He succeeded.
Minato Namikaze understood very clearly what those words meant.
The reason Gekko Chizan had gone into seclusion was to find a path to cultivate sage arts.
Since he had succeeded, did that mean Gekko Chizan had finally completed his sage art cultivation?
That wasn't the sage arts of the three great sacred lands. It was something completely different—something cultivated entirely to match himself.
"This bastard, even if he succeeded in his training, he shouldn't have run off to challenge the Fourth Kazekage of Sunagakure!"
"If he wanted to test his techniques, he could've just come to me."
Minato Namikaze still couldn't understand why, after coming out of seclusion, Gekko Chizan didn't return to the village, but instead chose to challenge Rasa.
Wasn't that just creating conflict between the two villages...
Even though no conflict had formed yet, and Konoha and Sunagakure still had a chance to form an alliance, it didn't change the nature of Gekko Chizan's actions.
"Cough, cough, Minato."
"All these years, whether it was the old man in charge or you as Hokage, has that bastard Gekko Chizan ever listened to any of you?"
"He's always had his own ideas. But in my opinion, it doesn't matter—as long as the final result is good, right?"
"And besides, Rasa was completely suppressed the entire time. That sage art of his... it's truly terrifying."
Thinking back to that ever-expanding massive crater, and Gekko Chizan's strange, transparent body, a trace of shock couldn't help but appear in Tsunade's eyes.
Even though she had never learned sage arts, she could tell that it had already gone beyond the scope of ordinary sage arts.
"...That bastard!"
"It's just sage arts! I can use them too!!"
Everyone looked at the somewhat out-of-control Minato Namikaze and fell silent one after another.
It was indeed sage arts... but it also didn't quite seem like any known kind of sage art.
...
Land of Wind, Sunagakure.
Yellow sand still filled the sky.
Gekko Chizan looked at the kid in front of him who had no eyebrows.
"Hey, Rasa, why do you have eyebrows, but your son doesn't?"
"But I gotta say, your son looks more handsome than you."
Gaara, the son of the Fourth Kazekage Rasa.
At the same time, standing beside Gaara were two others.
A beautiful blonde girl, Temari, and a clean-faced boy, Kankuro.
"Hmph, you bastard. If you don't know how to talk, then don't talk."
"These are my three children—Temari, Kankuro, and Gaara."
"Teaching one is teaching, teaching two is teaching—just take all three."
"Teach them well. I'm going to handle the alliance matters with Konoha."
Hearing their father's words, the three kids looked at Gekko Chizan and immediately showed a hint of surprise.
They hadn't expected their father to find them a teacher—though he didn't exactly look reliable.
"Hey, Rasa, don't be in such a hurry."
"There's something else I need to tell you."
Gekko Chizan called out to Rasa, who was about to turn and leave, then dragged him off to the side.
Rasa looked puzzled, not understanding what Gekko Chizan wanted to say.
"Rasa, do you remember Pakura?"
"Pakura? Of course. She was one of the top Bloodline Limit shinobi of Sunagakure. But wasn't she captured by Konoha? She should've already been killed by you people."
Rasa naturally remembered Pakura. If she had still been around back then, they wouldn't have been so passive against Konoha's defenses.
He knew the power of Scorch Release—it was a Bloodline Limit with extremely strong offensive capability.
"Heh heh heh, how could that be? She's my wife now."
"Nani????"
Rasa's eyes widened as he stared fixedly at Gekko Chizan.
The statement was simply too shocking. Ever since Pakura was captured, Sunagakure had believed she had long since died at Konoha's hands.
And now Gekko Chizan was telling him she wasn't dead—and had even become this bastard's wife???
"Hey, hey, calm down."
"You're the Kage of my wife's home village, at least keep your composure."
"Alright, now that I've said that, you can get lost."
"Your three kids all have good potential. I'll take them all."
After saying his piece about himself and Pakura, Gekko Chizan shoved Rasa away and turned to walk toward the three kids.
Leaving Rasa alone to process this overwhelming amount of information.
...
Gekko Chizan brought the three kids to the training field of the Sunagakure Academy.
At this time, many students were attending classes, including one taught by a Jonin.
"Who is he?"
"Why is he with Temari and the others?"
"And is that Gaara? My god..."
Gaara's appearance shocked everyone present, after all, he was the One-Tail Jinchūriki.
At this point, Gaara hadn't gone through the Yashamaru incident yet, so he wasn't that withdrawn.
That was also why Gekko Chizan chose this timing to take him as a disciple.
"Tch, a bunch of bastards."
"Gaara, are you okay?"
As the eldest sister, Temari was displeased by the whispers around them and turned to look at Gaara.
Sure enough, Gaara's expression had turned very bad, his head lowered, looking aggrieved.
"Oh? A bunch of people with no sense."
"You want to look? I just won't let you."
Gekko Chizan also heard the murmurs in the distance. But who was he? A tyrant of Konoha—he was the one who isolated others, never the other way around.
Sage chakra burst out from his body, instantly forming an invisible glass-like dome that enveloped himself and the three children.
The students and teacher who had just been able to see Gaara suddenly found their vision blurred, and could no longer see where the four of them had gone.
"What the hell? Why can't I see them anymore?"
"I can't see them either."
"Damn, are we seeing things in broad daylight???"
Not just them—even the three kids in front of Gekko Chizan noticed something was wrong.
The scenery around them had all become blurry.
"Stop being curious. This is your teacher's method."
"Let me introduce myself. From now on, I'll be the teacher of you three. You've probably heard of my name."
"Gekko Chizan."
The name Gekko Chizan was like thunder in their ears.
Even Gaara widened his eyebrow-less eyes upon hearing it.
Not to mention Temari and Kankuro.
"The Ghost of Konoha?"
"The Twin Star?"
"Sunagakure's Eternal Enemy??"
Gekko Chizan: ????
He could accept the first two, but what the hell was the last one?
And it didn't stop there—the three kids suddenly stepped back, looking at Gekko Chizan with caution.
It left Gekko Chizan completely speechless.
"The first two titles, I think are fine."
"But who came up with that last one?"
"Was it that bastard father of yours?"
"Come on, tell sensei. sensei won't hold it against you."