Renji walked past Kabuto and sat beside Nono. She looked at him, focusing on his face.
"...Renji," she whispered weakly.
He could feel the emotions radiating from her hair—conflicting waves of affection, distrust, and confusion that made him dizzy.
"I'm sorry for this, Nono-san. I hope you understand, I wasn't being malicious by hiding my powers. I'll explain everything later. For now, let's get you healed."
Nono shook her head faintly. "Keep calling me Nono, like you used to, Renji. And... I know my body. I won't survive this. Please, do me a favor—take Kabuto away. And if you can... look after the kids in the orphanage once in a whi—cough, cough..."
Renji wasn't ready to accept it. He had been thinking hard and came up with two plans that might work.
'I hope one of them works.'
He tried the first one immediately. Opening his system window, he read the description of [Echoes of Past].
[Skill: Echoes of Past — Level 2]
...
...
[Effect 2: Summon a giant Avatar of the owner of the hair by sacrificing 8% of their Bonded Hair. The Avatar can use all the abilities of the owner and can burn all the remaining energy to unleash an Ultimate!]
[Info: Ultimate]
[A skill pushed beyond natural limits with reality-bending effects.]
'Ultimate... with reality-bending effects!'
'Among the Bonded Hair I brought today, a few belong to medics. Of course, the best one... is Nono's own. Hmm... would she hit me later if she found out I saved her using hair I stole from her? ...Well, only one way to find out.'
He looked seriously at Nono and Kabuto. "I'm going to try something that might work. Don't ask questions now—I'll explain later."
'Yeah... maybe not the whole story...'
Once they nodded, he recalled Nono's Bonded Hair from the perimeter network he'd set up earlier. It slipped quietly into his clothes.
If they hadn't already seen him summon the Avatar using Kushina's hair, he wasn't about to show it now.
'Here goes.'
Stepping back, he activated [Echoes of Past] with Nono's Bonded Hair.
Immediately, part of the hair disintegrated, transforming into a vortex of light-brown energy. It spiraled upward and took the shape of a huge translucent Nono—with elegant horns curling from her head—and Renji standing at her heart.
'Weird... this Avatar isn't as big as Kushina's, maybe half her height.' He brushed the thought aside for now.
He glanced at the real Nono and Kabuto, who were frozen in shock at the sight of a colossal, demonic-looking Nono towering over them.
'Yep... that's about what I expected.'
He didn't bother explaining and focused on the task.
'The poison is still the main cause.'
He touched the hand of the real Nono using the Avatar's index finger. [Nono] cast multiple detoxification techniques in sequence. None of them worked. Not even one could identify the poison.
'Sigh... of course it wouldn't be that easy.'
At his silent command, [Kushina] lightly electrocuted Orochimaru. 'You just had to make it complicated, didn't you?'
'Wait... I'm taking this too calmly. Is this an aftereffect of that outburst earlier?'
'I'll worry about it later.'
Shaking off the thought, he turned his attention back to Nono.
'Let's do this.'
He triggered the Ultimate, choosing detoxification as the target. Immediately, detailed instructions filled his mind.
'So, I have to declare the target precisely... Interesting.'
'If I say "the poison Orochimaru injected her with," it should work!'
'Or better yet—let's push it further.'
'All the harmful poisons currently inside her body!'
The [Nono] Avatar began dissolving, feeding its essence into the spell. A brilliant light filled the area, forcing everyone to shut their eyes.
When they opened them again, the Avatar was gone.
Kabuto rushed to Nono's side. "Mother!"
There was a smoking, burn-shaped mark on the ground where the Avatar had stood—but more importantly, Nono looked much better.
She slowly sat up with Kabuto's help. He hugged her tightly, tears of relief streaming down his face. Nono smiled softly, hugging him back, then mouthed a quiet "Thank you" to Renji.
---
'Thank god that worked! The second plan was too risky anyway.'
Chloe's creation had given him another idea—but that one was far too dangerous to test now.
As he was thinking, he noticed Nono stealing curious glances at him.
He coughed lightly. "Ahem... Let's deal with Orochimaru first, then get out of here. The commotion must've drawn attention."
He wasn't just guessing. Through his network of Bonded Hair stretching between Konoha and the battlefield, he sensed several women—likely scouting kunoichi—rushing toward their location.
'And that malicious presence hiding far away... Only Kushina's malice sense could detect it. That has to be Zetsu. Sigh, there goes my plan to stay under the radar. Obito's probably still recovering from his fight with the Fourth, and Madara's corpse... well, waiting to be resurrected.'
When they reached Orochimaru, he was still trapped in his serpent form, unable to revert.
Renji noticed strange chakra patterns trying to flow around him, but the Adamantine Chains blocked them completely.
Renji chuckled. "Don't bother resisting, little snake. Reverse summoning won't work."
He had just guessed that—but it seemed to be true. Orochimaru didn't need to know that.
"Hm... this form of yours isn't very talkative." He raised an eyebrow. "I'll loosen the restriction for a moment. Use it only to transform back so we can talk."
Then his tone darkened. "But if you try anything else, I'll kill you right here—and erase every last fragment of your soul. Yes, I can sense them. Your divided essence. My 'Kekkei Genkai' lets me see it clearly. So believe me... I can erase you completely from this world."
Orochimaru shivered. 'This man is too dangerous!'
The one thing he valued most was time—to live long enough to learn every jutsu. He didn't know how Renji had discovered his secret, but he wasn't willing to test him.
He obediently reverted to human form without resistance.