The intense pain and severe dizziness from her heavy injuries surged like a tide, consuming her remaining consciousness.
She felt her life force draining away, quietly awaiting the final, all-ending blow from the Tailed Beast she anticipated.
Of course, at this moment, her loss of consciousness was merely due to severe injuries causing her to faint; she was far from truly dead.
After confirming that Uchiha Itachi had completely lost consciousness and fallen into a deep coma, the scarlet Chakra cloak, radiating terrifying pressure, that enveloped Naruto began to slowly dissipate like a receding tide.
The boiling energy gradually calmed, retracted, and finally completely vanished back into Naruto's body, revealing the golden-haired boy beneath.
Naruto let out a long sigh and slumped to the ground.
Although this Tailed Beast transformation was due to Kurama willingly lending him power, and thus lacked the frantic erosion of negative emotions, controlling such an enormous amount of Chakra, far exceeding his own burden, still took a toll on his body.
"Hoo… I'm exhausted."
"However, according to Kurama's awkward statement just now… this is the power he's 'currently' willing to lend me?"
"In other words, without going berserk, the trump card that 'Uzumaki Naruto' can stably control is the power of these four tails?"
This discovery made his blue eyes light up slightly.
This was undoubtedly a huge increase in combat power, and its source was completely "legitimate."
"Hmm… I'll have to find an opportunity to let the Third Hokage know about this."
"See if I can use this to squeeze more training resources out of him…"
After resting for a moment and recovering some strength, Naruto stood up again.
His gaze fell upon Uchiha Itachi, who was unconscious from her severe injuries.
Bloodstains still marred the girl's pale face, her eyes were tightly shut, and those two distinct tear troughs now added a touch of fragility.
"Tsk… Setting aside her extremely abnormal personality and thought process, just looking at this face… aside from the prominent tear troughs, she's actually quite beautiful."
"Of course, she's still far from as beautiful as her younger sister."
He shook his head slightly, casting aside these irrelevant thoughts.
Naruto knew what he needed to do next.
"This is all I can do."
"Next, I need to quickly take Satsuki to the hospital."
He formed hand seals, creating a Shadow Clone to stay behind and guard the unconscious Itachi.
Then, this newly created Shadow Clone formed hand seals again.
Bang!
With a soft sound, the Shadow Clone voluntarily dispersed, transforming into a puff of white smoke and vanishing.
And the memory it carried—of the precise location and Uchiha Itachi's unconscious state—instantly traversed the distance, synchronizing with the mind of the Shadow Clone acting as Menma.
"Alright, the notification has been sent."
"Next, how to deal with this 'filial daughter' is Shisui's problem to worry about."
"My mission… is temporarily concluded."
With that thought, Naruto no longer delayed, turning and quickly running back to the Uchiha Clan Compound in Konoha.
He ran towards the still-sleeping Satsuki.
He carefully bent down, carried the girl onto his back, and after ensuring she was secure, swiftly headed towards Konoha Hospital.
— — — — — —
Inside Konoha Village, a state of panic and chaos had completely erupted.
The palpable, oppressive Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Chakra from afar, filled with brutality and destruction, was like a nightmare returning, thoroughly igniting the villagers' deeply buried fears.
Under the guidance of the ninja, the panicked civilians, dragging their families, hastily moved towards various underground shelters.
The ninja responsible for maintaining order had cold sweat on their foreheads, desperately trying to calm the populace while nervously and repeatedly gazing towards the direction outside the village from which the terrifying pressure emanated, their kunai gripped tightly, ready to confront the worst-case scenario at any moment.
However, at this critical juncture, when the highest leader was urgently needed to command and stabilize morale, the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, the pillar of Konoha, was completely unable to fulfill his duties.
It wasn't that he didn't want to, but that he—couldn't.
He was currently in the Hokage's office, but the situation was entirely reversed.
He wasn't sitting in the Hokage's chair, but standing silently to the side.
He could never have imagined that, right under his nose, so many unknown dealings and conspiracies had quietly unfolded in Konoha.
Danzo Shimura… his old friend of many years, had actually secretly struck a clan extermination deal with Uchiha Itachi!
Uchiha Itachi would personally slaughter her own clan… and this horrific massacre ultimately attracted the man before him—the leader of the [Jinn] organization, Menma.
At this moment, this man wearing a strange fox mask was brazenly sitting in his Hokage seat, his posture relaxed.
And he, the true Hokage, could only stand by like a servant.
The cup of hot tea he had just personally brewed for the other party to maintain superficial politeness remained untouched by Menma.
It wasn't out of fear of poison, but because Menma didn't want to remove his mask.
From the other party's calm narration, he learned that Danzo's ambition and actions had completely enraged Menma, and he also knew that his old friend, who had gone astray, was likely in grave danger now, his fate sealed.
Logically, he understood that all of this was Danzo's own doing, but decades of bonds and shared experiences still brought an indescribable sense of sorrow and sadness to the old man's heart.
However, at this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi no longer even had the luxury to grieve for his old friend's passing.
Just moments ago, the successive, earth-shattering explosions on the outskirts of Konoha, and that torrent of Chakra, filled with brutality and destruction, which could be clearly felt even from such a distance.
Although the Third Hokage was not a professional sensory ninja, he would never mistake that Chakra, which had once brought pain to Konoha—
It was Kurama's Chakra! And… this level of ferocity, could it be a rampage?!
Combining Menma's recent revelation about the truth of the Uchiha clan massacre night and Itachi's extreme actions, a terrifying conjecture instantly formed in the Third Hokage's mind.
"Itachi… did she do something to Naruto during the process of provoking Satsuki?!"
"Did she completely enrage Kurama?!"
"Did she go too far?!"
The moment he thought of the potentially uncontrollable situation, the Third Hokage's heart instantly leaped to his throat, and immense anxiety and worry almost drowned him!
He wished he could immediately use the Body Flicker Technique, rush to the scene at the fastest speed, and risk his old life to prevent another "Nine-Tailed Demon Fox Incident" from potentially occurring!
However, his footsteps had barely moved when an undisguised warning gaze nailed him firmly in place.
"Cannot go!"
A cruel dilemma, a choice between two evils, weighed heavily on the Third Hokage's heart.
If he didn't go to stop it… allowing Kurama to completely rampage, given Konoha's current state, it could very likely be utterly destroyed!
He could not stand by and watch such a tragedy happen again.
But if he insisted on going… what if it angered the leader of the [Jinn] organization, whose strength was unfathomable and whose moods were unpredictable, who was sitting before him?
He was fully capable of leveling Konoha even before Kurama caused any damage!
The outcome would still be destruction!
Going meant destruction, not going also meant potential destruction!
The immense pressure weighed on the Third Hokage's shoulders, making his already no longer young body appear even more hunched.
He could only forcefully draw on his pipe, thick smoke swirling around his wrinkled face, but unable to dispel the deep gloom.
His heart was filled with only silent, repeated prayers, all his hope placed on the child of his grand-disciple—please, Naruto, don't be consumed by power.
Until this moment.
Click.
The large door to the Hokage's office, which was now strictly forbidden to open, was pushed open from the outside.
Under the Third Hokage's gaze, two figures entered from outside the door—the one leading, both in attire, height, and the iconic, strange fox mask on his face, was identical to the Menma currently seated in the Hokage's chair!
And behind this newly appeared "Menma," followed another figure, also wearing a fox mask, whose face could not be seen.
The "Menma" sitting in the Hokage's seat seemed unsurprised by this; he slowly stood up.
"Have you obtained what you needed?" the "Menma" in the seat asked.
The "Menma" who had just entered the door nodded, "Yes, I found it.
I can only say, it truly lives up to its reputation as the cells of the 'God of Shinobi'… Even after many years since his passing, the residual life force and energy are still terrifyingly immense.
It was indeed hidden quite deeply, took some effort, but I still found it."
The "Menma" in the seat seemed satisfied with this answer, nodding slightly.
"Then my mission is complete; I'll leave the rest to you.
Oh, and don't forget to pick up that 'filial daughter'."
As his voice faded, under Hiruzen Sarutobi's astonished gaze, the figure of "Menma" who had been sitting in the Hokage's seat vanished with a soft "bang," turning into a puff of white smoke.
"A Shadow Clone…"
The Third Hokage's gaze sharply turned to the "Menma" who had just arrived at the door.
"So this… is the true body of the leader of the [Jinn] organization?"
However, the Menma at the door seemed to have lost patience for further conversation.
He casually raised a hand, took a scroll from his sleeve, and with a flick of his wrist, tossed it to Hiruzen Sarutobi.
The Third Hokage instinctively caught the scroll.
"Take a good look, Third Hokage," Menma's voice came through the mask, "To be honest, your old friend left behind far more 'surprises' than I imagined.
Because Danzo died rather hastily, his subordinates don't seem to have received orders to destroy the evidence."
He raised a hand and pointed to the scroll in the Third Hokage's hand.
"This is just a small part; for the rest… you should go to his old lair and confirm it with your own eyes."