Hearing Sasuke's words, Naruto almost couldn't hold back his laughter.
He actually thought Naruto would need their military assistance?
Putting aside the fact that, in Naruto's eyes, everything after Shippuden—just like Shippuden itself—was merely a "work of fiction," and that in these works, according to the hot-blooded setting, the final boss would never truly succeed anyway.
Naruto only needed to go to that world and obtain information about the Ōtsutsuki Clan.
Or rather… if he directly figured out what kind of "cheats" the protagonist of that world possessed, he could simply simulate them himself. Wouldn't that give him everything?
Still, Naruto didn't mock Sasuke.
After all, they were not on the same level of understanding.
Naruto thought for a moment, then asked calmly, "I can go to your world and gather information for free. Why should I help you wholeheartedly? Why do I need to agree? Just because you're a pillar who acts without thinking things through?"
Sasuke fell silent.
Naruto's reasoning made sense.
However… Sasuke quickly found a counterargument.
He nodded first and said, "I agree with you, but the Dragon Vein won't transport you to another world every time."
"What I mean is, only if you return with me—and both of us resonate with the Dragon Vein—will we have a chance to reach our world again."
"It's like coordinates."
"Without me, you won't be able to enter our world at all. And without entering it, you can't obtain any information."
Naruto listened and felt that Sasuke's words were reasonable.
Still, Naruto didn't want to be led by the nose.
For him, understanding what happened in the Shippuden sequel was actually very simple.
He only needed to simulate it once—carefully and thoroughly.
From Shippuden all the way into the Boruto era. Wouldn't that still give him everything he needed?
Thinking of this, Naruto smiled faintly and said, "I still have more important matters to deal with. Farewell."
Sasuke's heart tightened, and he subconsciously said, "Uzumaki Naruto, I'll wait for you here!"
Naruto left without looking back, not even giving him a definite answer.
"Sigh…"
Sasuke sighed inwardly. I was careless.
But he didn't dare return either.
He was afraid that once he went back, he might never be able to come to this world again.
At the same time, Sasuke didn't know whether time in his original world would continue to flow while he stayed here.
If time didn't flow—and he later returned to an earlier timeline—wouldn't that mean there was no urgency at all?
Forget it.
Since Naruto was angry, Sasuke would give him time to cool down.
Moreover, Sasuke was also curious.
This world's Naruto was terrifyingly strong—what important matters did he still have to handle?
What exactly would happen next?
Would it be like his own world—starting with the Akatsuki causing chaos, followed by the Shinobi Allied Forces…
In fact, Naruto had never truly thought of abandoning that world.
After all, it was an entire world, accessed through the Dragon Vein.
That alone made it an opportunity.
Naruto could freely enter it, plunder useful resources, strengthen himself, and better protect his own world.
He knew Sasuke was stubborn, so he wasn't worried that Sasuke would leave early.
After killing Obito, Naruto obtained both a Rinnegan and a Mangekyō Sharingan.
The Rinnegan belonged to Madara, with abilities similar to those Nagato once used.
The Mangekyō Sharingan was Obito's, possessing the Kamui ability—a true lifesaving divine technique.
Unfortunately, Naruto didn't particularly care about either of them.
His Six Paths bloodline was already awakening.
He didn't need anyone else's Rinnegan.
Still, Naruto stored both eyes away, just in case of unexpected situations where such power might become useful.
With Obito dead, Naruto had one fewer concern.
The remaining problem was Zetsu.
But killing Zetsu was far more difficult than killing Obito.
First of all, Zetsu was a being that had existed for countless years.
It lurked throughout the Ninja World, and if it didn't want to be discovered, no one could find it.
Zetsu's ultimate goal was to revive Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
After witnessing Naruto's power, it would most likely hide for decades—perhaps even a hundred years—waiting for Naruto to die of old age before acting again.
Naruto was somewhat helpless about this.
Fortunately, Zetsu had almost no combat power.
It couldn't pose any real threat to the people around Naruto.
After all, everyone around Naruto would, at the very least, reach Kage level in the future.
Not to mention, Naruto still had many Nine-Tails "cards" in reserve.
Once everyone entered Nine-Tails Chakra Mode, how could Zetsu even attempt a sneak attack?
And more importantly—what would Zetsu gain from attacking Naruto's companions?
Nothing.
It wouldn't advance its plan in any meaningful way.
So Naruto wasn't too worried about Zetsu.
With that, Naruto returned to the Land of Snow with peace of mind.
After returning, Naruto finally learned about the current situation there.
After he took the silver from those merchants, he had disappeared immediately.
When the merchants failed to see Naruto come forward, they grew extremely anxious.
Although Princess Koyuki Kazehana was the Daimyō, she didn't dare offend so many people at once.
So she could only try her best to placate them.
In the past few days, the Land of Snow had become extremely lively.
Those merchants were extremely protective of their lives.
Each of them had at least a hundred samurai and several ninja of varying strength guarding them.
With Naruto gone, everything fell into chaos.
Today you annoyed me, tomorrow I annoyed you.
Either they were fighting, or they were on their way to a fight.
The friction between the merchant groups kept escalating.
This was exactly why Naruto didn't want merchants to hold power.
Merchants without power were still just merchants.
But powerful merchants—many powerful merchants—forming an internal council, each elder carrying personal grudges?
How complicated would that become?
After returning to the Land of Snow, Naruto first discussed the establishment of a shinobi village with Princess Koyuki Kazehana.
The Land of Snow had originally had a ninja village.
But it was small, and the quality of its ninja was poor.
Now that Naruto was willing to support it, Princess Koyuki Kazehana was practically laughing in her dreams.
After all, Naruto was originally from the Land of Fire.
Yet unexpectedly, through sheer coincidence, she had given him sufficient respect—and now he wanted to establish a shinobi village in her country.
This was extraordinary news.
What puzzled her even more was why the Daimyō of the Land of Fire and the Hokage of Konoha would allow things to reach this point.
Were they fools?
A shinobi village and a daimyō's authority were inherently separate systems.
Their powers didn't directly conflict.
In fact, the stronger the shinobi village, the safer the daimyō would be.
Didn't the Land of Fire and Konoha understand this?
They did.
They just underestimated Naruto because of his age and tried to secretly control everything for him.
And in the end, Princess Koyuki Kazehana reaped the enormous benefits.
Inside the palace, Naruto looked at the giggling Princess Koyuki Kazehana and snapped his fingers.
"Daimyō-sama, what are you thinking about?"
She snapped out of her daze and said excitedly, "I fully support you! No matter what you want to do!"
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