Although Naruto had decided to revive his parents first, there were still things he had to finish before that. For one, he had to reach the fourth level of the Demon Dragon Nine Transformations. Fortunately, though he had failed to eliminate Thanatos, pushing himself beyond his limits twice in a row had brought him a new breakthrough in strength. He could feel the bottleneck that had long held him back finally beginning to loosen. Naruto believed that, given a week, he could break through the third level and reach the fourth.
Naruto looked at Jiraiya and said, "All right, Pervy Sage, stop worrying. Once I reach the fourth level of the Demon Dragon Nine Transformations, I'll return to Konoha and revive my parents. I feel like I'm close to a breakthrough. We didn't manage to finish him off this time, but it loosened the bottleneck at the third level that's been troubling me for so long. I'm sure I can reach the fourth level in another week, and then we'll go back. I think my parents would want the first thing they see after coming back to life to be the village they know."
Hearing that Naruto was about to break through from the third level to the fourth, Jiraiya was happy for him. The Misfortune Aura surrounding Naruto was precisely why he had not returned. Once he reached the fourth level, he would be able to absorb it completely.
Jiraiya nodded. "All right, cultivate here. I'll stand guard and let Tsunade know about Minato and Kushina while I'm at it. I'll also tell her we're returning in a week."
Naruto said nothing more. He merely nodded, then formed a small Tailed Beast Bomb and hurled it at the rock face beside him, blasting out a huge cave. He walked