A few days later.
Makoto resolved the Dragon Vein issue, and the Land of Wind's earth began to recover.
Temari and Gaara didn't come to Konoha with Makoto.
They had their own missions and needed to clean up the mess in the capital after the Daimyo's death.
While escorting them part of the way back to Sunagakure, Makoto's group encountered a somewhat disheveled Sasori wandering the desert.
This brings up Makoto's previous "say what you mean" theory regarding Sasori.
Sasori is clearly introverted, even somewhat of a closed-off perfectionist.
After receiving Makoto's mission to assassinate the Land of Wind Daimyo, he superficially called it "boring" but actually took it very seriously.
He absolutely couldn't accept failing such a "simple" mission.
But what happened?
He controlled his puppets to storm the Daimyo's residence, slaughtering the guards, only to find that the Daimyo didn't seem to be there.
The key point was that after killing everyone, he didn't leave anyone alive to interrogate.
Sasori could only search around by himself.
As for reporting to Makoto that he couldn't find the Daimyo after all that killing? Sasori's pride couldn't bear the shame!
So, he kept searching in silence, turning over every rock.
If they hadn't coincidentally run into Makoto's group, it's unknown how long Sasori would have kept searching the Land of Wind for a man who no longer existed.
After all, the Daimyo and his entourage had been turned to ash by the "Sun Disc" attack.
To anyone else, it would at most be considered a mysterious disappearance.
Anyway, the Land of Wind matter was concluded and Makoto's group returned to the Land of Fire.
Well, including those revived through Impure World Reincarnation.
According to new intelligence collected by White Zetsu, they learned about Jiraiya's movements and the news of Asuma's death.
When Hiruzen found out, he could only silently blame himself as usual.
Besides those who came with Makoto from the Dragon Vein, Itachi—who was stationed in the Land of Waves with Kisame—was also summoned by Makoto, along with a special guest: Black Zetsu, who came from Amegakure.
For what was about to happen, it would be too unfortunate if Uchiha Itachi wasn't there to witness it.
As for Black Zetsu, this was essentially to make him completely certain about the reality of the Otsutsuki Clan matters.
The group gathered in a temporary base in the woods.
Hashirama Senju was forced to used the "Wood Release: Three-Bedroom Apartment Jutsu" to build houses for everyone and Hiruzen used the Telescope Technique to monitor the surroundings.
Finally they see something.
...
While Sasuke was training with the "Two People and Two Orbs" team and Jiraiya was investigating nearby, a figure suddenly appeared in mid-air.
Its appearance was so abrupt, as if a monster had spawned from a glitchy mob spawner in a video game.
With a pair of Byakugan, pale skin, and overall grayish-white attire, it held a bright red, glowing fishing rod in its hand.
"Is this the Otsutsuki? To actually stand in the air without any support, can he fly?"
Tobirama was the first to arrive, pushing aside the Third Hokage who stood at the front, his gaze fixed intently on the image in the crystal ball.
He needed to gather as much tactical data as possible, quickly.
"Correct, this is the Otsutsuki Urashiki I mentioned. The fishing rod in his hand can hook away others' Chakra," Makoto's voice came from behind.
Everyone had rushed to the room after hearing the message from the Third Hokage.
"Haha, Uzumaki Naruto, I've finally found you."
Urashiki let out an arrogant laugh, swinging his fishing rod to hook Naruto's abdomen.
The glowing red hook passed through Naruto's stomach, and Urashiki pulled back on the handle with a smirk.
"Huh?"
Urashiki had successfully come up empty-handed.
Staring at the empty hook, Urashiki was stunned!
"It's a sealing technique," Sasuke explained to the equally confused Naruto, Boruto, and the others nearby.
"Wow... that red fishing rod looks so creepy and powerful, but a simple sealing technique on a genin's stomach can block it?" Hashirama Senju, who was watching the live feed, couldn't help but complain.
"That's so damn disappointing."
"Brother, you're too naive. Besides a Jinchuriki, who would place a Chakra-sealing technique on themselves? And even if you seal it, you still have to unseal it when you need to use jutsu. The opponent can still use that fishing rod to steal Chakra the moment you try to fight back," Tobirama analyzed seriously, trying to find logic in the absurdity.
Unable to take the Chakra, Urashiki decided to take Naruto away first.
The fishing line wrapped around Naruto, and Urashiki threw out some stones from his fishing basket—stones not even as hard as Kakashi's Earth-Style Wall—blocking the others' path.
Then, relying on his ability to fly, Urashiki took Naruto away right under everyone's watchful eyes.
This scene left everyone in the monitoring room in stunned silence.
"Is Sasuke... really the..... 'Supporting Kage' in the future?"
Itachi was the first to pose this soul-searching question to Makoto, he was deeply ashamed!
This so called "Supporting Kage" seemed to be supporting nothing but disappointment.
"Don't worry, it gets even more exciting later."
"Really?"
Itachi nodded slightly.
He chose to believe Makoto.
He assumed Makoto meant that Sasuke was intentionally hiding his true... heavenly demon god-level strength to lure the opponent into a trap.
Jiraiya returned at this moment, summoning a toad to smash the rocks (which took way too long as usual).
The group mounted the toad's head and began their pursuit.
...
Meanwhile.
Urashiki discovered the seal on Naruto and decided to break it to directly seize the Chakra.
Back at the base, Hiruzen wielded the crystal ball with masterful skill.
He adjusted the angle and zoom with such proficiency that the First and Second Hokages gave him side-eyes.
'Just what the hell has this perverted monkey been watching in Konoha all these years to get this good at spying?'
Fortunately, the impact of the newly emerged scene once again captured their attention.
Urashiki reached his hand into Naruto's abdomen, preparing to plunder the Nine-Tails' Chakra manually.
"Not good! Jiraiya and the others are too slow. Urashiki has already started stealing the Chakra. No more hiding—let's move too, brother, Makoto!"
Tobirama grew anxious upon seeing this, ready to teleport.
"ARGHHH!"
A sudden cry of pain came from Urashiki in the image.
It turned out his hand got burned and rotted from being scalded by a tiny overflow of the Nine-Tails' Chakra.
"..."
Tobirama fell silent.
Everyone fell silent.
"Is this... the extent of the Otsutsuki Clan's power? Getting burned by raw chakra? Then Mother... Kaguya Otsutsuki creating an army of White Zetsu to fight them doesn't seem unreasonable. In fact, it seems like overkill," Black Zetsu, crouching in a corner observing, murmured gloomily.
'Mother was afraid of this weakling?'
"Don't underestimate the Otsutsuki! Remember, I was instantly killed by Boruto who was possessed by an Otsutsuki!"
Seeing everyone's unimpressed expressions, Sarutobi Hiruzen immediately spoke up to defend his own loss!
"That's exactly why we're starting to suspect you're actually a weakling too, Monkey," Hashirama patted Hiruzen's shoulder and said meaningfully.
Damn, getting burned by overflowing Nine-Tails Chakra?
And this was without it being condensed into an attack or a Tailed Beast Bomb.
Just... hot chakra.
"Didn't he transform his Byakugan into a Rinnegan for a moment earlier?"
Nagato stared at the screen, feeling personally insulted!
"Why didn't he use the Preta Path to absorb the heat? Why didn't he use Shinra Tensei? Is his Rinnegan a knock-off? Or is he just stupid?"
"Don't ask me," Makoto spread his hands, trying not to laugh. "Just keep watching. Uchiha Sasuke, the 'Strongest Shinobi of the Future,' will arrive soon. It's bound to be a... breathtaking... battle."
What could he do about it?
All he could say was fortunately Momoshiki was still inside Boruto, which could help maintain the Otsutsuki's intimidating image later.
Otherwise, with Urashiki's track record...
After this ends, everyone might really start suspecting that Makoto is just using the "Terrifying Otsutsuki" brand to scam them into helping him conquer the Shinobi World!
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