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Boom!~
An earth-shattering explosion resounded, followed by a terrifying mushroom cloud rising, instantly destroying everything within a radius of several kilometers, finally turning into a violent shockwave that swept outward.
"What a powerful explosion!"
Naruto's figure hovered high in the sky. Looking at the scene caused by the Three-Tails' self-destruction below, he couldn't help but exclaim, then softly said, "An explosion of this scale— that guy's Space-Time Ninjutsu was also destroyed and is temporarily unusable, so he definitely couldn't escape, right?"
That strike that cut into the Masked Man's body, pulling him out of his ethereal state, was precisely what Naruto had unleashed.
Longsword·Infinity possessed the ability to unleash slashes that tore space, but whether such an attack could be unleashed depended on luck. Previously, Naruto had frantically slashed the Masked Man hundreds of times, but still couldn't trigger such a slash.
That last strike was also the first time Naruto had used such a slash, and it just so happened to break the Masked Man's Space-Time Ninjutsu, making it quite a successful debut.
Naruto didn't know the specific abilities of the Masked Man's Space-Time Ninjutsu, but he was certain that after being hit by his spatial slash, he wouldn't be able to use that ability for a short period. Naruto also didn't sense him using any other means to escape, so the Masked Man was definitely caught in the Three-Tails' self-destruction.
Most importantly, Naruto's Observation Haki could no longer sense the Masked Man's presence, so he believed he must have been killed by the explosion.
"Whether that guy died or not, I don't know, but the Three-Tails and his Jinchuriki are definitely dead," the Nine-Tailed sighed in Naruto's mind.
"Their bond was truly strong," Naruto couldn't help but sigh when he heard the Nine-Tailed's words.
The Three-Tails was willing to die with his Jinchuriki, so it seemed his bond with the Fourth Mizukage was truly good. No wonder he could become a perfect Jinchuriki.
Naruto wondered if, should he also encounter such a situation, his Big Fox would also go to such lengths for him.
"Tailed Beasts cannot die."
The Nine-Tailed seemed to guess Naruto's thoughts and directly explained to him, "Our Tailed Beast's life nature is different from you humans. A self-destruction like that just now cannot kill a Tailed Beast. The Three-Tails has only temporarily entered a dormant state and will be reborn after a period of time."
"Oh, is that so!"
Naruto was greatly surprised when he heard the Nine-Tailed's words, then asked in astonishment, "So you Tailed Beasts are actually immortal?"
"Immortal— not quite."
The Nine-Tailed shook his head, remained silent for a while, and then said, "We Tailed Beasts are just very difficult to completely kill, not immortal."
"I see."
Naruto heard the Nine-Tailed's words and suddenly thought of a special reward he still had in his system inventory: the perfect Oni Bloodline.
After using that, he would become like Muzan Kibutsuji, possessing an immortal body that was not afraid of sunlight, almost without weaknesses. Even if he didn't want to increase his strength, he wouldn't need to eat people. As his experience grew, Naruto also began to realize the preciousness of that perfect Oni Bloodline.
Because of the word "Oni," Naruto had always looked down on that thing, so he never had any intention of using it.
Because in Naruto's opinion, after using that thing, he might no longer be considered human.
"Big Fox."
Naruto suddenly asked the Nine-Tailed, "If I had something in my hand that, if used, could grant me eternal life, but the cost was that I might no longer be considered human and might even start seeing humans as food… do you think I should use something like that?"
"What in the world?!"
The Nine-Tailed was startled by Naruto's words and immediately said, "Of course not!"
Although Naruto said "if," the Nine-Tailed had already assumed that Naruto definitely had such a thing in his hand, and then earnestly advised, "Let me tell you, Naruto kid, with your talent, obtaining eternal life is not a difficult task. And being able to live forever isn't necessarily a good thing.
You must not abandon your human identity because of this temptation!"
"Hmm…"
Naruto scratched his head, feeling a bit embarrassed by the Nine-Tailed's advice, and explained, "I was just saying 'if.' I don't actually have such a thing. Also, what do you mean by 'obtaining eternal life is not a difficult task'? Is it possible that there are truly people who can live forever in our world?"
"Of course!"
The Nine-Tailed replied with certainty, "Aren't we Tailed Beasts in a state of near-immortality?"
"But you are just Tailed Beasts. I'm talking about humans," Naruto retorted.
The Nine-Tailed listened to Naruto's words, remained silent for a while, and then said, "Naruto, the power of Chakra is far more mysterious than you imagine. We Tailed Beasts are life forms that are collections of Chakra, and you humans have also mastered Chakra. As long as you develop Chakra to its extreme, achieving eternal life is not difficult. The key is whether you want to or not."
As Naruto's various abilities continued to increase, the Nine-Tailed had always emphasized the importance and power of Chakra to him, precisely because he didn't want to see a day when Naruto would abandon the use of Chakra because he had mastered other, more convenient abilities.
Because if that day truly came, it might truly have no purpose for Naruto.
"Is that so?"
Naruto generally understood the meaning in the Nine-Tailed's words. Just as he was about to tell it that even if he one day abandoned the power of Chakra, he would not abandon it, he suddenly felt the Masked Man's presence reappear below.
"That guy's presence has reappeared!"
Upon sensing the Masked Man's presence, Naruto immediately locked onto his location, then said somewhat incredulously, "His presence completely vanished in the explosion just now, but now it has reappeared. That's truly strange."
Naruto was certain that the Masked Man had not used Space-Time Ninjutsu or other means to avoid the previous explosion. He had definitely endured the blast directly, and his presence had indeed vanished after the explosion. He hadn't expected it to reappear now.
Naruto couldn't figure out how he did it.
However, Naruto gripped the Longsword·Infinity in his hand, his Observation Haki locking onto the Masked Man, preparing to find an opportunity to deliver another fatal blow.
No matter who this guy was, he was too dangerous and had to be eliminated as soon as possible.
Unfortunately, after the Masked Man reappeared, he seemed to be on guard against something, constantly maintaining a state of alert, ready to activate Space-Time Ninjutsu at any moment. Naruto also couldn't sense the conditions to trigger a spatial slash, so after a stalemate for a while, he temporarily gave up on the idea of killing the Masked Man.
Then, with a flash of lightning from the wings behind him, he appeared in front of the Masked Man.
"Yo, you look pretty good!~"
Naruto looked at the Masked Man standing in the center of the explosion, his tone light and teasing. "Truly worthy of Uchiha Madara, to survive such an explosion. I thought you were dead for sure!~"
"I didn't die. You seem very disappointed?"
The Masked Man looked up, his scarlet eyes fixed on Naruto, and coldly questioned, "That sneak attack on me just now— that was you, wasn't it?"
Although he hadn't perceived who attacked him and broke his Space-Time Ninjutsu at the time, his intuition told him it must have been Naruto.
"That's right. It was I who did it."
Naruto nodded, generously admitting that it was he who broke his Space-Time Ninjutsu, then said with a tone of regret, "I finally figured out a way to break your Space-Time Ninjutsu, but I still couldn't kill you. What a pity!"
"You!"
The Masked Man's expression beneath his mask twisted when he heard Naruto's words, and he coldly questioned, "I thought we were already comrades. Why did you do that?"
In fact, the Masked Man had indeed died in the explosion just now, but he had been resurrected.
The Uchiha Clan possesses an ultimate ocular jutsu called Izanagi. When activated, it can turn any unfavorable events that occurred within a certain period of time into something that never happened, choosing only favorable events to become reality. The cost is that the eye used for Izanagi will be permanently blinded.
The Masked Man used this ocular jutsu to rewrite the reality of him being killed by the Three-Tails' self-destruction, and the cost was his other Sharingan hidden beneath his mask.
"Why? Ha!~"
Naruto heard the Masked Man's question and couldn't help but let out a mocking laugh, then retorted, "Don't tell me that shark-faced guy's attempt to kill me along with everyone else earlier wasn't at your instruction. And if you had the chance to kill me, would you hesitate for even a second?"
Naruto knew very well that the Masked Man inviting him to join the Akatsuki Organization was merely to use him, and the reason Naruto chose to join was also to obtain more information about the Akatsuki Organization, and even find an opportunity to wipe them all out.
As for being comrades, that was just a joke.
Didn't Kisame Hoshigaki try to kill him along with those Hidden Mist Village ninja during their previous battle?
It's just that the shark-faced guy was too weak. Not only did he fail, but he was also counterattacked by Naruto and had one of his arms cut off. If Naruto hadn't been distracted by the Fourth Mizukage's sudden Tailed Beast transformation at that time, that guy definitely would not have escaped.
It was precisely because of this that Naruto openly admitted to the Masked Man that he had ambushed him.
After all, you guys made the first move!
"Hmph!~"
The Masked Man snorted coldly, speechless after hearing Naruto's words, then said, "Since that's the case, let's consider this matter concluded. How about it?"
Naruto was right. Kisame Hoshigaki's previous attempt to kill him had indeed been with his consent, and if he found an opportunity, he would definitely kill Naruto without hesitation.
But now he clearly couldn't do it, and he didn't want to continue being an enemy of Naruto, so he could only temporarily reconcile.
"I don't care."
Naruto spread his hands, then nodded and said, "After all, I also have some things that I need to do with the help of you people."
"Very good. Then we have temporarily reached a reconciliation."
The Masked Man also nodded when he heard Naruto's words and said, "Didn't you want to meet our leader? I'll take you to meet him now— but before that, you need to offer a token of sincerity to the organization."
"Offer sincerity?"
Naruto's tone immediately turned unfriendly when he heard the Masked Man's words, and he said in a deep voice, "When you invited me before, you never mentioned anything like this!"
"Don't be in a hurry."
The Masked Man soothed him, then said, "Because it's not a difficult matter for you, I didn't explain it beforehand. This is something all members must do before joining the organization."
Of course, this was a lie. The Masked Man just wanted to use Naruto's power to do some things before Naruto met the Akatsuki Organization leader, maximizing his value.
After all, in the Masked Man's opinion, the moment Naruto met the Akatsuki Organization leader would be his death.
"A proof of loyalty?"
Naruto heard the Masked Man's words, pondered for a moment, then asked, "Tell me, what do you want me to do? Let me warn you— if it's something excessive, I will definitely refuse, and then our relationship will revert to hostility.
You should be able to imagine what will happen then."
"Don't worry. It's not something difficult for you to do."
The Masked Man thought for a moment, then said, "Because our organization's goal is to change the world, and to achieve this goal, conflicts with the Five Great Ninja Villages are inevitable. So the Five Great Ninja Villages can be seen as our organization's potential enemies.
Therefore, every member who joins our organization must do something that makes the Five Great Ninja Villages detest them before being officially recognized.
This is also why all members of our organization are S-rank wanted criminals of the Five Great Ninja Villages."
"So that's how it is."
Naruto heard the Masked Man's explanation and thought to himself, Good, I have one more reason to eliminate you, then asked again, "Is there a standard for this 'thing that makes the Five Great Ninja Villages detest you' that you mentioned?"
"At least to the extent that they issue an S-rank bounty on you," the Masked Man thought for a moment and said.
Generally speaking, to make the Five Great Ninja Villages issue an S-rank bounty, one would at least have to commit heinous acts such as assassinating a Kage. So no matter what Naruto chose to do, as long as he agreed to do it, he would fall into his trap.
"Understood."
Naruto nodded lightly, then continued to ask, "So will I do this myself, or will I cooperate with your people?"
The Masked Man thought for a moment and said, "That aspect… is up to you."
"Alright, I'll do it myself."
Naruto nodded, then spread his wings behind him and said, "Give me a contact method. I'll contact you after I'm done."
The Masked Man heard this, took out a scroll, and threw it to Naruto, saying, "This contains a way to contact us. By the way, which Village will you target?"
"I don't know. It depends on my mood."
Naruto caught the scroll the Masked Man threw to him and shook his head.
"Alright, I'm leaving now. I'll contact you after I complete your request."
With that, a flash of lightning from the wings behind Naruto appeared, and his figure instantly vanished.