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NBB Chapter 123: Ashes, Venom, and Youth
🕑 Added 2025-08-01 00:11:56 +0000 UTCSunagakure.
Inside the guest inn designated for foreign visitors.
Kitagawa Gen sat by the window, gazing at the scenery outside. He couldn’t help but shake his head.
“Sunagakure really is a far cry from Konoha.”
“Agreed,” Guy nodded beside him.
“But I’ll give them this—their defenses are solid. That canyon of theirs won’t be easy to breach if it ever came to war.”
“No point discussing extreme scenarios,” Kakashi chimed in from the bed, completely unconcerned. He was leaning back, reading Icha-Icha Paradise as he spoke.
“It’s been years of war, but when have any of the Five Great Shinobi Villages ever been successfully invaded on their home turf?”
“Still, I’d say Sunagakure picked a pretty good spot. At least there are several oases nearby that provide a steady water supply—unlike the time we had to wander the desert forever just to find one.”
“But it’s just so desolate here,” Kitagawa Gen couldn’t help but complain.
“It doesn’t even compare to Kirigakure, which we visited before.”
“That’s normal. Didn’t we already see why yesterday?”
Kakashi perked up at the comment—this student of his was almost too clever, which made him hard to teach. But now that the opportunity had come, Kakashi wasn’t about to let it slip by.
"The Land of Wind may be vast, but its habitable zones are limited to areas surrounding oases. They lack both manpower and resources."
"So even their daimyō offers them minimal support—especially after they formed an alliance with us."
"That's unbelievably shortsighted."
Guy immediately grasped what Kakashi meant. Even if he seemed silly at times, he was still a proper jōnin.
"Even if the alliance has temporarily removed external threats, this kind of short-term thinking won’t help their future development."
"Doesn’t affect us either way."
Kakashi stretched lazily, then quickly smiled.
"Anyway, aren’t either of you planning to go out for a walk and enjoy some exotic scenery?"
"Not interested."
Kitagawa Gen glanced at his snow-white hair, then deliberately reached behind to touch the short blade on his back.
"I’m worried people might mistake me for someone else again."
"..."
Kakashi’s fists clenched. This damn brat—why is he so annoying?
"I’m not going out either. Training outside could cause unnecessary trouble. It’s fine to just practice a little in here."
Guy didn’t want to be mistaken for a spy while running laps around the village. But then he turned to Kakashi with a big thumbs-up.
"Kakashi, let’s have a match!"
"Nope. I’m injured, remember?"
Kakashi rejected him instantly—but Guy wasn’t letting him off the hook. In one swift motion, he hoisted him up over his shoulder.
"Hey! What the hell are you doing?! Put me down!"
"It’s because you’re not feeling well that you need proper exercise! A ninja must always maintain youthful energy!"
"No, seriously—I am a patient right now!"
"I heard Konoha’s medical system is undergoing massive reform because of you. But personally, I think you’re the problem here, Kakashi!"
"??"
"Only by embracing the Power of Youth will you stop being so frail—now come on!"
"Hey—stop—!"
Kakashi’s voice gradually faded into the distance, echoing through the air, while Kitagawa Gen simply stood there watching them with a strange look on his face.
"Full of energy as always. I just hope Kakashi-sensei survives..."
Shaking his head, even Kitagawa Gen had to admit he was impressed by Guy’s energy. If it were him, he would've collapsed already.
Though he always believed in the path of "hard work and sweat," he also firmly believed in balancing work and rest.
"Still, this works out well—gives me more time to attune myself to this Dragon Vein chakra."
Come to think of it, it was pretty interesting.
Ever since the Dragon Vein chakra had entered his body—though only partially—it had significantly boosted the chakra of the Three-Tails and the Seven-Tails.
The two chakra sources continued absorbing the Dragon Vein’s power. The process was slow, but steadily progressing.
As the two chakra sources continued to grow stronger, Kitagawa Gen could vaguely sense that the tailed beast chakra within him had started feeding back into his body again.
“Even though it doesn’t do much for my eyes, the key is that it’s not just my eyes—the speed at which my bones absorb chakra is increasing too.”
Kitagawa Gen lightly clenched his fist. He could feel it—his bones seemed to be accelerating, and he even felt like he could pull them out just to mess around.
“And this acceleration... it’s making my bloodline boil!”
The boiling wasn’t intense, but it was remarkably persistent.
How long it would last—he didn’t know.
But he was sure that once this state of bloodline boiling ended, the development of his bloodline would definitely reach a new level.
“Still, that faint trace of temporal power inside the Dragon Vein... it’s really hard to grasp.”
In his memories, the Ōtsutsuki always talked about how difficult it was to attain space-time techniques, but nearly all of them had one or two such abilities.
Especially that guy, Urashiki—he was practically the embodiment of "space-time jutsu mastery."
He was ridiculously strong… but also incredibly stupid.
Not only did he get poisoned and paralyzed, in the end he got taken out by Jiraiya and the others.
“Hm?”
Just as he was deep in thought, his system suddenly pinged.
[Side Quest Completed]
[We All Have a Bright Future]
[Reward Being Calculated]
Seeing the system interface appear, Kitagawa Gen’s mood instantly lifted. Another quest done—another reward coming his way!
...
“Damn it...!”
But while Gen was still basking in that excitement, far away in the Land of Rice Fields, within the village of Otogakure, a plume of smoke suddenly rose.
From it, the nearly blasted-to-pieces corpse of Manda reappeared, and floating above it, a pale white serpent with Orochimaru’s head silently slithered out into the air.
The serpent looked down at Manda’s corpse, its face still frozen in a look of rage and unwillingness, and finally let out a hoarse, venom-laced hiss: “Shimura Danzō—you deserve to die!”
Orochimaru felt incredibly unlucky.
He couldn't even remember the last time he’d been beaten so badly.
But now, his current state was beyond miserable—not only had Manda died right before his eyes, but his body had completely collapsed.
Left with no other choice, he had to initiate his rebirth.
...
“Orochimaru-sama.”
In the underground lab of the Village Hidden in Sound, Kimimaro quietly spoke as he helped unwrap the bandages from Orochimaru’s body, his voice full of self-reproach.
“I’m sorry. Not only did I fail to help you, I couldn’t even serve as your vessel.”
“This isn’t the time for that. Has there been any word from Kabuto?”
Orochimaru’s voice was low and hoarse. Kimimaro hesitated slightly, then gave a small nod.
“Yes, Orochimaru-sama. Not only from Kabuto—there was also a message from Konoha.”
“Tell me.”
“The message from Konoha wasn’t signed. It simply asked if you had gone to the Land of Wind… and warned that Konoha might react.”
“Heh...”
Upon hearing this, Orochimaru let out a cold sneer. He knew this was Danzo’s doing, but he no longer trusted that man.
“As for Kabuto, his intel indicates that Konoha and Sunagakure seem to have formed some kind of alliance. He wasn’t able to determine the specifics.”
“What else?”
“Other than that, everyone outside believes that Orochimaru-sama attempted to steal a treasure from the Land of Wind… but ended up causing a massive explosion that led to a devastating incident. Both Sunagakure and Konoha have issued a bounty on you.”
“…”
At that, Orochimaru fell silent.
He didn’t care about being wanted. Konoha had had a bounty on him for years and nothing had come of it.
But he did realize something—he was being framed.
Did he actually cause that explosion?
What the hell?!
“Orochimaru-sama, are you alright?”
Kimimaro watched Orochimaru fall silent and couldn’t help but ask softly. Orochimaru subconsciously licked his lips.
“I’m fine. I’ve just made up my mind.”
He could still feel the discomfort in both body and soul.
This rebirth had been carried out prematurely, and the process had taken a toll on him. But he had no alternative.
Fortunately, he’d already made a decision. He was burning with fury now.
“Kimimaro, send a message to Kabuto. Have him investigate next year’s Chūnin Exams in Konoha. Tell him to start preparing early.”
“Yes, Orochimaru-sama.”
Kimimaro didn’t question it. He simply nodded and went off to prepare the message.
Orochimaru remained seated, recalling Kitagawa Gen’s words. Ever since Jiraiya had blocked his path back in the Land of Hot Water, he had been suppressing a steadily hardening rage.
He was never one to take things lying down. Being set up like this—there was no way he could let it slide.
Right now, all he wanted was revenge.
But then, another thought crossed his mind—the boy he had fought.
“Kitagawa Gen really isn’t simple. Why do his abilities feel so much like Pain’s techniques?”
“And that massive chakra explosion… that was caused by him too. This kid…”
“He’s hiding his true self very well.”
