Chapter 614: Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku
"Naruto! You haven't come to eat my ramen for a whole week. Why?!"
Uncle Ichiraku walked over to Naruto, who had just slid down from the top of the Konoha gate, his face dark and gloomy.
Naruto was still completely dumbfounded.
'When did Uncle Ichiraku become this strong?'
As for why he hadn't eaten ramen for a whole week...
Wasn't that obvious?
He had been eating Ichiraku Ramen for more than ten years, but after coming to the Engraved Tsukuyomi world, he had only been eating home-cooked meals for a few days.
There was food at home, so he had long since forgotten about Ichiraku Ramen.
He would probably only remember his favorite ramen again after he had gotten used to eating the food at home.
"Uncle Ichiraku, you've misunderstood. I just suddenly felt like eating some home-cooked food these past few days, so…"
Naruto didn't have time to worry about anything else and hurriedly explained.
He had been traveling in Sage Mode just now, yet even then, he hadn't been able to react to Uncle Ichiraku's speed. This was no joke.
"Suddenly felt like eating home-cooked food? Naruto, who are you trying to fool? Who doesn't know that you used to eat so much outside that you couldn't finish dinner, and then get beaten up by the Hokage every other day?"
"Naruto, you really have betrayed ramen. You've broken my heart."
Uncle Ichiraku seemed like a yandere who had been cuckolded. He pulled a kitchen knife from behind his back and slowly approached Naruto step by step.
"Uncle Ichiraku, I still have something to do. I'll explain it to you later. I have to go first…"
Naruto thought to himself that he still had to complete Obito's mission and take his dad away.
Whether he liked ramen or not was just a trivial matter. He could explain it when he had time.
So Naruto climbed to his feet, tossed out a sentence, and prepared to leave.
This time, Naruto directly activated Nine-Tails Mode, transforming into a golden demon-fox femboy.
Naruto turned into a streak of golden light and leaped into the air.
However, halfway through his flight, the golden light suddenly turned around at high speed and slammed back onto the ground.
Uncle Ichiraku had actually intercepted Naruto again, kicking him back down.
Naruto was completely dumbfounded this time.
Even Nine-Tails Mode couldn't let him escape. So what could he possibly do?
Having abandoned the idea of running away, Naruto finally noticed that Uncle Ichiraku's name was the same pale pink as Shiromo's, and was even slightly paler than Shiromo's.
That meant Uncle Ichiraku's Bullying Value was very low.
But looking at how domineering and forceful Uncle Ichiraku was now, he didn't look like someone with a low Bullying Value at all.
Naruto opened the details screen.
[Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku (Ōtsutsuki Isshiki): More than a thousand years ago, when he descended upon the ninja world, he bullied his companion Kaguya, who had accompanied him, but was killed in a counterattack by Kaguya…]
After seeing Uncle Ichiraku's information, Naruto was stunned.
'No wonder Uncle Ichiraku is so powerful. He's actually an Ōtsutsuki?'
Moreover, the reason Uncle Ichiraku's Bullying Value was so low was because, just like Shiromo, he had only committed one act of bullying.
He had even already received his punishment.
Just like in the real ninja world, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had been killed by Kaguya and was left with only half a body, becoming extremely weak.
Fortunately, he found a host in time.
The difference was that in the real ninja world, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had encountered a monk named Jigen and subsequently parasitized himself in Jigen's ear.
For a thousand years, Isshiki had been trying to find a way to resurrect himself.
Although, judging from the situation in the real ninja world, his so-called plans were actually not much different from going AFK for a thousand years.
But the Ōtsutsuki Isshiki of the Engraved Tsukuyomi world had not encountered Jigen.
Instead, he encountered a noodle chef named Teuchi.
And Isshiki hadn't encountered Teuchi while he still had plenty of life force left.
He had encountered him while he was genuinely on the verge of death.
At that time, Isshiki had only five minutes left before he would die completely.
Then the noodle chef Teuchi appeared and went to use the toilet.
In order to survive, Isshiki absorbed the nutrients from what was there. After recovering a tiny amount of strength, he immediately parasitized himself inside Teuchi's body.
Moreover, because Isshiki was far too weak, he didn't parasitize Teuchi's ear.
Instead, taking the nearest route, he parasitized Teuchi's intestinal tract.
Perhaps because the place where he had parasitized himself was somewhat unhygienic, after more than a thousand years had passed, Isshiki and Teuchi had become completely inseparable, and Isshiki's mind had developed some problems as well.
Naruto carried the scent of a Tailed Beast.
To Isshiki, that was the scent of the Ten-Tails—a familiar scent.
He craved it intensely, which was why Uncle Ichiraku paid Naruto particular attention.
Furthermore, because Isshiki had been killed by Kaguya after bullying her, he had developed a psychological trauma toward bullying.
Therefore, in all these thousand-plus years, he had never bullied anyone even once.
Of course, to the villagers of Konoha, this was simply the mindset of a weakling.
Compared to someone who only dared to swing his blade at the weak and never dared to swing it at the strong, he was even more cowardly.
Once bitten by a snake, one fears a coiled rope for a thousand years.
"Uncle Ichiraku is actually Ōtsutsuki Isshiki?"
Naruto was stunned.
The moment he heard the name Ōtsutsuki Isshiki, Naruto immediately thought of the one in the real ninja world—the Ōtsutsuki hiding in the ninja world whom Shiromo and the Akatsuki were currently searching for.
'So Uncle Ichiraku treats me well because I have Tailed Beast Chakra?'
'And the reason he's so furious now is because he thinks that, as the "Ten-Tails," I betrayed him?'
The commotion caused by Ichiraku soon attracted the attention of the ninjas within the village.
But none of the ninjas who came was a match for Ichiraku.
Fortunately, Ichiraku didn't deliver any killing blows.
Just like the naturally kind-hearted Uchiha, Ichiraku was even worried that he might end up bullying someone, so the people he knocked flying didn't feel much pain at all.
They were merely knocked unconscious without any pain.
"What kind of person dares to invade Konoha? Could it be Orochimaru again? What? Why is it Uncle Ichiraku?"
Hinata, who had activated Tenseigan Mode, arrived and transformed into a streak of azure light, standing in front of Ichiraku.
"Great! Hinata is here!"
Naruto was overjoyed when he saw this.
A while ago, he had personally witnessed how terrifying the Tenseigan Hinata of this world was.
She was an existence capable of going toe-to-toe with his mother, Kushina.
He was safe now.
"Naruto?"
Hearing Naruto's shout, Hinata instinctively turned her head to look at him.
In an instant, the image of the entire Hyuga Clan covered in mountains of filth surfaced in her mind.
She immediately fainted and fell straight to the ground.
Fortunately, Hanabi appeared in time, rescued her sister, and slipped away without a trace.
Naruto's expression froze awkwardly.
"Naruto, don't be afraid! I'm coming to save you!"
Jiraiya suddenly jumped out from the side.
Naruto was immediately deeply moved.
He had thought Jiraiya and Orochimaru would keep hiding out at the Fire Temple until he completed his mission before coming out.
As expected, the Pervy Sage of this world cared about him just as much.
"Super Ultra Big Rasengan!"
Jiraiya pushed forward a Rasengan that wasn't even as big as a jelly bean and slammed it toward Ichiraku, only to be kicked flying by him.
"…"
Naruto's smile stiffened.
"Wait, Pervy Sage, is that your Big Ball Rasengan? Why is it so tiny?"
'Could it be that the Pervy Sage has done too much with Orochimaru and become... depleted?'
"No. Be careful of his dōjutsu!"
Jiraiya, lying on the ground, struggled to relay the information to Naruto.
At some point, Ichiraku had removed his lower-body clothing, and an ancient-looking black-and-gold eye had appeared in a truly extraordinary location.
(End of this chapter)