Chapter 638 Jiraiya Gets Inspired

Once again, Obito found himself wondering whether he had somehow entered Infinite Tsukuyomi rather than Engraved Tsukuyomi.

After a brief hesitation, he pretended to agonize over the decision before reluctantly agreeing to Minato’s request.

“Wonderful, Obito! You’ve really changed beyond recognition! You’ve become a genuinely kind, righteous, and selfless person!”

Minato showered his former student with praise without the slightest reservation.

After Naruto finished transferring Shukaku’s chakra into Obito and his injuries were supposedly “healed,” Obito didn’t even take a moment to rest. He immediately approached Rōshi and Han, who were still lying unconscious amid the horrible stench, and prepared to save their lives.

The sight moved both Minato and Naruto deeply.

Just look at him! What a pure, selfless man!

Obito had only just recovered from serious injuries. This was practically the equivalent of someone climbing off an operating table and immediately performing surgery on another patient.

He understood that Rōshi and Han were suffering from severe bleeding and that every moment of delay placed their lives in greater danger. That was why he was willing to disregard his own condition completely.

He didn’t even show the slightest disgust toward the filth and terrible smell surrounding them.

Obito might not have known a single medical ninjutsu, but in Naruto and Minato’s eyes, he had already become the very model of what a medical ninja should aspire to be.

What a magnificent human being!

Unfortunately, both of them overlooked one rather important detail.

Naruto, in particular, seemed to have exhausted his entire monthly allowance of intelligence during his earlier adventures.

That detail was simple: as a space-time ninja, Obito should have been extraordinarily fearful of sewage!

Yet here he was, showing absolutely no reaction.

There was only one possible explanation.

Like Minato, Obito must have already experienced enough to cross that enormous psychological boundary.

But when could that have happened?

There hadn’t been enough time.

Only the Obito of the real shinobi world had gone through countless sewage-related confrontations with Kakashi. During the last few incidents, he’d even willingly chosen to endure them himself.

And even setting that aside, there were only two reasons someone could completely ignore something so disgusting.

Either he was genuinely an extraordinarily noble person, or the reward he stood to gain was so enormous that he no longer cared about the unpleasantness.

After all, if a gold bar fell into a filthy toilet, plenty of people would still reach straight in to retrieve it.

Unfortunately, Minato possessed far too little information. He was also still overwhelmed by the revelation that Obito had removed his precious QQ years ago in an attempt to save his life.

Consequently, he never noticed the inconsistency.

As for Naruto, there was even less hope of him figuring it out.

Once he had decided that this world’s Obito was a good person, he developed the positive version of the old story about a man who suspected his neighbor of stealing his axe.

Now Naruto interpreted absolutely everything Obito did as an act of kindness.

It was practically a case of deciding to conquer the world first and trusting that the scholars would come up with excellent justifications afterward.

Whatever Obito did, Naruto would find some benevolent explanation for it.

Unfortunately, extracting the Tailed Beasts was going to take quite a while.

Obito hadn’t summoned the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, nor could he bring it into the Kamui dimension. That left him with nothing but his old-fashioned extraction method, slowly drawing the Tailed Beasts’ chakra into himself.

Fortunately, he had two hands.

One hand for Rōshi, the other for Han.

By extracting from both jinchūriki simultaneously, his efficiency had almost reached the speed Akatsuki originally achieved when it first began extracting Tailed Beasts.

And even after he finished with those two, the work wouldn’t be over.

Minato’s Nine-Tails still needed to be extracted afterward.

With such a long wait ahead, Naruto decided he ought to find something productive to do instead of sitting around being lazy.

So he created a large number of shadow clones.

Some were assigned to keep watch. If Ōtsutsuki Isshiki approached, they could immediately warn the original so everyone would have time to relocate.

The remaining clones began training.

And what was Naruto training?

Sage Mode, of course!

Only inside the Kamui dimension could Naruto truly feel complete again and use his most traditional shortcut for entering Sage Mode.

Although his experience with the Sage of Six Paths’ remains had unexpectedly opened up a second method, Naruto still didn’t want to rely on that alternative.

So, to avoid being caught unprepared if he encountered another battle requiring Sage Mode after leaving Kamui, Naruto decided to stockpile as much senjutsu chakra as possible.

He was going to build up a proper reserve.

…

Meanwhile, in the real shinobi world—

Jiraiya, who had originally gone looking for Orochimaru only to have a monitor dumped in front of him so he could watch Naruto’s life inside Engraved Tsukuyomi, found himself unexpectedly inspired.

“No! This won’t do!”

Jiraiya abruptly sprang up from the sofa.

“Naruto is working so hard! How can I, his teacher, afford to fall behind?!”

He gazed resolutely toward the ceiling and clenched his fist.

Naruto really did possess a rather strange quality.

As long as nobody stopped to think too carefully about what he was actually doing, his actions could inspire other people remarkably easily.

Perhaps it was an ability inherited from Asura.

After all, when the Sage of Six Paths had tested his two sons by making them dig wells, Asura had somehow managed to inspire the surrounding villagers without really doing anything extraordinary.

Whatever the reason, watching Naruto refuse to surrender even after his crucial “equipment” had been permanently sealed inside Kamui deeply moved Jiraiya.

Naruto had continued searching for solutions, seizing every opportunity to enter Sage Mode despite one setback after another.

As his teacher, how could Jiraiya possibly allow himself to remain idle?

“Orochimaru, that’s the situation. Please, help me!”

Jiraiya sought Orochimaru out again and explained exactly what he wanted.

In fact, he’d originally come to Orochimaru with this very idea in mind.

Everyone knew that Jiraiya was the teacher of the Yellow Flash, the fastest man in the shinobi world.

Somehow, Jiraiya had acquired a certain reputation for “speed” himself.

Initially, this particular trait had been quite useful.

Whenever he practiced Naruto’s special Sage Mode shortcut, Jiraiya could enter the necessary state much faster than other people.

Unfortunately, as time passed, the disadvantages of that speed began to emerge.

The process itself remained quick, but getting started became increasingly slow and difficult.

Finishing too quickly and struggling to get started were technically two different problems, yet they were closely related.

Naturally, Jiraiya would have preferred not to suffer from either of them.

Even for the sake of Sage Mode, he didn’t particularly want to endure such troubles.

His main problem was that he’d never found anyone suitable to treat them.

Tsunade?

Forget the fact that Tsunade didn’t possess much experience treating that particular sort of condition.

If Jiraiya actually approached her with such a request, there was a very real possibility that she would simply remove his QQ by force.

That would hardly count as a successful treatment.

But then Jiraiya remembered Orochimaru.

Orochimaru might not technically be a medical ninja, but his medical knowledge and biological expertise surpassed those of most actual medical specialists.

The man could perform genetic engineering and even create life.

Surely helping Jiraiya restore his own ability to create life wouldn’t be especially difficult?

“Orochimaru, I’m begging you!”

Jiraiya thumped his chest, his expression filled with unwavering determination.

“If even I, Jiraiya, fall, then who’s going to look after all those hardworking employees at the pleasure establishments?”

Orochimaru stared at him.

“Fine.”

He had the distinct impression that if he refused, Jiraiya would never stop pestering him.

He might as well agree and get it over with.

Besides, the procedure wasn’t particularly difficult.

“Kabuto.”

Orochimaru turned toward his assistant.

“Take a blood sample from Jiraiya and run some tests. Use his cells to grow a modified replacement, then implant it.”

He casually handed the assignment to Kabuto as an opportunity to practice his skills.

“You can actually do that?!”

Jiraiya was overjoyed.

He hadn’t expected Orochimaru to be so generous!

At this rate, he’d soon have the youthful vitality he’d enjoyed in his younger days.

Just imagining how wonderful that would feel brought a huge smile to his face.

With a solution finally in sight, Jiraiya immediately stopped bothering Orochimaru and eagerly followed Kabuto out of the room.