Naruto, as usual, used his Yang Release chakra to heal injuries, channeling energy into Rin's body to keep her life hanging on by a thread. It wasn't an instant recovery, but it was enough to pull her back from the brink. Under the influence of the Yang chakra, even her punctured heart slowly began to mend.
A fatal wound to the heart was no small matter—it took considerable effort. Any other medical shinobi, even Tsunade, the most revered among them, would not have been able to pull off what Naruto had just done. After all, Dan had died right in front of Tsunade in precisely this way.
Yang chakra was nothing short of a miracle for healing—like Naruto carried a passive regeneration buff for himself and an active heal for others.
"Oi, Isobu, how'd you end up inside this little girl?" Kurama's voice rumbled as he quietly opened the tailed-beast channel, striking up a conversation with the Three-Tails lodged in Rin's body.
"Kurama… long time no see." Isobu's voice was that of a deep, middle-aged man, his speech unhurried—perhaps because of his turtle-like nature. "Was it your jinchūriki who saved me?"
Though over a decade separated their last meeting, to tailed beasts, such a span was but the blink of an eye, a nap at most. Thus, the two conversed without issue.
"I… eat!" A raspy, childish voice suddenly broke in.
It was the Ten-Tails, drooling the moment it sensed Isobu's chakra. Its meaning was simple: hand over the Three-Tails for it to devour.
Feed the Three-Tails to the Ten-Tails? Not a chance. Not from Naruto, not even from Kurama. Perhaps because Isobu was the sort to laze quietly in one place and rarely stirred up trouble, his relationship with Kurama was… tolerable.
Kurama promptly smacked the Ten-Tails on the forehead. "Eat, eat, eat—that's all you know! How about I feed you this fist instead, huh?"
"Mmm…" The Ten-Tails whimpered, pitiful and wronged.
Inside this sealing space, it was by far the weakest. With Kurama and Kakarot both being terrors in their own right, the Ten-Tails, when bullied, could only sulk in a corner, curled up and motionless.
"Anyway, let's get her back first." Naruto glanced down at the still-unconscious Rin, planning to carry her to the medical ward. The trip wouldn't take long.
Bzzzt… bzzzt.
Just then, as Naruto prepared to leave Rōran, he felt a distinct vibration—a summons. It was the Box of Ultimate Bliss, reaching out to him of its own accord for once.
The way it called was like a phone on vibrate—except set to "strong mode."
"Summoning Jutsu!" With a slap of his palm, the enormous Box of Ultimate Bliss appeared before him.
Ever since it had devoured both Mōryō and the Zero-Tails, the Box felt like it had undergone a double upgrade—both hardware and software. Not only could it summon Go in an even stronger state, its intellect had sharpened slightly too.
It could now transmit simple thoughts to Naruto.
And so, it sent him its message:
"Devour… Dragon Vein… evolve."
Six words. Short, but unambiguous.
It wanted to consume Rōran's Dragon Vein?
No way. Absolutely not. Naruto had only just discovered the Dragon Vein's miraculous properties—there was no chance he'd allow it to be eaten so easily.
Sensing Naruto's refusal, the Box grew anxious and sent another message:
"Evolve… acquire Dragon Vein's power."
Eight words this time. Again, direct and to the point.
"You're saying… if you devour the Dragon Vein, you'll gain its abilities? Then, if I need to travel through time and space, you'll go all-out to make it happen?"
Just don't give me that "miracles will surely occur" nonsense.
This time, the Box seemed to ponder longer, but at last, it replied:
"Yes!"
"Good." Naruto nodded. "A portable time-travel tool is definitely better than a fixed point. But let me warn you—if you can't deliver, you know what happens next."
If you fail, I'll tear you apart.
At that, a massive bead of sweat appeared cartoonishly on the Box's giant surface.
"Alright then. Go ahead and eat it."
Poof! With a puff of smoke, the Box of Ultimate Bliss was fully summoned. Then, its already massive form began to swell and expand, endlessly enlarging.
Big, bigger, biggest… what a treasure, what a treasure!
In Naruto's mind, an image flashed of a monkey-faced Thunder God shouting with glee.
The Box grew until its size nearly matched all of Rōran itself. Then the lid creaked open, engulfing the ruins in its entirety, Dragon Vein and all, before slamming shut over them.
With that, the Dragon Vein was swallowed whole.
The Box then began to rapidly shrink, returning to its original size, circling in the air a few times before settling back in front of Naruto. Where Rōran had once stood was now nothing but a vast, bottomless crater.
Then, the Box's appearance began to change. Its four faces—"Joy, Anger, Sorrow, Pleasure"—melted away like early spring snow.
With a chorus of chika-chika-chika-ka-ka sound effects, the Box seemed to enter a "super transformation mode," cycling through strange new forms one after another.
Finally, it settled on a single shape.
Naruto stared at the object before him, his expression hard to describe.
It was no longer a box.
It was… a door.
Not that becoming a door was impossible—but the design was so absurdly familiar.
Wasn't this basically…
A "Anywhere Door"?
"So does that mean from now on it's not the Box of Ultimate Bliss, but the Door of Ultimate Bliss? Or maybe… the Gate of Heaven?"
—
Meanwhile, in another timeline, Orochimaru, clad in the standard white lab coat of researchers, was peering curiously at the dense, dizzying data on a monitor.
His pale fingers clattered across the keyboard, summoning ever more complex figures. After a long while of scrutiny, he finally muttered:
"How strange… Why did the coordinates suddenly vanish? They were right here a moment ago."
"Was the data erased? Or… was that world destroyed?"
"…Well, worlds being destroyed isn't exactly rare."
Ultimately, he talked himself out of caring, marking a giant red X over the position labeled Seventh.
Bang!
The lab door slammed open. A white-haired man burst in from outside and threw his arms around Orochimaru.
"Orochimaru-chan, Orochimaru-chan! I need your help!"
Orochimaru sighed helplessly. "Jiraiya… I told you, I'm working. …Fine. Tell me. What is it this time?"
"Knew I could count on you!"
In an instant, Jiraiya's tears vanished, replaced with a bright grin.
"Help me court Tsunade!"
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