Chapter 388: Jiraiya and Naruto
"This guy's vitality is ridiculous," Obito could not help exclaiming.
As the thick smoke cleared, the three puppets Anrokuzan had released were already blown to pieces. Anrokuzan himself was in tatters, his body mangled and scorched, yet he still refused to fall. He glared at Naruto and the others through clenched teeth.
"You forced my hand," Anrokuzan said. With no hope of escape, he decided to fight to the death. Even if he died, he would drag at least two of them down with him.
He fully activated the Ryumyaku, the Dragon Vein energy, inside his body.
At once, the puppet fragments scattered across the ground trembled, then shot toward him like iron pulled to a magnet. These were not ordinary puppets. They had been strengthened by the Ryumyaku, and they could fuse with him to increase his power.
When the last fragment slammed into place, Anrokuzan's body swelled and twisted, growing into something massive. He no longer looked human at all.
He became a monster.
Out of the corner of his eye, Anrokuzan watched the Queen of Roran.
Then he pretended to charge Obito.
Obito reacted immediately, launching a Fire Release attack. The instant the flames came, Anrokuzan changed direction mid rush and accelerated straight toward the Queen.
The two people he wanted dead most were Naruto and the Queen. One had chased him across time and space. The other had led him into this trap.
But Naruto clearly was not easy to kill.
So Anrokuzan decided to seize the Queen first. If he could use her to escape, he would run, then kill her later. If not, he would kill her on the spot.
"These Konoha ninja are only this capable," Anrokuzan sneered inwardly. "They do not even know how to protect their client."
Their formation was loose. Only one blond ninja stood beside the Queen, while the others kept some distance.
That blond shinobi had not moved earlier, so Anrokuzan assumed his strength was nothing special.
If he were truly strong, he would be the main attacker, not assigned to stand guard.
Naruto, Yamato, and Kakashi fired off ninjutsu at him, but Anrokuzan stubbornly endured every hit and kept closing the distance.
Against an ordinary shinobi, charging through that barrage would mean either abandoning the rush or dying under the storm of attacks.
But Anrokuzan was no longer ordinary.
He was not having an easy time, but he was not going to die yet.
As Anrokuzan barreled straight toward Mugetsu, Obito and the others all wore strange expressions.
This was not bravery.
This was actively searching for death.
Before the battle, Mugetsu had told them Anrokuzan was within their ability to handle, so under normal circumstances, Mugetsu would not step in.
"Queen," Anrokuzan rumbled, his voice deep and distorted, "you will regret your decision."
The Queen of Roran was still an ordinary person. Faced with a towering monster charging at her, she instinctively retreated half a step.
Then she forced herself to calm down.
Because Mugetsu was standing right beside her.
His teammates all had the power to injure Anrokuzan. As captain, Mugetsu had to be even stronger.
"Tile Breaker!"
Anrokuzan charged recklessly, and Mugetsu did not hold back. He activated Rock Breathing to enhance his physical strength, flashed in front of Anrokuzan, and brought his hand down in a sharp chopping strike.
He had not acted earlier because he wanted his disciples to gain experience, letting Anrokuzan serve as a whetstone.
But if Anrokuzan insisted on begging for a beating, Mugetsu had no issue showing him what real strength looked like.
Mugetsu moved too fast.
To Anrokuzan, the world blurred for a heartbeat, and a blond figure appeared directly in front of him.
Bang!
Boom!
A terrifying force slammed into Anrokuzan, and he was launched backward even faster than he had charged. He crashed into the ground with a thunderous impact, cracking the earth beneath him.
Where Mugetsu's strike landed, a hideous wound tore open, as if a massive blunt blade had carved through him.
Anrokuzan's eyes filled with terror.
Only now did he realize the truth.
Mugetsu was the strongest.
After that single strike, Mugetsu calmly returned to stand beside the Queen, making no move to pursue.
They had arrived too early. Anrokuzan had absorbed only this much Ryumyaku chakra, so his strength was limited. Only the Anrokuzan from the original movie might have possessed the power to fight Mugetsu.
Despair churned in Anrokuzan's chest, but when he saw Mugetsu did not continue attacking, a thin thread of hope surfaced.
With power like that, Mugetsu still refused to join the fight and stayed near the Queen.
That could only mean one thing.
He was not staying here because he valued the client.
He was staying here to train his disciples.
The thought humiliated Anrokuzan, but it was also his chance.
If Mugetsu joined the battle, he would have no hope at all.
But Anrokuzan quickly realized he had overestimated himself again.
Obito and the others were not as simple as he had imagined.
The moment Anrokuzan took damage from Mugetsu, Obito entered Flame Breathing Chakra Mode, pushing himself to the limit.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Chakra erupted. Obito's entire body ignited in high temperature red flames, and the fire around his right hand burned especially fierce.
Under Obito's control, the flames across his body streamed into his right hand. The fire there suddenly flared, then compressed and shrank. With continuous compression and reinforcement, the flames across his body disappeared, while the flames around his right hand deepened into an intense, concentrated blaze.
"Fire Release: Orochi Nagi!"
Obito charged while compressing the flames, then hurled the condensed fire at the rising Anrokuzan.
Because the enemy was enormous, Obito did not use Fire Release: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet. Instead, he chose Orochi Nagi, smaller in range but far greater in power.
Anrokuzan was not blind. He could tell this was no ordinary technique, and he had no intention of taking it head on. He forced Ryumyaku chakra through his body, trying to dodge.
But while Mugetsu sent him flying, the others had not been idle.
"Earth Release: Swamp of the Underworld!"
Kakashi finished his hand seals and turned the ground beneath Anrokuzan into a swamp, trapping him.
"Wood Release: Thorns of Murder Technique!"
Yamato's Wood Release chakra surged. Wooden thorns erupted around Anrokuzan, binding him tight and forcing the struggling monster to pause.
"Wind Release: Rasengan!"
At the same time, one of Naruto's shadow clones formed a Wind Release Rasengan and charged straight in.
This was a prototype of Rasenshuriken. Rasenshuriken demanded too much chakra for a shadow clone to produce.
In this situation, Naruto also could not have his main body form the Rasengan and rush in, because he would be caught in Obito's flames.
Whoosh!
Boom, boom!
Naruto's Wind Release Rasengan and Obito's Fire Release: Orochi Nagi struck Anrokuzan at the same moment. Terrifying flames swallowed him instantly.
Then Naruto's Wind Release Rasengan produced an unexpected effect. It carried Obito's flames outward, whipping them into a raging firestorm that wrapped Anrokuzan completely.
The combination of Naruto's Wind Release Rasengan and Obito's Flame Breathing Chakra Mode Orochi Nagi was stronger than even Obito expected. The wooden thorns binding Anrokuzan burned away rapidly, and the muddy ground beneath him dried and cracked under the unbearable heat.
"Big Brother Naruto, our combo is insane!" Obito laughed.
Naruto laughed too, proud and delighted. He had not expected it to turn out like this.
When the flames finally faded, Anrokuzan reappeared.
Charred. Torn apart. Barely holding shape.
He looked like he should be dead, yet he was not.
Because he was no longer a real person. He was a human puppet.
As long as his core remained intact, he would not die.
"Since I can't live," Anrokuzan rasped, staring at them through ruined eyes, "then you won't have an easy time either."
Realizing how bad his condition was, he chose self destruction. He could not win. And after what he had done, he would not be allowed to live anyway.
So he would die, and take as many of them with him as possible.
"Purple Lightning!"
The moment Anrokuzan formed that thought, Mugetsu flashed behind him and struck him with a burst of purple lightning, like brutal electrotherapy.
When Mugetsu used Tile Breaker earlier, he had casually placed a Flying Thunder God mark on Anrokuzan.
"Shūten Fūinjutsu"
Immediately after, Mugetsu thrust out his palm, seized Anrokuzan's core, and applied a sealing technique directly onto it.
Shūten Fūinjutsu was Mugetsu's greatest achievement in sealing techniques over the past two years.
He had originally wanted to develop the Eight Trigrams Seal following Minato's ideas, but he had been completely stuck when it came to the Four Symbols Seal. In contrast, he kept finding inspiration in the Five Elements Seal, and he ultimately modified it into Shūten Fūinjutsu.
Shūten Fūinjutsu had no flashy visuals.
Its sealing power was simply strong, far stronger than even the Four Symbols Seal.
Mugetsu added Yin and Yang natures on top of the original five elements. That not only stabilized the seal, it also massively increased the difficulty of breaking it.
First, it was impossible for the sealed target to force it open by brute strength. In Mugetsu's estimate, only a Six Paths level ninjutsu nullification effect might be able to break Shūten Fūinjutsu outright.
As for deciphering it with sealing knowledge, the difficulty was nearly three times higher than breaking a Five Elements Seal. And to use Shūten Fūinjutsu Release, one also needed to master seven types of chakra nature transformation.
You did not need deep mastery, only the ability to use them, but even so, very few shinobi in the world could meet that requirement.
"What is this?" Anrokuzan's voice shook. "My power!"
The instant the seal took effect, Anrokuzan felt the Ryumyaku energy inside him become stagnant, like dead water. No matter how he tried to stir it, it would not produce even a ripple.
"To ensure your safe return, I'm going to research Anrokuzan and the Ryumyaku power within him," Mugetsu explained.
"I already sealed him. He won't escape now."
Naruto and Yamato nodded, both relieved and unsurprised. They still had no idea how they would return. After all, nothing special had happened when they arrived.
The Queen of Roran stepped forward and bowed in gratitude.
"Thank you all, truly, for what you've done for Roran. Tomorrow, I will hold a grand assembly to publicly expose Anrokuzan's crimes."
Things had exceeded her expectations. She had not imagined Anrokuzan was this cruel, this vicious, or this powerful. If not for Mugetsu and the others, the destruction he could have brought to Roran would have been immeasurable.
She then sincerely invited Mugetsu and the others to attend tomorrow's assembly as heroes and receive the blessings of Roran's people.
Since there was still ample time, Mugetsu accepted.
He would need the Queen's help later, and giving her face now benefited both sides.
"We saved another country!" Obito said, practically glowing. "This is great!"
He felt closer and closer to becoming the kind of hero from a ninja novel. Not only had he saved two countries, he had also met shinobi from the future.
Maybe one day he would even save the future itself.
"Obito," Rin asked with a teasing smile, hitting him with two questions at once, "don't you want to meet the princess of Roran? Weren't you really interested in the princess back in the Land of Snow?"
"It definitely won't be as perfect as in the novels," Obito sighed.
After the last mission in the Land of Snow, he no longer had any expectations for real life princesses.
"Maybe this is the price of maturity," Obito thought, feeling like he had grown a lot.
"Because novels are fictional," Kakashi said flatly. "Only someone with a problem in their head would demand real people be as perfect as fictional characters."
"Haven't you heard the saying, fiction comes from reality?" Obito shot back.
Watching them fall into an argument again so quickly, Naruto laughed. He and Sasuke often did the same, but now…
Since Anrokuzan was sealed and imprisoned, there was no need to investigate further that night.
Naruto used the free time to teach Obito the Rasengan.
If Obito wanted to learn, Naruto would genuinely teach him.
"The main factor of Rasengan is rotation," Naruto began, speaking simply. "The essence of Rasengan is high speed rotating chakra."
"Mm hmm. And then?" Obito leaned in, eyes bright with excitement.
"Rasengan!"
Naruto said nothing else. He demonstrated immediately, gathering chakra into his palm, forming the spiraling sphere, then slamming it into a large tree Yamato had created with Wood Release.
Bang!
A huge crater tore into the trunk, and wood chips exploded outward.
"Rasengan still isn't complete," Naruto added. "If you add nature transformation, it becomes even stronger."
He briefly mentioned Rasenshuriken.
Because Rasenshuriken was too powerful and also damaged his body, Naruto did not demonstrate it. He only explained it in a few words.
Obito got even more excited.
He remembered the combined attack he and Naruto had accidentally created today. If he could complete something like that on his own, it would mean he had another powerful technique.
"Learning Rasengan has three steps," Naruto said, pulling out a water balloon filled with water. "First, practice with this."
Then Naruto made two silly sound effects with complete seriousness.
"Then you go splat, then pop, and make it explode."
As Naruto finished the sounds, the water balloon in his hand burst.
"Whoa, whoa, Big Brother Naruto, how did you do that just now?" Obito's eyes widened. He felt like he had missed the entire point.
"I said splat and pop," Naruto repeated, thinking Obito had not heard him. He even said it a little louder this time.
Obito stared at him.
Naruto scratched his head and pulled out another water balloon.
"It's just splat and pop. It's super simple."
The water balloon burst again, right on cue with Naruto's sound effects.
Obito was completely dumbfounded.
Could anyone really learn ninjutsu like this?
Obito felt it might honestly be faster to write down Naruto's words, give them to Mugetsu, have Mugetsu develop the technique properly, and then teach him.
…
Land of Grass, Konoha Camp.
"Mugetsu, why are you here?" Jiraiya boomed with a hearty laugh when he saw Mugetsu approach. "What mission did you take?"
The more powerful shinobi on the battlefield, the easier it was for him. He naturally welcomed Mugetsu's arrival.
Mugetsu did not answer immediately. He scanned the surroundings first.
Understanding the message, Jiraiya led him into the meeting tent so they could speak privately.
"It isn't a mission," Mugetsu said. "It's a personal matter related to you, Lord Jiraiya."
"Oh?" Jiraiya blinked, genuinely puzzled. "What personal matter would bring you all the way to the front lines, Mugetsu?"
For a moment, he could not think of anything.
"A shinobi from the future," Mugetsu said directly. "He really wants to meet you."
"A shinobi from the future?" Jiraiya laughed loudly. "I didn't know you were such a comedian, Mugetsu."
But the laughter gradually faded when he saw Mugetsu's expression had not changed at all.
Mugetsu did not look like he was joking.
Jiraiya did not believe Mugetsu would waste time on a prank, but this was difficult to accept.
This was not a prophecy. If someone could travel through time freely, history would collapse into chaos.
"Who is he?" Jiraiya asked, now calm. "If he wants to see me, he has a name."
Mugetsu thought briefly, then answered, "Uzumaki Naruto. The Nine Tails jinchuriki of future Konoha, and a disciple of future Kakashi."
"Uzumaki?" Jiraiya narrowed his eyes, thinking. "Jinchuriki…"
At present, Konoha only had one Uzumaki, Kushina, Minato's girlfriend.
But this Naruto might not be related to Minato. After all, if he were Minato's descendant, his surname should be Namikaze. Perhaps he was a surviving member of the Uzumaki clan who joined Konoha.
But the jinchuriki detail mattered far more.
A jinchuriki only changed in one situation.
The previous jinchuriki had to die.
Which meant Kushina had died, and this Uzumaki Naruto became the next host.
"I think he might be Minato's child," Mugetsu said, stating his conjecture.
"He knows a ninjutsu Minato is currently developing, and he also resembles Minato."
Naruto himself did not know Minato was his father, so Mugetsu could only phrase it as speculation.
Jiraiya's brow furrowed deeply.
He looked like Minato, knew a technique Minato was developing, and carried the Uzumaki surname. It was practically confirmed.
If it were only the first two points, they could also fit Mugetsu, since Rasengan was currently being developed by Minato and Mugetsu together.
But the Uzumaki surname had nothing to do with Mugetsu.
"The war is at a critical point," Jiraiya said after sorting his thoughts. "I can't leave."
Mugetsu said nothing.
There was a way to meet without delaying the battlefield, and he trusted Jiraiya to think of it.
"Then let my shadow clone go with you," Jiraiya decided.
He formed a hand seal and created a shadow clone.
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]