Chapter 44: Hokage

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Horror. That was the one word Sasuke could use to describe the scene before his eyes. He couldn't believe it, he didn't want to believe it. He thought of waiting for his blond rival to grow up into the cheerful idiot he knew, and he did. 

He had waited for thirteen long years, checking in on the Jinchuuriki every now and then as he grew up. Everything had been perfect.

Till now. . .

A little bit away from where Sasuke stood in the shadows, was Team 7 of the Hidden Leaf on top of an incomplete bridge in Wave Country. 

And there Naruto stood, standing in a sea of blood as he held the tyrant known as Gato by the throat, holding him over the crashing waves below the bridge as the small man kicked helplessly at his attacker. Naruto had butchered so many of those mercenaries, slaughtering them all as if they weren't even human. 

It made Sasuke sick to his stomach. How? How could his pure friend do something like this? This wasn't the way it was supposed to go! 

And to make it even more concerning and brain-wracking, Naruto had seemingly flickered uncontrollably into his Sage of Six Paths Chakra Mode while cutting through ordinary men. What did that mean? 

Once again since arriving in this hell, Sasuke's head began to hurt from all the questions, and the questions that stemmed from those questions. Gripping his head through the blank mask, Sasuke took a step back as he saw Naruto begin having a breakdown in the distance, his shinobi hearing picking up on what the blond was saying. 

"What?" The blond took a step back, his hand shakily coming over his mouth as he come to realize what exactly he had done. What sin he had committed. "Oh god," The blond fell to his knees, blood splashing onto his face even further as his eyes widened. 

Sasuke watched in horror as Naruto slowly looked at his blood-drenched hands, his eyes widening even further as he continued speaking. "No, they were Zetsu! They weren't human! They weren't human! They weren't human!" He began shouting, his body shaking as his mind began crumbling. 

"Zetsu?" Sasuke spoke aloud, the Naruto from this hell doesn't know of Zetsu. He hadn't even encountered the Akatsuki yet, let alone that plant freak. And as far as he knew, Zetsu had no intention of getting anywhere near the Uzumaki boy. "Could you be. . ." He didn't dare utter the words. 

The Naruto from his world could never have done such a thing. 

Sasuke turned around, closing his eyes as he felt them begin to burn. The person who could change this world, was also turning into darkness. Tainted by this world's cruelness. 

Sasuke shook his head. He couldn't let his hope in his friend die out just yet, one incident wasn't enough to shake his faith. He would continue watching the blond and when the time was right, he'd approach him. 



Time had not helped his hope, in fact, it had only worsened. Naruto's acts in this world did not at all match up with the acts of the Naruto from his world. This Naruto seemed heartless, ruthless, somebody driven by a goal. He was like. . . his younger self. 

As he watched the blond, more and more hints began to come to his brain, confirming his singular thought from when he witnessed the blond's first horrific act. 

This was most likely his Naruto, transported back in time just as him. Yet, somehow sooner. Was it because they had Six Paths Chakra? Or were they both sent to hell? And if the latter, did Naruto realize this world was hell too and lose hope? Did Naruto really lose hope? 

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