novelhk Chapter 568 The Power of Creation
Chapter 568 The Power of Creation
The matter is over.
Although they didn't know that Sasuke had decided to do this, Naruto himself handled things cleanly and efficiently.
Kisame Hoshigaki of this world has been properly settled.
Naruto protected him with a special sealing technique. It wasn't the cold, impersonal kind that locked someone up and prevented them from ever getting out. Instead, it was a gentle, warm seal, like laying out a bed for a weary traveler.
Kisame slept peacefully, his expression relaxed and unguarded; he was dreaming. A very long, very beautiful dream, a dream he had chosen himself.
That dream was given to him by Naruto.
That genjutsu was similar to Infinite Tsukuyomi, but it wasn't. Infinite Tsukuyomi turns a person into a White Zetsu, drains their body dry, and takes everything away. But what Naruto did—it took nothing.
It simply sent Kisame to the world of his dreams, a world without deception, falsehood, or killing, a world where Kisame could live the life he desired.
When will this illusion be lifted?
Naruto set the timeline at a very, very distant point—when Kisame had lived the most beautiful, happiest, and most regretless time in his dream world, when all his wishes had been fulfilled, all his last wishes had been completed, and all his thoughts had been put aside—only then would the genjutsu be lifted.
Time inside is infinite. Kisame can live in that world for a hundred years, a thousand years, ten thousand years, until he feels he has lived enough, until he feels his life has been worthwhile, until the moment he closes his eyes, the corners of his mouth are turned up, and his heart is free of any regrets.
Naruto didn't know if what he was doing was right or wrong.
He didn't know whether putting someone into a beautiful dream and making them never wake up was a kind of kindness or cruelty.
Kisame of this world will not betray him, will not follow him, and will not accept any of his proposals.
Kisame had already made his decision to live in that genjutsu world, and Naruto merely helped him fulfill that wish. But is fulfilling someone's wish always the right thing to do?
If that wish is to escape, if that wish is to lock oneself in a fictional world and never come out again, if that wish is to abandon reality—then is he helping Kisame or harming him by helping him fulfill that wish?
Naruto still couldn't come up with an answer.
He did it anyway—he added plenty of safety precautions to the sealing technique.
The wrapped-up Kisame slept peacefully in a place where no one could find him, undisturbed by anyone.
Even if the Otsutsuki clan came, Kisame wouldn't be awakened. He would remain peaceful and comfortable in his dreams. Naruto could guarantee that.
Young Sasuke and Naruto's clones returned to their own world. Young Naruto went to check on his companions. After the adult Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke left the Uchiha Itachi's side in this world, the one Naruto and two Sasukes reunited.
"Your Naruto hasn't come back yet."
Satsuki's voice drifted towards Sasuke. "What are your plans next?"
...What do you mean by "your Naruto"?
Sasuke's lips twitched slightly. The way he was addressed made him feel a little nauseous, and he wanted to say something in response—like, "He's not my Naruto" or "Could you please say it another way?"
But after glancing at Zuo Yue, he swallowed the words that were on the tip of his tongue. A wise person submits to circumstances. This was the conclusion he reached very quickly.
"Yes, thank you."
Sasuke's voice was very serious. "Thank you for telling me the truth. Thank you for everything you've done. And..."
"Regarding Dad and Mom. Thank you."
"but……."
He raised his head and looked directly at Naruto and Satsuki.
Even so, I still hope I can ask you for a favor.
At this point, something very familiar burned in Sasuke's eyes: hatred.
"I hope you can kill Shimura Danzo of this world."
Naruto was somewhat surprised. He thought Sasuke would say, "Please give me power" or "Please make me stronger," but Sasuke said, "Please help me defeat him."
They actually handed over the opportunity for revenge to them.
Is this a good idea?
Naruto's gaze fell on Sasuke's face, on those eyes that were burning with flames, yet not consumed by them.
"He's your enemy. Don't you want to kill him yourself?"
This question made Sasuke's eyelashes tremble slightly. He thought. He wanted it so badly. He desperately wanted it. He wanted to see that man die—not from someone else's account, not from some report he read about, but from his own eyes.
Seeing the man fall to the ground, seeing the light in his eyes go out, seeing the rat who had been manipulating everything from the shadows of Konoha finally die.
"...Yes, I really want to."
His voice was strained. "I miss him terribly. No matter what, I really want to see him die."
"But... Danzo was once a rival for the Hokage title. His strength is beyond what I can compare to now."
When he said this, his tone was calm and clear-headed with honesty.
He knew his current strength. He was no match for Danzo.
That man was able to stand next to the Third Hokage for so many years, manipulate so many things in the shadows of the Anbu, and push the Uchiha clan to that point—not because he was lucky, but because he was ruthless and unscrupulous.
And what about myself? A genin who failed to be promoted to chunin.
What does he have left to kill Danzo? His life?
"So you don't plan to slowly grow stronger before killing him?"
"I cannot accept this."
Sasuke's reply came quickly: "That man is the one I can least tolerate among those who massacred the Uchiha clan."
"He made that absurd deal to Itachi. He was the one who drove the entire Uchiha clan to that point. He is the biggest culprit."
"Just thinking that he's still alive in this world, hiding in the shadows like a rat, continuing to manipulate everything in some corner of Konoha, continuing to decide the life and death of others with his twisted logic, and that I have to wait, to wait a long time, to wait until he can still live in this world for several more years..."
"I just couldn't stand it."
He took a deep breath, suppressing some of the turmoil within him, and looked up at Naruto. "Please. If it's you guys, Danzo is nothing to fear."
Naruto remained silent for a while.
"...Sasuke, you...are more mature than I expected."
Sasuke's face flushed slightly.
He wasn't used to it. He wasn't used to that loser's face showing such a mature expression, praising him so earnestly. He wasn't used to these words coming from Naruto's mouth from another world, words that he didn't dislike at all.
Of course, Sasuke understood why he could tolerate not killing his enemies.
He imagined the future, his parents were resurrected, and what it would be like if the empty ancestral land could be lit up again.
"Since that's the case..."
Naruto's voice pulled young Sasuke back from his reverie. "I'll give you a present."
"I hope you can stay true to yourself after you've avenged your enemy."
Sasuke was stunned for a moment. Before he could react to what those words meant, Naruto reached out his hand. His palm was down, and he placed it over one of Sasuke's eyes.
Sasuke was somewhat taken aback by Naruto's sudden approach.
At the same time, he felt a gaze upon him.
The gaze was very close; it was from Naruto's right eye—the eye he hadn't paid much attention to before, but at this moment, it was completely captivating.
It wasn't the Sharingan, the Byakugan, or even Satsuki's nine-tomoe Rinnegan, which filled him with terror at just a glance.
This was an eye that he could not predict at all, could not understand at all, and had no idea how to face.
With a black base and golden pupils, that eye moved quietly, emitting no sense of oppression or chakra aura; it simply existed in silence.
Sasuke stared at that eye, his mind blank.
Upon seeing an ordinary Sharingan, he would be wary of genjutsu, guard against the other party copying his movements, and silently calculate how to deal with it.
Seeing Zuo Yue's nine-tomoe Rinnegan, he felt a fear rising from the depths of his soul. This fear wasn't directed at anyone in particular, but rather an instinctive realization that this was something he couldn't fight against.
But Naruto's eye—he had never seen it in any book before, he had no idea how to predict it, no idea what would happen, and no idea what he should do.
It's almost like looking at the unfathomable starry sky.
You stand under the night sky, looking up at the stars. You know they are there, you know they are big, you know they are far away, but you don't know exactly how big they are, how far away they are, or what they are doing at that moment.
You can only watch, you can only look up and watch, you can't do anything about it.
"Okay. That's it."
Naruto's voice pulled Sasuke back from his dazed state. He lowered his hand, blinked, and then, as if by magic, pulled a small mirror from behind him.
"Take a look. Consider it a parting gift."
Sasuke took the mirror, held it in his hand blankly, and looked at the mirror with some confusion.
Then he saw it.
The face in the mirror was still his face, the same face he saw every day when he washed his face, a face he knew all too well. But those eyes—they weren't his eyes anymore.
What came into view was a purple eye with ripples.
The other eye—red, with a strangely shaped pupil, like a blooming flower—was quietly embedded in its socket, side by side with the purple eye. One purple, one red; one still, one moving, they merged in his eyes.
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(Regarding what else the protagonist can do, I think it's best to leave the alternate world to Naruto and Sasuke. But what the protagonist can do... I'm afraid the author's imagination might make the protagonist seem a bit hypocritical.)