"Oh right, kid. That psychological therapy idea you mentioned before might be something worth bringing up to the old man too."
As if suddenly remembering something, Tsunade spoke to Kiyohara.
The moment he heard that, Kiyohara immediately nodded.
What Tsunade was referring to was the idea he had previously proposed, combining genjutsu with medical treatment in order to heal psychological trauma.
Kiyohara had named it Psychological Medical Ninjutsu.
If it could truly be implemented, it would count as a reform to the entire medical system.
After all, many shinobi suffered from psychological trauma.
If one looked carefully, it became obvious. Kakashi had psychological trauma. Obito had psychological trauma. As for Tsunade's hemophobia, there was no need to even mention it. Hers was the most typical case of all.
The entire shinobi world itself was one enormous psychological wound.
This was one of the flaws created by the shinobi system.
Because to the shinobi world, shinobi were tools first, and people second.
The next morning, after breakfast, Tsunade impatiently dragged Kiyohara toward the Hokage Tower.
When they arrived outside the Hokage's office door, she raised her leg.
Bang!
The office door was kicked open in one strike.
Inside the office, Hiruzen was seated behind his broad desk reviewing documents. The sudden noise startled him so badly that his hand shook, nearly causing the pipe in his mouth to fall onto the desk.
He looked up, his brows tightly furrowed, words already reaching his lips.
"Danzo, you again... hm?"
Just as Hiruzen was about to demand that Danzo compensate him for the door he had smashed last time, he finally saw the figures standing at the entrance and swallowed the rest of his sentence.
It was not Danzo.
It was Tsunade.
And behind her stood the handsome Kiyohara.
"Tsunade?"
Hiruzen set down his pipe and rubbed his temples.
Among his three disciples, Tsunade had always been the most carefree and unruly one.
And truthfully, Hiruzen spoiled her quite a bit. After all, Tsunade's background was simply too impeccable.
"So what brings you here? And this door..."
"Old man, skip the small talk."
Tsunade interrupted him first, cutting off any possibility of him bringing up compensation for the door.
She had merely gotten excited at the thought of obtaining some gambling money and accidentally kicked it. Who would have thought the lock would be so fragile?
Then she strode into the office, casually dragged over a chair, sat down without the slightest courtesy, and crossed her legs.
"I'm here to get some benefits for Kiyohara."
She spoke directly without any detours.
Her brown golden eyes stared straight at Hiruzen.
Hiruzen sighed.
He understood this disciple of his far too well. Once she put on this posture, if he did not give a satisfactory answer today, the door truly would not survive.
Though honestly, it was already close to not surviving.
"The rewards are currently being evaluated."
Hiruzen carefully chose his words.
"This battle involved many shinobi. The distribution of rewards and compensation for the fallen all require time..."
"I know."
Tsunade cut him off.
"But Kiyohara is different."
"He's the greatest contributor to this overwhelming victory. He killed three members of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. He seized the Executioner's Blade and Samehada. And now even the Third Mizukage died at his hands. Old man, ask yourself honestly. At his age, could you have done any of that?"
Hiruzen froze.
The hand holding his pipe paused midway.
He nearly blurted out the words "rebellious disciple."
Girls truly did become impossible to keep once they grew up. After taking in a disciple, her heart had completely turned outward.
Although Kiyohara was also a shinobi of Konoha, Tsunade's attitude of demanding candy for her own child made Hiruzen involuntarily recall the scenes of Mito Uzumaki doting on Tsunade years ago.
It seemed Tsunade had genuinely acknowledged this disciple from the bottom of her heart.
That made Hiruzen very gratified.
In truth, he himself had once considered taking Kiyohara as a disciple. But in the end, considering his age, he allowed Tsunade to accept him instead.
Looking at things now, the result was not bad at all.
Although Kiyohara possessed Uchiha blood, he was already firmly tied to the Hokage faction.
Moreover, according to Hiruzen's information, Kiyohara had also developed the Storm Release kekkei genkai.
Users of this bloodline limit were generally born in the Land of Lightning. It was extremely rare in other nations.
Even the Land of Water did not possess shinobi capable of fusing Water chakra and Lightning chakra together like this. At most, they only had composite ninjutsu.
Hiruzen looked toward Kiyohara.
Kiyohara stood tall and straight, nearly a head taller than Tsunade. The diamond shaped mark on his forehead gave him an even colder and sharper appearance.
As expected of the Uchiha Clan.
Hiruzen silently thought to himself. No wonder this kid had been handsome since childhood.
Kiyohara naturally had no idea what Hiruzen was thinking. He merely felt somewhat uncomfortable being stared at by an old man like this.
If he knew Hiruzen's thoughts, he would probably only shake his head and say that his handsome appearance was something he was born with.
After all, the Uchiha bloodline was something Kiyohara inherited later anyway.
"Kiyohara."
Hiruzen slowly spoke.
"What reward do you want?"
Kiyohara stepped forward.
"Hokage-sama, I wish to study the Scroll of Seals."
"The Scroll of Seals..."
Hiruzen took a puff from his pipe and exhaled a cloud of secondhand smoke.
Tsunade waved her hand in disgust. The motion alone created a sharp sound of air splitting apart, and the resulting gust instantly swept the smoke away.
Hiruzen's eyelids twitched at the sight, and he quietly put away his pipe.
"The techniques recorded there are all dangerous forbidden jutsu sealed away by successive Hokage. The difficulty of learning them is extremely high. A single mistake may cause backlash upon yourself. Are you certain?"
"I am."
Kiyohara nodded.
"To protect Konoha and uphold the Will of Fire, I am willing to bear any risk. Only by mastering greater power can I protect more comrades in future battles."
The speech sounded grand and righteous, politically correct to the extreme.
Yet after hearing it, a smile involuntarily appeared on Hiruzen's face.
He was old now. He loved hearing young people say things like this.
Especially when that young person truly possessed the ability to carry out those vows.
"Good. Good."
Hiruzen said the word twice in succession, his eyes filled with gratification.
He suddenly remembered the days long ago when Tobirama Senju and Hashirama Senju were still alive.
Back then, Tobirama-sensei would always enthusiastically develop some new jutsu before running to Hashirama.
"Big Brother, I invented another ninjutsu!"
"Oh? Is it a Water Release technique?"
"No..."
"Then ban it."
And so, the Scroll of Seals grew thicker and thicker over time, eventually becoming almost Tobirama's personal forbidden technique creativity archive.
Most of the jutsu within were only in their early developmental stages. Because they were too dangerous or too special in nature, they were unsuitable for public circulation and were therefore sealed inside.
"Bring the Scroll of Seals."
Hiruzen spoke toward the shadows.
An ANBU shinobi silently appeared, bowed respectfully, and vanished with a Body Flicker.
During the wait, Tsunade sat there with crossed legs, her expression relaxing slightly.
Not long afterward, the ANBU shinobi returned carrying an enormous scroll.
Hiruzen accepted the scroll, released the first layer of seals, and slowly spread it open atop the desk.
Kiyohara's gaze swept across the densely packed names of techniques and their brief descriptions.
"Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags." Through summoning formulas, explosive tags could be endlessly recycled, theoretically allowing a single tag to trigger infinite chained explosions.
"Multiple Shadow Clone Technique." Creates solid clones, but evenly divides chakra. Improper use could completely exhaust the user's life force.
"Spirit Transformation Technique." Allows one's spiritual body to leave the flesh, enabling reconnaissance or direct attacks against an enemy's soul.
One dangerous and powerful forbidden jutsu after another was recorded within.
But Kiyohara noticed something.
There was no "Impure World Reincarnation."
Nor was there "Living Corpse Reincarnation."
He immediately understood.
Those ultimate forbidden techniques involving the taboo of life and death were most likely kept separately by Hiruzen himself.
Kiyohara guessed that Orochimaru had discovered the Impure World Reincarnation Technique within some secret forbidden technique chamber of Konoha, later spending an entire month merely to gain a preliminary grasp of it.
And from that chamber, Orochimaru had only taken away the scrolls for Living Corpse Reincarnation and Impure World Reincarnation.
Which meant the truly core forbidden techniques were not inside this Scroll of Seals at all.
Kiyohara's gaze continued downward until it finally stopped on the name of a certain technique.
"Flying Thunder God Technique."
f(x,t)=x_0+vt
"This technique..."
Hiruzen noticed Kiyohara's line of sight and explained,
"It is a space time ninjutsu developed by the Second Hokage. It allows the user to instantly move to the location of a marked target. However, the risks are extremely high, and the chakra consumption is enormous. A single calculation error could cause you to teleport into the ground, onto an enemy's kunai..."
"And maintaining spatial coordinates requires extraordinary concentration, as well as neural reaction speed and countless other conditions. Among all the shinobi throughout history who attempted to learn it, successful users have been exceedingly rare."
Moreover, maintaining spatial coordinates required extraordinarily strong concentration, incredible neural reaction speed, and many other demanding conditions. Among all the shinobi throughout history who had attempted to learn it, only a pitiful few had ever succeeded.
Kiyohara naturally knew all of this.
In the entirety of Konoha, only Minato currently knew how to use it.
Later on, this technique would even be dismantled and divided apart.
It would become the "Flying Thunder Formation Technique," a version that required three people to use simultaneously.
The difficulty threshold was lowered, but all three users had to be present together in order to activate it.
Genma would learn this technique in the future, and together with Raido Namiashi and Iwashi Tatami, he would become one of the Fourth Hokage's personal guards.
If Minato had not died so early, before he had enough time to properly train them, Genma and the others would definitely have secured far higher positions in the future rather than remaining merely Tokubetsu Jonin.
This technique was excellent whether it was used for travel, surprise attacks, or emergency evacuation.
It surpassed the overwhelming majority of forbidden jutsu.
Kiyohara silently pondered this.
"I choose this one, Hokage-sama."
Kiyohara finally spoke.
Hiruzen stared at him for a moment before ultimately nodding.
"Take it."
As Hiruzen's words fell, an ANBU shinobi handed a much smaller scroll over to Kiyohara.
The moment Kiyohara saw it, he understood that this was the separately prepared scroll for the Flying Thunder God Technique.
After all, the Scroll of Seals was essentially an encyclopedia of forbidden techniques. There was no way they could hand the entire thing over to him.
It was one of Konoha's highest level secrets.
If Naruto's identity in the original story had not been so sensitive, then if some ordinary civilian had attempted to steal that scroll, they would have long since been thrown into prison.
"If you find it impossible, don't force yourself."
Hiruzen spoke seriously.
"Yes, Hokage-sama."
Kiyohara accepted the scroll.
"Just one forbidden technique?"
Beside him, Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"Old man, aren't you being too stingy? Kiyohara achieved the tremendous merit of slaying enemy commanders on the battlefield!"
Hiruzen helplessly glanced at her.
"Forbidden techniques are valuable because of quality, not quantity. If one becomes too greedy, one cannot digest it all..."
"Then adding one ordinary ninjutsu should be fine, right?"
Tsunade refused to let it go.
Hiruzen rubbed his temples and finally took another scroll out from the drawer.
"This is a technique I personally created, the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique. Although it is not considered a forbidden jutsu, it has considerable practical value in actual combat. Kiyohara, take this as well."
Kiyohara accepted the second scroll.
"Thank you very much, Hokage-sama."
Only then did Tsunade nod in satisfaction. But immediately afterward, she seemed to remember something.
"Oh right, old man. There's another issue. Kiri may have backed down for now, but Kumo..."
"Kumogakure still possesses overwhelming strength and cannot be underestimated."
Hiruzen's expression became serious.
"The Fourth Raikage is even more aggressive than his father, the Third Raikage. Furthermore, the Eight Tails jinchuriki has already fully mastered the power of the tailed beast. Although the pressure on the Kiri front has lessened, the Kumogakure front still requires heightened vigilance."
"Got it."
Tsunade waved her hand casually before her eyes suddenly shifted.
"But before that, old man, I want to apply for a research project."
"Oh? What kind of project?"
This time, Kiyohara answered.
"It concerns research into Psychological Medical Ninjutsu. I propose combining genjutsu with medical ninjutsu to treat psychological trauma and phobias. I already have some theoretical foundations prepared, but practical research will require funding and equipment."
Hiruzen's eyes immediately brightened.
As a Hokage who had experienced two great shinobi wars, he understood far too clearly the damage psychological trauma could inflict upon shinobi.
Many outstanding shinobi had not died on the battlefield.
Instead, they had been destroyed by the aftereffects of war.
"This project has tremendous value."
Hiruzen nodded.
The moment Kiyohara heard that sentence, he knew the matter was basically guaranteed.
If a project like this appeared, even Tobirama would probably invest in it.
The next moment, Hiruzen continued:
"I approve it. Tsunade, you will serve as the project supervisor..."
Upon hearing this, delight immediately appeared on Tsunade's face.
If she became the project supervisor, then the funding could basically be used however she wanted.
Using a portion of the funds to reward herself for her tremendous contributions sounded perfectly reasonable, didn't it?
As long as Tsunade was willing to conduct research, she could produce countless results at any time.
That was the absolute confidence possessed by Konoha's number one expert in the field of medical ninjutsu.
Hiruzen glanced at Tsunade's slightly smug expression before suddenly changing his tone.
"However, Kiyohara will act as the project manager, and all funding allocation and usage will be handled by him."
Tsunade froze.
The smile on her face instantly stiffened.
"Old man, what do you mean by that?"
Her eyes widened.
"You don't trust me?"
"What do you think?"
Hiruzen leisurely took a puff of smoke.
"The last time I allocated special funding to your medical department, one third of it ended up in the casino. This time, it's more reliable to leave the project funds in Kiyohara's hands."
"Although the research results you produced afterward were enough to compensate for it, sometimes money should still be saved where possible."
Tsunade opened her mouth, wanting to argue, only to realize she had absolutely nothing to say in rebuttal.
In the end, she could only snort and turn her face away.
Suppressing his laughter, Kiyohara spoke with a serious expression.
"Hokage-sama, please rest assured. I will definitely use the funds responsibly and ensure the project progresses smoothly."
"Very good."
Hiruzen nodded in satisfaction.
Truthfully, the money itself was not particularly important since spending limits had already been established.
As long as they produced results before exhausting the funding, Konoha would profit regardless.
Hiruzen simply did not want to continue watching Tsunade sink deeper into her gambling addiction.
After giving several more instructions, Kiyohara and Tsunade left the Hokage Tower.
While walking down the stairs, Tsunade suddenly slapped Kiyohara heavily on the shoulder.
"Ahem... well, Kiyohara..."
Her gaze drifted elsewhere, and her voice sounded slightly unnatural.
"About that project funding... you understand, right? Your teacher here has been a little short on money lately, so..."
Seeing Tsunade like this, Kiyohara secretly laughed inwardly, though his face remained perfectly serious.
"Sensei, please don't worry. The project funds will definitely be used where they are most needed. However..."
He paused briefly. Under Tsunade's nervous gaze, he smiled slightly.
"The labor fees and consulting fees owed to Sensei will not be missing even a single ryo."
Tsunade's eyes immediately lit up.
She forcefully slapped Kiyohara on the back and burst into laughter.
"Good kid! I didn't spoil you for nothing!"
The two returned all the way back to Tsunade's house.
Today happened to be Shizune's turn to cook, and she was currently preparing lunch in the kitchen.
Tonton wandered around near her feet. The moment the little pig caught Kiyohara's scent, it immediately rushed over while letting out cheerful snorting sounds.
"Kiyohara-sama, Tsunade-sama, you're back."
Shizune poked her head out from the kitchen.
"Lunch will be ready soon. I tried making the braised pork that Kiyohara taught me. I'm not sure if the taste came out right..."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Kiyohara set the scrolls down and walked toward the window of the living room.
Outside lay the small courtyard where he normally trained. The ground was paved with specially made stone capable of enduring high intensity ninjutsu impacts.
Several wooden training posts stood in one corner, their surfaces covered in countless marks and scars.
Kiyohara closed his eyes and slowly took a deep breath.
Next, it was time to focus completely on training.
Soon afterward, more than twenty days passed in the blink of an eye.
Before long, the final day before the arrival of another "Last Will" came.
Kiyohara stood in the courtyard holding a specially crafted kunai in his hand.
On the handle of the kunai, he had engraved the Flying Thunder God formula.
The Flying Thunder God formula designed by Tobirama Senju consisted of a circular pattern intersected by six horizontal lines.
Minato's Flying Thunder God formula, meanwhile, was a string of words reading "Sword of Shinobi Love."
As for Kiyohara, he had simply carved his own name into the handle as his Flying Thunder God mark.
This mark could be changed at any time and was not fixed. It merely depended on what kind of symbol the user personally found easiest to release.
"The core of the Flying Thunder God Technique lies in the marking and perception of spatial coordinates..."
Kiyohara continued training in the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Among all the techniques he had learned so far, this was by far the most difficult one.
A moment later, Kiyohara raised his hand and threw the kunai outward.
The kunai embedded itself into a wooden post twenty meters away.
In the very next second, Kiyohara concentrated intensely.
Chakra flowed through his body according to a specific pathway of chakra paths while his spatial perception spread outward like ripples.
He sensed that coordinate.
That marked point appeared within his perception like a lighthouse shining within darkness.
Whoosh!
His figure vanished.
Almost at the exact same instant, Kiyohara appeared beside the wooden post, his hand already gripping the kunai.
Success.
According to Minato, the Flying Thunder God Technique essentially leaped between different spaces and dimensions, which was why it could achieve the effect of instant teleportation.
But at the same time, even the slightest deviation in coordinate calculations or fluctuation in chakra control would lead to unimaginable consequences.
Furthermore, the chakra consumption was even greater than expected.
'No wonder there have been so few successful users throughout history.'
Kiyohara silently thought.
Despite appearing to be an ordinary civilian shinobi, Minato actually possessed an enormous chakra reserve.
Because the very first requirement for cultivating Sage Techniques was having a massive amount of chakra. Otherwise, one would be devoured by natural energy.
Minato's problem was merely that his proficiency in Sage Techniques was not especially high, but he had still successfully mastered Sage Mode itself.
The sun gradually sank toward the west.
A thin layer of sweat appeared across Kiyohara's forehead, yet his eyes only grew brighter and brighter.
(End of Chapter)