While Waterfall Village was saved from the Seven-Tails' fury thanks to Gojo Satoru's almost casual intervention, Konoha licked its wounds.
The battle against the Bijuu was a spectacle of light and noise, with Gojo distracting the monster with insulting ease while Naruto, channeling his Emperor's Haki and Kurama's chakra, managed to stun it long enough for Gojo to immobilize it and... well, "counsel" it on the importance of inner peace.
The mission was a resounding success, and Gojo smiled with his usual arrogance, pocketing the Dimension Points.
[Objective: Secure Waterfall Village from an attack by an uncontrolled Bijuu (the Seven-Tails). Complete!]
[Success Reward: 25,000 Dimension Points (DP) and a Obito's Mask ]
"¡Piece of cake, Blondie! See? I told you it would be fun," Gojo patted Naruto on the back, who was still trembling slightly from the excitement of having faced a Bijuu.
"Dattebayo! That was amazing, Gojo-sensei! When do we get to do this again?" Naruto asked, his eyes glowing with a mixture of exhaustion and adrenaline.
Gojo was about to answer when a strange feeling washed over him. His "six eyes" throbbed with an urgency he hadn't felt in a long time.
It wasn't chakra, it wasn't cursed energy, but something more fundamental: a break in the flow of the plot that manifested as a deafening alarm in his mind.
"Shit," Gojo muttered, his smile fading. "We missed something big. Really big."
Without warning, Gojo teleported Naruto and him back to the outskirts of Konoha. The air was thick with the smell of ash and blood. The normally bustling streets were eerily quiet, littered with debris and battle scars.
Teams of medics and Leaf ninja moved about with grim faces, transporting the wounded and removing bodies.
Naruto was the first to react, his usual optimism replaced by a growing sense of panic. "Gojo-sensei! What happened?"
Gojo's face tightened beneath his bandage. He could feel the vast loss of life, the trace of a familiar, twisting chakra.
"Orochimaru," he hissed, his voice unusually deep. "It seems the asshole didn't wait for our 'date.'"
As they moved toward the center of the village, the scene became clearer and more harrowing. Buildings collapsed, the roofs of the Chunin Exams arena shattered. A team of Anbu approached, their eyes filled with a deep, weary sadness.
"Gojo Satoru! Naruto Uzumaki! Where were you?" one of the Anbu demanded, his voice tinged with reproach, yet with relief at seeing them.
Gojo raised a hand, his gaze scanning the mess. "We had a... plot emergency. But tell me, what happened here? And where is the Third Hokage?"
The Anbu looked down, and the truth hit Naruto like a punch to the gut.
"The Third Hokage... died. He gave his life to stop Orochimaru. He sealed his arms... he saved the village."
Naruto's world stopped. The Third Hokage, the old man who had always treated him with a smile and a kindness that few others ever offered, dead? The news took his breath away.
His eyes filled with tears and he clenched his fists, a burning rage welling up inside him.
Gojo, for his part, remained silent, something unusual for him. The information sank in. His "six eyes" confirmed the magnitude of the sacrifice. It hadn't been a failure of the Waterfall Village mission, but an unforeseen plot twist, one his system had categorized as "Unknown Consequences."
He saw the sadness and fury on Naruto's face. This would change things. Orochimaru had crossed a line, not only for the village, but for his student's emotional balance.
"I see," Gojo finally said, his voice devoid of its usual lightness.
"Orochimaru... this won't stay that way." He turned to Naruto, placing a hand on his shoulder.
"Ruby, I know this is hard. But Konoha needs you to be strong now. It needs hope."
Naruto barely listened. His eyes, once filled with the light of adventure, were now darkened by pain and a new, dangerous determination.
The Third Hokage's sacrifice, Naruto and Gojo's absence during the battle, and Konoha's vulnerability would sow the seeds of an uncertain future. The village had been saved, yes, but at a devastating cost, and Orochimaru's shadow still loomed, now with a genuinely irritated Gojo Satoru hot on his heels.