Naruto: The Nine-Tails' Legacy

The discussion between Kurama and Minato inside his mind was far too profound for Naruto to fully grasp at the moment.

So all of his attention was focused on the source of the strange noises from earlier.

A group of rather unusual yet surprisingly battle-ready puppets was trembling and rattling as they surrounded the caravan.

Standing in front of those puppets was a group of children who looked to be around six or seven years old.

Every one of them carried themselves with exaggerated confidence, chests puffed out proudly like little soldiers.

Apparently, they had come up with the formation themselves.

Perhaps to make themselves look more intimidating, each child positioned their puppet directly behind them, striking dramatic poses that gave them an unexpectedly imposing presence.

In Naruto's eyes...

Their expressions and posture perfectly matched the fan-shaped crest embroidered on their clothes.

Because, as far as Naruto remembered...

Sasuke had been exactly this full of himself when he was little.

"Tarō, the only merchant caravan that ever comes here is ours. Don't you get tired of inspecting us every single time?"

Sara stepped forward with a smile and greeted the children.

"Huh?! Aunt Sara, you're with the caravan this time?"

One of the children beside Tarō immediately lit up.

"Did you bring us anything fun this time?"

The moment they saw Sara, the children who had been diligently maintaining their intimidating poses immediately broke character.

In an instant, they reverted to acting like ordinary kids and rushed toward her.

"Hey! Hey, you guys..."

Tarō let out a long sigh as he watched all of his companions abandon their battered puppets and crowd around Sara.

"Honestly... none of you understand what responsibility means."

"Only someone as serious as me can earn a head pat from Sister Izumi!"

"They're only four or five years old. You can't really blame them."

Naruto chuckled.

"And aren't you one of them too?"

"Hmph."

Tarō snorted proudly.

"I'm already seven and a half! I'm the oldest in our generation—"

He suddenly froze.

"...Wait."

"Who are you?"

His eyes became instantly vigilant as he noticed Sasuke standing before him.

Normally, whenever Sara returned, she always brought back all sorts of interesting toys and gadgets from outside.

That was why she was incredibly popular with the children.

Every time she came back, most of the members of their "Future Uchiha Squad" would completely lose their composure, just like now.

Only he...

Uchiha Tarō...

The captain of the Future Uchiha Squad...

Immediately noticed the unfamiliar face.

"What's your name?"

Sasuke suddenly asked.

"Hah? Just because Aunt Sara brought you here doesn't mean I'll lower my guard."

"You won't trick me into revealing my information!"

"His name's Uchiha Tarō."

Before Tarō could continue putting on airs, an adorable little girl beside him immediately sold out her own captain.

Then she blinked curiously.

"Huh? Big Brother, why do you have the same symbol on your clothes as us?"

She had noticed the identical Uchiha clan crest on Sasuke's outfit.

"Because..."

Sasuke calmly replied,

"I'm an Uchiha too."

Before he could even finish speaking...

Tarō's expression changed dramatically.

He immediately jumped backward several steps.

The children who had been surrounding Sara also reacted a moment later.

They hurriedly scattered apart, controlling their puppets as they surrounded Sasuke from every direction.

Sasuke briefly glanced over the ramshackle puppets, which creaked and rattled loudly as they moved.

Then he looked back at them.

"...What's this supposed to mean?"

"My mom said..."

Tarō declared loudly,

"Besides the people living here, there aren't any other Uchiha!"

"All the others are bad people!"

"Yeah!"

"My dad said the same thing!"

"My grandma told me that Sister Izumi works so hard because the Uchiha outside did terrible things!"

"They're really, really bad!"

Before they had even exchanged many words...

The children had already attacked.

Their various puppets lunged straight toward Sasuke.

"Wait!"

Sara hurriedly stepped forward.

"Stop! Sasuke-kun isn't—"

"They don't mean any harm!"

Naruto shouted first.

"Just don't hurt them!"

Yet almost immediately...

Naruto realized his reminder had been unnecessary.

The younger children had only just finished shouting...

When Sasuke casually kicked one charging puppet.

The puppet flew backward together with the chakra strings attached to it, crashing directly into another child's puppet.

"Huh?"

When the two children struggled to regain control...

They suddenly discovered that their chakra strings had become hopelessly tangled together.

Instinctively, both tried controlling their puppets in different directions.

The puppets barely managed a few steps before beginning to twitch violently.

Then...

They suddenly started attacking each other.

"S-Sister!"

"Waaah!"

"Help me!"

"I can't untangle it!"

"Waaah... mine got tangled with his too..."

"Idiot!"

"D-Don't come any closer!"

"I'll untangle them!"

"My dad taught me how..."

"...Ah! Oh no!"

"Tarō!"

"Hurry and help me!"

"H-Hey!"

"Don't come over here!"

"Stay away!"

Sasuke silently lowered his foot.

Without paying any further attention to the chaotic scene, he simply continued walking deeper into the ruins.

"...Nothing bad's going to happen, right?"

Sara asked worriedly.

Naruto laughed and waved his hand.

"Don't worry."

"They're learning puppet techniques because they want to become ninja too."

"They can solve a little problem like this themselves."

Naruto could already tell that although these children were surprisingly skilled at controlling puppets...

And their combat ability would probably be quite impressive if they fought individually...

They had absolutely no real combat experience.

The slightest unexpected situation immediately threw them into complete panic.

Soon, the group of children had descended into total chaos.

Their chakra strings became more and more tangled, leaving every one of them flustered.

The scene looked exactly like a group of children flying kites whose strings had become hopelessly intertwined.

The puppets they controlled were now beating each other into a frenzy.

Not one of them realized...

That all they had to do was release their chakra strings and reconnect them.

As the situation spiraled further out of control, several puppets began hurtling dangerously close to the children themselves.

A few of the younger ones had already fallen onto the ground in fright.

"Naruto-kun..."

Sara said anxiously.

"They're all good children."

"Please don't let them get hurt."

Naruto nodded and prepared to intervene.

Suddenly—

A kunai descended from above.

Snap!

With one clean, decisive strike...

Every tangled chakra string—now twisted into several enormous knots—was sliced apart at once.

The puppets, which had nearly reached the children, all stopped simultaneously before collapsing lifelessly onto the ground.

Following the trajectory of the kunai...

The children hurriedly looked toward the figure who had thrown it.

For a brief moment...

The Uchiha crest on his back seemed to shine brilliantly in their eyes.

Meanwhile, Naruto faintly sensed the trace of Lightning Release chakra Sasuke had intentionally released.

Unable to stop himself, he complained inwardly,

"Just as I thought..."

"He's no different from those little brats."

"He still loves showing off whenever he gets the chance."

"Could that be another Uchiha bloodline limit?"

Kurama immediately chimed in.

"The problem is that it's rooted in their personalities."

"That Madara was exactly the same."

"The Uchiha have always been like this."

"None of them are quite right."

Whenever there was an opportunity to criticize the Uchiha...

Kurama, of course, was more than happy to join in.

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