"Hah. So looking at it this way, Konoha's ninja aren't all that impressive after all."
Inside Sunagakure, Kankurō was staring at the light screen. When he saw that Naruto Uzumaki had not only been exposed by an ordinary girl while tailing her, but had then been ambushed and knocked unconscious on the spot, his face immediately filled with undisguised contempt.
As the son of the Fourth Kazekage, Kankurō had long been aware of Suna's current predicament, and he also knew how prosperous and powerful neighboring Konoha was.
That was why he had never dared to slack off.
He had always trained desperately with the goal of surpassing Konoha's ninja.
Now, seeing a Konoha shinobi of his own generation appear on the light screen in such a pathetic state, he felt both surprised and exhilarated. The awe he had once felt toward Konoha faded somewhat, replaced by an even stronger competitive fire.
"So it seems this mysterious light screen showing up isn't entirely a bad thing."
Beside him, Temari watched Kankurō's confidence rise because of what he had seen, and a pleased smile curved at the corner of her mouth.
But that smile had barely appeared when a bone-chilling killing intent suddenly spread through the air. Her expression instantly tightened, the smile vanishing into grim alarm.
Following the source of that murderous aura, Temari's gaze landed on a lone figure in the distance.
It was her youngest brother, Gaara.
At that moment, he was glaring viciously at Naruto on the light screen, his eyes overflowing with killing intent.
Clearly, unlike Kankurō, whose confidence had only grown after watching the screen, Gaara felt nothing but a strange, rising agitation after seeing the scenes from Naruto's daily life.
The killing intent rolling off him thickened with every passing moment, and even the grains of sand around his body had begun to tremble uncontrollably, as though they might erupt along with his emotions at any second.
The moment she noticed that, a flash of unmistakable fear crossed Temari's face.
But as the eldest sister—and thinking of Gaara's constant loneliness and isolation over the years—she still took a deep breath, forced down the fear in her heart, and gathered the courage to walk toward him.
At the same time, the steadily unfolding story on the light screen reached the final scene before its first major turning point.
[In the dimly lit tavern, Fujikaze Yukie, already a little drunk, stared at the clear crystal necklace in her hand and muttered with open resistance, "Don't be ridiculous... Who would ever go to the Land of Snow...?"
As she spoke, a middle-aged man seated at the far end of the tavern—who had been silently drinking the entire time—suddenly set down his cup, rose to his feet, and headed straight toward her.
At that exact moment, the light screen's soundtrack shifted to a tightly wound melody, the notes carrying a faint but unmistakable anxiety that instantly filled the air with a subtle sense of danger.
Just as the man came within two steps of Fujikaze Yukie's table, the tavern door was suddenly flung open, and Naruto stumbled inside, shouting at the top of his lungs:
"I finally found you, Princess Fūun!"
The sudden cry froze the middle-aged man in place. He immediately turned his head and cast Naruto a glance, then changed direction and walked toward the tavern exit, quickly disappearing into the crowd outside.
Fujikaze Yukie, meanwhile, never realizing how narrowly she had just brushed past danger, merely slipped the crystal necklace back around her neck and said in an offhand tone,
"Didn't I already tell you? I'm not Princess Fūun at all..."
"I don't care about that!"
Seeing that she was not taking his words seriously in the slightest, Naruto grew even more frustrated. He stepped closer, his voice carrying obvious reproach:
"You trampled all over my pure feelings as a man! I may not know just how great an actress is supposed to be, but I absolutely won't tolerate being deceived like that again!"
"An actress? Great??"
Fujikaze Yukie's hand, holding her glass, stopped cold. Then she slowly turned to look at Naruto. First she covered her mouth and let out a low laugh, then the laughter grew louder and louder until she straightened up and burst into hearty laughter. As she laughed, she said:
"Hahaha! What a naive fool you are! What's so great about being an actress? It's the worst profession there is—something only people driven into a dead end with nowhere else to go would ever choose!"
Naruto froze, confusion flashing across his face. But before he could ask anything, Fujikaze Yukie continued:
"In the end, acting is just taking someone else's script, following a role defined by someone else, and performing a fake life that was never yours to begin with. If you can't even understand something that simple, then what else are you if not a fool?!"
"Big sis... y-you're not drunk, are you?"
"You're so annoying. Can't you just disappear already?"
Naruto still could not understand what Fujikaze Yukie meant, and the confusion on his face only deepened.
From the time he was old enough to remember anything, Naruto had only ever had one goal: to become a Hokage acknowledged by everyone. For that dream, he had poured all his thoughts and energy into the path of being a ninja. Never once had he imagined that there could be someone in this world who hated their own profession so deeply.
Faced with Naruto's complete inability to understand her, Fujikaze Yukie finally lost the last of her patience, her voice now full of irritation.
Just then, her manager, Asama Sandayū, hurried into the tavern with Sakura and the others.
"Miss Yukie, the ship to the Land of Snow is about to depart. If we don't hurry, we'll miss it—"
Sandayū's voice was thick with anxiety, but before he could finish, Fujikaze Yukie cut him off without the slightest courtesy: "That's enough. Princess Fūun will not be boarding that pirate ship."
"What? You can't do that!" Sakura cried out in shock.
Asama Sandayū was even more frantic. He stomped forward and began arguing with Fujikaze Yukie, desperately trying to change her mind and get her moving toward the Land of Snow.
"Looks like there's no other choice."
After watching the two argue to no result, Kakashi hesitated no longer. He stepped forward, caught hold of Fujikaze Yukie's arm, turned her body toward him, and lifted the forehead protector covering his left eye.
In the next second, a three-tomoe Sharingan appeared on the screen, its scarlet eye gleaming as the tomoe slowly rotated.
Before long, Fujikaze Yukie's gaze began to lose focus, her body swaying faintly as she slipped into unconsciousness.
At that moment, the entire tavern fell so silent that even breathing could be heard. A heavy atmosphere settled over everyone present, while Naruto remained standing off to the side in a daze, his eyes full of bewilderment.
Even now, he still could not understand Fujikaze Yukie.
Why did she reject her own profession so strongly?
If she had already chosen to become an actress, then shouldn't she devote all of her heart and effort to it?
Just like him. Since the day he decided he would become Hokage, he had never once doubted the path of the ninja.
With each passing day, he only longed more to be acknowledged by everyone, longed more to stand at the very top, to become the Hokage who would protect the village. That conviction had never once wavered.
And that—was his own unchanging Ninja Way!!]
Join here to read ahead.
In Star Rail, Ultra-Beast Armored — Have I Caught "Equilibrium"? l (Chapter 80)
Uma Musume, But I Only Have Five Years Left to Live (Chapter 172)
Zenless Zone Zero: I'm a Doctor, Not a Bangboo (Chapter 115)
Ben Tennyson Wants to Join the Justice League (Chapter 116)
TYPE-MOON: Redemption Beginning with the Holy Grail War (Chapter105)
Yu-Gi-Oh! — Transmigrated into the White Dragon Girl (Chapter100)
"Is this chat group even serious?" (Chapter69)
I, Lord Ravager, Utterly Loyal! (Chapter119)
Can Playing Games Save the World? 65
Crossover Anime Multiverse: The Demon Hunter of an Unnatural World 70
From Junkman to Wasteland 60
Weekly Refresh of Overpowered 31
I'm Grinding Proficiency Like 40
From Kiana, Lord Ravager, Onwa 66
Honkai: Is This Still the Prev 42
Elf: My Starter Pokémon Is Inc 50
Warhammer: My Primarch Is Remi 52
From Demon Slayer to Grand Ass 55
The Way the Umamusume Look at 42
Uma Musume, but My Cheat Power 40
Naruto: Weaving the Future, Be 36
Zenless Zone Zero, but Kamen R 30
Multiverse Crossover: The Perf 26
My Cyberpsycho Girlfriend 26
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