Kiyohara turned around and looked at the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps with a hint of confusion.
The man who had been so arrogant just moments ago had now collapsed onto the ground like a lifeless puddle of mud.
The ceremonial crown unique to a daimyo hung crookedly on his head, while several wrinkles had appeared across the face that had once been carefully maintained.
It was obvious that Moryo had not treated the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps' body with any care.
'So he's still alive?'
Kiyohara thought to himself.
Normally, when a person had a large amount of chakra extracted from their body, they would die.
Any Jinchuriki of a Tailed Beasts were the clearest example. Once a Tailed Beast was removed, the host would inevitably perish.
Moryo possessed an amount of chakra comparable to that of a Tailed Beast.
For the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps to survive could only mean that his life force was somewhat stronger than that of an ordinary person, or that Moryo had not completely drained him.
"Miroku..."
The Daimyo struggled to raise his head, his eyes fixed upon the Priestess standing beside Kiyohara.
"I was wrong... I shouldn't have... touched... that thing..."
His voice came out in broken, intermittent fragments.
Miroku simply looked at him.
There was no expression on her beautiful face.
The moment the Daimyo had touched Moryo, there had been no turning back.
Such a depraved act crossed a line that no priestess could ever accept.
Had Konoha and the shinobi from the other hidden villages not come to help this time, even if they had eventually managed to seal Moryo, the price they would have paid would certainly have been devastating.
By then, countless innocent citizens of the Land of Swamps would have been dragged into the disaster.
A Daimyo like this simply did not deserve to rule the country.
"Miroku..."
The Daimyo struggled to stretch out his trembling hand, hoping to touch the Priestess.
Only now did genuine regret begin to fill his heart.
Kiyohara glanced at the Daimyo before looking toward Miroku.
In the anime, after obtaining Moryo's power, the Daimyo had also tried to persuade Miroku to join him so they could conquer the world together.
That alone showed just how deeply he loved her.
Unfortunately, in Miroku's heart, her mission and the safety of the land were far more important than personal feelings. She had chosen to seal Moryo even at the cost of her own life.
Because of that, Shion had never fully inherited the Priestess's complete legacy. Even by the end, she had only awakened her own power through the chakra Miroku left behind.
According to Miroku herself, Shion's potential actually far surpassed her own.
If she had received a complete education and inheritance from beginning to end...
Kiyohara found himself rather curious about just how far Shion might have been able to grow.
"Don't leave... Don't leave the Land of Demons... Don't leave me..."
Looking at the Daimyo as he wept uncontrollably, Miroku remained silent for several moments.
Then she slowly shook her head.
"The Land of Demons no longer has Moryo."
"The duty of the Priestess is to seal Moryo and protect this land from its evil. Now that Kiyohara-sama has sealed Moryo and will soon take him back to Konoha..."
She paused, determination shining in her beautiful eyes.
This mission had been passed down for over a thousand years.
It absolutely could not end with her generation.
"Since the spirit and body of Moryo no longer exists within the Land of Demons and Land of Swamps, there is no longer any reason for the Priestess to remain here."
The Daimyo's body froze.
His lips moved as though he wanted to say something.
But no words came out.
Instead, two muddy streams of tears slowly rolled down his withered face.
"If you had known it would end like this, why make those choices in the first place?"
Kiyohara shook his head.
There was an interesting law that seemed to exist throughout the shinobi world.
Whenever two people held opposing beliefs, it was only after an intense battle that the defeated side would suddenly come to realize the error of their ways.
In other words, if you wanted to convince someone...
You first had to defeat them.
Madara, Sasuke, even Obito...
All of them only began reflecting on themselves after getting thoroughly beaten.
"Kiyohara-sama, when shall we depart?"
Miroku turned to Kiyohara.
"It's already late today."
He shook his head.
"We'll leave tomorrow."
By this time, with both the terracotta stone warrior and the crisis involving the Land of Swamps' shinobi finally resolved, the shinobis from the other hidden villages also gradually approached.
Most of their gazes settled upon Kiyohara.
More specifically...
They were staring at the sealing scroll hanging from his waist.
They had witnessed with their own eyes how Kiyohara had temporarily stored the sealed Moryo inside it.
Everyone knew one basic fact about sealing scrolls.
They could not store living beings.
Yet Kiyohara had done exactly that.
The only explanation they could come up with was that the Priestess's fuinjutsu technique had buried Moryo so deeply within the seal that, for all practical purposes, he was no different from an inanimate object.
Mei stood near the edge of the crowd, her emerald-green eyes narrowing ever so slightly.
She raised a hand and tucked a loose strand of chestnut-colored hair behind her ear, revealing the alluring profile of her face.
Her gaze lingered thoughtfully on Kiyohara.
He intended to bring Moryo back to Konoha.
That meant Konoha would soon possess an entirely new weapon of war.
Moryo's Terracotta Army.
An immortal force that could neither die nor be destroyed.
If such an army were deployed upon the battlefield...
Her brows furrowed.
The war had only just ended.
The fragile peace among the Five Great Nations had only recently been established.
If Konoha truly gained control over such a force...
Would the balance of power in the future still remain stable?
But she quickly suppressed those thoughts.
Now was not the time to dwell on such matters.
She looked once more at Kiyohara, then at the sealing scroll on his waist, before lowering her eyes and saying nothing further.
Gaki stood not far from her, equally wary of Kiyohara.
His fists repeatedly tightened and relaxed.
'Moryo... If that thing could somehow be brought back to Iwagakure...'
However, he immediately dismissed the thought.
The golden giant Kiyohara had displayed moments ago had casually treated Moryo like a tiny eel, pinching and tossing him around as though he were nothing.
Trying to steal something from a monster like that...
He would have to be completely insane.
Gaki took a deep breath and forced down the restless thoughts surging inside him.
Baki stood even farther away.
The stern expression that usually adorned his face now carried a trace of relief.
Relief that Kiyohara was not an enemy.
Relief that Suna and Konoha had already signed an alliance.
He glanced toward Mei, Gaki, and the other shinobi before silently making up his mind.
Once he returned to the village, he would report everything that had happened today to Lord Kazekage in complete detail.
Kiyohara naturally noticed all those gazes.
His expression, however, remained completely unchanged.
He knew exactly what they were thinking.
Something like Moryo...
No matter which village possessed him, every other nation would inevitably become wary.
But so what?
If anyone had the courage to come and seize him...
They were welcome to try.
His own strength was the greatest deterrent of all.
"High Priestess!"
Just then, a voice broke the brief silence.
Miroku turned around.
A guard dressed in ancient-style armor hurried forward before dropping to one knee in front of her.
"High Priestess, are you truly leaving the Land of Demons?"
Miroku looked at him before gently nodding.
"Yes."
The guard's entire body shook violently.
He raised his head, revealing a face marked by a long scar, now filled with unwavering determination.
"Please allow us to accompany you!"
His voice echoed throughout the area.
The moment those words fell...
The other guards immediately stepped forward one after another before kneeling in orderly rows.
"Please take us with you!"
"We wish to continue protecting the Priestess!"
"Wherever the High Priestess goes, we swear to follow you to the death!"
Miroku looked at them.
A trace of emotion flashed through her beautiful eyes.
Standing nearby, Kiyohara quietly watched the scene unfold.
The anime had featured a similar moment.
After Shion became the next generation's Priestess, these very guards had willingly thrown away their lives for her again and again.
They knew perfectly well it was a meaningless sacrifice.
They knew that even if they died, there was no guarantee Shion would survive.
Yet they still rushed forward without the slightest hesitation.
Sometimes...
The power of faith was stronger than any ninjutsu.
"Konoha has no objection to bringing these guards along."
Kiyohara spoke calmly.
The guards all raised their heads at the same time to look at him.
"Although you're weaker than Konoha's shinobi, your loyalty is unquestionable. That alone is a rare quality."
After a brief pause, he continued,
"Once you arrive in Konoha, you may continue protecting the High Priestess."
The guards exchanged glances before simultaneously lowering their heads in a respectful kowtow toward him.
"Thank you very much, Kiyohara-sama!"
Kiyohara was simply stating the truth.
These guards merely possessed a little more chakra knowledge than ordinary people and were capable of using a handful of jutsus.
Compared to Konoha's shinobi...
The gap between them was still enormous.
That was precisely why, throughout the past thousand years, the greatest contributors in sealing Moryo had always been the successive Priestesss.
Generation after generation...
They had used their own lives to protect this land.
"Kiyohara."
Minato walked over.
"Would you like me to reinforce Moryo's seal with another layer? My fuinjutsu techniques aren't on the same level as those of the Uzumaki, but they're still fairly decent."
Kiyohara looked at him and shook his head.
"There's no need, Lord Minato."
"I learned the appropriate fuinjutsu techniques from Kyoko-senpai. Combined with the High Priestess's assistance, Moryo's seal is already extremely secure."
"..."
Hearing that, Minato nodded without insisting.
"That's good."
At the same time, he quietly sighed.
When it came to sealing Moryo...
He had contributed very little.
The position of Hokage truly...
"Now that everything here has been settled, I ask that everyone return."
Kiyohara turned around, his gaze sweeping across Mei, Gaki, Baki, and the shinobi from the other hidden villages.
"Konoha will handle everything from here."
Mei frowned slightly.
"We're leaving."
She turned around and waved toward the Mist shinobi behind her.
Gaki likewise led the Iwagakure shinobi away.
Before departing, however, he looked back one final time.
His gaze shifted from Kiyohara...
...to the sealing scroll hanging at his waist.
Before leaving, Gaki looked back one last time at Kiyohara, then shifted his gaze to the sealing scroll hanging from Kiyohara's waist.
After a moment, he withdrew his eyes, quickened his pace, and disappeared into the distance.
Baki nodded toward Kiyohara before leading the Sand shinobis away.
The shinobis of Kumogakure also departed without delay.
Before long, the battlefield was left with only Konoha's shinobi and the guards who were still kneeling on the ground.
The Daimyo of the Land of Swamps remained collapsed on the ground, his cloudy eyes fixed upon Miroku.
Suddenly, an idea came to Kiyohara.
"Your Excellency, perhaps the Land of Swamps and Konoha could establish a formal alliance. If we do, the people of the Land of Swamps would also be able to travel to and from Konoha much more conveniently."
Kiyohara made his proposal.
The Land of Demons and the Land of Swamps had remained isolated from the mainstream of the shinobi world for many years. With the ruling priestess of the Land of Demons gone, the authority will probably go the Daimyo of the Land of Swamps. Although both nations are small, they possessed many undeveloped resources.
If those resources could be properly exploited, they would become a considerable source of wealth.
Kiyohara had researched the available records before.
Coincidentally, the Land of Demons possessed several unique materials that could be used to create an "Artificial Tailed Beast."
This had been part of Kiyohara's plans for quite some time.
If he wanted to become the Jinchuriki of the Dragon Vein, then before anything else, he would have to create a physical vessel capable of housing the Dragon Vein's vast and freely flowing chakra.
After all, the Dragon Vein itself was merely an enormous aggregation of chakra gathered at certain nodes beneath the earth.
The special materials found within the Land of Demons were capable of containing tremendous amounts of chakra.
With fuinjutsu sealing techniques, together with various chakra-conducting materials, recreating an artificial body was not a particularly difficult task for Kiyohara.
Shinno's "Zero-Tails Technique" was, when all was said and done, nothing more than a type of Artificial Tailed Beast.
Hearing Kiyohara's suggestion, the Daimyo hurriedly nodded.
"That couldn't be better."
"I'm glad Your Excellency agrees. Besides, Konoha's medical technology is far more advanced than that of the Land of Swamps. Perhaps we can even help restore some of your condition."
Kiyohara continued.
The Daimyo became even more delighted.
For the first time since everything had fallen apart, he felt as though hope had appeared at the end of a dark tunnel.
He immediately ordered several guards to help him stand.
Although he had once descended into corruption by joining hands with Moryo, he was still the Daimyo.
The guards ultimately stepped forward and carefully supported him.
Standing nearby, Minato silently watched the scene unfold.
He could not help but sigh inwardly.
Not only had Kiyohara successfully sealed Moryo...
He had also secured another ally for Konoha.
Although the Land of Swamps was only a small nation, its geographical location was unique, giving it considerable strategic value.
Such accomplishments...
Such foresight...
This was already the mindset expected of a Hokage.
For a brief moment, Minato found himself thinking...
Perhaps Kiyohara becoming Hokage would not be a bad thing after all.
Even if he failed to become Hokage this time...
There would always be another opportunity in the future.
After all...
The office of Hokage was not a lifetime appointment.
"Brat."
Tsunade's voice suddenly came from the side.
Kiyohara turned toward her.
Tsunade stood there with her arms folded, curiosity shining in her amber-brown eyes.
"Does the Land of Demons or the Land of Swamps have casinos?"
she asked.
Because of Moryo's sudden appearance, they had arrived in a hurry and would soon be leaving just as quickly.
Tsunade had not had the chance to properly explore the country.
Almost all of her time had been spent around the Priestess's temple, protecting Miroku.
"I'm curious what kind of gambling these ancient countries have."
she said.
Kiyohara laughed.
"Afterward, I'll go take a look with you, Sensei."
He gently placated her.
"But first, I need to finalize the alliance agreement with the Daimyo."
Tsunade was not an unreasonable woman.
She waved her hand dismissively.
"Go finish your work first. Call me when you're done."
"Kiyohara and Lady Tsunade really have a wonderful relationship."
Rin commented.
"They really do."
Kurenai nodded in agreement.
She also thought that the relationship between master and disciple was exceptionally close.
Completely unaware that one day...
She might end up wearing a rather conspicuous green hat herself.
Meanwhile, Miroku turned around, preparing to return to the shrine.
"I'll head back to the shrine first."
she said.
The Daimyo watched her retreating figure.
His lips trembled as though he wanted to call out to her.
Yet no words came.
Miroku's attitude toward him had clearly become much colder.
All because...
He had touched Moryo.
That was the one line she would never tolerate anyone crossing.
...
A few days later.
Iwagakure.
Inside the Tsuchikage's Office.
Gaki knelt on one knee before Onoki, reporting every detail of what had happened in the Land of Demons.
He had rushed back to Iwagakure as quickly as possible for the sole purpose of delivering this information.
"...Kiyohara summoned a gigantic golden warrior and treated Moryo like a tiny eel, squeezing him in its hand while beating him with punch after punch until Moryo couldn't fight back at all. He didn't even use his sword..."
Gaki recalled that the golden giant had indeed held a sword.
But Kiyohara had quickly sheathed it at his waist, relying solely on his fists throughout the battle.
In the end, Kiyohara and the Priestess had worked together to seal Moryo before taking him back to Konoha.
Onoki sat in his massive stone chair.
The expression on his aged face became increasingly solemn.
A golden giant...
There was no doubt in his mind.
That had to be...
Susanoo.
The sight immediately reminded him of one man.
A man who had once terrified him to the depths of his soul.
Uchiha Madara.
That man...
Had possessed an almost identical power.
"So..."
"A truly extraordinary individual has appeared once again..."
Onoki murmured to himself.
He slowly rose to his feet and walked toward the window, gazing out over the village surrounded by towering stone cliffs.
"Issue my orders."
he said.
"Iwagakure will begin a comprehensive reform."
"We will accelerate the selection of talented individuals."
"Starting today, all efforts devoted to training our younger generation of shinobi will be significantly increased."
Gaki raised his head.
"Tsuchikage-sama..."
"Go."
Onoki waved his hand without turning around.
Gaki remained silent for several moments before standing up and quietly leaving the office.
After the door closed behind him, Onoki remained alone, replaying Gaki's report over and over in his mind.
"The shinobi world..."
"...is about to witness the birth of a second Madara."
Even now, Onoki could vividly remember his youth.
Back then, he had accompanied his teacher, the Second Tsuchikage Mu, to meet Uchiha Madara.
The humiliation Madara had inflicted upon them remained engraved in his memory to this day.
Although rumors claimed that Kiyohara was nothing like the other members of the Uchiha Clan, that he was neither obsessive nor extreme...
In Onoki's eyes...
Every single Uchiha was nothing less than a ticking time bomb.
....
Sunagakure.
Inside the Kazekage Building.
Baki stood before Rasa and likewise delivered a detailed report about everything that had happened in the Land of Demons.
"...Kiyohara's strength has already far exceeded my previous estimates. That golden giant could probably suppress even a Tailed Beast."
Rasa sat behind his desk, his eyes narrowing slightly.
Kiyohara's figure appeared within his mind.
The young man who had once fought against him.
Back then...
Although Kiyohara's talent had already been astonishing, it still remained within the realm of understanding.
But now...
"So you're saying..."
"His strength has already surpassed mine?"
Baki remained silent for a moment before slowly nodding.
"I'm afraid so."
Rasa fell into silence.
"Fortunately..."
"Suna formed an alliance with Konoha long ago."
He slowly shook his head.
"Issue the order."
"We'll convene a meeting."
"We need to discuss this year's Chunin Exams and the arrangements for sending our Genin to Konoha."
"Understood."
Baki accepted the order and departed.
Rasa remained seated alone in his office, quietly staring through the window at the endless sea of yellow sand stretching across the horizon.
...
Several more days passed.
Konohagakure.
By the time Kiyohara's group arrived at the village gates, dusk had nearly fallen.
Standing before the entrance, Miroku slowly raised her head, looking at the towering gate before her and the lively streets faintly visible beyond it.
She had never seen such a sight before.
Although the Land of Demons possessed an ancient history...
It was also an extremely isolated country.
Held in her mother's arms, little Shion poked her tiny head over Miroku's shoulder, curiously observing everything around her.
"Mommy..."
"This place is so lively..."
she said in her childish voice.
Miroku lowered her head to look at her daughter.
The little girl's delicate face was filled with nothing but excitement and curiosity.
"Mmm."
She answered softly, the corners of her lips lifting into a faint smile.
Walking at the front of the group, Kiyohara led them through the bustling streets toward the Hokage Tower.
Along the way, many villagers recognized him.
One after another, they stopped what they were doing and enthusiastically waved toward him.
"Kiyohara-sama!"
"Kiyohara-sama is back!"
"So that's Kiyohara-sama?"
"He's so handsome!"
Watching the admiration shining in the villagers' eyes, Miroku silently realized that Kiyohara's status within Konoha was even higher than she had imagined.
The Hokage Tower.
Hiruzen sat behind the large office desk, his smoking pipe releasing thin wisps of white smoke into the air.
Although he was no longer Hokage, he still possessed a certain degree of authority, serving in a role equivalent to that of a Hokage advisor.
When Kiyohara pushed open the door and entered, Hiruzen looked up, a pleased smile spreading across his face.
"You're back?"
Kiyohara nodded.
Walking over, he gave a detailed report of everything that had happened during the mission to seal Moryo.
As Hiruzen listened...
Even his expression became increasingly colorful with surprise.
"...And that's everything."
After finishing his report, Kiyohara placed the scroll containing Moryo's seal upon the desk.
Hiruzen looked down at the scroll.
He clearly had not expected so many unexpected developments to occur during a mission that was originally supposed to be straightforward.
"Good."
"Very good."
He said the word twice in succession before lifting his head to look at Kiyohara once more.
(End of Chapter)