The turmoil in the ninja world had no effect on the sky screen, which continued to broadcast.
["I'll use clones to fight you!" The blond boy formed a hand seal in front of him, and instantly, the naturally formed tunnel in the cave was filled with countless clones, which then charged at a tentacled monster radiating black chakra.]
[Unfortunately, the clone tactic was completely ineffective against the numerous tentacles. The black tentacles swiftly wiped out all the boy's clones and then slammed his real body to the ground.]
[Amidst the dust, the blond boy showed no sign of despair. He braced himself and, gritting his teeth, declared, "I…won't die!"]
Team Seven had taken shelter inside a nearby dango shop and watched the events unfold on the screen at the entrance.
Sakura cautiously glanced around and then lowered her voice to her teammates. "Don't you guys think the person on the screen looks a lot like Naruto?"
Naruto, with a puzzled expression, stared intently at the screen. "Eh! It really does! Why am I showing up there?!"
"Calm down, you idiot! That guy's clearly older than you," Sasuke, though curious, coolly pointed out the difference.
Hearing their discussion, Kakashi analyzed silently: 'Sasuke's right, but aside from the age, everything else about him looks exactly like Naruto!'
Some people in Konoha who knew Naruto also noticed the resemblance, but most dismissed it because of the age difference. However, a few villagers who hated Naruto blamed the phenomenon on the so-called Nine Tails' plot.
Minato Namikaze and Kushina Uzumaki in the Pure Land, however, felt an immediate sense of familiarity with the boy on the screen. Based on his hair and eye color, Minato had already guessed his identity.
[The blond boy weaved around in midair, kunai in hand, swiftly approaching the tentacled monster. After slicing through several tentacles, his gaze was drawn to a spot glowing purple like an eye in the lava below: "An eye?"]
[In the next instant, accompanied by the sound of tearing flesh, the boy's face twisted in surprise, his pupils contracted as he looked at the black tentacle in his field of vision, and a few drops of bright red blood splattered onto his face.]
[The scene shifted, and a tentacle stabbed straight through the boy's back, pinning him in midair. He hung there limply after a few seconds, his arms and legs dangling.]
[A girl with long beige hair knelt on the ground, her face filled with grief as she screamed his name.]
["Naruto!!"]
[The camera panned up, revealing a monster-shaped outline formed by rocky pathways in the lava. Two glows, one white and one purple, flickered in the monster's eye sockets.]
"...Naruto?! Even the name is the same!" Sakura looked at Kakashi, stunned, then turned to Naruto with a worried expression.
Kakashi didn't echo her reaction; his expression remained serious as he watched the screen. "Don't lose your heads. It could be an enemy trap."
"Dead last…" Sasuke also frowned at Naruto.
Naruto, completely confused, stared blankly at the sky screen, unable to process what was happening, watching someone who looked exactly like him being killed by some unknown monster.
In the Land of Tea, Jiraiya, who was traveling there to gather writing material, heard the familiar name and muttered uncertainly, "Naruto?! Is that Minato's kid?"
In the Pure Land, Kushina's pupils contracted when she heard the name Naruto. "That's Naruto! My Naruto!"
Minato's hopeful expression disappeared instantly, his handsome face turning solemn. "That really is Naruto… What is this footage showing…"
Meanwhile, in the Land of Demons, the current priestess Shion tilted her head in confusion at the brief glimpse of the long beige-haired girl.
[Under a sky covered in dark clouds, a torii with the Konoha emblem appeared.]
[A coffin wrapped in sacred ropes was lowered into a deep pit. A girl with short pink hair wore a sorrowful expression, while a thick-browed boy cried bitterly beside her, and a white-robed, white-eyed boy stood silently as the coffin was buried. Then a gravestone with the name Uzumaki Naruto came into view.]
"Uzu…Uzumaki Naruto?!" Sakura's mouth dropped open as she stared at the unmistakable name on the screen—this was the final nail in the coffin.
Adding to that, the pink-haired girl in the footage—though a few years older and inexplicably with short hair—wore the same family emblem and had the same face Sakura saw every morning, leaving her no doubt.
Sasuke had a similar realization. He swallowed hard, then averted his gaze from the screen and turned to Kakashi, uncertain. "Is this…a vision of the future?"
"What! What! Why is my name on that screen?!" Naruto, still clueless, yelled at the screen.
Kakashi met Sasuke's gaze, hesitated for a moment, and then shook his head. "We can't rule it out, but it's too early to jump to conclusions."
After all, a future vision being broadcasted across the entire ninja world was just too shocking—more unbelievable than an unknown enemy's attack.
Elsewhere, in the Third Squad's training session, everyone stopped in their tracks.
Lee raised his hand to his thick eyebrows, double-checking, then said, "That's me and Neji!"
Tenten turned to Neji. "What's going on here?"
Neji opened his Byakugan but couldn't see anything unusual. He shook his head. "Let's wait for Gai-sensei and see what the village says."
In Team Ten, the Ino-Shika-Cho squad—
"Sakura! That's definitely Sakura! So that must really be Naruto!" Ino exclaimed, staring at Shikamaru.
"Ugh, looks like some trouble's coming." Shikamaru clicked his tongue and wiped his carefree expression from his face.
"…" Choji remained silent, but even he had paused his eating.
In Team Eight, Shino watched the screen silently, while Kiba scratched his head without understanding anything. Only Hinata looked worried—she was one of the first to recognize Naruto on the screen.
"Naruto-kun…"
In the Hokage's office, the Third Hokage had also reached the conclusion that it might be a future vision, but like Kakashi, he wasn't ready to accept such an outrageous explanation.
Of course, the appropriate precautions were still necessary, and he planned to issue a gag order to the villagers—this kind of intel would be too terrifying if it spread.
(To be continued)