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Naruto: End of the Shinobi World

Chapter 37 37: The Masked Man · Oct 25, 2026

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Chapter List (423)

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1 Chapter 1 1: The Night the Clan Was Erased 2026-10-25
2 Chapter 2 2: A Will of Fire That Even the Third Hokage Feared 2026-10-25
3 Chapter 3 3: The Sky Screen 2026-10-25
4 Chapter 4 4: Itachi the Clan-Slayer 2026-10-25
5 Chapter 5 5: The Fifth Hokage: Tsunade 2026-10-25
6 Chapter 6 6: A World-Ending Crisis? 2026-10-25
7 Chapter 7 7: The Five Kage Summit 2026-10-25
8 Chapter 8 8: Sasuke Uchiha? 2026-10-25
9 Chapter 9 9 – The World-Ender Appears 2026-10-25
10 Chapter 10 10: The Proclamation of the Fourth Shinobi World War 2026-10-25
11 Chapter 11 11: The Sarutobi Clan: Three Thousand Shinobi 2026-10-25
12 Chapter 12 12: Still Far Too Young 2026-10-25
13 Chapter 13 13: Gaara 2026-10-25
14 Chapter 14 14: One Hundred Thousand White Zetsu 2026-10-25
15 Chapter 15 15: Rinnegan Naruto 2026-10-25
16 Chapter 16 16: Who Else Is There? 2026-10-25
17 Chapter 17 17: Night Guy!!! 2026-10-25
18 Chapter 18 18: Izanagi 2026-10-25
19 Chapter 19 19: A Tremendous Aftershock 2026-10-25
20 Chapter 20 20: The Jōnin Council 2026-10-25
21 Chapter 21 21: A Hokage No Longer Trusted 2026-10-25
22 Chapter 22 22: Lv.2 2026-10-25
23 Chapter 23 23: Questioning the Heavenly Screen 2026-10-25
24 Chapter 24 24: A Clash of Ideals 2026-10-25
25 Chapter 25 25: Jiraiya and Naruto 2026-10-25
26 Chapter 26 26: Taking a Master 2026-10-25
27 Chapter 27 27: The Conviction to Become Hokage 2026-10-25
28 Chapter 28 28: This Is My Disciple 2026-10-25
29 Chapter 29 29: Year 60 of Konoha? 2026-10-25
30 Chapter 30 30: The Valley of the End 2026-10-25
31 Chapter 31 31: Body? Life? It Doesn’t Matter! 2026-10-25
32 Chapter 32 32: Naruto’s Defeat 2026-10-25
33 Chapter 33 33: Do You Even Know How to Raise Kids? 2026-10-25
34 Chapter 34 34: Team Taka 2026-10-25
35 Chapter 35 35: Itachi Uchiha’s Path 2026-10-25
36 Chapter 36 36: This Isn’t Holding Back… This Is Letting the Ocean Loose 2026-10-25
37 Chapter 37 37: The Masked Man 2026-10-25
38 Chapter 38 38: Can You Do It? 2026-10-25
39 Chapter 39 39: The Truth Behind Uchiha Shisui’s Death 2026-10-25
40 Chapter 40 40: The True Truth of the Clan’s Destruction 2026-10-25
41 Chapter 41 41: That’s It? It Just Ends Like This?! 2026-10-25
42 Chapter 42 42: Why Don’t You Become the Hokage? 2026-10-25
43 Chapter 43 43: This Is the Real “Mad Demon” Jiraiya 2026-10-25
44 Chapter 44 44: Am I Really That Unpopular? 2026-10-25
45 Chapter 45 45: Taking Control of ANBU 2026-10-25
46 Chapter 46 46: he Arrest of Danzō 2026-10-25
47 Chapter 47 47: Tsunade Is the Hokage 2026-10-25
48 Chapter 48 48: Danzō: “I Will Return” 2026-10-25
49 Chapter 49 49: Personal Revenge? 2026-10-25
50 Chapter 50 50: The Missing-nin: Danzō Shimura 2026-10-25

”A puppet…”

A hoarse, low murmur—like the grinding of aged wood—echoed from within Sasori’s hidden body, sealed inside Hiruko.

”The bodies I control are cold, lifeless puppets.”

Sasori’s voice carried a chilling, almost philosophical detachment.

”But you, Itachi Uchiha… the thing you controlled was a living person’s entire life.”

”From the sprouting of hatred… to the pursuit of power… to the final act of ’revenge’…”

”How utterly… cruel.”

That word—cruel—was not condemning slaughter.

It was admiration for something far colder.

For manipulating the fate of one’s own flesh and blood like a marionette—

For calculating even their emotions and will.

A deeper, more terrifying form of cruelty.

Itachi’s Fracture

Boom.

Sasori’s words detonated in Itachi’s mind like thunder.

A puppet?

Was Sasuke… a puppet?

That word—never once considered—stabbed into the mental fortress Itachi had built around himself, the belief labeled ”for Sasuke’s own good.”

No.

That’s not it.

I was just… paving the road for him.

Choosing the safest path.

The path that would let him gain power.

How could I ever see him as a puppet?

He’s my little brother.

The person I love most.

Itachi argued fiercely within himself.

Yet for the first time, the mask of absolute calm on his face showed the faintest crack—so subtle it was almost imperceptible.

The ideals of sacrifice and greater good he had clung to now cast an unsettling shadow under Sasori’s single word.

Orochimaru’s Rage

Elsewhere, Orochimaru’s fury was nearly tangible.

”Hehehe… Itachi Uchiha. And Sasuke Uchiha. You two brothers… are really something special!”

His golden slit pupils contracted to dangerous pinpoints. His long tongue slid unconsciously over sharp teeth, his voice trembling with barely contained rage.

During this Sky Screen revelation, his dignity had been ground into the dirt—in front of the entire shinobi world—by the Uchiha brothers.

First, he was defeated and partially devoured by Sasuke.

Then, he was ripped out of Sasuke’s body by Itachi and sealed away again—like discarded trash.

What enraged him most was this—

Looking at the entire future revealed by the Sky Screen…

He, Orochimaru, one of the Legendary Sannin, a genius pursuing immortality—

Had become nothing more than a repeatedly humiliated tool.

A stepping stone.

A sacrifice.

So that was it?

I, Orochimaru, exist solely as a prop in your brothers’ melodrama?

That humiliation was unbearable.

”Sharingan… Uchiha…” Orochimaru stared at Itachi, the greed in his eyes fully transforming into killing intent—cold, absolute, destructive.

”I’ll make you understand… the price of toying with me.”

After the Battle

Inside the Ninja Academy, Sasuke stared unblinkingly at the image of Itachi’s fallen body.

His entire frame shook—whether from rage, confusion, or something far deeper, even he couldn’t tell.

This wasn’t the revenge he wanted.

This wasn’t what it was supposed to feel like.

On the Sky Screen, the rain continued to pour, mercilessly washing over the scarred battlefield.

Sasuke stood there, dazed.

His chakra was exhausted. His body screamed in protest. His mind reeled from the impact of it all.

His hollow gaze fixed on the motionless figure lying in the mud—

Itachi Uchiha.

His enemy was dead.

The man he had hated with every fiber of his being—the one he had betrayed everything to kill—now lay silently before him.

And yet…

Why?

Why wasn’t there even a trace of satisfaction?

No relief.

No triumph.

Instead, it felt as if something had been ripped out of his chest—leaving only exhaustion, emptiness, and a suffocating hollowness that made it hard to breathe.

Rain slid down his dark hair, mixing with blood and grime—and perhaps with something colder, something he didn’t yet recognize—blurring his vision.

Sasuke opened his mouth.

No sound came out.

At last, the limits of his body—and the total collapse of his spirit—overtook him.

His vision went black.

He fell backward, stiff and ungraceful, crashing into the cold mud.

Unconscious.

Two brothers—

One dead.

One broken.

Lying silently beneath the relentless rain.

The endless downpour sounded like the heavens themselves were playing a wordless, mournful requiem for these brothers bound by fate.

The Mask Appears

Just as everyone believed the scene had ended—

The image changed.

Space twisted.

Reality warped.

A figure appeared without a sound, like a ghost stepping out of nothingness.

He wore an orange spiral mask, revealing only a single crimson Sharingan.

A black cloak fluttered around him, his presence ominous and unreadable.

Inside a tower in the Land of Rain, Nagato’s Rinnegan contracted sharply.

”It’s that man… the one who calls himself Madara Uchiha.”

The masked man glanced at Itachi’s corpse, then at the unconscious Sasuke.

A low, meaningless chuckle escaped him.

Bending down, he casually lifted both—Itachi’s body in one hand, Sasuke in the other.

Then, as if erased by an unseen hand, all three figures vanished into a swirling distortion of space.

Awakening

The scene shifted.

Sasuke slowly regained consciousness.

He found himself in an unfamiliar, dim underground chamber.

His wounds had been crudely treated, but pain still flared with every movement.

He shot upright, instantly alert, scanning his surroundings—

And immediately spotted the masked man leaning against the wall.

”Who are you?” Sasuke demanded, forcing himself into a defensive stance. His Sharingan activated instantly, locking onto the figure.

Despite his condition, his gaze was sharp—wolf-like, filled with hostility.

The masked man seemed amused.

He ignored Sasuke’s aggression entirely, letting out a light, mocking laugh as he approached.

The single exposed Sharingan gleamed with interest and scrutiny.

”Sasuke Uchiha,” the masked man said slowly, his voice deliberately guiding,

”Don’t you find it… strange?”

Sasuke frowned. ”Strange? What are you talking about? Who are you? What do you want?”

The masked man stopped just a few steps away.

His voice suddenly turned cold—dripping with irony, like a snake tasting the air.

”Itachi…”

”That so-called prodigy of the Uchiha. A man with the Mangekyō Sharingan. Power beyond measure.”

”And yet…”

”He was killed so easily.”

”So simply.”

”…By you.”

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