After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 224

Chapter 224: The So-Called Luck Conservation Principle

"I say, you little brats, how much longer are you planning to keep the old man bound?"

Rōshi, whose body was restrained by Adamantine Sealing Chains, shouted loudly with surprising vigor. "You're Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin of Konoha, aren't you? Surely you're not just going to stand by and watch these brats run wild?"

Seeing no response, Rōshi turned his head to look at Jiraiya, who was absorbed in his creative work.

Jiraiya heard the shouts and glanced up at him, displaying a helpless smile before returning to his task.

"Hey!"

"You little brats!"

"Don't ignore this old man!"

Rōshi's words seemed to fall on deaf ears.

At this moment, everyone was focused on their tasks—some setting up camp, some hunting, some training. No one paid him any attention.

In truth, this was Rōshi's own fault.

Shortly after the previous battle ended, Rōshi, being a Jinchūriki, had regained consciousness first.

It made sense, actually. Unlike Sasuke, whose entire body was covered in injuries, Rōshi had only consumed a considerable amount of chakra when he transformed into his tailed beast form. Honestly, he had few injuries.

With the attitude that a good fight deserved good rest, Naruto had no intention of restraining the other's freedom.

It was precisely this decision that backfired.

When the old fellow woke, he directly transformed into his tailed beast form again and launched an attack on the surrounding people.

The next moment, a fist arrived with overwhelming force.

This wasn't like the battle with Sasuke, where they could trade blows back and forth.

Even in his tailed beast form, Rōshi's resistance proved utterly futile against Naruto's unstoppable strikes. Within seconds of transforming into his monkey form, he collapsed back into unconsciousness.

When he woke the second time, he hadn't learned a thing. He started attacking everyone again.

So Naruto simply deployed the Adamantine Sealing Chains, restraining him and preventing any further incidents.

Though his limbs couldn't move, Rōshi's mouth remained busy. He began harassing everyone indiscriminately.

No matter whether the others appealed to his emotions or reason, the old fellow remained stubborn as a rock.

His attitude could be summed up in two sentences:

Everything you say, I don't believe.

Ōnoki would never voluntarily hand over the Four-Tails Jinchūriki.

The claims about Akatsuki capturing Jinchūriki and Ōnoki revealing Rōshi's location after defeat? Rōshi refused to believe any of it.

In a way, it was understandable.

After all, Rōshi matched Ōnoki in stubbornness perfectly.

They disagreed on fundamental matters, which is why their partnership fell apart.

Ignoring Rōshi, who was raging impotently in his place, Naruto and the others finished setting up camp. Then they gathered together and surrounded Sasuke, like spectators observing some rare specimen.

"Wow! Really completely motionless, huh."

This was Karin. As she spoke, she poked Sasuke's shoulder with her finger.

Surprisingly, he didn't even slap her hand away—completely unprecedented.

"Really—incredible."

This was Yugito. She seemed to be seeing something like this for the first time.

"Lucky bastard, unlucky bastard, stupid idiot, foolish monkey! Yo!"

This one didn't need saying—everyone knew who. Currently, his face wore a gleeful smile.

"So Sasuke, how much longer are you planning to keep this state up?"

Naruto crouched in front of Sasuke, staring at him curiously.

Being surrounded by everyone, Sasuke's forehead was already starting to pop veins, yet he wasn't making any movements.

Not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't.

The reason was simple. Sasuke was currently in an "extremely unlucky" state.

When he first woke up, while propping his body up, he had carelessly twisted his waist.

A young ninja in his early teens, a genius who trained in martial arts long-term and conditioned his body, had twisted his waist—absurd in a way comparable to a healthy swordswoman who trained for years, only to die from falling down her own home stairs.

This was the backlash of luck.

"Luck" is conserved. Disaster Divinity, this terrifying ability capable of manipulating causality and magnifying disaster possibilities, carried a cost. After the ability ended, the user would experience "ill-fortune attachment" for an indefinite period, proportional to the amount of power they'd used.

It was extremely fair.

In the previous battle, Sasuke used Disaster Divinity to make Rōshi convulse, sneeze, and fall. This degree of bad luck, transferred to himself, became a twisted waist, torn pants seams, or twisted ankles.

Regardless of whether Sasuke could predict it, that ill-fortune would inevitably arrive. Even if he dodged this one, the next would appear in another form.

The only solution was to wait.

This luck-repayment state had a time limit. Once time passed, the cost would automatically lift.

The higher the level of ill-fortune dealt, the greater the causal reversal, and the greater the side effect and duration.

Fortunately, Sasuke hadn't recklessly used this ability to summon natural disasters like meteorites. Otherwise, he'd probably be standing motionless like a statue for days.

After enduring the endless spectacle around him, finally, Sasuke sensed the ill-fortune wrapping around him dissipating. He shot straight up from the ground.

This time there was no accident.

No twisted ankle, no waist injury.

"You brats seemed pretty excited watching just now!"

He glared at the group, especially at Karin, who had taken advantage of his immobility, borrowed a pen from Jiraiya, and drawn random marks all over his face.

"Alright, alright, show's over."

After saying this, Naruto vanished from his position first.

The remaining people weren't slouches either.

Karin transformed into Garuda form, her speed completely overwhelming the current Sasuke.

"I'll go find more food."

Killer Bee's body exploded into smoke. It turned out what was here was just his clone.

Finally, only Yugito and Sasuke remained, staring at each other.

"Um, want me to go cook first?"

Watching Yugito's awkward yet polite smile, Sasuke couldn't say anything either.

She was the most polite among the spectators. Even if forced to say something, nothing seemed wrong.

"Hmph!"

Sasuke angrily walked out of camp, unsure whether he was chasing after someone.

Over there, Rōshi had finally quieted down, watching Jiraiya in silence.

The noise beside him finally disappeared. Jiraiya withdrew from his creative state, looked at Rōshi, then glanced at the others who'd scattered, and let out a soft laugh.

"How about it? These kids have quite a lot of energy, don't they?"

Rōshi glanced at him and didn't answer the question. Instead, he posed another.

"Jiraiya, where are you taking me?"

"The next destination is Takigakure Village. Let me see—about one day's travel away."

Jiraiya didn't hide anything, directly answering Rōshi's question.

They'd already entered the Land of Waterfalls' territory. This small nation wasn't very large, so one day's time was completely sufficient.

And that was without considering using Garuda as a means of transportation.

"Takigakure Village? You're moving against the Seven-Tails?"

Apparently, Rōshi knew a lot about Takigakure.

"Don't say it so harshly."

Jiraiya waved his hand.

"It's just preventing you lot from being captured by Akatsuki and having your tailed beasts extracted. Look, we haven't done anything else to you, right?"

"Hmph. Sounds pretty, but I see you're planning to use the old man as bait to lure out that so-called Akatsuki."

Rōshi let out a contemptuous laugh.

"Well, saying it that way isn't exactly wrong either."

Jiraiya wasn't like certain crafty foxes who could hide their true intentions with an unchanging face.

"After finding that organization, what do you plan to do with us Jinchūriki?"

"What do you mean by 'what to do'? You each return to your own villages, of course."

"You think the old man would believe that?"

"Look at Naruto. Do you think we'd need to utilize Jinchūriki power to conquer the world?"

Jiraiya's interruption caught Rōshi's words in his throat. His mind involuntarily recalled the scene of being completely transformed, then finished off by a single punch from the other.

Mm.

"Call that little brat over and remove the restraints. The old man won't make any more moves."

Rōshi decided to join the team.