Naruto looked at the Fourth Raikage before him, who stood with hair bristling like an enraged lion, his tone flat.
"Since you yourself admit that 'the Ninja World is inherently ruled by the Law of the jungle'..."
Naruto raised his chin slightly. The warmth that usually graced his face was gone, replaced by a calm and unquestionable air of condescension.
"Then, right now."
His gaze swept over A's Lightning Release armor, which symbolized the supreme military might of the Hidden Cloud Village, and then moved past his shoulder toward the massive Ninja Village built into the mountains behind him, which was currently in a state of chaos and turmoil due to the emergency evacuation order.
"I am stronger."
"This piece of meat that is the Hidden Cloud Village should be eaten by me."
Survival of the fittest, the Law of the jungle.
This was the logic A had just used to justify himself.
Now, Naruto was returning that logic to him intact, and in an even tougher, more straightforward manner.
There was no moral condemnation, no historical retrospection, not even much emotional rendering.
There was only the coldest, most realistic declaration of the power gap and the outcome.
A's breathing was heavy, his face livid.
He felt an unprecedented sense of humiliation and powerlessness clenching his heart.
The opponent didn't even bother to engage in any form of debate or negotiation with him; he simply used A's own words to seal the fate of everything about to happen.
But he really couldn't fight right now; the losses for the Hidden Cloud Village would be too great if a battle broke out.
Naruto didn't seem to care about A's current reaction. He turned slightly and cast his gaze back toward the interior of the Hidden Cloud Village.
With his excellent sensory abilities, he could clearly "see" everything happening in the Village:
Civilians pouring out of their homes in a panic yet orderly fashion, carrying simple luggage, dragging their families along, hurrying along designated routes.
The Genin, whose faces were filled with tension and resolve, maintained order and directed the flow.
Deeper inside, combat Ninjas were urgently assembling, distributing weapons and supplies, and constructing a final line of defense.
The crowd, like a startled colony of ants, was scurrying in a flustered yet tenacious manner in the face of a massive crisis.
Looking at these ordinary people who had nothing to do with the war but were destined to be dragged into it, the coldness in Naruto's eyes melted slightly, but soon regained its firmness.
He turned back to look at A, who was still glaring at him, his tone slowed down, yet it still carried an unchangeable decisiveness:
"I don't intend to harm civilians."
This sentence made A's tense nerves and muscles relax slightly.
Naruto didn't give him too much time to think and continued:
"So, I will fight you after the crowd has finished evacuating."
His gaze met A's again; there was no provocation, no contempt.
"Before that,"
Naruto raised a hand slightly, signaling that A could continue his work,
"Go do what you need to do, hurry up."
After saying this, Naruto stopped looking at A and turned, walked to a relatively flat rock nearby, and actually sat down casually, leaning his back against the rock and closing his eyes slightly, as if he wanted to take a short nap.
Only his even breathing and still upright sitting posture showed that he had not let down his guard.
Uchiha Hikari sat by Naruto's side like a silent guardian deity.
Her gaze swept across A, then across the direction of the Hidden Cloud Village in the distance, and finally landed on Naruto, the coldness in her eyes melting into a hint of warmth.
She also relaxed her standing posture, but the faint, ready-to-strike dangerous aura around her never dissipated.
Left for A and the Hidden Cloud Village were only an enemy leaning against a rock with his eyes closed, a silently guarding girl, and... a countdown to destruction that seemed to be ticking away in the heart of every Hidden Cloud Ninja.
Not harming civilians—this was perhaps the last bit of "mercy" and "principle" that Uzumaki Naruto retained in this destined-to-be-bloody conquest.
But this also highlighted his unshakeable confidence and coldness:
He had absolute certainty that he could crush all resistance in the Hidden Cloud Village head-on, including the Fourth Raikage, who was known for his martial prowess.
A stood in place, fists clenched so tightly his nails were almost digging into his palms.
He looked at Naruto, who seemed to be truly resting, then looked back at the Village that was still hurriedly evacuating...
A thick sense of sorrow and powerlessness, mixed with burning unwillingness and Battle Intent, clashed violently in his chest.
Time ticked away, second by second.
At the entrance of the Hidden Cloud Village, on one side was the waiting hunter, and on the other was the prey forced to make final preparations.
This war, determined by old grudges and today's power gap, was already unavoidable.
And the moment the last civilian left the battlefield area...
That would be when thunder and flames descended.
On a steep cliff several kilometers away from the entrance of the Hidden Cloud Village, several figures stood silently like vultures perched in the shadows, looking from afar at the area that was about to become a battlefield.
They were the surviving members of the Akatsuki Organization, led by Uchiha Obito:
Hidan carried his signature bloody three-bladed scythe, looking bored, muttering quietly and incessantly:
"This is so boring, just watching like this?"
"Lord Jashin hates waiting the most. What He craves is hot, gushing blood, and painful, devout wails!"
"No sacrifices, no rituals, what is this? Sightseeing? Baka yarou!"
His fanatical rambling about "Lord Jashin" seemed particularly abrupt on the empty cliff, carrying a neurotic sort of absurdity.
However, the other members couldn't even be bothered to spare him a glance, as if he were just an annoying buzzing fly.
Their attention was focused on the three figures in the distance, who were blurry due to the distance: the confronting Naruto and Raikage A, and the quietly standing Uchiha Hikari.
In order not to be detected immediately by Uzumaki Naruto, whose sensory abilities might be terrifying, they deliberately chose this sufficiently distant observation point, only able to capture the general outline and movements with their excellent eyesight.
The silence lasted for a moment, with only the wind and Hidan's annoying low complaints as background noise.
Finally, Sasori's voice, which had been modified by his Puppet body and sounded slightly dull and cold, rang out. He seemed to completely ignore Hidan and started another topic:
"That said..."
Sasori controlled Hiruko, his head turning slightly, "looking" at the golden-haired figure in the distance,
"This guy actually doesn't intend to harm civilians, and even specifically gave evacuation time?"
He paused, his tone carrying a hint of imperceptible inquiry and playfulness:
"If I remember correctly, based on the intelligence Black Zetsu provided about his childhood.
Uzumaki Naruto was ostracized, isolated, and even blatantly bullied in Hidden Leaf Village when he was young, right?"
"Someone who grew up in such an environment can still hold this kind of 'mercy' for the civilians of an enemy country?
Truly... interesting."
In Sasori's words, one couldn't tell if it was praise, sarcasm, or pure analysis.
Loving Book So Far? Check Out 30+ Advanced Chapters At PA Treon
patreon.com/FictionOP
Comments