Chapter 610: Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku!

“Naruto! You haven’t eaten my ramen in an entire week. Why?!”

Teuchi walked toward Naruto with a dark expression as Naruto slowly slid down from the Konoha gate.

Naruto was still completely dumbfounded.

Since when had Ichiraku’s old man been this strong?

As for why Naruto hadn’t eaten ramen for a week…

Wasn’t that obvious?

He had been eating Ichiraku Ramen for more than ten years.

But he had only experienced home-cooked meals for a few days since entering Engraved Tsukuyomi.

Now that there was food waiting for him at home every day, Naruto had temporarily forgotten all about his beloved ramen.

Once he got used to family meals too, he would probably start craving Ichiraku again.

“Old Man Ichiraku, you’ve got it wrong! I just suddenly felt like eating at home these past few days, so—”

Naruto hurriedly tried to explain.

He had been traveling in Sage Mode just now, yet even then, he hadn’t managed to react to Teuchi’s speed.

This was clearly no joke.

“Suddenly felt like eating at home?”

Teuchi’s expression darkened further.

“Naruto, who are you trying to fool?”

“Everyone knows you used to eat so much outside that you couldn’t finish dinner at home, and then Lady Hokage would beat you half to death for it.”

He looked genuinely heartbroken.

“So you really did betray ramen.”

“You’ve disappointed me, Naruto.”

Like some obsessive lover who had just been cheated on, Teuchi pulled a kitchen knife from behind his back and slowly advanced.

“Old Man Ichiraku, I really have something important to do. I’ll explain everything later, but first I need to—”

Naruto was still thinking about Obito’s plan.

He had to lure Minato out so they could extract the Nine-Tails from him.

Whether Naruto loved ramen or not could easily be discussed another day.

So he got up, tossed out the excuse, and prepared to leave.

This time, Naruto immediately activated Nine-Tails Chakra Mode.

His body shifted into its fox-eared, tailed form, and he shot upward like a streak of golden light.

Then—

That golden streak abruptly reversed direction halfway through the air.

Naruto slammed back into the ground.

Teuchi had somehow intercepted him again and kicked him straight down.

Naruto was truly stunned now.

If even Nine-Tails Chakra Mode couldn’t get him away, what exactly was he supposed to do?

Only after giving up on escape did Naruto finally notice something strange.

The name above Teuchi’s head was a pale pink, almost the same color as Makoto’s.

Actually, it was even lighter.

That meant Teuchi’s Bullying Value was extremely low.

But judging by how forceful and domineering he was acting right now, that made absolutely no sense.

Naruto immediately opened the detailed information panel.

[Ōtsutsuki Ichiraku (Ōtsutsuki Isshiki): When he descended upon the shinobi world a thousand years ago, he bullied his traveling companion Kaguya, only to be nearly killed by her in retaliation…]

Naruto’s jaw dropped.

No wonder Old Man Ichiraku was so ridiculously powerful.

He was an Ōtsutsuki?!

And the reason his Bullying Value was so low was that, just like Makoto, he had only committed one major act of bullying.

He had even paid for it immediately.

Just as in the real shinobi world, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had been ambushed by Kaguya and left with only half his body, hovering on the edge of death.

Fortunately, he found a host in time.

The difference was that in the real world, Isshiki had encountered a monk named Jigen and eventually parasitized his ear.

For the next thousand years, Isshiki supposedly schemed toward resurrection—though judging by how little he accomplished, it was basically a thousand-year idle game.

Inside Engraved Tsukuyomi, however, Isshiki never met Jigen.

Instead, he encountered a noodle chef named Teuchi.

And unlike his real-world counterpart, Isshiki didn’t find Teuchi while he still had enough vitality left to carefully choose his host.

He met him when he was genuinely minutes away from death.

At that time, Isshiki had barely five minutes left to live.

Then Teuchi happened to appear—

and stopped nearby for a bathroom break.

Desperate to survive, Isshiki absorbed whatever nutrients he could from the situation, recovered just enough strength to act, and immediately parasitized Teuchi.

And because Isshiki had been far too weak to reach anywhere more dignified, he took the nearest available route and ended up embedded deep inside Teuchi’s digestive system instead.

Perhaps that particular location had never been ideal.

After a thousand years, Isshiki and Teuchi had practically fused into a single existence, and their minds had become more than a little strange.

Naruto carried Tailed Beast chakra.

To Isshiki, that smelled like the Ten-Tails.

It was familiar.

Comforting.

Desirable.

That was why Teuchi had always been so unusually fond of Naruto.

And because Isshiki had once bullied Kaguya only to be almost killed for it, he had developed an intense psychological aversion to bullying.

For a thousand years, he had never bullied anyone again.

Of course, from the perspective of Konoha’s villagers, that was simply weakness.

Worse than those who only dared swing their blades at people weaker than themselves.

Once bitten by a snake, afraid of ropes for a thousand years.

“Old Man Ichiraku is actually Ōtsutsuki Isshiki?”

Naruto stood frozen.

The moment he heard the name Isshiki, he remembered.

Wasn’t this the very Ōtsutsuki that Makoto and Akatsuki had been searching for in the real shinobi world?

So Old Man Ichiraku’s kindness toward him had actually been because Naruto carried Tailed Beast chakra?

And now Teuchi was furious because, from his perspective, his little “Ten-Tails” had betrayed him?

The commotion around Ichiraku quickly attracted Konoha’s shinobi.

Unfortunately, none of the people who arrived could match Teuchi.

At least Teuchi never dealt killing blows.

Much like the supposedly naturally kindhearted Uchiha, he seemed so terrified of accidentally becoming a bully that even the people he sent flying barely felt any pain.

They were simply knocked unconscious.

“Who dares invade Konoha?!”

A teal streak of light descended from above.

“Is Orochimaru attacking again?”

Hinata arrived in Tenseigan Chakra Mode and landed directly in front of Teuchi.

Then she froze.

“Wait…”

“Old Man Ichiraku?”

Naruto’s eyes lit up.

“Hinata! Thank goodness!”

He had personally witnessed how terrifying this world’s Tenseigan Hinata was not long ago.

She had been strong enough to fight Kushina nearly evenly.

Surely Naruto was safe now.

“Naruto?”

Hinata instinctively glanced back at him.

The moment she saw his blond hair, however, the memories of the Hyūga compound drowning in that golden nightmare came rushing back.

Her eyes rolled up.

She fainted instantly.

Her body dropped straight toward the ground.

Fortunately, Hanabi appeared in time, scooped her sister up, and vanished before anything worse could happen.

Naruto’s relieved expression froze.

“Naruto, don’t be afraid! I’ll save you!”

Jiraiya suddenly leapt in from the side.

Naruto nearly teared up.

He had thought Jiraiya and Orochimaru would stay hidden inside the Fire Temple until he completed the mission.

But apparently, even this world’s Pervy Sage still cared about him.

“Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan!”

Jiraiya thrust forward—

with a Rasengan barely larger than a candy bead.

Teuchi kicked him away with one casual motion.

“…”

Naruto’s smile vanished.

“Pervy Sage… that’s supposed to be an Ultra-Big Ball Rasengan?”

“Why is it so tiny?”

Had Jiraiya really exhausted himself that badly dealing with Orochimaru?

“No!”

Jiraiya struggled to speak from the ground.

“Watch out for his… his dōjutsu!”

Naruto’s expression changed.

At some point, Teuchi had removed part of his lower clothing.

And in one extremely unexpected location—

an ancient black-and-gold eye had opened.