Naruto: I am Uchiha Shirou-Chapter 344: Naruto: I am Uchiha Shirou []

Within the Land of Fire.

Over the passage of time, what was once a ruin has now become a dense forest.

And on this day, the figure of Uchiha Shirou appeared here, frowning as he looked at the approximate location deduced from the data in his hand.

"This should be it. There's no trace of sensing any sealing jutsu—this must be the sealing jutsu Kushina mentioned, the one that can seal off even time and space. After all, Hikari has been sealed for hundreds of years, yet time hasn't left a single mark on her..."

Muttering to himself, Shirou closed his eyes and directly performed the Wood Style Clone Jutsu, followed by the Mayfly Technique.

Countless Wood Style shadow clones began searching through the forest.

As time passed and all the clones finally pointed to a single location, a smile finally appeared on Shirou's face.

"I've finally pinpointed the spot. What a well-hidden place. If I hadn't searched three times, I really wouldn't have found it..."

As the sounds of digging rang out, the darkness below seemed impervious even to the erosion of time.

However, as the seal was disturbed from above, its balance was broken, and after a century, the seal became fragile—allowing a faint sense of time to seep into the darkness.

"This... is..."

In the darkness, a pair of confused eyes slowly opened, revealing Mangekyō Sharingan. She murmured to herself:

"Endless darkness... Has someone come?"

Her lost, vacant gaze quietly stared into the darkness. Who knows how much time passed, until a blinding light shone through a crack.

Outside, in a giant pit, Shirou looked at the gradually breaking seal and smiled with satisfaction.

"I've finally found it. The Uchiha clan's ultimate weapon from the past—Uchiha Hikari."

Bathed in dazzling sunlight, Uchiha Hikari, who had been sealed in darkness, lifted her head and saw a smiling face in the sunlight reaching out a hand to her.

At that moment, light and darkness appeared together.

From the sunlight, a hand reached out. Instinctively wanting to escape this endless darkness, Uchiha Hikari, her gaze still hollow, reached out as well.

When their hands clasped, she was pulled from darkness into the light.

"Welcome home, my fellow Uchiha."

With a smile, Shirou could sense how weak she was now.

...

Konoha.

Since the last incident, Naruto felt like nothing had changed much in the village.

But among his former companions, he sensed something different—they seemed a bit more polite.

"What's up with everyone? Why are they being so polite to me?"

Naruto scratched his head in confusion, having no idea that the villagers didn't know about the incident and that only his close companions, who had been hurt, knew the truth.

"Hey, Kiba! Why are you looking at me like that? It's just a dead dog, right? Anyway, your Inuzuka clan has so many dogs, you—"

"Shut up!"

Hearing Naruto's heartless remark about a dead dog, Kiba's eyes went red with anger as he glared at him.

"Naruto, you orphaned bastard, what do you know? Why don't you go kill a couple of your toads!"

"Kiba! How could you say that? The toads of Mount Myoboku are my companions!"

"And Akamaru isn't my companion?"

"How is that the same, Kiba? Don't be so unreasonable. Akamaru can't even talk, but the toads can speak like people—"

As their angry argument heated up, Kiba's mother, Inuzuka Tsume, appeared. Expressionless, she grabbed Kiba and said coldly:

"Kiba, get back home now!"

"Mother! Did you see what that bastard—"

"Enough! As a ninja of the Inuzuka clan, you failed to protect your companion. From today on, such a person is unworthy to be your friend or a friend of the Inuzuka clan!"

If not for Tsume's intervention, Kiba would have loved to kill Naruto. But orders from above, and, more importantly, Naruto's identity had been revealed to the upper echelons.

The son of the Fourth Hokage!

Tsunade had no choice but to reveal it—Naruto had caused such a big incident, and this was the only way to protect him, especially as she needed to establish her authority.

Announcing Naruto's parentage was his last lifeline.

"You bastard! Someone like you could never be recognized by the Inuzuka clan. And you think you can become Hokage? Never—"

Kiba's ferocious roar shocked Naruto, who truly couldn't understand what was happening.

It's just a dog that couldn't even talk!

How could that compare to the toads of Mount Myoboku—they can talk, and apart from not looking human, they're just like people.

In the end, seeing Kiba's cold, hateful eyes, Naruto could only dodge away in panic.

"Naruto."

"Naruto's father was the Fourth Hokage."

"Naruto..."

Walking through the streets, Naruto was met with respect as the Hero's Child, quickly pulling him out of his unhappy mood from his run-in with Kiba.

Facing countless villagers' excited, respectful smiles, he became excited and couldn't help but nod back.

He even enjoyed the feeling of being recognized so much that he didn't want to go home, wandering through every corner of Konoha, soaking in the unprecedented feeling of acceptance.

But Naruto, still immature, was gradually losing himself, unable to see that this recognition was gratitude to the Fourth Hokage's sacrifice—not to him.

The villagers were honoring the Fourth Hokage who died protecting the village, not Naruto himself.

At the same time, high up in the hospital, the scene was completely different.

Hinata Hyuga sat in a wheelchair, her expression calm as she watched Naruto wandering around the village.

Beside her, Yamanaka Ino pushed her wheelchair and sighed, shaking her head. "This Naruto has no idea what kind of disaster he's caused, and now he's even pleased with himself."

"Exactly. Honestly, Naruto now seems even worse than during the Chunin Exams—sometimes I feel like he..." Tenten frowned, watching Naruto, her memories overlapping with earlier times, feeling that Naruto had become even less than he once was.

"The old Naruto could still tell right from wrong and could feel others' sadness. But now, not only has he lost that, he can't even see himself."

As Tenten said, the old Naruto would fly into a rage when Iruka was hurt and would unleash the Nine-Tails' chakra in fury after seeing Sasuke.

But as he grew older, especially after Shippuden, he grew obsessed with love and forgiveness, expressing it even after Jiraiya's death and in his battle against Pain, using his talk no jutsu to touch others.

He eventually even forgave Obito, who was responsible for his life's tragedies, the death of his parents, and the death of Neji.

And all he could say in the end was, "Don't mock Obito."

At that moment, Neji's death seemed like a joke. All his past misfortune and struggles, too.

Naruto before the Chunin Exams was the real Naruto. After Shippuden, he was just the main character of his world of universal love and ninja ideals.

"Hinata, are you alright?"

Ino and Tenten both asked with concern. But Hinata smiled faintly, brushing her hair aside, and said lightly, "I'm fine."

Now fully awake, standing from a different perspective, Hinata looked at Naruto as if he were a clown living in his world.

And she had once been a clown, too. The only difference was that she had been killed by another clown.

"It's time to go. Lady Tsunade said we should go to the Hokage Mansion rooftop tonight—your wounds will be healed there."

"Mm."

Hinata nodded softly. As the wind picked up, Ino and Tenten pushed her back to her room.

Meanwhile, on another hospital rooftop, Lee stood with crutches, watching Naruto's beaming face with sadness in his eyes.

It seemed that everything he had done was only moving himself, while Naruto couldn't feel his pain at all.

At that moment, under the bright Konoha sunlight, two figures appeared.

"This is Konoha. Everything before is over now. Bathed in sunlight, your name shall be Hikari, meaning the Uchiha's light of the future."

The newly freed Uchiha Hikari looked at the new world in confusion, her shackles removed.

She had regained her old name.

"Hikari?" she murmured. At that moment, memories surfaced—her parents had called her that, too, before she lost the name.

"Weapons don't need names. I was born only to ensure the Uchiha's prosperity, to destroy the enemy with the resolve to die... I don't need feelings, just to live as a weapon until the end..."

Muttering about her existence, Hikari was interrupted by Shirou, who smiled at her.

"If you're a weapon, then I need you now. Become the light that will change this world."

For someone brainwashed to be a weapon—even accepting it herself—Shirou felt emotional. No matter which ninja world, they were all twisted.

Yet it was precisely this deeply ingrained distortion that made people so determined once they found their purpose. freёnovelkiss.com

And ninja chakra would grow stronger with unyielding will, so every strong ninja possessed an indomitable spirit.

If that will falter, their strength will plummet.

"Right now, Hikari, you need to go home, take a good bath, and change into a new set of clothes."

Ruffling her long hair, Shirou smiled as he saw new life return to Hikari's eyes.

"To change the ninja world?"

All along the way, Hikari muttered to herself. She hated the ninja world, but looking at Shirou, who represented light in her heart, her gaze grew more focused.

"Yes, to destroy the old war-torn ninja world and create a new, peaceful one."

Under the lure of Shirou's words, filled with hope and sunlight, Hikari's eyes grew resolute as she saw the meaning of her existence.

Hikari!

Her name meant light, yet she emerged from darkness—at this moment, she had found her path.

At home, in the bath.

"Shirou, you're something else—bringing back such a big girl? And bathing together?"

Tsunade was shocked as she saw the girl come out of the bath, Shirou helping her into new clothes and drying her hair.

Shirou rolled his eyes and said, "Tsunade, don't get the wrong idea. Hikari just won't let go of me. And if we're talking age, you don't even qualify compared to her."

The title Great-Grandmother Uchiha showed just how old Hikari was.

From beginning to end, Hikari tightly clung to Shirou's clothes, even during the bath and changing clothes.

"What?!"

When Shiou explained Hikari's origins, Tsunade was even more shocked.

This little girl was actually from the Warring States era, a person from a hundred years ago.

She was the Uchiha's ultimate weapon, having defeated the Senju repeatedly and forcing them to team up with the Sarutobi to seal her.

"So the legend was true!"

Tsunade could barely believe it, looking Hikari up and down, her eyes eventually lighting up with excitement.

The Uchiha from a hundred years ago—such research value!

Aside from her role as Fifth Hokage, she was the strongest medical ninja in the world. If not for her passion for research, she would never have come so far.

"Alright, don't underestimate Hikari. She's awakened the Mangekyō—her strength is no less than yours."

Shirou teased with a smile. After dressing Hikari in new, sharp clothes, the three sat at the table.

"I've already sent word. Tonight we'll gather on the Hokage rooftop. But with so many people leaving at once, I'll be short-staffed."

"Don't worry—I'll have Kakashi from another world come over. It won't affect the village, and it won't take long anyway."

...

While Konoha was moving toward a new future, in the Akatsuki's base of this world—

In the dark underground of the Land of Rain.

"Pain, this time we might have to work together to deal with Konoha's Nine-Tails."

Hearing the masked man's grave voice, Deva Path Pain replied coldly, expressionless:

"Is Wood Style and Mangekyō really that strong?"

"Pain, don't take them lightly! The First Hokage, who wielded Wood Style, was called the God of Shinobi!"

"Now I am God!"

This world's Pain was more obsessed than ever, his cold voice echoing as he insisted he was the true god.

"But you're right about one thing. We can't fail to capture the Nine-Tails. We should work together. Let Kisame and Deidara handle the Eight-Tails."

"And as for the little brat who escaped from Konoha, he brought some interesting intel this time. It could be fun."

In the darkness, the masked man's Obito's eyes grew cold. The sudden appearance of Senju Shiou in Konoha had come without warning.

Especially with Uchiha Sasuke's unexpectedly rapid growth, Konoha now made him wary.

Meanwhile, Pain's cold demeanor hid his true intent: to use this opportunity to test Obito's strength and identity.

To him, no matter what, Konoha's Nine-Tails could never stand against his power as a god.