Chapter 160: The S-Rank Shinobi Secret Scroll Reward!
"Your Five-Tails? Heh heh..."
Orochimaru licked his lips, his voice raspy. "Nara-kun, the capture of the Five-Tails Jinchuriki was thanks to the efforts of all Konoha shinobi. As for the ownership of the Tailed Beast within him, that is not for you or I to dec—"
Shadow Piercing Bullet!
Keisuke raised his right hand. A ball of black Yin Release energy gathered at the tip of his index finger and shot towards Orochimaru, successfully cutting him off mid-sentence.
Faced with Keisuke's aggressive, no-nonsense approach, Orochimaru's pupils contracted slightly. He instantly molded his earth-style chakra.
Thwip!
The black shadow bullet pierced through Orochimaru's torso, leaving a clean hole. But what flowed from the wound's edges wasn't blood, but clumps of mud.
Earth Release: Earth Substitute!
Orochimaru's figure reappeared in another part of the command tent, his expression furious.
"Nara Keisuke!" he snarled, using his full name. "Attacking your supreme commander inside the Konoha main camp! Do you have any idea what you are doing?!"
"I'm too lazy for pleasantries, Orochimaru," Keisuke said calmly. "Some people dream of becoming the next God of Shinobi, perhaps even eyeing the yet-undecided position of Fourth Hokage. But I have no such dreams. I have never hesitated to assume the worst of you, and I certainly don't feel safe leaving the Five-Tails Jinchuriki in your hands. So, don't try to placate me with official rhetoric."
"Heh heh..." Orochimaru let out a cold laugh, the expression on his pale face growing even icier. "It seems you are determined to oppose me, Nara Keisuke."
"I have no interest in you. As long as you don't cause trouble for me, I couldn't be bothered to care what you do. All I care about is the Five-Tails." Keisuke didn't back down an inch, meeting Orochimaru's hostility head-on. "I would say the exact same thing to the Third Hokage's face. Whoever wants the Five-Tails can come and talk to me. I can guarantee they will change their naive, childish, and unrealistic ideas."
Feeling Keisuke's unshakeable resolve, Orochimaru fell silent for a moment. He's truly not targeting me, but just wants that beast?
He reviewed the events of the past few months and his interactions with Keisuke. If a normal ninja had discovered his experiments on fellow villagers, let alone his use of the First Hokage's cells, they would have immediately exposed him to the public. But Keisuke had only told Tsunade. While Orochimaru would have preferred she didn't know either, from Keisuke's perspective, that was an act of incredible restraint.
Of course, Orochimaru had also suspected that Keisuke was holding the information over his head to extort him, like with the Iburi clan's research data. But in the months since, Keisuke had never asked him for anything else. Was the Iburi clan's data really that precious? In Orochimaru's eyes, an unstable Kekkei Genkai like Smoke Release, no matter how unique, was worthless if it couldn't be used reliably.
So... what was Nara Keisuke's endgame? Kekkei Genkai, and Tailed Beasts...
Orochimaru licked his lips and casually probed, "The Nara clan is not the Uzumaki clan. Your average constitution and chakra levels are nowhere near enough to contain the Five-Tails. Even if I gave it to you, you could never become its Jinchuriki."
"You're trying to figure out my motive, Orochimaru," Keisuke said flatly. "But I don't mind telling you. I, and the Nara clan behind me, are indeed pursuing the Five-Tails. But the reason has never been its power. We want the Five-Tails simply because it is the Five-Tails."
Orochimaru's brow furrowed in confusion. "What do you mean?"
"Don't you think," Keisuke said, spreading his hands, "that the Five-Tails looks like a giant white deer? The biggest, strongest, and most beautiful white deer in the entire ninja world! Isn't that reason enough?"
"..."
Orochimaru subconsciously clenched his fists. He suddenly had an overwhelming urge to send Nara Keisuke to Ryūchi Cave and soak him in a pit of lethal venom for seven days and seven nights. Perhaps a poison-cures-poison approach could rid him, and the entire Nara clan, of their "deer obsession."
This is the man I've been so wary of all this time?
A profound sense of powerlessness washed over Orochimaru.
"My private tent," he said wearily, pointing a finger toward a corner of the camp. "Go. I left the Five-Tails Jinchuriki there... Do whatever you want with him, just leave him alive."
Having gotten what he wanted, Keisuke wasted no more time with Orochimaru and promptly left. He first retrieved the Jinchuriki from Orochimaru's tent, then left a Shadow Doppelganger in his own team's tent to maintain communications. In the next moment, Keisuke departed the Konoha camp with the still-unconscious Han and the captured white creature, heading for a remote forest far from the base.
Months ago, Keisuke had conducted a brief, two-day research session in this very forest and, using Orochimaru's data, had successfully mastered the Explosion Release Kekkei Genkai. Arriving there now on his Shadow Creature, he resonated with the energy in his Chakra Crystals and created a number of Shadow Clones, ordering them to quickly construct a temporary base. With their combined efforts, a simple underground camp was built in no time.
Keisuke split off a few more doppelgangers and instructed them, "You know the research tasks. Work hard, do your best!"
The clones immediately got to work, but not without grumbling about their creator.
"Being encouraged by a lazy bum is a novel experience."
"This is such a pain. Why did I have to be a clone?"
"So I am the lazy one, but also not... I hate this feeling!"
While the Shadow Doppelgangers and Shadow Clones worked diligently, Keisuke found a comfortable, shady spot, lay down, and relaxed. The moment his back touched the soft grass, a contented groan escaped his lips.
Taking advantage of the break, he summoned his system panel and checked his recently completed mission.
"An S-rank mission reward!" Keisuke looked at the S-rank scroll. "It's been a while since I've seen a scroll of this level. I wonder what it'll give me. There are still plenty of S-rank jutsu that would be a huge help right now..."
With a thought, he opened the scroll.
[Opening...]
[Contents of this S-Rank Shinobi Secret Scroll: Technique]
[S-Rank Kekkei Tōta Technique: Dust Release: Detachment from the Primitive World Technique]
[Description: The box of destruction that disintegrates matter to its fundamental state, scattering it as ash.]
[Effect: By changing the nature of one's chakra to "Dust," then manipulating its form into a cube, cone, cylinder, or other three-dimensional shapes, the scale of the technique is determined by the amount of chakra invested. The attack is indiscriminate and can disintegrate any target it touches to a molecular level. Almost no ninja tool or jutsu can defend against its destructive power, making it a truly absolute killing blow!]
[Evaluation: Look, your star of death is shining in the sky!]
Keisuke shot up as if struck by lightning, his eyes wide as he stared at the screen. He knew he had contributed greatly to this victory against Iwagakure, almost single-handedly turning the tide of the war. But he had never imagined that an S-rank mission issued by the front-line commander would reward him with the enemy's own S-rank technique! And not just any technique—the only Kekkei Tōta in the entire ninja world!
Dust Release: Detachment from the Primitive World Technique!
"Ōnoki, oh Ōnoki, you're just too good to me!" Keisuke wanted to fly back to the Iwa lines and spar with the old man for another three hundred rounds. "First the Five-Tails Jinchuriki, now Dust Release. Iwagakure barely has anything worth taking, and now it's almost all gone!"
After taking several deep breaths, Keisuke finally suppressed his excitement. In truth, even though he now had the technique, he couldn't use the pinnacle of mortal destructive power just yet. For the same reason as the other Kekkei Genkai he'd acquired, he didn't know how to transform his chakra into the "Dust" nature.
All he knew was one thing— "Dust Release is a Kekkei Tōta created by simultaneously combining three different chakra natures: Wind, Fire, and Earth!"
"And luckily for me, Wind, Fire, and Earth... I have all three!"
Once he figured out the specific ratio of chakra natures for Dust Release, he too would be able to unleash this incredibly destructive technique.
"I was just trying to figure out how to raise my own damage ceiling, and now one of the top-tier jutsu for mortals just drops out of an S-rank scroll!" Keisuke was ecstatic. His gaze shifted to the Five-Tails Jinchuriki and the white creature. "And Dust Release is far from the only thing I'm getting today!"
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