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Naruto: End of the Shinobi World

Chapter 73 73: Roots in the Darkness · Oct 25, 2026

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Chapter List (423)

Page number / 9

151 Chapter 151 151: We’re Going to Help Sasuke 2026-10-25
152 Chapter 152 152: The Rinnegan Invasion 2026-10-25
153 Chapter 153 153: For the Sake of World Peace 2026-10-25
154 Chapter 154 154: Peace Through Destruction 2026-10-25
155 Chapter 155 155: Shinra Tensei 2026-10-25
156 Chapter 156 156: Konoha Is Nearly Wiped Out 2026-10-25
157 Chapter 157 157: Karin’s Excitement 2026-10-25
158 Chapter 158 158: They Must Be Captured 2026-10-25
159 Chapter 159 159: Sasuke Makes His Move 2026-10-25
160 Chapter 160 160: Hinata Is Impaled 2026-10-25
161 Chapter 161 161: Nagato’s Story 2026-10-25
162 Chapter 162 162: As Expected… It Was Danzō Again 2026-10-25
163 Chapter 163 163: Naruto — I Believe 2026-10-25
164 Chapter 164 164: A Little Sun Begins to Shine 2026-10-25
165 Chapter 165 165: Talk no Jutsu Succeeds 2026-10-25
166 Chapter 166 166: The Crow with the Sharingan 2026-10-25
167 Chapter 167 167: Got You 2026-10-25
168 Chapter 168 168: Naruto Has Been Hit 2026-10-25
169 Chapter 169 169: The Demon God Loves Me Most 2026-10-25
170 Chapter 170 170: When Darkness Descends, Even Light Must Recede 2026-10-25
171 Chapter 171 171: Asura 2026-10-25
172 Chapter 172 172: Playing with Fire 2026-10-25
173 Chapter 173 173: Does Your Father Not Like You? 2026-10-25
174 Chapter 174 174: Planetary Devastation 2026-10-25
175 Chapter 175 175: Breaking the Seal 2026-10-25
176 Chapter 176 176: A Single Sigh 2026-10-25
177 Chapter 177 177: The Demon God’s Favorite Child 2026-10-25
178 Chapter 178 178: A God-Tier Move 2026-10-25
179 Chapter 179 179: Naruto and Sasuke Awaken 2026-10-25
180 Chapter 180 180: Heroes? 2026-10-25
181 Chapter 181 181: Descendants of Traitors 2026-10-25
182 Chapter 182 182: The Devil Fruit 2026-10-25
183 Chapter 183 183: Yamata no Orochi 2026-10-25
184 Chapter 184 184: Let’s Call Them the Seven Warlords Under the King 2026-10-25
185 Chapter 185 185: Jiraiya — I’ll Be Fine 2026-10-25
186 Chapter 186 186: Naruto — Even If I Become a Puppet 2026-10-25
187 Chapter 187 187: Maybe… It’s Better If You Don’t Come Back 2026-10-25
188 Chapter 188 188: This Is What an Invasion Looks Like 2026-10-25
189 Chapter 189 189: You Konoha Are Far Too Arrogant 2026-10-25
190 Chapter 190 190: Tsunade Was So Angry She Laughed 2026-10-25
191 Chapter 191 191: Would You Bare Your Heart to an Ant? 2026-10-25
192 Chapter 192 192: Hashirama Senju Was the Ultimate Weapon 2026-10-25
193 Chapter 193 193: A Trace Discovered 2026-10-25
194 Chapter 194 194: Danzō Appears 2026-10-25
195 Chapter 195 195: The Mysterious Bark-Skinned Man 2026-10-25
196 Chapter 196 196: Toying With Him 2026-10-25
197 Chapter 197 197: The Perfect Fall Guy 2026-10-25
198 Chapter 198 198: Utter Nonsense 2026-10-25
199 Chapter 199 199: One of the Seven Warlords 2026-10-25
200 Chapter 200 200: Elevating Karin’s Status 2026-10-25

”How am I even supposed to wear this forehead protector when I go out now…”

A young ninja hung his head, utterly dejected.

The Sky Screen continued to shift, and time moved to the following day.

Sakura Haruno seemed to have temporarily forced down the unease from yesterday. After completing a round of training outside, she returned home, slightly exhausted.

But the moment she pushed open the door, the sight before her made her blood run cold and her expression change instantly.

A ROOT operative, wearing an animal mask, stood silently in the middle of her living room—like a ghost that had appeared out of nowhere.

”You—why are you here?!” Sakura demanded, shocked and furious, a powerful sense of dread rising in her chest.

The ROOT member’s voice was flat and mechanical.

”Lord Danzo requests your presence.”

”I’m not going!” Sakura refused without hesitation, her eyes full of vigilance and disgust.

”I already reported everything to the Hokage yesterday! You people can forget about targeting me again!”

Faced with her refusal, the ROOT operative neither grew angry nor retreated. He simply stared at her coldly from behind the mask and repeated:

”You will go.”

Those three calm, certain words struck Sakura like a bolt of lightning.

A terrifying possibility flashed through her mind. Her heart nearly stopped, and her voice trembled uncontrollably as she clenched her teeth and asked:

”My parents… where are my parents? What did you do to them?!”

The ROOT operative didn’t answer—only continued to look at her in silence, exerting invisible pressure.

That silence was more despairing than any reply.

After a long moment, the color drained completely from Sakura’s face.

Her fists clenched tightly, nails digging deep into her palms. Her body trembled with rage and fear.

She knew she had no choice.

”…Fine.”

The word was squeezed out through clenched teeth, filled with humiliation and helplessness.

And so, under the ”escort” of the ROOT operative, Sakura Haruno left her home step by step, her movements heavy, heading toward the outskirts of the village—toward places hidden from the light.

The same underground facility.

But this time, the atmosphere was even heavier, even more suffocating.

Sakura once again stood before Danzō Shimura.

This time, even more masked ROOT members stood around him like silent statues, radiating cold killing intent and faintly enclosing Sakura in their midst.

Danzo gazed down at the girl who had been forced to come, his single eye calm and indifferent. His hoarse voice carried the tone of someone firmly in control.

”Sakura Haruno. We meet again. It seems you’ve recognized reality.”

Sakura was silent for a moment. Instead of answering, she asked a question whose answer she already knew—yet still clung to a final, fragile hope.

”The Third Hokage… he did nothing, didn’t he?”

”He didn’t even summon you to question you. Am I right?”

Danzo let out a sneer without the slightest attempt to hide it. The sound echoed harshly through the underground chamber.

”Hiruzen has always been too ’kind’… and too ’indecisive.’”

He didn’t explicitly admit it—but that near-acknowledgment utterly crushed the last trace of hope in Sakura’s heart.

She took a deep breath, as if forcing down the anger and disappointment in her chest, then slowly exhaled. When she spoke again, her voice was chillingly calm.

”I understand.”

Satisfied with her ”sensibility,” a trace of smugness flashed through Danzo’s eye as he began expounding his twisted ideology.

”Good. Understanding is enough.”

”I am the Root, buried deep in the darkness, holding up Konoha’s great tree.”

”Only in my hands can a power like the Divine Technique be used to its fullest—sweeping aside all obstacles.”

”And only I am capable of leading Konoha to a true peak that no one else can reach.”

These self-aggrandizing words—dressing naked ambition in the guise of noble purpose—made the entire shinobi world watching through the Sky Screen feel physically ill. Curses erupted everywhere.

As for Sakura—

She responded with a cold, merciless laugh.

Raising her head, she locked eyes with Danzo. Her words were like the sharpest of blades, stabbing straight into his core.

”Your ’peak’?”

”You mean the kind of ’peak’ where you watch helplessly as Sasuke tears Konoha in half with a single strike—

and all you can do is hide in the shadows and threaten a genin by kidnapping her parents to steal a secret technique?”

—Hiss!

It felt as though countless people, both inside and outside the Sky Screen, sucked in a sharp breath at the same time.

That was brutal.

Absolutely devastating.

She ripped apart Danzo’s self-important façade and exposed his most incompetent, most despicable side for all to see—bloody and undeniable.

”Well said!!”

”Perfectly said, Sakura!”

”Destroy that shameless old bastard!”

Cheers erupted across the shinobi world.

Danzo’s arrogance and hypocrisy had infuriated them beyond measure, and Sakura’s precise, merciless rebuttal voiced exactly what they were thinking. It was immensely satisfying to hear.

Unsurprisingly, Danzo was completely enraged.

His face darkened instantly, his single eye erupting with undisguised, bone-chilling killing intent. The pressure in the room seemed to drop.

”Sharp-tongued little brat…”

The words were ground out through clenched teeth.

”Filthy, twisted old monster…”

Sakura shot back without hesitation, returning his murderous glare without the slightest fear.

Danzo stared at her in silence for a few seconds.

Then he raised his hand.

At once, two ROOT operatives dragged out two bound figures from the shadows—

Haruno Kizashi and Haruno Mebuki.

Their bodies were tightly bound with ropes, mouths gagged with cloth. They couldn’t speak—only stare at their daughter with wide, desperate eyes, struggling in vain.

”Dad! Mom!”

Sakura’s heart lurched at the sight. She shouted at Danzo in panic,

”Let them go! If you want something, come at me!”

Danzo ignored her desperation completely. His hoarse, icy voice issued a single command:

”Hand over the Divine Technique.”

”Never!” Sakura refused without a moment’s hesitation, her gaze unwavering.

”If I give something like that to you, you’ll only use it to harm even more people! I will not hand it over!”

Danzo seemed to have expected this and didn’t bother arguing further.

Slowly, he drew a sharp tantō. The cold blade came to rest directly against the neck of Sakura’s father—Haruno Kizashi.

”I’ll give you one last chance to reconsider.”

His voice was flat, devoid of emotion—yet more terrifying than any shouted threat.

Seeing the blade pressed against her father’s throat, Sakura trembled violently. An overwhelming killing intent surged within her, and she wanted nothing more than to tear Danzo to pieces.

But she couldn’t move.

Her parents’ lives hung by a single thread.

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