Chapter 768: The Sly Snake Wins Again!
At Eida’s insistent request, after declining three times, Naruto reluctantly accepted the Senrigan.
It felt like, "You guys are really troubling me."
"Sasuke, what do you think?"
"You decide. I don’t mind."
Sasuke glanced at Eida and Daemon. Daemon immediately shrank back, hiding behind his sister, not daring to meet Sasuke’s gaze.
Considering the threat level of the siblings’ Divine Techniques, Sasuke had indeed thought about eliminating them outright.
However, since they owed Naruto a debt and were willing to join Konoha, Sasuke couldn’t bear to destroy them and could only agree.
Whatever personal issues existed, in public, Sasuke always gave Naruto enough face as Hokage.
"But since they’re new to the village, someone needs to guide and manage them," Sasuke proactively suggested. Guidance, in truth, meant surveillance.
"..." Eida was speechless, unsure of what to say.
Konoha was already destroyed, and rebuilding would take who-knows-how-long—guidance for what?
But compared to Isshiki’s cruel use-and-discard approach, this supervision and guidance proved Sasuke genuinely considered accepting them.
Otherwise, why bother with surveillance?
Just find an excuse to kick them out, disguise as bandits, and kill them on the road.
"Who should be assigned to guide them?" Naruto asked Sasuke.
Sasuke initially wanted to do it himself.
But considering Naruto now had the Senrigan, no information in the ninja world could be hidden from him. Eida and Daemon likely wouldn’t cause major issues, so he didn’t need to oversee them personally.
"You choose. Preferably someone in the know—their abilities shouldn’t be known by too many."
"Alright! Let me think..." Naruto hesitated briefly, then slapped his head and decided.
"Kawaki, it’s decided—you’ll do it!"
As a fellow former Kara member, assigning Kawaki to guide Eida and Daemon in integrating into Konoha was undoubtedly the most fitting.
As for Kawaki’s loyalty to him and Konoha?
Was that even in question?
"Hmm? Kawaki?"
Seeing no response, Naruto turned and realized.
Behind them, Kawaki was trying to wake Boruto and looked confused hearing Naruto’s call.
"Huh?"
"What are you doing?"
"I’m trying to wake Boruto..."
"Oh, it’s fine. Boruto might need a bit more time to wake. I’m assigning you as the village guide. For the near future, you’ll be responsible for guiding Eida and Daemon to join Konoha. Can you do it, Kawaki?"
Kawaki glanced at Eida smiling at him, instinctively feeling his scalp tingle.
It felt like his adoptive father was pushing him into a tiger’s den, but since it was Naruto’s request, Kawaki wouldn’t refuse.
At worst, he’d just grit his teeth and endure it.
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"Alright."
"You siblings, any objections?" Naruto asked Eida.
Eida’s eyes sparkled—not only did she have no objections, she was thrilled, or rather, this was exactly what she wanted!
"No objections, none at all."
"Kawaki-kun, please guide us going forward!" Eida approached, extending her hand with a smile toward Kawaki.
Kawaki turned away, his expression sour and displeased; this woman would only slow his sword-drawing speed!
Utterly useless compared to Boruto.
But in front of Naruto, Kawaki still extended his hand to shake Eida’s as a gesture of friendliness.
However, the moment their hands touched.
A reddish-brown Kama mark rapidly appeared on Kawaki’s arm, as if forcibly activated!
Kawaki clutched his arm in pain, collapsing and curling up.
"This?"
"Isshiki’s Ōtsutsuki Kama?"
"He’s dead—how can it still cause trouble?" Naruto was shocked, rushing to Kawaki.
Sasuke frowned, asking, "Wasn’t the Kama on Kawaki’s body supposed to be gone? Why’s it still there?"
Naruto: "Isshiki briefly captured Kawaki before. When I arrived, he was carving a Kama mark on him."
"But in such a short time, he shouldn’t have had enough to carve a complete Kama?"
"If it was complete, he wouldn’t have needed to capture Boruto..." Sasuke frowned, glaring at Eida.
Eida was startled, quickly raising her hands to signal it had nothing to do with her.
Especially Sasuke’s sudden sharp gaze made her heart shiver.
"Maybe Isshiki left some secret jutsu or backup plan in Eida, causing the Kama to activate and complete itself after she touched Kawaki..." Minato speculated.
Having obtained the complete Ōtsutsuki Kama secret jutsu, though not fully understood, he could roughly assess a thing or two.
The chance of Eida herself being the issue was low; otherwise, she wouldn’t have kept helping their side.
"So what now?"
"Dad, do you have a way?"
Seeing the Kama mark on Kawaki’s body grow darker, even starting to transform into Second Stage Kama with horns sprouting, Naruto grew more anxious.
No matter how strong he was, in this completely foreign field of biological jutsu, he was clueless, unable to think of a solution.
"Sorry, once a Kama is fully activated, it’s nearly impossible to reverse."
"But Isshiki’s dead. Even if the Kama’s complete, he shouldn’t revive."
"Unless Isshiki stored part of his consciousness in Kawaki’s Kama beforehand."
"Then, though he can’t fully revive, he could forcibly control Kawaki’s body..." Minato explained.
He wasn’t entirely certain, but this was likely Isshiki’s backup plan.
"So Kawaki could end up like Boruto, controlled by Isshiki at any time?"
"Yes."
Naruto looked frustrated. He didn’t expect that after thoroughly killing Isshiki, the enemy could still cause such trouble—disgusting!
"Lord, do you have a way? Kawaki, he..." Naruto could only turn to Lux, hoping the Lord could save Kawaki.
Otherwise, with Boruto and Kawaki potentially turning Ōtsutsuki at any moment, who could handle it?
Hearing this, Lux wasn’t in a rush.
He deliberately reminded them:
"No need to hurry—observe Kawaki closely."
"Hm?"
They all looked at Kawaki in confusion, then suddenly noticed something odd.
As the Kama activated and erupted, it seemed to trigger something else.
Soon, black comma-shaped patterns emerged from Kawaki’s neck, gradually spreading across his body, appearing beneath the Kama’s skin layer.
"This?!!!"
Naruto and Sasuke, familiar with it, instantly recognized the black patterns—undoubtedly Orochimaru’s Curse Seal!
At the same time, Kawaki’s curled-up body trembled in increasing pain.
As if two terrifying forces were battling and clashing inside him, causing unbearable agony.
But soon, an unexpected change occurred.
Kawaki’s left arm suddenly swelled and burst, milky-white Orochimaru cells expanding wildly, spreading outward, gradually forming a massive Yamata no Orochi!
Even the expanding snake cells carried the Kama on Kawaki’s left arm!
"This... Yamata no Orochi?"
Naruto exclaimed in shock, and those around him jumped back, giving ample space for the expanding Yamata no Orochi.
The scene was strikingly similar to when Orochimaru nested in Sasuke’s body, using it to activate Yamata no Orochi.
Of course, compared to then, the curse seal and Yamata no Orochi technology now were undoubtedly more advanced and perfected!
Soon, the Yamata no Orochi fully formed.
One snake head opened its mouth wide, and a figure unforgettable to all Konoha ninjas slithered out disgustingly.
"Orochimaru!!!"
Orochimaru emerged from the Yamata no Orochi’s mouth, greeting everyone with a smile:
"Yo, everyone’s here?"
"How’s it going!"
"Such a grand welcome—do you all miss this Orochimaru so much?"
Clearly, when Lux activated Rinne Tensei no Jutsu, he didn’t revive Orochimaru; he wasn’t dead, so no revival was needed.
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"Oh, so that’s it—you did leave a mark in Kawaki’s body," Sasuke snorted softly, muttering as if used to it.
When he found Orochimaru biting Kawaki and deliberately leaving a curse seal, he’d suspected as much.
Sure enough, with the Sly Snake’s character, seeing Kawaki as such a perfect reincarnation vessel, it’d be odd if he could resist.
Even if he couldn’t seize the body, he couldn’t resist taking a bite!
"Oh! So Kawaki had Orochimaru’s curse seal long ago..." Naruto activated Senrigan, instantly peering into past information, learning the timeline of Orochimaru giving Kawaki the curse seal.
At the same time, Orochimaru fully emerged from the snake’s mouth, his slime-covered body hitting the ground, but he didn’t care, smiling excitedly:
"Naruto-kun and Sasuke-kun, have my memories recovered?"
"You really won!"
"Seems a lot happened while I was ’dead’!"
Orochimaru saw Naruto and Sasuke’s Rinnegans, the Minato couple, and Tenshou Sennin.
With Omnipotence canceled and memories restored, Orochimaru naturally guessed the truth.
As expected, he hadn’t bet wrong.
In the ninja world, no matter how many times he bet on Naruto and Sasuke, he’d always win!
This Orochimaru was the ninja world’s top investment expert!
"Don’t talk about that—how’s Kawaki?"
"Kawaki? Relax, he’s fine..." Orochimaru controlled the Yamata no Orochi to move, fully separating from Kawaki’s body.
Kawaki’s left arm was completely gone, swallowed and assimilated by the Yamata no Orochi; simultaneously, the Kama previously carved on it also vanished entirely.
And it all transferred to the Yamata no Orochi’s body!
"This? What’s going on?"
Orochimaru smiled proudly, then explained.
Initially, the curse seal he left wasn’t meant to activate now.
But stimulated by Isshiki’s Kama, as it began vying for Kawaki’s body, could Orochimaru’s curse seal stay idle?
Of course, it activated and fought passively.
But mid-battle, Orochimaru found the Kama’s power level was higher, unbeatable. If the fight continued, Kawaki’s body would collapse.
So he changed strategy, activating Yamata no Orochi to separate from Kawaki’s body.
During separation, Orochimaru also tricked the Kama in Kawaki’s body.
If the Kama was carved first, even if Orochimaru later planted the curse seal, he couldn’t remove it.
But since Orochimaru planted the curse seal first?
The curse seal wrapped Kawaki, the vessel, in a thin layer, and the Kama Isshiki later carved was like being etched on that layer!
When Orochimaru finally used Yamata no Orochi to remove the curse seal, it also took the Kama with it.
Though this cost Kawaki an arm, a minor injury like a lost arm was no big deal.
For Orochimaru, for Six Paths Naruto now, it was nothing!
"So that’s it! Isshiki’s final scheme was outplayed by you?" Naruto’s head spun hearing it, unable to grasp the high-level genius scientist world.
But he could see the result.
Who’d have thought the Ōtsutsuki clan’s advanced technology would lose to a forbidden native ninja world technique?
A bit too cunning, no?
"Just a fluke. In the end, they underestimated ninja world technology. Forbidden jutsu, sealing jutsu, space-time ninjutsu... and more. Though our chakra control isn’t as good, in some fields, I won’t lose to the Ōtsutsuki!" Orochimaru said proudly and gleefully. As the ninja world’s top biological scientist, he had this confidence.
"In short, Kawaki’s fine, right?"
"He’s fine." Minato stepped forward, checking the unconscious Kawaki, confirming the Kama was completely removed.
"Then the Kama in this creature’s body..." Naruto looked up at the Yamata no Orochi. He could clearly see many red and black Kama marks on one of its massive snake heads.
Amid the ferocity, there was a touch of absurdity and amusement.
How did this happen?
"Hokage, can I study this thing?" Orochimaru asked with a smile.
He’d long coveted the Ōtsutsuki clan’s Kama technology.
Such a rare test subject—how could he let it go?
Forcibly removing the Kama from Kawaki wasn’t just for Kawaki but also for himself.
"This... alright. But please be careful studying it!" Naruto hesitated briefly, then agreed.
Orochimaru was a major hero in this battle and saved Kawaki.
Now he requested research materials—how could that be denied?
Besides, with his Senrigan, if anything happened, he could appear instantly and destroy it!
"Good, good, good!"
"I’ll take good care of it... no, I mean, treat this valuable test subject well." Orochimaru licked his lips hard, his excited, creepy smile enough to scare kids to tears.
Naruto and the others couldn’t help but shiver.
Isshiki couldn’t revive, at best only controlling the Kama’s host.
So next time he awoke, he’d realize he was a white snake, thoroughly humiliated in Orochimaru’s lab?
Naruto didn’t dare think further—it was too wild!
But if it really came to that, he felt oddly satisfied?
No, no, he couldn’t be swayed by Orochimaru again...
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Naruto lifted the unconscious Kawaki, activating Six Paths power to regenerate and heal his arm.
Such a minor injury was too easy for him.
Seeing the issues here resolved, Lux didn’t linger.
Konoha’s future rebuilding and concrete steps to gradually unite the world could be left to Naruto and Sasuke.
"Naruto."
"Lord, I’m ready!"
"The world on Minato’s side is also nearly unified—you can exchange experiences." Lux handed a pair of space-time wind chimes to Minato from Parallel World 4 and Naruto from Parallel World 7.
With Minato’s world unification example in Parallel World 4, he was confident Naruto in Parallel World 7 wouldn’t do too badly; even just copying was enough.
"Huh? Dad’s becoming a Daimyo too?"
"Not a Daimyo, it’s different..." Minato hurriedly explained, fearing he’d mislead Naruto.
"Alright, you guys continue talking."
"One hour from now, Minato, Kushina, I’ll take you back."
Minato: "Thank you, Lord!"
Kushina: "Thank you, Lord!"
*WHOOSH!*
Lux teleported and vanished, returning to his starting point space.
After all, two Kaguyas were waiting for him there!