"Sasuke, you know Naruto's personality well too. This matter can only be left in your hands."
Orochimaru entrusted this task to Sasuke with great solemnity.
"But you don't need to worry. I'm not asking you to stay entangled like this for the rest of your life. You only need to maintain this state until Lord Second and I develop a way to transfer this hidden chakra.
From the fact that the reanimated First Hokage still exists, and Madara Uchiha's Rinnegan did not disappear, we can see that Indra's and Asura's chakra are merely two keys used to unlock the Rinnegan.
It's just like how two Mangekyō Sharingan are the keys to unlocking Susanoo.
Once it has been unlocked, even if the Mangekyō are later lost, Susanoo can still be used.
Likewise, Indra's chakra has already reincarnated into you, Sasuke, yet Madara's Rinnegan still exists.
Based on that, once you awaken the Rinnegan, even if you later lose Indra's chakra, it won't have any effect on you."
"That's good."
After hearing Orochimaru explain it like that, Sasuke immediately let out a sigh of relief.
Even though Sasuke had already prepared himself mentally to shoulder this burden, he still couldn't guarantee that he could indefinitely maintain this state of entanglement with Naruto.
This wasn't something that could be maintained on the surface alone. It had to be genuinely maintained in the heart.
It might be controllable for a short while, but over a long period of time, who could guarantee it?
"Sasuke-kun, according to the research conclusions reached by Lord Second and myself, Indra's and Asura's chakra have certain characteristics, so there is a little trick here."
Orochimaru handed Sasuke a small slip of paper.
Sasuke took it and stuffed it straight into his pocket without even looking at it.
Even though Naruto craned his neck curiously from the side, he still saw nothing.
"I've arranged a place for the two of you outside the village. You can stay there and train for now."
Orochimaru intended to keep the two of them here.
The Land of Rain wasn't large, but its population density was also very low.
There were barely any people in the areas outside Amegakure.
Which made it perfect for Naruto and Sasuke's upcoming "improvement training."
If they went back to Konoha, it would be too easy for outside interference to affect them.
Konoha had the Byakugan, the Inuzuka clan, the Aburame clan—far too many sensory and intelligence-type shinobi.
The state of the bond between those two would be far too easy to notice.
Some people might think, so what if people notice? What's the big deal?
But that wasn't actually the case.
Naruto and Sasuke looked like they were overflowing with bond energy, yet whenever that bond was actually triggered, the two of them would show obvious resistance.
Like the first time Naruto and Sasuke kissed in class—both of them had looked like they wanted to throw up.
The second time, when their hands got stuck together and they kissed again, their resistance was clearly smaller, but they still expressed displeasure.
And more recently, during the time Naruto had teamed up with Sai, Naruto had shown strong resistance to Sai getting close and acting physically familiar.
What did that indicate?
Orochimaru felt that Naruto and Sasuke were not the sort of people who liked same-sex intimacy in general.
On the contrary, they were resistant to it.
They didn't like men.
It was simply that the person they liked just happened to be a man.
They would still resist outwardly affectionate behavior—unless... there was no one else around to see it.
So Orochimaru had prepared a private area for them.
...
Naruto and Sasuke arrived at the residence Orochimaru had prepared.
After the shinobi who had led them there left, Sasuke shut the iron door with a bang.
"So how does training work around Orochimaru's place, anyway? You're familiar with it, Sasuke, so tell me about it."
Naruto dropped onto the sofa and looked at Sasuke.
But Sasuke didn't answer. He just stared at Naruto.
Naruto felt his scalp go numb from the stare.
"How about I just go train with Pervy Sage instead..."
As he said that, Naruto stood up and started toward the door.
"You can't leave."
One of Sasuke's hands pressed against the door, while the other covered one eye.
"Naruto, the name of my Mangekyō ability is Heavenly Fox. It can photograph people and things from a thousand miles away..."
Sasuke first explained his ability.
Then, while Naruto wore a confused expression, a "photo" appeared on the iron door.
A moment later, another photo appeared.
In total, four images were reproduced, almost like a four-panel comic.
"Jiraiya is busy right now. He doesn't have time to supervise your training."
Sasuke lowered his hands, signaling that Naruto only needed one look to understand.
"Wh-what?!"
Looking at the Jiraiya in the photos, Naruto was utterly shocked, as though he had been betrayed!
While trembling, he pointed at the image of Jiraiya and cried out, "Pervy Sage is obviously my teacher, but he stole my ninjutsu!!!"
In the photos, Jiraiya was holding a filthy book in one hand, grinning obscenely, acting like some kind of legendary pervert about to ejaculate.
After completing his "takeoff mission," Jiraiya successfully entered Sage Mode, looking absolutely thrilled!
That's right.
After learning from the disciple of the Number One Unpredictable Ninja about the shortcut to Sage Mode, Jiraiya had, unsurprisingly, chosen to continue his "persistent training."
For the first time in his life, Jiraiya discovered that training could be this pleasurable, and he couldn't help but become immersed in it!
And in this regard, compared to Naruto, Jiraiya had a very clear advantage.
Naruto had the Uzumaki clan's physique, plus a young and durable body, which was why he needed multiple shadow clones to help him enter Sage Mode.
But Jiraiya was different.
He had no special physique.
He was no longer young.
And after years of roaming around, worn down by drink and lust, he had long since reached the age where his rivers ran dry and even an iron pestle could be ground into a needle.
So even without shadow clones, Jiraiya could enter Sage Mode very quickly!
"Damn you, Pervy Sage! Damn it all!"
For the first time, Naruto felt the pain of having his copyright violated.
Especially since the one violating his "copyright" was his own master, Jiraiya.
If word got out later, everyone would definitely assume Jiraiya had taught him, rather than Jiraiya having learned it from him.
"Naruto."
Sasuke called out.
"What is it?"
Naruto instinctively raised his head and met Sasuke's Mangekyō Sharingan, immediately jolting in surprise.
Why was Sasuke suddenly activating his eye at a time like this?
Before Naruto could react, he had already fallen under a genjutsu.
Sasuke's Mangekyō ability wasn't a genjutsu-type dōjutsu, but that didn't stop him from using ordinary Sharingan genjutsu.
And even ordinary Sharingan genjutsu, when empowered by the ocular strength of the Eternal Mangekyō, became extremely terrifying.
Still, before using genjutsu on Naruto, Sasuke had hesitated.
Because he wasn't sure whether it would work on Naruto.
As for Naruto—
Even after being caught in the illusion, he wasn't worried in the slightest.
"Sasuke, you idiot. Don't tell me you actually think genjutsu works on me?"
Naruto smugly said to Sasuke from within the genjutsu.
Killer B had told him before that genjutsu was ineffective against a perfect jinchūriki.
Because a jinchūriki had two consciousnesses.
If the jinchūriki was trapped in genjutsu, the Tailed Beast could easily pull them out of it.
"Haha, Kurama, I'm leaving it to you."
Naruto called out toward the depths of his mind.
Of course, he believed that even if he didn't call, Kurama was surely already preparing to break the genjutsu.
However...
"..."
"Kurama?"
Naruto panicked.
Why the hell wasn't the Nine-Tails answering him?
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