That naked declaration, staking the fate of the entire Ninja World on a single gamble, enraged the Kage present.
Don't get cocky, Uzumaki Naruto!
We are the ones who bear the title of Kage!
We won't let you do as you please!
Facing the Five Kage's fury, Naruto's face showed only undisguised contempt. With a casual wave, as if shooing annoying gnats, he said:
Mere grains of sand, not even half my worth.
Finally, his gaze fell on Sasuke again—complex, unreadable, carrying regret, resolve, and perhaps a sliver of... farewell.
In the next instant his figure vanished before their eyes, as if he'd never existed, leaving only devastation and a declaration that opened the war to end the world.
The real world fell into deathly silence.
The Fourth Great Ninja War... started by Konoha's Uzumaki Naruto? One battle to decide everything?
The sheer weight of that revelation was so immense everyone needed time to digest this final, most terrible future.
What a joke! What kind of place is Konoha?!
First they produce Uchiha Sasuke, who can intimidate the Five Kage, and now Uzumaki Naruto, who wants to destroy the world?
Is Konoha some factory churning out 'saviors' and 'world destroyers'? What gives them the right!
Amid the chaotic voices, accusations and distrust of Konoha spread like wildfire.
That distrust quickly bubbled up from the people to the highest levels.
Almost the instant the heavenly screen went dark, official letters of protest from the Four Great Shinobi Villages snowflaked into the Hokage Office.
Every letter was harshly worded, with one core demand: Konoha must explain 'Uzumaki Naruto' and the 'world-ending crisis' he foretold—and take necessary measures!
Among them, Fourth Raikage A of the Hidden Cloud Village was the toughest and most direct.
Hiruzen Sarutobi! Hand over Uzumaki Naruto at once! Let our Cloud watch him! We can't allow him to become a future threat! If Konoha shelters him, it stands against the entire Ninja World!
Inside Konoha Village, at the Ninja Academy.
No... it's not like that!
Even someone as dense and optimistic as Uzumaki Naruto could read the fear, revulsion, and monster-level stares.
Geez—his future self was the big bad who would end the world?!
Impossible! Absolutely impossible! Naruto sprang up like a scalded cat, flailing and shouting, 'How could I destroy the world? I'm gonna be Hokage! The Hokage everyone acknowledges!'
In his panic he even jabbed a finger at Sasuke beside him. 'The world destroyer has to be Sasuke! With that stuck-up look he's obviously the villain!'
Yet his protests rang hollow in the classroom.
A demon fox is still a demon fox...
Sure enough, the calamity is his fault...
Stay away from him...
Cold, venomous whispers stabbed Naruto's ears like icy needles.
In their simple black-and-white view, he was the incarnation of the 'demon fox,' so disaster was only 'natural.'
Besides, compared with the cool, handsome savior Uchiha Sasuke in the vision, the crazed world destroyer Uzumaki Naruto made them instinctively side with the better-looking, 'righteous' one.
Still, though they branded Naruto the 'world destroyer,' no one dared confront him.
A primal fear kept them to wary glances and murmurs while their bodies inched farther away.
Naruto stood alone in the center, staring at the empty circle around him and those terrified, disgusted eyes.
He opened his mouth, tried to speak, but felt something block his throat. A crushing injustice and bone-deep loneliness flooded over him like a tide.
The heavenly screen rolled on, showing the aftermath of the Five Kage Summit: every village mobilizing for war.
The Kazekage, Raikage, Tsuchikage, and Mizukage returned and issued top-priority war orders.
Countless Ninja were recalled from posts, training grounds, even vacations.
Forces gathered, supplies moved—the entire Ninja World, threatened by 'world-ending crisis,' roared to life with unprecedented unity.
Viewers in the real world gaped; they never imagined the Five Great Nations, long mired in war and suspicion, would set aside grudges and unite.
But when the scene shifted to Konoha, the mood turned subtle.
Hokage Tsunade issued her own conscription order; clan heads assembled and pledged support.
Hyuga Clan—deploying 120 Ninja!
Nara, Yamanaka, and Akimichi—150 Ninja combined!
Aburame Clan...
Most clans reported numbers from a few dozen to just over a hundred—standard for a single clan.
Then the tone shifted dramatically!
A young clan head with steady eyes stood, his clear, firm voice cutting through the chatter:
For the will of fire, for the Ninja World! The Sarutobi Clan will field three thousand Ninja under Hokage-sama's command!
Th-three thousand?
Clan heads in the vision gasped; viewers in the real world stared in disbelief.
One clan sending three thousand Ninja?
What does that even mean?
It rivals the full military strength of some small nations!
The Sarutobi Clan had quietly grown this terrifyingly powerful?
The scene switched: young Sarutobi Konohamaru returned to the clan compound and convened the elders.
One elder fretted, 'Clan head, three thousand... isn't that too many? Our reserves might...'
His worry was plain: heavy losses could shake the clan's foundation.
Konohamaru glanced at him, eyes calm beyond his years, voice flat but absolute: 'If we lose this war, do I need to spell out what happens to the Sarutobi Clan?'
The elder's face stiffened; thinking of world-ender Uzumaki Naruto and the possible reckoning, cold sweat beaded on his forehead.