Naruto: Naruto's Uchiha girlfriend is too arrogant

Chapter 652 Complete Betrayal

"Sasuke! What are you doing?!"

Tsunade watched helplessly as all the Konoha ninja around her collapsed in an instant, their eyes rolling back as their consciousness was dragged into the bottomless abyss of genjutsu.

To be honest, Tsunade herself wished she could shut up these clueless guys immediately.

But she couldn't—she was the Fifth Hokage, and the blonde girl opposite her was the leader of the Akatsuki organization that attacked Konoha. No matter how disgusted she felt by these insults, she had no right to stop her subordinates from expressing their anger towards the enemy.

However, the one who made the move was Uchiha Sasuke, the only ninja in the world who could stand up to Uzumaki Mai head-on.

"You expect me to put up with the faces of these guys?" Sasuke's voice was calm and indifferent as his Mangekyou Sharingan swept over the fallen Konoha ninjas as if they were a pile of discarded garbage.

"Fifth Hokage, now that things have come to this point, there's no need for me to hide it any longer. Actually, I've wanted to do something like this for many years."

"...What?"

"Do you really think I have any interest in reviving that ridiculous Uchiha Police Force?"

Sasuke's lips curled slightly, his smile cold and sarcastic, revealing a frankness and contempt that came from shedding all pretense.

"I just want a legitimate reason to teach these guys a lesson. They call her a 'monster' today, a 'menace' tomorrow. Do you think this is the first time I've heard these words? I've heard them since I can remember. Every day, on every street, in every corner. You're the Hokage, you know everything, yet you just sit idly by and do nothing about these pointless rumors—no, not just sit idly by."

"And they even have the nerve to call it gaining everyone's approval? Don't they think that's just pathetic?"

"...So, you're going to betray Konoha?"

"Unfortunately, I don't have any special feelings for Konoha." Sasuke's answer was without any hesitation.

"...Sasuke." Mai Uzumaki's voice came from behind. Her tone held surprise, genuinely unexpected that he would make this choice. "Is this your reason for fighting me?"

"That's right." Sasuke turned to face her. "I'm the only person in this world who can stop you. But more than stopping you, more than protecting some village, I want to stand by your side. I've always wanted to."

"...Your way of doing things is still as strange as ever." Mai was silent for a moment, then sighed softly. To those who knew her, this was an extremely rare emotional fluctuation.

"Of course. I also want to see just how big the gap is between you and me now."

"Are you really prepared to do this?" Mai didn't answer the question about the gap. "To be an enemy of the whole world?"

"Yes, Dad and Mom will definitely support me."

"I'll take them both with me. But you really kept this from me for a long time. I have to thank you. If it weren't for you, Dad and Mom would have been killed by the weasel that night."

"...You're overthinking it." Mai turned her face away. "My organization is just missing some members. The Uchiha clan members happen to be very good pawns."

"Say whatever you want." Sasuke didn't refute her. He took out his Konoha headband from his ninja tool pouch, and then he took out a kunai.

"Wait a minute! Sasuke!"

"Tsunade shouted. She knew all too well the implications of this action; if Sasuke did the same, it would be truly irreversible. Konoha would simultaneously lose its only force against Akatsuki, while Akatsuki would gain an Uchiha with the Rinnegan. "Are you really going to help Mai Uzumaki start a war?!"

"That's right."

Sasuke's answer was brief and decisive. Then, the kunai slashed across the center of the Konoha headband, leaving a straight, irreversible mark. The symbol of a rogue ninja.

Tsunade gritted her teeth. She turned her head and looked at Minato Namikaze behind her. Minato Namikaze—the blond man—was standing at the edge of the crowd, looking at his daughter without saying a word.

Sasuke has completely betrayed them. Konoha has no power to contend with Akatsuki, and everyone just witnessed Mai Uzumaki's strength. At this moment, the only hope, the only person who might bring about a change in this absurdly unequal confrontation, is Minato Namikaze, Mai Uzumaki's biological father.

"...I'm sorry, Lady Tsunade."

Minato noticed Tsunade's gaze and gently shook his head.

"Minato...could it be that you also...?"

"Yes. I'm a bad father. I couldn't stop the village from putting the Nine-Tails into Mai's body back then, and I can't be an obstacle to my own child at a time like this."

Minato's gaze passed over Tsunade and landed on the blonde girl with twin tails in the distance. "...I'm just an ordinary ninja. I can't sacrifice my family for strangers."

After speaking, Minato Namikaze slowly walked over. He stood beside Mai Uzumaki, looking down at her—the daughter he had wanted to protect since infancy but had never been able to. His face showed a hint of caution, as if he were confirming whether he was truly allowed to stand beside her.

"...It's alright, Dad. You're right, you're just an ordinary ninja. You can't sacrifice yourself for strangers."

"I'm glad you're not the Fourth Hokage."

"I'm happy too." Minato paused for a moment, then gave a small, warm smile. "Mai actually has such expectations of me."

He didn't quite understand why Mai would suddenly mention the Fourth Hokage. Haruno Chiu was the Fourth Hokage, a hero who sacrificed himself to seal the Nine-Tails, while Namikaze Minato believed he had never had anything to do with that identity.

He was just an ordinary ninja in Konoha, a helpless father who couldn't even protect his own daughter. Why would Mai bring up the Fourth Hokage at this time? This question lingered in his mind, but he didn't pursue it. Since Mai wasn't going to explain, he didn't need to know the answer.

"……Um?"

Suddenly, Mai's gaze passed over Minato's shoulder and looked towards the distance behind them. Her brow furrowed slightly. Minato followed her gaze and turned around. Tsunade also noticed the commotion behind them; everyone saw it. Konoha—was undergoing repairs.

The ground that was blasted into deep craters by the Heavenly Meteor, the foundations that were cracked by the Advent of the Tree World, the wreckage that was blasted to powder by the Tailed Beast Ball, and everything that was crushed into pebbles by the fight between Susanoo and the Nine-Tails—all of them are recovering at a speed visible to the naked eye.

The streets were laid out again, buildings grew layer by layer from the foundation, and the burned trees sprouted new green branches. The entire ruins seemed to have been rewound, and the traces of war were being erased one by one by an invisible force.

Tsunade's eyes widened, her voice filled with shock and bewilderment.

"What...what is that?! What happened again?!"

Mai quietly observed the scene before her. She quickly understood the reason; it was something left behind by another version of herself.

Before leaving this world, he not only spared her but also restored everything that had been destroyed. A bitter smile crept onto her face. It seemed that the battle hadn't really made her other self take it seriously.

She revealed all her cards. But her opponent dominated her from start to finish.

...Never mind, we'll probably never see each other again in this lifetime anyway.

She turned her gaze from the recovering Konoha village to Sasuke and Minato beside her, then glanced at the Konoha ninjas in the distance who had been subdued by Sasuke's genjutsu, and the Akatsuki members who had been rescued by the Adamantine Sealing Technique. It was time for her to leave.