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[— Manga Scene —]
"Looks like… We have totally fallen into a trap…" Kabuto said after grasping the dangerous situation they were in.
"Seems like they took advantage of our worries and made us walk around in circles."
"They are watching us…" said Sasuke with a serious expression.
"They probably plan to tire us out and use that opportunity to get us…" Kabuto clarified once more.
"Then it's going just as they planned…" added Sasuke.
"So they should be about ready to attack…"
"Yeah…" In that moment, dozens of enemies surrounded them, emerging from the trees on all sides.
"So they've appeared…" Sasuke said with a smile.
"Bah!! This is a perfect handicap!!" Naruto immediately charged at one of the enemies, who dissolved into a strange black liquid before reforming.
[— End Scene —]
"It seems they fell into the enemy's genjutsu…"
Fugaku had his hand on his chin as he studied the page of Chapter 62 in the manga's current sequence.
"Sasuke has already figured it out."
Minoru replied beside him with a measured expression.
"I see that… So this is yet another team from Amegakure… Why are all the enemies from Amegakure?"
Mikoto wondered aloud with an eager expression, wanting to see how Sasuke would handle the danger closing in around him.
But her expression soon shifted, "That again… It seems the curse seal is causing him a great deal of pain whenever he activates the Sharingan…"
Hearing the words of his son's fiancée, the clan head shook his head with an unhappy expression.
"The trap they've fallen into right now can't be compared to Sasuke's actual condition… Orochimaru got what he wanted from Sasuke, and we still don't know what he's aiming for through him."
Fugaku's lips trembled slightly as he heard that… he still hadn't forgotten the moment Sasuke had been bitten by that wretch Orochimaru.
…
'At present, Amegakure is under Hanzo's control. As for the current leadership of Amegakure in the manga's timeline, I have no idea who might be in charge. Hanzo may still be ruling there…'
'Seeing this many skilled genin from the Rain village tells me that whoever is currently governing Amegakure must be competent at producing shinobi…'
Even though they tended to end up on the losing side more often than not, the Third Hokage still found himself silently commending the quality of the shinobi that Amegakure had produced so far in the manga.
...
..
[— Manga Scene —]
"The Kage Bunshin was just a trick!! It was a diversion while I became the whole team!!" Naruto said after successfully baiting the enemies into revealing themselves.
"The moment Naruto released the jutsu, the three of us hid. You genjutsu users got a taste of your own medicine," Sasuke said with a mocking smile.
In the very next moment, Naruto dropped to his knees from exhaustion.
"Naruto, you've used too much chakra. I'll take over from here."
The moment Sasuke finished speaking, he was surprised to see Naruto suddenly stand back up and break into a run, then land a punch on one of the enemies.
"Ahhh!!" The guy Naruto punched slammed into the rest of his team members, and they all went down together.
"I'm damn sick of letting you always steal the juicy parts," Naruto's expression carried a defiant grin despite all the pain he was clearly feeling.
[— End Scene —]
…
..
"What incredible willpower! He can still move and fight after all of that?"
"What an amazing kid!"
"I'd feel terrible too if I were in his place, having someone else always steal the spotlight from me…"
"Especially after putting in that much effort to draw the enemies out of hiding."
"But seriously, how is Naruto still able to move? Combining a technique like Multiple-Shadow Clones with a transformation jutsu to become multiple people at once uses enormous amounts of chakra, doesn't it?"
"Naruto is just a genin. He can't have that much chakra and still be able to move and fight."
"Have you forgotten who Naruto is?"
"Man, with the story focusing so much on Sasuke lately, I started to forget he's the actual main protagonist…"
"He's the Nine-Tails' jinchuriki, you fool!"
"Do you know that a tailed beast is basically made of chakra in the first place…?"
"And what do you know about tailed beasts?"
"I know more than you do, idiot…"
"Calm down. I know you're a Naruto fan, but Sasuke is still far better than your precious Naruto."
"What did you just say?"
"You want to fight about it?!"
Naruto fans and Sasuke fans began breaking out into verbal clashes that would certainly escalate into actual brawls later, but at least inside the Art Store, that was impossible, so after a few moments of shouting, the situation would settle, and they would go back to reading the manga.
At least until they reached a similar moment, which would set the whole cycle off again, and so it went until the end of the volume.
...
Not far from the fan squabble, Minato had already turned the page to the final chapter of the volume.
Beside him, Kushina was holding the last page with eyes brimming with tears.
"That's all there is?" She wiped her tears and stared at it reluctantly. "Why does it always end at the best part?"
"Well, it hasn't ended yet, let's save the bad feelings for the actual ending…"
Minato said with a gentle smile.
"But you're not wrong that it always ends at the best part… sigh."
The image of Naruto's back, still standing, still refusing to fall to his knees again, reflected in Minato's eyes.
"That courage and determination… When he masters the use of his own chakra, he'll truly become a beast, just as Kabuto thinks."
Minato smiled as he read Kabuto's inner thoughts in the manga.
"It seems the battle isn't over yet… Come on, Naruto, show them how amazing you are!"
The fire in Kushina's eyes practically ignited as she cheered for Naruto. Nobody could outdo her as his number one fan.
"But there's something off about that guy…"
A certain moment had passed without most readers catching it, but Minato had noticed it immediately, when one of the enemies moved to attack Kabuto but froze from a single glance from him, giving Naruto the opening to finish him off.
"Strange… Is he powerful or is he not?"
…
Minato wasn't the only one who had noticed. Just as Sasuke had within the manga itself, Danzo had also noticed as a reader.
"Heh… No matter how skilled you are at concealment, it's hard to avoid making mistakes at some point… isn't it?"
"That smile… It's wicked."
Danzo could read the kind of person Kabuto was from a single glance, let alone the dozens of scenes he had appeared in up until now.
"And as expected…"
His thoughts were ultimately confirmed when Kabuto was seen standing alongside Orochimaru.
"He really is… what a bastard!"
"You told us he was Orochimaru's subordinate before it was even revealed in the manga, Danzo…"
"How did you know that?"
Both Hamura and Koharu were astonished that Danzo had managed to predict the manga's events.
"Hmph. It's easy enough to see, use your heads. Thinking is free."
Danzo said mockingly, even as he quietly felt a warmth of satisfaction from the praise on the inside.
'Heh~ Simply put, snakes can sense one another.'
Not far away, a soft smile sat on Mito's face as she glanced in Danzo's direction, where he was currently being showered with compliments.
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Upcoming chapter titles (spoilers):
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Chapter 151: End of the Seventh Volume! A Nervous Orochimaru?
Chapter 152: A Real Threat to the World's Plot.
Chapter 153: System Level 7! The Age of Anime Begins.
Chapter 154: The First Episode of the Naruto Anime!
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