Chapter 233: The Origin of Humans and Tailed Beasts
Logically speaking, if [Namikaze Minato] wanted to go anywhere, he only needed to use his Flying Thunder God marks to arrive there instantly.
Although the Namikaze Minato of the Limited Tsukuyomi world, due to his personality, had not left behind many marks, his son should definitely have one on him.
Yet for some unknown reason, after [Namikaze Minato] had already made up his mind to save his son, save the tailed beast, and save the shinobi world, he did not disappear immediately. Instead, he lingered there, fiddling with something.
It was at this moment that Shiromo in the sky carried back [Konan], who had just finished detonating the six hundred billion explosive tags.
[Konan] had expended an enormous amount of chakra. Her paperized body was left with only the upper half.
However, as long as she released God's Paper Shikigami Technique, she could still return to her original body. It wasn't that half her body was actually gone.
Maintaining this state was only because, during the explosion just now, she had to maintain physical damage immunity. Otherwise, she herself would have been blown to death.
Sure enough, after confirming that it was safe, [Konan] restored herself to normal and smoothly slid down from Shiromo's back.
Hikari's Susanoo extended an arm and caught [Konan], "Hurry up and point the way. Those two down there are also going to look for the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki. If they find him first, it'll be troublesome."
"Alright, go that way."
[Konan] glanced at the two people below, realized that there had been survivors from her explosive tags, and no longer hesitated as she pointed in a direction.
"What a pity. Give me a few more years, and even the grasslands and forests outside could be replaced with explosive tags."
[Konan] took one last look at the massive crater that was Konoha, as well as the two people on the ground, then sat in the hand of Uchiha Hikari's Susanoo as it flew at full speed and carried her away.
Riding the high-speed Susanoo express, Shiromo and his group quickly arrived at the destination [Konan] had mentioned—the Fire Temple.
"Good thing. The Nine-Tails' jinchūriki is still here."
Once they were close enough, all three could sense the immense chakra within. [Konan] let out a small sigh of relief.
After all, with someone who could use Flying Thunder God, they could appear here at any moment and take the person away.
At that point, finding him again would be difficult.
Without space-time ninjutsu, chasing someone who could immediately use Flying Thunder God to escape would just be letting the enemy toy with you like a monkey.
Shiromo understood this as well. That was why he had been curious earlier as to why [Namikaze Minato] had not immediately used Flying Thunder God to leave.
He had originally been prepared to make a move.
But seeing that [Namikaze Minato] showed no intention of leaving at all until they themselves departed, Shiromo held back a little, wanting to see what was really going on.
"Why is it inside a temple?"
The three landed at the entrance of the Fire Temple. Uchiha Hikari set [Konan] down, looking somewhat curious.
"Don't you know? Temples harbor filth. During the Warring States period, they were specifically places that connected humans and summoning beasts in marriage. The Fire Temple was the best of them."
"Look."
[Konan] pointed at a towering ancient tree inside the Fire Temple, "That is the sinful source where humans and summoning beasts form bonds."
"The leader once saw a story on a stone tablet using the Rinnegan."
"It is said that a very, very long time ago, [One] and [Rabbit] appeared in this world. [One] was an extremely disgusting furry fetishist and even intended to turn the shinobi world into a breeding ground for furries."
"[Rabbit] couldn't stand it, so she seized an opportunity to launch a sneak attack and severely injured [One]."
"After being gravely wounded, [One] hid inside the ear of a monk, spreading his evil ideology throughout the shinobi world."
"His ideology even influenced [Rabbit]'s son."
"That son was the Sage of Six Paths."
"The Sage of Six Paths was obsessed with furries and did not hesitate to persecute his own mother, sealing her on the moon for opposing furries."
"Then he split the Ten-Tails into nine tailed beasts, for his own day-and-night indulgence."
"And this tree is the Divine Tree that [One] and [Rabbit] brought with them back then."
"Because tailed beasts have endless lifespans, summoning beasts generally live very long lives, while humans live too briefly, this tree is the key that allows humans and tailed beasts or summoning beasts to reincarnate and renew their bonds."
"What is this supposed to be?"
Shiromo turned to look at Uchiha Hikari.
He had already gotten used to however outrageous the story before this was.
But that final part about 'reincarnating to renew bonds with tailed beasts' completely broke him.
This set feels wrong, okay?
Shiromo distinctly remembered telling a story like this only once, during his time in the Land of Wind, and only to Uchiha Hikari and Temari.
And now it had somehow been 'borrowed' into the Limited Tsukuyomi world?
"Mm, it's quite an interesting story."
Uchiha Hikari pretended she hadn't heard him and walked toward the entrance of the Fire Temple.
"Forget it."
"You stay here. Even if your chakra has recovered a bit, there's no need for you to go inside. Leave the fighting inside to us."
After saying this to [Konan], Shiromo followed after her.
…..
Inside the Fire Temple, there was deathly silence.
The ground was littered with the corpses of monks.
At the end of the path was their target for this trip—the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki, Uzumaki Menma.
"Didn't expect Namikaze Minato to still not be here. Does he have procrastination issues? Or…"
Shiromo stopped halfway through his sentence.
Because, using [Epitaph], he saw a future scene and knew that [Namikaze Minato] was about to appear.
The reason [Namikaze Minato] had not taken action all this time was because the Flying Thunder God mark he had left on Uzumaki Menma was in a very special location.
It had been left back when he and the Nine-Tails did that thing, and was therefore synchronously left inside Uzumaki Menma's body.
Flying Thunder God teleportation did not necessarily require appearing right next to the mark. Even if the mark was in some special place, it usually wouldn't matter.
But in this case, the 'inside the body' was not just inside the body—it was inside the sealing space.
So Flying Thunder God teleportation would definitely cause him to appear inside Menma's body.
To avoid directly bursting Menma apart, [Namikaze Minato] had no choice but to summon the toads of Mount Myōboku, hide together with [Kushina] inside the body of a small toad, and only then use Flying Thunder God.
However, because [Namikaze Minato] had chosen to unite with the Nine-Tails back then, the toads of Mount Myōboku had waited for him for many years and had long since turned love into resentment.
As a result, after using the summoning technique, he could only beg bitterly, painstakingly explaining and persuading them.
Appealing to their emotions and reasoning with them.
He told Mount Myōboku that the Akatsuki organization intended to gather and slaughter the tailed beasts, and that summoning beasts would also be affected. When the lips are gone, the teeth are cold—they would suffer sooner or later.
In the end, Mount Myōboku finally forgave [Namikaze Minato] for the time being and sent over a small toad.
The two hurriedly crawled into the small toad's body, and with a single Flying Thunder God, completed the transfer.
Fire Temple.
"So you're the members of the organization Kurama mentioned, the ones intending to capture the tailed beasts?"
Uzumaki Menma leapt down from a bloodstained Buddha statue, his expression cold as he walked toward the two of them.
Kurama?
Could it be that in this Limited Tsukuyomi world, Naruto had already reconciled with Kurama?
Hearing Uzumaki Menma say that name, Shiromo, as well as several people in the audience above, were somewhat surprised.
"Not talking? Hmph, then I'll just—hm… oh."
Uzumaki Menma was just about to make a move when his expression and body suddenly stiffened. The corners of his mouth twitched a few times, and a toad went "gua-gua" as it jumped out from behind his pants.
(End of this chapter)