Naruto: Lost to Hinata on Purpose, and Now Everything's a Mess Chapter 88 88 : The Seal Of Controlling Natural Energy

Riku looked at Anko's expression and chuckled. "You really hold a grudge. I'm not going to explain anything. Just wait here. I'm not in any rush to head back."

He could sense the chakra signatures of Sasuke and the others clearly—they hadn't even entered the central tower yet. With their location firmly in his awareness, Riku sat down on a tree trunk and began to ditate again.

Anko thought for a mont, then sat beside him. Glancing at Riku with curiosity, she asked, "How did you train? Why are you so strong? And how did you even learn the Fourth Hokage's Flying Thunder God Jutsu?"

"A lot of people have tried to learn that technique, but no one's managed to pull it off except for the Fourth Hokage himself."

Riku looked over at her. "You talk too much."

Anko placed her hand on his shoulder with a grin. "Don't be so stiff for soone so young."

Riku shrugged her hand off without hesitation.

"Practicing ninjutsu is just a hobby for . I'm guessing you don't spend much ti on actual training. Otherwise, with your talent, there's no way you'd still be a Special Jonin."

For soone personally chosen as Orochimaru's disciple, Riku believed her talent had to be considerable—definitely not low.

He could already tell from the Fire Style: Dragon Fire Jutsu she had released earlier—her affinity for Fire Style was clearly high.

But perhaps she hadn't dedicated herself to training, and the curse mark Orochimaru placed on her was also holding her back. That imperfect seal had no real benefit—only frequent, searing pain.

Unlike Sasuke's improved version, which could be utilized in battle, Anko's curse mark was primitive and unstable. It did nothing except burden her with discomfort.

Riku's gaze flicked over to her neck, thinking about the seal. But the seriousness in his eyes caused Anko to misinterpret where he was looking.

Her face turned red. "What are you looking at?"

"I'm warning you—don't start picking up bad habits at your age."

Riku frowned slightly, then quickly realized she had misunderstood. "I was just trying to see what kind of curse mark Orochimaru left on you. I'll admit your figure is nice, but I'm not into older won."

That made Anko's expression darken. "So you're saying I'm old?"

Riku smiled. "You're a bit older than . Technically still young, but... relatively speaking."

It wasn't that Anko had any inappropriate thoughts about Riku. At twenty-four, there was no way she'd develop feelings for a twelve-year-old—at least, not now.

Right now, she was simply shocked by how strong Riku was for soone so young.

Even though she now realized she had misunderstood, she still felt a little embarrassed.

To prevent any awkward misunderstandings, Riku smiled and added, "Actually, I'm just curious about the curse mark Orochimaru placed on you. I'm guessing it's the curse mark that's limiting your potential."

Sure enough, Anko imdiately forgot her embarrassnt and focused on his words. "You know about the curse seal? Sounds like Kakashi's told you quite a bit."

Kakashi did know about the mark. As an ANBU captain, he'd personally helped seal it when it first manifested. Even Tsunade had been involved at the ti.

Riku nodded slightly. "He told a few things. From what I gather, this curse seal was so kind of experintal jutsu Orochimaru was working on. But the one on you—it's a failure."

Anko was silent for a mont, then said, "You're not wrong. The curse seal was Orochimaru's attempt to gain mastery over natural energy."

"But it's hard to control, and his original design was flawed."

Riku gave a small smirk. "So you ended up as a test subject."

Anko shot him a glare, but Riku just smiled, not too seriously.

He went on, "Actually, the curse seal isn't just about natural energy. It also carries a fragnt of Orochimaru's soul. If he dies sowhere else, he could potentially use your curse mark as a vessel to resurrect himself."

Anko's expression darkened. She didn't know about that.

"He can resurrect himself using the curse seal?"

Riku nodded. "I'm a sensory-type ninja. I can detect a faint trace of Orochimaru's soul from your curse mark. It's extrely subtle—most wouldn't notice it—but it's definitely there."

"So, if sothing happens in the future, he might try to use you as a vessel to co back."

Anko suddenly felt a wave of revulsion. "That's... disgusting. Why would you say sothing so gross?"

Riku laughed. "What else am I supposed to say? Orochimaru is disgusting. Compared to him, anything I've done is nothing."

The truth was, Riku had teleported here from kiloters away. But he still had a clear understanding of how the battle unfolded—and Orochimaru's behavior had always been beyond disturbing.

So his words weren't unjustified.

Anko, despite her history with him, wasn't truly disgusting herself—maybe she was just desensitized to Orochimaru's twisted nature after years of exposure.

"How is it disgusting?" she muttered.

Riku thought back on Orochimaru's grotesque experints and techniques. The more he recalled, the more uncomfortable he felt.

"Actually, you're pretty disgusting too."

He blurted it out without much thought.

The mont the words left his mouth, Anko exploded. "Riku! That's going too far! Did you just call disgusting?"

Riku looked her over, rembering her snake-based jutsu. Although she was much better than Orochimaru, her techniques still gave him the creeps.

He gave a sheepish smile. "I want to say you're not, really—but when I think about your jutsu... I just can't deal with it."

Anko looked a little awkward. Almost all her techniques were inherited from Orochimaru. What could she do about that?

No one had ever told her she was disgusting before. And sure, maybe a ninja's techniques could seem creepy to civilians, but this was different.

She glared at him. "Aren't you supposed to be a ninja too? So jutsu are always going to look gross to outsiders."

But Riku waved her off. "Sure, so ninja use creepy techniques, but they're the minority. Most of us are pretty normal. Especially —my style's nothing like that."

Then, as his gaze fell on Anko's curvy figure, Riku suddenly felt a little awkward.

She really did have an incredible body. At 167 centiters, she was tall—just slightly shorter than Yugao's 169. And her curves were even more pronounced.

But as soon as he rembered her jutsu, all that attraction vanished. He imdiately wanted to keep his distance.

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