It wasn't just Naruto training. Sasuke, Neji, Rock Lee, Hinata, and the rest of Naruto's faction were undergoing extremely rigorous training. Even Sakura had started learning Medical Ninjutsu under Kabuto's tutelage.
The Uchiha Clan wasn't left out either.
Apart from a few members who weren't suited for combat conditioning, most of the Uchiha were undergoing the second phase of their training.
This time, their opponents included not only Satori, but also Shukaku's and Chomei's jinchuriki.
The Uchiha's training regimen consisted of a brutal routine: doing everything possible to withstand attacks from the First to Third Stage Satori, facing Shukaku's and Chomei's jinchuriki simultaneously, and using the power of their Sharingan to control them.
Aside from increasing their raw strength, it was about pushing their Sharingan to its limits.
Gaara and Fu's training was identical in the first half but reversed in the second: they had to do everything possible to withstand attacks from the First to Third Stage Satori while simultaneously fighting the Uchiha Clan, actively avoiding being controlled by their Sharingan.
Aside from increasing their strength, it was about building fierce resistance to the Sharingan's dojutsu.
If they ever encountered Obito alone one day, even if they couldn't kill him, they would at least stand a fighting chance.
Incidentally, after completely digesting Moryo and the Zero-Tails, the Box of Ultimate Bliss had now evolved a fourth form of Satori. In this form, Satori's power increased dramatically, so much so that even Kurama claimed this form's strength was no less than his own. Whether that boast was entirely true or not remained uncertain.
Worth mentioning was that Izumi had transplanted Itachi's eyes. In her own words, she wanted Itachi's eyes to personally witness that everything he had done was wrong. Perhaps because they weren't blood relatives, the eyes didn't evolve into the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan.
But with Naruto's potent chakra available to them, there was no need to worry about vision degradation.
Meanwhile, Sasuke was being jointly trained by elite Uchiha such as Fugaku, Izumi, and Inaho. Even with his Mangekyo Sharingan activated, facing the combined assault of these seasoned veterans was extremely taxing.
Any one of these individuals was a formidable powerhouse in their own right, Sasuke's training intensity was certainly no less than Naruto's.
As for Hinata, her primary training partner was the Two-Tails, Matatabi. Rock Lee and Neji's training partners were sometimes Guy and Kakashi, sometimes the entire Hyuga Clan, sometimes Gaara's team, and occasionally even Mui and his group would join the fray.
Time was actually running incredibly short.
Maybe they had nine years, ten, or even twelve, regardless, the Otsutsuki Clan would eventually descend upon Earth.
Even if they managed to unify the ninja world before then and gather the entire planet's collective strength, the hope of defeating the Otsutsuki squad that would arrive years later was still dangerously slim.
Naruto didn't know whether the world he was currently in was connected to the *Boruto* timeline, but the Otsutsuki Clan definitely existed. They were the true Sword of Damocles hanging overhead.
Naruto couldn't be sure how the Otsutsuki's strength would translate to the power levels of the Dragon Ball-verse.
He could only make a rough, grim estimation.
Whether it was Kaguya Otsutsuki, the progenitor of chakra who possessed multiple dimensions, Isshiki Otsutsuki, who was lurking within the ninja world undetected even by the Sage of Six Paths, or Momoshiki, Kinshiki, and Urashiki, they were all, at minimum, Six Paths-level powerhouses.
Of course, given Urashiki's embarrassing battle record and overall performance, his true strength was highly questionable. Momoshiki and Isshiki were theoretically existences on the exact same level as Kaguya, and Isshiki supposedly had another Ten-Tails in his possession.
Not to mention, there might be even more powerful Otsutsuki out there in the universe. The sole purpose of this clan was to harvest the life energy of various planets and grow the God Tree Fruit.
It was said they did this for the purpose of ascending to godhood.
The Otsutsuki were essentially interstellar conquerors on the exact same scale as the Frieza Force. Unless the ninja world could develop interstellar technology of the same caliber, they wouldn't stand a chance against them, they wouldn't even be able to run away.
Even if Kinshiki, Urashiki, and Momoshiki didn't come, there was still Isshiki lurking in the shadows of the ninja world. Compared to him, Black Zetsu, who only wanted to save his mother, was so negligible a threat he could be completely ignored.
'Until the Otsutsuki are wiped out, I won't be able to eat or sleep in peace!' Naruto thought grimly.
After three months of this grueling routine, just as Naruto was about to complete the first phase of his training...
Kabuto found Naruto.
"Uzumaki-sama, as you requested, I have thoroughly mastered and improved the Living Corpse Reincarnation jutsu," Kabuto said respectfully upon seeing Naruto, his normally impassive face showing a rare flicker of excitement.
Naruto had approached Kabuto under the identity of 'Elder Uzumaki', rather than Naruto Uzumaki. He asked with a calm expression, "So you can already let others use this jutsu?"
After receiving Kabuto's affirmative nod, Naruto felt a surge of excitement himself.
"Uzumaki-sama, please see!"
Back then, Naruto had used Nono Yakushi as bait to recruit Kabuto to his side. What he truly needed from the genius medical ninja was this Living Corpse Reincarnation jutsu. Since Kabuto had now perfected it, it was time to fulfill his promise.
"Make the final preparations."
Kabuto suppressed his inner thrill and bowed respectfully. "Yes!"
One week later, at a hidden underground base on the Konoha border.
This place used to be one of Root's covert bases, but it had now been converted into Kabuto's private laboratory.
At the center of the laboratory stood a massive incubation tank, with a woman's body floating quietly inside. The surrounding machinery and setup were identical to those found in Orochimaru's base, though the subject in this tank was far better.
Kabuto gently placed his hand on the thick glass of the incubation tank, gazing at the suspended body with a look of pure rapture.
This woman was none other than Kabuto's beloved matron, Nono.
To be precise, it was a body cloned using advanced cellular technology, completely devoid of self-awareness, just a pure, empty shell.
Kabuto truly was a talent on par with Orochimaru, a genuine research prodigy. Currently, this specific cloning technology was only possessed by Orochimaru and Kabuto in the entire shinobi world.
"Uzumaki-sama, let us begin."
Naruto nodded, pressed his palms together, and struck the cold stone floor.
"Impure World Reincarnation!"
A white, humanoid body bound by a Cursed Seal struggled violently as it slowly sank into the floor. As the sacrificial offering for the Impure World Reincarnation, it was naturally the unlucky White Zetsu again, who else could it be, when White Zetsu's special genetic nature made it the absolute best reincarnation medium? Besides, these creatures were everywhere, scattered like weeds throughout the shinobi world. It's also being environmentally conscious by recycling.
Soon, a wooden coffin rose gradually from the ground.
"Matron..." The coffin lid slowly creaked open to the sound of Kabuto's soft, emotional murmur.
A young woman wearing round-framed glasses, appearing to be about thirty years old, slowly stepped out of the shadows. This was the former matron of the Konoha Orphanage, Nono.
"Don't I remember... dying?" Nono, who had just emerged from the coffin, hadn't yet grasped the bizarre situation and looked around her new surroundings in deep confusion.
Finally, Nono's gaze fell squarely on Kabuto. "It's you!"
She recognized Kabuto's identity at a glance, he was her assigned assassination target back in Iwagakure, the one who had grievously wounded her, and also the frantic boy who had continuously tried to treat her after inflicting those fatal wounds.
Looking at Kabuto, she asked once more the agonizing question from her dying moments. "Why did you shed tears back then?"
That familiar yet entirely foreign sensation about the person standing before her greatly puzzled her. This was definitely someone she deeply knew, yet she simply couldn't recall their true identity.
"Who are you?"
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