Chapter 268: Triple Stimulation
"Naruto!"
Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly shouted, his voice ringing out and stopping Naruto in his tracks.
"Grandpa Third, you're still conscious?"
Naruto froze for a moment.
"That traitorous disciple Orochimaru has only taken control of our bodies. He hasn't erased our consciousness. There's no time for details. While that traitor hasn't reacted yet, I have to make this clear to you…"
"Uzumaki Naruto, use the Multiple Shadow Clone Technique to stall for time and hold off the monkey's attack!"
After Hiruzen finished speaking, Senju Tobirama tossed out that line, then grabbed Jiraiya off the ground. Together with Enma's staff form, he used Flying Thunder God and vanished.
"Pervy Sage!"
Naruto panicked at the sight.
Hiruzen, committed to the act, prepared to attack Naruto. He reached back instinctively for his staff, only to find it gone.
Left with no choice, he threw a punch at Naruto charging toward him.
Naruto was sent flying by the blow. Remembering Tobirama's earlier reminder, he created a large number of shadow clones midair.
"Grandpa Third."
"Do you."
"Have something."
"To say, hurry up!"
The shadow clones surged forward like a tide toward the Third Hokage, only to be blown apart one after another by fists and kicks. Each clone managed to utter only a few words before dispersing.
"Naruto, listen carefully."
Hiruzen blocked and countered Naruto's assault while speaking to the nearest shadow clone.
"Orochimaru deceived us. The real reason he sealed Jiraiya was because, in his pursuit of immortality, he used Living Corpse Reincarnation to become a woman. After that, his mentality changed. He has already treated Jiraiya as his personal possession!"
"His desire for the Sharingan was also to use it to hypnotize Jiraiya."
"When he realized he couldn't obtain the Sharingan, he began researching genetic cloning technology, all to clone a Jiraiya for his own enjoyment!"
"So before Orochimaru's cloning technology matures, you must complete your training and defeat him!"
"Otherwise, once Orochimaru has an endless supply of Jiraiyas to indulge in, he will kill the original Jiraiya!"
"What?!"
Naruto was stunned by this revelation.
Pervy Sage was going to die?
Originally, Naruto had pestered Jiraiya to help him train, but Jiraiya refused.
Later, after being sealed, Jiraiya had no choice but to push Naruto to train hard in order to undo the seal.
But now it had reversed again. Naruto had been slacking off.
Just as the Second Hokage had said, for someone with weak self-discipline, without sufficient motivation or pressure, there was no way to move forward proactively.
In Naruto's eyes, Jiraiya having his lower half sealed was not a big deal.
If anything, it was almost a good thing.
So he had not been in any hurry to train.
But now it was different.
Hearing this, Naruto was overwhelmed with anxiety. His shadow clones froze in place, and several were destroyed in quick succession.
"It's not just Jiraiya. There's also Sasuke. He's waiting for you to save him."
Hiruzen continued speaking as he attacked.
"Sasuke? That's right. Sasuke said he went to apprentice under Orochimaru. Doesn't that mean…"
Naruto suddenly realized.
"That's right, Naruto. Do you remember Orochimaru's original goal regarding Sasuke?"
Hiruzen asked.
"To take Sasuke's body!"
Naruto's eyes widened in shock.
"Exactly!"
Hiruzen's expression was grave, "Naruto, before Orochimaru and Sasuke have a child, you must complete your training. Only then can you rescue Sasuke. Otherwise, once the child is born, Sasuke will be completely bound to Orochimaru and will never be able to return."
"Damn you, Orochimaru!!!"
Naruto clenched his fists tightly.
"And there's more."
"There's more?"
Naruto, who was already furious, froze again.
Who else could there be?
One was Sasuke. One was Pervy Sage.
Could Sakura have been captured too while he was gone?
"And your mother."
"Huh?"
"That's right, Naruto. Your mother, Kushina, has been revived through Impure World Reincarnation and is being controlled by Orochimaru. She's being used in evil resurrection experiments."
"Orochimaru plans to cultivate cells and gradually replace the Impure World Reincarnation body piece by piece to achieve true resurrection."
"Once your mother is fully revived, that wicked Orochimaru will make her continue bearing children, creating a new Uzumaki clan to serve as jinchuriki to seal other tailed beasts!"
"Ahhh, Orochimaru!"
Nine-Tails chakra erupted directly from Naruto's true body.
The triple shock was simply too overwhelming.
"Naruto, calm down! Only by mastering both Sage Mode and the Nine-Tails' power at the same time will you be qualified to confront Orochimaru and rescue them…"
Just as Hiruzen reached this point, Tobirama returned with Flying Thunder God.
He began scattering explosive tags all around.
"Uzumaki Naruto, do you know the Summoning Technique? Use reverse summoning and get out of here immediately. This is my Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags. You will die!!!"
Tobirama shouted at Naruto while continuing to scatter the tags.
"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags?"
Seeing himself surrounded by explosive tags, Naruto quickly bit his finger and slammed his hand onto the ground.
"Naruto, why did you summon me… Damn you, Uzumaki Naruto!"
A toad had just appeared when it saw the Second and Third Hokage standing there, surrounded by explosive tags. It immediately started cursing.
Ribbit.
The toad swallowed Naruto in one gulp and disappeared with a bang.
As Naruto vanished inside the toad's mouth, his shadow clones rapidly dispersed. The Second and Third Hokage also ceased their attacks.
"Sensei, was it really a good idea to stimulate Naruto like that? Could it cause him to become obsessed with power and walk down some irreversible path?"
Hiruzen asked, somewhat worried.
"What are you thinking? As the reincarnation of Asura's chakra, unless he completely overturns his own destiny, no matter what happens, he will not 'turn dark.' Even if he truly killed your disciple Jiraiya, it would be the same."
"It is precisely because of this special trait that I chose this method to provoke him."
Tobirama waved his hand dismissively.
Then he placed a hand on Hiruzen's shoulder and took him to the Amegakure Village as well.
As a "Professor of Ninjutsu" and a master of all five elemental transformations, leaving him in Konoha to help Tsunade review paperwork every day was simply too wasteful.
It would be better for him to come to the Amegakure Village and join Tobirama and Orochimaru in researching and developing new technologies.
With the arrival of the Second Hokage, the Third Hokage, and Jiraiya, Shiromo naturally learned of Tobirama's idea and actions.
"This method is indeed effective."
Shiromo gave his approval.
In the past, he had read plenty of fan works where people staged elaborate acts for Sasuke to help him awaken his eyes.
After hearing Tobirama's explanation, he realized that putting on a show for Naruto was actually the better approach.
There was absolutely no need to worry about Naruto turning dark or losing himself in the pursuit of power.
Asura's chakra was like a posture-correcting brace, constantly forcing Naruto's personality back into alignment.
There had once been a popular online argument that Kakashi stopped Pain from killing Iruka because if Iruka died, Naruto would completely lose himself.
The point was to emphasize Iruka's importance in Naruto's heart.
That reasoning was correct. Iruka did hold extraordinary significance for Naruto.
But from a fundamental perspective, even if Iruka had been killed, Naruto still would not have fallen into darkness.
(End of this chapter)