Land of Waves Team 7's First High-Difficulty Mission—
"You... what's with... that look... ah... you... super... huge idiot..."
"Wh-Why?" Naruto: "I don't want it... I don't want you butting in!!!"
"How should I know... I... I clearly hate you the most... but my body... moved on its own... idiot..."
Sasuke collapsed, words of frustration spilling from his mouth.
"That guy... before I... kill my brother... how can I... die..."
...
[Pre-Uchiha Massacre Timeline]
Words like a dying wish shocked all the Uchiha inside Konoha's ninja academy!
'Kill my brother?'
Sasuke's brother is none other than...
Itachi froze in place. Shisui activated his Sharingan.
Fugaku Uchiha and the other members of the Uchiha clan all looked in shock at the 11-year-old Uchiha Itachi and the 6-year-old Uchiha Sasuke!
In other words, earlier in the genin assignment classroom, when 12-year-old Sasuke was cut off by the 17-year-old Uchiha Sasuke from the Fourth Great Ninja War...
The target wasn't to kill Obito Uchiha, but to have their father kill his own son—Uchiha Itachi?!!
How is that possible?!
Why?!
Doesn't Sasuke love chasing after his brother the most?!!
...
[Inside the Mirror Wall, Land of Waves]
"Don't you dare die... Naruto..."
At this moment, of all times...
At this moment, Uchiha Sasuke didn't call Naruto "dead-last"! Didn't mock him as a coward or super idiot either, but called him by his name!
"Actually, I also... I clearly hate you the most too..."
Naruto sat on the ground, holding Sasuke's unconscious body. His rage was ignited instantly amid the calm!
I'll never forgive you...
"I'm going to kill you!!!" Naruto... snapped...
...
[Fourth Great Ninja War Timeline]
Fourth War Sasuke watched the other world. This was a part he didn't know about—what happened after he lost consciousness back then.
At the same time, Gaara, Tsunade, Mei Terumi, A, and Ōnoki also arrived at the battlefield's core area, leading their respective village's ninja in a counterattack against the Ten-Tails!
Since the Allied Shinobi Forces already knew Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki, aside from remorse over their past injustice toward jinchūriki, they weren't too surprised.
But the ninja from the other two time points were different!
Ninja who had experienced the Nine-Tails' rampage already feared the Nine-Tails' power to the extreme!
And the genin from Naruto's class had no idea that inside that dead-last Uzumaki Naruto's body, such terrifying power was hidden!!
[Pre-Uchiha Massacre Timeline and Konoha Genin Assignment Timeline]
Not only was this their first time seeing Uchiha Sasuke's Sharingan, what made them unable to believe even more was...
"That... is that Naruto...?!!!"
They saw inside the mirror—Uzumaki Naruto's azure blue eyes turned into crimson beast pupils! The corners of his mouth ripped open with cracking sounds, growing beast-like fangs! His hand bones deformed, fingernails becoming sharp and hard like a wild beast's claws!
—BANG!
Red chakra sent the senbon piercing his body flying away!
The surrounding ground was shattered by the materialized chakra!
Spiraling upward red chakra formed into a massive beast head above Naruto!!
"A fox?!!"
Why would Naruto's chakra turn into a fox?!!
That Naruto?! After he collapsed, he could actually burst out with such power?!!!
Materialized chakra! Injuries instantly healed!!
For genin at that time, these were all such obscure terms!!
Konoha's genin were all shocked! They never knew Naruto could unleash such powerful strength!
Isn't he just an orphan in the village?! He was always dead-last in the ninja academy! The idiot who loved pranks and caused trouble for everyone!
But why? Why does his chakra manifest in the form of a fox? And before this, even the Fourth Hokage showed him special favor??
[Land of Waves 1.0 Timeline]
Naruto, who used the Nine-Tails' power in his rage, and Haku, who was shocked by this power...
Neither of them realized that inside the Demonic Ice Mirrors, one of the ice crystal mirrors had already been replaced with a window connected to the Fourth Great Ninja War!
Kakashi, fighting Zabuza, sensed the Nine-Tails chakra's aura and no longer held back his strength!
Inside the Demonic Ice Mirrors, Naruto launched a crushing assault on Haku.
Outside the Demonic Ice Mirrors, to end his battle with Zabuza, Kakashi urgently summoned his Eight Ninja Hounds!
Haku was punched out of his Secret Jutsu: Demonic Ice Mirrors by Naruto. The mask on his face shattered, revealing his true appearance!
'Do you have someone you want to protect?'
Without realizing it, Haku essentially told his story with Zabuza to the Naruto facing him and three different timelines of the ninja world.
"The Land of Water, after experiencing a long civil war, strongly rejects people with kekkei genkai. And I am such a person."
"That young man 'killed by me' probably shares my experience. We both have similar pasts." Haku was referring to Sasuke—possessing the Sharingan kekkei genkai was like bearing a sin.
"We're not accepted by the world, not needed by anyone..."
[Fourth Great Ninja War Timeline]
Gaara and Mei Terumi, the two Kage, listened to Haku's account.
One recalled his own childhood experiences before meeting Naruto. The other remembered the Land of Water's difficult past.
On the battlefield, inside the massive mirror wall, they saw Haku's sorrowful gaze and heard his appeal to Naruto:
"You once told me you wanted to become Hokage, to make everyone in the village acknowledge your existence..."
The Konoha ninja among the Allied Shinobi Forces all felt a sense of shame when they saw Naruto from the past.
Everyone knew the reason why Uzumaki Naruto wanted everyone to acknowledge him!
—Because of their baseless hatred!
—Because of their groundless ostracization!!
...
[Fourth Great Ninja War Timeline]
Before their eyes, that person...
Using Rasenshuriken again and again, shattering the Ten-Tails clones charging toward the Allied Shinobi Forces again and again.
Even utterly exhausted, even covered in wounds, still sharing the Tailed Beast cloak with them...
Protecting them...
Was precisely the person they had hurt the most deeply!!
—Uzumaki Naruto.
If they should say thank you, all of them owe him their gratitude.
If they should say sorry, all of them owe him an apology!
The Konoha ninja among the Allied Shinobi Forces felt deeply ashamed. The one desperately saving them now was Uzumaki Naruto, whose existence they had always denied! That child they had always called 'that thing,' 'that monster,' 'that demon fox'!
...