[I've Already Confronted the Five Kage, and the System Just Arrived!] Chapter 264 (Patreon)

"Sorry? Sorry for what?"

Naruto's ears caught the Great Toad Sage's inexplicable words, and his mind instinctively questioned them. Just as he was about to ask—

Splurt!

Scalding blood splattered forward.

Naruto froze in shock and slowly lowered his gaze.

A grotesque, warty toad tongue had pierced through his chest, completely shredding his heart.

"This is... me?"

As the words left his lips, realization struck. Naruto's face turned ghostly pale.

At the same time—

Gensou halted in his tracks, staring blankly at the scene before him.

For a moment, he suspected he had fallen victim to some kind of genjutsu.

Similarly, Naruto, the one directly involved, could never have imagined that the Great Toad Sage would be the one to kill him.

Enduring the pain, Naruto turned his head with a look of heartbreak and disbelief to confirm the culprit. Seeing that it was indeed the Great Toad Sage, he asked, his voice trembling:

"Why... why?"

The Great Toad Sage lowered its gaze.
"For the future."

"Why?"

Naruto's heart burned with fury. He ignored the raging Kurama screaming profanities within the seal and locked his cross-shaped pupils onto the sage. Death loomed closer, but he pressed for answers.

The Great Toad Sage met his gaze and spoke calmly:

"The battle is over, Naruto. If I allow the Nine-Tails within you to fall into Gensou's hands, his plan will succeed. As the jinchūriki, you would die from the beast being extracted anyway. Killing you now ensures that the Nine-Tails perishes with you, leaving Gensou's ambitions unfulfilled."

"The battle isn't over! I still have—"

Naruto tried to argue, desperate to explain that he had a plan, but a flash of memory suddenly stopped him. A bitter smile spread across his face as understanding dawned.

"Grandpa Sage... From the very beginning, you intended to take my life, didn't you?"

Naruto thought of everything that had happened—the way he was kept at Mount Myōboku after mastering senjutsu, how Shima and Fukasaku had dragged him to the Great Toad Sage when Gensou attacked, and how the sage had sealed him in the cat's eye stone, preventing him from facing Gensou.

Everything had been orchestrated by the Great Toad Sage to ensure that Naruto would always remain within its reach.

The Great Toad Sage did not deny it. With a sigh, it replied, "I'm sorry, Naruto. I tried to change things."

This battle at Mount Myōboku had been its attempt to alter fate.

It had not foreseen Gensou's arrival at Mount Myōboku but had dreamed of a future where Gensou gathered the power of all nine Tailed Beasts. It knew Naruto's eventual fate all too well.

Understanding that the Leaf Village could not protect Naruto, the sage had brought him to Mount Myōboku and kept him there.

In doing so, it ensured that Gensou would one day come to this place.

The sage had prepared for two outcomes: to either alter the future with its power or delay Gensou's plan by sacrificing the Nine-Tails.

Ultimately, it overestimated its own strength and was forced to choose the second option.

Naruto, understanding the Great Toad Sage's intentions, now faced his final moments. Though filled with bitterness and regret over the unfinished goals and dreams—becoming Hokage, saying farewell to his friends, especially Sasuke, Sakura, and Hinata—he still managed a bright, carefree smile.

"So… after I'm gone, will everything be better?"

Seeing Naruto's radiant smile, the Great Toad Sage remained silent for a few moments before replying, "Perhaps. But I won't be there to see it."

"I see… I wish I could've seen what comes next."

With those words, Naruto closed his eyes and slowly fell.

The prophesized Child of Destiny, the reincarnation of Ashura, the jinchūriki of the Nine-Tails, and a shinobi of the Leaf… had forever closed his eyes.

At the same time—

Kurama let out a defiant roar within the seal before vanishing alongside Naruto.

Realizing that he had not been trapped in genjutsu, Gensou watched the scene unfold with a mix of shock and disbelief.

The Great Toad Sage had acted so swiftly that Gensou had no time to intervene. He could only watch as Naruto's heart was pierced—a fatal blow that could only be reversed by someone with Six Paths power.

"How ruthless."

Gensou's gaze locked onto the Great Toad Sage as he uttered those words.

The main character of the Leaf, the so-called Child of Destiny, had fallen not in a grand battle but to a betrayal—a backstab by the very sage who had once declared his destiny.

The irony was palpable.

As Naruto's body crumpled to the ground, Gensou found it hard to believe. Having read the original story, he knew of Naruto's future accomplishments and the miracles he had created along the way.

Could Naruto truly be dead?
Wouldn't there be some twist?

But neither his Rinnegan nor his senses detected any sign of life. Naruto was unequivocally gone.

After a moment of silence, Gensou recalled his purpose for coming here.

With Naruto dead, the Nine-Tails had perished as well.

While Tailed Beasts could never truly die, it would take years for the Nine-Tails to reform.

Moreover, with Naruto gone, what would happen if future system missions required him?

Gensou's gaze turned icy as he looked at the Great Toad Sage, the one responsible for all of this.

"You deserve to die."

Boom!

A series of explosions echoed as Gensou launched his attack.

Before long—

A Truth-Seeking Orb was about to strike the Great Toad Sage squarely between the eyes.

But Gensou narrowed his eyes, and the orb adjusted its trajectory, striking the sage's right arm instead, rendering it armless.

Splurt!

A long, black rod followed, piercing the Great Toad Sage's chest and pinning it in place.

Standing face-to-face with the defeated sage, Gensou suppressed his killing intent momentarily to ask:

"I want to know—why did you and Mount Myōboku interfere in this matter?"

When Kaguya had cast the world into the light of Infinite Tsukuyomi, the toads had survived unscathed. Back then, the Great Toad Sage, still known as Gamamaru, had even had the leisure to teach Hagoromo senjutsu.

Why, then, did they fight so desperately to stop him from achieving Infinite Tsukuyomi, even going so far as to kill their so-called Child of Destiny?

Gensou couldn't understand.

Were the toads truly fighting for the ninja world, for humanity?

That seemed too noble to believe.

Hearing this, the Great Toad Sage, dangling in midair, resigned to its fate, looked at Gensou. After a brief moment of thought, it replied:
"I've already told you the reason."

Gensou thought for a moment before recalling the words:
"When the skin is gone, what will the fur cling to?"

The sage nodded, then lifted its gaze to the sky with a complex expression.

Though it was broad daylight and the moon was not visible, its eyes seemed to pierce through the heavens as its trembling voice said:
"She… is returning."

(End of Chapter)

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