161. Return to Konoha

A Year passed in the blink of an eye.

Inside a hidden cave in Ryuchi cave,

Izuna is sitting on a pedestal with his eyes closed. He makes some hand signs.

"Nightmare Release"

Izuna claps his hands together.

Whoosh….

He releases a black mist from his hand. The black mist slowly travels through the entire cave and engulfs the area.

"Now I have to search for a test subject. That snobbish snake would do."

Izuna directs the black Mist towards the biggest cave in Ryuchi caves.

The Black Mist seeps into the ground and travel beneath it.

Woosh…

A giant purple snake with black rings running down its body lies inside the cave with its eyes closed.

Hisss…

The snake is flickering its tongue in and out as it is deep in sleep.

Izuna monitors the giant snake from a distance as he controls the black mist.

"Inhale… inhale it… it is the fear of death which you are inhaling."

Sniff…

The nostrils of the snake twitch as it inhales the black mist.

"Now let me see what kind of Nightmares are you facing?"

Izuna activates his Sharingan and makes some more hand signs.

Whoosh…

He appears inside the mindscape of the giant snake.

Hmm…

'So… this is the mindscape of this snobbish bastard.'

The giant snake is lazily resting on a giant floating island in its mindscape with its eyes closed.

Many other little snakes of the Ryuchi cave are bowing down in front of it as it lazily stretches its body.

Izuna notices the Great Snake Sage serving the giant purple snake in submission.

"Oh!… he has quite the ambition."

The snake turns its body around as the rest of the small snake polishes its body.

Aah…

"This is quite good. This is the kind of life I should live as the boss summons of the Ryuchi cave."

The snake raises his head and looks sideways.

"Hey, you… servant… scratch the itch on my back?"

Whoosh…

A figure of Izuna appears besides Manda.

"Yes… boss."

The Izuna in the snake's dream nods his head and climbs on top of the snake and scratches his back.

"…"

"This bastard… looks like he requires a beating rather than a massage."

Crackle… crackle…

Izuna cracks his knuckles.

'Time to test the genuine power of this Kekkei Tota.'

Whoosh…

Izuna makes some hand signs.

Whoosh…

He disappears and reappears in place of his double.

Bam… bam…

He punches the back of the giant purple snake.

"You want me to scratch the itch on your back… don't you…"

Bam…

He continues to punch the back of the snake.

Argh…

The snake screeches in pain before it passes out.

Whoosh…

Izuna disappears from the mindscape as he opens his eyes in the real world.

He stares at the giant cave in front of him.

"It's a success."

He nods his head in satisfaction.

An extremely battered and bruised snake is lying in front of him. There are various punch marks on its back as the snake squeals in pain.

"So… this is the power of Nightmare Release. It is quite useless in a proper battle, but it would be useful in various other circumstances.

It is an extreme form of Genjutsu capable of manipulating the dreams of any person you would like to. It would reflect any sort of damage dealt by the person in the real world.

Though… it seems to be weaker compared to the Ultimate Genjutsu of the Kurama clan but unlike the Kurama clan's Genjutsu… it doesn't have a limitation.

Nightmare Release is a manipulation of Wind Release, Yin Release, and Yang release paired with the genjutsu techniques of the Ryuchi cave. This genjutsu can travel through the wind so it has no limitation on its range and the number of people it can affect."

He stares at the battered body of the giant purple snake and walks towards him.

"Oh! Manda… how you have been doing?"

Manda weakly lifts his massive head and stares at Izuna with a vicious expression.

"Bastard! Was it you… who did this to me? I will eat you alive."

Manda opens its mouth and bites at Izuna.

Whoosh…

Izuna avoids the bite and pats Manda's head.

"You know what… not even your master Orochimaru can do anything to me… much less you. So… stop dreaming of the impossible."

Izuna walks away from the cave.

'Well… in my first few months here. This snobbish snake pestered me with human sacrifices as payment for learning in the Ryuchi cave.

I am not Orochimaru who will listen to his every demand.'

Izuna shakes his head and approaches the center of the Ryuchi cave.

"It has been a while since I last saw the progress of Kimimaro. When I brought him a year ago… the Snake Sage immediately grabbed him and walked away.

Since then… he has been learning Senjutsu under her. I must check his progress. It is difficult to master Senjutsu."

Knock… Knock…

Izuna knocks at the entrance of the cave.

"Come in."

Izuna enters the cave and notices the White Snake Sage.

The White Snake Sage is coiled around a giant seat with some Fuinjutsu scrolls dangling behind her.

"So… how is he?"

Izuna questions her.

"There…"

She points her tails towards a pool filled with green liquid in the center of the cave.

Hmm…

Izuna frowns as he notices the green liquid.

"Poison!"

He turns towards the White Snake Sage and questions her.

"What's the meaning of this? This amount of poison is enough to kill a hundred shinobis."

The White Snake Sage nods her head.

"Indeed… if it is an ordinary shinobi, then he would have died long ago… but this boy has a special body. He has inherited the genes of the Sage of Six Paths, just like you. Now look closely at the poison."

Izuna turns towards the pool and scrutinizes the poison.

Hmm…

He notices a stream of Nature energy coursing through the poison. Nature energy is then slowly transferred to Kimimaro's body.

The White Snake Sage reveals her fangs to Izuna.

"Nature energy has no elemental nature… it changes itself according to the user's will. I store Nature energy as a potent poison in my fangs.

I inject the people who seek me out to learn the Secrets of Senjutsu with my poison. If they have a strong will and affinity for Senjutsu… then their body will absorb the Nature energy and will secrete out the poison.

But if the afflicted person has no affinity… then he will transform into a snake as the Nature energy has some of my will stored within it."

Slick…

The White Snake Sage flickers out her tongue.

"Then… they can only act as a nutrition for my old bones."

"Very Well." Izuna nods his head.

"This boy will take a while to learn the Snake Senjutsu. He might have a high affinity for the Senjutsu, but it is only a fraction of your talent in Senjutsu.

He doesn't even have enough talent to compete with that Tsunade Girl from the Shikkotsu Forest." The Snake Sage swings her tail.

"Since… this is the case… I will leave him in your care. I have some matters to attend in Konoha."

Izuna walks out of the cave.

Whoosh…

He teleports from the Ryuchi Cave and reappears in Konoha above the Hokage Monument.

He stares down at the village as he gazes towards the academy.

"Naruto-kun… Sasuke-kun… both of you are so strong?"

A bunch of kids surround Naruto and Sasuke and cheers them.

Humm…

"I am not that good. Dattebyo…"

Naruto scratches the back of his head as he laughs awkwardly

"It is nothing special…"

Sasuke places his hands in his pocket and walks away.

"Cool… so cool… Sasuke-kun is so cool."

Many fangirls chase after him.

Humph…

Naruto snorts and kicks a pebble.

"Naruto-kun… you were wonderful."

A purple-haired girl with white eyes passes a bottle of transparent liquid to Naruto.

Naruto grabs the bottle and chugs it down.

Gulp… gulp…

"Thank you… Hinata. I was feeling thirsty just now."

"Na… Naruto-kun… that wasn't meant for drinking. It was a medicine for applying to your body. You had a spar earlier… so I thought you need some medicine." Hinata flusters as she speaks.

Growl…

Naruto's stomach growls as he catches his stomach and runs towards the bathroom.

"Out of my way… out of my way… it is an emergency."

Haha…

Izuna chuckles as he stares at Naruto, searching for a bathroom.

Swoosh…

He flickers in front of Hinata. Hinata notices him.

"Izuna Nii-san… Naruto-kun would be fine, right? He drank the medicine meant for external wounds." Hinata has a worried expression on his face.

"Don't worry… he would be fine." Izuna shakes his head and pats her head.

"Hinata… you have to train harder… if you want to catch up with Naruto."

"Yes… I will do my best." Hinata resolutely clenches her fist.

"Well… see you later."

Izuna flickers towards the Uchiha clan.

He enters the Uchiha compound and walks towards his house.

He reaches the entrance of his house and opens the front door.

Whoosh…

A small agile figure jumps on him and hugs him.

"Onii-san… I missed you a lot."

Izuna catches the little figure and pats her head.

"I missed you too… Ayaka."

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A/N:- No we haven't missed anything. The One year time skip will be explained later.