After hearing what Naruto said, Sasuke nodded, but deep down, he had already begun thinking about how to sacrifice himself before Naruto could. Konoha Village could survive without Sasuke, but it could not survive without Naruto, the Hokage.
However, these were only last-resort measures.
As long as they found the juvenile Ten-Tails in advance and cut off its connection with Otsutsuki Isshiki, the two of them might not necessarily be unable to defeat Otsutsuki Isshiki.
If Isshiki were truly that powerful, he wouldn't have waited until Momoshiki and Kinshiki arrived.
If that still didn't work, he had another plan: travel to the primordial dimension and release Otsutsuki Kaguya, allowing the Otsutsuki who had eaten the Divine Tree's fruit to fight the other Otsutsuki to the death.
While the older Sasuke and Naruto were discussing these matters, Boruto felt rather dissatisfied about being left out.
Teacher Sasuke and Dad must be discussing something important, yet they deliberately avoided him. Even though he was already a ninja capable of standing on his own, they still treated him like a child.
But he was different now than before.
He would quietly work hard and then surprise everyone, becoming a powerful and reliable ninja just like young Naruto's father.
Thinking of this, Boruto glanced at the little turtle in his hand. He had already made an agreement with young Naruto's father. When the time was right, he would bring young Naruto to this era and let him teach the Seventh Hokage a lesson.
...
Konoha in the morning was as peaceful and tranquil as ever.
Since Uzushiogakure had established a presence in Konoha, the villagers' sense of security had increased tremendously. They no longer had to worry about Konoha being attacked by other ninja villages.
Although there were still many Sarutobi clan shinobi grumbling in private, they were only a minority.
They did not represent Konoha, nor did they represent the wishes of the majority of the jonin and shinobi.
The earth-shattering battle that had taken place outside Konoha not long ago had further strengthened the villagers' willingness to accept Uzushiogakure's protection. If they could obtain safety simply by paying money and opening trade routes, there was no reason to provoke the shinobi of Uzushiogakure.
After all, Uzushiogakure's population was so small that Konoha could assimilate them within a dozen years.
Besides, the people of Uzushiogakure had originally been Konoha shinobi. They had merely left after defeating the former leadership and had now returned.
Because of these reasons, Naruto, who was staying at the Uzumaki compound, received many system rewards over the past few days. Although most of them were insignificant mosquito-leg rewards, they still sent Naruto a clear message:
The favorability of Konoha's residents toward him was steadily increasing.
After ordering his subordinates to investigate and learning the specific reason, Naruto, who had been sparring against shadow clones, was left somewhat speechless.
When he was a child, he had tried desperately to build a good relationship with the villagers of Konoha, yet no one acknowledged him.
Now, after arriving in Konoha as an outsider ninja and taking a superior stance, his favorability had skyrocketed.
Are these Konoha residents all a bunch of masochists?
Maybe they were hoping for someone similar to Uchiha Madara.
But after thinking about it carefully, Naruto understood the key point.
Although the people of Konoha claimed to dislike the Uchiha, who worshipped strength, they actually admired strength even more and worshipped the strong.
Although Uchiha Madara was domineering, he was still Senju Hashirama's defeated opponent.
The villagers followed the higher-ups in excluding the Uchiha simply because the Uchiha were not strong enough. The current Sarutobi clan faced the same situation.
In the end, Konoha still respected power above all else. The bigger fist always had the final say.
Shaking away his wandering thoughts, Naruto looked at the pair of pale eyes transplanted into his palms.
These eyes had originally belonged to Otsutsuki Urashiki. After Urashiki's death, they had reverted to ordinary Byakugan. Only by injecting a massive amount of chakra could they transform into the blue Rinnegan.
After transplanting them, Naruto realized just how enormous a burden the Rinnegan placed on a shinobi.
With his current chakra reserves, even without relying on Kurama, he could at most activate the blue Rinnegan and perform one or two techniques before his chakra was completely drained.
Moreover, even with the addition of the Nine-Tails' chakra, he still could not use many of Urashiki's abilities, nor could he switch the eyes into the Six-Tomoe Rinnegan form.
The reason was simple.
Although his chakra and Kurama's chakra together could rival that of an Otsutsuki, his body was not an Otsutsuki body.
He could not fly freely, nor could he wield Urashiki's Rinnegan as effortlessly as its original owner.
After all, no matter how disappointing Urashiki had been in battle, he was still an Otsutsuki who had awakened a Kekkei Mōra. His status was equal to that of the Sage of Six Paths and Otsutsuki Kaguya.
He was simply a little too good at getting himself killed and eventually died in the timeline where he existed.
Naruto could reluctantly accept the fact that he could not use most of the Rinnegan's abilities.
The ability to rewind time alone was already an enormous boost for someone like him who excelled in combat.
Combined with the fishing rod and fishing basket, treasures comparable to the Rinnegan itself, he was now qualified to participate in battles at the Otsutsuki level.
Next, all he needed to do was collect the chakra of the remaining tailed beasts, obtain the power of all nine tailed beasts, and then awaken Six Paths Sage Mode, completely stepping into the Six Paths realm.
Thinking of this, Naruto's blue Rinnegan lit up.
After predicting the shadow clone's attack direction in advance, Naruto sidestepped the attack and smashed apart several training shadow clones with a few quick punches and kicks.
"Urashiki's Rinnegan is really useful. I wonder what the eyes of the other Otsutsuki are like?"
While receiving the memories returned by the shadow clones, Naruto couldn't help but sigh.
In the past, he had thought Shisui's Kotoamatsukami wasn't particularly useful and had returned the eye to Shisui.
But that was because the upper limit of the Mangekyō Sharingan was simply too low compared to the techniques of the Rinnegan.
Aside from Obito's Kamui, which involved space-time manipulation, the abilities of most Mangekyō Sharingan still fell within the categories of ninjutsu and genjutsu.
They looked impressive, but in reality, they were flashy and lacked the straightforward brutality Naruto preferred.
The techniques recorded within the Rinnegan were different.
They emphasized returning to simplicity. Whether it was Uchiha Madara's Limbo: Border Jail or Sasuke's Amenotejikara, they were essentially upgraded versions of the most fundamental ninja techniques.
Perhaps these Rinnegan abilities would be more accurately described as divine techniques.
Divine techniques were abilities used by the Otsutsuki clan. They were superior to both ninjutsu and senjutsu. Every Otsutsuki possessed a portion of these divine powers, making it seem as though each one came equipped with their own Rinnegan.
But if that was the case, the reputation of the Great Inventor seemed to have faded considerably.
Tobirama Senju, who had invented countless forbidden techniques, must have discovered manuscripts left behind by an Otsutsuki God. Only then could he have developed one forbidden technique after another.
At that point, it felt less like invention and more like archaeology.
Shaking away his increasingly wild thoughts, Naruto remembered the agreement he had made with Boruto.
Once he successfully forged the Dragon Vein Core into a treasure capable of traveling through time and space, he would try to visit Boruto's era.
In that era, all conspiracies had surfaced above the water.
In his own era, however, everything remained hidden beneath the depths of the sea.
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