Karin followed silently behind Naruto as they headed for the exit.
Along the way, she saw countless Root ninjas' corpses, which made her feel a little worried for Naruto.
After killing so many Konoha ninjas, would Naruto really be fine?
Or… had Naruto already decided to defect from Konoha?
Naruto killed so many people just to save me, even at the risk of betraying Konoha. Could it be…
Thinking of this, Karin's cheeks suddenly turned red.
She stole a glance at Naruto's handsome but cold side profile.
So cool!
But there was no sign that Naruto liked her at all!
If he didn't like her, then why would he go this far for her?
Naruto noticed Karin's strange look and asked, "What's wrong?"
"N-no… nothing!" Karin shook her head, her face blushing bright red.
Seeing this, Naruto knew exactly what she was thinking.
First Koyuki, and now Karin… doesn't anyone care that I'm still single?
"Don't overthink it. I took you in. In a way, that makes you one of my people. These Root bastards grabbed someone of mine without even saying a word—that's asking for death!"
Karin nodded with her face still red.
Her mind was stuck on the words: "you're one of my people."
But soon she started worrying again. "But Naruto, after killing so many Konoha ninjas, are you sure it's okay?"
"Heaven knows, earth knows, you know, and I know." Naruto said calmly.
"But there are still so many people here…"
When Karin thought of something, she quickly shut her mouth.
She knew Naruto wasn't the type to be soft-hearted.
If Naruto didn't want what happened here to spread, then everyone here would have to be silenced!
After leaving Root,
Karin saw the light barrier Naruto had set up, shaped like a giant birdcage!
Someone tried to escape through it, but the moment they touched the barrier, they were sliced clean in half!
Watching the blood and flesh scatter everywhere, Karin shivered in fear.
Even though she had seen death before, a scene this bloody still terrified her.
After all, she had only been training as a ninja for a few months. Back in Kusagakure, she had never killed anyone!
"He came out!"
"Thank you for saving us! Did you make this barrier? Can you let us out?"
The ones Naruto had just saved, who didn't even say thanks when they first tried to escape, now turned back and called him their benefactor after realizing they couldn't get out of the barrier.
But Naruto never had any plans to let them go!
Danzo was dead, Tsunade was the Hokage, so keeping his identity as a Konoha ninja didn't harm him at all.
But letting these people go would put his own interests at risk!
Ignoring their gratitude, Naruto reached out and controlled the glowing sphere above, which powered the birdcage.
Invisible beams of light shot out from the sphere, locking onto everyone still alive.
Whoosh!
A round of beams rained down!
Silence fell!
Other than him and Karin, everyone else was killed by the lasers!
Karin stared at Naruto's cold, merciless look, and fear rose inside her. But then she reminded herself that Naruto had come here to save her, and quickly replaced that fear with admiration.
Maybe some of these people didn't deserve to die, but what did that matter to them?
In Root, even if Naruto hadn't acted, these people would have died sooner or later on missions anyway!
Dead is dead, whether by someone else's hand or Naruto's. It wasn't really that evil!
Karin convinced herself of that, then followed Naruto out of the barrier.
The moment they stepped out, the barrier collapsed inwards, slicing all of Root into pieces.
Right after, Naruto unleashed a massive blast of "Radiant Annihilation Beam," blasting Root into a bottomless abyss!
That way, even if someone wanted to investigate, there would be nothing left to find!
But the price was that the blast was too loud and violent, shaking all of Konoha!
"We need to leave."
Sensing people coming toward them, Naruto grabbed Karin and left immediately.
In less than ten minutes, an Anbu squad arrived at Root. Staring at the endless abyss, they fell silent.
Was there always such a huge canyon here?
...
"What? Root is gone?"
Tsunade slammed her hands on the desk and stood up, her face full of shock at the Anbu's report!
"Y-yes, Hokage-sama! Hard as it is to believe, according to our investigation, the entire Root base was blasted into a bottomless abyss!"
An enemy invading Konoha?
A foe strong enough to do this suddenly appearing inside Konoha was deeply unsettling!
She had only recently taken up the role of Fifth Hokage. If Konoha suffered such a huge loss now, she would truly feel she had failed the Hokage's duty!
Thinking this, she immediately ordered Konoha into a higher state of alert and sent out elite jonin to thoroughly investigate the one behind Root's destruction!
After making all the arrangements, the two advisors pushed open the door and entered.
"Tsunade, is this confirmed? Danzo, he..." Mitokado Homura asked.
"So far, Anbu hasn't found any trace of Danzo. We don't know if he's dead or alive," Tsunade answered.
Even though she disliked Root and hated Danzo even more, as Hokage she was still responsible for the safety of that organization.
"Have they found the culprit?" Koharu Utatane asked.
"No. Anbu found that the entire Root base was blasted into an abyss, but even when they went down thousands of meters, they didn't find any traces at all!" Tsunade shook her head.
Blasted into a bottomless abyss?
Is the enemy this time a god?
The two advisors' faces grew heavy.
"Sarutobi sacrificed himself just to drive away one Orochimaru, and now another unknown enemy has shown up, destroying Konoha's Root with a single move! Do the ninjas of this world really think Konoha is that easy to bully?"
"I think it's because Konoha has been quiet for too long, so these small fry dare to come here and cause trouble!"
Tsunade looked at the two outraged advisors with some helplessness.
Do you two really not see why Konoha ended up like this?
Isn't it simply because Konoha has grown weak?
It lacks decisive Kage-level power!
Back when Orochimaru attacked, if Konoha had two more people with the same strength as the Third Hokage, would he really have died?
"Tsunade, ever since Orochimaru's incident, the whole ninja world has been laughing at us, and many nations are eyeing us like wolves. This time we cannot afford to be careless! We absolutely cannot allow what happened with Orochimaru to happen again!"
That part was true. If Konoha suffered another large-scale attack in a short time, and another Hokage died, then it would really be the end.
By then, everyone would come to tear a piece off Konoha!
Tsunade nodded slightly, already thinking about how to strengthen Konoha's defenses without affecting missions.
As she thought, one name came to mind.
"Uzumaki Naruto!"
In terms of strength, as long as Naruto was around, Konoha wouldn't have to fear enemies on Orochimaru's level invading.
But then again... if Uzumaki Naruto was really that strong, why did the Third still die at Orochimaru's hands?
Could it be on purpose?
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