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Naruto: Cthulhu: Ch. 184
🕑 Added 2024-12-21 21:06:51 +0000 UTC"I'm back."
"Welcome back, Hayate-niisan."
"Welcome home, brother."
In the dining room on the second floor of the Gekkō Dojo, Hayate was greeted by a table full of dishes prepared by Haku, who waited alongside Kagami for his return.
Ever since the location of the Chunin Exams was announced to be in Konoha, all ninja above the rank of chunin had been overwhelmed with work.
Jonin were primarily assigned as personal guards to the daimyōs and officials of various nations. After all, any mishap involving these dignitaries within Konoha would escalate into a political issue at the national level.
Meanwhile, ANBU and Root closely monitored the movements of foreign ninjas to prevent any covert schemes they might attempt under the guise of legitimacy.
As for chunin and special jonin, they were responsible for patrols, general security, and guarding key areas within the village.
Kagami and Haku, both chunin, were given relatively light duties—routine street patrols and law enforcement—usually ending their shifts before nightfall.
However, as a special jonin, Hayate had a far heavier workload, returning home only after night had completely fallen, quickly eating, and then heading out again.
Though he never explicitly shared what his assignments entailed, Kagami could make a guess.
With his mastery of the Transparency Jutsu, Hayate's abilities would undoubtedly be utilized by Konoha's upper echelons for missions like eavesdropping on foreign ninjas.
"I've been swamped with tasks lately. You don't need to wait for me; just eat without me."
"That won't do! We're brothers—we should eat together," Haku replied, turning to Kagami with a gentle tone, "Right, Kagami-niisan?"
Kagami nodded. "Yes, Haku's right."
"Haku... Kagami..." Hayate glanced at the two, his face breaking into a deeply touched smile of gratitude.
"Let's eat!"
The three brothers pressed their hands together in thanks before starting their meal.
During dinner, Hayate casually mentioned that Hiruzen had recommended him as a proctor for the Chunin Exams, though he didn't specify which segment.
Kagami wasn't surprised. It seemed like, no matter the timeline, the role of Chunin Exam proctor was always destined for his brother.
After dinner, Hayate donned his ninja gear, strapped on his trusty sword, and prepared to leave for another surveillance mission.
Just as he was about to leap onto the roof and vanish into the night, a voice called out to him from behind.
Turning around, he saw his younger brother, Kagami.
"Something you need?"
Kagami stepped forward and handed him an item.
"This is an amulet I got during a mission at a nearby temple. The locals say it's very effective."
Hayate examined the amulet and was immediately struck by how different it was from what he had envisioned.
Ordinary amulets were typically cloth pouches with wooden talismans or small charms inside, engraved with auspicious phrases or protective symbols.
But this amulet was a round metallic disc. Its surface had a tarnished sheen, and in the center of its twisted pentagram design was a conspicuous human eye.
For reasons he couldn't explain, he felt no sense of reassurance from the charm. Instead, a vague unease crept into his heart as he gazed at it.
"This... is an amulet?"
"Yes, it's said to be very potent. Just carry it with you."
Looking down at the disc again, Hayate noticed that it had no holes for threading, making it impossible to wear like a typical charm.
"But it doesn't even have a hole to hang it from. How am I supposed to wear it?"
"Uh... just figure it out. As long as you have it with you, it's fine."
Although it felt a bit strange, since it was a charm his younger brother had specially acquired for him, Hayate decided to find a way to carry it.
He removed another charm from around his neck, opened its pouch, and placed the metal disc inside.
"This is a charm Yūgao gave me. By putting the charm you gave me inside her charm, I'll carry both of your blessings. Thank you, Kagami. I'm off to carry out my mission now."
Tucking the charm back under his collar, he turned, leapt out of the window, and disappeared into the night.
Watching his brother's silhouette vanish, Kagami let out a deep breath. After living together for ten years, he didn't want anything bad to happen to Hayate.
All Kagami could do was hope for Hayate's good fortune.
At that moment, a voice came from behind him.
"Kagami-niisan, you're being unfair. You got a charm for Hayate-niisan, but not for me."
Turning around, he saw Haku, who had apparently witnessed him giving the Old Seal to Hayate.
Haku was pouting, looking rather pitiful. Kagami quickly walked over to console him.
"That place only had one last charm left. Next time, okay? I'll definitely bring you a charm next time."
As the long, noisy day—and part of the night—came to an end, Konoha finally returned to calm.
However, in the stillness of the late night, a figure was moving swiftly toward the Inuzuka clan training grounds in the southern part of Konoha.
It was Orochimaru.
Tonight, he intended to use his own methods to uncover the identity of the person who had employed the shining irregular polyhedron against him that day.
And the simplest, most direct way to do so was, without a doubt, to witness it with his own eyes.
Ordinarily, it was common sense that past events couldn't be revisited, and history cannot be rewritten. This was the foundation of human understanding.
However, after encountering the Mi-Go, he knew that so-called "common sense" was designed for ordinary people.
Common sense limited the thinking of mortals, trapping them in infinite cycles of finite thought patterns.
But who was Orochimaru?
He was someone striving to surpass such norms, someone who sought the infinite truths hidden within the universe.
Thus, the limitations of common sense did not apply to him.
Standing now at the edge of the forest where he had briefly paused during his escape years ago, his lips curved into a sly, malevolent smile.
From his pocket, he drew a crimson pill.
"I will know who you are."
With those words, he swallowed the pill in one gulp.
He immediately felt a surge of heat in his abdomen.
This heat rapidly intensified over time. When he raised his hands, he was astonished to see them becoming spiritual.
Especially at his fingertips, his hands began to dissipate into mist and float into the air. This transformation spread toward the center of his body, and the heat in his abdomen grew even more intense.
Yet, instead of panic, an expression of excitement spread across his face.
Finally, when the heat in his abdomen reached its peak, the last part of Orochimaru's "body" dissolved into a wisp of blue smoke and vanished.
In the vast sea of clouds, his consciousness began drifting rapidly.
Within this cloudy expanse, he could see very little. Occasionally, he caught glimpses through the turbulent gaps in the clouds of the green earth below, where vegetation turned yellow, then green again, in a rapid cycle of decay and rebirth.
As he drifted through the clouds, he occasionally heard long, drawn-out howls. These sounds, high-pitched and eerie, sometimes seemed distant, yet at other times came startlingly close, as if right beside his ears.
During this drifting process, he experienced a strong sense of discomfort, to the point where he felt the urge to vomit. However, he couldn't, as his current state was purely a conscious form, lacking a physical body to expel anything.
This inability only heightened the distress in his mind, causing his discomfort to grow more intense.
Suddenly, Orochimaru's spiritual consciousness came to an abrupt stop. Then, a sensation of weightlessness returned, enveloping him once more.
"Ah!"
The weightlessness was so vivid that even though he knew he was merely a consciousness, he couldn't help but scream.
As he fell, the surrounding clouds vanished rapidly, and the once-bright sea of clouds turned into the darkness of night.
Hovering over a land shrouded in night, he looked down to see the brightly lit and alarm-ringing village of Konoha. Before he could take in this rare sight, he found himself landing firmly on solid ground.
The moment his feet touched the ground, his discomfort vanished instantly.
Surveying his surroundings, he noticed that nothing much had changed. The place where he stood was still the outskirts of the Inuzuka clan's training grounds—exactly where he had started.
However, the time had shifted. He was now ten years in the past.
It was the night of his defection.
Indeed, with the aid of that crimson pill, Orochimaru had traveled back to the night of his escape a decade ago. At this moment, he could clearly hear the alarms sounding throughout Konoha.
These were the alarms that had blared the night he stole the Cthulhu statue.
Now, this moment was that moment.
"I'm back!"
"Hahahaha! I'm back!"
Standing on the grass, he spread his arms and let out a long, guttural laugh.
Before delving into the unnameable mysteries, he had never dreamed that he would one day travel back to the past.
This was something beyond human comprehension—a feat that surpassed the sum of all known ninjutsu.
Of course, the credit didn't belong solely to him. The greater thanks were owed to the resurrected Mi-Go.
The crimson pill, in truth, was a creation of the Mi-Go species' research.
Although the pill's technology was considered outdated and eventually discarded by the Mi-Gos, it had been stolen by a philosopher named Laozi, who named it the Liao.
The Liao allowed a person or creature's consciousness to traverse freely into the past, witnessing the prehistoric events that unfolded over endless millennia.
Using the Liao, Laozi had successfully traveled back as far as ten million years into Earth's history, witnessing countless mythological beings of indescribable nature, as well as the legends surrounding Nyarlathotep's avatars and R'lyeh.
Laozi compiled the historical secrets he uncovered during these time-traveling journeys into a book.
This text detailed seven revelations he discovered during his prolonged temporal explorations.
Each chapter documents a secret and is accompanied by an incantation.
---
Chapter One: The Avatar of the King in Yellow—The Yellow Emperor's extraordinary achievements, inventions, and medical practices.
Incantation: Immortal Sand Reanimation Sigil (Revival of the Dead).
Chapter Two: Ritualistic Ghouls and the Worship of Ghouls.
Incantation: Contact Ghoul.
Chapter Three: Heavenly Demons—Byakhees.
Incantation: Demonic Confinement Sigil (Summon and Control Byakhees).
Chapter Four: Earth Demons—Deep Crawlers.
Incantation: Earthly Summoning Sigil (Contact Deep Crawlers).
Chapter Five: South Sea Human Worshippers and Deep Ones; Hounds of Tindalos and the Liao.
Incantation: Contact Hound of Tindalos.
Chapter Six: The Cold Plateau and the Secret Realm of Kadath.
Incantation: Phantom Realm Ascension Sigil (Gate to Kadath).
Chapter Seven: Nyarlathotep and His Myriad Forms; The Rising of R'lyeh and the Descent of Cthulhu; Azathoth as the Source of All Things; the Ideal Forms of Deities and Creatures; the Hierarchies of Gods and Mythological Beings.
Incantation: Contact Nyarlathotep.
---
Although the contents of these seven chapters were profoundly astonishing, no original or later copies of the text have been found.
Since the Liao was originally Mi-Go technology, the Mi-Go reincarnated by Orochimaru's Edo Tensei was also capable of producing the pill.
Using the Liao, he could travel back to any point in time as a conscious entity, witnessing any past events firsthand. However, since it was only his consciousness returning, he couldn't actively alter the past—he could only serve as an observer.
This limitation was precisely why the Mi-Gos abandoned the technology. The Mi-Gos, with their long-lived history, had little need to revisit the past.
For Orochimaru, however, this functionality was more than sufficient. He needed to see for himself who had been hiding in the forest that night.
He moved toward a low shrub, reaching out to brush the leaves.
Despite exerting all his strength, his semi-transparent hand barely caused the leaves to tremble. This impact was too feeble to even resemble a baby's touch.
It seemed the Mi-Go were correct—using the Liao to travel back in time rendered him incapable of exerting any real influence.
But it was enough for him to witness the truth.
At that moment, he heard the sound of ninja sandals rustling through the grass nearby.
He turned to see his younger self from ten years ago running toward him.
The Orochimaru of that time still used his original body, wore Konoha's standard ninja vest, and had a face that appeared youthful compared to his current one.
Although only a dozen meters separated the two, the younger version couldn't see the consciousness-based entity of his future self.
The gap between them rapidly diminished until the two overlapped completely.
In that instant, the younger Orochimaru froze mid-step, his eyes widening in shock.
"I know you're there," he called out. "I can hear you breathing."
The collision between the present and past forms caused the younger Orochimaru to sense something unusual.
At the same time, the consciousness of the future Orochimaru partially transferred its most urgent desire to the younger body's mind.
The future Orochimaru's strongest desire at that moment was to identify who was hiding in the forest.
As a result, the past Orochimaru inherited this impulse and began to look toward the area where faint breathing sounds could be heard.
Sure enough, there were two faint breaths nearby.
Orochimaru smirked. Since the pursuers hadn't arrived yet, he might as well play with these hidden figures.
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