Naruto: From Ninja Academy to an Early Grave

The flow of time within consciousness is different from that of the real world.

Makoto received a vast amount of information left behind by Urashiki inside the seal, yet in reality only a brief instant had passed.

He looked at the palm of his left hand. There was nothing there—just the same healthy skin as before.

However, whenever he tried to draw upon the pure energy Urashiki had left behind, mysterious and intricate black sealing markings would appear across his palm.

That was a Four Symbols Seal he had modified himself. At the center of the seal was a diamond-shaped white square.

This was Urashiki's Kāma.

But Urashiki would never be able to use it to resurrect himself inside Makoto's body, because this was a White Kāma.

Now, Makoto finally understood the different types of Kāma.

There were Black Kāma and White Kāma.

Only a Black Kāma could resurrect an Ōtsutsuki.

Although members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan possessed incredibly long lifespans, they were not truly immortal. Upon reaching adulthood, members of the main family would usually search among ordinary intelligent lifeforms for suitable vessels and plant backups of their data within them as resurrection containers.

Those data backups were Black Kāma.

A single Ōtsutsuki could even possess several Black Kāma at once.

However, suitable vessels were extremely difficult to find, so there usually weren't many of them.

Once a vessel received a Black Kāma, their body would gradually and passively transform toward an Ōtsutsuki physique.

When a main family member's lifespan neared its end, they would choose one of their vessels, make contact, package all of their information, and transfer it into the vessel, activating the resurrection process and obtaining a new youthful life.

If a main family member died before completing the transfer, then they were truly dead.

No matter how many vessels they had prepared beforehand, the Kāma implanted in those vessels would lose their function and become nothing more than special abilities for the vessels to use.

If a vessel's physique was incompatible with that of the Ōtsutsuki main family member, yet special circumstances forced that Ōtsutsuki to transfer all of their information into the vessel anyway, then over time their soul would gradually dissipate, leaving behind only pure energy.

When that happened, the Black Kāma would become a White Kāma.

The only way to avoid death would be to forcibly unfreeze the resurrection process, but that would grant only a very short lifespan. Within that limited time, they would have to find a suitable vessel, otherwise the outcome would still be death.

The other way a White Kāma could be created was the situation Makoto had just experienced.

After an Ōtsutsuki's data entered his body, he used his own strength to forcibly erase the other's soul, leaving behind only pure energy. Naturally, the result became a White Kāma.

However, in the entire universe of the shinobi world, there was probably only one person capable of doing that.

Higashino Makoto.

In truth, the ideal vessels for the Ōtsutsuki Clan were actually their own young descendants.

Their physiques would be a perfect match without exception.

However, the clan had strict internal rules forbidding members from killing one another, and planting Kāma on fellow clan members was even more strictly prohibited.

Even executing branch family members required legitimate reasons, such as offering sacrifices to the God Tree.

Anyone who violated those rules would suffer a truly miserable fate.

After understanding how Kāma worked, Makoto suddenly realized something.

Wasn't this basically Orochimaru's Living Corpse Reincarnation Technique, just a PLUS version?

All he could say was that Snake Uncle truly deserved his reputation as the greatest bug-abuser in the shinobi world.

Without ever coming into contact with the Ōtsutsuki Clan, Orochimaru had managed to develop a similar form of immortality all by himself.

The difference was that during the process of Living Corpse Reincarnation, Orochimaru had to devour the soul of the person he had marked with a cursed seal.

No matter how it happened, the process would damage Orochimaru himself.

If he was unlucky enough to encounter a Sharingan expert like Sasuke, there was even a chance of being killed in return.

Kāma was different.

Once the resurrection process was unfrozen, it would gradually erase the vessel's soul.

The Ōtsutsuki themselves suffered no damage whatsoever.

They would simply replace the vessel bit by bit and achieve a perfect rebirth.

...

Only members of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, or people who possessed a Kāma, could sense the existence of another vessel, even if the Kāma within that vessel had not yet been activated.

Now, Makoto could confirm that Boruto truly carried a Kāma.

It was the one Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki had planted before his death.

It had to be said that Momoshiki's luck was incredible.

The random choice he made in old man Boruto had turned out to be a vessel perfectly compatible with him.

Urashiki had also discovered Momoshiki's Kāma inside Boruto long ago, which was why he would never kill him.

Doing so would be equivalent to directly killing Momoshiki.

As for why Urashiki had chosen Boruto before his death, it wasn't because he wanted to share a room with Momoshiki or replace him.

Urashiki didn't have that kind of courage.

He simply had no other choice.

He couldn't beat Makoto, and he didn't want to take risks with anyone else. Who knew whether their physique would be compatible or not?

As a result, he could only temporarily hide inside Boruto's body.

After all, old man Boruto had already passed Momoshiki's QC inspection. His quality was guaranteed.

Urashiki's plan was to ask Momoshiki to help him find a suitable vessel after Momoshiki revived.

Among Ōtsutsuki clan members, killing one another was absolutely forbidden.

Therefore, Momoshiki would never refuse such a request.

Unfortunately for him, his luck was terrible. He ran into Makoto and got hard-countered to death.

With the battle over, the adult Sasuke—after being healed by Makoto and then burning through all his chakra again—returned to his usual state of being as drained as an old dog.

Makoto gave him a look that clearly said, Just as I thought.

The adult Sasuke turned his face away. He didn't want to talk to Makoto at all, though he also had no way to explain his suffering.

That was simply how things were in their world.

Every generation had its own gods.

Sasuke and Naruto had it rough—during the Fourth Shinobi War they could steamroll across the battlefield, but in the new era they had become little more than worn-out dogs.

At that moment, Naruto asked, "Sensei, what do we do now?"

"What do we do?" Makoto replied. "Obviously nothing. We fought that hard, so it's time to go back and rest. The village can handle everything here."

The young Sasuke immediately objected, "There's no time to rest, Sensei. We need to become stronger."

"Sasuke, don't be in such a hurry. You'll become stronger. Trust your sensei."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "What part of that was hard for you? We were the ones fighting the whole time. The person who worked the hardest was obviously the adult Sasuke."

"Oh?" Makoto narrowed his eyes. "I've noticed you've had a lot of complaints about me lately, Sakura. Keep talking and I'll kick you off the team."

The pink-haired girl instantly folded.

"Sensei, I was wrong. Please, I beg you, abandon such dangerous thoughts."

"Hmph. So you do know fear."

Even though he joked about it, before leaving, Makoto carefully sealed Urashiki's remains inside a sealing scroll.

At the same time, he mobilized primordial natural energy and thoroughly swept the battlefield several times over.

He intended to erase every trace Urashiki had left behind.

Otherwise, some ambitious fool might come along, find something useful, or conduct experiments using Urashiki's cells and accidentally create a terrifying new enemy.

Anything connected to the Ōtsutsuki Clan was troublesome.

He didn't care much himself, but the people around him could easily end up getting killed because of it.

Only after confirming that all life on the battlefield had been annihilated—even the earthworms beneath the ground—did Makoto finally dismiss the Ten-Direction Forbidden Barrier.

Only then did the people waiting outside finally breathe a sigh of relief.

It seemed the problem had been completely resolved.

Konoha had sent only four people:

The Fourth Hokage, Namikaze Minato;

the ANBU's second-in-command, Uchiha Shisui;

along with Tsunade and Jiraiya.

At present, these were the village's strongest fighters on the surface.

As for the hidden experts?

There were far too many.

Even the retired Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, still possessed Kage-level strength.

The rest remained in the village to maintain order and prevent anyone from causing trouble while the village's top fighters were away.

All that could be said was that the current Konoha was simply too powerful.

The former head of the ANBU, Higashino Makoto's old superior Kumomi, had immediately retired after the Chūnin Exams and gone home to enjoy his retirement.

Kakashi was now the head of the ANBU, with Shisui as his deputy.

Together with Itachi and Yamato, they formed the ANBU's Four Heavenly Kings, a lineup so powerful that the other shinobi villages could only drool with envy.

When they saw Makoto's group returning, Jiraiya and Tsunade both glanced at the adult Sasuke and Boruto.

They had long known the identities of the two visitors.

However, as traditional old-school shinobi, they still maintained a basic level of caution toward people from another world. It was simply instinct.

Shisui was different.

He was genuinely concerned about the adult Sasuke.

"Are you alright? Were you injured during the fight?"

"I'm fine," the adult Sasuke replied. "I just used too much chakra."

In his world, this man—the closest friend of his brother and once the greatest prodigy of the Uchiha Clan—had died long ago.

That death had even become one of the sparks that pushed Itachi down the path of massacring the clan.

Yet in this world, Shisui was alive and well.

Like Itachi, he had become one of the Uchiha Clan's core military assets within Konoha and had already begun entering the village's center of power.

Shisui smiled.

"That's easy. Just have Makoto heal you again."

The adult Sasuke said nothing.

With his personality, it was difficult for him to resonate with a chaos-loving troublemaker like Higashino Makoto.

Makoto shrugged.

"I can only relieve the symptoms temporarily. If he wants a permanent solution, Shisui, you know the answer. He'll have to undergo the same training you did."

Shisui's eyes lit up.

"Then that's perfect. You can stay a while longer."

"I'm sorry," the adult Sasuke replied. "I want to return to my own world as soon as possible."

"Sorry," said Makoto, "but I'm afraid you're going to be disappointed."

The adult Sasuke fell silent.

"..."

Minato frowned.

"What's wrong, Makoto? Wasn't the enemy completely dealt with?"

"No. Urashiki died very thoroughly. The problem now is your bargain-bin grandson."

Tsunade immediately perked up.

"Oh? Did something happen to this little guy? Come on, tell me. I've been bored to death lately. New information is the only thing keeping me awake."

Minato: "..."

Tsunade-senpai has really gone off the rails.

So the grandson I just accepted has become your source of entertainment?

It seemed Konoha's gambling dens needed some serious regulation.

The same went for the taverns.

Konoha shinobi should be strictly forbidden from entering such places while on duty.

Makoto grinned.

"Oh, it's definitely something novel, Tsunade-sama. Come on, let's head back first. I'll explain everything there."