The next moment, Kiyohara's consciousness sank into his mindscape.
He discovered that a new urn had appeared in his mind.
Kiyohara studied this new urn.
He noticed that it was clearly a size larger than the others.
"Why does this one feel bigger?"
Kiyohara stroked his chin.
Then he began examining the patterns and markings on its surface.
Generally speaking, the urns revealed some kind of information.
For example, if an urn bore the symbol of a Konoha ninja forehead protector, then the future buried within it was likely that of a Konoha shinobi.
Kiyohara found that this new future just so happened to bear a Konoha ninja symbol.
Before he could continue examining it, the lid of the urn clicked open.
A hazy figure emerged from within.
He looked to be in his early twenties, with a sharpness still lingering between his brows.
This future self looked almost identical to Kiyohara, except his hair was silver-white, spiky like a hedgehog's.
It was like Minato Namikaze's hairstyle, just dyed white.
Kiyohara looked over this new future self's outfit and saw that he was wearing traditional Uchiha clan clothing—a high-collared robe with the fan crest on it.
In his eyes, a crimson Mangekyō pattern slowly spun.
It was different from Kiyohara's current pattern, looking more like two blooming flowers.
The petals overlapped layer upon layer, and from the tip of each petal extended fine vein-like lines that spread toward the corners of the eyes.
Kiyohara raised a brow.
The Mangekyō pattern being different from his own was probably the result of their different states of mind.
After all, a person shaped by a different environment could turn out vastly different.
What really interested Kiyohara was whether this meant he could gain even more Mangekyō abilities.
If he fully inherited everything, would he end up with four Mangekyō techniques?
His own two, plus the new future's two?
"My past self."
The new future interrupted Kiyohara's thoughts.
"Oh? Looks like you awakened the Mangekyō Sharingan too."
Mangekyō Kiyohara looked at Kiyohara.
"That's right. I've awakened it too."
Kiyohara nodded.
At the same time, a new thought rose in his heart.
Mangekyō Kiyohara seemed to see right through what he was thinking and said:
"I'm guessing you're wondering whether you can use this to obtain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
Kiyohara didn't deny it. He nodded, then said:
"In theory, we're the same person, but we were distributed across different futures and different timelines. So I'm not sure whether that counts as blood relation."
"It definitely counts."
Mangekyō Kiyohara said that, then stepped out of the mindscape.
Kiyohara's consciousness returned to reality as well.
Mangekyō Kiyohara floated outside Kiyohara's body with his arms crossed.
His silver-white hair was very long, reaching all the way past his waist.
"And you don't have to worry. Once you inherit everything from me, you'll definitely gain the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan."
Mangekyō Kiyohara said this flatly.
Just as Kiyohara was feeling puzzled, Mangekyō Kiyohara explained:
"Because I am the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. I awakened it after inheriting the future of another Uchiha."
"!"
Kiyohara immediately understood why Mangekyō Kiyohara sounded so certain.
So this future self already possessed the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
Very quickly, Kiyohara thought of another question.
"So that means you have four dōjutsu abilities?"
"Only three. One of them overlaps."
Mangekyō Kiyohara shook his head.
"My left eye just so happens to be Amaterasu, so it overlaps with the ability from that other future."
Kiyohara felt that was a strange coincidence.
Maybe they had awakened their eyes under similar emotions, and when the Sharingan responded, it produced the same technique.
Take Tsukuyomi, for example. That technique existed among the Uchiha as far back as the Warring States era.
Uchiha Hikari had it too, so it wasn't unique to Itachi.
Sasuke's Amaterasu also overlapped with Itachi's.
"Still, that's one more than most other Uchiha."
Kiyohara felt that was pretty good already.
But to be safe, he still chose to reveal his own eye techniques.
His left eye possessed Amenominakanushi, a technique that controlled attraction and repulsion, allowing him to pull in or push away all objects.
His right eye possessed Ashihara no Yūsei, a technique that controlled gravity at a single point, creating a miniature gravitational singularity anywhere within his line of sight.
"So both of yours are gravity-based?"
Mangekyō Kiyohara looked quite surprised by Kiyohara's abilities.
"Your dōjutsu doesn't involve anything like that?"
Kiyohara asked.
"No, not at all."
Mangekyō Kiyohara shook his head.
Kiyohara felt a surge of delight.
If that was the case, then wouldn't he gain three brand-new dōjutsu?
Altogether, that would give him five eye techniques.
Normally, the Mangekyō Sharingan only granted two abilities. That was practically iron law.
Even after awakening the Rinnegan, one generally only gained one additional unique ability.
And all of it was highly random—sometimes extremely powerful, sometimes not.
Madara Uchiha's Mangekyō abilities had always remained a mystery.
But there were only two possibilities. Either they were support-type powers that looked unimpressive but were actually always in use…
Or they were simply too useless for Madara to even bother with.
Like how once someone learned the Shadow Clone Technique, nobody bothered using the regular Clone Technique anymore.
"So how did you die?"
Kiyohara asked curiously.
Since he had the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, that meant there were very few people who could kill him.
Even if he ended up in the Fourth Great Ninja War, he should at least have been able to provide support like Minato—not end up like Lee after opening the Sixth Gate, only able to watch the big battle and cheer from the sidelines.
"Killed by Kaguya Ōtsutsuki. Mm. All-Killing Ash Bones one-shotted me."
Mangekyō Kiyohara said it calmly.
"…"
Well. That settled that.
Kiyohara felt that death really had been unavoidable.
If he got hit by an All-Killing Ash Bones attack right now, his ashes would probably be scattered on the spot too.
That technique was so powerful that even Six Paths Naruto and Sasuke at their peak didn't dare take it head-on.
"Why did she kill you?"
Kiyohara asked.
"She probably wanted to reclaim my chakra. We couldn't reach an agreement, so she made a move."
Mangekyō Kiyohara shook his head.
Then he revealed a bombshell.
"I also have half-Ōtsutsuki blood. I underwent an ancestral regression."
"!"
Kiyohara's heart jolted the instant he heard that.
Mangekyō Kiyohara noticed his reaction and the corner of his mouth lifted slightly.
"You felt it, didn't you?"
He raised his right hand.
Palm facing upward.
A black rod slowly condensed in his hand.
A chakra black rod.
Kiyohara recognized it immediately.
Nagato's Six Paths of Pain used this trick all the time.
Because the Rinnegan allowed its user to freely shape their chakra into weapons like this, which could be inserted into an opponent's body to block chakra points, disrupt chakra flow, and even control enemies or tailed beasts.
"How did you create that?"
Kiyohara asked curiously.
Chakra black rods were also known as chakra receivers, or black receivers.
But aside from the Rinnegan, there were other ways to create them—for example, Isshiki Ōtsutsuki could also freely use chakra black rods.
Kiyohara guessed that this might be something created through special Ōtsutsuki chakra or perhaps Yin-Yang Release.
"Ōtsutsuki."
Mangekyō Kiyohara answered flatly.
"I have half-Ōtsutsuki blood inside me. I'm already basically half a member of the Ōtsutsuki clan."
He dismissed the black rod, then looked at Kiyohara with those Eternal Mangekyō eyes.
"You should understand what that means."
Of course Kiyohara understood.
The Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, plus Ōtsutsuki blood, meant Mangekyō Kiyohara's power had already surpassed the limits of an ordinary Uchiha and begun evolving toward an even higher level.
If he inherited all of this…
Kiyohara's breathing grew slightly faster.
His Mangekyō Sharingan was already augmented by Asura's chakra, making its consumption far lower than that of a normal Mangekyō.
If he then gained the Eternal Mangekyō, plus that portion of Ōtsutsuki blood…
The Rinnegan might really no longer be just a dream.
At its core, Indra's chakra was also half-Ōtsutsuki chakra.
It was precisely because it combined with the other half—Asura's chakra—that it drew out the chakra of the Sage of Six Paths, or rather the Ōtsutsuki, and made it possible to awaken the Rinnegan.
And if, on top of all this, Kiyohara also obtained Sasuke's Indra chakra, then it might catalyze his evolution into a complete Ōtsutsuki.
"So what is your final wish?"
Kiyohara asked.
To inherit all this, he first had to fulfill the wish.
Mangekyō Kiyohara looked at him and was silent for a while.
"Kill Danzō Shimura."
Mangekyō Kiyohara said.
"That old bastard, in my era, was always coveting the Sharingan. I kept him alive because I needed him to help check the forces within the village, but now…"
He paused, and a trace of coldness flashed through those crimson eyes.
"If I could do it over again, I'd cut off his hand the first time he ever reached out."
Kiyohara answered immediately:
"Done."
He had no reason to refuse that request.
Danzō Shimura had more than enough dirt on him. As long as Kiyohara dug a little, he could deal with him through legitimate means.
Of course, Kiyohara had plenty of illegitimate means too.
He just didn't want to make too much noise, since Danzō effectively had ten minutes of invincibility.
Mangekyō Kiyohara nodded, then stated another final wish.
The second wish was much simpler: he wanted Kiyohara to cultivate certain secret Yin Release and Yang Release techniques.
That wasn't much of a problem for Kiyohara now that he was Hokage—he had plenty of ways to make those ninja clans hand them over.
...…
Land of Rain border, dusk.
The wind came in from the west, carrying the dampness of the recent rain.
Kisame Hoshigaki leaned against a wall with his arms crossed, those shark-like eyes half closed, as if he were dozing.
Kakuzu sat across from him, counting money.
For Kakuzu, that was life's greatest pleasure.
"What are you looking at?"
A voice came from the side.
Kakuzu looked up.
Uchiha Obito was walking over from the end of the corridor, a tiger-striped mask covering most of his face, leaving only one crimson eye exposed.
Kakuzu's brow twitched slightly.
Every time he saw this man, he couldn't help thinking the same thing—was this guy really Uchiha Madara?
That Sharingan couldn't be fake, but wasn't Uchiha Madara living just a little too long?
"Nothing."
Kakuzu looked away and stood up, rolling his shoulders.
"We training today or not?"
Kakuzu asked casually.
"Uchiha Madara" was always sparring with them under the pretense of training the organization's members.
Of course, most of the time he kept it from going too far.
What Kakuzu found maddening was that "Uchiha Madara" could phase through space.
And he had never once used Susanoo.
That display of power alone kept Kakuzu extremely wary.
What Kakuzu didn't know was that Obito, possessing only one eye, actually couldn't use Susanoo at all.
"We're training."
Obito nodded.
He looked at Kakuzu, but didn't move immediately.
Then Uchiha Obito created a shadow clone. Every time, Obito himself never fought directly—he always let a shadow clone do the job.
That way, nobody could figure out his real abilities. Even if mistakes happened, he could always blame it on the clone being weaker.
Kakuzu formed hand seals, and his right arm began to change. Something writhed beneath the skin.
That arm transformed into a mass of black tendrils, twitching continuously.
Earth Grudge Fear.
The next second, Kakuzu's presence surged.
Wind Release chakra gathered around him.
"Wind Release: Pressure Damage!"
He raised his right arm, and the mass of tendrils suddenly contracted, then burst apart.
A high-pressure wind sphere blasted out from his palm with a shriek, sweeping toward Obito's shadow clone.
As it traveled, it gouged a deep trench into the ground, lifting shattered rocks into the air and grinding them to powder in an instant.
Obito stood where he was.
The wind sphere passed right through his body, as if through a phantom, and slammed into the ground behind him.
The earth exploded, and a crater several meters wide formed amidst the smoke and dust.
Kakuzu's pupils contracted slightly.
That move again.
"Too slow."
Obito's voice came from the front. He had already appeared in front of Kakuzu, his right fist at chest level.
Kakuzu stepped back and crossed his arms to block.
Bang!
A dull impact rang out.
Only then did Kakuzu notice that Obito's hand was wrapped in a layer of Wood Release.
'Looks like after fighting Senju Hashirama for so many years, Uchiha Madara learned this technique too?'
Kakuzu had never seen Uchiha Madara use anything like this in the past, but as the one man who could stand against Hashirama, it wasn't too hard to accept that Madara might have learned it.
Thinking that, Kakuzu threw a punch.
His wrist and forearm instantly separated, still linked by a dense bundle of black threads.
The power of this move was enough to pierce straight through a shinobi's heart, even through armor.
Obito's figure blurred and avoided it.
With the Mangekyō Sharingan, his dynamic vision was extremely strong.
"With your level of strength, trying to spar with Kiyohara? You're still lacking."
Obito shook his head.
No one understood Kiyohara's strength better than he did.
"Is that so?"
Kakuzu yanked open his clothes, revealing a row of masks on his back.
Earth Grudge Fear: Nature Masks!
These elemental mask creatures were formed by Kakuzu stealing other people's hearts and storing them within his body.
By doing that, Kakuzu had gathered all five chakra natures.
As long as the masks remained, he could freely use every ninjutsu the original owners of those hearts had known in life.
"Lightning Release: False Darkness!"
The Lightning Release mask opened its mouth and fired a sharp spear of lightning straight at Obito.
Obito slapped both hands to the ground, forming a wall of earth to block it.
Earth Release: Earth-Style Wall!
From there, the two exchanged blow after blow, continuing the fight.
Kakuzu realized that Uchiha Obito really did possess massive chakra reserves.
And his Wood Release techniques could absorb chakra, making him extremely troublesome to fight.
Having some lingering trauma from Hashirama Senju, Kakuzu wasn't enjoying the battle at all.
"Not good enough, Kakuzu."
Obito watched as his shadow clone burst apart with a puff, his face expressionless.
The clone had disappeared because it had run out of chakra.
"I have a way to boost your strength in a short amount of time."
Uchiha Obito said.
"What is it, Madara?"
Kakuzu was very interested in anything that promised greater power.
"You'll find out later."
Beneath the mask, Uchiha Obito smiled.
The method he meant was, naturally, transplantation of Hashirama cells.
By now, Obito's own body was almost entirely composed of Hashirama cells. The concentration of Senju blood within him was even higher than that of many natural-born Senju.
That had also boosted his strength tremendously.
Of course, the price was that his skin had turned deathly pale, and like Madara, Hashirama's face had even begun growing on his body.
Obito had removed Hashirama's face before, but after healing, it would grow back anyway.
The only explanation he could come up with was that the cells instinctively wanted to restore Senju Hashirama.
Still, while Hashirama's face kept regenerating, it didn't actually interfere with the main body.
"Fine by me."
Kakuzu nodded.
He showed "Uchiha Madara" a great deal of respect—or at least acted like he did.
…
By the time Obito left the hideout, it was completely dark.
The night sky over the Rain Country rarely held stars, and the clouds hung oppressively low.
'Kakuzu's strength isn't bad, but he still has room to grow.'
Obito stroked his chin.
In his effort to find a way to deal with Kiyohara, Obito had been constantly looking for ways to strengthen the Akatsuki's members.
But today, he didn't keep thinking it through.
For some reason, he felt strangely uneasy, like something was about to slip away from him.
"Obito?"
White Zetsu emerged from the soil nearby.
"What's wrong?"
Obito didn't answer.
"I'm going to Konoha."
White Zetsu blinked.
"Okay."
He nodded.
Obito had been going to Konoha quite often lately.
According to him, it was to gather intelligence and create an opening.
Though so far, he hadn't found any such opening at all.
...…
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
Konohagakure.
When the curtain at the entrance of Yakiniku Q was pulled aside, a wave of heat mixed with charcoal smoke and sauce washed over them.
The restaurant was already fairly full, mostly with genin and chūnin, though now and then you could spot a few jōnin in green flak jackets.
During the postwar recovery period, affordable meals out like this had become the most common kind of entertainment.
Kiyohara glanced around at the people inside.
He remembered that once Asuma Sarutobi became a teacher, he often brought his students—Nara Shikamaru, Yamanaka Ino, and Akimichi Chōji—here to eat.
But Chōji's appetite was huge, and it always left Asuma's wallet hurting.
Kiyohara continued forward and soon found Nohara Rin.
Rin was already seated by the window.