Chapter 631: Genius Naruto? More Like Demon-Child Naruto!

That was right.

Naruto truly lived up to his title as the Number One Most Unpredictable Ninja.

Whenever the subject involved some ridiculous sideways method or completely crooked application of ninjutsu, Naruto suddenly became a genius among geniuses.

The Gecko Seal was a sealing formula developed by Orochimaru.

Even if it wasn’t quite S-rank, it was at least A-rank in difficulty.

If Naruto had personally helped Jiraiya remove the seal afterward, then perhaps it would make sense for him to know how it worked.

But Naruto hadn’t.

He had never seriously studied the Gecko Seal at all.

Yet somehow, at some point, he had secretly memorized the hand seals, remembered the chakra flow, and actually mastered the technique.

Outside Engraved Tsukuyomi, Kakashi and the others who knew the situation were stunned.

Naruto…

really was a genius!

“This was originally something I planned to save and combine with my Reverse Harem Jutsu!”

Naruto shouted passionately as he revealed the reason he’d learned it in the first place.

“Didn’t expect I’d end up using it on its own! Now take this!”

He drove the Magnet Release Rasengan forward and blasted the Sage of Six Paths’ remains into the cavern wall.

The moment everyone outside heard his explanation, their shock disappeared.

“I knew there was no way Naruto had suddenly started studying seriously for no reason.”

Kakashi visibly relaxed.

“So that’s why. Makes perfect sense.”

Sending Naruto into Engraved Tsukuyomi had only ever been meant to teach him one thing:

Stop forgiving everything.

Learn to say no to the Will of Bullying.

Learn to judge problems from the perspective of a leader.

Only then would he truly be qualified to become Hokage.

In every other respect, Kakashi didn’t particularly want Naruto to change.

If Naruto suddenly became diligent and studious, would he even still be Naruto?

Fortunately, everything was fine.

Naruto was still the same little demon child as ever.

If anything—

he might have gotten worse.

The Gecko Seal combined with Reverse Harem Jutsu?

What kind of filthy combo technique was that supposed to be?

First seal the opponent so they couldn’t react properly, then use Reverse Harem Jutsu to torment them mentally until they wished they were dead.

And the most terrifying part was the Gecko Seal itself.

Orochimaru had specifically developed that seal for Jiraiya.

Which meant even if someone was completely drained and unable to put up much resistance, they could still suffer terribly.

And Orochimaru hadn’t merely sealed Jiraiya’s primary system.

He had sealed his backup hidden reserves too.

What did that mean?

Even if you were Zero Pain, you would still be in for a horrible time.

The only fortunate thing was that Naruto had only just managed to put this idea into actual practice.

Back when the thought first occurred to him, he didn’t know any sealing techniques.

Later, after Naruto gained Shukaku’s chakra, he didn’t immediately know that Shukaku specialized in sealing.

Once he learned that Shukaku was good at sealing, Naruto didn’t think of applying it in this particular direction.

When he finally did think of it—

he promptly forgot again.

Otherwise, Naruto could theoretically have used this method to save himself earlier.

If he’d remembered, before the Sage of Six Paths’ remains reached him, that he still had access to Shukaku’s chakra, he could have hurriedly convinced Shukaku to lend him power and sealed his backup system in advance.

Maybe then he could have preserved his dignity.

Of course—

that was only a hypothetical.

Something could easily have gone wrong.

The Sage of Six Paths’ remains were Six Paths-level remains, after all.

Would an ordinary sealing technique really have stopped them?

What if, under pressure, the residual power inside the remains condensed into a Truth-Seeking Ball?

What exactly was Naruto supposed to do then?

And besides, Shukaku only agreed to lend Naruto power because he sensed Hagoromo’s presence on him.

If Naruto hadn’t first been attacked by the Sage’s remains, he wouldn’t have carried that scent.

But if he had been attacked—

then by the time Shukaku noticed it, Naruto would already be too late to avoid the situation.

Another perfect deadlock.

So there was no point obsessing over hypotheticals.

BOOM!

Naruto punched through the stone door with Sage Mode.

Fū, who had been waiting outside for dinner, jumped in fright.

Karin, meanwhile, seemed to have gone elsewhere on some other business.

“The thing inside has already been sealed!”

Naruto lifted his chin proudly and thumped his chest.

“You won’t be able to use it to hurt anyone ever again!”

“What?!”

Fū rushed toward the cave entrance and looked inside.

Sure enough, the Sage of Six Paths’ remains were lying motionless on the floor, covered in a mysterious sealing formula.

She immediately turned toward Naruto.

“Then what are the farms in the Land of Grass and the Land of Waterfalls supposed to do?”

“…Uh.”

Naruto froze.

That was a question he hadn’t considered.

He scratched his head for a long moment before finally forcing out an answer.

“If the crops won’t grow, then raise cows and pigs instead!”

Then, realizing that answer sounded a little weak, he quickly added:

“Anyway, you can’t keep hurting innocent people!”

“…”

Fū was speechless.

The Nine-Tails jinchūriki really was a saint to the very end.

Now they were in trouble.

Without the substance produced by the Sage’s remains nourishing the land, the soil here would eventually return to its naturally barren state.

While Fū was distracted, Naruto suddenly created several shadow clones.

Using the instant-approach method he’d developed earlier—creating clones in sequence to bridge the distance—they closed on Fū in an instant.

One punch sent her sprawling.

“Help! The food is fighting back!”

Fū lay on the ground and cried out miserably.

Naruto froze.

Earlier, she’d looked at him and casually said, “Friends are delicious,” so he’d assumed the Seven-Tails jinchūriki had to be terrifyingly strong.

How had she failed to withstand even a single Sage Mode attack?

Then Naruto thought about it.

Actually, that made sense.

If Fū were genuinely powerful, why would she need to come to Karin’s place specifically to eat people whose chakra had already been drained and who couldn’t resist?

In that case—

Naruto’s saintly instincts flared again.

He decided to spare her.

The Sage’s remains were already sealed.

Karin could no longer use them to drain victims.

Which meant Fū wouldn’t have any helpless “ingredients” left to enjoy anyway.

Naruto said nothing further.

Maintaining the image of an aloof expert, he leapt up the cliff face and disappeared over the mountain.

Now all he needed to do was wait for the Tailed Beast chakra to return.

Once it did, he should be strong enough to draw out his father, Namikaze Minato.

The only remaining question was whether Obito was still alive inside the Kamui dimension.

Naruto was worried.

And precisely because he was worried, he needed to hurry back and complete the plan.

As long as he entered Kamui through Kakashi’s eye together with his father, he would naturally find out whether Obito had survived.

…

While Naruto rushed back toward Konoha, Obito appeared in Kusagakure.

He spotted the pitiful Fū slowly getting back to her feet.

A sharp gleam flashed through his eye.

This was an opportunity.

Obito had already expected Naruto to escape somehow.

After all, Naruto was clearly the protagonist of this world.

Even if he ended up genuinely trapped with no way out, the “Heaven’s Will” controlling events from outside would inevitably twist the plot to keep things moving.

What Obito wanted to do now was much more subtle.

He needed to make as many moves as possible that benefited himself and harmed Naruto—

while still keeping Heaven’s Will from realizing what he was doing.

Fū’s situation had genuinely surprised him.

In the real shinobi world, Makoto had originally lured Fū back to Amegakure.

At the time, the version of events Obito heard was:

“We tricked her into coming. We’ll keep her in Amegakure for now, and when it’s time to seal the Tailed Beasts in order, we’ll kill her once we reach the Seven-Tails.”

Later, of course, Obito learned that had just been an excuse.

They had been feeding him nonsense.

But he still had no real idea how strong Fū actually was.

He had assumed she was some gifted young jinchūriki prodigy.

And yet—

this was it?

Obito knew Engraved Tsukuyomi remained connected to reality in distorted ways.

Some things were reversed.

Some things stayed the same.

Which meant—

there was a very real possibility that the real-world Fū was just as weak.

That was extremely valuable intelligence.

Once Obito regained his freedom—

he could start with the Seven-Tails.