Boom—!!!
Naruto's final words struck like a sledgehammer against Neji's heart.
More devastating than any ninjutsu.
They tore apart the psychological defenses Neji had painstakingly built around the idea of "changing destiny," exposing the raw terror beneath—birth, fate, and the possibility that his father's tragedy would repeat itself through him.
Neji staggered back as if struck by lightning. The color drained from his face. Within his Tenseigan flickered violent turmoil—and a bone-deep chill.
Even Sasuke felt the weight of the words. He glanced at Neji, a complicated emotion surfacing in his gaze.
Naruto rose slowly to his feet and dusted off his clothes.
His Rinnegan held no ripple of emotion now—only absolute, frozen control.
"Face reality," he said calmly. "Submit—and help me smash this hypocritical, unjust world built on inevitable tragedy."
"Or…"
He raised a hand.
"…be reduced to ashes along with your pathetic convictions—and your destined role as sacrificial pawns."
The choice lay naked before them.
Submit to overwhelming power and fatalistic inevitability?
Or cling to fragile belief and be annihilated?
Outside the projection, the entire shinobi world fell silent.
Naruto's line—"The Hokage's son becomes Hokage. The sacrificial pawn's son remains a pawn."—was more than an insult.
It was a curse.
And no one could fully refute it.
For shinobi, it rang disturbingly true.
For civilians as well—nobles birthed nobles, commoners birthed commoners.
Sasuke's response was pure defiance.
Pain from his severed arm and chakra exhaustion could not extinguish the obsessive pride of the Uchiha.
"Then come try," he rasped, stepping forward despite everything.
Neji, after trembling through the initial shock, forced himself steady.
"Naruto… I know you suffered. Isolation. Hatred. Injustice."
His voice trembled—but clarity returned to his eyes.
"But why drag the entire shinobi world into it? What did they do to you? What did other nations' shinobi do? What about those who showed you kindness?"
He paused.
"You even killed Lady Tsunade?"
The question echoed far beyond him.
Why had Naruto's vengeance become global extermination?
Naruto fell silent.
For several breaths.
The mockery drained from his expression, replaced by something closer to disappointment.
He shook his head lightly.
"Your vision is too small."
Neji frowned. "What?"
Naruto looked at him with complicated eyes.
"I thought you, of all people, would understand. You lived under the Caged Bird Seal. You know what it's like to be a tool. A sacrifice."
"And yet… you still don't understand me."
Sasuke scoffed harshly. "Oh? And you do? Your 'big vision' is destroying the world?"
Naruto shook his head again.
"You're wrong. Completely wrong."
He raised a finger.
"I'm not destroying the world."
"I'm destroying the shinobi system."
His voice sharpened.
"The system built on chakra monopolies, mercenary missions, state contracts, clan inheritance, bloodline supremacy—the system that turns people into weapons and tools. That manufactures hatred. Sacrifice. Tragedy."
"That system created heroes like my parents."
"It created the Uchiha Clan Massacre."
"It created the Hyūga Branch House and the Caged Bird Seal."
"It created countless silent deaths—Haku, Kimimaro, nameless children on battlefields."
"And it created me. The 'perfect Jinchūriki tool.' The 'orphan hero.'"
He looked down at the scorched earth.
"Ordinary shinobi? They may be innocent. But they are beneficiaries—or bystanders. They are the soil that allows this system to continue."
"As long as it stands, today it's Uzumaki Naruto as sacrifice."
"Tomorrow it'll be another Hyūga Branch member."
"Another Uchiha orphan."
"You cut weeds at the root," Naruto said coldly. "If you only replace the Hokage, swap out clans, rename heroes—then the tragedies will simply return under new names."
He looked at Sasuke and Neji with mocking amusement.
"Do you know what you two look like to me?"
He pointed at Sasuke first.
"A loyal dog."
"Your spine broken by Konoha. Your claws cut off. Your clan annihilated. And yet you bare your teeth to protect the very master that hurt you."
"How pitiful."
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