Avenge of the Uzumaki Twins: Naruto and Menma Chapter 172 CHAPTER 172

"Why…?"

Naruto's voice trembled not from fear, but from sothing far more fragile.

"Why are you like this, nma? What did Brother Kakashi ever do to deserve this? Why are you so cruel? Why?!"

He stood rigid, fists shaking at his sides. His face was a mixture of fury, disbelief, and unmistakable grief.

This was not posturing.

He genuinely could not comprehend it.

Yes, their lives had diverged. Yes, nma had endured isolation that Naruto himself had never fully understood. Naruto knew the village had failed in many ways. He even believed the Third Hokage's protection had not been perfect.

Resentnt?

Naruto could understand resentnt.

Anger?

That too.

But this

This was different.

Naruto believed, stubbornly and sincerely, that if they simply sat down and spoke honestly, sothing could be salvaged.

They were brothers.

nma had attended the Academy. He had trained with others. Surely there had been bonds.

With Shikamaru. With Chōji.

With Iruka-sensei.

Naruto refused to believe those connections ant nothing.

Yet nma's actions shattered that hope.

Kakashi lay gravely wounded behind him.

ANBU corpses were scattered across the shattered valley floor.

nma's thods were not symbolic.

They were final.

"Cruel?" nma repeated flatly.

His three-tailed Version 1 cloak swayed behind him like living fla.

"Are you certain you understand what that word ans, Naruto?"

His tone carried no visible rage only dismissal.

"You call yourself a shinobi, yet you speak as though the battlefield owes you morality."

He stepped forward once.

"Kakashi stood in my path."

That was all.

No hatred.

No personal grievance.

Just consequence.

In the shinobi world, that was sufficient.

Naruto clenched his teeth.

"You're wrong!" he shouted. "And I'll prove it!"

His chakra surged outward.

Though far inferior to the oppressive density of nma's Nine-Tails cloak, Naruto's reserves were unmistakably imnse well beyond the standard jōnin threshold.

He burst forward.

"Naruto, wait!" shouted Akimichi Choza.

Chōza imdiately advanced as well.

nma's demonstrated strength had exceeded all prior estimations. Multiple ANBU neutralized. Kakashi incapacitated. A three-tailed cloak stabilized enough for offensive maneuvering.

Allowing Naruto to charge alone was tactically reckless.

Chōza ford a seal mid-stride.

"Partial Expansion Technique!"

His right arm expanded massively, swelling to colossal proportions as it swept downward toward nma like a descending pillar.

The shadow swallowed the ground.

nma's expression did not change.

The Nine-Tails' chakra flared.

One tail lashed upward

"Bang!"

The collision reverberated across the valley.

The chakra-ford tail coiled around Chōza's enlarged forearm mid-swing.

It tightened.

Chōza's eyes sharpened.

He released more chakra, muscles bulging as he attempted to overpower the bind.

The tail vibrated violently but did not break.

"Naive," nma murmured.

Two additional chakra tails snapped forward, wrapping around the expanded limb in layered restraint.

The force multiplied instantly.

Chōza's expanded arm halted completely.

Then

nma pivoted his stance.

Using the bound limb as leverage, he lifted.

Even with Chōza's imnse mass, the torque generated by the Three-Tails cloak was overwhelming.

"Wh!"

The ground fractured beneath Chōza's feet as he was wrenched upward.

With a violent rotational swing

nma hurled him sideways.

"Crash!"

Chōza struck the valley wall, stone shattering under the impact. His expansion partially receded from the shock.

Naruto had already closed the distance.

He leapt, fist drawn back.

"nma!"

The punch descended.

nma raised one hand.

"Pah."

He caught Naruto's fist effortlessly.

At close range, their eyes t.

Naruto's burned with anguish and stubborn resolve.

nma's remained steady unmoved.

He twisted sharply and slamd Naruto downward.

"Bang!"

Naruto's back struck the fractured stone.

The impact expelled air from his lungs in a harsh gasp.

Before he could recover

nma stepped forward.

His foot ca down on Naruto's chest.

Hard.

"Crack."

The ground beneath Naruto cratered slightly from the pressure.

Naruto's ribs compressed under the force. Pain radiated through his torso.

Blood surged into his throat.

"Ghk!"

It spilled past his lips.

His breathing destabilized instantly.

The Nine-Tails' chakra inside him stirred faintly in response to the trauma but Naruto had not consciously drawn upon it.

nma looked down at him.

At this distance, Naruto seed smaller than before.

Vulnerable.

For the briefest fraction of a second

A flicker of mory surfaced.

Not from this life.

Not from shared experience.

But from knowledge long carried within him stories of a boy who refused to give up, who endured hatred and transford it into strength.

The image passed.

nma's expression did not soften.

On the battlefield

Sentint was weakness.

And weakness invited death.

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