The ritual went even more smoothly than they had expected.
Under Kabuto's precise control, Nono successfully performed Living Corpse Reincarnation on her own cloned shell. She had officially regained a living body.
"Matron, how do you feel?" Kabuto asked cautiously from the side, a rare expression of deep unease etched on his face.
"It's an amazing technique." Nono closed her eyes and carefully sensed the internal shifts in her body. As an equally skilled medical ninja, her deep familiarity with the human body was completely on par with Kabuto's. "The body's condition is surprisingly excellent. Does this count as successfully breaking the cycle of death?"
In a sense, combining Impure World Reincarnation and Living Corpse Reincarnation was simply exploiting a massive loophole in the Naruto-verse's metaphysical laws, a sort of backdoor resurrection method.
For now, there appeared to be no physical abnormalities, though who knew if hidden problems would arise later down the line.
But future matters could be dealt with in the future. At worst, they could simply use Rinne Rebirth and go through the proper, flawless resurrection channels later.
"Kabuto," Naruto suddenly called out, halting the young man's thoughts. "Take a few days off and accompany your matron back to the orphanage for a proper visit."
"Thank you Uzumaki-sama!" Kabuto's face lit up with genuine excitement. This was exactly what he had wanted most. He had so many things he desperately wanted to tell the matron.
"Go ahead."
If anyone thought Naruto reviving Nono would make Kabuto develop rebellious ideas, there was absolutely no need for concern. On the contrary, reviving Nono only cemented Kabuto's loyalty to him even further.
Because it didn't just resolve his agonizing emotional burden, it gave him a brand new bond to protect.
As long as Konoha's orphanage remained standing, Nono's kind nature would never allow her to abandon the children. Neither would Kabuto. But their combined power simply wasn't enough to protect those vulnerable children in the cutthroat shinobi world, so Kabuto would gladly continue to serve Naruto to ensure their safety.
As long as the brutal wars continued, the orphanage would only take in more children, more traumatized orphans needing care, creating even more bonds, and making Kabuto even more inseparable from Naruto's protective umbrella.
In the canon timeline, after Nono died, Kabuto completely lost all sense of purpose and fell into deep confusion. Orochimaru's arrival gave him a reason to exist, a twisted goal and a fake identity, which was exactly why Kabuto kept imitating Orochimaru's mannerisms. He even literally became Kabuto-maru after the Sannin's death.
Now, Naruto had given him a new, positive belief and a concrete goal to strive for.
When a capable leader firmly resolves a subordinate's material worries and provides them with spiritual faith and conviction, would that subordinate not serve them with their very life?
A true warrior will gladly die for one who understands him.
This was an open, honest, and highly effective scheme.
Was going through all this incredible trouble for a single spy like Kabuto truly worth it?
Of course it was.
Scientific research and development was never Naruto's strong suit, which was exactly why he valued rare talent in this specific area so highly. He was endlessly thirsty for talent, that was Naruto's current, driven state of mind. Kabuto was a magnificent find: a top-tier infiltration spy and an absolutely invaluable research prodigy. Naruto only had three such brilliant people in his entire grasp.
His ultimate goal was the vast cosmos in outer space, patiently waiting for the day he could sound the horn to violently counterattack the Otsutsuki. Until the looming Otsutsuki problem was completely resolved, there would be no peace.
'Eventually, I will make all those arrogant Otsutsuki clansmen scattered across the skies vanish like smoke.'
Three weeks later.
Minato was also successfully "resurrected" through the exact same loophole method. Father and son locked eyes in the quiet underground lab.
"I'm back." Minato gazed tenderly at Naruto, extending his arms to his son for the very first time, and spoke softly.
Naruto also responded to the emotional call for the first time, wrapping his arms around Minato in a tight, grounding hug, and whispered back in the exact same warm tone: "Welcome back."
Some things simply didn't need many words. Just an "I'm back" and a "Welcome back" eloquently said everything that needed to be said.
He was no longer fighting entirely alone. Only now did a true semblance of home begin to take shape around him.
Hmm... Now the household only lacked its loving mother.
Once the Otsutsuki problem was completely, utterly resolved and all his worldly worries were safely behind him, he would resurrect his mother without hesitation. Because with time travel possible for Otsutsuki, he couldn't risk them getting the idea of targeting her.
After his resurrection, Minato officially took over the bulk of Konoha's affairs, after all, this was exactly what he had expertly handled before his tragic death. As for Naruto...
He had absolutely no desire to waste his precious training time on tedious administrative duties. After all, his real dream wasn't to become Hokage. As for that nominal Fifth Hokage currently sitting in the office...
"What are you doing?" Danzo, dressed in the pristine Hokage robes, looked at the massive crowd of ninja clans standing menacingly behind Naruto, his hand trembling as he pointed a wrinkled finger. "Are you rebelling?!"
"Of course not." Naruto, standing confidently at the front, gave a slight shake of his head and said calmly, "We simply noticed that Fifth Hokage-sama has been working day and night for Konoha and is now terminally ill. We kindly wish to invite the Fifth Hokage to rest at home."
"We're all deeply concerned for Fifth Hokage-sama's failing health."
"Please, Hokage-sama, rest well!"
"Please, Hokage-sama, rest well," the assembled ninja clans behind Naruto spoke in eerie unison.
"Bullshit, I'm perfectly fine! My body is perfectly fine!" Danzo shouted furiously, his face flushing a dangerous red with sheer agitation. "How could I possibly be terminally ill? That's absolutely ridiculous! *Cough cough!*"
To prove he wasn't sick, Danzo shouted with forceful authority, but perhaps because he had overexerted his lungs, he suddenly covered his mouth and began to cough violently.
As he coughed, Danzo felt something wet and warm pool in his palm, accompanied by the faint, unmistakable metallic scent of blood. When he opened his trembling hand, he was horrified to find a startling red stain spread across his skin. "Blood? I'm actually coughing up blood?"
"Impossible, this is absolutely impossible!"
Like a startled cat shocked by electricity, Danzo frantically waved his arm, desperately trying to fling the blood away. But the faint, smeared traces of blood remaining at the corner of his mouth completely betrayed him.
"Fifth Hokage-sama, look, look!" Naruto exclaimed loudly, pointing directly at the corner of Danzo's mouth as if he'd just struck gold. "The severe rheumatism, caused due to decades being underground, has spread all the way from your feet into your internal organs. Your body is riddled with holes."
"The vile rheumatism has reached your very bones."
"You're terminally ill!"
"When it finally reaches your brain, you will immediately..."
'Can rheumatism actually cause coughing blood? And spread like that?'
The clan leaders exchanged skeptical glances. This bizarre medical claim seemed to touch on a massive gap in their general knowledge.
According to the vague medical information the Fifth Hokage had previously looked up... perhaps it was true?
'If he says so, then it must be true. After all, he's Uzumaki-sama's trusted confidant.'
"My... my rheumatism is terminally ill and has reached my bones?"
"I won't live much longer?"
Upon hearing this devastating 'diagnosis', Danzo stood there in an absolute daze. He subconsciously stepped back, bumped heavily into the stool behind him, and his weak legs suddenly gave way, causing him to stagger and collapse unceremoniously into the Hokage's seat. "Why, why... I just became the Hokage!"
Danzo had only just warmed the Hokage seat. Danzo's grand, sweeping ambitions had yet to be realized. Danzo hadn't yet made Konoha the undisputed foremost power of the Five Great Ninja Villages.
"It's all Hiruzen... it's all Hiruzen's fault!"
"If he hadn't maliciously insisted that I establish Root in that dark, damp, freezing underground, how would I have ever gotten this terminal rheumatism?!"
"How did it ever come to this?"
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