Back with Naruto.
Yamato's eyes went blank with shock, Kakashi watched Sakura with a look of helpless resignation, and even Naruto was utterly stunned.
"Eh?" Naruto stood there, dumbfounded. Behind him, Kiba and Sai were equally speechless.
"Ju-just now... Sakura, what did you say?"
"I must have misheard. Please, say it again," Naruto stammered, his mind reeling.
"Naruto, I said I love you." Sakura's face was flushed as she delivered her confession directly to him.
"Sasuke... he doesn't mean anything to me anymore."
"There was something wrong with me, falling for someone like that."
"Someone is confessing to you! Why aren't you listening properly?!"
Naruto gazed at Sakura, his eyes gradually turning cold. A large part of his initial attraction to Sakura had stemmed from his rivalry with Sasuke. Deep down, he knew it was impossible for her to truly love him. In that moment, the image of Kanon's innocent, pure smile flickered through his mind.
"Why? If you're trying to tell a joke, it's not funny, Sakura."
"What exactly happened?" Naruto asked, his voice laced with suspicion.
"Nothing happened. I've just come to my senses. There's no reason to keep loving a rogue ninja and a criminal, right?"
"I'm not going to be a child forever. I can see reality for what it is."
"So Naruto, you don't need to keep that promise to me anymore."
"You don't have to keep chasing after Sasuke and Kanon, Naruto."
Yamato, sensing that something was terribly wrong, stepped forward to rebuke her. "What is the meaning of—"
But Kakashi held out an arm, stopping him.
"Sakura, did something happen?"
"Why the sudden change of heart?" Naruto demanded.
"It's not sudden! I have very clear reasons for loving you!"
With that, Sakura stepped toward Naruto and pulled him into an embrace.
"Sasuke has been drifting further away, while you have always been right in front of me. You've always put me before Kanon... You've always encouraged me. Isn't that reason enough?"
"I finally noticed you, Naruto... the real you."
"Back when Pain attacked, when I needed you most, you came back to me. Compared to Kanon, that murderer who destroyed the village, you are clearly the better man."
"You're the hero who protected the village. Everyone in the village loves you now, and I've simply become one of them..."
"Back when you were just a prank-playing dead last, you always needed Kanon to look after you."
"But now you've become so incredible. I've been watching you all this time. Meanwhile, Sasuke has done nothing but commit crimes and break my heart..."
"He became a distant existence, but you, Naruto... I can touch you like this. You make me feel safe..."
"I truly love you now..."
In an instant, Naruto shoved her away, gripping her shoulders firmly.
"Enough, Sakura! This joke isn't funny at all!" Naruto roared at her.
"Why are you so angry? I just shifted my feelings from Sasuke to you. Haven't you heard that a woman's heart is as fickle as the autumn sky?"
Naruto grit his teeth, his voice low and sharp. "I hate people who lie to themselves."
"Are you saying I'm lying to myself?" Sakura's expression soured with dissatisfaction.
Naruto didn't say a word; he simply gave a slight nod.
Sakura slapped his hands away.
"I decide my own heart! If you hate me, just say it! There's no need to make up such weird excuses!"
"It is weird, isn't it? Traveling all the way out here just to say something like this!" Naruto retorted.
Sakura's voice rose. "Something like this?"
"What do you mean, 'something like this'?! Is a girl's confession that insignificant to you?!"
"Of course I came all the way out here! You're always 'Sasuke this' and 'Kanon that'!"
"Chasing those two siblings everywhere, putting yourself in danger!"
"The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is the Akatsuki's target! Kanon really will kill you!"
"I just wanted to tell you that you don't have to risk your life to find Sasuke anymore!"
"I want you to come back to the village right now!"
Naruto lowered his head, then looked at Sakura with dead seriousness.
"To me, those are all just hollow excuses!"
"I like to think I know you well, Sakura..."
"Then why don't you understand?! I don't love Sasuke now that he's a criminal, so our promise is void!"
"My pursuit of Sasuke and Kanon... that's not about a promise."
"I think I understand a little bit why Sasuke fell into a life of revenge and why Kanon defected from Konoha."
"The two of them loved their family and clan more than anything. People with such deep feelings find it the hardest to forgive."
Behind them, Kiba chimed in with a question. "Then why did Kanon Uchiha join the Akatsuki? Why did she come to destroy Konoha even after she defeated Itachi?"
"Actually, that's not the truth. Kanon, she—"
Just as Naruto was about to reveal the truth of Kanon's childhood, Kakashi called out to stop him.
Naruto froze. He remembered the decision he, Kakashi, and Yamato had made to keep the village's scandal a secret. Konoha was currently in the middle of reconstruction; the last thing they needed was chaos, and they lacked concrete evidence regardless.
They still didn't fully understand the depth of the corruption, how the Konoha higher-ups had used Itachi to massacre the Uchiha clan and ordered him to kill Kanon. They couldn't let this political filth leak out.
Thinking of this, Naruto looked back at Sakura.
"Even without your promise, Sakura, it doesn't matter. I want to save Sasuke for myself!"
"Kanon is my best friend. Even though I can't forgive what she's done, I still have to go and talk to her."
Kiba leaned in and whispered to Sakura, "Hey, what do we do now?"
Suddenly, Sakura stomped on Kiba's foot and turned around.
"Forget it. I'm going back."
As the others followed Sakura away, Naruto watched her retreating back with a calm expression.
His heart was already filled by the Uchiha siblings; there was no room left to consider anyone else.
As they walked, Sakura whispered to Kiba, "Kiba, I need to ask a favor."
"What is it?"
"We're going to find Sasuke right now. Help me!"
…
Meanwhile, on a stone bridge, Danzo and his men were traveling when a kunai suddenly thudded into the ground.
The masked man appeared before them.
"It's been a while, Danzo."
"Not since the Uchiha incident."
Danzo discarded his cane and barked at the two men beside him, "Fu, Torune, cover me!"
Danzo began to reveal his right arm.
The masked man narrowed his eyes. Danzo needed time to undo the seals on his right hand.
"Going all out, are we, Danzo?" the masked man said coolly.
At that exact moment, a rose-colored spatial distortion shimmered near Danzo's right eye. A slender hand darted out with lethal precision, plunging straight into Danzo's eye socket.
"What?!" Danzo gasped. The ambush had been utterly silent and instantaneous.
Crr-ack! Blood sprayed against the bandages as Kanon leapt out from the spatial rift, delivering a kick that sent Danzo flying.
In Kanon's hand lay a blood-stained Sharingan.
"Beautiful, Kanon-chan!" the masked man cheered. The sneak attack had been perfect; Danzo's Kotoamatsukami hadn't even finished recovering before Kanon forcibly snatched it.
"You... you Uchiha brat! You dare... YOU DARE!!!" Danzo roared in a fit of rage.
"So, this is Shisui-niisan's eye?" Kanon looked down at the bloodied eye in her palm.
The masked man produced a container for the eye. "Put it in here," he directed.
"You're dreaming," Kanon sneered. "If what you said is true, a technique like Kotoamatsukami shouldn't exist in this world."
"What are you doing?!" the masked man exclaimed.
Kanon let out a cold laugh and crushed the Sharingan in her grip. She tossed the remains to the ground, and Amaterasu flared up, incinerating Shisui's eye into nothingness.
Seeing this, Fu Yamanaka and Torune Aburame moved to attack, rushing toward Kanon.
"Danzo-sama!"
But before Torune could finish his sentence, Kanon kicked him squarely toward the masked man.
"You've been outplayed," the masked man said casually as he sucked Torune into the Kamui dimension.
Fu was already mid-sign, but the Kusanagi blade flashed across his hands. Kanon's speed was too great. Before he could even scream, she had hurled him toward the masked man as well.
Like Torune, Fu was absorbed. Simultaneously, Karin was helping Sasuke recover from his injuries.
Sasuke sat up. "Are you alright, Sasuke?" Karin asked.
The masked man approached them. "Let me out."
"Don't be in such a rush. I'm letting you out now. There's a gift waiting for you outside," he said smoothly.
A spatial vortex swirled, and Sasuke and Karin were brought out by "Madara."
The moment Sasuke emerged, he froze.
Standing right beside him was Kanon, and facing them was Danzo.
Sensing the masked man's intentions, Danzo remarked coldly, "Kanon Uchiha and Sasuke Uchiha, is it?"
The masked man turned to Karin. "You, back off. If you get caught in this, you'll die."
Karin and the masked man withdrew, leaving the battlefield to the Uchiha siblings.
Sasuke looked at Kanon's Three-Tomoe Sharingan with a complex expression, but when he turned to Danzo, his heart surged with boundless hatred.
"Perfect. I'll take care of you both at once."
"Kanon, Sasuke, Madara... I'll be taking all of your Sharingan."
With that, Danzo unveiled his right arm, which was embedded with numerous Sharingan.
But in the next heartbeat, Kanon moved. She spun around and threw a haymaker directly at Sasuke's face. The monstrous strength behind the punch slammed into Sasuke.
Sasuke was sent flying hundreds of meters, crashing violently into a distant wall.
"Kanon-chan!" Karin screamed.
The masked man, Sasuke, and even Danzo were stunned.
Sasuke staggered to his feet. He hadn't recovered from his previous wounds, and this punch left his vision spinning.
"Stay the hell away from me!" Kanon spat. She turned back toward Danzo.
"This is none of your business, Sasuke Uchiha. I'm the one who's going to kill this man!"
Sasuke's face was a mask of agony. This was his choice, he couldn't let Itachi's sacrifice be in vain. But accepting Itachi's legacy meant abandoning his sister, his only living relative, who had always cared for him.
Sasuke was trapped in contradiction. But as he struggled, Kanon began to laugh, a frantic, manic sound. Her eyes were devoid of any warmth.
"Come on, Danzo, you old dog. Today, I'm going to take my time torturing you to death."