From Naruto onwards, I've become a dreamer.

Chapter 502 Who's the Good Samaritan? The Teleportation Portal Opens Inside the Base?
The Wheel of Fortune?

It sounds like a path related to fate.

In some ways, it seems to really fit his life, chasing the shadow of fate.

The first half of his life was spent searching for the 'Child of Destiny', and the second half was spent chasing a destiny that was almost impossible to achieve.

Looking back now, it does seem rather ridiculous.

Jiraiya hesitated for half a second, then turned to Orochimaru: "If I swallow this thing directly, will I become like you?"

"Maybe it's possible, maybe it's not."

Orochimaru seemed to finally show some interest in him, and sat back down in his chair, saying meaningfully, "Directly consuming 'Extraordinary Characteristics' will have a very high probability of causing you to lose control. Oh, in terms you can understand, it means turning into a mindless monster. So, are you sure you want to take the gamble?"

"We were once comrades, so why would you want me to turn into a monster?"

Jiraiya's lips twitched, and he said somewhat speechlessly.

Of course!

However, Orochimaru laughed even more heartily: "It's rare to have the opportunity to study a former comrade, especially through the 'Wheel of Fate' pathway. I'm very curious about the extraordinary abilities of this pathway. Don't worry, if you turn into a monster, I promise I'll dissect your corpse carefully."

"Should I thank you?"

Jiraiya, who had initially been courageous, lost some of his confidence after Orochimaru's few words.

Putting aside its disgusting appearance and taste, Orochimaru's words alone were enough to send chills down his spine if he were to actually eat it.

The thought of turning into a monster and lying on an experimental table, being operated on and studied by his former comrades sent chills down his spine.

"What? Are you giving up?"

Orochimaru was slightly disappointed, and pursed his lips, seemingly regretful: "It seems I won't have the chance to study your stupid head."

"You really want me to get hurt that badly?! You bastard!" Jiraiya glared at Orochimaru. "And Tsunade and I have been thinking about you all this time!"

"so what?"

Orochimaru was getting impatient: "Are you going to eat or not? If not, I'm leaving."

"Eat? Who says I won't eat?!"

Jiraiya glared fiercely at Orochimaru, but then glanced down at the silvery ouroboros, a complex expression on his face: "Orochimaru, there's something you have to promise me. If I really do become a monster, you have to help Konoha get through this crisis."

"why?"

Orochimaru said calmly, "What does it matter to me what Konoha becomes?"

"You were born in Konoha after all!" Jiraiya glared at him, gritting his teeth. "Don't forget, no matter what you are like now, at least Konoha hasn't treated you unfairly, has it?"

Orochimaru tapped his index finger lightly on the table, seemingly deep in thought.

A moment later, a slight smile appeared on that pale face: "Okay, I promise you, can we eat now?"

"Don't rush, let me prepare myself mentally!"

Jiraiya gritted his teeth, closed his eyes, and swallowed the thing whole.

Gudong!

He swallowed the extraordinary feature that was no bigger than the palm of his hand.

In that instant, Jiraiya felt as if his soul was being torn apart from his body by some kind of force.

He seemed to wander between illusory worlds, one symbolizing the material world, another symbolizing the soul, and yet another... a special world that defied description.

He saw countless complex silvery symbols, like a giant, scaleless, illusory serpent with its head and tail connected. The dense patterns and symbols on its surface formed gears that rotated around each other.

Each gear is engraved with a variety of intricate markings, which, amidst the confluence of countless illusory rivers, evolve into a blurry, unreal, and enormous circular disc!
However, to outsiders, Jiraiya appeared to be completely dead.

Not only can you not detect any aura, but even chakra seems to have completely disappeared. In this situation, it can be basically concluded that the person is dead.

"Did it fail?"

A hint of regret flashed in Orochimaru's eyes.

At that moment, the bespectacled pharmacist entered, glanced at Jiraiya who was dumbfounded and seemed to have completely lost his life, and said calmly, "Lord Orochimaru, is he the test subject for this experiment?"

"Yes, but unfortunately it seems to have failed."

Orochimaru, slightly disappointed, stood up, leaning on the table: "How are the other test subjects?"

The pharmacist adjusted his glasses and shook his head, saying, "Of the 4,400 test subjects, 22 extraordinary properties were directly ingested, and the survival rate was no more than 10%. Among them, the success rate of the 'Wheel of Fate' pathway was 0%.

In fact, the extraordinary properties of Jiraiya's 'Wheel of Fate' came from Orochimaru.

He secretly collected extraordinary characteristics from many sources, one of which was his own 'White Tower' pathway, which allowed him to study these extraordinary characteristics and create special items.

Secondly, it is to accumulate strength to fight against Iwagakure and Onoki, the Two-Headed Scale.

Orochimaru has studied most of the twenty-two divine paths, but there is one path that he has not been able to succeed with until now.

That is the Wheel of Fortune path.

"That's strange. Why did all the paths through the Wheel of Fate fail?" Orochimaru frowned, not quite understanding the results of the experiment.

Logically speaking, the probability of successfully advancing through the twenty-two divine paths, even with direct consumption of extraordinary attributes, is very low.

Each method has nearly a hundred test subjects, which is enough to make up for the probability of failure. Even if the probability is low, there should be one or two successes, right?
Other paths were fine, but the path of the Wheel of Fortune was the only one that failed!

"Lord Orochimaru, I have an idea, but I don't know if it's correct."

Kabuto's glasses reflected a cold light as he slowly said, "The Wheel of Fate, although we know nothing about it at present, seems to be related to fate based on the name alone."

"An interesting point of view, let's continue."

Orochimaru's eyes lit up slightly, as if he had found his way.

"Yes, Lord Orochimaru."

Kabuto Yakushi collected his thoughts and continued, "If I'm not mistaken, the Wheel of Fortune path should place more emphasis on 'luck'."

"It has nothing to do with willpower, personality, or resilience; it's just luck?"

Orochimaru's eyes flickered slightly, and he turned to look at Jiraiya.

But then, Jiraiya, who had been lifeless, suddenly developed rings of faint, mercury-silver sheen on his body.

Immediately afterwards, Jiraiya suddenly gasped for breath, as if a suffocating person had suddenly gained oxygen, and knelt on the ground, drenched in sweat.

"I think I succeeded?"

He himself was somewhat unsure, looking around blankly: "Orochimaru, did I succeed like this?"

Looking at Jiraiya, Orochimaru asked, "You should be Sequence 9 now. What's your name?"

"I"

Jiraiya was somewhat bewildered, his thoughts immersed in some special realm, when he suddenly spoke: "Monster, I am now Sequence 9: Monster."

"Interesting, it's called 'Monster'?"

Orochimaru's expression was rather amused as he turned to Kabuto Yakushi: "Kabuto, it seems you guessed right. This route is quite interesting; it seems to rely more on 'luck.'" "I didn't expect you to actually guess correctly."

Kabuto Yakushi said with some regret, "In this way, we can't mass-produce them. Even if the number of test subjects increases, the probability won't increase. It's such a pity."

"What are you guys talking about?"

Jiraiya looked completely bewildered, scratching his head: "This thing doesn't seem to be that dangerous. You're not trying to scare me, are you?"

"Ha, idiot."

Orochimaru glanced at him, then turned to Kabuto and said, "Kabuto, you're going to Konoha with them now. Just do as you were told before."

"Wait, didn't you say you were going to help me?" Jiraiya called out to Orochimaru, who was about to leave.

"I'll have Kabuto Yakushi help you."

Orochimaru left a message and then left the room.

"Lord Jiraiya, let me introduce myself. My name is Kabuto Yakushi."

Kabuto Yakushi adjusted his glasses and smiled, "I usually follow Lord Orochimaru and conduct experiments. Since it was Lord Orochimaru's order, I will help Konoha this time."

"you?"

Jiraiya looked at him with surprise and some doubt.

"Please do not doubt me, Lord Jiraiya."

Kabuto Yakushi smiled slightly and said, "Although I am not good at direct combat, I can increase the chances of victory for everyone in Konoha and the Allied Shinobi Forces."

Seeing this, he didn't press further and simply nodded in agreement.

Do you remember what happened?

This is the only successful and precious 'experimental subject' so far, so Kabuto Yakushi naturally wouldn't miss out on the crucial data.

"I think I saw something, but I can't remember."

Jiraiya's memory was somewhat hazy. He shook his head and said, "It was like being drunk, all confused. When I woke up, I was inexplicably confused, with a lot of things in my head."

"Well, although it's not worth learning from, thank you for your cooperation."

After pondering for half a second, Yakushi Kabuto still wrote these things down.

"By the way, is he lying to me or not?" Jiraiya touched his face and asked doubtfully, "It doesn't seem that dangerous."

Upon hearing this, Kabuto smiled and looked at Jiraiya, who was full of doubt: "You should feel fortunate, after all, among the 220 test subjects in this method, you are the only successful case. Without exception, all the others became out-of-control products."

Two hundred and twenty.

Jiraiya's eyes widened, and only then did he feel a chill run down his spine.

"Don't be nervous, Jiraiya-sama."

Kabuto smiled and comforted him, saying, "At least it proves you're quite lucky, doesn't it?"

Jiraiya wiped the cold sweat from his brow, thinking to himself how lucky Tsunade hadn't said anything to him before he left, otherwise he probably wouldn't have been able to return this time!

That damned Orochimaru! He even uses his former comrades as test subjects. He's utterly heartless!

After a brief two-day rest in Otogakure, Jiraiya decided to lead his team back to Konoha.

Although Sasuke was awakened from his coma, he seemed to have experienced some terrible nightmare, which made him somewhat taciturn. Except for the occasional glimmer of light in his eyes when he saw Naruto, he was like an emotionless puppet no matter who approached him.

Sakura and Jiraiya had no choice but to put the matter aside for now and wait until they returned to Konoha.

"Ahem, Naruto, do you... recognize me?"

Jiraiya coughed twice, moved closer to Naruto, and asked somewhat embarrassedly.

Naruto glanced at him and said calmly, "Jiraiya, one of the Legendary Sannin, and the teacher of my father, Minato Namikaze."

"Ahem, yes, that's right." Jiraiya looked at the boy in front of him and suddenly felt a little guilty. Over the years, he hadn't taken care of him or fulfilled the mission that Minato Namikaze had given him. "So, what did you and Orochimaru learn from each other?"

"What's the matter with you?"

Naruto frowned, somewhat unaccustomed to Jiraiya's deliberate attempts to get close, and subconsciously distanced himself.

"It's nothing, it's nothing."

Jiraiya awkwardly retreated, scratching his head, looking somewhat distressed.

Now that's bad, they don't believe him at all. How can he entrust Minato's legacy to Naruto?
"Let's set off now. If we travel at this pace, we should be able to get back in three days."

Jiraiya temporarily suppressed his thoughts and spoke to the others.

"unnecessary."

After Naruto finished speaking, he raised his hand and squeezed.

A pale blue portal opened directly in front of them: "Go in from here, and you'll be taken straight to Konoha."

"???"

Jiraiya and Sakura stared wide-eyed. This... a portal?
"Hehe, Jiraiya-sama, there's no need to be surprised."

Kabuto, who was standing to the side, took the initiative to explain: "Once you advance to the level of Naruto-sama, you will naturally understand that the 'Path of God' is a power far superior to the chakra system."

After saying that, he followed Naruto's footsteps and stepped into the gate of light.

Next was Sasuke, then Jiraiya, and finally Sakura. After everyone went in, the portal disappeared.

Meanwhile, in the Hokage's office in Konoha.

Having just returned from the Five Kage Summit and finished dealing with the mountain of documents, Tsunade was so exhausted that she collapsed onto the table.

Suddenly, a pale blue portal opened directly in the office!

"who?!"

Startled, Tsunade jumped up from her seat and assumed a fighting stance: "Anbu!"

In an instant, the secret agents who had been guarding the surrounding area rushed into the office, all watching the light door warily.

Then, under everyone's tense gaze, a blond-haired boy dressed in a white kimono slowly walked out.

Following behind was a young man wearing glasses and with a headband from the Sound Village on his forehead.

Finally, Jiraiya, Sakura, and Sasuke emerged from the portal.

Looking at the ANBU members piled up around them, the heavy atmosphere of being on high alert, and the dumbfounded Tsunade, Jiraiya and the others fell silent.

Isn't this a bit too flashy?!
They thought the portal would lead them somewhere in Konoha, but they never expected it to lead them directly to the Hokage's office!

Jiraiya scratched his head somewhat awkwardly: "Hey, Tsunade, we're back."

Who's the kind person who can open a portal directly into the Hokage's office?!

(End of this chapter)