In Konoha, This Naruto Has Decided To Take It Easy

Chapter 412 Soul Has Flaws

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"Is there a possibility that the second personality could devour the main personality?" Naruto asked.

Orochimaru: “…”

"Cough, I'm just asking casually." Naruto coughed awkwardly, "So, is there a solution? I'd prefer a solution that preserves the second personality."

"It's almost impossible, even if there are exceptions." Orochimaru replied, glancing up at him, "Without a thorough diagnosis, it’s hard to say for sure."

Naruto frowned. He never intended to let Orochimaru intervene directly. He only wanted to get a direction from Orochimaru, maybe a more stable and better method.

In this situation, whether Orochimaru's soul exists or not depends on Naruto's thoughts, so there was no reason for him to hold back or lie.

Besides, Orochimaru’s true obsession was with immortality. The discovery of dual personalities was likely just an incidental outcome of his research. For Orochimaru, it is of little significance, so he naturally will not study it in depth.

Now, Naruto could see two possible interpretations of Orochimaru’s conclusion:

First, congenital dual personalities are extremely rare, making it difficult to get an accurate answer. The only way would be to collaborate with Orochimaru and have him examine the case in detail for a clearer result.

Second, Orochimaru had indeed discovered the phenomenon of dual personalities and could differentiate between congenital and acquired cases. However, it didn’t interest him much. He merely experimented superficially on Sakon and Ukon before halting further research.

After a brief moment of contemplation, Naruto decisively chose the latter interpretation.

He didn’t trust Orochimaru, nor would he ever hand Sakura over to him. Even if the chances were slim, Naruto wouldn’t recklessly entrust her to a dangerous individual.

Even if things turned out as Orochimaru suggested, that the second personality would eventually fade away, at least Sakura herself wouldn’t be lost in the process, even though Naruto did prefer Dark Sakura.

The ideal situation is that the two personalities can be separated and a new body can be easily obtained. And even if separation was impossible, coexistence within one body would still be a good outcome.

Even if it meant something like alternating between Sakura on odd days and Dark Sakura on even days, with them switching on Sundays, that wouldn’t be too bad.

If, in the end, only one personality could remain, and there was certainty in making the choice, Naruto would unhesitatingly pick Dark Sakura.

But for now, there was no choice to be made, and the main personality would eventually consume Dark Sakura. One day, Dark Sakura would have to return the body and retreat back to a corner.

Since Orochimaru couldn’t guarantee a solution or even offer a clear direction, Naruto decided not to risk Sakura’s life on a vague hope.

Thus, the topic was dropped here.

Naruto paused for a moment, then controlled the Shinigami to open its mouth and release the severed soul of Orochimaru’s hands, directly fulfilling his promise.

Orochimaru regained the hands that had been cut off by Sandaime. His golden left and right hands have been restored. He looked down at himself in the soul state, ‘I’ve become whole again.’

"I’ve told you everything I know. If you want to…" Orochimaru began coolly.

"No, I don’t. I was just asking." Naruto interrupted, his expression shifting as he dropped his casual demeanor. His entire presence changed as he fixed a firm gaze on Orochimaru and said, "Even if you hadn’t answered, I would still return your hands to you. Now, it’s time to discuss something serious."

When Orochimaru, who was in the soul state, heard Naruto use the word ‘return’, his expression visibly changed. The soul of his hands was cut off by Sandaime and taken away by the Shinigami.

Now Naruto said he is returning them.

In Orochimaru's original plan, there was actually more than one way to take back his hands. But the word ‘return’ was quite ambiguous, as if it implied something more personal.

‘You were returning them… Have you reached the point where you can freely control the Shinigami?’

Although Forbidden Techniques such as the Dead Demon Consuming Seal and Impure World Reincarnation are related to Tobirama, at their core, they were Sealing Techniques of the Uzumaki Clan, and the Shinigami belonged to them.

This made things very interesting. It was like the Uchiha… though they were part of Konoha, they never referred to themselves as Konoha’s Uchiha, while the Hyuga proudly called themselves Konoha’s Hyuga.

When a clan or individual surpassed the village’s identity, the significance of that name changed.

So now, was Naruto Konoha’s Naruto or Uzumaki Naruto?

"Serious business? What kind of business?"

"About a hypothesis, one that everyone has thought about at some point." Naruto said, his eyes never leaving Orochimaru’s face as he uttered that word, "Immortality."

"Immortality?"

"Yes, immortality. You must be interested in it."

"Hmm." A smile spread across Orochimaru’s face, though it was hard to tell if it was one of satisfaction or mockery, as if saying, ‘What do you know about immortality?’

"You don't believe me?"

"It’s not that. On the contrary, I’m very interested." Orochimaru looked up and pointed at the phantom of the Shinigami behind him, a sight visible only to those who had used the Dead Demon Consuming Seal.

"Since you can control the Shinigami’s phantom, I have no reason not to be interested. Even though you are young, I believe that there are indeed geniuses in this world."

"Like Uchiha Sasuke?" Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Uchiha Sasuke is indeed a genius." Orochimaru chuckled, "I’ll be going after him, to reclaim what’s mine."

Upon hearing this, Naruto almost wanted to say, ‘I wouldn’t recommend going after him. You might end up crippled by that super brocon, Uchiha Itachi.’ But then, he remembered Orochimaru’s near-immortality, and swallowed the thought.

"A vessel, huh? No matter how perfect, a vessel will always have flaws." Naruto said, "Orochimaru, I don’t deny the value of your decades of research."

"But have you ever considered... that your soul itself might be flawed? Or perhaps all souls of Shinobi have flaws?"

"Flaws?" Orochimaru stared at Naruto with a hint of interest, "That's an interesting statement. My soul has a flaw?"

"You’ve only been trying out new bodies repeatedly. Even if you succeeded in taking over Uchiha Sasuke, you’d still run into various problems.

"But I didn’t succeed." Orochimaru said calmly. Despite Naruto’s outright dismissal of his research, his attitude remained remarkably composed, perhaps because of his countless experiments or because he was at Naruto’s mercy.

"Of course you didn’t succeed. There’s no such thing as a good or bad vessel. If your soul is flawed, no vessel will solve the issue." Naruto explained patiently, "Maybe, over generations, the essence of souls has been diluted, much like how bloodlines weaken."

"Shinobi couldn’t have appeared out of nowhere, right? Chakra must have an origin. What if the key to immortality lies at the source of the Shinobi?"

Orochimaru chuckled, "So this is your 'serious business'? This theory?"

He didn't seem to believe what Naruto said. Without concrete evidence, Naruto’s words were just groundless speculations to him. Orochimaru would rather try to take back Sasuke’s body, which should belong to him. At least that offered a tangible advantage to him.

After all, there was always that small chance of success.

Naruto didn't seem to care whether he could convince Orochimaru or not, he was simply laying the information out there. As for the evidence… even if he had any, he wouldn’t show it so easily, because his intentions would become too obvious.

No matter how much he does, it's not as good as one sentence, ‘Orochimaru-sama! I also want to join the glorious evolution of immortality!’

Of course, Naruto had no real desire for immortality.

"Yeah, that’s it. Since we’re done talking, I’m leaving." Naruto dispelled the Dead Demon Consuming Seal without even looking at Orochimaru again. He turned around, lifting the unconscious Anko onto his back.

Orochimaru: “…”

The well-rehearsed arguments he had prepared were rendered completely useless. Orochimaru stood there for a moment, stunned, watching as Naruto walked away.

‘That’s it?’