Soon, the group walked through the streets of Konoha and found a photo studio that was still open.
The owner of the studio was idling when he saw Naruto push the door open and hurried to welcome him.
Under Naruto's arrangement, the group first took a large group photo in front of the studio's background cloth.
Boruto stood in the very center, with Naruto and Hinata on his sides. Karin stood on Naruto's other side. Although Sasuke refused at first, he was eventually dragged into the frame by Naruto, standing silently on the very edge.
After taking the group photo, Naruto asked the owner to take a separate one for Boruto, Hinata, and himself.
The nervous Hinata was pulled next to Boruto by Naruto, while he stood on Boruto's other side.
Immediately after, Karin pulled Hinata over to take a picture and insisted that Naruto join in as well. Naruto stood in the middle, with Karin and Hinata on his left and right.
After taking the photos, the owner brought out the developed pictures from the room.
Karin held the photo of the three of them, looking at it over and over. Afterward, she carefully tucked the photo into her ninja tool pouch.
Hinata held the photo of the three—her, Naruto, and Boruto—and looked at it for a long time. From this angle, Boruto really looked like the child of her and Naruto.
She couldn't help but think of Naruto's joke, her face turning redder and redder.
She carefully put the photo into her ninja tool pouch, placing it together with the Flying Thunder God kunai that Naruto had given her before.
"Hinata, Karin, you two go back first. I'm going to see Boruto and Uncle Chūni off."
Naruto put away his own copy of the photo and said to the two.
Hinata nodded and waved at Boruto and Sasuke. "Boruto-kun, Chūni-san, be careful on your way."
Karin followed, waving as well.
Boruto smiled and waved back at Hinata. "See you next time."
—
Once the two figures disappeared around the street corner, Naruto walked behind Boruto and Sasuke and placed both hands on their shoulders.
"Let's go."
The Flying Thunder God Technique was activated, and the three figures vanished into thin air.
Outside Konoha.
In a forest, with a flash of golden light, Naruto landed with Sasuke and Boruto.
"Alright, there's no one here."
Naruto let go of them and stepped back a few paces to make room.
Sasuke took a palm-sized turtle-shaped object from the inside of his cloak and placed it on the grass.
Karasuki.
A treasure left behind by the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
He and Boruto had come to this world by making contact with this thing.
Karasuki opened its eyes and spoke, "Please state your command."
"Karasuki, take us back to our original time."
Sasuke crouched down and said to Karasuki.
"Understood. Time-space coordinates confirmed, beginning preparations for time-space travel."
The shell on Karasuki's back opened. A soft white light shone from inside and a visible ripple of time spread from Karasuki, wrapping Boruto and Sasuke's bodies within it.
Boruto felt his body being pulled by some force, leaving this time-space.
He turned his head to look at Naruto a few paces away. The scenes of the past few days flooded into his mind.
Although it was only a few short days, this young Dad was completely different from the Dad in his memory, who was always busy after becoming the Hokage, and even when he came home, it was just to eat a quick meal and leave, with very little time to teach him.
"Dad, thank you for teaching me so many Ninjutsu. Flying Thunder God Technique, Fuinjutsu, and those techniques for using Chakra—I will definitely train hard when I go back, and I won't embarrass you." Boruto wiped the corners of his eyes, his voice carrying a hint of a nasal tone.
"Boruto, after you go back, train hard and make yourself stronger."
Naruto looked at the red-eyed Boruto, his tone gentle. "Only when you are strong enough can you protect what you want to protect and master your own destiny."
"Got it, Dad." Boruto nodded, engraving every word of Naruto's into his mind.
Naruto's gaze shifted from Boruto to the glowing Karasuki. "Karasuki, can you record the coordinates of this time-space?"
"I can. However, time-space travel requires the power of the Ōtsutsuki Clan to open the passage, ordinary Chakra cannot drive it." Karasuki answered.
Naruto nodded.
The power of the Ōtsutsuki Clan...
Boruto has Momoshiki's Kāma. When Momoshiki's data fuses with him, opening a time-space passage shouldn't be a problem for Boruto.
"Boruto, if you face a problem you cannot solve, you can come to this time-space to find me."
"Okay, Dad."
"Then, goodbye."
Naruto raised his hand to touch his left eye, pressing his fingertips against the edge of his eye socket.
Sasuke saw Naruto's action, and the events that had just happened in the training room surfaced in his mind. His fingers subconsciously touched his own left eye.
Taking one last look at the Naruto of this space-time, Sasuke took Boruto and turned to step into the passage slowly rotating behind Karasuki.
The two figures were swallowed by white light, and the next second, the time passage abruptly constricted, and the surroundings returned to calm.
Naruto stood where he was, watching the direction in which the two had disappeared.
Kurama said, "Naruto, the expression on that kid named Sasuke didn't seem right when he left. What did you ask him to help with?"
"Nothing, I just borrowed a little something from him." Naruto withdrew his gaze and replied.
"Borrowed? The matter of the Rinnegan?"
Kurama sharply caught onto something.
Naruto didn't answer, just smiling slightly.
Kurama stopped questioning and lay back down on the grass.
Naruto used the Flying Thunder God Technique to lock onto the coordinates of the villa's training room, his figure vanishing from the spot.
Konoha, Naruto's Training Room.
He thought for a moment, then formed hand seals to activate the barrier shrouding the entire house.
After doing all this, he sat in the center of the room. He closed his eyes and sank his consciousness deep into the Sealing Space.
Kurama's body lay in the center of the grassland, its nine tails lazily sweeping back and forth behind it.
Hearing Naruto's footsteps, Kurama opened its eyes.
"Kurama, I'm here."
"What did that Ōtsutsuki named Urashiki leave on you?" Kurama lifted its head from its crossed front paws.
It had seen with its own eyes Urashiki press his palm against Naruto's chest before fading away, and it had also seen that Naruto did not dodge.
"That's a long story."
Naruto walked over to the side of Kurama's head and sat down, leaning back against its fur.
"How so?"
Naruto gathered his thoughts and began from the very beginning, "Remember what I told you before about the Ōtsutsuki Clan planting God Trees on various planets?"
Kurama nodded.
Naruto continued, "In this process, one must first cultivate a God Tree. And the necessary condition for cultivating a God Tree is to let a Ten-Tails consume an Ōtsutsuki. Only then can Ten-Tails evolve into a God Tree, and only then can the God Tree absorb the natural energy of the entire planet to eventually bear a Chakra Fruit."
Kurama's pupils constricted.
Ten-Tails?
It certainly knew about Ten-Tails. It was one of the beings born after Ten-Tails was split into nine parts by the Sage of Six Paths.
But Kurama did not know that the birth of a God Tree required the consumption of an Ōtsutsuki.
"So that's it, Ten-Tails needs to eat an Ōtsutsuki to become a God Tree. For the sake of power, the Ōtsutsuki Clan actually needs to sacrifice their own kin. No wonder you said before that behind every Chakra Fruit lies the life of an Ōtsutsuki."
Naruto said, "I'm not done yet, the main point comes next. Every time a Chakra Fruit is obtained, an Ōtsutsuki must be sacrificed. In the long run, the number of Ōtsutsuki will surely dwindle, and they might even head toward self-extinction."
"But the Ōtsutsuki Clan has been able to run rampant in the Universe for many years because they have long prepared a means to deal with this situation. That is Kāma."
"Kāma?" Kurama's ears perked up.
This was the first time it had heard this word.
"Correct, it's Kāma. Ōtsutsuki can pack and compress all their life data and genetic information into a Kāma, injecting it into a suitable vessel that has been screened. After its implanted into the vessel, it won't activate immediately. Instead, it will slowly decompress over time, bit by bit, infiltrating the vessel's genetic structure."
"When the data is fully decompressed, Kāma will completely overwrite the vessel's genes, transforming the vessel's body entirely into that of an Ōtsutsuki. At that time, the Ōtsutsuki who was killed can be resurrected. This process is irreversible."
"Once the data decompression of Kāma begins, the vessel has no way to stop its own genes from being eroded."
"Then why did you let him carve Kāma onto you? Since you knew how dangerous this thing is, you could have dodged it at the time." There was a hint of unease in Kurama's voice.
"Kurama, don't you think the power of the Ōtsutsuki Clan is interesting?" Naruto smiled.
Kurama was stunned for a moment, then its pupils constricted.
"Could it be that you were doing this on purpose from the very beginning?"
"You have a way to break Kāma, which is why you voluntarily let Urashiki pack up his power and give it to you?"
"Correct. Kurama, let's go, come with me to see Urashiki-rama."
"Urashiki-rama? You are faster at coming up with nicknames than learning Ninjutsu." Kurama snorted and a glimmer of anticipation lit up in its eyes.
***
40 Advanced Chapters on
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