Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 145 Questioning the Heart

"Is this the 'person' you're going to let go for now?"

The icy question and the indifferent golden eyes were a damnably perfect match. Naruto lowered his eyes and, sure enough, met those eyes. It was a gold even purer than Sage Mode, a gaze colder than an executioner's, observing all aspects of human life while judging everything from a superior position.

I have no intention of letting them off the hook.

His shadow was watching him, one gold and one blue, silently confronting each other.

"No? You're planning to leave as if you'd never been here at all."

They didn't deserve to die so easily.

"An excuse." The shadow broke free from his restraints and nimbly approached the water's surface, as if it could emerge from the water at any moment.

"You'd love to hang them on the city gate right now as a warning. Or perhaps you'd peel back their disguise, throw a part of them into the oven to roast, and then put it in front of them, forcing them..."

"Shut up."

"You want to kill them, in the way they take lives."

"Wanting doesn't mean you have to do it. They are beasts, but I am a human."

"Are you human?"

He actually saw a hint of pity on the shadow's expressionless face. "He" turned back into a shadow, and even the expression on his face changed with it, of course, with his eyes open.

Golden eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Kurama noticed that Rōshi had been standing still since entering the city. He began to wonder if Naruto had been pushing him too hard lately. He really shouldn't have agreed to provide chakra and let Naruto spread his clones all over the world.

"It's nothing, a clone came back to report." Naruto once again ignored the reflection on the water. "The information over there is special, and 'I' need to make the decision directly."

"Oh, now that you've finished this, you'd better take a rest. You keep doing this every day, I'm starting to get worried about you... What's the human saying again? Schizophrenia?" Kurama stretched out a big yawn, every tail swaying, finally able to move after holding it in for so many days.

"I'm not that fragile." Having been examined at the hospital, Naruto firmly believes that he is not the type of person who would break down.

As he grew older, his soul also seemed to grow, as evidenced by his exponentially increasing chakra reserves. He naively believed that as he grew older and forged a stronger body, he would no longer be troubled by the exploding meridians. However, he never imagined that his chakra reserves could actually increase, making him like a narrow and fragile waterway temporarily dug for flood control, constantly vulnerable to being breached by the torrent.

These are not the biggest problems. The real trouble is that, from some unknown day, his shadow "came to life."

This should have been a terrifying event, but when that day arrived, Naruto felt a strange sense of urgency. Most of the time, his shadow simply watched him silently, only appearing on rare occasions when he hesitated, his decisions clashing with his conscience. The shadow's decisions were utterly devoid of human compassion and consideration for the social consequences; he was like a judge wielding the power of life and death, adhering only to his own rules. Naruto, on the other hand, always had to consider much more: the appropriate course of action, the impact on Hikaru, and the suffering of the victims.

Naruto remained steadfast in his belief that he wouldn't split; if he were going to split, he would have done so long ago. However, he couldn't understand what a shadow was. Having lived with Kurama for so long, he had never seen "him" or heard "his" voice, so he could rule out the possibility that it was an outsider.

"He" can only come from himself.

Naruto is instinctively wary of the unknown, so of course he's never listened to the shadow. Currently, it seems "he" hasn't directly affected his abilities, so treating "he" as an inappropriate point of reference is fine.

Law enforcement officers should indeed eliminate emotional interference and impartially enforce procedures based on evidence, but leaders cannot. How can one lead people without studying and understanding them?

"Lord Jinlun... has finished. They've forgotten we were ever here." Quan's eyes were gloomy.

"Yes, thank you for your hard work, Quan." The girl who died at the age of fifteen or sixteen was the same age as the children he had raised. He affectionately patted the top of the girl's head and said, "They will receive the punishment they deserve, I swear."

The flames reignited what should have been consumed. Memories can be erased, but the impact of reality remains. A candlestick accidentally knocked over was the perfect source of chaos. People were still screaming, scrambling to escape the most secluded and lavish banquet hall of the restaurant. Trampling and pulling were everywhere; in their struggle for survival, no one cared about maintaining a facade of feigned compassion. Perhaps some would perish in the fire, but that would be the easiest death. Hui remembered their names, faces, identities, and backgrounds. One day, they would face the most terrifying judgment in both the human world and hell!

"May you be reborn in a new world in your next life. Rest in peace, children."

The three, who had expected to be interrogated before leaving, had an unexpectedly smooth day.

Kabuto checked out of the inn early in the morning, just as it opened, while Sasuke and Karin bought supplies, especially water, at the opening time of the morning market. As soon as they could leave the city, they would leave Fukuhide without stopping, continuously crossing the border of the Land of Earth until they entered the Land of Grass. After all, they had appeared at the lord's mansion yesterday, and even though they had disguised themselves, who knew if they would be discovered?

While they were buying supplies, the main street was suddenly cleared out, so they turned into a back street to continue shopping. Karin said that a ninja with an astonishing amount of chakra had entered the city, but he was still no match for the person from last night.

Sasuke didn't care about that. He counted the amount of dry rations and skillfully stuffed them into his spatial scroll. This much was about enough, and he had prepared so much only to accommodate Karin's pace. He didn't like the taste of compressed fast food and would seek out fresh food even when traveling, unless he was forced to rush. This was probably due to Naruto's never skimping on meals; no matter how hard or tiring things were, they would always make time to cook.

By the way, did that big idiot see the note? They're leaving Fuxiu City soon, and they might even be chased on the way. It's best not to let him come.

"Sasuke, look over there!" Karin's sudden stop made Sasuke look up in the direction she was pointing. He saw a plume of black smoke rising in the distance. Many people on the street had stopped to look, just like him, but most of them were just watching the spectacle and didn't care about the disaster so far away.

"It's on fire, isn't it?" Sasuke said indifferently. He was in a hurry to find a place to summon the communication frog and retrieve the note, lest that idiot actually came and ended up in the pursuers' encirclement.

"This has nothing to do with us, get out of here."