"Uzumaki Naruto… if only I had met you earlier," Kimimaro sighed, as if resigning himself to fate. "But unfortunately, there are no 'ifs' in this world. Everything is destiny…"
"Heh—destiny?" Naruto scoffed. "I, Uzumaki Naruto, don't believe in destiny! And even if such a thing really exists, it will always be held in my own hands! Kimimaro—are you willing to become my companion?!"
Kimimaro said regretfully, "I truly want to become your companion. I feel that being with you would bring me a kind of joy I've never known before. But my body is already beyond saving. I've completely lost the ability to move. I can't help you in any way."
Naruto stared straight into Kimimaro's eyes.
"If you're my companion, then I will never abandon you. Kaguya Kimimaro—do you want to live? Do you want to become my companion? If you want to live! If you want to become my companion! Then say it!"
Kimimaro stared blankly at Naruto's earnest expression, feeling the icy cold in his heart warm once again.
He wanted to live. He wanted to become companions with the man standing before him. This desire came straight from the depths of his heart.
Gathering all his strength, Kimimaro shouted back,
"I want to live! I want to become your companion!"
Upon hearing his answer, Naruto immediately activated Nine-Tails Sage Mode.
Within his inner world, Naruto spoke to Kurama.
"Kurama! Fully cooperate with the Sage chakra to stimulate my body. The Uzumaki clan possesses extraordinary vitality and self-healing abilities. But I only inherited half of the Uzumaki bloodline, so I can't fully unleash those traits. With your chakra and Sage chakra stimulating my body, the Uzumaki constitution should be pushed to its limits!"
Seeing Naruto actively reaching out to form a bond with a companion, Kurama was more than willing to help save Kimimaro and agreed without the slightest hesitation.
Naruto rolled up his sleeve and placed his arm in front of Kimimaro's mouth.
"Bite down, Kimimaro. My vitality and chakra will help you recover quickly."
Kimimaro looked at Naruto, then at the arm just inches away. An indescribable surge of emotion welled up in his heart.
He bit down on Naruto's arm.
A continuous stream of vitality and chakra poured into Kimimaro's body, healing him from within.
The deathly pallor of Kimimaro's face gradually turned rosy, and his body no longer looked like the shriveled husk it had been when they first met.
Eight minutes passed.
Naruto could no longer maintain the fully activated Nine-Tails Sage Mode, and it automatically dissipated.
Even so, the results were encouraging.
Kimimaro's complexion was now healthy, and although his body was still thin, it was no longer just skin and bones.
Naruto asked, "How is it?"
Kimimaro slowly sat up on the bed by himself. Taking a deep breath, he said,
"I've never felt this light before."
"What about your bloodline disease?" Naruto asked.
Kimimaro shook his head. "It hasn't been cured."
Naruto fell into thought.
It seemed he had only replenished Kimimaro's vitality and chakra. The Uzumaki constitution did not possess the ability to cure diseases.
Feeling the life force and chakra flowing through his body—everything Naruto had given him—Kimimaro understood that Naruto had given him a second life. From this moment on, everything he had belonged to Naruto.
Despite this being their first meeting, Naruto seemed to possess some kind of inexplicable power that made others trust him without resistance.
Watching Naruto lost in thought, Kimimaro silently swore to himself that he would grow stronger—strong enough to one day become the man Naruto could entrust his back to.
Naruto snapped out of his thoughts and comforted him.
"Don't worry. As long as you're alive, there will be time to find a way to cure your bloodline disease."
"Yes! Naruto-kun!" Kimimaro replied.
For the first time, Kimimaro smiled—bright and radiant, like a blooming flower.
Elsewhere — Yōsuke
Orochimaru's base in the Land of Frost was located in a gorge between two icy mountains.
Following the route Minato had provided, Yōsuke and Pakura found a stone gate buried deep beneath heavy snow.
Yōsuke drew his katana and shattered the stone gate, entering the base together with Pakura.
The base looked as though it had been abandoned for a very long time, dust covering everything.
Inside several rooms that resembled prison cells, there were many skeletons. These were not ordinary human skeletons, but grotesque hybrids—skeletal remains that combined humans and animals.
The meaning of their existence was self-evident: Orochimaru's human experimentation.
As Yōsuke and Pakura continued deeper inside, they discovered some of Orochimaru's research records.
The records stated that Orochimaru had discovered intact corpses of extinct creatures—beings that had only existed a thousand years ago—within the permafrost of the Frost Country's glaciers.
Using this as a foundation, he began researching whether humans could obtain the abilities of these creatures by fusing their biological genes with human genes.
Line after line of data represented countless lives.
And even this record was incomplete—enough to show just how inhumane Orochimaru's experiments had been.
At the end of the records, there was a single experimental note written by Orochimaru:
[Cursed Seals can suppress the rejection caused by the fusion of different biological genes, but the survival rate is extremely low…]
The remaining data had been destroyed, leaving Yōsuke unable to determine what exactly the "cursed seal" was.
After further searching, Yōsuke and Pakura found no additional useful information.
Although he had expected this outcome, Yōsuke still couldn't help but sigh.
"All that effort for nothing… Let's go. On to the next Orochimaru base."
The next base was also located north of the Land of Fire, but this time on an island near the coast.
Yōsuke and Pakura left the Land of Frost and, after days of arduous travel, arrived at a harbor.
However, the port—once bustling with activity—was now desolate. Only a few scavengers were picking through trash, and not a single ship was docked along the shore.
"What happened here?" Pakura asked in confusion. "Ports like this, connecting to so many places, should be thriving."
Yōsuke shook his head. "I don't know either. Let's ask."
He approached an elderly scavenger, took out some money, handed it to him, and said,
"Sir, I have a few questions I'd like to ask."
The old man's eyes lit up at the sight of the money. He quickly took it, smiling broadly.
"Ask whatever you like. I've lived here for decades—there's nothing I don't know."
"This is a harbor," Yōsuke asked. "Why is it so deserted?"
Hearing the question, the old man cautiously glanced around. After confirming no one was paying attention, he lowered his voice.
"It wasn't always like this. This port once connected smoothly to all regions—it was the merchants' top choice for trade, famous and prosperous.
But several years ago, everything changed.
Out of nowhere, a group of terrifying monsters appeared. They massacred the port, then leapt into the sea and vanished without a trace.
Ever since that day, every ship that set sail from this harbor disappeared at sea. Little by little, the place declined… until no one came here anymore."
The scavenger sighed deeply.
PS: Access the complete/finished chapters/series at Patreon: NanamiTL
Please drop some power stones support me at my Patreon