Chapter 278

"It's really you, Isshiki-senpai. How did you end up like this?" Urashiki muttered as he confirmed that the person he was speaking with was Isshiki.

Without hesitation, he knocked out Victor, deciding not to kill him since he was a subordinate of a fellow Ōtsutsuki.

"I didn't expect you to still be alive, Isshiki-senpai. We came here to hunt down Kaguya for your sake. No, wait... just because Isshiki-senpai is alive in this timeline doesn't mean he'll survive decades later," Urashiki realized this timeline was different, and he sheepishly mentioned it out loud, not particularly concerned about Isshiki's feelings.

"So, where are you hiding now, Isshiki-senpai?"

"That's none of your concern, Urashiki," said Jigen (Isshiki's vessel), putting down his cup with a cold tone. He believed Urashiki was here to kill Kaguya, but he didn't trust that Urashiki had any intentions of helping him.

The final stages of the Divine Tree required a pure Ōtsutsuki to be sacrificed, allowing it to bear the most suitable fruit for their clan. Isshiki, now alone and having already consumed a Divine Tree fruit, was in the process of cultivating a new vessel. There was no way he would allow Urashiki anywhere near him.

"Isshiki-senpai is still so wary of us. Well, no matter, I'm just passing through this timeline. Once I've collected all of Kaguya's chakra, I'll return. You won't mind, right?" Urashiki carried his red rod weapon on his shoulder and spoke to Jigen with an air of politeness, though his tone remained laced with provocation.

Jigen showed no signs of anger. On the contrary, he understood exactly what kind of person Urashiki was. However, the mention of "this timeline" caught his attention, and Jigen raised an eyebrow, asking in surprise, "You used Karma to come here?"

"Yes, but it charges too slowly, and there are two other enemies who followed me here. I've yet to find them, and it's been quite a headache. I was hoping to take this chance to kill them," Urashiki admitted.

"I never thought you'd manage to find Karma. Do as you like. If you can gather chakra, I won't stand in your way. I might even give you some help," Jigen said before pausing, then offered, "Do you need information?"

"Information? About the Divine Tree's chakra? Isshiki-senpai, are you really that generous?" Urashiki asked, clearly suspicious. The Ōtsutsuki clan had no concept of family bonds or altruism. Every one of them was focused on evolving into an Ōtsutsuki god, and consuming a weaker clan member wasn't uncommon.

"I'll have someone send the information to Victor. Whether or not you trust it is up to you. I don't need the chakra of the Divine Tree right now, Urashiki," Jigen said before ending the conversation.

Alone in the room, Urashiki was left puzzled by Isshiki's intentions. Perhaps Isshiki didn't need the tailed beasts right now because he was focused on his vessel's development. But after his reincarnation, Isshiki would surely need the Divine Tree's chakra. It was the only way for an Ōtsutsuki to evolve their life form.

"What a strange man, Isshiki-senpai!" Urashiki thought suspiciously but decided to wait as promised.

When the courier arrived with the information, Urashiki had hoped to follow them back to Isshiki's location, but Isshiki had sent a puppet to deliver the information, and it self-destructed immediately after completing its task.

"Such a cautious guy," Urashiki muttered. He glanced at the still-unconscious Victor, knowing this guy wouldn't know anything about Isshiki's whereabouts. So, he left, finding a quiet place to read through the information.

"What? He gathered all of this?" Urashiki's eyes widened at the thoroughness of the information. It detailed the locations of the nine tailed beasts and their Jinchuriki.

But Urashiki remembered encountering a native with the Rinnegan earlier who had already gathered several of the tailed beasts. The Divine Tree's shell had already absorbed at least half of their chakra.

There weren't many tailed beasts left to be collected—perhaps only three or four.

Furthermore, the report stated that Iwa's two tailed beasts had been killed in battle, meaning it would take some time before they could be revived.

"This guy works fast. I can't let him take the strongest one—the Nine-Tails!" Urashiki decided. After reading the report, he made up his mind to head to Konoha and claim the Nine-Tails for himself.

With that power, he would be able to defeat the ninja with the Rinnegan and seize the remaining chakra from the Divine Tree.

"Konoha's strongest ninja is the First Hokage? That guy sounds troublesome, but luckily, he's in the Land of Wind."

As Urashiki continued reading the information about Hashirama, Konoha's most powerful figure, he felt more at ease. There were other Hokage mentioned, but they didn't seem to be quite as important to him.

Confident that he had the upper hand, Urashiki prepared to head to Konoha.

"First, I'll collect the Nine-Tails!"

...

At Konoha...

"Kushina, I'm home."

When Kushina opened the door and saw Minato smiling at her, she smiled warmly and said, "Come in, Minato. Did you finish your mission?"

"Yes, after delivering the information, Tobirama-sensei had me do a few more missions with Flying Thunder God, so that's why I'm late. Sorry about that," Minato said with a laugh as he entered the house, habitually removing his shoes. As Kushina bent down to put them away, Minato's shoes crumbled into paper shreds.

Kushina blinked in surprise before chuckling, "Come in, Minato. I just finished making dinner."

Minato scratched his head, thinking he'd have to explain to Kushina later that, in his Edo Tensei state, he couldn't eat anything.

"Dad! You're back?" Naruto's voice echoed through the house as he returned home. His face lit up with joy at the sight of Minato.

Naruto had finally accepted Minato as his father, and the two had grown quite close. Minato had promised to teach Naruto a powerful new jutsu on his next visit, and Naruto was eager to learn.

Seeing the father and son so close brought a soft smile to Kushina's face. However, when she touched her stomach, worry and fear crept into her thoughts.

It had been over a month now, and Kushina could already feel a slight bump. If Minato stayed for another two or three months, she'd have to use a transformation jutsu to hide it. But how long could that possibly fool Minato?

Kushina scolded herself for wishing Minato would leave soon. After all, Naruto had only recently gotten to know his father, and Minato clearly cherished them both. How could she think such a selfish thing?

As Kushina made her way to the kitchen to grab bowls for dinner, she suddenly heard Minato shout, "Who are you? Let go of Naruto!"

An enemy?!

Kushina rushed out of the kitchen to find a man in white clothing with the Byakugan gripping Naruto by the back of his neck. Behind the man, a spatial portal remained open.

"So, this is the infamous Naruto. I didn't expect it to be this easy to catch you. I guess I arrived at just the right moment," Urashiki Ōtsutsuki said with a smirk, though his words were cut short by Kushina's furious voice.

"You bastard! What are you trying to do to Naruto?!"

Boom!

Kushina's chakra flared up in a fiery rage, forming a golden chakra cloak adorned with magatama markings, and whisker marks appeared on her face as she channeled the Nine-Tails' power.

"What the...?" Urashiki paused, bewildered by the sight of Kushina wielding the Nine-Tails' chakra. How could this woman possess it? Wasn't Naruto supposed to be the Jinchuriki?

Byakugan!

Activating his Byakugan, Urashiki confirmed that the Nine-Tails was sealed inside Kushina, while Naruto had nothing within him. Realizing his information had been wrong, or that he had arrived in the wrong timeline, he cursed his luck.

Whoosh!

Minato hurled a kunai directly at Urashiki's face. However, Urashiki tilted his head slightly and dodged the attack with ease.

"You're just like that other guy. Always relying on those kunai," Urashiki mocked. As Minato teleported behind him using the Flying Thunder God Technique, Urashiki quickly turned and kicked Minato's hand, knocking away the Rasengan he had been preparing. In the same movement, Urashiki sliced off Minato's other arm with his red rod weapon.

In the next instant, Urashiki dissolved into a flurry of red paper cranes, dodging Kushina's chakra arm as it swiped through empty air.

Boom!

Urashiki managed to avoid the attack, but the house wasn't so lucky. As Kushina's chakra arm struck the ground, the entire structure collapsed around them.

The red paper cranes reformed in midair, once again taking the shape of Urashiki. Hovering above the ruins of the house, he couldn't resist taunting them. "Ah, no matter which fox I encounter, their temper is always so explosive."

Whoosh!

Kushina and Minato suddenly reappeared on top of the house's remains. Just as the building crumbled, Minato had used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport both himself and Kushina to safety.

Whoosh!

However, in the blink of an eye, another figure appeared beside Kushina. It was Yoichi, who had rushed over after sensing the disturbance in the village and the sudden flare of Nine-Tails chakra.

Yoichi had been at the Konoha Hospital helping Rumi with her eye checkup, but when he sensed Kushina's chakra, he quickly wrapped things up and hurried to the scene.

"Ōtsutsuki Urashiki?" Yoichi asked calmly as he assessed the situation.

"You know me?" Urashiki's eyes flickered toward the familiar sight of the Hokage Rock, and realization dawned on him. "Ah, you must be the Fifth Hokage. Another fool with space-time ninjutsu, I see."

"Yoichi, he's got Naruto! Please, save him!" Kushina pleaded desperately. At this moment, Naruto was her entire world, and the thought of him being hurt or worse was unbearable.

Minato leaned in close to Yoichi, speaking in a low voice. "Fifth Hokage-sama, we need to work together. This guy is fast, and his space-time abilities are extremely troublesome."

"Your arm… You fought him already?" Yoichi noticed that Minato's arm had not regenerated, a telltale sign that Urashiki had used Yin-Yang Release to counter the Edo Tensei regeneration.

"He's quick, and he's familiar with the Flying Thunder God marks," Minato admitted. Despite having moved at his fastest, Urashiki had still managed to outmaneuver him.

"You two stand by and watch. Leave this one to me," Yoichi said, his eyes locking onto Urashiki. He could feel Urashiki's chakra clearly and had already mentally locked onto it.

"Oh? Trying to sense me with your chakra? Do you really think you can take Naruto back so easily? Even though he doesn't have the Nine-Tails sealed in him, he's still my target," Urashiki said, his voice dripping with malice. "Now, how should I deal with my sworn enemy?"

Urashiki's taunts were abruptly cut short as Yoichi's chakra flared.

Boom! Crackle!

In an instant, a massive surge of chakra erupted from Yoichi's body. It gathered and then condensed, before slowly settling back into his body. But despite the calm, chakra arcs in the form of lightning danced and crackled around him like serpents.

Urashiki's eyes widened slightly in disbelief. The sheer intensity of Yoichi's chakra was overwhelming.

"This guy… is powerful!" Urashiki thought, a wave of unease flooding his mind. How could a ninja in this village possess such overwhelming power? The intelligence had stated that the strongest figure in Konoha was the First Hokage—Isshiki must have hidden this information from him!

"That bastard, Isshiki! He lied to me…!"

"Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, your space-time abilities— and a unique body-flicker technique—are indeed formidable," Yoichi said, stretching his body in preparation. "But no matter how powerful the technique, it still relies on chakra. And right now, I've locked onto your chakra."

Yoichi's voice was calm, but the weight of his words sent a shiver down Urashiki's spine.

"You're only fifty meters away from me, Urashiki. Do you think your space-time technique is faster than my speed?"

Urashiki's eyes narrowed in anger. How dare this ninja—a mere native—mock him, an Ōtsutsuki? Even if this man possessed an enormous amount of chakra, he was still just a native of this world, far beneath the power of the Ōtsutsuki clan!

"Kushina, Yoichi-kun… Naruto…" Kushina began, her voice filled with worry.

"Kushina!" Minato interrupted her firmly. He had already fought Urashiki and knew that this enemy was beyond their ability to handle. Even with the power of the Nine-Tails, the situation was dire. Minato understood that their only hope was to trust Yoichi.

"Hahaha! How funny, a ninja looking down on me," Urashiki sneered. "But no matter. If you think you can outspeed me, then try. I'll be gone before you even get close."

"Heh… Wrong answer," Yoichi said coolly.

Whoosh!

Boom!

In an instant, there was a blinding flash of light, followed by a thunderous crash. For a moment, both Kushina and Minato's vision seemed to lag, as if they couldn't keep up with Yoichi's sudden movement.

Urashiki hadn't even realized what was happening before he felt the devastating force of Yoichi's punch bury itself into his stomach. The impact was so fierce that it tore through Urashiki's body, disrupting his chakra flow and scattering his energy.

"Ugh…!" Urashiki groaned in pain, saliva dripping from his mouth as his eyes bulged, barely able to keep them from popping out of his skull.

Yoichi's body was surrounded by the fourth level of the Lightning Destruction Mode, increasing his speed and strength by nearly ninefold. The punch he delivered could easily have pierced through three or four tailed beasts standing in a row.

The next moment, a violent shockwave spread through the air, crashing outward. Kushina, acting on instinct, immediately wrapped herself and Minato in the Nine-Tails' chakra to block the force of the blast.

The shockwave expanded in all directions. Fortunately, Kushina had already created a barrier, which shielded the area from the full force of the impact. Otherwise, half of the Uchiha compound would have been destroyed.

"No… no way…" Urashiki's face twisted in agony as he tried to speak. He could barely utter two words as he struggled to recover his chakra. His body was completely wrecked from the inside out. His chakra system was shattered, and he could no longer even muster the strength to stand.

"You… You're too weak," Yoichi said coldly. "You must be the weakest of the Ōtsutsuki."

Without hesitation, Yoichi pried Naruto from Urashiki's grasp, holding the stunned boy in his arms. He then activated his Rinnegan, six tomoe swirling in his eyes, as he used the Truth-Seeking Orbs to pierce through Urashiki's body, locking him in place.

Yoichi casually pulled out Urashiki's eyes, rendering him powerless. He then kicked the defeated Ōtsutsuki into the ground with enough force to create a crater over ten meters deep. As Urashiki's body crumbled, he coughed up blood and immediately fell unconscious.

Landing beside Kushina, Yoichi handed Naruto back to her and said calmly, "He's just shaken up. Stay with him tonight to comfort him."

Just as Yoichi finished speaking, several figures arrived at the scene—Mikoto, Mina, Yugito, and Itachi. They had all rushed over after sensing the disturbance in the village.

"Yoichi-kun, Kushina, is there an enemy?" Mikoto asked with concern.

"It's taken care of," Yoichi replied. "The enemy was tricky to deal with, but nothing we couldn't handle. If I hadn't gone all out from the start, he might've escaped using his space-time jutsu."

Yoichi then turned to Itachi, "Itachi, your job is to look after your siblings. Until you graduate from the academy, you're not allowed to participate in battle."

"Yes, Father," Itachi said apologetically. "I got carried away today."

Itachi had been concerned for his mother and had followed the others. He had also recently been involved in the mission to capture Fugaku, which made him eager to help again.

After making sure Naruto was calm, Kushina gratefully turned to Yoichi, her voice filled with emotion. "Thank you. If anything had happened to Naruto, I don't know what I would have done."

"Don't worry about it. The house, on the other hand, is wrecked. But the enemy is captured, and with only Uchiha Madara left, I suggest you return to your old home for now," Yoichi suggested. "Madara doesn't have space-time abilities, so he won't be able to sneak in unnoticed."

"I understand," Kushina nodded. She glanced at the destroyed house, feeling slightly guilty. It wasn't the enemy who had caused the damage—it had been her in a moment of anger.

As they wrapped up, members of the police force arrived to assist. Yoichi gave orders for cleanup and containment, instructing them to keep the villagers calm after the loud disturbance likely drew attention.

Meanwhile, Mina helped Kushina with a medical ninjutsu check on Naruto, while Yoichi turned to Mikoto and said, "I won't be home tonight. I need to deal with this enemy first. Mikoto, you should head back and take care of the kids."

"Alright, Yoichi-kun. Be careful," Mikoto said, giving him a soft smile. She left with Itachi and Mina to return home.

With that settled, Yoichi hoisted the unconscious Urashiki over his shoulder and used the Flying Thunder God Technique to teleport directly to Orochimaru's lab.

As Yoichi arrived, he found Orochimaru just preparing to head out.

"Orochimaru, where are you off to?" Yoichi asked.

"Ah, Yoichi-kun. I was just about to check out that loud noise from the village, but I see you've already handled it," Orochimaru said, intrigued as he eyed the unconscious Urashiki. "Is this the intruder? Does he possess any special abilities?"

In Orochimaru's lab, only those with unique kekkei genkai or abilities were worth experimenting on.

Yoichi answered, "This is Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, a member of the same clan as Kaguya. He's practically an uncle to the Sage of Six Paths."

"Come in, quickly!" Orochimaru said, eagerly clearing the way.

After bringing Urashiki into the lab and securing him to an operating table, Yoichi cautioned, "His regenerative abilities are extremely powerful. I shattered his insides entirely, and he's already healing. The Truth-Seeking Orbs I used to restrain him are keeping him from moving, so be careful not to touch them, or you'll be paralyzed for at least a few minutes."

Orochimaru, always fascinated by unique specimens, took out a scalpel infused with Wind Release chakra. He made an incision in Urashiki's abdomen and peered inside.

"You were right, Yoichi-kun. His regeneration is incredible," Orochimaru marveled.

Yoichi added, "Even though I removed his eyes, I can't be sure he doesn't have other abilities. I'll stay here and keep an eye on him tonight, just in case he tries anything."

"That would be helpful. However, I can't guarantee that one night will be enough time to extract all of his secrets. Why not call in Tsunade for assistance?" Orochimaru suggested.

"Tsunade's busy taking care of Yoko right now. I'll bring her in tomorrow," Yoichi replied, keeping a watchful eye on Urashiki. Without his eyes, Urashiki wouldn't be able to pull any tricks, but Yoichi was particularly wary of the potential for Karma reincarnation—a technique far more advanced than Orochimaru's body-swapping techniques.

Yoichi was intrigued by the Karma seal himself, as it seemed to have fewer drawbacks than Orochimaru's Immortality Technique, only requiring a well-cultivated vessel.

...

It had been a fruitful night. Not only had Yoichi taken Urashiki's Rinnegan, but he had also seized Karma, the powerful treasure from the Ōtsutsuki.

After Yoichi left the Uchiha compound, the police force handled the situation, updating the village's higher-ups like Sakumo.

Once Naruto's condition was confirmed stable, Kushina and Minato returned to their previous home. As they settled in, Kushina turned to Minato and said, "Minato, I'm going to stay with Naruto for a while. You—"

"Naruto is the priority. Don't worry about me, Kushina," Minato replied with a gentle smile. If not for his current condition—his arm still not fully regenerated from the Yin-Yang Release—he would have joined them in comforting Naruto.

After returning to their old home, Minato couldn't help but reminisce. But when his eyes swept over the bedside cabinet, he noticed something peculiar.

"The photo… Where did it go?"

(End of Chapter)

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