Black Ops: Anbu Naruto

That day, Kankuro, Temari, and Naruto finally managed to bring back Gaara.

Naruto had followed Gaara all the way here to stop him from recklessly destroying Amegakure, witnessing firsthand the terrifying power of Pain.

The village had become a pile of rubble—completely leveled. Not one building remained standing in the entire valley.

Many ninja, even high-ranking ones like Chunin and Jonin, fell victim to Pain's Shinra Tensei.

Luckily, many civilians had fled to safer ground at the edge of the valley before the disaster struck. Yet still, countless others weren't so fortunate.

The death toll had already climbed to seven thousand, and it kept rising as more bodies were unearthed from the rubble.

Naruto himself joined the recovery team digging through the ruins. During his time in Root, he'd seen plenty of horrifying sights, but the images of dead children and a young Genin from Sunagakure who had tried desperately to reach safety remained burned into his mind.

He remained in Sunagakure for three days, offering every bit of help he could.

Konoha wasted no time either, assembling a relief team within a day to aid their allies.

They dispatched skilled Medical Ninja, specialists in Earth Release jutsu, and a large squad of Genin to aid in both defense and reconstruction.

Naruto also received word ordering him to return to Konoha immediately to prepare for the upcoming war.

He intended to leave early the next morning—but he hadn't received the order until late that afternoon, and now the sun had already dipped below the horizon.

Right now, he sat on a crate outside a hastily built medical tent, watching nearby Medical Ninja from both Sunagakure and Konoha—including Sakura and Shizune—who had been sent to assist and played a major role treating the wounded.

Naruto hadn't noticed anyone approaching until Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon arrived beside him. He didn't turn his head until they stood before him, all three looking tired and worn out from the past two days of relentless work.

Konohamaru asked:

"Boss, what kind of person could do something like this?" He'd heard it was all done by one individual.

"Yeah," Udon added. "From the sky... He leveled everything here with nothing but raw chakra. How does someone like that even exist?"

They had been here for two days, seeing the full scale of destruction with their own eyes.

This looked less like something caused by a human, more like the work of a monster or some kind of natural disaster.

"I wish I could tell you," Naruto thought about what he should say to these kids.

But they weren't like him. This was their first time witnessing the kind of devastation a single person could cause.

Hearing about something is one thing—seeing it with your own eyes is completely different. Now they understood—those legends about ninja weren't all fiction after all.

"Some of us can split lightning with our jutsu. Some can summon an entire forest in a single motion. But then... there are things like what we saw today."

The sorrow etched on Moegi's face was unbearable for Naruto to witness. But he knew she wasn't the only one suffering, nor the one hurting the most.

In Sunagakure, countless other children her age were suffering wounds far deeper than hers.

"Why?"

"What exactly did Sunagakure do to Amegakure?"

"I don't know either…" Naruto's sky blue eyes stared straight ahead, hollow and unfocused. "…I wish I could say you'll never see anything like this again. But saying that would mean lying to you. You all know we're about to go to war, right?"

The three genin nodded silently.

"Unless you get promoted, you probably won't be sent to the battlefield, but you will see battlefields like this one—or even worse."

Genin were usually not sent into real battlefields.

It was understandable; in real battles, most genin were nothing more than cannon fodder. Their presence would cause more deaths, not prevent them.

Therefore, those unfamiliar with warfare were usually kept at the rear unless the front line collapsed completely.

At least, that's how Danzō had taught it to him… Perhaps the rules had changed since the last war, though he doubted it.

In the past two decades, although the ninja world had evolved, the general approach to warfare hadn't changed much—it still followed the blueprints established during the clan wars centuries ago.

Konohamaru bowed his head but quickly looked up again, fixing Naruto with a stare. Naruto continued gazing lifelessly at the medical tent.

"I want that guy to pay for what he did, Boss. People can't just do things like this without reason. Isn't peace a good thing?"

"In reality, peace doesn't really exist at all."

Naruto spoke flatly yet seriously, leaving the kids stunned and staring at him:

"We're ninjas—our job is to fight. That's what we've all been trained and conditioned to do. If true peace existed where everyone coexisted harmoniously, then what would we do? Fight bandits and ordinary criminals? The entire ninja system is founded on war."

He had thought about this deeply before—especially after learning about Jiraiya's dream of bringing peace to the world, and hearing Pain's own destructive ambitions aimed at achieving the same ultimate goal.

True peace would mean the end of their way of life.

What sustained the ninja world was precisely the inevitability of eventual conflict between villages. Every advancement meant one village gained an edge over others.

It was a twisted irony—the ninja world rejecting the very concept of real battle.

He didn't crave battle, but he was far from being a pacifist either. He had always known that.

Turning to Konohamaru, Moegi, and Udon—who were still staring at him in shock—he continued:

"Maybe I'm just rambling. It doesn't help any of you to fill your heads with such pessimism before the fighting even begins."

He stood up from the crate and patted Konohamaru on the head:

"Just be ready to fight—that's all you need to do, kid. Got it?"

Konohamaru stood frozen, nodding silently, until Naruto pulled his hand away and walked off.

Naruto watched him leave, a wave of emotions surged within him.

He couldn't think of anything comforting or encouraging to say.

The only thing he could do now was speak the truth as he saw it, but that truth was too harsh—it would only make it harder for them to face the war ahead.

Naruto hadn't seen Gaara, Kankuro, or Temari since arriving in Sunagakure.

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