"Third Hokage-sama."
Seeing the Third Hokage arrive in person, Kakashi, Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, Iruka, and the others bowed their heads in salute.
Hiruzen Sarutobi waved a hand, removed the pipe from his mouth, and asked in a low voice, "The barrier still hasn't opened?"
"No. This doesn't seem to be a barrier or a genjutsu. There's not even any detectable chakra response." An Anbu wearing a bear-faced mask reported calmly from the shadows.
Could it be a sealing technique?
The old man's face tightened as he recalled what he'd seen through the crystal ball—Naruto shouting recklessly, almost breaking the promise he'd made to Minato and Kushina.
Standing here now, the Third Hokage truly felt his age. His heart really couldn't take this kind of shock anymore. He decided that afterward, he would absolutely give that brat a serious scolding.
Inside the classroom, Naruto's energetic, bouncing-around idiocy was contagious, quickly dispelling the oppressive atmosphere. Even though the smell of blood still lingered, even genin should at least have some awareness of such things.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
A series of dull, thunderous crashes rang out—
[Reward 2: Please choose any one of the following candidates to revive.]
Ten wooden coffins burst up from the ground out of thin air!!
They could really revive the dead? Ninjas from every village stared at the coffins in shock.
According to that "thing," it would "randomly select ten deceased ninjas from the answering ninja's village." The scope was Konoha, limited to ninja only—no civilians. And ninja rarely died of old age. Their fate was to fall on missions or in hatred…
Naruto's young Adam's apple bobbed nervously. He honestly had no idea what was going on anymore. Was he supposed to just pick any coffin?
Thud!
The lid of the first coffin suddenly fell open.
A male ninja wearing a standard Konoha jonin uniform stood inside. His grayish face was covered in visible cracks, like dried, cracked earth. His eyes were closed, and the "corpse" itself was intact, without any obvious fatal wounds. There was no way to tell how he had died.
"Is this some higher-level Edo Tensei?" Orochimaru, hidden among the Grass ninja using the Living Corpse Reincarnation, revealed a greedy look.
Who was this?
Neither Ibiki on-site nor Kakashi outside recognized him.
But the Third Hokage did. And Orochimaru had seen this man when he was still young.
"Dan!" the Third Hokage cried out.
Orochimaru narrowed his eyes. So it really was him. If this was Edo Tensei, then whoever was behind this game had managed to obtain his genetic material—impressive, in its own way… Or had they used some other method? Like using his son Kato Dan's genes for reverse inheritance?
Thud!
Before he could think further about the feasibility of that idea, the lid of the next coffin slammed open!
Even Orochimaru, who usually maintained a detached smile, froze. The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe, offering no answer to Anko Mitarashi's question about who the boy—around Naruto's age—was.
Then the third coffin. The fourth… all the way to the tenth, opening one after another.
"What—!"
"No way?!"
"It's actually—"
Each coffin's reveal was met with overlapping gasps from inside and outside the classroom.
But when the tenth coffin opened, those voices turned into a single, synchronized intake of breath.
Spiky blond hair. Features almost too refined for a man. Every ninja, no matter the village, had at least seen him in textbooks—
"Konoha's… Yellow Flash…"
A short-sleeved Hokage cloak was worn over his Konoha jonin uniform. His radiant blond hair hadn't dulled at all despite the Edo Tensei.
Even with his head slightly lowered and still unconscious, Minato Namikaze radiated a presence that felt like he alone could hold back ten thousand enemies.
"Minato!"
"Minato-sensei!!"
"Fourth Hokage!"
"Hokage-sama!"
Kakashi's gaze flickered between the coffin and Naruto. As expected of the ninja with the highest unpredictability, he thought. It really might be possible for sensei to come back.
The mortality rate of ninja was terrifyingly high—especially during the First, Second, and Third Great Ninja Wars. Ninja were tools of war.
Their lives were stepping stones to victory. To pull even a single "Kage" out of countless dead was already miraculous—let alone when that Kage was Naruto's…
Konoha ninja, even the proctoring jonin, couldn't help but spring up from their seats and take two excited steps forward. "It's Minato-sama! The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze-sama!!"
As their rationality slowly returned, everyone's gaze once again focused on Naruto Uzumaki.
So emotional their throats tightened, the Konoha ninja couldn't even speak. Only their eyes conveyed their intent clearly.
The choice was obvious.
Naruto himself was completely stunned. He never expected the tenth coffin to belong to the Fourth Hokage. Since he dreamed of becoming Hokage, he admired every Hokage deeply.
And this Fourth Hokage was the hero who sacrificed his life to save Konoha from the Nine-Tails. Even though Naruto had once vandalized the Hokage Monument as a prank, the truth was—he genuinely, truly respected them.
Especially seeing the Fourth Hokage in person…
Naruto felt something strange. Something he couldn't put into words.
But instinctively, he labeled that feeling as guilt. Because, according to Mizuki, Naruto himself was the Nine-Tails that had killed the Fourth Hokage.
"Hey, brat!!"
The closest Konoha ninja shoved him hard, nearly knocking the dazed Naruto off balance.
"What was that for, ya know?!"
"What are you hesitating for? Pick the Fourth Hokage-sama already!! You—" The words "demon fox" almost slipped out.
"All right, all right! I got it, ya know!!" Out of everyone here, the only one he even recognized was the Fourth Hokage. If he didn't choose him, there was no one else to choose anyway.
Just as Naruto turned around and prepared to walk toward the Fourth Hokage's coffin, a familiar blue figure rushed ahead of him—
"Ka-san!! Ka-san!!!"
"Uchiha, calm down!!" Five jonin worked together to restrain Sasuke, leaving the young Uchiha orphan completely unable to move.
"Sasuke!"
"Sasuke-kun!"
Naruto and Sakura rushed to their teammate's side, afraid he'd get hurt.
Sasuke struggled instinctively. If not for the jonin's strength and firm grip, they were certain he would've already attacked and charged the coffins.
"Sasuke…" Naruto followed Sasuke's gaze to the coffin beside the Fourth Hokage's. Inside stood a tall woman dressed in black, with black hair. Her bangs resembled Sasuke's, and her face bore a clear resemblance as well—or rather, Sasuke resembled her.
Their relationship wasn't hard to guess.
The concept of "mother" was hazy in Naruto's mind. He had never seen his own mother.
Because of his special status, no one in Konoha was willing to share what being with a "mother" felt like—what mothers and sons did together, what they talked about.
He didn't know any of that. But it never stopped him, from the moment he could understand things, from yearning for "family" and "parents."
He pressed his lips together.
He understood that feeling too well—the loneliness of having no family…
A nearby Konoha jonin noticed his hesitation. "Naruto Uzumaki." The hand gripping Naruto's shoulder tightened painfully.
"You know what choice you should make. Don't forget why the Fourth Hokage sacrificed himself…" The latter half was spoken quietly, yet it sent a bone-chilling cold through Naruto.
That look again!
"Naruto…" Sakura looked from Sasuke to Naruto. Both her teammates were restrained, and she could do nothing.
Naruto looked at the Fourth Hokage, then at the black-haired woman beside him, and finally at Sasuke. He realized Sasuke was looking back at him—no, staring—with a pair of red Sharingan locked onto him!
This multiple-choice question felt harder than any exam paper he'd ever seen. His throat tightened painfully, like it was being pricked by needles. Once again, his eyes drifted to the Fourth Hokage inside the coffin…
"Hey!"
"Oi!"
"Naruto Uzumaki!"
"You little—"
Not just the jonin inside and outside the classroom—even the remaining eighty-four Konoha examinees were throwing impatience and pressure at him.
Faintly, someone muttered "demon fox" and "monster" under their breath. Naruto felt like the space around him was warping and compressing, suffocating him.
"Naruto…"
Naruto jolted awake.
It was Sasuke.
The voice was soft in a way Naruto had never heard before—low, hoarse, like… a wordless show of weakness… a hopeless plea…
Sasuke's face was deathly pale. There was no pride or stubbornness in his Sharingan now—only a longing for family, and pain at reality.
Naruto saw all of it, even though Sasuke himself hadn't realized it.
Suddenly, Sasuke saw that dead last grin at him—so bright it was almost blinding, like the sun outside the window.
"Hey! You bastard hiding behind all this, pulling the strings!! If you've got the guts, revive Sasuke's mom, ya know!! I choose her! I mean—if you can really do it, then help me bring back Sasuke's mom, ya know!!"
The entire place fell into a brief, suffocating silence—
Outside the classroom, the Third Hokage and Kakashi Hatake, who knew the truth, stared at Naruto in shock.
Sasuke, who had never held any hope—and who would have known what to do even if the choice were his—looked on blankly as a jonin slammed Naruto's blond head into the ground.
"You damn demon fox!"
The situation spiraled out of control. Or rather, ever since those absurd questions about a "Fourth Great Ninja War," this Chunin Exam had already gone completely off the rails.
That jonin violated Ninja Rule No. 25: A ninja must never show emotion under any circumstances. His furious blow smashed Naruto's head through a wooden desk and into the floor.
Blood poured from his blond hair, painfully stinging someone's eyes and making their heart tremble.
[Revival confirmed — Mikoto Uchiha]
The strange voice echoed, declaring that there was no turning back now.