Onoki: "Oh, Fourth Kazekage, you seem to have something on your mind. Do you have a story to share?"
Third Kazekage: "Stay out of Hidden Sand Village's business and worry about your own!"
As Gaara watched Naruto's suffering unfold on the screen, he naturally felt a deep, personal empathy for the pain of being a Tailed Beast Jinchuriki. And his plight was even worse than Naruto's—he constantly had to guard against assassination attempts by his own father, the Fourth Kazekage...
Although things had changed in this world after Naruto thoroughly beat some sense into him during his rampage, seeing or recalling those past scenes still brought a deep ache. In this world, mutual understanding between people was nearly impossible. Both he and Naruto were Tailed Beast Jinchuriki, which was why the two of them had ultimately grown close.
However, what if he had encountered the Naruto from another world instead?
Would it have amplified a different kind of darkness hidden deep within his own heart?
Gaara instinctively clutched his chest, right over his heart—a place where even the light could never reach.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to Uzumaki Kushina for answering correctly. The reward is Resurrection from the Dead, to be delivered after the viewing system concludes!]
[Congratulations to Sarutobi Hiruzen for answering correctly. The reward is the Chat Group Mute spell, granting three opportunities to mute any single person in the viewing system for one hour!]
In the Pure Land, Uzumaki Kushina stared at the screen before her, rubbing her eyes in disbelief time and time again.
Could this actually be real?
Am I really coming back to life?
This is amazing!!!
She still had so much she wanted to say to little Naruto, and so many things she wanted to do for him.
The moment she died, the reluctance she felt was matched only by her boundless joy now!
Uzumaki Kushina: "Minato, Minato, did you see that? I'm going to be resurrected!"
Namikaze Minato: "Congratulations, Kushina! That's wonderful!"
Uzumaki Naruto: "Does that mean I'm going to have a mom soon?"
Uzumaki Kushina: "You silly boy, you've always had a mom!"
Uzumaki Kushina: "Don't you worry, once I'm back, none of those people in Konoha who bullied my son will get away with it! Just watch me tear their shops down piece by piece!!!"
Uzumaki Kushina wasn't just blowing off steam. She was the Red Hot-Habanero of Konoha, a famously violent woman. More importantly, as a member of the Uzumaki Clan, she was also exceptionally strong! Most people were simply no match for her.
Uzumaki Kushina: "By the way, Hyuga Hizashi—now that I'm coming back to life, have you given any more thought to the marriage between your daughter Hinata and my son Naruto?"
Hyuga Hinata's face flushed a deep red. Weren't they just talking about being boyfriend and girlfriend a moment ago? How did it suddenly turn into marriage!
Still... if it was with Naruto-kun... getting married wasn't out of the question...
Hyuga Hizashi hadn't expected this either. He had only tossed it out casually earlier, figuring that since Uzumaki Kushina had been dead for so long, resurrection was impossible anyway.
Who could have guessed this damned system would actually resurrect someone just like that?
Now things were tricky. Speaking of the Uzumaki Clan, they used to be a prominent household, of course! But now... they had become even rarer than pandas, and crucially, they didn't enjoy any kind of protection. Everyone wanted to capture them and study the secret behind the Uzumaki Clan's formidable vitality!
If you wanted to talk about who was currently riding a wave of popularity, it had to be Konoha's Sarutobi Clan! Even though the Third Hokage had died, his son Sarutobi Asuma was still alive, and Sarutobi Konohamaru was growing up. Wasn't it a sure thing that he would become Hokage in the future?
Just look at the kind of upbringing Konohamaru had from a young age. Special jonin Ebisu—though he might look like a total pushover, he was a master of his craft. When it came to teaching, Ebisu was just as he claimed: "Learning from me is the shortcut to becoming Hokage!"
How mischievous was Konohamaru as a young child? Yet despite all his complaints, Ebisu had never given up on him! Even after the Third Hokage's death, he strictly upheld his duties as a teacher. Later on, Konohamaru had his shining moment when he soloed a Pain avatar, and it was hard to say Ebisu didn't deserve a share of the credit for that.
As for his teaching standards? He was arguably even more adept than Kakashi. When Kakashi taught Naruto how to control chakra to walk up trees, it took Naruto and Sasuke a full several days to reach the top. You could argue Naruto was held back by his lack of talent and the interference of Kurama's chakra, but what about Sasuke? He was touted as a genius of the Uchiha, and that was all he could manage?
Compare that to Ebisu. Even while laboring under the heavy penalty of his aversion to Uzumaki Naruto in the early days, he still patiently analyzed Naruto's greatest weakness at the time: his chakra control seemed to be malfunctioning! Afterwards, when teaching Naruto to walk on water, it took him only half a day to help Naruto master the technique, even with his chakra thrown into chaos by Orochimaru!
So, at least when it came to teaching, there was simply no faulting Ebisu.
And this very man had been Konohamaru's private tutor from childhood! It was hard not to suspect that the Third Hokage was grooming Konohamaru to be the future Hokage.
By comparison... Naruto as a child didn't even have a teacher, let alone anyone paying attention to him after he entered the Ninja Academy.
Therefore, as the leader of the Hyuga Clan following the downfall of the Uchiha, Hyuga Hizashi had to weigh every single decision carefully. After all, picking the wrong side was extremely dangerous! He wasn't making choices for himself alone; he had to decide the fate of the entire clan!
Uzumaki Kushina wasn't foolish either. Seeing Hyuga Hizashi hem and haw without giving a clear answer, she naturally understood the stakes. Back when she and Minato were still alive, Konoha had already started marginalizing the Uchiha clan over concerns that their influence was growing too large!
So she knew all too well the petty nature of certain Konoha higher-ups. But now that she was coming back to life, everything would be different! Furthermore, she believed that Minato would be resurrected as well.
And since the Third had kicked the bucket, wouldn't that mean Minato could logically and properly...
At that point, she wouldn't have to worry about Hinata not marrying into the family!
While Uzumaki Kushina was lost in these thoughts, the voice of the system rang out once more.
[Ding!]
[Congratulations to Orochimaru for answering incorrectly. The reward is the random sealing of one of his remaining three legs!]
Ino: "..."
Tenten: "..."
Temari: "..."
Uzumaki Karin: "..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Do tell everyone, what are these three legs? And which one was randomly chosen?"
Orochimaru: "Teacher Hiruzen, you seem rather eager."
Sarutobi Hiruzen: "Am I eager? (Incredible!) At least I got the answer right! (Schadenfreude!)"
Orochimaru: "Ahem, actually the system was referring to my two legs and my tail, and the random seal only hit my right foot!"
After saying this, Orochimaru glanced at Kabuto standing before him. Kabuto looked back at Orochimaru. His right foot was completely fine, and his left foot had no issues either!
That being the case, it could only mean...
"Kabuto, why don't you step outside for a moment?" Orochimaru instructed with a genial smile.
"If I could move, Lord Orochimaru, I would have gone to fetch Sasuke back long ago!"
"..."
Orochimaru remembered. That seemed to be the case—right now, he was practically immobile as well.
In particular, a certain part of his body had completely lost all sensation.
This system was truly vicious, damn it. To hit a one-in-three chance was completely absurd!
It was hard not to suspect the system was deliberately targeting him!