Naruto: Passerby and Returnee

Chapter 163 "Historical Issues"

Even though the two sides are on different sides, with different ideologies and goals, Yukito still has to admit one thing.

Naruto Uzumaki is a good person.

Kurama was driven to despair by Kurama's attack. The aftershocks of the two tailed beasts' clash at sea even woke up the old turtle, who futilely flailed its limbs trying to get away, only managing to raise the waves higher. Considering the possibility of people on both the sea and the island, Kurama threw the tailed beast balls generated during the clash into the air, thus preventing potential casualties.

“You killed it.” Yukito tried to pick a fight.

"It attacked me." Sasuke said expressionlessly as he tried to wash the slime off his body with seawater.

“I think it should pay for the casualties it caused.” Naruto himself didn’t answer; he was busy washing his good friend with water condensed from chakra. The one who answered was a shadow clone that emerged from the water, the water surging behind him with effortless power, and the astonishing number of human parts greatly impacted the other two people present.

Sasuke swiftly withdrew his hand from the sea, while Yugito fell silent. She hesitated for a moment before stepping into the wreckage. The corpses had been in the sea for far too long; almost none were intact, and their faces were unrecognizable, though the distinctive attire of Cloud Village ninjas remained somewhat. Yugito silently picked up items from a few skeletons, spitting out blue flames to incinerate them. As for the rest, that was a question for the people who had retrieved them.

Naruto was not surprised by Yugito's silent gaze. He tidied Sasuke's clothes before saying, "Your companions are on the island. They are watching and waiting for you."

“You know this island.” Yugito said it with certainty. During the battle just now, she had only been unable to persuade Matatabi, but she was still conscious and heard the tailed beasts’ conversation.

"I didn't know until I got close to here." Naruto told a harmless lie; he couldn't very well say he'd discovered the island from thousands of kilometers away. "Is this a secret base of Kumogakure?"

Yugito could not possibly answer, but it was a tragic fact that she couldn't defeat the two opponents. Even if the survivors on the island were included, they would only be adding to Konoha's record.

"Don't be nervous, I mean no harm." The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, who held the Flying Thunder God Technique and could summon a group of reinforcements at any time, spread his hands and looked at the sea with a compassionate expression. He said, "I'm just here to take them home."

Yugito still couldn't understand Naruto's thought process. He hadn't even glanced at the seemingly extraordinary island, nor had he tried to approach it. Instead, he was fascinated by how to rescue the old turtle and persuaded Kurama to sink to the bottom of the sea, replacing the water-hating Matatabi. When the giant turtle was finally freed and happily set off, Naruto even asked Yugito if she wanted to go find her teammates.

"Haven't you ever thought about conquering this island?" Yugito asked sincerely. The desire to expand territory was ingrained in the very bones of every Cloud Villager, because the Land of Lightning was located in such a cold region that, despite its vast size, only a small portion was actually habitable. Their longing for arable land was no less than their obsession with ice-free ports, but unfortunately, the most suitable land for cultivation was in the Land of Fire's radiation zone, a country that had repeatedly caused them to suffer defeats.

Naruto's answer was realistic: "Given the good things you've done, I'm not stupid enough to just give you a reason to start a full-scale war."

"We're not that belligerent!"

After shouting this, Yugito received disapproving looks from two boys. The one from the Uchiha clan was particularly sharp; his disdain was practically written all over his face.

"Ten years ago, your envoy came to Konoha saying he was going to sign a peace treaty. And what happened?" It's not that Sasuke has a good memory; it's just that Uchiha kids are all quite precocious. For a while, whenever his father came home, the atmosphere at home would become terrible. It was hard for him not to notice what was causing his discomfort with his living environment.

"Didn't Konoha kill our envoy first?" That bloody peace talks certainly wouldn't be forgotten by history. As the side that benefited, Kumogakure reported and publicized it extensively. Yugito remembered that incident. From a young age, she was taught to fight for Kumogakure. In her memory, that diplomatic incident was clearly Konoha's fault.

Naruto, who had been silent, shook his head and said, "The official story of Kumogakure has always been: Konoha broke the alliance and harmed the Kumogakure envoy, but in the end, due to the overwhelming force of the Kumogakure army, Konoha was forced to hand over the culprit, the corpse of Hyuga Hiashi. You are the complete victims, while we have shot ourselves in the foot."

But that's not the case.

"As far as I know, Mr. Hyuga Hiashi is the epitome of a patriarch of a powerful clan—cautious, refined, and conservative; in other words, he lacks the courage to change. He wouldn't have attacked the Kumogakure envoy without cause." Even Naruto, who usually exuded a friendly aura, seemed somewhat pressured as he said this. "The Kumogakure never came with the intention of peace talks from the beginning. You tried to kidnap the Hyuga clan's daughter and seize the Byakugan, but in the end, the Kumogakure envoy's intentions were exposed, and he died at the hands of a father. Yet, the Kumogakure turned around and accused Konoha of striking first..."

"Impossible! You have no evidence!" Yugito expressed strong denial through her pupil-widened shock. She couldn't believe that the village she protected would do something so reversible.

Sasuke instinctively took a half-step forward under the intense pressure. He hadn't heard of this past, only that the peace talks had botched, orchestrated by the Hidden Cloud Village. The specifics hadn't been made public, not even mentioning the surrender of a corpse. Just how much was Konoha hiding? Naruto… he even knew about this?

“Miss Yugito, battles between nations are never about evidence, but about ‘strength.’ Kumogakure has fully utilized this.” Naruto patted Sasuke on the shoulder, making him relax a little. “The evidence is within Konoha. The Hyuga clan leader, who witnessed the events firsthand, is still alive. The one who died was his twin brother, Hyuga Hizashi. Do you dare to go and investigate?”

The conversation ended unpleasantly, but before leaving, Naruto still gave Yugito directions, telling her that the ship was lingering a hundred kilometers away and that her companions hadn't abandoned her. Then the two disappeared, as if they had never been there.

It should have been a good thing that the trouble was resolved without any conflict with Konoha, but Yugito was in a heavy mood and could only manage a weak smile when he went to the island to greet his compatriots.

She saw corpses on the beach, both new and old, buried in the black sand, unnoticed and ignored.

How many innocent people like this die silently in this world? That description is logically sound and has a solid motive, completely unlike the flawed "history" propagated by Yunyin. Because a lie is a lie, and it can't be made real.

From this perspective, Mr. Naruto Uzumaki is truly a good person; he didn't even throw the Tailed Beast Ball at her face.