Naruto: Sasuke Uchiha Returns from Soul Society

The boy's voice wasn't loud, but it made the air in the office freeze.

"You call this peace?"

Naruto's smile froze little by little under the gaze of those dark eyes.

"Sasuke, you..."

"I went to the Land of Waves."

Young Sasuke didn't give him a chance to organize his thoughts and continued talking on his own.

"The bridge named after you has indeed brought prosperity to the area. The port is bustling with traffic, and the smiles on the faces of the merchants are even brighter than those in the Land of Fire."

"But there are still fishermen who choose dangerous sea routes because they cannot afford the high toll fees. They turn the 'hope' you bring into a pure business."

"For the sake of this prosperity, they also learned to be profit-driven and to undermine each other. And there are more and more profit-driven parasites like Kado."

Naruto's breath hitched slightly.

“I also went to other places.”

Young Sasuke's gaze passed over Naruto, as if looking at a more distant landscape. "In the capital of the Land of Fire, the daimyo and nobles are still high and mighty, indulging in a life of luxury and extravagance. But in those nameless towns at their feet, I saw countless hungry children fighting with wild dogs for a moldy rice ball in muddy puddles."

His voice was soft, yet it chilled the sunlight in the office.

Is this the future you're talking about, where "everyone can live happily"?

"..."

Naruto opened his mouth, but couldn't say anything. He knew that Sasuke was telling the truth.

"Well, Sasuke, don't be so pessimistic."

Nara Shikamaru, who had been silent all along, finally spoke, trying to ease the suffocating atmosphere: "The world doesn't get better in a day. We've been trying to make things better, but it has to be done step by step."

"effort?"

Sasuke scoffed, his laughter filled with disdain for the word.

He slowly turned his head, his eyes sharply fixed on Naruto.

"Then I am very curious, Naruto... no, I should say, the Seventh Hokage."

This address caused Naruto's body to stiffen almost imperceptibly.

"Does your so-called 'effort' also include the Hyuga clan?"

Sasuke stepped forward, approaching the desk that symbolized the highest power in the village, his voice suddenly turning icy.

Hinata.

This word made Shikamaru's heart leap into his throat.

“I recently visited the Hyuga clan’s territory.”

"According to their clan rules, women who marry out of the clan are considered to have given up their clan identity and should be tattooed with a caged bird."

"So can you tell me why your wife Hinata Hyuga's forehead is so smooth and clean, while the other members of the Hyuga branch family still have that 'Caged Bird' branded on their foreheads, a symbol of enslavement and death?"

"Why is it that your daughter can laugh freely, while other children who also have the Hyuga bloodline are born with an inescapable shackle?"

These words caused the color to drain from Naruto's face instantly, and his lips opened and closed, but no sound came out.

That was his biggest compromise after becoming Hokage, and also the deepest pain in his heart that he was powerless to change.

“You haven’t changed anything, Naruto.”

Young Sasuke's eyes were filled with nothing but a bottomless disappointment.

"You simply defeated all the enemies who stood in your way, and then sat in that highest position, becoming the most powerful maintainer of this corrupt system."

"You've forgotten your original aspirations from your youth. The peace you speak of is nothing more than repainting the cage of the past and then living in it with a clear conscience."

"..."

The air seemed to have been completely sucked out at that moment.

The office fell into a deathly silence, with only Naruto's heavy and suppressed breathing remaining.

The middle-aged Sasuke slowly closed his eyes, a subtle, indescribable expression flashing across his face.

He understood the source of his anger, because it was the path he himself had walked. He also understood Naruto, because it was the reality they had chosen to protect together.

For a long, long time.

Naruto finally regained his voice.

"That......"

What are you planning to do?

Young Sasuke looked at Naruto's dejected appearance, but there was no joy of victory in his eyes, only a deeper disappointment, as if he were watching an ending he had already foreseen.

"You're asking me what I plan to do?"

Young Sasuke's voice returned to its calm tone, as if the intense questioning from before had never happened. "I once thought of the most ideal method."

His gaze passed over Naruto and landed on the seemingly prosperous village outside the window, his eyes reflecting a grand yet naive idea.

"When the root of the contradiction lies in the scarcity of resources and the solidification of classes, the most ideal solution is to greatly develop productivity, so that land, food, wealth... all resources become no longer scarce, or even abundant."

"When material abundance is sufficient to fill the chasm of all desires, classes, conflicts, and even barriers between nations will naturally dissolve, and conflicts will lose their breeding ground."

These words surprised Nara Shikamaru, who was standing nearby. He hadn't expected to hear such a rational idea from Sasuke.

However, before the confusion on Naruto's face could dissipate, the next second, young Sasuke shook his head, a self-deprecating smile playing on his lips.

"But that's impossible."

He shook his head, his dark eyes turning cold again. "Human greed is limitless; no matter how abundant the resources, they can never be filled."

"Moreover, this requires hundreds or even thousands of years to settle, and I don't have that patience. This already rotten world can't wait that long either."

He slowly turned around and calmly looked at Naruto and Shikamaru, who were unsettled by his words.

Therefore, there is only one way.

"eliminate."

Sasuke's voice became extremely soft, yet it caused the temperature in the office to drop suddenly.

“Erase all the high-ranking daimyo and nobles, all the ninja clans clinging to their old interests, and everything that represents this corrupt order from this world.”

"Then, eradicate the existence of all tailed beasts and completely eliminate this power that is capable of overturning the balance of the world from its source."

The moment the words left his mouth, Naruto's body trembled violently, and he could clearly feel an extremely unwilling roar coming from deep within his abdomen.

"at last."

Sasuke's gaze swept over the faces of the "Kage" on the Hokage Rock, his voice filled with an unyielding resolve.

"I will unify all nations, abolish the narrow barriers of 'villages,' establish a unique and absolute order, and thus end war completely."

"..."

The entire office fell into a deathly silence.

"...What a madman."

Cold sweat beaded on Shikamaru's forehead as he stared blankly at Sasuke, his voice hoarse as he retorted, "I admit, your idea is indeed thorough, but have you considered...?"

He looked at Sasuke and calmly pointed out the flaws in the plan.

What happens after you die?

"When you die, who will maintain the 'only' order you established? Without the suppression of absolute power, the world will only fall into more frenzied fighting, split again, and repeat the same mistakes."

"Who told you I would die?"

Young Sasuke slowly turned his head to the side. "Did you think I would start a plan that would end with my own death?"

"For me... time has a completely different meaning."

"Then how are you any different from those guys you're going to kill?!"

Naruto finally couldn't take it anymore. He took a step forward and roared, almost touching Sasuke's face, "You killed everyone and then sat on the highest position yourself. You just became another, more powerful dictator! What kind of peace is this?!"

Just as Naruto was about to continue roaring, a hand gently pressed on his shoulder.

It's middle-aged Sasuke.

He gently shook his head at Naruto, and Naruto's words came to an abrupt halt.

The middle-aged Sasuke's gaze fell on the young Sasuke.

That self from the past, more familiar to everyone, yet more unfamiliar to everyone...

After a long while, he finally spoke softly.

“I have walked the same path as you. After learning the truth, I was also unable to forgive Itachi’s choice, and even more unable to forgive that corrupt world that forced all of us to this point.”

“I have also thought that I should break this cycle of hatred, redefine ‘protection’, and create true peace.”

"I've walked the same path as Naruto."

He turned his head and glanced at the blond man beside him who was still breathing heavily, a hint of tenderness flashing in his eyes.

"In the Valley of the End, after that battle where everything was at stake, I saw the weight he carried and understood the 'path' he had chosen."

The middle-aged Sasuke slowly turned around and looked at his younger self again.

"In the end, I chose to become the 'Kage who supports the Hokage,' to protect the light he created in the darkness."

"Now it seems..."

He looked into Sasuke's eyes, which were filled with disappointment and disdain, and smiled self-deprecatingly, "This ending doesn't seem to satisfy my past self."

"so......"

At this moment, middle-aged Sasuke's eyes became incredibly serious. "Your future can only be decided by yourself."

He didn't judge whether young Sasuke's choice was right or wrong, nor did he try to persuade him.

At that very moment, the unexpected change occurred.

"Sasuke! Your foot!" Naruto's panting was replaced by a shocked shout.

As you watched, Sasuke's feet, like sand paintings scattered by the wind, began to gradually become transparent, turning into countless tiny particles that slowly dissipated.