"Calm down, Naruto Uzumaki."
The one who spoke was Chiyo of Sunagakure.
In terms of seniority and temperament, this old woman was no less stubborn than the hardliners in Konoha's upper ranks. She had earned tremendous merit in the First, Second, and Third Shinobi World Wars, and her prestige within the village was no less than a Kage's. If anything, even the young Fourth Kazekage and Fifth Kazekage had to listen to her opinions.
Perhaps out of that instinctive hatred that spreads from one target to another, the Uchiha found themselves lumping Chiyo together with Konoha's upper ranks. And because their hearts already leaned toward Naruto, they couldn't help but look down on this old woman from Sunagakure.
If it were them facing something like this, they would probably have said nothing, simply stared each other down in mutual disgust, and never had anything to do with the old woman afterward, just as they did with Konoha's high-ranking elders.
But…
Naruto was different from most Uchiha.
"Shut up! You're so damn noisy!!"
Like a fox suddenly exploding in rage, Naruto Uzumaki didn't care whether she was an elder of Sunagakure, and he didn't care that he was just Konoha's perpetual dead last of a genin. In that moment, crying for Gaara, crying over his friend's life and death, he didn't care about any of it.
"If you Sunagakure ninja hadn't stuffed that monster into Gaara's body, wouldn't none of this have happened in the first place?!!"
Naruto's sudden burst of anger and grief was exactly what every Uchiha expected.
But those tears streaming down his face still made Chiyo jolt in surprise.
"Did you ever ask Gaara what he wanted?!! Do you understand how he felt?! Jinchūriki? 'Power of sacrifice'? What kind of sanctimonious garbage are those words?! Do you have any idea what it feels like to be born and, from that very moment, become something you people use?!!"
"…"
'He's got nerve… yelling straight at that old woman from Suna.'
'And on this issue… only Naruto Uzumaki has the right to speak.'
The Uchiha had almost forgotten they were inside an illusion. For fifteen or sixteen years, they had been spectators within Naruto Uzumaki's body, sensing every one of his emotions.
The pain of being a jinchūriki was far heavier than the slander the Uchiha Clan had ever endured.
If they hadn't lived it through him, it would've been hard to imagine how a child could carry such a weight and still keep walking forward.
The grief burned in his chest. Tears rolled down his cheeks in hot streams, leaving an unbearable itch.
Naruto Uzumaki, who never cried for himself, was now crying for a former enemy, and even scolding an elder of another village for that enemy's sake.
"I couldn't save Sasuke! And with Gaara, I couldn't do anything either!"
"What was the point of these three years of training like my life depended on it? It's no different from three years ago at all…"
It was grief laid completely bare.
Deep in that shared inner world, who knew how many Uchiha lifted a hand…
They wanted to comfort this boy who cried for others, who threw himself into the fire for others.
They wanted to tell him—
Naruto, you've done everything you could.
Enough. Really. None of this is your fault.
But they couldn't.
For more than a decade, all they could do was watch this fortunate and unfortunate world through Naruto's eyes, feel his loneliness, pain, helplessness, confusion, as well as his joy, fulfillment, happiness, and resilience.
Like wandering spirits living inside his body, that was all they could be.
And then, they saw it.
Chiyo's gaze suddenly hardened with resolve. Step by trembling step, she began walking toward Gaara's corpse.
Then her aged hands came to rest before Gaara.
!!!
A silent shockwave surged outward, sweeping through the surrounding flowers and grass. Like an invisible sound wave, it rippled through the vegetation, forcing the plants to quiver in tight circles close to the ground.
"Sakura?"
"Granny Chiyo is reviving Gaara!"
Reviving him?!
How was that possible?!
Wait… hadn't that kid named Gaara appeared in the Shinobi World War they'd once seen?
So he really was revived?!
How could that be?!! How could there be a ninjutsu capable of bringing the dead back to life?
Even Izanagi only allowed the user to briefly revert their own body to a previous state, didn't it?!
"Is this really possible?!" Naruto rushed forward. "Can you really revive Gaara?! Granny Chiyo!!"
The chakra light in Chiyo's hands flickered, swelling and dimming unevenly.
"Not enough chakra…"
"Damn it…"
She raged at her own age, at her failing strength.
Then a pair of honest, outstretched hands appeared before her, making the stubborn old woman widen her eyes.
Naruto said, "Use mine. Is that okay? It'll work, right?! Granny!"
The Uchiha Clan could tell Chiyo was still hesitating. Thinking she had concerns, they grew just as tense as Naruto Uzumaki himself. Without realizing it, even those who weren't jinchūriki were pulled along by Naruto's resolve.
"Place your hand on mine."
"Mm."
In the next instant, an enormous surge of chakra poured out of Naruto Uzumaki's body, flooding into Gaara's lifeless form!
'What kind of jutsu is this?!!'
'The chakra consumption is insane!!!'
'Even Naruto's chakra is being pushed this hard?!'
Sorrow filled Itachi Uchiha's eyes. Keen and sensitive, he had already guessed the truth…
Life ends. Life is born.
An equivalent exchange.
A life for a life.
Suddenly, he heard the elderly woman speak.
"In this ninja world built by us boring old fools, I'm truly glad a child like you could appear."
'?!'
The moment she spoke, Itachi, Shisui, Obito, and every single Uchiha ninja froze.
"All I ever did in the past was make mistakes."
"But in the end, I finally made one right choice."
In the end?
The perceptive Uchiha instantly latched onto that phrase.
Could it be…
Was this jutsu that revived others actually…?
At that moment, what Itachi had guessed finally dawned on everyone else as well.
Young Obito, who had never been able to turn away an elderly person in need, felt his throat tighten. He had always been prone to tears, and now he couldn't hold them back any longer.
"Sunagakure…"
"Konohagakure…"
Adult Obito's eyes brimmed with grief as he watched Granny Chiyo, still willing to walk toward death for the future of her village. He heard her say,
"The future of these two villages will surely be completely different from our era."
"Kakashi once said that you possess the power to change people's hearts."
"That power might even change the ninja world that has always been built on mutual hatred…"
To hear words like that spoken by a stubborn village elder—by Chiyo of Sunagakure?!
Within Naruto Uzumaki's consciousness, the gazes of Fugaku Uchiha, the Uchiha elders, and the clan's hawks—all stubborn by nature—shifted violently.
Naruto Uzumaki…
Through his own efforts, through his emotions, he had actually changed someone as stubborn as Chiyo?!
"You're going to become a Hokage unlike any before, Naruto."
"If it's you, then in the future, you'll surely be able to create a world where even people like us—"
"—ninja with blood-stained hands, ninja who deserve to fall into hell—can still find happiness."
Fourth Shinobi War Sasuke suddenly remembered something. During the battle against Kaguya in the Fourth Shinobi World War, hadn't Obito Uchiha said something almost identical to Naruto?
—Naruto, you have to become Hokage!
—Ah…
Then his thoughts jumped to his own past declaration.
I will kill the Five Kage. I will seal all the tailed beasts. I will reshape this ninja world.
Placed side by side, the difference was stark. One path earned the recognition of others. The other relied on overwhelming force to suppress everyone.
When had the gap between him and Naruto grown so wide, mirroring the divide between Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha, like Indra and Asura?
"Naruto," Chiyo spoke again. "This old woman has a request…"
"Hm?"
"You and Gaara are both jinchūriki. You understand his pain, and he understands yours."
"I beg you… please save Gaara."
As Chiyo finished speaking, the Uchiha followed the sight of Naruto slowly closing his eyes, and the world fell into darkness.
...
Then, within a hazy inner world, Naruto pushed past the people who acknowledged him and ran toward a lonely, thin figure far in the distance.
It was Gaara as a child.
Only then did everyone realize that deep within his subconscious, Naruto himself had also taken on the appearance of his childhood.
The very form child Sasuke knew best—the dead last of the Ninja Academy.
"Gaara!"
"Naruto…"
When they came back to their senses…
The surroundings were already filled with Sunagakure ninja who couldn't hold themselves back, who had rushed here ready to stake their lives to save their Kazekage.
'This is…!!!'
'Unbelievable…'
'So many people… how did so many come…?'
The Uchiha, who had long sealed away their emotions, found themselves at a loss. At this moment, they were part of Naruto Uzumaki's consciousness—and they were Naruto Uzumaki himself.
More than ten years of shared experience had synchronized their emotions with his.
Now, their hearts were pounding, their blood surging like a blazing torrent. No matter how tightly they tried to seal it away, emotions like these simply couldn't be contained.
The emptiness left behind by exclusion from Konoha's upper ranks, by misunderstanding within the village…
At this very moment, it felt as though it was finally being repaired.
When they returned to Sunagakure, the entire village—ninja and civilians alike—stood at the entrance, waiting anxiously for their Kazekage to come home safely.
That blazing emotion scorched the souls of the Uchiha within Naruto's consciousness.
In his memories was the terrifying, bloodthirsty shura he had first encountered in Konoha.
Before his eyes now stood the Fifth Kazekage, trusted and admired by everyone.
Such a contrast…
Even Gaara, once feared by his own village, had not become Kazekage through brute force.
Instead, it was the sincere, heartfelt wish of the entire village that Gaara become their leader.
At last, the Uchiha ninja who had once strongly supported Fugaku Uchiha as the Fourth Hokage began to reflect.
—Was it really true that the Uchiha never produced a Hokage solely because of suppression from Konoha's leadership?
—If a Uchiha had become Hokage back then, would the village have seen…a scene like this?
"Ahhh! Gaara-sama is back!!"
"That's great! I was so worried!"
"Kazekage-sama!!!"
"Gaara-sama has returned safely! Our Kazekage is back!!!"
"He's finally home! Waaaah!!"
"Why are you crying, idiot! Be happy!"
"Damn it! I'm just too happy, okay!!"
As far as the eye could see—
"Wow! The whole village came to welcome you, Gaara! That's amazing!!" Naruto felt a pang of envy deep in his chest.
Rock Lee said, "With this many people, it looks like the entire village showed up."
Neji said, "As expected of the Kazekage."
Kankurō said, "This might be the largest welcome ceremony in history."
"Kazekage-sama, the entire village is here to welcome you home." As Baki finished speaking, the Sunagakure ninja and villagers automatically lined up on both sides, opening a path to respectfully escort their Kazekage back.
"Let's go, Kazekage-sama," Naruto joked.
Gaara said, "Wait a moment. Let Grandma Chiyo return to the village first."
"The entire village will observe a moment of silence and pray for Grandma Chiyo!!"
Six people carrying the body walked ahead of Gaara and the others in solemn, orderly formation. The entire village of Sunagakure closed their eyes in mourning, offering their prayers.
Ebizō said softly, "We're home, big sister."
No matter what had happened in the past, she ultimately made the right choice at the end.
Even in death, she returned to her homeland with honor.
However…
The Uchiha Clan…
Whether a coup succeeded or failed, in the eyes of the entire ninja world, the name Uchiha would be carved forever upon a pillar of shame.