After Sailing with the Pirate King, I Returned to Konoha - 184

Chapter 184: Naruto Uzumaki's Emotions are Stable

Bang!

Karin was hit by Sasuke's Lion Combo, falling straight from mid-air to the ground, clutching her stomach and convulsing.

If there was one way Sasuke resembled Naruto, it was that during training they both "treated everyone equally, regardless of gender or age."

Originally, Sasuke was already wrestling with self-doubt and irritation over his strong reaction to Naruto. At this exact moment, Karin approached him for training, having recognized her own weaknesses.

Her timing couldn't have been worse.

In their previous training sessions, they mainly relied on their Devil Fruit powers.

Sasuke's Fire Release jutsu became even more terrifying under the Misfortune Wolf's enhancement—often a casual wave would create a sea of flames, even more powerful than Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear clones.

Karin's Garuda transformation was even more formidable.

At least in the early stages of mastering abilities, Garuda was more powerful than Misfortune Wolf.

Steel body, wind control, phantom sound.

Three innate abilities—any single one could rival a Paramecia Devil Fruit.

In comparison, Misfortune Wolf could only rely on Calamity Fire attachment attacks early on. If you didn't give it a chance to "grow stronger through battle" and struck decisively, you could defeat it.

Just like when Naruto knocked Sasuke unconscious with one palm—the battle ended too quickly for the "Karma" passive to trigger.

"Want to continue?" Sasuke asked, landing on a tree stump and looking at Karin, who was struggling to stand while clutching her stomach.

And this was without him using Armament Haki.

"...Continue."

Karin swept her fallen red hair behind her head, looking at Sasuke with determined eyes before actively launching another attack.

With the Uzumaki clan's naturally powerful chakra, Karin's wounds began healing quickly.

But the pain didn't decrease one bit.

Even someone with Sasuke's personality couldn't help but feel some admiration for Karin's persistent training attitude.

Indeed, initially both had looked down on each other.

Sasuke looked down on Karin because she had first looked down on him, even calling him weak.

But now—

"Come on."

The corner of his mouth unconsciously curved slightly as Sasuke struck decisively without holding back.

This never-give-up attitude—he, Uchiha Sasuke, acknowledged it.

"Yo, looks like you two are getting along well."

Suddenly, a familiar voice interrupted their training.

It was Naruto, whom they had been worried about for so long—along with Jiraiya.

Around the campfire, everyone ate while discussing the events of the past few days.

"So this is Sage Mode?" Sasuke asked.

Sasuke didn't understand this, but Karin had heard about it from Jiraiya-sensei.

She just hadn't seen Jiraiya use it personally.

Both examined Naruto curiously, finding that aside from his ability to manifest additional arms, he appeared unchanged.

Jiraiya didn't know how to explain this either.

Whatever—when they had the chance to learn Sage Mode, they'd understand the difference.

"By the way, this is for you two."

Saying this, Naruto suddenly produced the forbidden jutsu scroll he'd obtained from Shinnō.

You had to admit, Shinnō was quite honorable.

Though he'd designed an emergency escape mechanism, the scroll used to distract attention was actually genuine.

It recorded three forbidden jutsu: "Eight Gates," "Physical Activation," and "Physical Regeneration."

"These three jutsu require massive chakra support. Even you, Karin, can only maintain them briefly."

"As for Sasuke, after transformation you gain abilities similar to Physical Regeneration. You only need to learn this 'Eight Gates.'"

During his three days of training, Naruto would occasionally pull out these three jutsu to study.

Even with all his knowledge, Naruto had to admire the power of these three forbidden techniques.

The Eight Gates jutsu needed no explanation.

It could unlock eight chakra gates in the body to gain tremendous short-term power.

That suddenly increased chakra flow could exponentially enhance the user's original physical strength.

The downside was severe side effects.

Not even mentioning the Gate of Death—even the earlier gates caused irreversible damage.

Fortunately, both Naruto and Karin had Uzumaki bloodline, so these side effects would be much milder.

Moreover, both Karin and Sasuke had mythical beast transformations, further amplifying these enhancements.

It could be said that mastering Eight Gates, they might already have the strength to roam freely in the ninja world.

At least not just any random person could threaten them.

The only concern was side effects—without Zero-Tails' massive chakra support, it was impossible to create the same cycle between the three forbidden jutsu like Shinnō.

So they could only choose one or two to learn.

After dinner, Karin and Sasuke traveled while studying forbidden jutsu.

Meanwhile, Naruto and Jiraiya sat on the carriage discussing that day's situation.

"You're saying a masked guy with Sharingan saved Konan?" Naruto asked.

Naruto looked at Obito's rough outline that Jiraiya had constructed with ink.

Jiraiya-sensei hadn't been idle these days either, beginning deep development of his Devil Fruit.

Now his created "ink creatures" no longer looked like chaotic black masses.

By adjusting line thickness and ink density, basic human likenesses were recognizable.

Their shared dream should be achievable soon.

"Kurama, is this guy Uchiha Madara?" Naruto asked.

Naruto stared deeply at that "3D portrait," then sank his consciousness into the sealed space, questioning Kurama.

Kurama also saw that appearance through Naruto's vision.

"No... he's not Uchiha Madara," Kurama replied.

Kurama's answer made Naruto's eyes flicker. Before he could speak, Kurama added:

"But he's definitely the one who controlled me that night."

Killing intent, substantial as reality.

"...Very good. Then we found the right person."

Naruto inside and outside the sealed space simultaneously smiled, but the uncontrollably emerging arms behind him waving menacingly revealed his current mood.

It could be said that for a very long time afterward, Naruto could maintain stable emotions—continuously remaining in rage.

Those hands accidentally brushed against things, and everything developed "erased" gaps where mouth-like openings on the palms chewed surrounding objects.

Although Sage Mode had indeed eliminated Zero-Tails' influence on Naruto...

The current Naruto seemed even more terrifying than Zero-Tails.

At least that's what Jiraiya thought.

He silently used his ability to restore the devoured parts of the carriage.

While praying for his three students in his heart.

Calculating the time, during the Nine-Tails incident, Nagato and the others should have been seventeen or eighteen—the age of making trouble.

Hopefully you weren't involved in that incident, or even your teacher can't save you.