Chapter 25: Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto
"I'm exhausted…"
Naruto sat on the ground and let out a tired sigh. After returning home, he dispelled the genjutsu and immediately entered the soul space.
After working hard for half the night and nearly exhausting the chakra he had absorbed earlier, he had finally managed to return Uchiha Fugaku and Uchiha Mikoto's souls to their bodies.
"Naruto… thank you…"
Uchiha Mikoto looked at the pale-faced Naruto. As light gradually returned to her pupils, she spoke gently.
The bodies still retained some residual warmth. After forcefully injecting the souls back in, their body temperature was slowly recovering. However, they could only wake up briefly inside this space.
Healing their fatal wounds would have to wait until Naruto had the ability to do so.
"Uzumaki Naruto, do you realize what kind of consequences this will bring you? If you're discovered, you'll die too…"
Uchiha Fugaku stared intently at Naruto.
He didn't understand why this boy possessed the power to save them, nor why he would take such a huge risk for people he didn't even know.
Although they had known the Fourth Hokage and his wife, it had only been a formal upper-level relationship between the village and a major clan. They weren't even close friends in private…
"The onigiri… were really delicious…"
Naruto lowered his head, his voice muffled as he told them the reason.
If it weren't for those onigiri over the past year, he wouldn't have taken the risk…
Besides, he didn't want Sasuke to suffer the same pain as in the original plot.
He knew many of the future events between him and Sasuke might still happen, but the Sasuke from before had actually been a tsundere little kid with chubby baby cheeks. That round face would gradually grow thinner after leaving the hospital…
But so what if it was the plot?
He wouldn't let Sasuke remain trapped in pain forever. When the time was right, he would reveal part of the truth to him.
"You foolish child… Are you really willing to risk your own life just for two onigiri?"
Tears slid down Uchiha Mikoto's cheeks. Her eldest son had been forced to kill his own parents, and her youngest son would now become an orphan with no one to care for him…
Although she and her husband weren't truly dead, their bodies were still in a near-death state — the wounds had stopped bleeding but showed no further signs of healing. They were like living corpses.
Looking at Naruto now, Mikoto couldn't help but think of Sasuke.
Her son, who had never experienced any hardship, now had to face such a cruel reality.
Would he cry at night? Would he be bullied at school? Would he encounter bad people on the way home? Would there even be food for him when he got back…
Tears continued to fall as Mikoto suddenly regretted not leaving something for Sasuke — even just some money to buy food would have been better!
Thinking about how Naruto had been starving for so long, she feared Sasuke might end up the same way.
Although Naruto said he saved them because of the onigiri, and Mikoto was truly grateful…
The thought of Sasuke being so hungry that two onigiri felt like an enormous kindness — and that he might one day risk everything like Naruto — terrified her as a mother.
"Naruto, please don't tell Sasuke about us for now. Our son is too naive. If he finds out, he'll definitely expose everything. From now on, just treat us as dead. And if… if it's possible, please help take care of Sasuke…"
Uchiha Fugaku forced himself to stand despite the stiffness and pain in his back. He then gave Naruto a deep bow.
He knew his son well, so he didn't dare let Sasuke seek revenge for them. He only hoped Sasuke could live safely…
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