Tanzaku Town, Hotel.
The midday sun spilled into the room through the gaps in the curtains.
Jiraiya was slumped over a low table, snoring like thunder, with several empty wine bottles lying beside him.
On the bed nearby, Shizune was also lying on her side, fallen into a deep slumber.
Today was the final day of the deadline agreed upon with Naruto.
Tsunade stood at the door, taking one last look at the two people most important to her.
"Sorry, Jiraiya, Shizune—"
She had spiked their wine with a powerful sleeping pill.
In the upcoming negotiation, whether she made a deal with that demon or the talks collapsed into a fight to the death, she didn't want these two involved.
Especially regarding the resurrection of Dan and Nawaki; she had to be the one to bring it to an end.
Tsunade took a deep breath, her gaze becoming resolute once more.
She turned to close the door and vanished at the end of the corridor.
The room returned to a deathly silence.
However, shortly after she left...
Sasuke, who should have been unconscious, slowly opened his eyes.
He wasn't like Jiraiya and Shizune, who were completely defenseless against Tsunade.
He looked in the direction Tsunade had left, then glanced at the deeply sleeping Jiraiya.
"Following the standard training... is just too slow."
"With that kind of lukewarm guidance, how many years will it take to kill that man?"
Sasuke walked to the window, watching the direction Tsunade had gone, his fists clenched tight.
The humiliation of being suppressed by Shizune the day before yesterday still burned in his heart.
He had to go see for himself.
That former dead last, Naruto, who now had even the Sannin wary—
What secrets and shortcuts were hidden within his so-called New World.
Sasuke didn't wake anyone; with a flash of his body, he followed silently.
At noon, in the wilderness outside Tanzaku Town.
When Tsunade arrived at the location, her pupils contracted slightly.
It wasn't just Naruto and that follower, Yakushi Kabuto.
Even Orochimaru was there, standing behind Naruto with his arms crossed and a mocking look on his face.
One of the former Sannin was now flanking that blonde youth like a guardian.
"You've come, Tsunade."
Naruto toyed with a crystal-clear twenty-four-sided die in his hand, speaking without lifting his head.
"It seems you've prepared yourself mentally."
"Cut the crap!"
Tsunade suppressed the shock of seeing Orochimaru, her gaze locking onto Naruto.
"You've made a mess of Konoha, and now you want me to work for you—what exactly are you trying to do?"
"If your answer doesn't satisfy me, even if I have to stake my life, I will kill you right here!"
"Kill me? To maintain this decaying system?"
Naruto chuckled, put away the die, and slowly stood up.
"Why did Dan and Nawaki die? Was it simply because they weren't strong enough?"
"No, it's because they were sacrifices of the system known as ninja."
"Because the village needs war to sustain itself, and the Daimyo needs ninjas for balance."
"And those with dreams become the shredded meat in this never-ending meat grinder."
"To put it bluntly, they died to protect the interests of a bunch of idiots."
Naruto spread his arms, his white robes rustling in the wind, his voice calm and grand.
"What I want to do is simple: overthrow this order and establish a new one."
"And in my world, chakra is no longer a tool for killing, but the key to evolution and immortality."
"Evolution? Immortality?"
Tsunade immediately frowned and interrupted sharply.
"That is nothing but a delusional fantasy that defies the laws of nature!"
"To mortals, those are indeed inviolable rules."
Naruto wasn't angry; he simply motioned for Orochimaru to unfurl a scroll.
It was covered in dense, extremely complex jutsu seals; it was the jutsu seal for Edo Tensei.
"But as a medical expert and one of the Sannin, you should understand a few things—"
Naruto pointed at the scroll, a convincing fervor in his eyes.
"The essence of a soul is actually just a high-density mass of special chakra carrying memory information."
"So-called death is merely this mass of chakra losing its vessel and returning to the place known as the Pure Land."
"As long as we cultivate effective artificial life and then use a certain jutsu seal to perform an equivalent exchange with this world—"
"We can awaken those slumbering chakras, seal them into new bodies, and then supplement them with high-intensity Yang Release chakra to activate the cells—"
Naruto looked directly into Tsunade's eyes, which were trembling with shock.
"This would no longer be the corpse-toying trick of Edo Tensei, but—Perfect Resurrection!"
"Furthermore, as long as the vessel is continuously replaced, humans can achieve theoretical immortality."
"And replacing the vessel is only the worst option in my plan."
Tsunade felt a chill run down her spine as she listened to these words.
The theory Naruto proposed directly overturned her long-held inherent perceptions.
A madman.
This was the theory of an utter madman.
But the terrifying thing was that when she extrapolated with her own knowledge—this theory was actually logically sound!
As long as the problems of the vessel and soul awakening were solved—
No, the soul awakening problem could be solved by just adjusting the Edo Tensei jutsu seal—
And cloning or cultivating vessels wasn't entirely impossible—
This method actually had feasibility!
"You—"
Just as Tsunade was about to speak, a voice suddenly came from behind a tree to the side.
"I approve of his idea."
Tsunade whipped her head around.
"Sasuke?!"
Uchiha Sasuke stepped out from the shadows.
Ignoring Tsunade's exclamation, he walked straight to the center of the clearing, staring intently at Naruto.
"The old system only creates tragedies, just like the destruction of the Uchiha Clan."
"Naruto, your path is correct."
"I want to join your side. Give me that power—the power that allowed even Shizune to become strong!"
Naruto pushed up his glasses, a hint of amusement flashing in his eyes as he looked at Sasuke, who had delivered himself to his door.
"Join me? Sasuke, you think too highly of yourself."
Naruto shook his head, his tone cold.
"The current you, whether in strength or character, is far from enough to become my companion."
Sasuke gritted his teeth, his fists cracking.
"What did you say?!"
Though he felt disgruntled, recalling his experiences thus far, Sasuke had to admit that what he said was the truth.
"However—"
Naruto changed his tone and pulled a sealed syringe from his pocket.
The liquid inside was a heart-palpitating bright red.
This was his own blood that Naruto had used for previous experiments, high-purity and processed with the Hōgyoku.
His ordinary Cursed Seals could at most open the third stage of the Gene Lock.
But this reagent theoretically possessed the possibility of helping someone open the complete Gene Lock.
"For the sake of our past relationship, I can give you a chance."
Naruto tossed the syringe to Sasuke.
"Inside this is the ladder to evolution, but it is also a lethal poison."
"To anyone else, the contents of this are poison; use it, and they will one hundred percent explode and die."
Naruto looked at Sasuke, a faint trace of expectation in his eyes.
"But for some reason, I always feel—if it's you, perhaps you can pull through."
"After using it, if you don't die, there will always be a place reserved for you by my side."
"Until you've completely figured things out and resolved the issue with that brother of yours, then you can come to my side."
"Dare to gamble, Avenger?"
Sasuke looked at the syringe in his hand, then at Naruto, a mad smile curling his lips.
"I won't let you look down on me!"
Without any hesitation...
Sasuke grabbed the syringe and plunged it into his carotid artery, injecting all of that bright red liquid into his body.
"Ugh—Aaaaahhhhh!!!"
His skin began to tear, and his veins bulged as if they were about to burst at any second.
"Sasuke!"
Tsunade was shocked; her hands glowed with green light as she pressed them against Sasuke, helping him stabilize his rampaging chakra.
With Sasuke struggling in pain on one side and Naruto watching coldly on the other...
Tsunade's heart was filled with wavering and anger.
Does this kid—really treat human life like grass?
Amidst Sasuke's painful screams...
"Clap, clap, clap."
A sudden but slow burst of applause rang out from the other side.
Naruto turned his head slightly, a smile that suggested he had expected this appearing in his eyes.
"After watching the show for so long, are you finally willing to come out?"