Chapter 582: The Terrifying Dictator Hokage

"The Eighth Gate… the Gate of Death?"

Naruto's shadow clone stood frozen, staring after Namikaze Yukishō as he vanished into the distance.

If he remembered correctly, the Eight Gates were Bushy-Brows Sensei's ultimate technique.

Kakashi-sensei had once explained that opening each Gate placed tremendous strain on the body, while opening the Eighth Gate required the user to pay with their life.

The shadow clone decided this situation had officially exceeded his pay grade.

So he simply dispelled himself and sent the memories back to Naruto's real body.

Naruto could decide what to do.

Meanwhile, Naruto was still sitting in the library, reeling from the revelation about his bizarre origins in this world.

Then the shadow clone's memories arrived.

His brain went numb all over again.

According to the records he had just read, this world's Guy and Lee were a pair of professional slackers.

Instead of the Eight Gates, they practiced something called the Five Heavens Breathing Method.

Why Five Heavens?

Because they took weekends off.

Meanwhile, the Eight Gates had somehow become one of Sunagakure's secret techniques.

Which explained why Yukishō, as a Sunagakure shinobi, knew how to use it.

The problem was—

Nobody in this world had ever opened the Eighth Gate before.

So nobody knew what it actually did or what price it demanded.

Meaning when Yukishō opened the Gate of Death just now, he had probably been absolutely delighted, convinced that his rage and competitive spirit had allowed him to break through his limits.

"…Forget it."

Naruto made an executive decision.

"I don't know anything."

As far as he was concerned, he had never seen Yukishō-sensei today.

The other two instructors had already died in freak accidents.

If a third one dropped dead too, was that really so strange?

Honestly, if all his teachers died, Naruto wouldn't even have to train anymore.

And even if his mother wanted to find replacements, that would take time.

Feeling much better after reaching this conclusion, Naruto returned to his research.

This time, he wanted to investigate the person he cared about most.

Sasuke.

Naruto opened the file on the Uchiha clan and immediately frowned.

"Why is this so thin?"

There was only one person's information inside.

Uchiha Sasuke.

"Did Sasuke's clan get wiped out in this world too?"

Naruto scratched his head.

Then he reconsidered.

The guide NPC had only promised that Naruto's parents were alive.

Nobody had ever said Sasuke's parents would be alive too.

Nothing particularly strange about that.

If Sasuke were the one playing, maybe the world would generate living parents for him instead.

The actual contents of the record, however, were extremely strange.

According to the file, the Uchiha clan possessed the Sharingan bloodline and had once been praised by Second Hokage Senju Tobirama as a clan of people who were naturally kindhearted.

Why?

Because awakening and evolving the Sharingan supposedly required an Uchiha to help other people and receive their recognition, praise, and admiration.

Konoha itself had allegedly been founded because First Hokage Senju Hashirama discovered this weakness in Uchiha Madara.

Hashirama then ruthlessly exploited Madara's desire to evolve his Sharingan, forcing Madara to help him over and over again.

Who knew how many humiliating conditions Madara had agreed to just for the sake of improving his eyes?

According to the current records, however, Sasuke was even more impressive than Madara.

Madara became clan head at twenty-six.

Sasuke became clan head at seven.

Madara tried to lead the Uchiha out of Konoha at twenty-eight and failed because not a single clansman wanted to follow him.

Sasuke successfully led the entire clan out of Konoha at thirteen.

However, the naturally kindhearted Sasuke had developed one very strange hobby.

When he fought the Raikage—The Raikage lost an arm!

When he fought Killer B—The Eight-Tails lost a tentacle!

When he fought Danzō—Danzō lost an arm too!

"…"

Naruto suddenly felt a chill crawl up his spine.

Why did this world's Sasuke seem so weird?

If Sasuke ever came looking for him to fight, was Naruto going to lose an arm too?

Did Sasuke have some kind of hand fetish?

"But Sasuke is already this strong in this world too?"

Naruto was genuinely surprised by his battle record.

Going purely by achievements, illusion-world Sasuke had accomplished even more than the Sasuke of reality.

Of course, real-world Sasuke was already playing around with the Rinnegan and was technically stronger.

He simply had nowhere to show off because the shinobi world had become too peaceful.

Naruto moved on to the classified documents.

These had all been personally recorded by Hokage Uzumaki Kushina.

And the truth they contained was horrifying.

The Uchiha clan had been exterminated by Kushina working together with a traitor from within the clan—

Uchiha Itachi.

Because the Uchiha were a naturally kindhearted clan, they refused to go along with corruption and constantly interfered with Kushina's dictatorial rule.

After repeatedly trying and failing to persuade his father and clansmen to submit, Itachi ultimately chose extermination.

His only request was that Sasuke be spared.

Itachi would shoulder every crime himself.

His reasoning was that if he became a great villain, then Sasuke could oppose him, defeat him, earn the villagers' admiration, and thereby evolve his Sharingan.

Naruto had already been sweating from reading about Sasuke's strange obsession with hands.

Now his back was drenched.

His mother in this world was terrifying.

Actually—She seemed kind of evil.

Then Naruto kept reading.

And found something even worse.

After the massacre, the Mangekyō Sharingan belonging to the previous Uchiha clan head—Sasuke's father, Uchiha Fugaku—had mysteriously vanished.

The truth was that Kushina had gouged out Fugaku's eyes and turned them into a pair of glasses.

Using those eyes, she read the Uchiha Stone Tablet.

Then she modified it.

She changed exactly one character.

The original message said:

"When the powers of the Uchiha and Senju are combined, the power encompassing all creation will arise."

Kushina removed the character meaning "Sen."

Leaving only:

"When the powers of the Uchiha and hands are combined…"

So that was why Sasuke liked hands so much…

His mother had been the mastermind behind everything.

Naruto returned the files to the archivist and wandered out of the library in a daze.

He had entered this place expecting a fun illusionary world.

Why did everything suddenly feel like a horror story?

A deep sense of unease settled over him.

Naruto was starting to seriously consider heading to Amegakure and finding Makoto and Akatsuki.

Sure, the Sage NPC at the beginning had told him that Akatsuki were his enemies and that he needed to stop them from creating some bizarre furry-roasting world.

But now Naruto had a growing suspicion that Akatsuki might actually be the good guys in this timeline too.

As he wandered through the village, he eventually found himself outside the same supermarket where he had rescued his father yesterday.

There were no villagers cornering anyone today.

Naruto reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

When he opened it—

His eyes widened.

The amount of spending money inside was beyond anything he could have imagined.

The warm embrace of money immediately soothed much of the fear in his heart.

See?

This world wasn't entirely terrible.

Naruto strode confidently into the supermarket to buy something.

"Yo, Naruto. Skipping meals and buying instant ramen again?"

The cashier greeted him the moment he entered.

That familiar voice made Naruto stop dead.

"Makoto?"

He stared.

"Why are you working here?"

What was Makoto doing in Konoha in this world?

Wait.

Makoto had spoken to him like they already knew each other.

Were they friends in this timeline?

"What kind of question is that?"

Cashier Makoto rolled his eyes.

"Where else would I be?

"You think everyone gets to be some rich young master like you who can eat without working?"

"Oh. Yeah, fair enough."

Naruto awkwardly went along with it.

He grabbed a random cup of instant ramen, paid for it, and then headed straight back to the library archives.

He had been too careless.

His incomplete intelligence gathering had already caused enough surprises.

He needed to investigate much more thoroughly this time.

Naruto walked up to the archivist.

"I want the file on Makoto."

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