Chapter 90: Naruto: "I Have a Plan"
"So then, Shiromo-kun, what should we do first now? Go look for the 'dragon veins'?"
After returning to the laboratory, Orochimaru asked Shiromo.
After learning part of the future, Orochimaru now had many ideas, but he was still very clear on one thing: helping Shiromo solve his problem came first, above all else.
Orochimaru was also glad that during the Konoha Crush Plan, he hadn't done anything abnormal to Shiromo.
"There's no rush for that, and I can go by myself."
Shiromo shook his head slightly. "Orochimaru, I remember you cultivated cells from the Eight-Tails, right?"
What Orochimaru had mentioned earlier in Ryūchi Cave, that the natural formation of the base elements within Shiromo's cells might require stellar-level energy, wasn't some mutation.
Rather, in Shiromo's previous world, that was simply how things worked.
One could even say that elements like hydrogen and helium, which Orochimaru hadn't fully figured out yet, required Big Bang–level events to form.
In other words, every living being on Earth in Shiromo's past life had been such an existence.
Orochimaru making such a statement meant that living beings in the ninja world were fundamentally different.
As one of the few researchers in this field within the ninja world, Orochimaru's words carried significant authority.
Yet this didn't strike Shiromo as strange at all.
In a world with supernatural powers, it wouldn't be surprising if living beings were created by a "creator," or if the fundamental elements were limited to wind, fire, earth, and water.
Not to mention chakra itself, a miraculous substance that alone was enough to prove this point.
The truly miraculous aspect of chakra wasn't that it was a form of cultivation energy, but that it possessed all kinds of bizarre properties.
It could transmit information, carry souls, and even fuse different powers together.
For example, in the Boruto era, the only character who didn't completely fall apart, Kurama, the Nine-Tails, developed Baryon Mode, whose prerequisite was the harmonious fusion of his chakra with Naruto's.
So don't ask why, in Boruto, Himawari's constitution was so special that even the resurrected baby Nine-Tails was shocked, believing she wasn't a jinchūriki but something closer to a chakra entity given form.
To put it simply, Kurama did it too.
At this point, Shiromo thought of the Eight-Tails cells cultivated by Orochimaru.
Tailed beasts, as representatives of chakra made manifest, actually possessed something like "cells."
—
"Eight-Tails cells? I didn't expect you to know even about that, Shiromo-kun. It seems I have no secrets at all in front of someone who knows the future."
Orochimaru sighed, then smiled in resignation.
Thirty years ago, Orochimaru had gone to Kumogakure and drugged the Eight-Tails' jinchūriki, triggering a rampage. Amid the chaos, he stole part of the Eight-Tails' cells and a horn. After years of cultivation, he had grown an enormous horn.
This had been a secret. Both Kumogakure and Orochimaru himself would never speak of it publicly, yet Shiromo knew it with ease.
"Oh right, there's one more thing."
While Orochimaru was still lamenting, Shiromo thought of something else.
"If you still have spies and informants in Konoha, don't withdraw them."
"Oh? Why?"
Orochimaru snapped back to attention. After thinking briefly, he understood Shiromo's reasoning. "Shiromo-kun, you don't trust Tsunade?"
Before parting ways, Shiromo had told Tsunade that if she ever encountered a Sasuke from the future, she was to notify them immediately.
Now he was telling Orochimaru not to withdraw his informants.
Wasn't that the same as saying he didn't believe Tsunade would inform them?
"It's not that I don't trust her. It's that she won't fully trust us."
Shiromo shook his head. "Orochimaru, as her teammate, don't you understand her personality?"
From Konoha's perspective, Tsunade, as Hokage, stood alongside the Second Hokage as one of the most qualified leaders.
Aside from a few bad habits, she was almost flawless.
During Pain's invasion, when Pain spoke about small nations being oppressed by great ones, Tsunade didn't empathize at all. She stood firmly from Konoha's perspective and replied, "We great nations have also suffered," leaving Nagato speechless and pushing him straight into escalation.
In the Infinite Tsukuyomi, in Tsunade's imagined world, Yahiko wasn't killed because of Konoha, but blown up by Deidara. Anyone connected to Konoha could be whitewashed.
The final bosses became Deidara and Sasori, while the other Kage were turned into puppets.
As long as Konoha was involved, everything ended in a happy reunion.
Under this kind of "Konoha-centric" mindset, if there were only Shiromo alone, Tsunade might choose to trust him for the sake of Konoha and the ninja world.
But besides Shiromo, future Sasuke and Boruto would also arrive. Tsunade would clearly trust the latter more, after all, they were fellow Konoha ninja.
Orochimaru gradually reached the same conclusion.
"This is Tsunade's strength, and also her weakness."
Orochimaru lifted his head and looked out the window, his expression complex. "She should be treating her hemophobia now, right? Perhaps all that treatment will be for nothing."
As he said this, Orochimaru had no intention of going to warn his former teammate.
First, this was likely part of Shiromo's plan.
Second, words rarely change people. Experience does.
For some people, only after personally going through certain things is change even possible.
—
Land of Fire, Konohagakure Village.
"Achoo!"
Tsunade, wearing sunglasses and teaching Sakura and Ino medical ninjutsu, sneezed and rubbed her nose.
At the same time, not far away, Jiraiya and Naruto were hiding on a nearby rooftop, peeking inside.
"It's all your fault, Naruto. Now I'm stuck staying in the village."
"How is that my problem?! You pervy sage, hurry up and take me out to train!"
"Train my ass! See that teammate of yours? Once she learns monster strength from Tsunade, she'll punch you so hard you'll break a few ribs!"
"Let me leave the village! I want to go see big sisters! Without pretty big sisters, I'm not in the mood to teach you!"
"..."
Naruto squatted on the rooftop with a constipated expression, wracking his brain for a solution.
These past few days, he'd already used the tactic of transforming into a beautiful girl with jutsu. It worked at first, but over time, it stopped being effective.
What about dragging Konohamaru and the others into it?
Probably wouldn't work either.
Fun fact: the only female character in 'Naruto' who ever used the Sexy Jutsu was Moegi.
That was the true definition of youthful ignorance, led astray by Naruto.
"I've got it! Um, listen, I have a plan!"
Naruto suddenly thought of something. His eyes lit up as he stood.
"What? Where is it? Hurry and bring it out!"
Jiraiya, who had been slumped in despair, instantly lit up as well. He jumped to his feet and looked around expectantly.
But all around them were rooftops. There was nothing.
"Bring what out?"
Naruto froze.
"A hooker? Didn't you say you had…"
"I said I have a plan."
"Huh? Oh. Tch."
Jiraiya's excitement instantly vanished, and he sat back down.
(End of this chapter)