Suddenly feeling a touch on the top of her head, Karin was startled at first, then quickly turned around, her face instantly lighting up with joy.
When she saw that familiar face, her voice trembled with excitement, "Master! You're finally back?"
However, although Rengoku was conscious at this moment, he was already unable to utter a single word.
Fortunately, he still had one last method left. Genjutsu.
He focused his mind and cast a genjutsu, projecting the words he wanted to say one by one into Karin's eyes, which were filled with shock and expectation.
After completing all this, the arm he had just raised seemed to lose all its strength, falling limply downward.
At the same time, his eyes slowly closed, sinking once more into pitch-black sleep.
What remained in Karin's eyes were only the messages conveyed through the genjutsu, [Karin, other enemies have sealed off the ninja world's time-space. I'm currently trapped inside the time-space tunnel.]
[I'll find another way to come back, but because of the difference in time flow, it might be a very long time before I return.]
[My return date is uncertain. Don't wait for me every day. When I come back, it may already be many years later.]
[While I'm gone, study sealing techniques properly, eat properly, and you are not allowed to lose weight.]
After that, Rengoku's genjutsu vanished.
Karin stood there blankly, staring at the genjutsu images that were gradually fading away, her heart filled with helplessness.
"How could this happen? Why would someone seal off the ninja world's time-space? Master is actually trapped in the time-space tunnel," Karin muttered to herself, her eyes instantly turning red.
She could not accept this cruel reality. The master who had always stayed by her side and guided her growth had suddenly lost all contact with her.
Karin stretched out her trembling hands, trying to grasp the last trace of the lingering genjutsu aura, but everything had already disappeared.
She slowly bent down, buried her head against the chest of Rengoku's clone, and cried out loud.
"Wuwuwu! Master…"
Her sobbing echoed through the empty surroundings, as if the entire world had been reduced to just her alone.
After a long time, Karin finally stopped crying. She gazed at the side of Rengoku's clone's face.
Her eyes were full of reluctance and attachment. Then she took Rengoku's hand, pressed it against her cheek, and gently rubbed it.
She murmured softly, "Master, you have to come back early… I still want to be your bride…"
———
When Rengoku's consciousness returned, he discovered that the Dragon Vein energy on his body was already extremely scarce.
He could only pick a direction at random and plunge straight into it.
Like a small stone thrown into the surface of a lake, he pierced straight through.
———
After Rengoku left, time quietly passed.
Even though Orochimaru worked day and night, burying himself in research on time and space, unfortunately, the materials related to time-space in his possession were far too limited.
After a period of repeated attempts, Orochimaru finally realized that this path of exploration seemed to be a dead end.
With no other choice, he temporarily shifted his focus to other areas of research, patiently waiting for Rengoku to return on his own.
Naruto and Sasuke fell into a deep coma after that battle.
A full, long month passed before the two of them slowly woke up from their slumber.
"Hiss!"
Naruto slowly came to, struggling to open his heavy eyelids. What greeted his eyes was a snow-white ceiling.
For a moment, he was completely confused and muttered to himself, "Where… am I?"
Just as Naruto was feeling utterly bewildered, a familiar voice reached his ears.
"Naruto, you're awake."
Naruto turned his head toward the sound and saw Sasuke sitting on another hospital bed not far away.
Sasuke's hair was slightly messy, and his eyes still carried a hint of drowsiness, clearly having woken up not long ago himself.
"Sasuke, where are we?"
Naruto asked with a puzzled expression.
Hearing this, Sasuke first shot Naruto a look, then raised his hand and pointed toward the sign on the wall above, saying irritably:
"Where else could it be? This is obviously the hospital exclusively for our Uchiha clan."
Hearing Sasuke's answer, Naruto subconsciously scratched his head, still feeling a bit unclear about the current situation.
However, when he reached out and checked himself, he was pleasantly surprised to find that none of his important body parts were missing.
After confirming this, Naruto felt a bit more at ease and immediately flipped off the bed.
"Sasuke, do you still remember what exactly happened before?"
Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, trying hard to recall, but the images in his mind were shrouded in a layer of fog, blurry and indistinct.
After a while, he finally spoke, "My last memory is of a sudden, bone-piercing pain spreading through my whole body. After that, I don't remember anything at all."
He then turned to Naruto and asked, "What about you? Can you remember anything?"
Naruto also fell into thought. After a moment, he shook his head and replied, "I'm the same as you. I only remember seeing the principal fighting, then my body started hurting too, and after that I lost consciousness."
At this moment, Naruto noticed that Sasuke had been frowning deeply, as if he were thinking about something important.
Unable to hold back his curiosity, Naruto asked, "Sasuke, what's wrong with you? Did you think of something?"
However, Sasuke did not respond to Naruto. Instead, he walked over on his own to a full-length mirror placed nearby and stopped in front of it.
He took a deep breath, then suddenly opened his eyes, instantly activating his Sharingan.
Originally, Sasuke's Sharingan had only two tomoe, but now, in the mirror, three tomoe were clearly visible in those eyes.
Sasuke froze for a moment, then could no longer suppress the joy in his heart and burst out laughing, "Hahahaha… this is great, this is great! I finally have the three-tomoe Sharingan!"
Hearing Sasuke's excited laughter, Naruto hurried over and leaned in beside him, looking toward the mirror.
Sure enough, inside Sasuke's Sharingan, three tomoe were evenly distributed, shining with a crimson glow.
"Whoa, it's really true!", Naruto exclaimed, a sincere smile spreading across his face.
After all, he had just personally witnessed the shocking scene of Rengoku slaughtering enemies left and right with Susanoo.
Now that Sasuke had successfully evolved his three-tomoe Sharingan, he naturally felt happy for his friend.
"When I get the Mangekyo Sharingan in the future, I'll be able to use Susanoo too. When that time comes, I'll definitely let you see how powerful it is!"
Sasuke's eyes glittered with excitement, as if he could already see the moment he became strong.
He happily painted a beautiful picture of the future for Naruto.
Even though, for now, all of this was nothing more than a pie he was drawing for Naruto.
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.