The dust settled, and war flared anew
"... stand up."
A hoarse yet steady voice rang out.
Tsunade against the rough stones, her palms bleeding from the cuts caused by the sharp edges.
She didn't look down at her bleeding hands; her gaze was fixed on Naruto's broad, blood-stained back.
That twelve-year-old boy had just used the most direct violence to shatter her last inner demon.
She straightened up, her shoes stepping firmly onto the blue bricks of the ground, leaving a clear footprint on the scarlet line of blood.
She walked up to Naruto, her amber eyes shining brightly, and the Strength of a Hundred diamond mark on her forehead radiating light once more.
He placed both palms on Naruto's left shoulder wound, the flesh torn open, and the emerald green healing Chakra flowed smoothly and purely, without the slightest hesitation.
Naruto lowered his head, his gaze unabashedly tracing her earnest profile.
"Lady Tsunade, your technique is truly excellent."
He lowered his voice, his tone playful and only the two of them could understand, "You don't need to bring the first-aid kit to my room tonight, otherwise I won't feel at ease."
Tsunade didn't even lift her eyelids, but the healing force in her palm suddenly increased by three points, pressing hard on the very center of the wound.
Naruto winced in pain, but the laughter escaping his throat grew even more unrestrained.
"I concede defeat after the three-day agreement."
Tsunade watched the muscles rapidly close up, her tone resolute with a sense of finality, "I'll go back to Hidden Leaf with you and become the Fifth Hokage. I'll finish this battle."
Jiraiya a short distance away, nearly dropping the pipe he was smoking.
Tsunade back half a step, taking a full look at the blood-covered boy for the first time.
There was no childlike innocence in his eyes.
She spoke softly, "Who exactly are you?"
Naruto didn't answer, but instead gave her a cryptic profile.
Just then, the inorganic system notification sounded in my mind precisely on time:
[Ding! Tsunade's affection level has increased. Side quest 'Overcoming the Inner Demon' is complete!]
[Fate-Crossing Radar Update: New high-value female target fluctuations detected in the direction of Otogakure! Coordinates of Wood Release Source have been detected, and your looting route is being replanned.]
Naruto turned his head, his golden eyes gazing at the distant horizon.
Several carrier pigeons were flapping their wings and flying at full speed towards Hidden Leaf.
But in the far east...
In a dark room deep underground in the Otogakure, bubbles surged in a water tank.
A slender young man with Cursed Seal on the back of his neck was being wrapped in layers of sticky, thick snake molts as he sank deeper and deeper into the icy abyss.
The wind, carrying the smell of sulfur and blood, swept into the ruins, and the distant sky began to lighten with the first light of dawn.
Just as Naruto put his hands back in his pockets, the already paralyzed body at his feet suddenly twitched.
The jawbone of the hood emitted a teeth-grinding grinding sound, and two slits appeared in the black serpentine runes deep within the base of the tongue.
A small, dark purple snake forced its way out of the snake's jaws, carrying a giant, slimy Summoning Scroll in its mouth.
A hoarse voice traveled from the snake's belly to the open ground. "Naruto-kun, before you pack up and take my experimental records, you should at least ask the owner for permission."
Before he could finish speaking, the black snake bit through Dou's mangled wrist and used the gushing arterial blood to smear the scroll.
The dark blue Chakra spread rapidly along the gullies in the ground, causing the bluestone slabs within a hundred meters radius to sink inch by inch.
"Summoning Technique."
Before the cold echo had faded, a cloud of purple smoke, obscuring the sky, roared into the heavens.
The air produced a muffled popping sound under the immense pressure.
A snake's head, larger than a three-story watchtower, emerged from the smoke, its vertical pupils as murky as brass.
The snake's body rolled over the eastern slope, snapping rows of fir trees on half the mountainside.
Manda raised its neck high, its scarlet forked tongue sending up a stench. "Orochimaru! One hundred human sacrifices! If one is missing, I'll devour you first!"
Jiraiya's nonchalant expression vanished instantly.
He bit his thumb, Chakra into the soles of his feet, and slammed his palm down on the stone platform. "Summoning Technique!"
The blue array expanded, and white smoke erupted.
Gamabunta, with a short sword in his mouth, smashed through the remaining wall on the west side, his cheeks bulging, and his huge pipe spewed out thick smoke.
Behind her, Shizune, covered in sweat, pressed her hand to the ground, taking Chakra's place Tsunade Hand Seals.
A vibrant green luster shimmered as the Katsuyu's enormous soft body split into countless smaller individuals, tightly protecting the medical area.
Three colossal beasts, each as large as a hill, stood in the morning light, their rapid, rhythmic breathing sending rubble flying dozens of meters into the air.
Manda's vertical pupils swept across the battlefield, and when his gaze landed on Naruto, his massive body paused for half a second.
That kind of biological repulsion, like a mouse encountering a cat, made its scales stand on end.
"Orochimaru! Why does this human's aura make me want to run away? To kill him, the sacrifices would have to be the lives of everyone in the Tanzaku Town!"
Orochimaru did not show himself, but his voice, carried by the black snake, coldly said, "Kill him, and the sacrifice will be doubled."
"Old man, step back."
Naruto leaps from the ruins.
He grabbed Tsunade's waist and tossed the still-unsteady Fifth Hokage onto the Katsuyu's soft back. "Catch this rascal. I'll personally make soup out of this rascal today."
Tsunade was caught by Shizune in a flustered manner, her ears turning bright red. Just as she was about to curse, she saw a small Katsuyu crawl up Naruto's trouser leg to his left shoulder, its green slime covering the flesh that had been cut by the poisoned blade.
The Manda was thoroughly enraged by the provocation.
The thick snake tail swept across the battlefield, leveling three ruined buildings along with their foundations.
Gamabunta drew his short sword to parry, the blade slicing into the snake scales and bursting into a shower of sparks, the stone platform beneath his feet shattering in half.
Deep within the ruins, three Sound Ninjas, their Hidden Sound covered in Snake-Skin Isolation Seal, used the loud noise as cover to slip close to Kabuto's remains, attempting to retrieve intelligence from the living body.
Naruto was in mid-air, not even glancing over there.
He pushed off the boulder with the sole of his boot, and kicked two more pebbles with his right leg.
The pebbles, imbued with the golden light of Yang Release, pierced the knees of two Hidden Sound like sniper bullets, pinning them firmly to the ground.
The giant maw of the Manda opened wide, and concentrated purple venomous mist mixed with streaks of blood gushed out.
Naruto didn't dodge.
He used his waist strength to climb straight into the poisonous fog.
A purple mist enveloped his right arm, and bluish-black lines rapidly corroded the skin, causing the flesh to peel back.
But in the next half second, pure golden light emanated from the depths of the bone marrow, like a raging fire, evaporating the toxins that had invaded the veins inch by inch.
Once he penetrated the poisonous fog, his entire arm was as smooth as before.
In the instant the distance closed, the scales on the side of the Manda's neck suddenly flipped outwards.
Orochimaru's half-body sprang out from between the scales like a ghost, his Kusanagi Sword carrying a chilling mist, aiming straight for Naruto's throat.
This was a deadly move that precisely targeted the weakened state of Gate of Limit's reaction speed.
Naruto twisted to the side, the sword blade grazing his collarbone and leaving a bloody gash. The Katsuyu's split bodies immediately rushed up to stop the bleeding.
He gripped the Kusanagi Sword tightly with his fingers, forming a pincer motion, and unleashed his Yang Release, which surged like a furnace within him, fiercely burning along the blade.
Orochimaru decisively abandoned his sword, severed the snake shadow, and retreated deep into his scales.
The broken sword tip snapped off in Naruto's palm, dripping black venom that corroded a deep pit in the ground.
Gamabunta raised his foot and crushed the broken sword into powder.
Naruto twisted his aching neck, his eyes blazing with fighting spirit. "Orochimaru, is all you can do is hide in rotten flesh and do these dirty tricks?"
The Manda opened its massive jaws, preparing to swallow Naruto whole, who was unable to gain any leverage in mid-air.
Naruto stretched out his right palm, and the azure Chakra spun rapidly, condensing into a perfectly round sphere without the need for Hand Seals.
Then, a dazzling golden light membrane overflowed from the palm, coating the Rasengan layer by layer.