"On this matter, you did very well."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's gaze fell on Miroku, who was standing by the door.
It was his first time seeing the priestess of the Land of Demons as well.
"Lady Priestess, welcome to Konoha,"
Hiruzen said.
The people of the Land of Demons placed immense faith in the priestess. If the priestess came to Konoha, it would effectively bind the Land of Demons even more tightly to them.
That layer of alliance would be even stronger than the one between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
Miroku gave a slight bow.
"Thank you, Lord Hokage."
Hiruzen smiled.
"I'm no longer the Hokage. Just call me Advisor."
Though he was no longer Hokage, he still retained part of that authority.
That was to help the new Hokage become familiar with the role as quickly as possible and learn how to handle affairs of state.
"There's an open area in the back hills of Konoha that would be ideal for building a priestess shrine. I'll have people arrange it as soon as possible."
Hiruzen took out a map of Konoha from his desk drawer and marked off an area on it.
Konoha was huge, and the central district only took up a small part of it.
Most of the rest consisted of various training grounds for ninja—more than forty of them in total.
That was why shinobi could practice their techniques every day without destroying the village.
"I understand."
After glancing at the marked area, Miroku nodded slightly.
According to the map, it really was a peaceful and secluded place.
Hiruzen gave a small wave of his hand.
The priestess was a unique sort of talent, and keeping her in Konoha would benefit the village as well.
And building a shrine would help boost Konoha's economy too. Plenty of visitors came to Konoha every year, and with a priestess shrine added, they would have one more destination to visit.
Then Hiruzen turned to Kiyohara.
"You handled this very well. Take the priestess to see the back mountain area."
He then summoned an Anbu ninja and ordered him to notify the appropriate workers.
Kiyohara bowed slightly and turned to leave.
Miroku followed him out of the office.
After the others were gone, Hiruzen also summoned Minato Namikaze, who had only recently returned to the village.
Since they had needed to wait for the guards to make their way to Konoha, Kiyohara and Minato had ended up returning at roughly the same pace.
…
A few hours later.
The back hills of Konoha.
Workers were already busy on an open stretch of land.
They were conducting the initial survey, drawing plans, and deciding how the shrine should be built.
According to Hiruzen's arrangements, a priestess shrine would be constructed there.
Miroku stood at the edge of the clearing, looking out at the area under development.
A few of the guards from the Land of Demons had gone over to help as well.
That way, the shrine could better reflect the style of the Land of Demons.
After bringing Miroku there, Kiyohara made his intention to leave known.
Miroku did not try to stop him. Instead, she arranged a time to meet again so they could continue discussing Mōryō.
"Alright. I'll come see you again in a couple of days, Lady Priestess."
With that, Kiyohara's figure slowly vanished.
There would be Anbu assigned to take Miroku, Shion, and the guards to their temporary residence, so there was no need for him to worry about it.
Kiyohara planned to spend the next two days properly researching Mōryō first.
"He disappeared…"
Shion stared at the spot where Kiyohara had vanished and couldn't help blurting it out.
No matter how many times she saw it, she still found it amazing.
A living person, just gone like that.
"Space-time ninjutsu."
Miroku gently stroked Shion's head.
Only then did Shion pull her gaze back and look at the land in front of them.
Clutching at her mother's clothes, she asked curiously,
"Mom, are we going to live here from now on?"
Miroku lowered her head and looked at her.
"Yes."
She nodded.
"From now on, this will be our home."
Shion's eyes lit up.
"Yay!"
She let go and ran around the open space, her tiny figure casting a long shadow in the setting sun.
To Shion, everything here was new and exciting.
Watching her, a faint smile appeared on Miroku's dignified face.
…
Tsunade's house.
When Kiyohara pushed the door open and walked in, Tsunade was sitting in the living room, leisurely eating the fruit Shizune had bought.
Her legs were stretched out casually, her pale calves exposed, and the wooden sandals on her feet had been kicked off and tossed aside.
When she heard the door open, she looked up.
"You're back?"
Kiyohara nodded and sat down opposite her.
Shizune poked her head out from the kitchen.
"Kiyohara-kun, what do you want for dinner?"
"Anything's fine."
"Then we'll have fish tonight."
Shizune put on her shoes and went out to buy a few kitchen supplies.
That left only Kiyohara and Tsunade in the living room.
"You did very well this time."
She set the fruit down and leaned back in her chair.
"Sealing Mōryō, winning over the Land of Demons, bringing the priestess back… adding all of that together, you're pretty much guaranteed now."
Kiyohara shook his head.
"Let's not pop the champagne yet."
Tsunade raised a brow.
"Pop the champagne?"
She clearly had no idea what he meant.
"It means celebrating early."
Kiyohara explained.
Tsunade let out an "oh," then suddenly leaned in close.
Her beautiful face was right in front of him, her breath soft and warm.
"If you really do become Hokage, aren't you going to give your teacher a little something?"
She blinked, her golden-brown eyes full of mischief.
From this angle, Kiyohara could clearly see his own reflection in her eyes.
"I already thought of that."
Kiyohara smiled slightly.
Tsunade looked puzzled.
"Thought of what?"
Kiyohara pulled a scroll from his clothes and handed it to her.
Tsunade accepted it and opened it.
It was a detailed proposal, full of writing and diagrams.
"This is…"
Her eyes widened more and more as she read.
"A casino district near the back mountain?"
She looked up at him.
"Are you serious?"
"Of course I am."
He hadn't originally expected a priestess shrine to be built in the back hills either.
This was just one of several plans he had in mind.
After investing in the Land of Whirlpools, Kiyohara had a sudden realization—he could also try developing Konoha and making more investments there.
Now that the priestess shrine was being built, if he opened a casino district nearby, it would probably make a lot of money.
"Tourists who come to Konoha can't just visit the shrine. They need entertainment too. And gambling is one of the best forms of entertainment."
Kiyohara explained.
"That way, visitors spend their money in Konoha. It boosts tourism and the gambling business at the same time."
Tsunade listened, completely absorbed.
She lowered her head and kept reading through the plan.
Location, scale, operating model, division of profits…
Everything was written out clearly.
"You… when did you make this?"
She looked up, full of surprise.
"A long time ago."
Kiyohara smiled.
"Whether I become Hokage or not, I'd still be able to do this."
The Land of Whirlpools investment had already started turning a profit. Plenty of people were curious about the ruins there and had begun traveling to visit.
After all, the Land of Whirlpools had plenty of things worth promoting—the greatest sealing arts ruins in the ninja world, the oldest village of longevity, and so on.
Once it began operating, Kiyohara, as the biggest investor, naturally received the largest share of the profit.
Tsunade fell silent.
She suddenly remembered what Kiyohara had once called a "small goal."
One hundred million.
At the time, she had thought it was just some offhand number.
But now, it was obvious that he had been serious.
"Oh, right."
Kiyohara suddenly added,
"If you ever gamble at one of my casinos in the future, Sensei, you get half off."
Tsunade froze.
"Half off?"
"Yeah."
Kiyohara nodded.
To him, it was no different from moving money from one hand to the other anyway.
Tsunade looked at him for a moment, not knowing what to say.
"Brat, you really did put thought into this."
She reached out and ruffled his hair.
Kiyohara let her hand rest there for a moment.
Then he lifted his head.
His gaze moved across her face, then slowly lowered.
Until it came to rest on her lips.
Those full, soft lips were slightly curved upward.
Tsunade's hand paused.
She had noticed the heat in Kiyohara's gaze.
"Brat…"
Her voice tightened a little.
"What are you trying to do?"
Kiyohara looked at her.
"Your disciple gives you all this, and you're not going to show any appreciation?"
"What do you want?"
Tsunade asked.
"You once gave me a lucky kiss. It's only fair I return the favor and give you one back."
With that, Kiyohara leaned in and kissed her.
Tsunade's whole body went rigid.
Instinctively, she tried to push him away.
But the moment her hands pressed against his chest, she realized she couldn't move him.
That brat is this strong?
Tsunade was startled.
Just now, she had unconsciously used a bit of her monstrous strength, and Kiyohara had taken it head-on.
That kind of body was absurd.
She tried to struggle a little more, but still couldn't break free.
Kiyohara's arm circled around her waist and gently drew her closer.
They say a woman in her thirties is like a wolf, and in her forties like a tiger.
Tsunade was an ordinary woman.
She had lived alone for years, with only Shizune and Tonton by her side.
Sometimes she passed the time at the casino. Sometimes she drank. Sometimes, late at night, she just stared out the window at the moon.
She had thought she would go on living like that forever.
Until Kiyohara appeared.
This bold, shameless disciple was always taking little liberties with her.
Before long, under Kiyohara's practiced touch, Tsunade's body started to soften.
His hand slid from her waist down to her thigh.
There was warmth in his touch. Even through the thin layer of light-blue fabric, he could feel the fullness of her thigh.
Firm, soft, with the elasticity unique to a woman.
His fingers moved lightly over the fabric, leaving faint traces behind.
Tsunade's breathing grew quicker.
Those things she had suppressed for years were slowly starting to wake up.
Who knew how much time passed.
Kiyohara's hand left her thigh and returned to her waist.
Tsunade felt his hand tighten, trying to draw her even closer.
And her body began leaning toward him almost on its own.
Then, all at once, she snapped back to herself.
"No."
She stepped back and broke free of his arms.
Kiyohara hadn't used force, so she managed it easily.
Tsunade stood there in front of him, chest rising and falling hard.
Her beautiful face was completely flushed.
The red had spread from her cheeks to her ears, even disappearing beneath her collar.
Her breathing was uneven, and her lips were slightly swollen.
"I… I'm going to take a bath."
she blurted out in a rush.
Kiyohara looked at her and smiled faintly.
"Alright."
He wasn't in any hurry.
He'd already kissed her. Was the next step really that far away?
Kiyohara rubbed his chin.
Tsunade didn't dare look at him.
She turned and hurried for the stairs.
Her steps were uneven, and she nearly stumbled over her own feet.
Then she vanished around the bend in the staircase.
Her footsteps grew fainter, followed by the sound of a door opening and closing.
Now Kiyohara was alone in the living room.
He stood there, looking toward the place where she had disappeared.
Then the door opened.
Shizune came back in from outside.
Tonton was in her arms, and she wore a puzzled look.
"Where's Lady Tsunade?"
"She went to bathe."
Kiyohara answered evenly.
"Oh."
Shizune nodded and didn't ask anything more.
She had only gone out to buy salt.
Holding Tonton, she headed to the kitchen.
Kiyohara, meanwhile, made his way to the Forest of Death.
He found a deserted place and released Mōryō's seal.
Purple-black mist seeped out through the cracks in the sealing pattern, gradually taking on a vague outline.
It resembled the shape of a dragon's head and slowly became more solid.
"Human."
Mōryō's voice came from the mist.
"So you're finally willing to listen to me."
Kiyohara completely ignored whatever Mōryō was saying. Instead, he took out another object from a sealing scroll—a stone about the size of his palm.
The stone was pitch black, its surface gleaming like metal.
A chakra magnet stone.
Even a tiny piece of it could sell for tens of millions of ryō.
"Human, I can give you power. True power. A power greater than any ninjutsu."
"As long as you release the seal and let me regain my freedom, I can teach you everything I know."
Seeing that Kiyohara wasn't paying attention to him at all, Mōryō panicked.
It was terrified of being sealed forever.
So it immediately raised the stakes, trying harder to tempt him.
But no matter what it said, Kiyohara ignored it.
He began drawing out Mōryō's chakra, and a stream of purple-black mist slowly started sealing itself into the chakra magnet stone.
Mōryō's chakra was being stripped away bit by bit.
"What are you doing?!"
Mōryō shouted.
"You're stealing my power!"
In all its thousand years, it had never experienced anything like this.
The stone began to change color.
From black, to deep purple, to a dark purple-black.
Mōryō could feel its power slipping away.
Even if it was only a little at a time, that was enough to make it panic.
"Stop!"
The mist body Mōryō had condensed twisted violently, trying to wrench itself free of Kiyohara's pull.
"Human, we can cooperate!"
Its voice had turned desperate.
"Release me, and I'll teach you all of Dark Medical Ninjutsu—all the forbidden techniques, all the secrets that can break the limits of the flesh, I'll tell you everything!"
Hearing Mōryō beg without pause, Kiyohara frowned slightly.
In the next instant, he wrapped his hand in Lightning Release chakra and struck Mōryō across the side.
Lightning Release: Lightning Palm.
A flash of blue-white current burst forth, and Mōryō let out a shriek.
"Drop the act. It won't work on me."
Kiyohara said coldly.
For a thousand years, every time Mōryō revived, it had committed every kind of evil imaginable.
Now that it had fallen into his hands, it was only karmic justice.
Kiyohara's dark eyes shifted next, becoming a vivid crimson.
Mangekyō Sharingan genjutsu.
In an instant, he seized control of Mōryō and started interrogating it for information about Dark Medical Ninjutsu.
Kiyohara had no intention of trusting anything Mōryō volunteered on its own.
Anything he wanted to know, he could simply extract through genjutsu.
Otherwise, there was always the risk that Mōryō might plant some hidden trap in the information.
Under the pressure of genjutsu interrogation, Mōryō was forced to keep revealing one piece of information after another.
Kiyohara listened quietly, occasionally nodding and asking for more detail.
His other hand never stopped working.
The purple-black chakra continued flowing into the chakra magnet stone without pause.
By the time Mōryō finally spoke its last word, the stone had completely turned deep violet.
On its surface, a tiny dragon-shaped shadow could faintly be seen swimming within the crystal.
A full third of Mōryō's chakra had been sealed into that stone.
And Mōryō itself had shrunk to less than half its previous size.
Kiyohara, meanwhile, was considering whether he should excise part of Mōryō's consciousness and leave behind only the portion of its body capable of continuously producing chakra.
"The priestess can probably deal with that."
Kiyohara thought about it.
If soul and flesh could be separated, then isolating only part of the soul shouldn't be difficult either.
Split Mōryō's spirit into several pieces, and leave only the most basic functions inside the body.
After that, Kiyohara sealed Mōryō away again and looked down at the black stone in his hand.
This had gone more smoothly than he expected.
For now, Kiyohara was just using this as practice.
When Miroku sealed some of her chakra into the bell talisman Shion carried, she had done something very similar.
That red gemstone was also a specialty of the Land of Demons.
Kiyohara planned to do more research and experimentation until he could create a perfect artificial tailed beast.
At the same time, more ideas came to him.
The vessel didn't necessarily have to be implanted into his own body so he could become a jinchūriki that way.
He could also shape the artificial tailed beast's shell into a kind of tool or talisman—just like Shion's bell—and use it purely as a chakra battery.
"Becoming a dragon is true senjutsu… only by becoming capable of bearing power at its source… by ascending into a dragon can one transcend the limits of mortal flesh…"
Kiyohara suddenly remembered what the White Snake Sage had once said.
He lowered his eyes to the black stone.
If he could create an artificial tailed beast and then transfer the Dragon Vein's chakra into it…
Then he would have an endless source of chakra.
He wouldn't need to endure the erosion of the Dragon Vein's violent power.
He wouldn't need to worry about losing control.
And he wouldn't need to worry about the Dragon Vein being extracted and killing him instantly.
"So that's it."
Kiyohara thought to himself.
At its core, what the White Snake Sage wanted and what he was doing now were the same thing.
The only difference was that she had wanted to make herself into the vessel and bear all of the Dragon Vein's power directly.
Kiyohara, on the other hand, preferred a much safer approach.
"An artificial tailed beast…"
He decided to gather more intelligence on Shinnō. Once the time came, he could learn directly from the man himself and speed up the research dramatically.
At the same time, Kiyohara also found himself thinking about something else.
If he could obtain a portion of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's body, could he use this same method to gradually insert tailed beast chakra into it?
And in doing so, create an alternative kind of Ten-Tails?
After all, both Madara Uchiha and Obito Uchiha had become the Ten-Tails' jinchūriki through the Six Paths Ten-Tails Coffin Seal.
Kiyohara wasn't sure whether obtaining the Ten-Tails' power through the Six Paths Ten-Tails Coffin Seal might leave some kind of hidden contingency behind from Kaguya.
After all, once Six Paths Madara had his chest pierced, he had immediately become Kaguya's vessel.
"Forget it."
Kiyohara shook his head.
For now, he would focus on dealing with the Dragon Vein first.
…
At the same time.
The Hokage Building, conference room.
Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane.
They were currently in the middle of the final discussion over who would become Hokage.