"Why…?"
Naruto's voice trembled not from fear, but from something far more fragile.
"Why are you like this, Menma? What did Brother Kakashi ever do to deserve this? Why are you so cruel? Why?!"
He stood rigid, fists shaking at his sides. His face was a mixture of fury, disbelief, and unmistakable grief.
This was not posturing.
He genuinely could not comprehend it.
Yes, their lives had diverged. Yes, Menma had endured isolation that Naruto himself had never fully understood. Naruto knew the village had failed in many ways. He even believed the Third Hokage's protection had not been perfect.
Resentment?
Naruto could understand resentment.
Anger?
That too.
But this
This was different.
Naruto believed, stubbornly and sincerely, that if they simply sat down and spoke honestly, something could be salvaged.
They were brothers.
Menma had attended the Academy. He had trained with others. Surely there had been bonds.
With Shikamaru. With Chōji.
With Iruka-sensei.
Naruto refused to believe those connections meant nothing.
Yet Menma's actions shattered that hope.
Kakashi lay gravely wounded behind him.
ANBU corpses were scattered across the shattered valley floor.
Menma's methods were not symbolic.
They were final.
"Cruel?" Menma repeated flatly.
His three-tailed Version 1 cloak swayed behind him like living flame.
"Are you certain you understand what that word means, Naruto?"
His tone carried no visible rage only dismissal.
"You call yourself a shinobi, yet you speak as though the battlefield owes you morality."
He stepped forward once.
"Kakashi stood in my path."
That was all.
No hatred.
No personal grievance.
Just consequence.
In the shinobi world, that was sufficient.
Naruto clenched his teeth.
"You're wrong!" he shouted. "And I'll prove it!"
His chakra surged outward.
Though far inferior to the oppressive density of Menma's Nine-Tails cloak, Naruto's reserves were unmistakably immense well beyond the standard jōnin threshold.
He burst forward.
"Naruto, wait!" shouted Akimichi Choza.
Chōza immediately advanced as well.
Menma's demonstrated strength had exceeded all prior estimations. Multiple ANBU neutralized. Kakashi incapacitated. A three-tailed cloak stabilized enough for offensive maneuvering.
Allowing Naruto to charge alone was tactically reckless.
Chōza formed a seal mid-stride.
"Partial Expansion Technique!"
His right arm expanded massively, swelling to colossal proportions as it swept downward toward Menma like a descending pillar.
The shadow swallowed the ground.
Menma's expression did not change.
The Nine-Tails' chakra flared.
One tail lashed upward
"Bang!"
The collision reverberated across the valley.
The chakra-formed tail coiled around Chōza's enlarged forearm mid-swing.
It tightened.
Chōza's eyes sharpened.
He released more chakra, muscles bulging as he attempted to overpower the bind.
The tail vibrated violently but did not break.
"Naive," Menma murmured.
Two additional chakra tails snapped forward, wrapping around the expanded limb in layered restraint.
The force multiplied instantly.
Chōza's expanded arm halted completely.
Then
Menma pivoted his stance.
Using the bound limb as leverage, he lifted.
Even with Chōza's immense mass, the torque generated by the Three-Tails cloak was overwhelming.
"Wh!"
The ground fractured beneath Chōza's feet as he was wrenched upward.
With a violent rotational swing
Menma hurled him sideways.
"Crash!"
Chōza struck the valley wall, stone shattering under the impact. His expansion partially receded from the shock.
Naruto had already closed the distance.
He leapt, fist drawn back.
"Menma!"
The punch descended.
Menma raised one hand.
"Pah."
He caught Naruto's fist effortlessly.
At close range, their eyes met.
Naruto's burned with anguish and stubborn resolve.
Menma's remained steady unmoved.
He twisted sharply and slammed Naruto downward.
"Bang!"
Naruto's back struck the fractured stone.
The impact expelled air from his lungs in a harsh gasp.
Before he could recover
Menma stepped forward.
His foot came down on Naruto's chest.
Hard.
"Crack."
The ground beneath Naruto cratered slightly from the pressure.
Naruto's ribs compressed under the force. Pain radiated through his torso.
Blood surged into his throat.
"Ghk!"
It spilled past his lips.
His breathing destabilized instantly.
The Nine-Tails' chakra inside him stirred faintly in response to the trauma but Naruto had not consciously drawn upon it.
Menma looked down at him.
At this distance, Naruto seemed smaller than before.
Vulnerable.
For the briefest fraction of a second
A flicker of memory surfaced.
Not from this life.
Not from shared experience.
But from knowledge long carried within him stories of a boy who refused to give up, who endured hatred and transformed it into strength.
The image passed.
Menma's expression did not soften.
On the battlefield
Sentiment was weakness.
And weakness invited death.
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