"Naruto Uzumaki… something's wrong with his eyes."
"He's still smiling—but it doesn't reach them. He's doubting. He's afraid."
"Finding out you might just be a 'vessel'… anyone's convictions would crack."
"It's over. He's already wavering. The seed of darkness has been planted."
"If anything else happens—combined with his past—he'll definitely head toward that 'world-destroying' future we saw in the first vision!"
Across the shinobi world, a near-consensus formed:
Naruto's descent had already begun.
As for Sasuke Uchiha, the reaction was far more complicated.
"That guy… he didn't leave? He's standing there 'protecting' Konoha?"
"Protecting? Please. That look in his eyes—he's keeping accounts. Marking who owes what."
"Still, no matter what, he does protect the village later."
"I don't get him… That Uchiha Sasuke is definitely no 'hero.' Maybe he doesn't even understand himself anymore."
The Sky Curtain shifted.
It settled on Kabuto Yakushi.
The scenes that followed were monotonous—Kabuto traveling, excavating graves, conducting research.
As for the two strands of Asura and Indra's power Karin had given him—
They dissipated the moment he tried to analyze them.
That left him visibly frustrated.
In a self-proclaimed "Heavenly Realm," Yin An sighed.
Originally, he had intended to briefly cover Kabuto's story through the Sky Curtain, grant him an inheritance—much like he had done with Sakura—and then end things there.
Leave some plot threads unresolved.
But earlier developments had grown too unrestrained.
So he began tying things back together—adding layers that had little to do with Kabuto at all.
After all, for a long stretch, Kabuto had merely been an observer.
Yin An decided to escalate things further—shake the shinobi world even harder.
He smiled faintly.
"Well then. Indra and Asura's reincarnations have appeared."
"Even that final sigh was clearly hinting at the Sage of Six Paths."
He chuckled.
"So… Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, seated in the Pure Land…"
"Will you remain still?"
Anticipation gleamed in his eyes.
The Sky Curtain once again commanded every gaze.
Kabuto moved swiftly through forests and mountain paths, finally stopping within a miasma-filled woodland.
Before him lay the concealed entrance to an underground cavern.
Without hesitation, he entered.
Damp earth filled the air.
At the cavern's end stood a lifelike stone statue of the Eight-Headed Serpent—Yamata no Orochi.
The carved serpent heads looked so vivid they seemed ready to strike.
"Yamata no Orochi…" Kabuto murmured, adjusting his glasses as his sharp gaze swept across the statue.
Outside the Sky Curtain, Orochimaru's pupils constricted sharply.
"The Eight Branches Technique is not something I have fully mastered," he muttered. "What place is this… that it houses Yamata no Orochi?"
His gaze turned toward the Kabuto within the projection.
"I have a feeling… that version of you is about to obtain an inheritance."
Kabuto pushed up his glasses thoughtfully.
"I'm looking forward to it as well, Orochimaru-sama."
Karin leaned in, staring at the statue.
"He's not going to turn into some ugly snake monster, right? That'd be hideous."
Neither Orochimaru nor Kabuto reacted.
To them, ultimate power outweighed aesthetics.
Appearance had never mattered.
Inside the projection—
Kabuto searched the area thoroughly.
No mechanisms.
No hidden seals.
After a long time, he shook his head and turned to leave.
Before he could step out—
A sigh echoed through the cavern.
Ancient.
Disappointed.
"So many years… and the one who arrives is merely a defective product."
"Who's there?!"
Kabuto spun around instantly, chakra surging as he formed hand seals.
His eyes locked onto the Yamata no Orochi statue.
"Fine. It'll be you."
Crack.
The statue fractured.
Stone shards fell as cracks spread rapidly across its surface.
Kabuto's instinct was to flee—
But a powerful intuition stopped him.
This was not danger.
It was opportunity.
He suppressed the urge to escape and watched.
The statue shattered completely.
When the dust cleared, a stone platform stood in its place.
At its center lay a grotesque fruit, its surface wrapped in twisted serpent-head patterns.
Kabuto frowned.
"What is this?"
The voice answered calmly.
"A Devil Fruit."
"Devil Fruit?" Kabuto's frown deepened. "What does it do? And why choose me?"
The voice did not hide anything.
"Consider it an inheritance."
"Consume it, and you will inherit the power of Yamata no Orochi—the legacy of a powerful demon."
"As for why you…"
A faint chuckle.
"You bear the mark of serpents. Otherwise, as a mere ninja, you would never have been chosen."
Kabuto nodded slightly.
That much made sense.
But another question pressed forward.
"Why not choose a ninja? Do you hold some grudge against them?"
The tone of the voice shifted instantly—now sharp with disdain.
"Ninja?"
"They are all descendants of traitors."
"What?!"
Kabuto's pupils contracted violently.
He was no longer the naïve child he once was.
After witnessing Karin's power, Indra and Asura's existence, and the mysterious sigh—
He already understood this world concealed countless secrets beneath its surface.
But this—
This suggested something far deeper.
If ninja were descendants of traitors—
Then traitors to whom?
And what had they betrayed?
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