Naruto: Limit Breaker

Chapter 123: I Will Also Be the Head of the Family Someday

Under the sweltering summer sun, Naruto stood alone, wrapped in bandages, staring at the memorial stone in front of him. Not a trace of warmth reached his heart.

All he felt was cold.

This was the public cemetery in the heart of Konoha—the final resting place of heroes. Shinobi who had laid down their lives for the village, including former Hokage, were buried here. And now, Sarutobi Rin's name had been etched among them.

A symbolic gesture.

His companion had died in battle, buying time for his teammates to retreat. A selfless act. A heroic one. On paper, it was framed as a tribute to his valor. In truth, it was also a political move—commemorating the one who had protected the Nine-Tails Jinchūriki at the cost of his life.

But Rin's body was never recovered.

Kakashi-sensei, already gravely injured, had been forced to flee with Naruto and Uesugi. There'd been no time to bring Rin back.

The Konoha cleanup squad found nothing.

And so, what rested beneath this stone… were just Rin's clothes.

Naruto hadn't moved from his spot all morning.

When he finally set down the bouquet in his hands, he did so gently, like one afraid to wake the dead. Then, in silence, he turned and walked away.

The streets of Konoha bustled with their usual chatter and life. But Naruto walked through them like a ghost. The world moved around him. No one saw him.

The stares still came—curious, wary, sometimes cold. Whispers clung to him like dust.

The weight of sacrifice had changed something in him. He had seen death before, fought enemies before. But this was the first time it had pierced his soul.

Before he knew it, Naruto found himself standing outside the Hyūga clan's gates.

He hadn't seen Ryosuke since that day on the mountain.

Since becoming a ninja, Naruto had stopped calling himself a child. He wanted to believe he had grown. That he was ready to carry the weight of a shinobi.

"Um… Hello, Uncle. Do you remember me?"

He hesitated a moment, then gave the gatekeeper a polite nod.

"Could you please call Ryosuke-kun for me?"

It was the same man from before—the one who had stood at this post when Hinata had brought him here long ago. And like many in the village, this man knew who Naruto was.

But more importantly, he remembered that Ryosuke had once called him friend.

Rather than dismiss him, the gatekeeper offered a courteous smile and nodded. "Please wait here a moment. I'll announce your visit."

Naruto stepped back, waiting quietly under the tree beside the gate.

He didn't have many people in this village. The ones he did have… meant everything.

Rin had been the warmest, his older brother in all but blood.

But Ryosuke—Ryosuke was different. Strong. Steady. A constant.

In the Academy, Ryosuke had taught him more than jutsu. He'd taught him how to think, how to act, how to endure. Things that didn't win battles but helped Naruto survive them.

So now, when everything felt like it was crumbling, he found himself doing what he'd always done—looking for Ryosuke, hoping he'd know what to do.

The sun arced across the sky. Blue turned to amber. Amber bled into violet.

Still, Ryosuke didn't come.

Night fell.

And Naruto was still standing there, alone beneath the streetlamp. The gentle glow cast long shadows across the cobblestone street.

No one else came.

Finally, footsteps echoed in the silence. Naruto straightened, hopeful.

But it wasn't Ryosuke.

It was the same gatekeeper, returning with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry. Master Ryosuke is undergoing intense training," he said gently. "He isn't seeing anyone right now—not even clan members."

Naruto blinked.

"Oh… I see. I understand. Thank you."

He offered a small bow, then turned to leave.

Behind him, the Hyūga gates creaked shut.

The click of the latch echoed like thunder in the quiet.

Naruto didn't remember the walk home. The streets blurred around him. His mind was too full, too loud, and yet too empty.

In the days that followed, he returned again and again to the Hyūga gates, standing quietly under the same tree, waiting.

The guards never turned him away, but Ryosuke never came.

With his team out of commission—Rin gone, Uesugi recovering, and Kakashi still under observation—there were no missions for now.

But unlike before, Naruto didn't spend his time training or catching up on lessons. He didn't throw himself into his usual chaotic energy.

He simply… existed.

Like a shell.

His world shrank to three points: the empty house he called home, the gates of the Hyūga clan, and Rin's memorial stone.

He saw him in every dream. In every shadow.

The grief dug into him, cold and constant.

But then, finally, the silence broke.

---

"You don't want to continue being a ninja?"

Ryosuke's voice held quiet surprise.

"You're serious?"

He turned to look at Naruto fully. "After all the effort you've put in—after all those times you said you'd be Hokage. Are you just running away now?"

The Naruto he knew—the one who sat beside him in class, the one who screamed his dreams to the world—wasn't someone who gave up.

Even with differences from the original timeline, his will had always been unshakable.

"…Maybe I am just running."

Naruto wiped his face with his sleeve, dragging away the tears and snot.

"I can't accept Rin's death. I know I should, I know that's what a shinobi does. But…"

He paused, taking a breath.

"My understanding of life and death has changed. Everything's different now. And when I look at this profession, when I think about being a ninja, I…"

His words trailed off. But his expression was clear.

It wasn't the sobbing of a child anymore.

It was something heavier. Calmer. A sadness that had steeped into his bones.

In front of Ryosuke—the one he had leaned on, learned from, idolized—Naruto finally let it all out. Not just the grief, but the doubt. The fear.

And somewhere in that unraveling, the raw pain he'd carried alone for days began to shift.

His tears, though still present, were no longer wild.

His sentimentality… had already begun to fade.

Naruto sat down beside Ryosuke, his gaze following the horizon as the evening light bathed the village in gold.

"My first mission outside the village was a B-rank," he said quietly. "The enemies were just a bunch of bandits who'd learned a few low-level ninjutsu. They thought they could take a shortcut, live without working—so they robbed, stole, hurt people."

He paused, fingers tightening on his knees.

"I saw it then… how strong Konoha shinobi really are. Ordinary people had no chance against them. But us? We cut them down like it was nothing."

"That was the first time I killed someone."

His voice didn't waver. Not anymore.

"My hands were stained with blood. But when the villagers smiled and thanked us afterward, I felt… warm. No fear. No guilt. It felt like I did something right."

"So after that… I stopped hesitating. I showed no mercy. Because I believed in what I was doing. I believed I was protecting something. That I was good."

His fingers curled into fists.

"But then… we faced enemy ninjas. Not rogues. Not bandits. Real shinobi. And that's when I realized…"

He swallowed, the words catching in his throat.

"…There's more to this than right and wrong."

His voice dropped, almost a whisper.

"I felt sick. The fox inside me—it came out. I lost control. And what I did… what it did…"

He didn't finish the sentence.

Ryosuke didn't interrupt.

He just listened, silent and still.

Maybe it was because the seal had only loosened—not broken—and Naruto's mind hadn't completely been overtaken. Maybe it was because part of him had still been aware while the Nine-Tails rampaged. Aware enough to remember the screams. The blood. The pleading.

Unlike bandits who fought for greed, the Kumogakure ninja had a purpose. They weren't monsters.

They were shinobi—just like Naruto.

They had families. Dreams. Villages to protect.

When they rushed toward him with shouts of protecting their comrades… Naruto had seen himself reflected in them. And for the first time, he'd felt like the villain.

He had never truly thought of himself as the monster the villagers whispered about. But in that moment… he believed it.

And Ryosuke, hearing all this, could only think:

That's Naruto for you.

Where others would cling to rage, Naruto saw both sides. Where others buried their pain, he examined it—held it up to the light.

This wasn't weakness. It was growth.

In the original timeline, Naruto didn't begin to wrestle with these questions until much later—after his training with Jiraiya, after Asuma Sarutobi's death, after Pain destroyed Konoha.

But here, the process had started early.

Too early.

Naruto had matured—but at a cost. He was no longer the boundless optimist he once was.

After a long silence, Ryosuke finally spoke.

"Things aren't black and white," he said softly. "They never were. All you can do… is choose what you believe is right. And live by it."

He looked out at the village below, glowing under the evening sky.

"Like Tamao trusted me without hesitation… I chose to respond. Back then, I saw you as an investment. You approached me, and I reacted the way I thought I should."

"But now…"

He paused.

"You're my friend, Naruto. And someone like you—someone who thinks this deeply about what's right and wrong—doesn't deserve to be called a monster."

Naruto's shoulders shook.

He didn't cry this time.

He just listened.

Ryosuke continued.

"Good and evil—right and wrong—aren't fixed. They change depending on where you're standing. We're Konoha shinobi. To us, the Cloud ninja are enemies. They hurt our people. They're the bad guys."

"But to the people of Kumogakure? They're heroes. They were defending their village. Their comrades."

"To Iwagakure or Sunagakure, we're just two powers clashing over territory. To them, none of us are right or wrong—we're just players in a game."

"And some people," Ryosuke said, his tone quiet but clear, "judge others from a high place. With ideals. They'll say the strong are evil, the weak are virtuous. But that's just another perspective."

Naruto sat silently, his fists slowly relaxing.

Ryosuke wasn't trying to hand him answers. He wasn't telling him what to think.

He was giving him space to choose.

To figure it out for himself.

And when they finally descended the mountain, the sky had turned deep purple. The air was cooler. The village lights flickered on, one by one.

Naruto didn't say he wanted to quit being a ninja again.

His steps were a little steadier. His shoulders, a little lighter.

He was still hurting—but he was moving forward.

And as they reached the main street, he turned to Ryosuke with a small, tired smile.

"…Dinner's on me."

Ryosuke blinked. "You're broke."

"I'm still older than you," Naruto shot back, puffing out his chest slightly. "I've already started working. You're still a student."

The answer to that, of course, was Ichiraku Ramen.

One of the few places in the village where Naruto was welcomed without hesitation.

As they finished their bowls under the warm lamplight, Ryosuke stood up, brushing off his cloak.

"I'm leaving."

Naruto blinked.

Ryosuke didn't look back. He just waved lazily as he walked off, his figure fading into the quiet streets.

Naruto watched him go, a silent gratitude swelling in his chest.

---

Ryosuke didn't slow down as he returned home.

He had things to do—training to resume, goals to chase. His next transformation was coming within the year, and he hadn't been pushing himself nearly enough.

The limiter inside his mind—that invisible barrier—would break again. But how much he gained from that breakthrough depended on how much he prepared now.

The first time, it had been mostly his Byakugan that had evolved.

The second time, his taijutsu and physical body had undergone serious growth.

But this time, Ryosuke was aiming higher. His body, his mind, his spirit—all of it. Total development.

He wanted his third transformation to be complete.

And that required accumulation. Discipline.

He stepped through the threshold of the Hyūga estate, already thinking about his next training regimen—

"Although you're the head of the family," a clear voice rang out, sharp and defiant, "I'm also the future head of the family."

Ryosuke froze mid-step.

Hinata stood in the hall, back straight, eyes blazing.

"I have every right to question you," she said. "And to change what I know is a broken system."

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