"Good. That's all that matters."
Kiyohara nodded.
As long as it didn't interfere with this future self dropping loot for him, it was fine.
Lately, Yotsuki Kiyohara had been fading fast, and Kiyohara kept worrying he might run out of time.
After all, every spirit only existed for a limited time.
That had both advantages and disadvantages.
The downside was obvious: if he got some especially powerful future self, but failed to fulfill that future's lingering wish before the spirit disappeared, then he would lose the chance to inherit that future's power.
Unless, somehow, he later came across something like that future's "will" and got another chance to complete its wish.
The upside, though, was that if he ended up with a bad future self—some insane Kiyohara, villain Kiyohara, or something like that—he could just leave it locked in the urn until it vanished with time.
"Come on, past me. Inherit my final Lightning Release."
Yotsuki Kiyohara spread his arms.
Then he dissolved into a cloud of light.
Those lights drifted toward Kiyohara like snowflakes, merging into his body.
At that instant, Kiyohara felt a world-shaking transformation happen inside him.
The first change was the increase in mental energy.
The spiritual world inside his mind expanded once again.
Then came the physical changes.
The complete bloodline of the Yotsuki clan, forged and tempered over generations, truly fused with him at last.
He could feel it clearly—his affinity with Lightning Release chakra had risen by several levels, and every cell in his body seemed to be cheering.
Finally, his chakra reserves surged dramatically.
His chakra pathways widened like overflowing rivers, and the total amount they could hold increased madly.
From 13.1 units, it climbed all the way up and finally stabilized at… 15.2.
A full increase of 2.1—basically the combined chakra reserves of two ordinary jonin.
Kiyohara slowly opened his eyes, and for a moment, a black spark of lightning seemed to flash deep inside his pupils.
At that exact moment, Darui moved.
Taking advantage of the instant Kiyohara had closed his eyes to absorb the power, he completed his final hand seal.
"Lightning Release: One Lock Thunder Chain!"
A particularly thick bolt of black lightning shot out, aiming straight for Kiyohara's chest.
Darui put his full power into this strike. Everywhere the black lightning passed, it left behind the scorched smell of burnt air.
Kiyohara raised his right arm and blocked with the outside of his forearm.
Clang!
A metallic crash rang out.
Steel Release!
Earth Release: Earth Spear!
The black lightning slammed into Kiyohara's arm and burst into a blinding explosion of black light.
But when the light faded, his arm was completely intact.
There wasn't even a burn mark on it. The spot where the lightning had struck was only faintly red, and even that disappeared within seconds.
"How is that possible…"
Darui's voice came out dry.
Black Lightning was famous for its intense corrosive properties. Once it hit, the lightning would continue destroying the target's cells and tissues.
But Kiyohara had not only tanked it head-on—he had come out completely unscathed?
Kiyohara lowered his gaze to his own arm, thoughtful.
In that split second just now, he had clearly felt the process of the black lightning trying to invade his skin.
But it had only penetrated a very limited depth.
The feeling it gave him was almost like his resistance to Lightning Release had increased.
Because he could clearly tell that Darui's lightning felt weaker against him.
After thinking it over, Kiyohara understood.
Pakura's Scorch Release bloodline had altered her DNA, giving her a degree of "heat immunity."
That was why she could show off bare skin in the blazing desert of the Land of Wind without even getting tanned.
Storm Release, apparently, had given Kiyohara some level of "Lightning Release resistance."
And now that he had inherited the complete Yotsuki bloodline, that resistance had risen again.
'My resistance increased even more than I expected.'
A possibility suddenly occurred to him.
If he kept stacking different bloodlines, then one day, could he eventually become completely immune to all elemental ninjutsu?
Wouldn't that basically amount to gaining a pseudo Sage of Six Paths body?
After all, one of the most obvious traits of Ten-Tails jinchuriki and other Six Paths–level beings was their ability to ignore ordinary ninjutsu completely.
Only physical attacks and sage arts could affect them.
"You're not going to kill me?"
Darui suddenly asked.
He had burned through a lot of chakra just now. If Kiyohara wanted, he could kill him at any time.
And yet Kiyohara had just stood there, as if savoring something.
Kiyohara came back to himself and glanced at him.
"Why would I kill you?"
"I'm a Kumogakure ninja. You're from Konoha…"
"Oh, that."
Kiyohara smiled faintly.
Leeks were something you let grow bigger before harvesting.
Darui still didn't know that many Black Lightning techniques yet. Once he learned more of Kumogakure's secret Black Lightning arts, Kiyohara could come back and harvest another round, copying them all over.
That would maximize the returns.
"Today, I just came here to learn Black Lightning. That's all."
He sheathed his sword and turned toward the door.
When he reached it, he stopped without looking back.
"Oh, right. Tell Samui she did a good job calling me 'Master' last time."
Darui: "…"
The door shut.
Darui remained standing where he was.
Only after a long while did he slowly loosen his grip on his sword. His palm was drenched in cold sweat.
He looked at the blackened scorch marks on the wall left by the Black Lightning, then at his own trembling hands, and finally gave a bitter shake of his head.
"Kiyohara…"
There was no way he would ever forget that name for the rest of his life.
A monster like that—given enough time—would become a huge threat to Kumogakure.
Kiyohara didn't linger after leaving the outpost. He immediately set off for Konoha.
His mission had only been to escort the merchant caravan to the Land of Hot Water. That was done, and he had already accomplished his real objective too, so there was no reason to stay any longer.
On the road back, he kept testing the newly acquired Black Lightning.
Compared to ordinary Lightning Release, Black Lightning consumed more chakra, but its power had clearly risen as well.
The complete Yotsuki bloodline had also altered his Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Just as Kiyohara was continuing his research, he noticed something a little over a hundred meters away—a shadow in the trees moved.
In an instant, his Sharingan turned crimson.
The three tomoe spun slowly, and the world in his vision abruptly slowed.
Tree bark, leaf veins, grains of dirt—every last detail came into perfect focus.
And inside that patch of shadow, he saw a silhouette almost perfectly blended into the surroundings.
White Zetsu.
Kiyohara's pupils narrowed.
One of Madara Uchiha's watchers had actually followed him here?
There was no time to think.
That White Zetsu, disguised as part of the tree's shadow, must have realized it had been exposed. It jerked backward, trying to melt into the denser brush behind it.
Its movement was quick, fluid, like some kind of liquid.
But Kiyohara was faster.
"Lightning Release: Black Panther."
He thrust out his right hand, using the Black Lightning technique he had just learned from Darui.
Crackle!
The black lightning left his hand, twisted midair, and became a panther made entirely of dark lightning.
Unlike Darui's version, which had only barely taken shape, the panther born from Kiyohara's palm was far more solid.
The White Zetsu didn't even have time to make a sound.
The lightning panther pierced straight through its chest.
Szzk.
Its body convulsed violently, then went completely still, its life extinguished.
Kiyohara walked over to the corpse and crouched down.
A fist-sized hole had been blasted through its chest, and the corrosive nature of Black Lightning had turned the tissue around the wound grayish-brown.
"Hashirama cells and White Zetsu cells…"
Kiyohara's eyes lit up. This was good stuff.
He drew his ninja blade and quickly dissected part of the tissue, sealing the samples into a special storage scroll.
The wood-style properties within these White Zetsu cells, and their almost perfect camouflage ability—every part of them was worth studying in depth.
When he stood up again, his eyes swept across the surrounding forest.
There was only this one.
Madara definitely hadn't sent just a single watcher, but at least for now, this area was safe.
Kiyohara didn't stop again. His body became a streak of blue-black lightning and shot into the sky, abandoning the ground route entirely.
Far away, in the Graveyard of the Mountains, deep in the darkness, a pair of crimson Rinnegan slowly opened.
Uchiha Madara listened to White Zetsu's report in silence.
"Black Lightning… Storm Release… he even learned the Third Raikage's secret technique…"
Madara's voice echoed through the cavern.
Half of White Zetsu's body rose out of the ground.
"One of the White Zetsu was killed by Kiyohara. He used Black Lightning to do it, and he took the corpse afterward."
Madara was silent for a moment.
"What about Obito and Black Zetsu?"
"Nagato's instability is getting worse. Yahiko and Nagato are starting to diverge in ideology. The Akatsuki's expansion has drawn the attention of the Land of Rain's daimyo, and outside pressure is turning into internal fractures.
Black Zetsu said that in three months at most, Nagato can be pushed onto the side of the Eye of the Moon Plan."
"Three months…"
Madara murmured.
He closed his eyes again, and in his mind appeared the image of Kiyohara's crimson three-tomoe Sharingan.
This boy's growth was surpassing even Izuna's.
If left alone, sooner or later he would become the greatest obstacle to the plan.
And yet…
The corner of Madara's mouth twitched slightly.
It was almost an expression of admiration.
"Among all the heroes under heaven, only Hashirama and this boy matter."
He muttered the words to himself.
Other than his younger brother, Uchiha Izuna—the only one in the Uchiha clan he had ever truly regarded besides himself—the only outsider Madara had ever respected was Hashirama Senju.
Now, perhaps, Kiyohara ought to be added to that list.
His growth rate was extraordinary enough that even in the Warring States era, he would have been elite among elites.
White Zetsu, listening to Madara's evaluation, didn't think it was exaggerated at all.
The truth was, Kiyohara really was starting to feel like a younger version of Madara himself.
On the other side of the map, Kiyohara did not return directly to Konoha.
Instead, he went to the orphanage run by Nono Yakushi.
During wartime, the orphanage had taken in even more children than usual, and from a long way off, he could already hear the lively noise from inside.
He had barely reached the entrance when a figure ran out from the side door.
"Kiyohara-sama!"
It was Kabuto Yakushi.
The boy had grown taller since the last time they met. His narrow shoulders held up an old jacket that had already been washed pale, and behind his glasses, his eyes shone brilliantly.
He ran up to Kiyohara, slightly out of breath.
"Long time no see, Kabuto."
Kiyohara said.
He gave him a careful look and noticed that Kabuto's chakra reserves had grown a bit compared to before.
"Nono's doing a good job training you."
"Yeah. Dean taught me a lot—chakra refinement, the three basic techniques, medical ninjutsu, and more."
Kabuto blurted it all out in one breath, then looked up at him. There was a careful hope in his eyes.
"The Dean says I learn quickly… Kiyohara-sama, does that mean I can go become a ninja in Konoha now…?"
"That shouldn't be a problem. With your talent, if you go to the Ninja Academy, you'll get even better training and be able to come back and help the orphanage later."
Kiyohara answered him.
Kabuto nodded eagerly.
Kiyohara found himself curious—if Nono Yakushi stayed alive, and Kabuto grew up in a relatively healthy environment, then what kind of road would Kabuto take?
But no matter what road it turned out to be, one thing was inevitable.
He'd still end up working as one of Kiyohara's tools.
"I'll come get you later. First I need to see Nono."
Kiyohara turned and walked off.
Kabuto froze for a second, then his eyes burst with joy.
Kiyohara soon reached the private lab he had funded and put under Nono Yakushi's management.
The lab stood in an inconspicuous two-story building at the edge of the orphanage. From the outside, it looked like an ordinary house, but inside, it was equipped with surprisingly complete medical and research equipment.
Nono Yakushi was standing at a workstation recording data.
She wore a white lab coat, her blonde hair simply tied back. When she heard the door open, she looked up.
The moment she saw Kiyohara, she smiled warmly.
"Kiyohara-kun. Did the mission go well?"
"It did."
Kiyohara stepped up to the workstation and took out the White Zetsu samples from his sealing scroll.
"And I brought back something interesting too."
He placed the samples on a sterile tray.
Nono leaned in to inspect them, and her eyes widened slightly behind her glasses.
"This is… some kind of biological tissue. The chakra response is very strange. It has plant-like properties, but also a humanoid structure…"
"White Zetsu."
Kiyohara gave a brief explanation of where it came from.
"It's related to Hashirama cells. I need you to analyze its cellular structure, especially how it manages to accommodate Wood Release."
"Hashirama cells?"
Nono immediately put on gloves and carefully placed a small piece of the sample under a microscope.
In the past, both Konoha and Danzo's Root had conducted a great deal of research into Hashirama cells.
After all, the old Wood Release experiments had once mobilized the full resources of the village.
Only later, after those experiments were banned, did Orochimaru and Danzo continue them in secret.
A moment later, Nono sucked in a sharp breath.
"Incredible… the cellular activity is far beyond that of an ordinary human. And this creature called White Zetsu doesn't seem to suffer backlash from the Hashirama cells at all. That kind of balance is almost… Kiyohara, where did you even get material like this?"
"On the way back."
Kiyohara didn't elaborate.
"And how's the research on the Ketsuryugan going?"
Only then did Nono tear her attention away from the White Zetsu sample. She walked to the file cabinet on the other side and pulled out a thick report.
"There's been some progress. The core of the Ketsuryugan's eye power is a highly specialized form of Yin Release chakra, but unlike the Sharingan, the Ketsuryugan's Yin Release leans more toward material interference—especially the control of blood…"
She opened the report and pointed to a series of complicated data charts.
"To put it simply, the Ketsuryugan uses Yin Release chakra to directly interfere with the target's blood environment, while the Sharingan leans more toward mental interference, using vision to invade the nervous system with eye power."
Kiyohara glanced through the report.
Good. She wasn't just drawing a salary for nothing.
"If the two were combined…"
Kiyohara grew thoughtful.
"In theory, it's possible. But in practice, the difficulty would be extreme."
Nono answered.
"Just changing the nature of Yin Release chakra already requires an extremely high degree of mental control. Trying to control two different Yin Release pathways at once, even slightly wrong, could cause damage to the brain and nerves… unless…"
She paused and looked at the fully formed diamond mark on Kiyohara's forehead.
"Unless the user has enormous chakra reserves and extremely powerful cellular regeneration, enough to endure the backlash from repeated trial and error."
Kiyohara touched the Yin Seal.
That was true.
With this, he might be able to attempt certain kinds of training that had been far too dangerous before.
"The White Zetsu sample is yours to work with. If you need any resources, just put in the request."
He handed the report back.
"And one more thing…"
"Kabuto's completed his basic training. Starting today, he's officially joining Konoha. I'll report it to the Hokage and bring him into the Ninja Academy."
Nono nodded at that.
She still did have a sense of belonging toward Konoha. The only part she had a bad impression of was Root.
As long as Kabuto didn't end up joining Root in the future, Nono thought Konoha would be a good path for him.
By the time Kiyohara left the lab, it was already evening.
He continued on toward Konoha.
Several days later, he finally returned to the village.
When Kiyohara pushed open the door to his home, he found Tsunade sitting on the sofa with one leg crossed over the other, holding a document in her hand.
Hearing the door, she lifted her eyelids and glanced at him.
"So you still remembered how to come back?"
Her tone wasn't pleasant, but Kiyohara could hear the concern underneath it.
"I got delayed for a few days."
He took off his shoes and sat down beside the sofa.
"What are you reading, Sensei?"
"The merit evaluation report."
Tsunade tossed the document over to him.
"The old man's side works pretty fast. Your achievement for killing the Third Mizukage has officially been entered into the records. Also, we got word from the Kirigakure front. After losing the Mizukage's command, their offensive has completely shrunk back. There probably won't be any major moves from them for a while."
Kiyohara scanned the document.
His merit evaluation had been ranked as special-class, and the corresponding rewards included compensation exceeding even an S-rank mission, expanded access to certain ninjutsu permissions, and one chance to make a reasonable request directly to the Hokage.
They were generous rewards, but to Kiyohara, the only part with real value was probably the ninjutsu access.
He could go take a look through the jutsu archives and see if there was anything worth learning.
After decades of accumulation, Konoha had to have some secret techniques that couldn't be found elsewhere.
And then there were the forbidden arts recorded in the Scroll of Seals.
"What the old man gave you is just the official reward. But as your teacher…"
Tsunade got up and rolled her shoulders.
"I still haven't gotten you the personal share yet."
She walked up. She reached out and kneaded his cheek.
The force wasn't light, carrying her usual boldness.
"Come with me to the Hokage Building first thing tomorrow morning."
"To do what?"
"To demand benefits, obviously!"
Tsunade said it as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You killed the Mizukage of Kirigakure. Do you know how much face that won for Konoha? Just getting one line in the archives isn't nearly enough. Ninja tools, medicine, rare materials, maybe even permission to read some of the forbidden techniques in the Scroll of Seals… we're taking as much as we can."
Kiyohara laughed.
Of course. That was Tsunade's style.
"Sensei, wouldn't that be a bit…"
"A bit what?"
Tsunade glared at him.
"You're my student. You earned the merit, so it's only natural that I fight to get you the best possible rewards."
Kiyohara: "…"
He suddenly had the feeling that when Tsunade went to the Hokage Building tomorrow to demand rewards for him, she might also be planning to skim off a little something for herself along the way.
If he remembered right, Tsunade's gambling fund was running low.
~~~
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