Naruto: I Have a Gravity Training Room-Chapter 470 - 468

Toneri's face had already become Orochimaru's face, and even his eyes had turned into vertical slits.

Orochimaru let out a twisted chuckle. "Heh heh heh… as expected of Ōtsutsuki blood. I can feel power flooding through every inch of me. And once I fully master the Tenseigan, I'll be able to step into the Six Paths realm!"

As he spoke, both eyes shifted into a vivid blue that radiated a heavy, oppressive strength.

But he quickly reined it in. He wasn't about to get too cocky in front of Natsuki.

Kakashi, meanwhile, unsealed a large cylindrical glass container from a scroll, the Divine Tree fragments suspended inside. He even commented while doing it, "Fushi Tensei (Immortality Transference) really is convenient. Taking someone else's body and bloodline is like child's play."

"Heh heh heh. Convenient, yes, but it comes with risks. I caused trouble for your hospital three times back then."

Orochimaru spoke casually, but he was already at the container, studying it closely. "So this is a Divine Tree fragment? That Victor actually had some ideas. But the fragment's vitality is too low. Absorbing human life force alone won't be enough. It probably needs Hashirama cells. Hashirama cells have the strongest vitality. They could fully revive these Divine Tree fragments."

Hashirama cells…

Maybe.

Natsuki knew exactly how terrifying Hashirama cells were.

Even years after Hashirama's death, their vitality was still absurd. Almost anyone who transplanted them ended up mutating. Only Uchiha Madara, Yamato, and Shimura Danzō had managed to "succeed."

And even Danzō didn't count as truly successful. He'd needed a whole armful of Sharingan just to keep the cells suppressed, and he still couldn't properly use Wood Style. That alone said everything about how overwhelming Hashirama cells were.

Natsuki stared hard at Orochimaru. "You've got Hashirama cells, don't you?"

Orochimaru laughed softly. "Natsuki-kun, don't be so guarded. Yes, I have them, but I'm not going to waste them on something useless. Even if these fragments were cultivated successfully, the fruit would just be artificially ripened trash. It wouldn't be worth much. A real chakra fruit only forms when the Ten-Tails devours the power of an entire planet. If I truly wanted a chakra fruit, I'd be better off joining the Kara organization you just mentioned."

"Oh? You're planning to join Kara?"

"Natsuki-kun, that was a metaphor." Orochimaru's smile widened. "Kara's leader is definitely an Ōtsutsuki. Their goal is to destroy the shinobi world. How could I possibly join them? Much better to defeat him and turn him into my research material."

As soon as he said "research material," Orochimaru's excitement spiked again.

He was getting more and more interested in the Ōtsutsuki by the second.

Natsuki wasn't truly suspecting him. It was more like a verbal tap on the cage, just to make sure Orochimaru didn't float off the ground after gaining new power.

When the timing felt right, Natsuki dropped a final line. "The assault on the Ōtsutsuki will be in about a month. Prepare yourself. When the time comes, you're coming as a specimen-collection specialist. And you'd better get comfortable with the Tenseigan. Otherwise you'll end up dying together with them."

"A month, hm? Understood."

Orochimaru agreed, then fully immersed himself in studying the Divine Tree fragments.

Natsuki immediately took Kakashi and flashed back to the Hokage's office.

The three Kage and Mifune had already been escorted home, but everyone else still hadn't left. They were digging through old files, trying to find anything connected to Kara.

The moment Natsuki and Kakashi returned, they were drafted into the labor too.

Luckily, all they needed was to search for the three characters "Kara," so it wasn't hard. They simply used a swarm of Shadow Clones to brute-force the workload.

Before long, every old document containing "Kara" had been pulled out. But after reading through them, everyone's faces fell.

Kara really had appeared early on, but the relevant records were frighteningly sparse.

Most documents only mentioned the name in passing. Nothing else. It was as if Kara had never once been taken seriously.

And in truth, that wasn't exactly wrong. Back then, who even knew what an Ōtsutsuki was? Who would've imagined a no-name organization could be tied to something that deep?

There was no choice. They'd have to investigate from scratch.

They held another brief meeting. In the end, they decided Kakashi would take the same team as before and head out again, pretending to search for Victor's trail while actually probing for intelligence on Kara.

Minato also used Hiraishin no Jutsu (Flying Thunder God Technique) to go find Jiraiya and explain the situation.

Jiraiya had his ways when it came to information gathering. No matter how secretive Kara was, he should be able to dig up something.

And when the alliance attacked the dimension one month from now, Jiraiya had to be back. Whether he was fighting on the front lines or guarding the village, he was a critical piece of their strength.

For the moment, Natsuki wasn't assigned anything new. Life returned to normal.

When the meeting ended, he left a few Shadow Clones behind to keep handling paperwork, while his real body headed straight for the hospital.

TenTen came first. Always.

They weren't at war yet. Everyone else had their roles. He didn't need to grind himself down.

"Wifey, I'm here!"

Natsuki walked into the room with a grin and saw TenTen poring over a scroll of weapon-design blueprints. This was a gift Sasuke had brought her. It had made TenTen so happy at the time, and ever since then she'd basically been glued to it, like she could never get enough.

And honestly, it made sense.

She was pregnant. There were a lot of things she couldn't do.

So the only thing left was reading and thinking, and weapon design was the thing she loved most.

Her dad was sitting off to the side flipping through a book as well. Earlier, everyone had talked about naming the baby, but they still hadn't decided. So her dad had found himself a mission.

He was determined to choose a great name for his grandkid, and lately he'd been taking that job very seriously.

Which was good. It meant he had less time for… other ideas.

"…Hubby, come here!" TenTen beamed. "Come look at this design. If I add this here, and take this part out, doesn't it feel like it'll become some kind of divine weapon?"

Natsuki leaned in and examined it carefully. He didn't dare shut her down. "That's not bad. You should try it. When you have time, sketch out a full revision. Just don't overdo it, okay? We can't let you tire the baby out."

Pregnant women could get carried away with their thoughts, and this was exactly what that looked like.

TenTen thought she was overflowing with inspiration, but she was also being a little too freewheeling. A master craftsman's blueprint wasn't something you could casually tweak. One small change and the whole thing could turn into a different beast.

But Natsuki couldn't stop her, and he definitely had to keep her mood up.

If he dismissed her idea, she'd get discouraged, or worse, annoyed, and that wasn't worth it.

So he went along with it. Let her draw, let her kill time, let her keep her mind busy. And anyway, money wasn't an issue. Her dad could always hire people to build it.

Besides, once TenTen gave birth, Natsuki planned to dig out all these "divine weapon" ideas later. That would be hilarious.

Thinking about the baby, Natsuki smiled and pressed his cheek to TenTen's belly, listening and feeling for movement.

Then, in the very next instant, a tiny foot kicked out hard.

Natsuki was launched straight out the window.

(End of Chapter)

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