Chapter 392: The Origin of the "Gozu Tennō" Plan
This time, when Kiba excitedly proposed that conclusion again, no one refuted him.
There was simply no way around it. The evidence was piling up.
"It seems we're on the right track. The real culprit is deliberately hiding things, preventing others from finding the owner of that… thing. And that, in itself, proves it's the key."
Shikamaru clenched his fist, his face full of excitement.
He was about to become the one and only king of the Nara clan, the King of Slacking!
Sleeping, drinking tea, playing shogi… the life of retirement was waving at him.
"It's a pity that that Akatsuki member just now alerted the enemy. Otherwise, Akamaru could've followed the scent directly to the target."
Shino nodded.
"Heh, who said the grass was startled? The one who got moved was just Deidara. That Impure World Reincarnation body part likely wasn't moved at all."
"Once Deidara was relocated, there was no longer any threat to that flying 'thing' heading back. In that case, Uchiha Sasuke had no need to use his ability again."
"If I'm not mistaken, using that ability once probably consumes a significant amount of chakra."
At some point, Shigaraki Tanuki appeared behind them again, arms crossed.
"Shigaraki Tanuki-san, you're back?"
"Mm."
He nodded calmly, but inside, he was overjoyed.
Just now, he had handed over all the results of the "Gozu Tennō Plan" that Danzō had ordered him to research to Orochimaru. In return, he received a large amount of contribution points, enough to call his wife over, provide some cells, and have a daughter.
As for why he didn't hand the Gozu Tennō materials over to Konoha?
Isn't that obvious?
In the original timeline, Shigaraki Tanuki had already been planning to defect. Even though Konoha had changed somewhat now, Danzō's faction still ended up dead, just with an extra "peach incident" involving Sai before that.
There was no way Tanuki would suddenly change his stance just because of that.
On the contrary, Orochimaru had once collaborated with Danzō.
And in Tanuki's view, Orochimaru and Danzō were both "dark" types, sharing many similarities.
If he handed the Gozu Tennō Plan to the current Hokage, Tsunade, not only might it not count as leniency, it could even result in harsher punishment.
At the same time, this plan was his life's work.
If left in Konoha, Tsunade would most likely shelve it entirely.
Better to give it to Orochimaru, whom he was certain would be interested.
And indeed, Orochimaru valued the plan highly, granting him plenty of contribution points, enough to custom-create a daughter, with some left over to even perform an Impure World Reincarnation if he wished.
Of course, Tanuki had no one he wanted to resurrect.
Not even Danzō, whom he once served.
He'd rather use the remaining points as money and improve his quality of life.
"If I'm not mistaken, Uchiha Sasuke has mastered some kind of space-time ninjutsu. That's how he's able to accomplish all these unbelievable feats."
"And this is likely a dōjutsu of the Sharingan, meaning he can activate it with just his gaze, no physical contact required, and it leaves no trace."
After handing over the Gozu Tennō Plan and receiving his reward, Tanuki stopped holding back and directly revealed the key point: space-time ninjutsu.
While Tanuki was explaining things to the younger group, elsewhere, in the laboratory, Orochimaru called Shiromo over after obtaining the full data.
"Shiromo-kun, take a look at this."
Orochimaru smiled and gestured.
"..."
Shiromo looked at the core of the Gozu Tennō Plan and felt speechless.
As expected, Shigaraki Tanuki had come to Orochimaru and offered everything he had researched.
However…
In the original setting, the Gozu Tennō Plan was described as Danzō sending Tanuki to investigate Kaguya's ruins, thereby obtaining space-time ninjutsu technology.
That magical beast, Nue, would normally reside in a separate dimension sealed by Gozu Tennō.
Unfortunately, that space couldn't be freely opened or closed, otherwise, Sumire could've used it like intangibility.
But there had always been a major inconsistency.
Sumire was about the same age as Boruto, meaning she was born several years after the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Sasuke only discovered Kaguya's ruins much later, when he encountered Momoshiki and Kinshiki. Even if he had found them earlier, it wouldn't have been by much.
For confidentiality, Sasuke only coordinated with Naruto. There was no way Tanuki could've learned about it from there.
More importantly, the plan explicitly stated that Danzō was the mastermind.
But Danzō didn't even know who Kaguya was.
So how could he have discovered her ruins and developed space-time ninjutsu?
Now that Shiromo saw the actual data, the answer became clear.
He was truly speechless.
It turned out that "Danzō discovered Kaguya's ruins and obtained space-time ninjutsu" was just a later summary.
It was a conclusion made from the perspective of Naruto and Sasuke during the Boruto era.
Danzō himself never knew any of this before he died. He had no idea it involved Kaguya, nor did he know her identity. Otherwise, he would've taken it far more seriously and personally supervised the project.
So what really happened?
Danzō did indeed find ruins related to Kaguya.
But not the high-level ruins Sasuke later discovered.
These were relics from the period after Kaguya first arrived on Earth, up until she became the progenitor of chakra and was sealed.
In other words, Danzō was essentially doing archaeology somewhere and stumbled upon these things.
There were even ancient murals depicting the "progenitor of chakra."
After thousands of years, the murals were heavily worn, and their artistic style differed greatly.
Danzō recorded key information about space-time ninjutsu from them. Seeing that the figure in the murals, Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, had two horn-like protrusions (rabbit ears), he thought they resembled ox horns.
Combined with her godlike appearance in the murals, he arbitrarily named her "Gozu Tennō."
Thus, the plan to research space-time sealing techniques was named the Gozu Tennō Plan.
Honestly.
Shiromo could only feel relieved that Danzō was dead, and that Kaguya wasn't around.
If both of them had been alive, and Kaguya found out she had somehow been given the nickname "Ox-Headed Heavenly King", Danzō, the ultimate scapegoat, would've gained yet another enemy.
Meanwhile…
After Tanuki finished explaining space-time ninjutsu and its connection to the incident, the group followed Akamaru and arrived near the "Love Cabin" where Naruto, Sasuke, Hashirama, and Madara had been.
There was no longer a Chibaku Tensei here, and the house had been repaired. Senju Tobirama had also regained normal mobility.
All of this was thanks to Hashirama's efforts after returning that day.
Naruto and Sasuke were nowhere to be seen. Perhaps Sasuke, to stabilize his Rinnegan and replenish himself, had once again used genjutsu on Naruto.
"Woof woof."
Akamaru barked and ran toward Senju Tobirama.
"?"
Tobirama looked at the dog running toward him, confused, not understanding what was happening.
(End of this chapter)