75: Chapter 75 The Tracking Begins! The Hunter and the Lost ToolThe dark red chakra surge receded.
Just like seawater rushing back into the abyss during high tide, that suffocating, retina-burning high-density energy was visibly shrinking back into Naruto's body.
The air around the bridge was still scorching hot, and the distorted heat waves made the distant scenery look bizarre and surreal.
Naruto stood in the center of the ruins.
As the last wisp of Nine-Tails chakra returned to its place, the magma-like "cloak" on his body completely dissipated.
The skin, which had been carbonized by the high temperature, began to sizzle with white smoke.
That's not the smell of something burning.
That's the cells dividing and recombining at a rate that defies common biological sense.
The charred, dead skin peeled off like dried tree bark, revealing newly sprouted, pink buds underneath.
The granulation tissues intertwined and merged, and within just a few breaths, brand new skin covered the entire body.
Aside from his tattered clothes, he looked like he had just had a deep spa treatment, without even a single scar.
"call..."
Naruto exhaled a breath of stale air, which condensed into white mist in the air.
He stretched his neck, and his bones cracked with a crisp popping sound.
"What a convenient ability."
He chuckled to himself.
With the physique of the Uzumaki clan and the regenerative power of the Nine-Tails, they can basically revive on the spot unless they lose their heads on the spot.
"Naruto!"
A trembling gasp broke the silence.
Yamato moved his feet stiffly, the seal on his hand still not extinguished.
The former ANBU elite stared intently at Naruto, cold sweat trickling down his face as he tried to confirm whether the boy before him was still human.
The boy in front of him was looking at him with the eyes of someone who looked at an idiot.
"Captain Yamato, are you planning to tell my fortune with that hand?" Naruto raised an eyebrow, his tone as casual as if he had just bought a loaf of bread at a convenience store.
He looked Naruto up and down, left and right.
The pupils are focused normally, and there is no vertical pupil.
The teeth are flat, and the fangs have disappeared.
Most importantly, that violent killing intent had vanished, replaced by that signature, refreshing youthful charm.
"You.your consciousness." Yamato stammered, "Was that the Four-Tails form just now?How could you possibly."
"Who knows?" Naruto dusted off the remaining dust on his clothes and glanced at Yamato with a deep look in his eyes.
"Perhaps it's because.it also finds the outside world quite interesting?Captain Yamato, instead of worrying about that, you should be more concerned about how to write your report."
Yamato: "."
[Ding!You have received 3500 [Logical Inconsistencies] from Yamato!]
This just doesn't make sense!
That's not how it's written in the textbook!
That's not what Jiraiya-sama said in his report!
Just as Yamato was having an existential crisis, Sakura ran over.
"Naruto!"
The pink-haired girl rushed to Naruto, her emerald green eyes brimming with tears.
Her hands glowed with green medical chakra as she eagerly tried to press them onto Naruto.
"Don't move!Let me see the wound!With that level of chakra burning, the internal organs must be damaged."
She stopped halfway through extending her hand.
Because she saw that the area on Naruto's chest that should have been torn and bleeding was now smooth and flawless, even better than her own skin.
The medical chakra in Sakura's hand flickered awkwardly for a moment before silently extinguishing.
Looking at Naruto's smooth, flawless skin, she subconsciously clenched the hem of her clothes, her knuckles turning white.
Here, she was even stripped of her right to be a "therapist".
"I'm fine, Sakura."
Naruto looked at her, who was on the verge of tears, but felt nothing; in fact, he found it a bit noisy.
But on the surface, he still showed that warm smile and reached out to rub his pink hair.
"But that guy named Sai."
Naruto's smile vanished instantly, his eyes sharpened, as if he had become a different person.
"He left with Orochimaru."
These words were like a bucket of ice water, instantly pulling Yamato back to reality from the shock of the "medical miracle".
"What?" Yamato suddenly turned his head to look at the spot where Sai had been standing.
It was completely empty.
Only a stain of ink on the ground and a few messy footprints proved that someone had once been there.
"I saw it with my own eyes." Naruto crossed his arms, his tone carrying just the right amount of "anger." "Just as I was knocking Orochimaru down, that bastard jumped out and blocked my attack.He even gave Orochimaru a scroll, saying something like, 'This is Lord Danzo's sincerity.'"
"Danzo."
Yamato's face instantly turned so dark it seemed like it could drip water.
As a member of the Anbu directly under the Hokage, he knew all too well what that name meant.
The leader of "Root," the dark overlord beneath Konoha.
"Damn it!" Yamato slammed his fist into a broken tree beside him."I knew that Sai was up to something!That old fox Danzo actually wants to collude with Orochimaru to destroy Konoha?"
Sakura covered her mouth in disbelief: "How could this be.Sai may have a sharp tongue, but he's a Konoha ninja!Why would he betray us?"
"Because some people are more loyal to orders than to the village," Naruto added coldly, a hint of mockery flashing in his eyes.
betray?
No.
In Naruto's perception, Sai's emotional fluctuation just now was not the kind of resoluteness a "traitor" should have.
It was fear, hesitation, and a deep sense of self-doubt.
That pale boy was nothing more than a brainwashed tool.
and...
Naruto lowered his eyes, sensing the incredibly clear spatial coordinates in his mind.
When he slapped down with that claw just now, he wasn't just trying to scare people.
A tiny chakra mark, already following the killing intent,It silently attached itself to Sai's back.
Sai is now essentially a human-shaped self-propelled locator.
"Captain Yamato, now is not the time to be angry." Naruto raised his head and calmly commanded, "Orochimaru is seriously injured and can't have gone far.Since Sai followed him, let's follow the trail and take down Orochimaru's lair."
Yamato took a deep breath and forced himself to calm down.
That's right.
The primary task now is to pursue them.
"My wood clone has already sensed some traces." Yamato formed hand seals, closed his eyes to sense for a moment, then opened his eyes and pointed to the northwest."Over there!Although they used a technique to eliminate their scent, as long as they move in the forest, they can't escape the eyes of the Wood Release."
"Walk!"
Without pausing for a moment, the three of them vanished from the spot in a flash.
The forest terrain of Kusaka Village is complex, with jagged rocks.
The further north you go, the sparser the vegetation becomes, and the air is filled with the smell of sulfur.
Yamato led the way, using branches created by his Wood Release technique to build a series of footholds on the steep rock face.
The further north you go, the more withered and yellow the vegetation becomes, the stronger the smell of sulfur in the air, and the rocks under your feet turn a dark purple as if they have been soaked in poison.
Naruto stepped on the withered branches, but his retina reflected a cold blue stream of data.
[Target: Sai]
[Status: Moving]
[Emotional fluctuations: Anxiety (70%), Confusion (20%), Fear (10%)]
"Heh, his mental fortitude isn't up to par," Naruto thought to himself."The worst thing for a double agent is overthinking.It seems Danzo's old-fashioned brainwashing techniques still have bugs."
Just then.
Sakura suddenly stopped ahead.
"Wait!That's."
She jumped off a boulder and picked up a black cloth bag from among some broken bushes.
That was the art supply bag that Sai always carried on his back.
It must have fallen here because it was in too much of a hurry to escape, or because it got caught on a tree branch.
Sakura opened the bag, inside were several bottles of ink, several spare calligraphy brushes, and.a thick black picture book with no words on the cover.
"This is the picture book that Sai treasures," Sakura said softly, turning the cover with her fingers.
Naruto also joined in.
Although he wasn't interested in this kind of artsy stuff, he knew it was a key prop.
The illustrations were drawn starting from both ends.
On the left is a black-haired boy, that's Sai.
On the right is a white-haired boy, presumably his older brother.
Every page depicts the two fighting, training, and living their lives.
As the pages increase, the two acquire more and more equipment, and their opponents become stronger, but the distance between them grows ever closer.
This picture book documents how two emotionless killing machines find warmth in each other in the darkness.
However.
When Sakura turned to the middle page.
The movement stopped.
That was supposed to be the page where the two of them finally met and held hands.
But this page is blank.
There was nothing there.
There is no ending.
"Is this his 'heart'?" Sakura stroked the blank page, her eyes filled with complex emotions."He doesn't even have a name, yet he so desperately craves bonds."
"Because that was the only thing he owned."
Naruto's voice rang out behind Sakura.
He looked at the picture book, his azure eyes showing no emotion, only the calm of a hunter seeing a trap take effect.
"It is precisely because a piece is missing that it can be filled."
Naruto's fingertips traced across the blank page of paper, as if caressing a suitable weapon.
"Keep it safe, Sakura.This is our 'homecoming gift' for Sai-kun."
Tools devoid of emotion are the most useful.
However, having tools that reveal emotional vulnerabilities makes one more susceptible to being turned.
Danzo gave Sai a mission, but not his soul.
Since that's the case, then let me fill this gap.
Of course, what color to fill in is up to me.
"Let's keep going."
Naruto turned around and looked at the barren, rocky wasteland in the distance.
At the edge of the horizon, a massive rocky mountain, shaped like the fangs of a venomous snake, rose abruptly from the ground, appearing particularly menacing under the dim yellow sky.
The red dot on the system map is flashing there.
"Found it."
Naruto squinted, pointed at the rocky mountain, and spoke in a lighthearted tone, as if inviting a friend to a picnic.
"The snake's lair."
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