Chapter 613: Isshiki Goes Berserk

Naruto was taking his part seriously too.

He was already racking his brain for some way to trick Minato into entering the Kamui dimension a second time.

Meanwhile, as Hokage, Kushina immediately began organizing the villagers and shinobi to rebuild Konoha.

Yamato in particular was put straight to work.

He had only just finished an exhausting round of “exercise,” and now he was being dragged outside to build houses with Wood Release.

Not enough chakra?

Minato, who had been trying to disappear back into the crowd for another round of fun, was promptly hauled back and turned into Yamato’s personal Nine-Tails-powered battery.

Yamato felt the Nine-Tails chakra flowing into him and entered that strange state of being both miserable and delighted at the same time.

Then he reluctantly began working as Konoha’s one-man construction crew.

Originally, Yamato’s Wood Release had been a perfectly respectable combat-oriented kekkei genkai used for attack and defense.

Then Namikaze Yukishō—the same instructor who had previously raced Naruto—once told him that if he developed his talents in a more practical direction, his future would be limitless.

Taking that advice seriously, Yamato developed an entire line of Wood Release construction techniques, including the Four-Pillar House and Continuous-Pillar House.

Unfortunately, the buildings he produced were so crude that nobody ever hired him.

His construction business had never once opened.

Now that all of Konoha had vanished, he finally had customers.

Unfortunately, his first-ever commission was rebuilding the entire village.

Worse still, the villagers’ homes and savings had all disappeared together.

Nobody could pay him.

So Yamato had to build everything for free.

It was enough to make him despair.

If Minato’s Nine-Tails chakra hadn’t been keeping him going, Yamato honestly felt like finding a sturdy branch somewhere and ending his construction career permanently.

“All right. That’s enough for tonight.”

A long time later, darkness finally settled over the village.

With every proper building gone, members of the Sarutobi clan used Fire Release to illuminate the temporary settlement while Kushina delivered her final instructions.

“Everyone should get some rest.”

“Jiraiya, Minato—you both have contracts with Mount Myōboku. I’m leaving the food problem to you.”

“Huh?”

Jiraiya looked troubled.

“Eating the toads directly doesn’t seem like a great idea. Some of them are poisonous.”

“I’m telling you to have the toads use Summoning Jutsu to bring us food from somewhere else!”

“…”

Other food.

Jiraiya immediately thought of the giant insects covering Mount Myōboku.

He understood.

“Got it. Leave it to me.”

He thumped his chest confidently.

Naruto looked over what remained of Konoha and sighed.

“I wonder how long rebuilding the village will take. I should come help tomorrow too.”

“Tomorrow?”

Kushina glanced at him.

“There won’t be any rebuilding tomorrow.”

“The temporary shelters Yamato made are already enough. Everything else can wait.”

Naruto blinked.

“Why?”

“The enemy was sealed, not defeated.”

Kushina’s expression became grim.

“And we sealed him inside Kakashi’s dimension—a place Kakashi can open at any time.”

“He could return whenever he wants.”

“If we start rebuilding Konoha immediately and he comes back, what then?”

For the first time in a long while, Kushina genuinely looked worried.

Even when Hinata awakened the Tenseigan, Kushina hadn’t felt that her rule was truly threatened.

But Teuchi—

Ōtsutsuki Isshiki—

was different.

Even if he was insane, his strength was overwhelming.

Kushina’s entire rule rested on absolute personal power.

Which also meant that the moment someone stronger appeared, her rule could theoretically be overthrown.

“Yeah.”

Minato sighed helplessly.

“And the same trick probably won’t work twice.”

“Even if I rebuild the Flying Raijin formation across this empty ground right now, there’s no guarantee Isshiki would fall for it again.”

“We need another solution.”

The moment Naruto heard his parents say that, inspiration struck.

If he wanted to lure Minato back into Kamui, then all he needed was another overwhelmingly powerful enemy like Isshiki—someone Minato couldn’t defeat normally.

Then his father would have no choice but to use the same sealing method again.

Perfect.

There was only one problem.

Where was Naruto supposed to find another enemy that strong?

He sank into thought again.

This time, however, he didn’t stand there brooding for half an hour.

Naruto knew too little about the wider shinobi world.

If he wanted to know where another terrifying villain might be hiding, the obvious person to ask was the masked man.

So Naruto went to Kakashi and had him send him back into the Kamui dimension.

As for Isshiki still being trapped inside—

His mind wasn’t exactly stable.

As long as Kakashi opened and closed Kamui quickly enough, Isshiki probably wouldn’t manage to escape.

Naruto himself shouldn’t be in too much danger either.

At worst, Old Man Ichiraku would start demanding to know why Naruto had betrayed ramen again.

The moment Naruto entered Kamui, he felt as though he had traveled several hours into the past.

Konoha’s streets and buildings were all still there.

Flying Raijin really was ridiculous.

Transferring an entire village wholesale still felt unreal.

Naruto immediately began running across the rooftops.

He could only hope Obito was still inside Kamui and hadn’t already left.

Otherwise, Naruto might have to wait there for who knew how long.

After searching for a while, Naruto stopped and entered Sage Mode, using its enhanced sensory perception to locate Obito.

He didn’t dare shout.

The last thing he wanted was to attract Old Man Ichiraku.

The entire transplanted Konoha was empty and silent.

It felt less like a village now and more like the setting of a horror game.

Fortunately, Naruto didn’t even need to search for long.

A voice came from somewhere in the distance.

Obito’s voice.

Obito wasn’t insane enough to stand around talking to himself.

Which meant he must have encountered Teuchi.

The moment Naruto realized that, he accelerated.

There was no point hiding anymore.

…

“Ichiraku?”

“Isshiki?”

Obito listened to the madman in front of him introduce himself and vaguely remembered hearing the name while imprisoned outside.

Supposedly, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had descended upon the shinobi world alongside Kaguya, mother of the Sage of Six Paths.

And this was what he had become?

Obito felt strangely disillusioned.

He had once dreamed of becoming a second Sage of Six Paths.

Lately, though, he was beginning to suspect that the original Sage might not have been such an impressive figure either.

“So…”

Obito studied him.

“You know Kaguya?”

“Kaguya…”

Teuchi’s expression twitched.

“Where is Kaguya?”

“She was sealed away by her son, the Sage of Six Paths.”

Obito was deliberately probing him for information.

For one thing, Engraved Tsukuyomi often mirrored real-world facts in distorted ways, so anything Isshiki said might still provide useful clues.

More importantly, Obito had originally assumed that casting Infinite Tsukuyomi would mark the end of the shinobi world’s story.

That would mean completing the scenario and finally earning his freedom.

Isshiki’s appearance had slapped that assumption apart.

Apparently Infinite Tsukuyomi wasn’t necessarily the ending.

Did he now need to deal with the Ōtsutsuki threat too?

Unfortunately—

“Kaguya… sealed?”

Teuchi’s blank expression slowly twisted into something vicious.

This world’s Isshiki had spent a thousand years embedded inside Teuchi’s digestive system. After their consciousnesses merged, his mind had deteriorated badly enough that he knew almost nothing about current shinobi-world affairs.

He lived almost entirely by instinct.

One part of him pursued Tailed Beast chakra.

Another wanted to make ramen.

Like a walking corpse driven by the overlapping desires of Teuchi and Isshiki, he had drifted through life without much greater purpose.

But now Obito had accidentally revealed one crucial fact.

Kaguya was sealed.

That instantly awakened something inside Isshiki.

He had originally developed a deep fear of bullying anyone after his attempt to dominate Kaguya ended with her nearly killing him.

That fear was why he had avoided dealing lethal blows earlier.

He had barely even hurt people.

But now—

Kaguya was sealed away.

There was nothing left to fear.

Teuchi suddenly sniffed.

“You smell like a tree.”

Obito frowned.

“What?”

“Ah.”

“A tree.”

Isshiki vanished.

Before Obito could react, he appeared directly beside him.

In the next instant, Isshiki tore through Obito’s body with overwhelming force, ripped away the half made from White Zetsu tissue, and pressed it against his face as though savoring the familiar scent.

Naruto arrived at that exact moment.

He took one look at the scene—

and froze in horror.