Naruto held a blood-soaked, still-warm eyeball in his hand.

  Orochimaru retrieved a jar filled with a nutrient solution and nontly tossed it to Naruto.

  "Thanks~"

  Naruto gave a casual word of gratitude, opehe jar, aly pced Shisui's eye—its optierve still intato the tainer before sealing it.

  He thought to himself: I heard that during his final battle with Sasuke, Danzō sealed this eye. While I could break that seal, it would’ve taken a lot of effort. Being able to retrieve it like this is much better...

  "Argh!!"

  Suddenly, Naruto lost trol of his power. The wood sprouting from his right shoulder began to grow wildly toward the sky.

  "This isn’t good! At this rate, I’ll be ed by the First Hokage’s cells!!"

  Crack!

  Gritting his teeth, Naruto severed his right arm, colpsing to the ground, panting heavily.

  Danzō, now stripped of his cws and fangs, had bee a true paper tiger.

  Rustle.

  Paper butterflies fluttered through the air, verging to form the figure of Konan.

  "Yo~" Naruto greeted her with a lighthearted smile.

  Konan’s voice was cold. "It seems everythi smoothly."

  "More or less," Naruto replied casually, "though it e about twenty pert of my chakra." He then asked, "How’s Sasuke?"

  Konan responded, "As you instructed, I kept him occupied. But that boy is incredibly persistent—he chased me relentlessly. I calcuted the timing and mao withdraw just in time."

  "I see," Naruto chuckled. "That sounds just like Sasuke."

  "Hmm?" Suddenly, in Sage Mode, Naruto sensed something. He turoward the distant forest and sighed. "So, they’ve e after all..."

  Konan remarked, "One of his subordinates is a girl with exceptional sensory abilities."

  Orochimaru added, "That must be Karin, one of my former subordinates. Like you, Naruto-kun, she’s also a desdant of the Uzumaki d possesses extraordinary sensory abilities."

  Naruto reminisced, "Ah, I know her..."

  Before long, Team Taka arrived, stopping some distance away from Naruto and the others.

  Sasuke, with a dried bloodstain near his left eye, sed the battlefield. His gaze lingered coldly on the defeated Danzō before log onto Naruto’s cloaked back. A flicker of emotion fshed in his eyes, only to be quickly cealed.

  He demanded coldly, "Naruto, what is the meaning of this?"

  "Sasuke, I took care of Danzō for you. As you see, he’s now powerless and nothing more than a cripple."

  Naruto spoke calmly, still fag away from Sasuke. Yet his emotions were plicated, so much so that he didn’t immediately turn to face him.

  g his fists, Sasuke shouted, "Who gave you the right to meddle?!"

  Naruto’s back shifted slightly. "If you had followed your inal pn, you would’ve attacked the Five Kage Summit, right? Given your current status, doing so would only worsen your crimes. You wouldn’t want to bee a true enemy of the entire shinobi world, would you?"

  With that, Naruto raised his hand, removed the mask from his face, and slowly turned around.

  The swirling snow seemed to momentarily calm.

  Sasuke’s expression turo surprise. "What happeo your left eye?"

  "The man who oried to destroy Konoha and fought me—Nagato. This eye was his parting gift before he died," Naruto replied internally. One day, you will have it too, Sasuke...

  Behind Sasuke, the now-childlike Jūgo suddenly excimed upon seeing Naruto’s face, "I remember now! He’s the one who attacked me by the river before!"

  "Huff..."

  Sasuke closed his eyes. "Naruto, it seems you’ve been busy while I was unaware. But I don’t have time to deal with yht now."

  Swish!

  With his cloak billowing, Sasuke strode forward, heading straight for Danzō.

  Naruto felt a pang ret. No matter what, you ’t let Danzō live, you, Sasuke...

  Although he didn’t want Sasuke to take a, Naruto khat at this stage, Sasuke’s heart was filled with hatred, and with Tobi’s instigation, it would be nearly impossible to dissuade him.

  If he didn’t let Sasuke aow a his hatred, it might cause even more trouble iure.

  With that thought, Naruto stepped aside, giving Sasuke a clear path.

  Crackle!

  Lightning Release formed into a bde in Sasuke’s hand as he gred at his enemy. He demanded coldly, "Danzō, tell me, was it you who ordered Itachi to carry out the Uchiha massacre?"

  "Huff, huff, huff..." Danzō panted heavily, his left eye gng at his severed right arm, which still had three *Sharingan* embedded in it.

  Though he’d lost his arm, there were still some of Hashirama’s cells left in his body, giving him just enough to activate one more *Izanagi*.

  Sasuke shouted, "Answer me!"

  Danzō’s voice was weak but low. "So, you’ve learhe truth. It seems Itachi couldn’t keep his mouth shut..."

  Sasuke’s gaze turned icy. "So it’s true, then..."

  Danzō admitted, "Yes, it’s true."

  Sasuke’s eyes grew colder. "Just as I thought..."

  Danzō quickly reached for a *Sharingan*, plug it out and iing it into his right eye socket.

  The remaining Hashirama cells in his body ected the optierve.

  F a single-handed seal, a pale smile appeared on his lips.

  Sizzle!

  Izanagi... activated!

  Then, without hesitatiourned and fled at full speed!

  "Hmph!" Sasuke snorted, his cloak fring as he gave chase.

  "Do you think you escape?" Sasuke’s left eye locked onto Danzō’s retreating figure.

  —Amaterasu!!

  Whoosh!

  Bck fmes erupted, engulfing Danzō’s body!

  "Argh!!"

  Danzō screamed in agony as he colpsed to the ground.

  But then, the burning Danzō vanished, his real body reappearing further away, still running.

  Sasuke was stunned. "What?!"

  Naruto shouted, "Sasuke, Danzō used *Izanagi*! Right now, he’s invincible! But the effect will st less than a minute! Keep up your stro attacks, and you kill him!"

  "..." Sasuke’s eyes fshed with determination.

  "Huff, huff, huff..." Danzō ran desperately, but his dwindling chakra filled him with despair. "Am I really going to die here?"

  Tap.

  Suddenly... Sasuke stopped his pursuit.

  Everyone was stunned. "Sasuke... you?"

  "It doesn’t matter. Let him live for today. A vengeance carried out through others’ hands is not enough to purify the Uchiha to its highest glory."

  Sasuke slowly turned around, his *Mangekyō Sharingan* radiating an inscrutable darkness as he gazed at Naruto. "Especially not you, Naruto. You’re the st person I’d ever want to ay behalf."

  In the swirling snow, Danzō’s fleeing figure faded into the background.

  "..." Naruto and Sasuke locked eyes, as if time had frozen.

  Whoosh!!

  A strange vortex swirled as Masked Tobi appeared...

  In the distanear the Land of Iron’s border, Konoha’s group raced through the snow.

  Leading the charge were Hinata and Sakura.

  "Naruto-kun..."

  "Sasuke-kun..."

  flig beliefs were about to collide...