Chapter 97 – The Ones Who Never Had Names
The Forest of Death hadn't changed.
It still growled.Still hungered.Still whispered to the bones of those who failed to leave it.
But tonight—
It waited.
Not in menace.
In reverence.
A boy entered.
Small.Thin.Eyes sharp like a blade half-forged.
Not from any village.Not wearing any headband.
He didn't speak.
Didn't breathe hard.
He just walked—like he'd been here before in dreams.
Or nightmares.
Behind him followed five more.
Each different.
One with cracked glasses and shaking hands.One with metal arms and silent footsteps.One with scars over his eyes but never his hope.One with a stitched mouth that never smiled.And one who couldn't speak… but understood everything.
They were nobodies.
But they moved like fate had tied them together.
They stopped at the old tower—Where proctors once watched exams.Where monsters once bled.
It was in ruin.
But it wasn't empty.
A figure waited.
Seated on a low stone.
Tall. Calm. Silent.
Menma.
He didn't look like a leader.
He looked like a mirror.
One that reflected what each of them tried to hide.
"You came," he said.
The boy with the scars stepped forward. "You called."
"I didn't send a message."
"Didn't have to."
Menma stood.
Took out a map.
Laid it down.
Not of the countries.Not of the continents.
Just of wounds.
Spots where pain lingered.Villages left broken.Places erased from history books.
"We're not saving the world," Menma said.
They listened.
"We're not heroes."
Silence.
"We're just the ones who won't leave things broken."
The one with the stitched mouth chuckled.
Soundless. Dry.
Finally, the mute boy raised a hand.
Pointed to a red mark on the map.
A former ROOT facility.
Now a trafficker's den.
Menma nodded.
"Then we start there."
He rolled the map.
Turned.
The forest watched.
The wind listened.
As six nobodies walked into the trees.
No flags.No banners.No legends behind them.
But above them—
On a broken branch—
A thread shimmered.
Just one.
Gold.
Thin.
Leading forward.
And far away, beyond the lands known to shinobi—
In the Library That Remembers—
Naruto stood.
His cloak flickered.
He touched the string that hummed like a heartbeat.
"They're moving," he said.
Beside him, Sasuke leaned against a floating shelf.
"You sure they're ready?"
"Nope," Naruto grinned. "But neither were we."
Sasuke scoffed.
"…They'll die."
"Maybe."
"And you're okay with that?"
Naruto's voice dropped.
"Not okay.But if they don't try…Then what was I for?"
Sasuke looked at the golden thread.
Shook his head.
And smiled.
"You really never stopped being the idiot, huh?"
Naruto looked up.
The stars above the void blinked back.
"I stopped being a shinobi," he said.
"I became a spark."
And with that—
The world spun forward again.
Faster.Wilder.Fairer.
Because six nameless kids decided not to wait for legends.
They became something better—
The reminder.
That no matter how broken something gets…
It's still worth picking up.
—End of Chapter 97—