chapter 84

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Chapter 84 ~ I don't expect you to fully understand

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Some distance away from the palace, Naruto appeared with Shion. 

Neji and the other two were waiting for them to arrive.

Shion gazed at the palace where she had grown up, watching as the soldiers who had always protected her now lay dying in their efforts to safeguard her.

  Her heart was heavy with guilt, knowing that it was because of her that these soldiers were losing their lives. Her expression saddened, but she quickly concealed her emotions.

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Naruto caught a glimpse of her sadness, while the other three remained clueless.

They all heard a deafening explosion, and the sky was illuminated as the palace where Shion had been living was now reduced to rubble. The plumes of the explosion billowed into the sky.

"Let's go; we have to protect the priestess," Neji said to all of them. This was his mission, and he couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

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As they started to leave the palace, a man emerged from the bushes.

"Taruho, why are you here?" Shion yelled out to the man.

"How can I leave, Priestess? It's my duty to protect you," Taruho replied.

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He was the most devoted of her followers and had vowed to protect her at all costs. With the situation so dire, he couldn't fathom leaving her side. She represented the last hope of sealing the demon away.

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"So, you're going to come with us," Lee asked him, and the man nodded.

"We don't have any problem," Neji said to him. The more people there are, the better our chances of protecting her.

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They had to carry the priestess on their backs due to her low stamina; she couldn't run like them. 

Sakura lifted Shion onto her back, and they all started to run toward a distant waterfall. 

They hoped to reach it, as it would provide a place to rest and possibly lose their pursuers.

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Naruto and Lee took the lead, with Sakura in the middle carrying Shion on her back, and Neji and Taruho bringing up the rear.

Neji had his Byakugan activated so they could detect any incoming attacks.

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They had been running for quite a while when Shion's expression suddenly changed, and she looked at Sakura. "Your back hurts me. Can you be more feminine?" she said to her.

Hearing this, Sakura's expression turned grim. 

The girl on her back had just implied that Sakura wasn't like a girl. "This... Bitch," Sakura thought to herself, "If it weren't for the mission, I would have punched her for insulting me." Sakura restrained herself from reacting violently.

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No one said anything to her; in their mission, these things happened. But this was not the case for Naruto.

Naruto looked back, his face sporting a smirk. "look Sakura, now everyone's saying that you're not so feminine... hehe," Naruto teased.

"Not you too," Sakura replied in irritation.

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Suddenly, they were attacked by someone, none other than the leader of the 'Gang of Four.'

Neji stepped forward and assumed a defensive stance. "I will hold him back. You keep going,".

There was some hesitation, but they couldn't deny the order from their team leader, so they continued on their way.

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"Will he be okay?" Sakura asked.

"He'll be fine; he's more powerful than that guy," Naruto reassured her. While he spoke with her, he kept an eye on the fight between Kusuna and Neji.

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Soon, they all reached their first destination: the waterfall.

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Sakura gently lowered Shion from her back. Naruto leaned against a tree and closed his eyes, thoroughly enjoying the fight that was unfolding.

"So chakra exhaustion is still a problem," he mused in a low voice. To him, it felt like a joke, given that his chakra reserves far exceeded even the Nine Tails' volume.

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Shion sat by the bank of the flowing water, her feet immersed in the cool stream, while Taruho knelt beside her, gently washing her feet.

"Are you feeling okay, Priestess?" Taruho asked her in a respectful manner.

"I am hungry; make some food for me," she said. Taruho nodded, and after finishing washing her feet, he began to prepare a meal for her.

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In the meantime, she observed Naruto, who appeared to be asleep.

She had previously foreseen his death in one of her predictions, but ever time, there were contradictions. Specifically, each time she glimpsed his death in her visions, another vision began to emerge where he defied his fate.

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This was the first time this had happened. 

Whenever she saw someone's death in one of her visions before, she prevented it by warning them and altering the future.

However, this time her vision presented multiple possible futures. Until now, she had seen a single possible future where events unfolded, but this time there was no specific future event. Everything was constantly shifting and changing.

Naruto, who appeared to be sleeping, noticed her gaze. 

He opened his eyes and looked at her. "Are you done staring at me?" he asked.

Caught off guard, her face blushed, and she averted her gaze. She didn't know why she couldn't answer.

Seeing her in this state, Naruto didn't say anything.

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Meanwhile, Taruho had prepared the food and served it to the priestess. He had made rice balls and soup.

Shion began to eat, but after a few bites, she tossed the food onto the ground.

"What happened, Lady Shion?" Taruho asked, concerned.

"The soup is ice-cold, and I can't eat these rice balls," she replied.

Seeing this, Lee became angry. "How can you throw the food on the ground?" he shouted at her in frustration.

"Because I didn't like it," she replied simply.

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She looked at Taruho and started to walk away. 

"I am going to sleep," she stormed in anger while saying this. 

Taruho nodded to her respectfully. Lee seeing this was angered but Sakura stopped him from saying anything. 

Naruto was observing this all but in his opinion, it was her choice to throw the food away. If she didn't like it why would she eat that? 

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But that wasn't the only thing Naruto was observing. The time threads around Taruho changed and connected with Shion's.

"So he is going to die," Naruto thought to himself as he observed the time threads shifting around Taruho while Shion slept.

"So the one cause has many effects. The poor soul is going to die," Naruto remarked with a sense of amusement.

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While he observed the flow of time and the time threads around him, Naruto came to a conclusion: there was no specific future, only a blank canvas. Predicting the future relied on the actions made by those around him.

If someone possessed the ability to foresee the future, they used these time strings to glimpse possible futures, and in 99% of cases, these glimpses were correct.

However, if Naruto were to take a sudden action that was not supposed to happen, it would undoubtedly disrupt future predictions.

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"If I pretend to lower my power level, and someone sees my future, in their vision, I will die," Naruto concluded.

While Naruto pondered this to himself, Sakura asked Taruho, "Is it true that the priestess can see death around her?"

Taruho looked at her and nodded, saying, "Lady Shion has made hundreds of predictions, and they've never failed. By revealing to us the future deaths, we've prevented them from happening."

Sakura nodded in understanding.

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Taruho had lit up the fire and stood on a log; he couldn't sleep while the priestess was resting, as he was guarding their surroundings.

Sakura and Lee were sleeping on some tree branches, and Naruto was on night watch duty.

Naruto sat beside Taruho, and there was silence between them as they both gazed at the crackling fire.

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"Are you thinking that Lady Shion was a bad person when she threw the food away?" Taruho asked suddenly.

"I don't know what you're getting at," Naruto replied.

"Lady Shion has been pampered since childhood due to her unique ability to see the future, and she is the only one who can seal the demons away," Taruho explained.

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Naruto nodded as he listened to the story.

"Due to her ability to predict the death of someone, people started to fear her and isolate themselves from her. They didn't want to become subjects of her predictions. 

So all the children her age distanced themselves from her, as their parents told them to stay away from her," Taruho shared Shino's story with Naruto.

As Naruto listened, he found this somewhat familiar. Like himself, Shino was also feared by the people around her, and children avoided her due to their parents' warnings.

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"In reality, she is a lonely girl. Her mother died while sealing Moroyo in front of her eyes. 

She had no friends of her own; the guards around her protect her out of duty because of her special ability to seal away demons," Taruho explained.

Naruto nodded in understanding, finding her situation to be quite similar to his own in many ways.

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"I don't expect you to fully understand, you come from a prosperous and powerful village, but I just felt like sharing with you," Taruho spoke to Naruto.

Naruto thought to himself, "Man, you have no idea how much I understand her." Nevertheless, he nodded in agreement.

"Thanks, man, for telling me this. I hope she'll find someone who can understand her," Naruto expressed to Taruho.

Taruho nodded while gazing at the crackling fire in front of him, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from his heart.

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AN~~ End of the chapter… 

Naruto can relate to her but Taruho has no idea about it, the seed is planted in Naruto's heart by Taruho, let's see how will this go… 

Will he just take her… 

Or Shion will go with him by herself… 

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Here's today's question… 

You know Sasuke is training when he comes out, what will be his power levels.. Can he beat Naruto… 

1. Hell no, Naruto is too strong for him.

2. Absolutely not 

3. Maybe yes 

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if you like the chapter please leave the comment and give me your powerstones...