Chapter 492: The Underworld and the King of Hell
Having used a Sage Talisman, Naruto's speed at mastering Sage Mode would be much faster than in the original timeline, but that flimsy piece of paper wasn't enough to give his aptitude an earth-shattering boost.
Under Hagoromo's guidance, Ino had taken twelve days to learn Sage Mode. Kabuto Yakushi was practically risking his life and beliefs to learn it. Naruto's aptitude was a big step down from both of them.
No matter how anxious he was, he couldn't leave until he had learned it!
He could only regretfully miss the Chunin Exams next week.
To prevent the dead silence of the underworld from affecting her mental health, Ino would often pull Tonton aside for a chat.
"Tonton, do you think Shizune has a boyfriend? She doesn't have the Yin Seal. What does she rely on to relieve her loneliness with all that Yang Release chakra she accumulates?"
"Tonton, I haven't asked you yet. How old is your Tonsuke?"
"Tonsuke doesn't like to wear clothes. That's a bad habit. Even a pet pig should pay attention to elegance!"
She rambled on and on. Sometimes, when Tonton was in a good mood, he would oink a few times in response.
After firing off an unknown number of Super Great Spiralling Rings, Ino finally broke through the world that seemed to have forgotten its color palette during modeling.
"Damn, I'm finally out!" Ino curled up and squeezed through a channel several hundred meters long.
The waters of Yomi lapped at her feet. The pitch-black world was almost devoid of any light. The reason she said "almost" was that in the darkness, two eyes with a ripple-like pattern were watching her, their gaze very calm.
"Rinnegan?!"
Before Ino could even assume a defensive stance, Tonton quickly ran back into the channel.
Fortunately, he still had a bit of loyalty. He peeked out from the channel entrance, his head and one hoof visible, gesturing for Ino to run.
"Wait, don't rush. Let me take a closer look." Ino focused her gaze.
As she activated her Sharingan, a veil was gradually lifted from the pitch-black world before her.
It was a space about the size of a soccer field.
There was no ceiling, and the four walls seemed to absorb even her sensory abilities.
If it weren't for the accumulated water at her feet, she would have thought she was in a world with no sky above and no ground below.
A pure spirit, over ten meters tall, wearing magnificent robes and a golden crown, stood dozens of meters away, watching her.
It was the King of Hell!
Nine silver chains bound the King of Hell from nine different directions. The ruler of the underworld couldn't even move a muscle.
"This is bad. We've gone from a large prison cell to a solitary one. No wonder the walls were so sturdy... Tonton, you must have pointed in the wrong direction." Ino forcefully shifted the blame. Tonton rolled his eyes and refused to take it.
Ino observed her surroundings for a while. This prison had been breached by her after countless Super Great Spiralling Rings; its sturdiness was unquestionable. Since it was so secure, there was naturally no need for guards.
"Was it you who dragged me to this godforsaken place?" she asked from a distance.
Not a single sound came from the King of Hell.
The nine chains seemed to have locked down even his thoughts.
"Can't you talk? Or has this seal completely silenced you? How pitiful. But even if you're pitiful, you can't drag me down with you! You even killed our pet pig! Your crime is unforgivable!"
Ino unleashed a torrent of harsh words. Tonton shook his head repeatedly, as if to say, There's no need! You big shots can talk; there's no need to involve a small fry like me.
Ino observed the King of Hell from a close distance. The seal was extremely strong. She couldn't release him, and there was no need to.
"You can actually hear me, right?" Ino observed carefully. The King of Hell still didn't react.
"I won't talk about justice or evil. Don't you want to vent the anger in your heart? Those guys who use you as a tool, you don't want to see them living comfortably in the world of the living, do you? If there's a summoning jutsu, there's naturally a reverse summoning jutsu. Are you willing to summon the guy who ordered you to strike me back here?"
Ino pointed with her thumb at the channel she had broken through. "I have to say, your luck is really good. Your seal is already half-broken. The restrictions on you are not as great as before. We'll reverse-summon those guys here, and then I'll kill them in front of you to vent your anger. How about it?"
Ino looked carefully at the King of Hell's eyes.
The eyes, controlled by the Rinnegan, flickered quickly. In an instant, the King of Hell's eyes turned black, but they quickly reverted to the Rinnegan state.
The King of Hell had agreed to this method, but he couldn't speak, nor could he use a ninja's sensory abilities.
Communicating purely through eye contact was too difficult.
This wasn't the first time Ino had dealt with such a "silent type."
"Ninja Art: Mind Body Disturbance Technique!" Forcibly build a bridge, and then let's be friends!
After a brief connection of their consciousnesses, Ino managed to read some of the King of Hell's thoughts.
"The seal is still very strong. You need someone to help you share the burden so you can free up your hands?"
Ino pointed at her own nose and quickly shook her head. "Not me. If I share the burden of the seal with you, who will fight the enemy when they get here? We can't just reverse-summon the enemy from far away and then stand here motionlessly, serving ourselves up on a platter, can we? No, that plan is definitely not going to work."
The King of Hell sent her another thought. Her eyes lit up. That was a good idea.
She slowly turned her head and looked at Tonton, who was shivering and peeking out from the channel.
Tonton: "???"
I have a bad feeling about the way Ino is looking at me! What are you planning to do? I'm already dead!
Ino picked him up and kneaded him for a bit, then pointed at the King of Hell and asked Tonton, "Do you see that dark-faced hero over there?"
"Oink oink?"
"That hero and I are going to deal with a few bad guys later. Really bad guys, the worst kind. We need your help..."
In Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's era, there was no such thing as sealing jutsu. It was all a matter of "I think this will work," and so it did.
Kaguya's seal on the King of Hell was powerful, but it wasn't airtight.
This seal could be shared by intelligent life forms. Ino could do it, and so could Tonton...
Tonton was very resistant. He had a feeling that something strange was about to happen to him.
Ino spewed a stream of nonsense.
"This big brother, the King of Hell, is super rich. If you follow him, you'll live a good life from now on!"
"Think about your Tonsuke. In the future, you two can live together, and Tonsuke will be the crown prince of the underworld!"
"See those houses we passed on the way here? We'll fix them up, and in the future, they'll all belong to you and Tonsuke. Think about it, how wonderful!"
Ino rambled on, and Tonton, with the intelligence of a six- or seven-year-old, was completely dazed. The pet pig nodded dazedly in agreement.
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