The new generation watched Obito's move in disgust.
This was war… and he'd just sniped the Allied command.
[Hanzō of the Salamander: "Children. On a battlefield, that's standard."]
[Nagato: "Peace has made you soft."]
[Iwabe: "Obito only did that because he was losing!"]
[Madara: "Fools. It's the obvious play."]
[Izuna: "Konoha brats—no grasp of basics."]
["…"]
Silence settled over the Boruto-era classroom.
They'd grown up too peacefully to imagine how cruel a real front could be.
[Boruto: "War is terrifying… yeah, peace is better."]
[Sarada: "Then why do we have peace now?"]
[Tobirama: "Because Naruto and Sasuke exist. That's why your era has no war."]
[Hashirama: "Isn't it because everyone understands each other and lives in harmony?"]
[Tobirama: "Big Brother… you're too naive."]
With the Allied tacticians dead, the line wavered.
Morale collapsed; some shinobi went hollow-eyed.
How do ants fight a mountain?
From the Ten-Tails' crown, Obito fired barrages of wooden spikes.
Ranks buckled; bodies fell.
Naruto watched comrades die within arm's reach—helpless—until a massive arm swept for him—
Hiashi stepped in, palm bursting with air: Eight Trigrams: Palm Vacuum Shock!
The limb veered—then the Ten-Tails bristled, launching another storm of spikes—straight at Naruto.
"Locked on!" Hiashi hissed.
Hinata darted ahead of Naruto, eyes wide with resolve.
"Too many," someone breathed. "Even Hinata and Neji's air palms can't catch all of that—"
Neji's Byakugan flared. He stepped in front of everyone else.
Branch family—fatal blind spot… and he knew it.
A wet crack.
A spray of red.
Neji crashed to the earth—
a porcupine of broken shafts—yet his gaze rose, clear and distant, like a caged bird tasting sky.
Boruto and Himawari froze at the desk rows.
[Boruto: "Idiot Dad—stand up!!"]
[Himawari: "Uncle Neji!!"]
[(Young) Naruto: "Neji… why would you go that far… for me?!"]
[Neji: "So this… is my fate. Father, you were right. Even a caged bird can change its destiny."]
He finally understood his father's heart—
Duty. Protection. The choice you make even when it costs everything.
The Allied shinobi, teeth bared, charged the Ten-Tails again.
Naruto knelt, hands shaking, pulling Neji up.
"Medics?! Where—MEDIC CORPS!" he shouted, voice breaking.
No answer.
Everyone had eyes only for the monster.
[Sarada: "Why isn't anyone stopping to save Neji-senpai?!"]
[Shisui: "Sacrifice one to protect the many. It happens."]
[Itachi: "…"]
[Hashirama: "How is that 'normal'? Where's your Will of Fire?!"]
In the Pure Land, Hashirama fumed.
The feed showed a line of backs sprinting past Neji—
no one turning, no one kneeling.
"Why aren't they saving him?!" he roared.
"Because it's correct," Tobirama said quietly. "Trading a life for an opening is the sound move."
[Nagato: "In the end, your weakness forces these 'individual sacrifices.'"]
[Obito: "You see, Naruto? You can't change anything."]
[(Young) Naruto: "I—"]
Neji leaned on Naruto's shoulder, breath fraying.
"I don't… think I'll make it…"
"Brother…" Hinata whispered, dropping to her knees.
Neji swallowed. "Naruto… Lady Hinata would die for you. So your life isn't just your own."
The music softened, aching.
"That means… maybe mine is one of those lives too."
"Why… how can you die here? For the Hyūga… for—" Naruto's lips trembled.
Neji's mouth tilted. "Because you said… I was a genius."
Naruto's pupils snapped tight.
Memories spilled through the sky-screen—
a boy at the Chūnin Exams, a curse mark on his brow—and as the scene glowed, the branch-cage seal on Neji's forehead seemed to fade.
For one breath, the bird was free.
Then it fell.
High above, Obito looked down without pity.
"Didn't you swear no comrades would die?" He gestured around. "Open your eyes."
Knives of words found Naruto's ribs.
"Feel it," Obito murmured. "Hold their bodies. The deaths will continue. Your naive hope dissolves into foam."
He reached a hand out, voice velvet and poison.
"Tell me—what in this reality is worth clinging to? One by one, they'll leave you. Come—help me build a new world."
Naruto stared at his toes, everything collapsing in his chest.
Across the classroom, faces dimmed.
[Himawari: "So… that's how Uncle Neji…"]
[Boruto: "Come on, Dad. Get up."]
[Sarada: "Did Neji-senpai… find release?"]
[Hiashi: "Neji…"]
Some of them slipped into Naruto's shoes and felt the same temptation:
Why endure this? Why not a perfect dream with no funerals?
[Hashirama: "Stand. Up."]
In the Pure Land, he glared at the wavering kids.
"Infinite Tsukuyomi is a lie. Life in a glass bubble isn't living."
[Iwabe: "So this was the Fourth Great Ninja War…"]
[Denki: "It's… all bodies."]
[Darui: "Which is why peace matters."]
On the field, wind hissed through broken shafts.
Naruto's hand clenched over Neji's, knuckles bone-white.
Kurama's growl thrummed in his chest—low, ancient.
"Uzumaki."
Naruto shut his eyes.
"You going to accept his hand—"
The ground trembled; a shadow fell over them—
"—or take mine?"
To be continued…
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