Behind those decisions, how much was truly rational judgment?
And how much may have been subtly shaped by one's own chakra nature—or by the ambient Chakra Consensus permeating the world?
The Uchiha Clan: Trying to pass the blame now?
Within the Hyūga compound, Hiashi Hyūga looked at the uncertain, shaken expressions of his clansmen. His heart churned like a storm-tossed sea.
The Byakugan…
The Hyūga Clan prided itself on the purity of its chakra and the clarity of its dōjutsu. But behind that "purity"—did it also mean a high degree of compatibility with some ancient Chakra Blueprint, preserved across generations?
Were they safeguarding tradition?
Or were they unknowingly maintaining an ancient preset woven into their very bloodline?
Within the projection overhead, Naruto watched the two before him—Sasuke and Neji—whose convictions were on the verge of collapse. Yet there was no triumph on his face.
Only a deep, almost sorrowful exhaustion.
"Now… do you understand?" he asked quietly.
His voice was soft, yet it struck like a hammer against the most fragile corner of every soul listening.
"What I want to destroy is not specific people. Not ordinary civilians."
"What I want to sever is this chain—one that may have been 'contaminated' and 'programmed' from the very source itself. The chain called chakra."
"What I want to shatter is the entire Chakra-Based System—this shinobi order built upon individual power that may itself be shaped and influenced—an order that perpetuates an endless Systemic Loop of Tragedy."
"Only then…"
The cold, resolute fire returned to his eyes.
"Only then will humanity have a chance… to decide its own future through its own will—not through some external 'Chakra Seed' or inherited 'Template.'"
"Even if that process means burning the old world to ashes… along with everything that may be parasitizing it."
The choice once again stood before all.
Continue trusting and relying on chakra—this power that granted strength, yet might conceal invisible manipulation? Continue living along a possibly predetermined path?
Or accept Naruto's extreme path of "purification"—to reduce everything to nothingness and ashes, in search of an entirely unknown rebirth that truly belonged to humanity alone?
The entire shinobi world trembled in an unprecedented ideological quake—an existential crisis unlike any before.
And the confrontation beneath the heavens, now touching the very root of history, entered its most unpredictable stage yet.
The wind swept across the crater floor.
It no longer carried smoke and dust from battle—but the cold ash of psychological breakdown.
"Naruto," Sasuke said sharply, "you've said all this—but where's your proof? You can't use isolated examples to deny the entire shinobi world."
Neji's gaze hardened in agreement.
Their objections were like a drowning man grasping at a final reed—an instinctive refusal to accept a truth too horrifying to face.
Naruto looked at their forced composure. There was no anger in his expression.
Only a heavier sigh.
"As I thought… you still don't understand me."
His voice carried a loneliness, as though he had long anticipated this outcome.
He did not continue pressing the already destabilizing question of whether chakra influenced the heart. Instead, he shifted to something far more concrete—and far more terrifying.
"The Sage of Six Paths left behind a 'seed,'" Naruto said slowly, his gaze piercing through the mist of history. "That seed took root, sprouted, and spread across this land for over a thousand years… bearing abundant 'fruit.'"
He paused, then looked at Sasuke and Neji—his eyes sharp as blades.
"So here's the question—"
"These fruits, cultivated over a millennium, containing immense power and limitless potential…"
"Who… ultimately harvested them?"
Silence.
This time, the silence carried a chilling edge.
Harvested? Who had the right—or the ability—to harvest the fruit planted by the Sage of Six Paths and nurtured by a thousand years of shinobi history?
Naruto did not wait for their answer.
Instead, he asked another question—one that pointed directly at the mythical progenitor himself.
"You've met the Sage of Six Paths… haven't you?"
Both Sasuke and Neji stiffened.
Yes.
In that dim cavern, they had met him—the gentle, benevolent figure who bestowed power upon them and guided them against Naruto.
Naruto's voice dropped even lower.
"Then tell me…"
"Have you ever wondered…"
"How he managed…"
"To live… for over a thousand years?"
Boom—!!!
Such a simple question.
Yet it froze every thought in their minds.
Over a thousand years?
That was right.
The Sage of Six Paths belonged to the age of myth. More than a millennium had passed.
How could he still be alive?
How could he manifest in such a tangible form—granting power, offering guidance?
When he appeared, his presence had been vast as the sea, brimming with vitality—not the hollow residue of a lingering spirit.
Unless…
A terrifying possibility rose unbidden in their minds.
The one who harvested the fruit…
The one who lived for a thousand years…
The two questions collided like thunderclaps.
Was it possible that the kindly ancestor—the one who granted them hope—was himself the ultimate beneficiary of this thousand-year-long Chakra Parasitism Theory? The hidden maintainer of the cycle?
Or worse—
That he was the harvester?
That they—along with every shinobi in history, every reincarnation of Indra and Asura, every life struggling within the chakra system—were nothing more than fruit on the ever-growing Divine Tree?
Growing.
Ripening.
And eventually plucked by an unseen hand.
Naruto watched their faces turn deathly pale—shock, fear, and confusion intertwined.
He knew his words had taken root like the most poisonous seed.
"Now," Naruto said calmly, though his voice pierced deeper than any roar, "do you still think what I want is nothing more than personal revenge?"
"Do you still believe the 'True Invader' I speak of is just some individual… or some organization?"
He slowly raised his hand and pointed toward the sky—toward the heavens that once displayed the projection, now shrouded in deep darkness.
Toward the unseen gaze that may have watched this world for a thousand years.
"What I intend to confront…"
"Is the thousand-year cause rooted in this land."
"And the invisible fruit hanging over this world."
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