Naruto: I Confronted the Five Kage Before the System Arrived

Chapter 267: Only the Path of Obito Remains

Hagoromo Gengetsu squatted beside Naruto's corpse, looking at the face that remained defiant even in death, and remarked with some emotion:

"Fate is unpredictable. Even the child of destiny cannot escape it."

What a pity.

He didn't get to witness Naruto's formidable "Talk no Jutsu."

Hagoromo Gengetsu had really wanted to hear what Naruto would say, wondering if it might touch his heart and give him new insights.

But he met the elder toad sage, who had heard too much and was numb to it all. The sage didn't give Naruto the chance, ending his life with a swift, decisive backstab.

"Is he really dead?"

Hagoromo Gengetsu reached out to inspect the wound on Naruto's chest. His heart was completely shattered. Even if Tsunade were here, there would be nothing she could do.

"What about the Sage Symbol? I remember Mount Myoboku has a resurrection treasure. Could it have secretly kept one for Naruto?"

Though the possibility was slim that the elder toad sage had used a ruse to let Naruto survive, Hagoromo Gengetsu carefully checked Naruto's entire body.

Until he was sure there was no Sage Symbol present.

So, Naruto was truly, undeniably dead.

Hagoromo Gengetsu cast a final glance at Naruto's face, stood up, and ceased his futile efforts.

He could save Naruto.

For example, using the Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.

But this technique requires the life of the user as a price.

In the original story, Nagato died immediately after using this technique.

Obito managed to stay alive for a while because he had residual Six Paths power in him, had Black Zetsu attached to him, and received help from Naruto's Yin-Yang power.

But even he died eventually.

Would he trade his life to save Naruto?

Hagoromo Gengetsu wasn't that crazy.

Moreover, even if there were another harmless way to revive Naruto, the Nine-Tails inside him had already dissipated. His revival wouldn't reconstitute the Nine-Tails.

Hagoromo Gengetsu wouldn't engage in such futile efforts.

"This mission is a complete failure."

Hagoromo Gengetsu surveyed the ruins of Mount Myoboku.

Despite all the effort, the life-and-death battles, and the numerous close calls, he ended up empty-handed.

The elder toad sage indeed did everything it could.

But at most, it only delayed the inevitable.

Hagoromo Gengetsu looked up at the moon hanging in the sky, quickly contemplating.

With the Nine-Tails inside Naruto dead, he couldn't afford to wait years for it to revive before continuing his plan.

Fortunately, Naruto had only half of the Nine-Tails.

The other half was sealed within Minato's soul, ready to be extracted at any time.

Although with only half of the Nine-Tails, the final Ten-Tails formed would be incomplete.

Even if he became the Ten-Tails Jinchuriki, the Rinne Sharingan wouldn't immediately awaken.

But Infinite Tsukuyomi could still be activated.

By using the God Tree to reflect the Rinne Sharingan onto the moon and casting the technique through the moon.

The only issue was the preparation time needed from the start of the technique until the God Tree finally blossomed.

Obito, lacking the full Eight-Tails and Nine-Tails and having only a fraction of their chakra, chose this method to cast Infinite Tsukuyomi, only to be defeated by the Allied Shinobi Forces during the preparation phase.

Later, Madara took over, successfully capturing the Eight-Tails and half of the Nine-Tails, becoming an almost complete Ten-Tails Jinchuriki. Influenced by the God Tree, he absorbed its power, finally growing the Rinne Sharingan on his forehead, and activated Infinite Tsukuyomi.

Hagoromo Gengetsu had planned to absorb the complete Nine-Tails, summon the God Tree, and instantly activate Infinite Tsukuyomi.

But now, due to the elder toad sage's intervention, with Naruto dead,

Not wanting to follow in Madara's footsteps and absorb the God Tree, which was essentially Kaguya, and risk her influence, he could only choose Obito's path.

After all, he needed time to collect the chakra of the shinobi world and ascend to Bloodline Encompassing from Infinite Tsukuyomi. Being interrupted by Kaguya mid-process would be disastrous.

After revising his plan, Hagoromo Gengetsu remained unaffected emotionally.

Others were not fools either.

Give and take was normal.

Just handle it calmly.

He withdrew his gaze from the moon.

Now, he just awaited news from the other tailed beast capture teams.

Hagoromo Gengetsu's figure flickered and disappeared.

A minute later, he thought better of it and returned, lifting Naruto's corpse from the ground and taking it with him.

At the Valley of Clouds and Lightning,

The roars were more urgent than ever within the valley.

As a perfect Jinchuriki, Killer Bee's strength was far greater than imagined.

Initially, Kisame thought he could handle it alone, but after a while, finding his Samehada almost betraying him, he promptly called in Uchiha Sasuke, who was holding the line.

The current Sasuke was different from his arrogant self in the original Cloud Gorge battle. With his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan, his power had vastly increased, and shortly after his arrival, Killer Bee, who had been rapping incessantly, no longer had the time or energy to chant.

Seeing that even fully transformed Eight-Tails couldn't withstand the Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and was in grave danger,

Sasuke, preparing to capture him, suddenly paused.

For some reason, he felt an emptiness in his heart and instinctively turned to look into the distance.

"What's wrong, Sasuke?"

Kisame filled in the gap left by Sasuke's distraction and asked.

"Nothing."

Sasuke replied.

But in his heart, he silently added:

"Naruto…"

Sasuke knew Hagoromo Gengetsu's target was Naruto.

Knowing that Jinchuriki wouldn't be in immediate danger, he hadn't said anything, intending to plead with Hagoromo later to spare Naruto, like he did with the Six-Tails Jinchuriki.

Though they were on opposite sides now, Naruto still held a place in his heart.

Even when blinded by hatred, he would have made this choice, let alone his current, transformed self.

But...

"Did something go wrong?"

At Kisame's next call, Sasuke pushed aside his thoughts, focused his gaze, and decided to quickly end the battle.

Soon,

The Eight-Tails roared in pain.

Then, after seeing through Killer Bee's Octopus Legs Substitution and another round of fighting, Sasuke and Kisame swiftly left with the unconscious Killer Bee before the Cloud Ninja reinforcements arrived.

The Eight-Tails Jinchuriki was successfully captured.

At the same time,

High above Sunagakure, a rare aerial battle was also concluding.

Amid the explosions of the recently constructed flying tools piloted by the Sand Ninjas, Deidara used the village below as bait, forcing Gaara to divert part of his sand to defense, preventing the clay bombs from detonating.

"Ninja Tool: Tailed Beast Prison!"

The voice of Seimei, who had yet to appear, rang out.

Gaara had no time to react as an iron prison fell from the sky, trapping him.

In the next moment,

Gaara found the chakra of Shukaku within him rapidly draining.

Correspondingly, Seimei's aura was steadily rising.

Even though Gaara broke free of the prison with great effort,

His chakra was too depleted to fend off the combined assault of Deidara and Seimei. Under the watchful eyes of the many Sand Ninjas, he was ultimately knocked out and taken away.

The One-Tail Jinchuriki was successfully captured.

As for the Two-Tails Jinchuriki,

She encountered unexpected difficulties, similar to Hagoromo Gengetsu.