Chapter 35: Hiruzen Sarutobi's Compromise
The Third Hokage felt extremely heavy-hearted.
In his view, Naruto's slash just now must have consumed a significant amount of chakra.
That was his goal — to exhaust Naruto's chakra.
But losing more than ten Anbu in one go also pained him deeply.
At the same time, Naruto's decisive, almost indifferent way of killing made him feel a chill in his heart.
Yet he never stopped to think why Naruto had become so cold.
Perhaps because he had repeated the Will of Fire so often, he had gradually brainwashed himself. His thinking had already become rigid.
Moreover, his calculations were destined to fail.
Because the chakra consumed by a slash like the one just now was less than one-thousandth of Naruto's total reserves.
And that was without even counting the Nine-Tails' chakra.
If the Nine-Tails' chakra was included, Naruto could swing Wind Breathing ten thousand times and only feel soreness in his arms — not chakra exhaustion.
Before the Third could give the next order, Naruto chose to take the initiative!
Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu!
Poof! Poof! Poof!
Endless Shadow Clones appeared out of thin air.
Dozens of "Narutos" stood on the rooftops.
Unlike the scenes in the original story, every single Shadow Clone had a cold, ruthless expression. Their stances varied, but each one radiated the aura of a true powerhouse.
Flying Thunder God!
Dozens of Narutos activated Flying Thunder God at the same time!
All of them vanished instantly. The Third became instantly alert.
The next second, screams poured into the Third's ears one after another.
Looking around, scene after scene entered his eyes.
One Naruto after another appeared in the middle of groups of Anbu.
Golden chains glowing with golden light, like golden dragons, coiled and chased after the Anbu.
The battle-experienced Anbu could dodge the first chain, or the second, but there was always a third coming from a different direction.
The Shadow Clones scattered around simultaneously released dozens of massive chains.
In Hiruzen Sarutobi's field of vision, countless golden chains intertwined in the air, gradually forming a vast golden "spider web" that radiated light.
And his proud Anbu looked like mosquitoes trapped in that web, locked onto it by the chains.
Elite jonin-level Anbu who could be considered high-level experts when taken individually now looked so small and powerless…
The Uzumaki clan's top secret technique — Adamantine Sealing Chains — was being used by Naruto as a large-scale crowd-control skill.
In less than two and a half minutes, more than ninety percent of the several hundred Anbu had been bound by the Adamantine Sealing Chains!
The most terrifying thing about Adamantine Sealing Chains wasn't simple binding.
It was that once bound, the victim couldn't mobilize their chakra at all, making escape impossible.
This was also the biggest reason the technique could restrain Tailed Beasts.
Looking at the sky full of Adamantine Sealing Chains, the Third fell completely silent. His body became even more hunched, as if he had aged several years in an instant.
Although the surrounding residents had already been evacuated, many Konoha civilians watched the huge golden "spider web" in the sky from afar. Their faces were filled with worry and panic, not knowing what would happen next.
All the chains were still rattling, sounding like gears being pulled, slowly tightening.
To the bound Anbu, this rattling sound was like the Grim Reaper swinging his scythe.
With every inch the chains tightened, their sense of suffocation grew stronger.
The most terrifying part was the feeling of helplessness — knowing they were about to die, yet unable to even move a finger.
Enma stood beside the Third, punching and kicking to repel two massive chains.
When he landed, his expression was extremely grave.
"Sarutobi, it seems you've provoked a tremendous amount of trouble. What do we do now? Even if we join forces, we may not be able to defeat that kid!"
Seeing so many Anbu on the verge of death, Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind raced.
Given Naruto's performance, trying to subdue him would inevitably cause enormous damage to Konoha.
If the other four great nations learned of this, Konoha's position would become extremely dangerous.
In the end, the Third could only shout at Naruto, "Naruto! What do you want?! Stop first — let's talk properly!"
At this point, he also realized that trying to appeal to emotions with Naruto was useless.
They could only talk about benefits and hope to minimize Konoha's losses.
Being forced into this position by a twelve-year-old boy was something the Third had never imagined would happen.
Naruto hesitated for a moment, then stopped tightening the chains. Many of the bound Anbu were already on the verge of death.
He landed not far from the Third, still maintaining Sage Mode.
He had just unleashed such large-scale techniques, yet there was not a trace of fatigue on his face.
The Third felt even more troubled.
If they tried to fight a war of attrition as planned, it was likely that the entire Anbu would be exhausted before Naruto ran out of chakra.
The Third tried his best to calm his chaotic thoughts and asked with a hint of pleading,
"Naruto, Grandpa was wrong before. I shouldn't have tried to forcibly arrange your destination. Grandpa apologizes to you and will compensate you. Is that okay?"
Seeing the Third like this, Naruto sneered inwardly.
"Still the same old methods. When you think you can win, you strike. When you sense you'll suffer heavy losses, you back down."
"Truly worthy of being called the 'Enduring Hokage.'"
Naruto's words instantly reminded the Third of many painful memories he could never let go of.
In order to smoothly sign a ceasefire agreement with the Hidden Cloud Village, even though he knew the Cloud had kidnapped Hinata first, he had still offered Hyuga Hizashi as a sacrifice.
To avoid losing combat power, he had delayed sending reinforcements to their ally Uzushiogakure, ultimately leading to the complete destruction of the entire Land of Whirlpools!
If they fought, they might lose everything.
As long as they didn't fight, sacrificing the few would allow Konoha to preserve its strength and slowly solidify its position as the strongest village.
This had become the Third's guiding principle in recent years.
Now, being mocked by a boy for these actions made the already ashamed Third feel unable to lift his head.
If it had been the First or Second Hokage, such things would never have happened.
"I can stop if you want. Three conditions."
"First, tell me where Root is. I want to uproot this rotten organization!"
"Second, round up all the villagers who have treated me with malice. They cursed me for twelve years, so give them a fair twelve-year sentence!"
"Third, stop sending people to monitor me. I need freedom."
After hearing these increasingly unacceptable conditions, Hiruzen Sarutobi's eyes flickered nonstop.
This night felt unbearably long…
He was puzzled. How did Naruto know so much?
Not only did he know about the existence of Root, but from his tone, he even knew clearly that Root was the mastermind behind everything.
With such talent and such a mindset, Konoha could have had an extremely reliable jinchuriki guardian.
But now, he had become Konoha's greatest threat!
This huge gap made it impossible for the Third to come to terms with it.
After a long time, he finally spoke slowly.
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