direct comparison.
Naruto, meanwhile, is still lost.
Neji glances at him—
and suddenly feels Naruto looks… different.
But he cannot say how.
Besides, his eyes haven't been purified yet.
Psychological effect?
Smack—
Neji slaps Naruto on the back of the head again.
Naruto clutches his head.
This time, he does not yell.
Those blue eyes are still filled with confusion.
"Neji… was the other me right?"
Neji silently tucks his tingling hand behind his back.
"Right or wrong—I don't know how to judge that."
"Many things in this world don't have clear right or wrong."
"Naruto, do you feel that what Black-Frame Naruto did—and thought—would make your heart feel clearer?"
Naruto nods… then shakes his head.
Neji sighs.
"Empty your mind. Don't overthink it."
"Maybe your resistance isn't as strong as Black-Frame Naruto's."
"He questioned why those murmurs appeared in his mind more than once."
"You didn't even know the murmurs existed."
"Perhaps they aren't murmurs at all—just an unknown mass of chakra."
Naruto nods hard twice.
Then plops down, arms crossed.
At that moment, a voice sounds in the chat.
"Naruto… be honest with me. Do you hate the village? Do you want revenge on everyone in it?"
Naruto looks up.
The speaker is Jiraiya.
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