Naruto: Uchiha Youngjo's Konoha Spring

Chapter 232: Fateful Battle (Part 2)

"Uchiha brat, stop yelling at me!" Kurama bared its teeth and spoke to Sasuke, who was speaking without warning. Then, Kurama made a simple adjustment to the chakra fluctuations within Naruto's body.

Inside the sealed space, Naruto, who had been affected by Sasuke's genjutsu, instantly regained consciousness, and Sasuke's consciousness, which had invaded the sealed space using his eye power, was also instantly expelled from the sealed space.

On the battlefield outside, the clash between the Tailed Beast Cloak and Susanoo has temporarily come to an end.

Sasuke, expelled from the sealed space, stumbled back several steps on the water. The intense pain emanating from his body was a clear reminder that his newly awakened Mangekyou Sharingan was still struggling to use Susanoo, even the most basic skeletal Susanoo.

"Naruto, do you really think you can stop the war all by yourself?" Sasuke wiped away the blood and tears streaming from the corner of his eyes, then gritted his teeth and asked, "Have you forgotten your teacher's teachings?"

Naruto could tell that Sasuke wanted to take the opportunity to catch his breath, but he didn't point it out. He simply said calmly, "I never thought of stopping the war. On the day the war begins, I will return to the village and do my part."

"Then why did you leave?" Sasuke questioned. "Do you think the bonds between us comrades are so insignificant?"

"No." Naruto shook his head, his body, covered by the Tailed Beast Cloak, glowing with a pale golden light under the combined influence of the splashing water vapor and the sunlight overhead. "You are all my most cherished companions."

“However, there are still many people in this ninja world who are suffering from the pain of war and have no way to help them, and they need my help,” Naruto said.

"Then why are you leaving?" Sasuke roared. "Can't we help you with what you want to do?"

“It’s different, Sasuke. Some things, if done in the name of the village, will be seen as a provocation against other countries, thus triggering a war prematurely. I think you should know better than me that the village is not ready for a full-scale war right now,” Naruto said, shaking his head.

"What exactly do you want to do?" Sasuke asked Naruto, panting heavily. After the pain from using Susanoo, which had exhausted his body, had eased slightly, he stood up straight.

Upon hearing this, Naruto raised his right fist. "If you want to know, let's bump fists."

"Shall we bump fists?" Sasuke smirked as he approached Naruto step by step and raised his fist.

However, the next moment, Sasuke's fist landed heavily on Naruto's face.

"If you want to fist bump, wait until I take you back and apologize to everyone, then we can do it slowly." The Mangekyou Sharingan pattern in Sasuke's right eye slowly rotated, blood tears slowly flowed down, and dark lightning gathered in his hand, forcefully stabbing towards Naruto's shoulder.

Caught off guard by Sasuke's sneak attack, Naruto's face was twisted by the punch, and by the time he came to his senses, Sasuke's attack was already upon him.

Two golden chakra arms suddenly extended from behind Naruto, transforming into shields and blocking his way.

However, the moment the shield touched the black lightning, the hard and thick chakra shield began to crumble. This black lightning actually had the property of disintegrating chakra, and after contacting the shield, it also began to spread along the chakra cloak.

Seeing this, Naruto decisively severed the chakra shield. A large mass of golden chakra imbued with black lightning fell to the ground and was completely devoured in less than a few breaths.

"Is this... your eye technique?" Naruto took a deep breath and then asked.

“That’s right, you have no chance of winning against these eyes.” Sasuke sneered, as dark lightning spread out from him, and a purple skeleton appeared out of thin air, slowly merging with the black lightning.

"I've already said it, Sasuke." Naruto's voice deepened, each word carrying the chill of a waterfall.

“Anyone who stands in my way…I must defeat them.” He slightly raised his head, his gaze passing over Sasuke, as if staring at a more distant and weighty future, “Including you.”

"You arrogant bastard!" Sasuke roared, and his Susanoo, crackling with black lightning, charged at Naruto.

Naruto withdrew his gaze, his eyes more resolute than ever before. Just as Sasuke's attack was about to arrive, his body transformed into a golden streak of light and vanished before Sasuke's eyes.

"So fast!" The speed Naruto unleashed at this moment completely exceeded Sasuke's expectations. He thought that with the awakening of the Mangekyou Sharingan, he would be able to keep up with Naruto's speed, but it was clear that Naruto had not used his full strength just now.

Naruto, who appeared behind Sasuke, raised his hand and conjured a Rasengan, which slammed heavily into Sasuke's back. This time, Naruto held nothing back. He understood that if he wanted to escape from Sasuke's current clutches, it would be impossible without using his full strength.

Caught off guard, Sasuke was struck hard and fell heavily into the pool of water, splashing up a large spray.

Sasuke quickly rallied, and the Chidori, crackling with black lightning, exploded at the bottom of the pool, breaking through the surface and hurtling towards Naruto.

Naruto's eyes narrowed, and eight chakra arms extended from behind him, gathering in front of him. A ball of pitch-black chakra rapidly condensed and compressed.

Once the Tailed Beast Ball was fully formed, Naruto reached out and grasped the sphere, which contained terrifying destructive intent, and the lightning bolts that were striking upwards rushed towards it.

At this critical juncture, when a new round of devastating collision is about to erupt—

Naruto's azure eyes, now covered by the Nine-Tails' vertical pupils, met Sasuke's icy Mangekyou Sharingan gaze.

Separated by the pervasive smoke, mist, and destructive energy fluctuations, separated by the ruins of the Valley of the End and the roaring torrents.

Sasuke clearly saw that the resolute ice in Naruto's eyes cracked open in that instant, like the final groan before a glacier collapses.

Naruto's smile blossomed completely at that moment, a smile that carried a tender farewell.

His lips parted, the sound not loud, yet it drowned out all the surrounding echoes, clearly piercing through the space, carrying a strange calmness, and crashing into Sasuke's eardrums, striking the center of his Kaleidoscope's cold vision:

"Sorry, Sasuke... After I finish what I need to do, you can beat me up however you want." The Tailed Beast Ball roared in Naruto's left palm, golden chakra poured into it, and the light blazed.

The moment the words fell, Sasuke's newly awakened Mangekyou Sharingan trembled violently! Deep within the cold patterns, what was reflected was not only the deadly golden light of the Rasengan, but also Naruto's gentle farewell smile! That smile was more penetrating than any attack, piercing through the Mangekyou's cold insight and reaching the deepest part of Sasuke's consciousness!

"What a joke!" Sasuke roared, fiercely thrusting Chidori at his opponent.

A terrifying energy surge erupted once again, centered on the two of them.

The mountains on both sides groaned in pain. The two huge stone statues, which symbolized the legends of the past, appeared so fragile in the face of the shock wave. The statues, which had already been impacted and were already teetering on the verge of collapse, were torn apart, melted, and stripped away by the energy almost instantly! Countless boulders the size of houses were thrown into the distance like projectiles by an invisible giant hand, carrying the kinetic energy of destruction.

The air itself was burning and distorting! Wherever the shockwave passed, space trembled violently and blurred. All vegetation, rocks, and landforms on the ground were wiped away as if by an invisible eraser, leaving only bare, molten earth that was red and shiny from the high temperature. The water in the pool below the explosion's epicenter was forcibly evaporated by 3 centimeters.

A colossal, mushroom-shaped cloud of smoke billowed and rose, obscuring the sky. This cloud was a mixture of countless pulverized rocks, rising water vapor, burning dust, and the lingering, violent chakra energy from the explosion's core. It possessed an eerie blend of gray-black and dark red hues, with residual lightning flashing and exploding within, emitting muffled echoes like the final gasps of a dying beast. The smoke and dust rapidly spread, engulfing the canyon, blotting out the sky, and instantly turning daylight into an apocalyptic, dusky yellow.

The air was filled with the pungent smell of ozone, the sulfurous smell of melting rocks, the salty smell of steaming lake water, and a suffocating smell of deathly dust unique to the aftermath of destruction.

When the earth-shattering, ear-tearing roar finally subsided, leaving only the rumbling of the collapsing mountains and the crashing of falling rocks, the Valley of the End was unrecognizable. The majestic mountain walls on both sides had been flattened and collapsed, forming huge gaps; the once towering stone statues were now broken and cracked, covered in charred soot, and thick, destructive dust continued to slowly settle, completely shrouding this once sacred valley in a gray haze symbolizing end and destruction.

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, only Naruto remained standing on the water. However, he did not look relaxed. His once golden Tailed Beast Cloak had become somewhat dull, and the headband on his forehead was covered with winding scorch marks left by dark lightning.

Naruto gasped for breath as a chakra arm reached out from behind him, scooping the unconscious Sasuke out of the nearly boiling water and tossing him onto the shore.

After doing all this, Naruto exited Nine-Tails Chakra Mode and turned to leave.

"Hey, are you just going to leave like this?" Just then, a voice rang out from behind Naruto.

Upon hearing the voice, Naruto instinctively shrank his neck, then turned around with some difficulty, staring at the person with a stiff expression.

"teacher……"

Uchiha Touko held the unconscious Sasuke in one hand, looked at the stiff Naruto in front of him, and had a half-smile on his face.

"What should we do? What should we do? Brother Kurama?" Naruto asked in a panic inside the sealed space. Naruto was very clear about his own strength. Although he could defeat Sasuke, it did not mean that he could make any waves in front of Uchiha Touko.

However, the Nine-Tails inside the sealed space immediately lay down and pretended to sleep the moment it sensed Uchiha Touko's appearance, so as not to involve Naruto when he was being beaten.

"You just ran off like that? Did you bring any money?" Uchiha Touko's voice rang in Naruto's ears. "I don't want the scandal of Konoha's Nine-Tails Jinchuriki begging on the streets to spread throughout the ninja world in a few days."

"Huh?" Naruto was momentarily stunned by Uchiha Touko's words. It seemed that his teacher hadn't come to forcibly take him back.

"Looks like there isn't one." Uchiha Touko shook his head helplessly, took out a scroll from his person, and threw it over.

Naruto took it and probed it with his chakra, discovering that the scroll was filled with banknotes, gold, and various kinds of food.

"Teacher..." Naruto was at a loss for words because of Uchiha Touko's attitude.

"Sigh, Kado was telling me a few days ago that he wanted to develop this place and the surrounding area into some kind of tourist attraction to make money. It seems like that's not going to happen now." Uchiha Touko shook his head helplessly after looking around at the mess.

"Teacher, I'm sorry," Naruto said.

“You really should apologize.” Uchiha Touko turned around and looked at Naruto, a hint of anger on his face. “If you wanted to go out and make your way in the world, couldn’t you have told me? Did you think I would stop you from going out to train? Now look what’s happened, you’ve caused such a commotion. If I didn’t issue you a warrant, I wouldn’t be able to clean up the mess. You’ll be a rogue ninja whether you want to or not.”

"Huh?" Naruto's mouth dropped open; Uchiha Touko's words left him completely speechless.

"However, before you leave, can I tell you, my dear teacher, what exactly you want to do?" Uchiha Touko asked with a half-smile.

"Time is of the essence, teacher, let's bump fists." Naruto raised his right fist toward Uchiha Touko.

Naruto was completely unprepared for Uchiha Touko, because he knew that if his teacher wanted to capture him, he wouldn't need to ambush him at all. With his current strength, he was utterly powerless against Touko.

"You've even learned this?" Seeing Naruto's appearance, Uchiha Touko showed a hint of surprise, then came up to Naruto and bumped fists with him.

In the next instant, Uchiha Touko also learned about Naruto's struggles during this period, the decisions he made after realizing his own ninja way, and what he planned to do and the grand plan he was plotting in the upcoming war of unification.

“The idea and plan are somewhat naive, but they are not entirely without feasibility.” Uchiha Touko withdrew his hand and nodded, saying, “If you still insist on your idea after traveling through the ninja world, then go ahead and do it.”

"teacher……"

"I never expected that among the three of you, you would be the first to find your own path in the future," Uchiha Touko said with a smile. "Also, I have a task for you."

"A mission?" Naruto was taken aback.

"Yes, while you're training in the ninja world, keep an eye out for a secret organization called 'Kara'."

(End of this chapter)