New Friends

"Hehe, then thank you, Lord Orochimaru. I wonder, is there any specific intelligence you desire? I can offer you the right to choose. Whether it is the First Hokage's cells, the secrets of the Sharingan, or how to cure Kimmimaro's illness—as long as you wish to know, I can tell you. But only one." The child chuckled.

Orochimaru asked with interest, "You seem to truly possess a great deal of information." "That goes without saying. How could I dare to trade with Lord Orochimaru without being prepared?" the child replied confidently.

"Then I shall ask one question: why does something like chakra exist in this world?" Orochimaru asked, intrigued.

The child was visibly surprised before saying, "As expected of Lord Orochimaru, a single question that strikes at the very heart of this world. However, I am curious—why would you ask such a thing? Ordinary people would never pose such a question."

Orochimaru laughed softly, "It is nothing, just curiosity."

After observing Orochimaru for a moment, the child said, "If you were to ask anyone else this, you might never receive an answer, but I truly know. However, are you certain you want to use this intelligence for our trade? It will be of no practical help to you."

Orochimaru's face showed excitement. "There are too many things in this world that remain unknown to men. Pursuing the truth behind these things is my life's ambition. If you truly have information on this, that is exactly what I wish to know."

The masked child looked at Orochimaru and said, "If this is what you desire, I can tell you. Chakra originates from a woman. Before she appeared, there was no such thing as chakra in this world."

"Oh, a woman? What kind of woman?" Orochimaru asked curiously.

"Do not be impatient, Lord Orochimaru. Please, hear me out," the masked child said calmly.

"Hehe, I am being impatient. Proceed," Orochimaru replied.

The masked child studied Orochimaru for a moment before continuing, "A woman from another world, named Kaguya Otsutsuki, along with a God Tree she brought with her.

This woman bore two children with a man of this world: the elder brother, Hagoromo Otsutsuki, and the younger brother, Hamura Otsutsuki.

Later, these two brothers sealed their mother away. The younger brother stayed to guard the sealed mother, while the elder brother traveled the world, distributing the chakra he inherited from her to humanity.

He hoped that chakra would bring peace to the world, as it could connect the hearts of people. I believe you have already guessed who that brother is, Lord Orochimaru.

Yes, it is the Sage of Six Paths. And the source of chakra is his mother—the princess of the Otsutsuki clan, the master of the God Tree, the Progenitor of Chakra, the mother of the Sage of Six Paths: Kaguya Otsutsuki. This is the intelligence you desired."

Orochimaru was so stunned he could not speak. He knew what this mysterious child said was true, for he had searched through countless ruins and ancient texts, and from those records, he had gleaned as much.

It was indeed true that the Sage of Six Paths' mother obtained chakra after eating a fruit, and later, the Sage distributed it to the masses.

Yet, there were many details he had lacked, which this child knew as if he had witnessed them firsthand.

"Lord Orochimaru, are you alright?" Kabuto Yakushi asked from the side, concerned.

Only when Kabuto interrupted his thoughts did he snap back to reality and smile. "The information you provided is very helpful. As for the trade, I shall give you what you require. This is the secret technique of the Impure World Reincarnation; it contains the method for summoning souls that you desire."

Orochimaru pulled a scroll from his sleeve, tossed it to the masked child, and left with Kabuto.

After obtaining the scroll for the Impure World Reincarnation, the masked child muttered, "We shall meet again, Lord Orochimaru. Hehe, hahaha." With a burst of black light, the masked child vanished amidst his laughter, as if he had never been there at all.

Ever since obtaining Minato's Flying Thunder God technique, Naruto had placed a seal in a secluded corner of the academy, using the technique to arrive there every day. Because it was hidden, no one had ever discovered it. But today, when Naruto arrived via the Flying Thunder God, he found a child staring blankly at him.

Naruto sized him up and asked, "Who are you, and why are you here?" The child seemed timid and tried to run, but before he could take a few steps, Naruto caught him with the Adamantine Sealing Chains. Once captured, the child began to cry incessantly, and the sky began to rain. It took a great deal of effort for Naruto to calm him down.

In a secluded corner of the Hokage Rock in Konoha, Naruto and the child were eating ice cream together. "No more crying after you finish the ice cream, okay? It's not becoming for a boy to be a crybaby. By the way, what is your name? I'm Naruto Uzumaki," Naruto said to the child.

Upon hearing Naruto, the child thought for a moment and said, "My name is Yota. Shikamaru, Ino, and the others won't let me into the village, but I was really lonely in the forest, so I ran out."

"Did you say your name is Yota?" Naruto asked. He remembered that when he was young, he had a friend named Yota who could control the weather, who had seemingly been left behind after being summoned by Orochimaru's Impure World Reincarnation.

Thinking of this, Naruto said, "Yota, how about I teach you how to whistle?" "Okay, okay! Whistling!" Yota was delighted that Naruto wanted to teach him.

Naruto and Yota practiced whistling. Meanwhile, Shikamaru, Choji, Ino, Sakura, and Kiba were frantically searching for Yota, but they couldn't find him anywhere.

"Wait, I remember Yota saying earlier that he met Naruto in the village. Could it be that Naruto captured Yota?" Shikamaru wondered aloud.

Hearing Shikamaru's suspicion, Ino replied, "No way, Naruto doesn't even know Yota, and that guy is so antisocial, he shouldn't even know Yota isn't from the village."

"But Yota only met him once," Sakura added.

Ino thought for a moment and said, "Still, that guy is scary. I don't really want to interact with him."

Kiba then said, "Regardless, we have to go. If Yota really was captured by him, that would be trouble."

Shikamaru agreed, "Kiba is right. Let's go find him together."

"If you are talking about a child from another village wearing tattered clothes, I know where he is," a voice suddenly interjected. Shikamaru and the others turned toward the source of the sound to see Shino emerging from the woods.

Shikamaru looked at Shino and asked, "Shino, have you really seen Yota? Where is he?"

Shino looked at the group and said, "I have seen him, but he is from another village. Is it really a good idea for you to be doing this?"

Sakura replied, "Even though Yota isn't from the village, he is our friend. Please, Shino, tell us."

Seeing the look in their eyes, Shino knew he couldn't dissuade them and said, "I saw him with Naruto on top of the Hokage Rock, it looks like they are eating ice cream."

Shikamaru and the others were stunned. They had assumed that if Naruto had taken Yota, he would have handed him over to the village's Anbu. But from Shino's words, it seemed Naruto hadn't turned Yota in, but had instead become friends with him, just like they had.

"Regardless, we have no choice but to go find Naruto," Shikamaru said helplessly. In the end, the group set off to find Naruto together.

Naruto and Yota were still practicing their whistling, and Yota had already become quite good at it. As he whistled, a warm breeze began to swirl around them.

"So you really are here. You made us look for quite a while," Naruto heard a complaint. He turned his head to see Sasuke and Hinata walking toward him.

"It's not like I didn't look for you first, Sasuke. Since when did you become so petty?" Naruto smiled and looked at Hinata. "Hinata, you're here." "Yes, Naruto-kun," Hinata replied softly, still very shy.

"Naruto-kun, who is this?" Hinata asked, noticing Yota sitting beside Naruto.

Sasuke also looked at Yota, his brow furrowing slightly as he said, "An outsider."

"Heh, Sasuke, you're still as sensitive as ever. That's right, he's a new friend I met named Yota, but he's not a bad person, so there's no need to be afraid. Yota, these are my best friend Sasuke and the person I love most, Hinata."

When Hinata heard Naruto call her the person he loved most, her face turned beet red, and she politely said to Yota, "Hello, my name is Hinata Hyuga. It's a pleasure to meet you, Yota-kun."

"Heh, I'm also very happy to meet you, Hinata," Yota replied happily. Sasuke said coldly, "My name is Sasuke Uchiha." "It's a pleasure to meet you too, Sasuke." Even though Sasuke was cold, Yota was still very happy.

At this moment, Shikamaru and the others arrived. Seeing that Yota was safe and sound, they set their minds at ease, ran over, and surrounded Yota, asking questions all at once.

Seeing that everyone cared about him so much, Yota was very happy and said to Shikamaru and the others, "Shikamaru, Sakura, Ino, everyone, these are my new friends Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata. I'm really happy; I have new friends again."

Shikamaru looked at Naruto and Sasuke and said, "Thank you both for not handing Yota over to the village."

"Heh, Shikamaru, you're really being a stranger. We're all friends, what's there to thank? Besides, Yota is my friend too," Naruto replied with a chuckle.

Seeing Naruto's smiling face, Shikamaru was slightly stunned before he also smiled, "That's true, I was being too formal."

This was his first time seeing Naruto's face. In his imagination, Naruto should have been a very cold person, just like Sasuke, but he didn't expect Naruto's appearance to be not cold at all; he was very sunny, just like the sun. And he was also very gentle.

Actually, it wasn't just Shikamaru who felt this way; everyone felt the same. Especially Ino and Sakura—in their impression, Naruto should have been a terrifying and cruel person, but they didn't expect him to be such a handsome, gentle, and sunny person.

Ino felt a slight regret in her heart, It's a pity that Naruto's heart already belongs to Hinata.

At this time, Yota grabbed Naruto with one hand and Shikamaru with the other, laughing happily, "Naruto, Shikamaru, everyone, let's go play together!" After saying that, he happily pulled Naruto and Shikamaru along as they started walking, and the rest of the group followed behind, all of them letting out happy laughter from the bottom of their hearts.