"Innocent?" Naruto's voice twisted, hoarse and distorted, as if forced through a crack in hell itself. "Why… was I treated like that? Can a casual apology… erase everything?!"
His accusation was not aimed at one person.
It was aimed at the world.
At the silent majority who permitted, ignored, or quietly participated in his suffering.
Under the corrosive catalyst of Karin's story, the final faint line he may once have drawn between "the guilty" and "the ordinary" dissolved completely.
"No…" Naruto slowly shook his head. The crimson glow in his eyes pulsed in rhythm with the black aura coiling around him.
"They all have to die."
Before the words fully settled, he kicked off the ground and shot skyward.
Chakra exploded into his palm—compressing, spiraling, expanding into a sphere far larger than any ordinary Rasengan. Its edges crackled with ominous dark red energy.
An Ultra–Massive Rasengan.
"I will destroy this filthy world!!!"
With a roar that fused agony and savagery, Naruto slammed the sphere downward.
"Naruto—!!" Sasuke's eyes widened in horror. He and Neji retreated with the last of their strength.
Sasuke reached out instinctively—
But grasped nothing.
The sphere struck.
BOOM—!!!!!
The earth split as if the heavens had fallen. The crater expanded violently, shockwaves ripping outward in walls of debris and scorching wind.
And it was only the beginning.
"Not enough… not enough!!!"
Through the smoke came Naruto's frenzied howl.
Hovering in the air, his hands blurred. One Rasengan after another formed—some large, some smaller, all wrapped in black-red lightning—and rained down like meteors upon the already fractured ground.
"You want chakra?! Take it! Take all of it!!!"
Was he speaking to the sealed being below?
Or screaming at existence itself?
Each strike injected vast quantities of chakra into the earth—violent, overflowing energy spilling outward like bait tossed before a starving predator.
"Come out—!!! Destroy this world for me—!!!"
His voice rang like a doomsday trumpet.
At the edge of the devastation, Sasuke and Neji watched helplessly.
They tried to gather strength.
Tried to intervene.
But their bodies were spent.
Sasuke turned sharply toward the true instigator.
Karin stood casually atop a jagged slab of rock, arms folded, watching Naruto's devastation with undisguised delight.
"Karinnn!!!" Sasuke's voice trembled with fury. "What are you trying to accomplish?! What do you gain from this?!"
She turned to him, smile radiant.
"I'm happy."
She tilted her head.
"Isn't that enough?"
The answer was so direct—so utterly detached from morality—that Sasuke fell silent.
For her, stimulation. Curiosity. Entertainment.
Those were sufficient motives.
Concepts like good and evil—
Consequences—
They weighed nothing.
Beside him, Neji gritted his teeth and forced the last of his strength toward his eyes.
He attempted to activate the Tenseigan once more.
Blue light flickered—
Then sputtered out like a candle in wind.
He staggered, face drained of color.
Karin noticed instantly.
Her scarlet eyes brightened with fresh excitement.
She pointed at Neji.
"Hey! What kind of eyes are those?"
"They're beautiful!"
Neji's heart sank.
Sasuke reacted immediately, stepping in front of him, shielding him with his body.
Karin pouted.
"Why are you so defensive? I used to be your teammate."
Her tone feigned injury.
But her gaze remained fixed on Neji's newly awakened Tenseigan—burning with fascination.
Sasuke did not lower his guard.
He knew her too well.
To Karin, Neji's eyes were just as interesting as the monster below.
And then—
"ROOOOOAR—!!!"
A sound erupted from deep beneath the earth.
Not merely loud.
Ancient.
Primal.
It carried pure hunger.
The ground convulsed.
The earth heaved as if something colossal were stretching after an age of slumber.
Karin's attention snapped instantly toward the tremor's epicenter, excitement surging.
Sasuke and Neji felt their hearts drop.
Their worst fear had materialized.
The chakra-devouring monster—
Was awakening.
Across the shinobi world, countless eyes watched the cataclysmic upheaval.
Fear.
Despair.
Dread.
All were present.
Yet strangely—
There was also something else.
Curiosity.
As if humanity could not help but stare when the abyss finally stared back.
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