Chapter 188 Silent Crying! The Flower of the Other Shore Leading to Darkness Will Bloom Eventually!!

twilight

The setting sun shone through the gaps between the leaves of the Hidden Leaf Village, dappling its light onto Naruto's face.

But today, even the sunshine could not dispel the haze in his heart.

Naruto walked along the streets of the village. The hustle and bustle around him seemed to have nothing to do with him. His thoughts went back to the days when he trained with Jiraiya.

But now, everything is in the past. Naruto felt as if his heart was cut by a sharp blade, and it hurt so much that he couldn't breathe.

How he wished this was just a bad joke, how he wished he could hear Jiraiya's familiar voice the next second, telling him that this was just a training exercise, a test of his will.

But the reality is cruel and no miracles happen.

Jiraiya's kind smile to him will never appear in this world again, and those warm memories have turned into heart-wrenching pain.

Naruto walked aimlessly on the streets of Konoha with empty eyes. A breeze blew, carrying countless leaves towards the sky.

On the streets of Konoha, there are memories of him and Jiraiya in many places. He always smiles at him. Although he likes to peek into the women's bathhouse and is usually not serious, Jiraiya is still a very remarkable ninja in Naruto's heart.

However, at this moment, the kind smile in his memory has been frozen in the past forever.

Naruto sat on the telephone pole where he once stood, looking at the Hokage Rock, his heart felt empty.

His best friend Kanon defected from Konoha, and there was no news of Sasuke, whom he had been desperately searching for.

Now he learned the news of the death of his master Jiraiya, and at the last moment, he also knew that Jiraiya died in front of Kanon.

This feeling of powerlessness and grief-stricken emptiness intertwined with Naruto, and he thought quietly for a long time, all filled with memories of the past few years.

He looked at his clothes and recalled the time when Jiraiya personally took him clothes shopping.

“This dress is so cool!”

Jiraiya patted Naruto on the back, "Oh? Is this what they call clothes make the man?!"

Naruto jumped off the telephone pole and pulled the clothes on himself up again.

"Hey, Naruto!" Iruka's voice came.

Naruto looked at Iruka's smile, but he couldn't smile at all.

"You seem to have performed very well in the mission. Do you want to have a chat with me?"

"Do you want to go eat Ichiraku Ramen?" Iruka invited with a smile.

Naruto lowered his head and said only: "Forget it..."

Iruka looked at Naruto passing by him with a worried look on his face.

......

Hokage's office.

After Tsunade handed the task of the secret code to Shikamaru and Sakura, she also left the Hokage's office.

This strong woman walked along the corridor, her mind full of memories of her and Jiraiya.

Finally, this strong woman, Tsunade, the fifth Hokage and one of the legendary three ninjas, collapsed against the wall, tears streaming down her cheeks.

She won the bet with Jiraiya. She always lost in every bet, but she actually won the bet she least wanted to win.

Tsunade gritted her teeth, feeling her tears.

"asshole..."

"How did you..."

Her body went from leaning against the wall to finally collapsing on the ground. Tsunade had never felt so powerless. Now as the Hokage, she could no longer cry as heart-wrenchingly as she did when she was young and learned of the deaths of Dan and Nawaki.

At Naruto's home, he did not touch the soaked cup of noodles. He sat on the bed with his head down, slumped weakly, feeling the ticking of the clock. He finally understood the pain of losing someone important.

Like herself, Hanane was also suffering from the pain that was enough to bring a person down.

Jiraiya died in front of Kanon. She must have hated her own powerlessness, just like I do now.

Naruto thought so, opened the door and left home.

He bought a popsicle from a 24-hour store that he had once eaten with Jiraiya and Kanon.

The park is gently illuminated by street lamps at night, and moths are dancing under each lampshade.

They surround the light source and rush towards the warm light desperately, as if pursuing some unattainable dream.

Naruto sat on a bench, holding a popsicle that had begun to melt in his hand. He watched all this quietly, but his heart was surging.

Naruto's tears welled up in his eyes, and no one could open the popsicle for him.

Naruto's face looked unusually pale in the night, his eyes reflected the light of street lamps and the shadows of moths, but more of it was a deep loneliness and helplessness.

Tears slowly slid down my cheeks and dripped onto the popsicle that had become sticky.

There was no sound of crying, no movement of sobbing, only tears flowing continuously, revealing the pain in his heart.

Everything around seemed so quiet, and these sounds echoed in Naruto's ears, as if they came from another world.

His heart was filled with an indescribable feeling of loss and emptiness, as if he had been forgotten in this dimly lit night.

Just then, a familiar voice was heard.

"Naruto..." Iruka walked over and sat next to Naruto.

"I've heard about Jiraiya-sama..."

Naruto, who had not spoken for nearly a day, finally spoke: "I hope he can always look at me..."

"I clearly wanted him to see the moment when I become Hokage."

"I can't let the lecherous immortal see my embarrassing side all the time."

"me..."

Iruka interrupted Naruto and said heavily.

"Jiraiya-sama is always praising you."

"He said you and Kanon were like his grandchildren, and he always spoke of you and her with great pride, even though Kanon had defected."

"He has always believed that you are the one who inherited his will."

"He has no doubt that you will make an excellent Hokage one day."

"Master Jiraiya, I've been watching you."

"I am watching you from somewhere, even now."

"That person won't praise you if he sees you looking depressed."

"So, it's just like before."

With that, Iruka stood up and crouched next to Naruto.

"Just be someone who can make him praise you all the time."

He took Naruto's popsicle and broke the gradually melting popsicle apart, imitating what Jiraiya had done before.

"Because you are one of the three ninjas, Jiraiya also admitted it..."

"Excellent disciple!"

Iruka gave the extra part of the popsicle to Naruto, who finally smiled and took the popsicle.

"Thank you, Iruka-sensei."

......

In the destroyed Sound Village.

Hanane is still collapsing.

She was trapped in a nightmare that cruelly tore at her soul.

She was lying in the center of the flower field that had turned into scorched earth, holding Kidomaru's severed hands, curled up in the ruins, trembling.

The sky was covered with dark clouds and thunder rumbled, as if foreshadowing the coming of the end of the world.

In the dream, the once warm smiles that Hanane saw have now become distorted and strange, and their eyes are full of indifference and alienation.

She wanted to get closer, but found herself unable to move. She could only watch these people who were once her closest to her drift away.

Kanon felt a strong panic and tried hard to break free from the dream, but the shackles of the nightmare bound her tightly, making it impossible for Kanon to escape.

Her heart was filled with fear and despair, and every breath seemed to devour fire.

Finally, the dream began to collapse and she woke up from that horrible world.

Hanane opened her eyes. The rain was still falling from the sky, and the ruins and smoke around her were still there.

But the last ray of light in Hanane's eyes was also swallowed up.

An endless feeling of despair surged from her heart. Looking at the broken arm that had begun to rot in her arms, Hanane sat up.

She glanced around, and everything around her seemed familiar yet strange to her.

It was clearly a place from the past, but now it has become a ruin.

As if she had lost her memory, Kanon only felt a sharp pain in her head at this moment.

Finally, she came to her senses, and tears of blood flowed from her extremely desperate and empty eyes. Her expression became hideous, and an incomparable feeling of hatred filled her body.

"Kane...are you awake?" Shinobu's words came from her inner world.

"No...she hasn't woken up yet. She's dead." Hanane said, pushing her wet hair behind her.

The fox mask was still by her side, but Kanon no longer had twin tails.

Kanon put the mask back on her head, and her Mangekyō Sharingan kept spinning in her eyes.

"Your eyesight has become blurry, right? Although your pupil power has been restored, I suggest you transplant the Eternal Kaleidoscope."

"We'll talk about this later!"

"I have more important things to do right now."

"What's the matter?" Xiaonin asked puzzledly.

"Shinobu, don't you understand yet?!" Kanon almost roared.

"Of course I understand, but..."

"No buts!"

"What on earth was I doing in the past?" Lightning struck across the sky, illuminating the night sky.

Now, Kanon just wants the world to feel her pain!

On this stormy night, Hanane just tilted her head back and gave the sky a crazy smile.

"I'm going to kill all of those bastards without leaving a single one alive!"

"I want them to be reduced to ashes!"

Kanon roared, and the Susanoo on her body continued to emerge.

A rose-colored Susanoo several hundred meters long emerged, and under the interweaving of thunder and lightning, it looked more like blood.

That’s right, at this moment Kanon was in extreme despair and pain, and her Susanoo became complete.