What Do You Want to Eat?

After receiving treatment, Kimimaro coughed twice in discomfort. Realizing how disheveled he looked, he frowned and forcibly stopped himself from coughing, but the blood spilling from the corner of his mouth had already exposed the state of his body.

Kimimaro was filled with resentment and dissatisfaction toward his own condition.

"Kimimaro, if you want to live a little longer, you'd better not use your abilities anymore," Orochimaru said in a seemingly concerned tone, yet there was no emotion in those golden vertical pupils.

Kimimaro did not sense that hint of coldness, but hearing this made him feel as though Orochimaru was about to abandon him. Panic immediately filled his eyes. "Lord Orochimaru, I can still do it! You do not need useless trash by your side. It would be my honor to make one final contribution to you!"

Orochimaru stared straight at Kimimaro with his golden vertical pupils, seemingly lost in thought. After a while, he said, "Then your abilities will be sealed for now. You are not to use them again without my permission!"

"But..."

"I have no use for tools that do not obey," Orochimaru said coldly, frowning.

"Yes!" Kimimaro clenched his fists, then slowly loosened them. He consciously walked into the Nutrient Pod. So this was all he was good for... What a piece of trash!!

Orochimaru was not surprised by Kimimaro's choice, though he could only be treated as a one-time expendable now.

Orochimaru had already changed hideouts many times. He could sense that someone had set their sights on him, though he did not know who. After thinking it over for a long time, Akatsuki seemed the most likely suspect. Could it be that Akatsuki was planning to make a move against him?

But under what circumstances would Akatsuki temporarily give up on the Tailed Beasts to capture him? As Orochimaru pondered it, he began recalling things he had done that might have drawn Akatsuki's attention. Could it be—Impure World Reincarnation?

On his way to the Hokage Building, Might Guy unexpectedly ran into Kakashi. His face immediately lit up with tearful excitement. "Kakashi, it's been so long!!" As he spoke, he gave Kakashi a bear hug.

Kakashi wore his usual dead-fish eyes and a look of utter despair, but then he smiled. "Well, well, it has been a while, Guy. What have you been doing lately?" Even the Genin in the village had been rather busy recently, so he truly had not seen Guy in a long time.

Guy recovered himself and let go. "Mostly helping rebuild houses and such. A lot of children suddenly appeared in the village, and I've just returned from gathering intelligence outside." Guy sighed as he spoke.

"Come to think of it, I haven't had much time to train Rock Lee and the others lately. But I believe in them! Young people should train themselves more—that is youth, Kakashi!!" Might Guy inexplicably became energized again, flashing his gleaming white teeth.

"..." Kakashi silently mourned for Neji and the others before suddenly catching the key point. "Didn't you just say you came back from gathering intelligence? Have you reported it yet?"

Might Guy froze. "That's right! I need to report the mission first. See you next time, Kakashi!"

Kakashi waved helplessly. He had just received a mission as well. It was said that a strange person had appeared in the Land of Earth, someone suspected of possessing Konoha's Byakugan. He had been assigned to investigate and needed to visit Iwagakure.

Meanwhile, over the past few days, Uzumaki Reikawa had taught Naruto, either directly or indirectly, the methods, approaches, and ideas Naruto would use for cultivation in the future.

Even if Sasuke learned to train using the Shadow Clone Technique, his training speed would still be nowhere near Naruto's terrifying rate. At most, he could create two clones to train with, and even that was already his limit.

Moreover, ever since the idea of training with Shadow Clones had been introduced, Sasuke could clearly sense Naruto's progress in strength. He seemed different almost every day, giving Sasuke a powerful sense of crisis.

"When can we go out?" Sasuke asked when he saw Uzumaki Reikawa finally had some free time.

"No rush." Uzumaki Reikawa was kneading something out of a pile of colored clay he had bought to pass the time. If they went out now, White Zetsu would probably sense them immediately.

His main body was still at the place where he had robbed Kakuzu and the others, dragging his feet under the pretense of investigating the mysteriously appearing Uzumaki Clan while making arrangements for his earlier plan. If Uzumaki Reikawa went out now, all that awaited him would be a fight between himself and himself.

Sasuke had no solution for Uzumaki Reikawa's passive, lazy attitude. Though he now knew Uzumaki Reikawa was very strong, for some reason, he could never bring himself to feel any respect for him. He even felt that the guy was rather asking for it...

Uzumaki Reikawa stared at the bizarre lump he had molded and briefly questioned his life. Then he suddenly stuffed it into Sasuke's hand. "It's for you!"

With that, he flashed away several times and slipped off...

Sasuke looked at the lump in his hand. If he reluctantly acknowledged it as a little person, he could only make out a head of black spiky hair and a fan emblem. Its eyes were practically popping out, while its mouth was a pair of bright red sausage lips...

Sasuke stared at it in silence for a while before exploding. "Uzumaki Reikawa!!!"

Oblivious to this, Uzumaki Reikawa darted over to Naruto, who had just finished training and was lying on the ground resting. Sakura and Karin were there as well. As for Karin, she had quickly mastered the Ninja Academy's lessons and planned to apply for graduation tomorrow, becoming a Konoha Genin.

As for her Kusagakure forehead protector, she had thrown it away long ago. In truth, aside from chakra extraction, Kusagakure had not taught her anything in order to prevent her from rebelling. Promoting her to Genin had only been because they valued her healing ability, treating her like a mobile medical kit.

When Karin saw Uzumaki Reikawa, her eyes immediately lit up. She took out a handkerchief, wiped her glasses, and put them back on. She was not seeing things. "!! Big Brother Reikawa, you're back."

"Huh?! Don't you have school today?" Uzumaki Reikawa was surprised to run into Karin at this time.

"Hehe, I've pretty much mastered the school's lessons. My clone is at school, and I sneaked out. But tomorrow, I'll become a Genin!" She put on an expression that clearly asked for praise.

Uzumaki Reikawa laughed. She was actually a top student. Then again, she was someone Orochimaru had taken an interest in. "Really?! Karin, you're amazing!"

Karin's face instantly turned red, and her head felt light and fuzzy.

Then Uzumaki Reikawa suddenly caught sight of Karin's smooth arms and immediately understood something. He walked over to Sakura and sincerely thanked her.

Sakura looked somewhat flustered and quickly waved her hands. "You don't need to be so polite. We're all companions, after all. This is just companions helping each other, isn't it?"

Uzumaki Reikawa paused, then smiled. "Yeah, companions. Then I'm treating today. Tell me whatever you want to eat."

Hearing this, Naruto, who had been lying exhausted on the ground, sprang up in excitement. "Really?! I want an extra-large deluxe bowl of Ichiraku ramen!"

Just as Naruto finished speaking, Sasuke suddenly appeared behind Uzumaki Reikawa from who knew where and hurled several Kunai at him.

The result was obvious. Without even turning around, Uzumaki Reikawa caught all the Kunai with one hand. He did not care about them and merely nodded at Naruto to show that it was fine.

He tucked the Kunai into his own pouch with no intention of returning them, then turned to Sasuke and asked, "What do you want to eat?"

"...Stir-fried Uzumaki Reikawa."