Chapter 81: The Akatsuki Arrives
After beheading the Third Hokage, Naruto flicked his blade.
Swish!
The blood on Senbonzakura's blade splashed off. Naruto looked at the Third Hokage indifferently.
This strike had finally come.
One of the instigators of all this had finally been beheaded by Naruto.
After beheading the Third Hokage, a system voice suddenly sounded in Naruto's mind:
"Ding... Killed Konoha's Third Hokage. Reward received: Byakuya Kuchiki unlock experience increased by 5.2%."
"Ding... Congratulations, Host. Byakuya Kuchiki template unlocked to 98.6%."
"Unlocked: Zanpakuto Senbonzakura—Bankai."
After the system's voice sounded, Naruto took a deep breath.
He hadn't expected that killing the Third Hokage would earn him system rewards.
Although this was only template unlock experience, the reward level was still very generous.
After all, Naruto had never unlocked this much template experience at once before.
5.2% seemed like a small number, but in reality, the required experience was massive.
The further along the template progressed, the harder it was to unlock.
To unlock this much at once satisfied Naruto completely.
What's more—Senbonzakura's Bankai ability had been unlocked.
He knew that a Zanpakuto's Shikai was five to ten times stronger than its sealed form.
And Bankai was more than ten times stronger than Shikai.
This was simply a massive improvement.
After unlocking Bankai, Naruto now had another powerful trump card.
Just as Naruto was processing this information in his mind—
Everyone around him had still not recovered from the shock.
Their eyes were wide. Their pupils trembled. They stared at the scene in astonishment, their faces full of disbelief.
The Third Hokage—whom they had admired, revered, and looked up to—had actually been killed by Naruto at this very moment.
Not only that—before his death, the Third Hokage had been completely humiliated at Naruto's hands. Vulnerable to a single blow.
It was simply unbelievable.
Kakashi's pupils shook as he stared at everything before him in shock.
Even now, he felt like he was trapped in a nightmare.
Sakura and the others took deep breaths and patted their chests, unable to hide the shock in their hearts.
They looked at Naruto, reached out their hands as if wanting to touch him—but found that Naruto felt so far away.
"Naruto..." the crowd murmured.
Kakashi and the others also had complicated expressions on their faces.
The Third Hokage was dead. Naruto had undoubtedly been branded a traitor.
At this moment, he was no longer a Konoha ninja.
Not that he had ever wanted to be one.
Kakashi sighed, looking at Naruto with a complicated face, not knowing what to do. After a long moment, he said quietly:
"Naruto... you shouldn't have killed the Third Hokage..."
Hearing Kakashi's words, Naruto snorted coldly and said calmly:
"He deserved to die."
Kakashi sighed. He seemed to understand Naruto's anger.
He also knew that anyone who had endured the darkness of these thirteen years would have made the same decision as Naruto.
Kakashi shook his head and said:
"The teacher wouldn't have wanted you to do this."
Naruto naturally knew that Kakashi was talking about the Fourth Hokage.
But Naruto still retorted:
"He wouldn't have wanted the Third Hokage and Konoha's people to treat his child like this either."
Hearing Naruto's words, Kakashi fell silent for a moment, not knowing what to say.
That was true. When the Fourth Hokage had sealed the Nine-Tails back then, it wasn't so that Konoha's people and the Third Hokage's leadership could treat Naruto with such malice.
Now that they had been destroyed by Naruto—it was their own fault.
Kakashi was speechless and couldn't argue. He could only shake his head.
Just as everyone was silent, not knowing what to say—
Suddenly, an untimely, arrogant laugh rang out:
"Hey, Itachi—is this the Konoha village you used to live in? Why has it turned into a pile of ruins? Did we come to the wrong place?"
Hearing the voice, everyone was startled. They immediately looked toward the source.
Soon, they saw two figures.
They were both wearing red clouds on black robes. One of them carried a thick sword covered in spikes and wrapped in bandages.
The other was a man with a pair of scarlet Sharingan.
Seeing these two, everyone froze for a moment. Their pupils trembled in shock.
Most of the people present recognized them at a glance.
One of them was the Mist ninja—Hoshigaki Kisame, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen.
And the other was the S-rank rogue ninja who had once slaughtered the entire Uchiha clan—Konoha's most dangerous missing-nin, Uchiha Itachi.
How could two such dangerous figures appear here?
Everyone gasped.
First Naruto destroyed Konoha. Then, on its heels, two super-dangerous rogue ninja appeared.
This made their scalps tingle. Just as one wave settled, another rose.
When Naruto saw these two appear, his pupils also contracted.
He hadn't expected them to come to Konoha so soon.
Unlike Kakashi and the others, Naruto knew their purpose.
They belonged to the Akatsuki organization.
And their target was the tailed beast inside his body.
In other words—they were his enemies.
Naruto gripped his Zanpakuto, watching the two slowly approach.
Hoshigaki Kisame questioned Uchiha Itachi beside him while looking at the devastated Konoha.
Seeing Konoha's miserable state, Uchiha Itachi was slightly startled and frowned.
But he quickly recovered.
His scarlet eyes looked forward. Soon, Uchiha Itachi locked onto Naruto and saw Kakashi and the others.
Then, Uchiha Itachi said calmly:
"That's right. This is Konoha. The target has appeared as well."
Kisame was stunned when he heard Uchiha Itachi's words.
Following Uchiha Itachi's gaze, Hoshigaki Kisame soon spotted Naruto and the others.
Immediately, Hoshigaki Kisame bared his teeth in a bloodthirsty grin, hefting the Samehada broadsword, and said:
"Oh? Is that the Nine-Tails kid?"
"Looks like quite a few people are here."
"Perfect. Let's grab a few and ask what happened."
Seeing that jonin like Kakashi and Kurenai were all present, Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame showed no signs of fear.
On the contrary, they walked even faster.
It was no surprise.
Both of them were super-dangerous S-rank rogue ninja from their respective villages.
Their strength was enough to crush ordinary jonin.
They were truly Kage-level in power.
Seeing Uchiha Itachi and Hoshigaki Kisame walking toward them, Kakashi and Kurenai narrowed their eyes, raised their guard, and became extremely vigilant.
They knew that these two were not ordinary opponents.
And for them to come to Konoha now—they had no idea what their purpose was.
But Uchiha Itachi, as a Konoha rogue ninja, appearing at this moment—they couldn't afford to be unguarded.
Kakashi frowned, feeling deeply troubled:
"That's Hoshigaki Kisame of the Mist, and Konoha's rogue ninja Uchiha Itachi. How did they show up here?"
Kurenai said nervously:
"Kakashi... what should we do?"
How was Kakashi supposed to know what to do?
On one side was Uzumaki Naruto, who had just destroyed Konoha. On the other side was Uchiha Itachi, Konoha's S-rank rogue ninja.
Even Kakashi didn't know what to do now.
And on top of that—Konoha had been severely damaged by Naruto. The Third Hokage was dead. Guy had taken his student Rock Lee to find Tsunade to treat the side effects of the Eight Inner Gates. Several other jonin were not in the village.
The current Konoha could not resist such terrifying opponents.
Kakashi took a deep breath, pretended to stay calm, and decided to deal with Uchiha Itachi first. He said:
"Let's observe for now."
But Kakashi's worries were unnecessary.
Because the purpose of Uchiha Itachi and the other wasn't Kakashi or the others.
It was Naruto.
To be precise—it was the Nine-Tails inside Naruto.
They wanted to capture Naruto.
Thinking this, Naruto took a deep breath and gripped his Zanpakuto tightly. He was ready to fight at any moment.