Chapter 79: Returning to the Hidden Sound Village

"Hinata, I’m going to the bathroom."

After seeing Sasuke walk into the school building, Naruto made up an excuse and followed him.

As for Ino?

She had already been chased off somewhere by Sakura.

"Sasuke."

Hearing Naruto’s voice, Sasuke turned around.

Naruto gestured toward the bathroom. Sasuke immediately understood and quickly followed him.

Once they entered the bathroom and confirmed that no one else was there, Naruto said:

"I’m taking you somewhere today."

"Okay~!"

Sasuke did not even ask where they were going. He simply nodded.

After all, Naruto would never screw him over.

It had already been more than half a year since Sasuke awakened his Two-Tomoe Sharingan.

During this period, Sasuke had been working hard to train his body. After two hours of physical training every morning, he could now barely keep up with Naruto’s speed.

Of course, Sasuke had no idea that Naruto was still wearing weighted training gear.

Either way, Sasuke felt that he was back on top again!

He had always wanted to find an opportunity to have Naruto arrange the next stage of his training.

Now that Naruto had taken the initiative to invite him somewhere, Sasuke was actually looking forward to it.

At this moment, Naruto reminded him:

"Make a Shadow Clone."

Sasuke froze.

"My Shadow Clone can’t last until the Ninja Academy lets out at noon."

Naruto gave Sasuke a meaningful look.

It was as if he were saying: You’re still not good enough.

Sasuke’s expression darkened.

Naruto could create several Shadow Clones and maintain them for more than a day.

Sasuke had no idea where his limit was.

He could only maintain a single Shadow Clone for less than an afternoon.

The confidence Sasuke had just regained immediately plummeted again.

Naruto did not say anything else. He simply created two Shadow Clones.

One of them transformed into Sasuke.

Seeing this, Sasuke asked worriedly:

"If you disguise yourself as me at the Ninja Academy, won’t you be exposed?"

Naruto blinked.

"As long as I don’t talk, can’t I just put on a deadpan face?"

Hearing that, Sasuke...

...seemed unable to refute him.

Naruto smiled and immediately took Sasuke’s main body with him as he activated the Flying Thunder God Technique.

In an instant, they disappeared from the spot.

Hidden Sound Village

Karin, who was helping Naruto clean his room, sensed movement behind her.

She seemed to realize what it meant, and her heart immediately leaped with joy.

She quickly turned around.

The moment she saw Naruto, her eyes lit up.

She ran over to him excitedly.

"Naruto, you’re here!"

"Yeah. I had nothing to do today, so I came over to take a look."

Naruto smiled and rubbed Karin’s head before continuing:

"Thanks for your hard work."

He only used this room as a Flying Thunder God coordinate.

But Karin insisted on cleaning it every day, so Naruto simply let her.

Karin smiled and shook her head.

"It’s fine. It’s not like I have anything else to do."

Naruto usually came here at fairly fixed times.

Once after lunch, and once after dinner.

Karin was simply hoping that she might run into Naruto here while conveniently cleaning the room and showing him that she was useful.

Hadn’t Naruto even rubbed her head just now?

Karin was quite the clever little girl.

Naruto did not say anything more and introduced them.

"Karin, this is Uchiha Sasuke. Sasuke, this is Uzumaki Karin."

Karin obediently greeted him.

"Nice to meet you, Sasuke."

In front of Naruto, she was nothing more than a gentle and obedient young girl.

Sasuke nodded expressionlessly.

"Nice to meet you."

He found Karin’s surname somewhat strange, but he did not ask about it.

After they introduced themselves, Naruto asked:

"Karin, where’s Orochimaru?"

Sasuke’s pupils immediately contracted.

Orochimaru?

He was no longer the ignorant young master he had once been.

Recently, he had gone through quite a lot of information and records.

As one of Konoha’s Legendary Three Ninja, Sasuke had naturally heard of Orochimaru.

Naruto actually had connections with Orochimaru?

Karin shook her head.

"I don’t know where Lord Orochimaru is either. But I just saw Kabuto. How about I take you to find him and ask?"

Naruto nodded.

"Sure."

As they walked, Naruto said to Sasuke:

"I’ll have Kabuto arrange some ninja for you to spar with later. We’ll test your strength. You can go all out."

As for killing anyone, Naruto did not mention it.

Whether Sasuke could even defeat them was still a question.

Even if he could win, Sasuke had never killed anyone before. He certainly did not possess that kind of bloodlust.

And if he really did kill someone?

Then so be it.

Orochimaru would not care about a few Genin.

Before long, they found Yakushi Kabuto.

Naruto gestured toward Sasuke behind him.

"Kabuto, arrange some Genin for Sasuke to play with."

Kabuto pushed up his glasses, looking puzzled.

"Just Genin?"

From Kabuto’s perspective, both Uchiha Izumi and Naruto were incredibly powerful. Sasuke, whom Naruto had specifically brought here, surely couldn’t be—

Could he really just be here to play?

Was this some kind of peculiar Uchiha hobby?

Sasuke, however, felt that he was being underestimated.

He proudly said:

"Chunin are fine too!"

Kabuto froze.

Just Chunin...

It seemed he had misunderstood.

But Kabuto said nothing and simply glanced at Naruto.

"Then Chunin it is. Just make sure nobody dies. By the way, where’s Orochimaru?"

Naruto decided to indulge Sasuke.

Kabuto answered:

"Orochimaru-sama is in the laboratory. It’s nothing particularly important."

Since it was not an important experiment, that meant Naruto could directly use Flying Thunder God to appear beside Orochimaru.

Karin had recently learned a little medical ninjutsu from Kabuto. Sasuke would be a perfect test subject for her newfound skills.

Naruto nodded at Sasuke before turning to leave.

Understanding what Kabuto meant, Naruto said:

"Alright. I’ll leave Sasuke to you."

Then he turned to Karin.

"Karin, you can go with them if you’re free."

With that, Naruto activated Flying Thunder God and disappeared.

Laboratory

Looking at the several White Zetsu floating in formalin, Naruto smiled.

"Orochimaru, how is it?"

Orochimaru’s face was filled with smiles, and there was even a hint of excitement in his voice.

"Very good. I injected quite a lot of Hashirama cells into them."

"Although several of them died, the ones remaining are considerably stronger than they were when we first captured them."

"Their vitality is truly astonishing."

After saying that, Orochimaru turned toward Naruto.

"I have to thank you for the information, Naruto-kun."

Every time Orochimaru used the Living Corpse Reincarnation Technique, his soul would suffer damage.

These White Zetsu were merely empty vessels without souls, making them extremely suitable for Orochimaru’s Living Corpse Reincarnation.

More importantly, their vitality was extraordinarily powerful.

After transferring into the bodies of these White Zetsu, Orochimaru could use their vitality to nourish his modified original body—the White Snake form.

If Naruto had not reminded him back then, Orochimaru would never have realized that these seemingly useless White Zetsu had so many advantages.

As for the Uchiha bloodline or the Shikotsumyaku, although they were powerful, Orochimaru did not particularly care about them.

What he pursued was immortality.

As for strength, it was merely a byproduct of his pursuit of eternal life.

Naruto smiled.

"It’s nothing. As long as they suit your needs."

"I’m planning to begin the Living Corpse Reincarnation after the data comes out and I finish checking it. Naruto-kun, would you like to watch?"

Orochimaru had already extracted almost all the potential he could from the White Zetsu, and he was becoming somewhat impatient to test the results.

"Sure."

Naruto nodded.

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