Chapter 312: Is He Truly Fighting for Peace?
Yuta's vision gradually cleared from its blurry state.
The first thing that caught his eye was that familiar roof beam.
It was the very one he had been staring at blankly before losing consciousness.
His body felt heavy, as if buried deep within rock layers; every bone and muscle emitted a sour, aching groan.
Strangely, however, the agonizing pain of near-death had vanished, replaced by a weak, dull ache and a...
A warm, vigorous sense of vitality was slowly flowing through his body.
Is this Medical Ninjutsu?
Exceedingly brilliant Medical Ninjutsu.
Yuta rolled his eyes with great difficulty.
And then, he saw that young man.
His golden hair seemed less blinding under the daylight filtering through the holes in the roof. His azure eyes lacked the sharpness and indifference of the battlefield, instead carrying a gentle smile.
He was squatting right next to Yuta, one hand seemingly having just moved away from Yuta's chest, with a faint, comforting green Chakra glow still lingering on his fingertips.
You almost feel like you're suffocating.
It wasn't fear, but a sense of dazed confusion after one's perception had been completely overturned.
The person who had brought you to the brink of death with a casual palm strike was now treating you like an Hidden Stone Village Medical Ninja?
"Yo, you're awake, Hidden Stone Village uncle."
He spoke, his voice so cheerful it felt completely out of place in these ruins.
"Sorry, sorry. I got a bit carried away during the fight just now and didn't control my strength well."
Carried away?
Didn't control his strength well?
A rattling sound came from Yuta's throat, but he couldn't utter a single word.
"Don't move around."
The youth—or rather, Uzumaki Naruto.
This name, along with his previous declaration and that terrifying Flying Thunder God Technique, had already been etched into your mind.
He scratched his head, showing a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Your injuries were quite severe. Although I've used Medical Ninjutsu to heal them, a full recovery will depend on your own rest.
Remember, for the next month, absolutely no strenuous exercise, and don't go picking fights with anyone.
Be a good boy and listen; that way your strength will mostly be preserved, and you can still be a formidable Jonin."
He spoke so nonchalantly, as if advising someone to drink more hot water after a cold.
It was then that Yuta noticed another person standing behind him.
Kurotsuchi.
The Tsuchikage's granddaughter, who had grown up in Hidden Stone Village with a personality more aggressive than most boys, had now blossomed into a graceful yet heroic young woman.
And there was also the Uchiha girl who had used Susanoo earlier.
Kurotsuchi stood there with her arms crossed, her pout deep enough to hang a bucket from, wearing an expression of 'I'm very unhappy but can't do anything for now' as she looked at Naruto with complex eyes.
Meanwhile, that Uchiha girl watched Kurotsuchi warily, her gaze looking as if she wanted to tear her apart alive.
"Humph!"
Kurotsuchi let out a dissatisfied snort at Naruto's back.
Naruto clapped his hands and stood up, rolling his shoulders, and gave Kurotsuchi an almost punchable smile: "Let's go, we have to find the next one."
"Isn't your sensory ability monstrously powerful?"
Kurotsuchi rolled her eyes and said crossly, "Besides, you have the Flying Thunder God. Why don't you just 'whoosh' over there and find them yourself? Why do you have to drag me along!"
"That won't do!"
Naruto drawled, turning around with hands on his hips, grinning to show a row of white teeth, though that smile held a hint of cunning.
"My goal is your grandfather's Dust Release. As for you, you're my 'important bargaining chip' for negotiating with the old man Tsuchikage.
With you along, the old man will have to give me some Face and seriously consider my request, right?"
He spoke with such conviction, almost like a child showing off.
Kurotsuchi stomped her foot in anger: "Idiot, who's your bargaining chip! Grandpa won't easily teach Dust Release to a Hidden Leaf Village idiot like you!"
"How will we know if we don't try? Let's go, let's go. Hikari, keep an eye on her."
Without allowing for argument, Naruto turned and walked out of the ruins, his pace as relaxed as if he were strolling in his own backyard.
Kurotsuchi glared at Uchiha Hikari again, only to be glared back at.
She seemed to want to say something, but ultimately just pursed her lips and turned to quickly follow Naruto.
The two of them, one following the other, soon disappeared into the slanted light outside the hole.
Only Yuta remained in the ruins.
His body was still weak, but his life was no longer in danger.
He lay amidst the wreckage, the youth's cheerful yet spine-chilling words still echoing in his ears, and Kurotsuchi's unwilling yet helpless expression still flickering before his eyes.
Yuta had survived.
That monster of a youth, who could kill him or save him on a whim, had let him go.
He hadn't even treated Yuta as an enemy to be taken seriously, but merely as an object that he had accidentally 'broken' and then 'fixed'.
And that youth's goal was Dust Release.
One of the supreme Profound Truths upon which Hidden Stone Village stood in the Ninja World.
He had 'kidnapped' the Tsuchikage's granddaughter for this purpose and stated it so frankly.
Wait, if he was able to treat him, doesn't that mean...
Hidden Stone Village has already been defeated?
Slowly and with extreme difficulty, Yuta raised a hand and covered his eyes.
Between his fingers, warm liquid seeped out uncontrollably.
You began to cry.
There was no fear, no anger, not even the relief of surviving a disaster.
It was a deeper, more powerless... sense of absurdity.
Is he truly fighting for peace?
, , , , , , , , , ,
"Well? I told you, I'm here to bring peace, not to make enemies. I held back!"
Naruto sat beside Onoki, looking at the bandage-wrapped old man with a beaming smile.
Hikari stood beside them, holding Kurotsuchi's wrist.
Kurotsuchi struggled twice, only to find Hikari's grip tightening until her wrist almost felt like it would be crushed.
Onoki let out a sigh. Hidden Stone Village had been single-handedly swept by this person; the opponent had even given up his greatest advantage to fight in close quarters.
A loss was a loss. The opponent had indeed held back and hadn't actually killed the Hidden Stone Village ninja, only leaving them heavily injured and incapacitated.
Now that the opponent had healed them with Medical Ninjutsu, Onoki had nothing left to say.
"This is the Cultivation method for Dust Release. Take it and leave with Kurotsuchi."
Onoki tremblingly pulled a scroll from his robes.
This kid was quite the character; Kurotsuchi would certainly fare no worse following him than staying in this barren land.
"Raise your own granddaughter; I'll just take the Dust Release."
What on earth was inside this old man's and Roshi's heads?
Can Kurotsuchi even compare to Dust Release?
Onoki snapped his head up, a giant question mark seemingly appearing over his head.
If you don't want Kurotsuchi, why did you bring her along?
No, wait, is this guy sick in the head?
"Alright, I'll recover my Chakra first, then leave a Clone here once the Hidden Leaf Village people arrive. From now on, Hidden Stone Village belongs to Hidden Leaf Village."
Naruto put the scroll away.
He always had an ominous premonition.
Aside from using too much Chakra this time, leading to an unprecedented shortage, there was another point that concerned him.
During the battle just now, he hadn't seen Han, the Five-Tails Jinchuriki.
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