"Heh, I was lying to you. After you die, your name will still be nailed to the pillar of shame." Naruto watched Danzo's fallen corpse and sneered.
The people present looked at Naruto and collectively shuddered.
Not letting him go even after death?
Before dying, Danzo had thought he finally made a dignified choice, but it turned out Naruto never intended to keep his promise.
One Anbu was the first to snap out of it. He walked into the cell, crouching down to check for a moment.
Then he looked up to report to Naruto and Tenzo, "Danzo, confirmed dead."
Just then, a loud laugh exploded from the end of the corridor.
"Hahaha, this play was too wonderful! Konoha dogs biting dogs, watching this is more satisfying than fighting a battle!"
"Hahaha..."
A grabbed the cell bars with both hands, laughing so hard that his whole chest was shaking.
Naruto turned and walked toward A, stopping in front of his cell.
A's laughter stopped the moment he saw Naruto stand still. He looked up and down at Naruto standing outside the bars, a flash of surprise crossing his eyes.
"Naruto, you've changed quite a bit. I remember a few days ago your blonde hair was quite eye-catching, how did it turn all black in just a few days?"
"Open the cell." Naruto didn't respond to A's words, instructing the Anbu nearby.
"Yes."
The Anbu quickly took out the key and opened the door of A's cell.
Naruto walked into the cell, facing A who was sitting on the stone bed. "I originally wanted to let your Kumogakure exchange resources for your lives, but who knew the people in your village have the exact same temper as you."
"Not only did they reject all terms, they even turned around and threatened to start a war, and are now gathering troops at the border."
"Hmph, well done. This is the style of my Kumogakure. We in Kumogakure have no ninja who fear death, and it is even more impossible to trade resources and dignity for prisoners."
Naruto walked up to A and looked down at his right arm.
"What are you doing? Naruto?"
A's body tensed and Lightning Chakra gathered, but it was suppressed by the seal, revealing only a few weak arcs of electricity.
Naruto raised his right hand, gathering a layer of Wind Chakra on his palm. With a flash of green light, A's entire right arm was cleanly severed. Blood sprayed from the stump a moment later, splashing onto the stone floor of the cell.
"Damn it!"
He let out a muffled groan, his face instantly turning beet red. He gritted his teeth to keep from screaming, the veins on his forehead bulging one by one.
Naruto picked up the severed arm and tossed it to Tenzo.
"Send this hand to the front lines. Tell the people of Kumogakure that this is the first warning. If they continue to be stubborn, the next thing sent to the front lines will be their Raikage's head."
"After that, Konoha is willing to play along to the end, only then the Raikage and his two guards will no longer be prisoners, but three corpses."
"Yes."
Tenzo sealed the Raikage's severed arm into a scroll and stepped back to stand outside the cell.
"Boss, are you alright!"
"Raikage-sama, stop the bleeding quickly!"
"Where are your Medical Ninja?"
"Someone come quickly!"
Darui and C rushed to the bars from their respective cells, pounding desperately on the iron railings.
"Damn it, damn Naruto!"
A pressed his left hand tightly against the wound on his severed arm, watching Naruto's retreating back through the gaps in the bars, and squeezed out a few words through gritted teeth.
Konoha was truly no longer the Konoha it once was. If the Third Hokage were in power, Konoha would never have done something like severing his arm.
The Fifth Hokage and the new group in power were completely different from the old diplomatic logic of prioritizing stability. They did not choose to compromise in the face of Kumogakure's tough stance like the previous Konoha, but instead used even harsher methods to regain the initiative. And the scariest part was that they didn't even blink when they did it.
At this moment, an Anbu entered the cell and quickly bandaged the Raikage's severed arm to stop the bleeding.
After finishing this, the Anbu exited the cell, and the iron door closed again.
—
Konoha, Hokage Building, Conference Room.
Tsunade sat at the head of the table, the long table in front of her filled with Konoha Jonin currently in the village.
A map of the border between the Land of Lightning and the Land of Fire hung on the wall, marked with red and blue symbols indicating the assembly positions of Kumogakure's military forces and Konoha's defensive nodes.
Kakashi, Guy, Asuma, Kurenai, and other Jonin lined both sides. Shikaku stood in front of the map, having just finished analyzing the border terrain, and was explaining the troop deployment of Konoha's defense line one by one.
Shizune suddenly felt something and looked up toward the side door of the conference room. She saw an Anbu standing outside the door, making a very short gesture to her.
Shizune put down her pen and pushed the door open to walk out.
"What is it?" She lowered her voice and pulled the door behind her shut.
The Anbu immediately reported the events that had occurred in the prison concisely.
Danzo was dead. It was a suicide, but the whole process had been driven by Naruto.
The Raikage's right hand had been personally severed by Naruto and was already sealed in a scroll.
Shizune's pupils constricted upon hearing this, but she did not show too much shock on her face.
She quickly composed herself and nodded at the Anbu. "I understand. You may go."
The Anbu acknowledged the order, his body flickering as he vanished at the end of the corridor.
Shizune adjusted her expression and pushed the door open to re-enter the conference room.
When Tsunade had finished speaking about troop deployment and material allocation, she leaned slightly toward Tsunade's ear and whispered a recount of what Naruto had done at the prison.
Tsunade was slightly stunned after hearing this, but she immediately regained her composure.
She said to all the Jonin present, "Everyone, I have just received some news."
The Jonin present focused their gaze on her simultaneously.
"Danzo, who was under investigation, has just taken his own life in the Konoha prison. He is confirmed dead."
Danzo, who had headed Root for decades and was a veteran Kage-level powerhouse who had once fought alongside Hiruzen, had committed suicide in prison. The impact of this news was no less than Kumogakure's threat of war, but those present were not Genin who had just graduated from the Ninja Academy, and no one asked for details at such a critical juncture.
"This is a special period, so Danzo's specific crimes will not be made public for the time being. After the Kumogakure incident is resolved, all investigation results will be made public along with his list of crimes."
The Jonin present nodded one after another, pulling their attention back to the most urgent war situation at hand.
The entire Konoha entered a state of readiness for war, and all departments began to operate under tension.
...
Meanwhile, in another space-time.
With a flash of white light, the tunnel behind Karasuki closed, and Boruto and Sasuke appeared in a research lab.
Sasuke stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling window and scanned the panoramic view of Konoha outside. He confirmed the layout of the village, the age of the buildings, and the familiar Chakra fluctuations coming from the distant Hokage Building, and only then did he nod.
"It looks like we're back. Boruto, put Karasuki away. I'm going to see your father to report the details of this time travel."
After saying this, Sasuke's figure flickered and vanished from the research lab.
"Okay, Sasuke-san!"
Boruto shouted in the direction Sasuke had disappeared, then carefully put Karasuki away.
...
As Boruto pushed open the front door, panting, he saw Himawari lying on the low table in the living room, while Hinata sat nearby, tidying up the house.
"Onii-chan, you're back." Himawari smiled.
Hinata put down the clothes in her hands and stood up. She examined Boruto carefully, and after confirming that he wasn't injured, she let out a sigh of relief.
Then, her expression turned stern. "Where on earth have you been these past few days? Your father was going crazy with worry. He sent several Anbu squads out, but they couldn't find any trace of you. Do you have any idea how worried Himawari and I have been?"
"Mom..."
Looking at Hinata, who was ready to start lecturing him at any moment, Boruto couldn't help but picture his young mother from the other timeline—the one who blushed at everything and would faint on the spot whenever Naruto flirted with her.
The contrast was just too great. Boruto almost couldn't hold back a laugh, but Hinata's expression warned him that if he dared to laugh, he could forget about dinner tonight.
"Mom, this is a bit complicated to explain. Sasuke-san and I were chasing Otsutsuki Urashiki when we accidentally got pulled into a time tunnel and ended up in the past."
"In that past timeline, I saw young versions of Dad and Mom, as well as Jiraiya-san, Uncle Neji, and so many others."
Hinata froze in place upon hearing Boruto's words. Her lips moved a few times, and she finally sat down on the living room sofa.
"Boruto, sit down and tell me everything you saw over there. From beginning to end, don't leave anything out."
Boruto sat down next to Hinata and recounted everything he had experienced in that parallel timeline one by one.
He spoke of how Urashiki had followed them to that timeline to steal young Naruto's Nine-Tails Chakra.
He spoke of how young Naruto crushed Urashiki in battle.
He spoke of his time with Sasuke at the barbecue restaurant.
Himawari's eyes grew wider as she listened, completely captivated by Boruto's adventure story.
"Onii-chan, that's so amazing. You actually got to go back in time and see young Mom and Dad with your own eyes."
"What did Dad look like? Did he have whiskers like he does now?"
Seeing Himawari's curious expression, Boruto pulled out a Flying Thunder God kunai engraved with the Konoha symbol from his ninja tool pouch, and walked to the center of the yard.
"Watch closely, Himawari. This move was taught to me personally by Dad in that timeline. It's super cool."
He threw the Kunai hard toward the other end of the yard, embedding it into a tree trunk. He then closed his eyes, using the spatial sensing technique Naruto had taught him to lock onto the marker's location.
The next second, he appeared beside the Kunai pinned to the tree trunk, one hand gripping the handle, while the other hand signaled a victory sign to Himawari.
"Wow! That's so cool! Onii-chan, did you just fly over there in an instant. I didn't even see you move!" Himawari clapped her hands, her face full of admiration.
"Cool, right? This is called the Flying Thunder God Technique, it's Grandpa's signature Ninjutsu." Boruto felt incredibly smug.
Hinata stood by the living room door, watching Boruto show off his newly learned Ninjutsu in the yard, her expression shifting from shock to nostalgia.
***
200 PS = 1 Bonus Chapter