An hour later, Kiyohara sent the exhausted Uchiha Izumi home. She was so tired she could barely stand.
Izumi's mother thanked him repeatedly, but Izumi had already fallen asleep on Kiyohara's back, a satisfied smile still on her little face.
Kiyohara handed her over to her mother, then turned and disappeared into the night.
When Uchiha Izumi was carried into the house by her mother, she dazedly opened her eyes a little.
She looked at that white figure disappearing beneath the moonlight, and only felt warmth spreading through her chest, like a tiny flame burning there.
She could feel Kiyohara's concern.
The innocent young girl silently made a decision in her heart.
She had to train seriously, get good results in the exam, and make Kiyohara-sensei happy.
Time passed quickly. More than a year went by.
During this year, Konoha grew ever more prosperous under Kiyohara's rule.
The military base in the Land of Lightning had long since been completed, and the Fire Country's border was firmly held in Konoha's grasp. None of the Five Great Ninja Villages dared lightly test the edge of this Fourth Hokage.
Even the legendary Sannin, the most famous trio in the shinobi world, walked down entirely different paths during this year.
At noon that day, Kiyohara had just finished reading a cooperation document sent by Sunagakure when Hiruzen Sarutobi appeared at the doorway.
The old Hokage's back was more hunched than before. He walked in, his Adam's apple bobbing twice before he revealed an ugly expression.
"Kiyohara, Orochimaru… has defected."
Kiyohara raised his eyes. Hearing this, he was not surprised.
Just like in the original story, Hiruzen Sarutobi had followed the clues and stumbled upon Orochimaru's laboratory. Yet in the end, because of the bond between teacher and student, he had watched his once-proudest student flee Konoha with his own eyes.
Against Orochimaru, he could not bring himself to strike the killing blow.
In his heart, the bond between teacher and student outweighed the rules of the village.
From this alone, one could see Hiruzen Sarutobi's softness.
Even after personally witnessing a laboratory conducting human experiments, with many corpses hanging there, he could still let Orochimaru escape.
Shimura Danzo had become Konoha's darkness in no small part because of Hiruzen Sarutobi's indulgence.
"I see."
Kiyohara spoke.
Orochimaru would defect sooner or later.
Or rather, with Orochimaru's intelligence, how could he possibly fail to clean up his own traces?
The only explanation was that Orochimaru did not particularly want to stay in the village anymore either.
Continuing to stay in Konoha indeed made it impossible for him to conduct dark experiments as he pleased.
"How does the Third intend for me to handle this?"
Kiyohara asked.
"Handle it according to the rules."
Sarutobi Hiruzen seemed to have aged several years.
Konoha had been thriving, and Hiruzen had been preparing to enjoy his old age peacefully.
He had never expected that his lifelong reputation would be ruined like this. His eldest student, Orochimaru, had actually done such heretical things.
"Konan."
Kiyohara spoke.
A cold-looking woman with short blue hair immediately appeared beside him.
"List Orochimaru as an S-rank rogue ninja and issue a village-wide wanted notice. Send two squads to search for him. That will be enough.
"Orochimaru is meticulous. Since he dared defect, he must have prepared escape routes long ago. Forcing a pursuit will only increase casualties."
Kiyohara said.
In truth, whether they issued a wanted notice or not made little difference. No ordinary ninja could capture any S-rank rogue ninja.
Kiyohara also had no intention of wiping Orochimaru out within Konoha's borders.
Akatsuki's curtain was about to rise. Obito, Kakuzu, Sasori—those shadows hidden in the dark needed a pair of eyes to watch them. Orochimaru was the most suitable candidate.
He had no obsession with political power, and his mad desire for immortality would drive him to conduct experiments no matter the cost.
What Kiyohara needed to do was reap Orochimaru's experimental intelligence from behind the scenes.
Kiyohara actually knew about Orochimaru secretly contacting Shinnō as well.
However, Kiyohara had deliberately allowed it.
He hoped Orochimaru could come up with something interesting.
In the original story, Orochimaru's artificial human technology was already perfect enough to cultivate Mitsuki, who was born capable of using Sage Mode.
After joining forces with Shinnō, there should be even more projects.
A snake raised outside was more useful than one locked in a cage.
"Just issue the wanted notice as normal."
Sarutobi Hiruzen let out a heavy sigh.
"I taught such a student. This is my fault."
"There is no need for the Third to blame himself."
Kiyohara stood and walked to the window, gazing at the bustling streets of Konoha below.
After Hiruzen Sarutobi left, Kiyohara summoned Uzuki Yūgao.
"Have the Anbu seal every laboratory under Orochimaru's name. Sort the experimental data by category and hand it over to Konoha Hospital for evaluation."
"Yes."
Uzuki Yūgao bowed and accepted the order.
The door closed behind her.
"The Gozu Tennō experiment is almost complete too."
Kiyohara thought.
Over the past year, Kiyohara had reconditioned and absorbed the surviving Root ninja.
Especially Shigaraki Tanuki. Kiyohara had even assigned him additional ninja.
Research into that space-time secret technique was progressing very smoothly.
'But Red-Horn Kiyohara has become very faint.'
Kiyohara thought of another matter.
He still had one final wish unfinished. Red-Horn Kiyohara's remnant soul could only remain inside the urn like it was in extreme power-saving mode.
Kiyohara estimated that it would dissipate in another half year.
This had given him a clearer understanding of the maximum duration a spirit body could exist.
It was not that he did not want to complete the wish, but that he wanted to make more preparations.
Going to the moon was equivalent to entering the Ōtsutsuki clan's home field.
In a one-on-one fight, Kiyohara was not afraid.
But if they used the power of the Giant Tenseigan, that was hard to say.
A single attack had directly exterminated all the Ōtsutsuki main family members on the moon. That power was truly terrifying.
Just as Kiyohara was preparing to go accept an experiment, a sharp pain came from deep within his eye sockets.
Immediately after, he felt a sensation full of "movement."
It was like a seed buried deep in the soil. After a long sleep, it finally pushed tentatively through its shell for the first time and extended a tender root.
When that root touched the surrounding soil, it brought with it the trembling pulse of new life.
Kiyohara raised a hand and touched his eyelid.
Through the thin skin, he could feel that the surface of his eyeballs was slightly warmer than usual, as if something were slowly burning inside.
"Has all the fusion until now finally affected my eyes?"
Kiyohara's figure flashed, and he left the Hokage building directly.
When he appeared again, he was already in his own room.
He took out a mirror and looked at himself in it.
His black eyes transformed uncontrollably into the Byakugan.
But they did not completely match the Byakugan's usual trait of being "entirely pale white."
Instead, over the base of the Byakugan, there was a faint layer of blue.
And that blue pulsed and contracted slowly, like a heart.
Fetal movement.
That phrase appeared in Kiyohara's mind.
He knew the process by which the Byakugan evolved into the Tenseigan, and he also knew that there was a special stage in the process known as the "fetal movement phase."
Just like a fetus developing in the mother's body, before the Tenseigan truly awakened, it also needed to undergo a period of gestation and movement.
Ocular power slowly accumulated deep within the eyeball, rising and falling like the tide, receding and swelling again, until it fully became the Tenseigan.
If another Hyūga clan member showed such symptoms, they would probably think they had developed some kind of kekkei genkai disease and panic as they went to seek treatment from a medical ninja.
Perhaps such cases had really appeared in the Hyūga clan's history. Some gifted clan member might have awakened a faint trace of ancestral Ōtsutsuki bloodline.
Their Byakugan began showing a blue luster, but it was treated as a disease, and they ultimately missed the chance to awaken the Tenseigan.
Perhaps the so-called "Heavenly Ninja" of the Hyūga clan was something like this.
Of course, perhaps there had been nothing of the sort.
Among the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon, only Ōtsutsuki Toneri had fully undergone ancestral regression.
Kiyohara estimated that what was happening now was the result of more than a year of fusion. The cells in his body had undergone subtle changes.
These powers from different sources converged within him, finally giving birth to the sprout of a qualitative change.
"Looks like it's blue."
Kiyohara thought.
The Tenseigan had three colors.
Blue, gold, and purple.
The movement deep within his eyes continued for about ten minutes, then gradually calmed down.
The blue halo faded from the surface of his irises, slowly retreating deep into his pupils.
Kiyohara blinked. A wave of sore fatigue came from deep within his eyes, as if he had spent several days and nights reading documents nonstop.
But his visual depth had improved by more than one level compared to before.
Was this the effect of the Tenseigan's fetal movement phase?
It had not truly awakened yet. It was only fetal movement, and already his vision had improved to this degree. If it truly awakened, what kind of state would that be?
Kiyohara withdrew his gaze and looked out the window again.
"I wonder whether awakening the Rinnegan will also involve this kind of adaptation phase."
Kiyohara was a little curious.
After all, Uchiha Madara had taken several decades from transplanting Hashirama cells to awakening the Rinnegan.
Whether there had been such a gradual adaptation process during those decades was never explained.
As for Sasuke's Rinnegan, it was directly gifted by the Sage of Six Paths, skipping all intermediate stages.
Kiyohara's situation was different from both.
"It probably won't take too long."
Kiyohara stroked his chin.
At the same time.
The moon.
Inside the moon was a world completely different from its barren surface.
There were blue skies and white clouds like on Earth, as well as a "sun."
That "sun" hovered at the center of the dome, illuminating the entire space like daylight on Earth.
Its light fell upon rolling mountains, winding rivers, and vast forests, casting shadows no different from those on Earth.
An old man quickly left the moon's interior and arrived on the surface.
On the surface, there were also castles protected by barriers.
Outside the castle, there was a massive floating island.
The bottom of the island was an inverted cone-shaped rock formation, covered in moss and vines, like an upside-down mountain that had been pulled out of the ground and suspended in midair.
Above the island was a flat plateau, and on the plateau stood a stone mountain carved with the face of Ōtsutsuki Hamura.
"Did something change at Hamura Shrine?"
The old man hurried over.
His eyes were tightly closed, the eyelids deeply sunken. Clearly, there were no eyeballs left in his sockets.
His face was extremely old, his skin cracked with countless fine lines like a dried riverbed.
Yet his speed was very fast. In the blink of an eye, he had arrived inside Hamura Shrine.
Inside was a huge golden sphere.
The sphere was about twenty meters in diameter, and its entire body emitted golden light.
But if one looked closely, they would discover that countless white eyes flowed within that golden sphere.
This was the highest masterpiece of the moon's Ōtsutsuki branch family.
Hamura's Tenseigan.
The descendants of Ōtsutsuki Hamura had split over the long years into two major factions: the main family and the branch family.
To defeat the main family, all members of the branch family voluntarily contributed their Byakugan, fusing them together to create that purple Tenseigan.
In that war, the branch family won.
Afterward, they collected the Byakugan of the fallen main family members, gathered all the Byakugan together, fused them again, and transformed it into its golden form.
The old man who arrived here sensed the Golden Tenseigan.
He remembered very clearly that the last time the Golden Tenseigan had shown movement was when Toneri was born.
He raised his head and "looked" at the Tenseigan with his hollow eye sockets, long devoid of eyeballs.
"Why has the Golden Tenseigan reacted?"
No matter how the old man thought about it, he was shocked.
There should have been no newborn infant in the clan, so why would this happen?
"Could there still be a main family member capable of drawing out this eye's reaction?"
This was the only explanation he could think of.
The Golden Tenseigan had been fused from the Byakugan of everyone from both the main and branch families. The root of its power was the bloodline of Ancestor Hamura.
Only someone who likewise possessed Hamura's bloodline could be born capable of resonating with it.
Toneri was like that.
And if there were another such clan member…
No. Impossible.
The Great Elder shook his head. His long white hair dragged slowly along the ground with the motion.
The main family had already been wiped out.
If there were no survivors of the main family, then who else could cause the Golden Tenseigan to resonate?
The Hyūga clan?
Those descendants of the branch line who remained on Earth and had not followed Ancestor Hamura to the moon?
The Great Elder's brow furrowed even tighter.
The Hyūga clan's Byakugan purity was too low. A thousand years of reproduction and dilution had made the Hamura blood in them extremely faint, so faint it could almost be ignored.
With that level of purity, it should be impossible to cause the Golden Tenseigan to resonate.
Unless…
Someone in the Hyūga clan had awakened power far beyond the purity of their own bloodline.
But how could that be possible?
Just then, footsteps came from the entrance of the hall.
Several similarly closed-eyed, elderly figures with aged faces filed in from the corridor.
They were dressed similarly to the Great Elder, their eye sockets likewise deeply sunken.
The Second Elder walking at the front was tall, with a broad frame. Although old, one could still see his imposing physique from youth.
His steps were faster than the others, and each step on the ground carried a suppressed anger.
The Third Elder followed behind him, thin and slightly hunched.
The other elders followed after them.
"What is going on? Why has the Tenseigan reacted?"
The Second Elder's voice was loud, carrying obvious impatience.
His sensing ability was also powerful. The moment he entered the hall, he sensed the abnormal fluctuation of light from the Golden Tenseigan.
The golden light had already spilled out of the hall, leaking through the cracks in the stone door and dyeing the corridor outside pale gold.
"Could it have discovered an enemy entering?"
The Third Elder's tone carried a trace of seriousness.
The Golden Tenseigan was the moon branch family's final and strongest trump card. Its movements could not possibly be without reason.
The Great Elder raised one hand, signaling them to be quiet.
"No. There is no enemy."
The Great Elder's voice slowly rang out.
"This is a natural reaction from this eye."
He raised his other hand and pointed at the Golden Tenseigan before them.
Everyone's senses focused on it at the same time.
In their sensory vision, the Golden Tenseigan was releasing an unprecedentedly intense light.
That light was not shining outward. It surged upward like flame, bursting from the top and dyeing this part of the sky brilliant gold.
And the Byakugan gathered inside the Tenseigan were all turning in the same direction.
The direction of Earth.
The hall fell silent for a long time.
The senses of the elders intertwined as they all tried to read more information from the Tenseigan's movement.
But the resonance of the Golden Tenseigan was too vague. It was only instinctively responding to something.
"Damn it."
The Second Elder was the first to break the silence.
"It must be those people from the lower world again."
Many years ago, besides guarding this Golden Tenseigan, they had also guarded the Gedo Statue.
But one day, the Gedo Statue had inexplicably disappeared right before them.
They searched every corner of the moon and even sent clan members down to Earth to look for it, but they never found any trace of the Gedo Statue.
That huge demonic statue vanished completely from their senses, as if it had never existed at all.
At that time, the Second Elder had advocated sending a large force down to the lower world and turning Earth upside down.
But the Great Elder rejected his proposal.
After the internal war ended, the number of clan members was too small. They could not withstand a large-scale expedition.
They could only reinforce the moon's seals, reduce contact with the lower world, and silently wait for the prophesied child to descend.
And now, the Gedo Statue had again caused movement because of the lower world.
"It is time to go down and take a look."
The Great Elder sighed.
Everyone's senses turned toward him at once.
The Great Elder's perception moved away from the Golden Tenseigan.
"I heard that the head of the Hyūga clan in the lower world has already had a child. The purity of that child's Byakugan should be decent."
The Third Elder's brow moved slightly, and he quickly understood the Great Elder's meaning.
"It is also time to choose a wife for Toneri in advance."
The Third Elder said.
Toneri was the prophesied child they had chosen.
That child had been born with ancestral regression of Ancestor Hamura's bloodline. His bloodline purity was extremely high. He was the closest existence to their ancestor that the branch family had produced in several hundred years.
According to the ancestor's teachings, the world created by the Sage of Six Paths was a failure.
The ninja on Earth were the true culprits disrupting the peace of the world. Only by creating a new world could peace be brought.
As Toneri's spouse, she also needed to possess an extremely pure Byakugan so Hamura's bloodline could continue in the new world.
There were no suitable women within the branch family anymore. Most women had contributed their Byakugan during the civil war and lost their sight, while the few women who still retained their Byakugan had purity far from sufficient.
So they could only turn their gaze to Earth, to the branch that had remained there: the Hyūga clan.
"That makes sense."
The Second Elder's anger subsided somewhat, and he nodded.
Although he was irritable, he was not stupid.
Finding a spouse for Toneri truly was the most urgent matter at hand.
Toneri needed descendants, and pure-blooded descendants required a pure-blooded mother.
"What if the Tenseigan reacts again?"
The Third Elder asked the most important question.
The Golden Tenseigan would not resonate without reason. Someone in the Hyūga clan having a child was not enough to cause a reaction of this degree.
If every Hyūga birth caused resonance, then the Golden Tenseigan would have been jumping nonstop for hundreds of years.
There had to be another reason behind this movement.
The Great Elder was silent for a while.
His perception returned to the Golden Tenseigan, observing the direction in which the pupils of those Byakugan were pointing.
He watched for a long time, long enough that the other elders began growing impatient, before slowly speaking.
"Then notify me immediately. I am going to consult the ancient texts."
The Great Elder stood.
His body beneath his long robe looked extremely thin, like a piece of dead wood wrapped in white cloth.
"Disperse."
His voice echoed through the hall. Then he turned and walked toward a passage deep inside the shrine.
That passage led to the ancient archives of the moon branch family, where all scrolls and inscriptions passed down from Ancestor Hamura's era were stored. They recorded the entire history of the moon branch family over a thousand years, as well as all the knowledge they had inherited from their ancestor.
His footsteps gradually faded, swallowed by the darkness of the corridor.
Only a few elders remained in the hall, along with the still-pulsing Golden Tenseigan.
The Second Elder looked in the direction where the Great Elder disappeared, his brows deeply furrowed.
"Hmph. In my opinion, we should simply destroy the lower world directly."
The killing intent in his tone was completely undisguised, and his massive fist clenched at his side.
"Why go through all this unnecessary trouble and wait for that child Toneri? We clearly have Hamura's Tenseigan."
In his understanding, the Golden Tenseigan had enough power to destroy the main family, so destroying those ninja in the lower world should naturally be even easier.
The Third Elder turned his head and looked at the Second Elder with hollow eye sockets.
He was silent for a moment, then shook his head.
"You do not understand."
The Third Elder's voice carried wariness.
"The lower world hides many secrets."
"How special could it possibly be?"
He snorted disdainfully.
In his eyes, the lower world was a failed product.
A failed world created by the Sage of Six Paths.
The people there were ignorant, greedy, and warlike. They could slaughter each other for a thousand years over a tiny piece of land.
Their Byakugan purity was pitifully low, their power insignificant, and they could not even remember their own history.
What was there in such a world worth fearing?
The Third Elder did not answer immediately.
His perception moved away from the Second Elder.
"Do not forget why our ancestor came to the moon."
The Third Elder finally spoke, his voice lower than before.
The Second Elder's body trembled slightly.
Why had their ancestor come to the moon?
It was not to open a new world, not to expand territory, not because the moon had some special resource.
It was because this was Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's sealed land.
But too much time had passed. A thousand years had gone by, and Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's seal had never shown any sign of loosening.
Gradually, guarding the seal had become an empty ritual, a section of text in ancient books unrelated to them. The elders cared more about the internal conflict between the main and branch families.
"Back then, both our ancestor and the Sage of Six Paths received guidance from the lower world."
The Third Elder shook his head.
He knew that Earth had sacred lands, and the immortals within them had even lived longer than their ancestor.
And the moon branch family was merely one line of descendants from Ancestor Hamura.
Their roots, in the end, came from Earth.
"Then do the ancient texts record the reason for the Tenseigan resonating on its own?"
He changed the question, his tone more restrained than before.
The Third Elder shook his head.
"I do not know. But since the Great Elder has gone to look, he will certainly find the answer."
...
The Third Training Ground.
Kiyohara gathered his current students for training.
Every so often, he would train them and check their progress.
"Hokage-sama, this is the final result of this batch of cursed seal experiments."
The one speaking was Yakushi Kabuto.
"Thank you for your hard work, Kabuto."
Kiyohara took the report and casually flipped through it.
He had delegated part of the cursed seal research to Kabuto and the others.
Kabuto had not disappointed them and had produced results.
If Kiyohara had conducted the research himself, he would not have been able to spare that much time.
His daily life could not be spent conducting experiments twenty-four hours a day.
Even if he used shadow clones, the mental fatigue would still be inherited.
That was why Naruto looked so drained by the time he was thirty. Even a shadow clone delivering a cake could vanish with a puff.
"Kabuto-senpai, is this the cursed seal you mentioned?"
Uchiha Itachi stepped forward, his dark eyes landing on the black test tubes.
Kabuto was holding a tray containing quite a few black test tubes, all filled with liquid.
"Correct."
Kabuto nodded, pushed up his glasses, and patiently explained:
"This is the weakened version of the cursed seal improved by Hokage-sama. It does not damage the user's foundation and can supplement shortcomings in chakra attributes according to the user's talent, improving physical recovery and chakra reserves.
"The only drawback is that it cannot enter Stage Two and cannot provide an extreme power boost."
Kabuto could sense that Uchiha Itachi was, like himself, an intelligent person.
Completely different from that foolish woman, Guren.
"A cursed seal…"
Uchiha Itachi stroked his chin.
Over the past year or so, many members of the Uchiha clan had successively transplanted Hashirama cells.
Most of these were male ninja willing to sacrifice appearance for strength. Very few female ninja were willing to try.
In this current era of peace, the Uchiha's pursuit of strength had undoubtedly also declined.
After all, having Hashirama's face growing on the left side of one's chest was simply too horrifying.
The cursed seal was different. It only showed patterns when activated and left no trace normally. For female ninja who cared about appearance, it was undoubtedly the better choice.
"Teacher~"
A crisp, soft voice rang out as Uchiha Izumi skipped over to Kiyohara.
She looked up with her little face, her peach-blossom eyes curving into crescents. The beauty mark at the corner of her eye shifted gently with her smile.
Hearing her soft voice, Kiyohara estimated that when Uchiha Izumi grew up, she would charm quite a few people.
Over the past year or so, the little girl had also grown more refined. Her delicate features were becoming increasingly bright.
Kiyohara's students were all handsome boys and beautiful girls. None of them were unattractive.
And Uchiha Izumi stood out even among them.
It was not that Guren and Shion were lacking, but Uchiha Izumi possessed a temperament that combined aloofness and allure. The Uchiha genes were displayed vividly on her.
"Teacher, I placed in the top three of the entire grade in this semester's ninjutsu assessment!"
She lifted the report card in her hand like she was offering a treasure, her little face full of pride.
"Not bad, Izumi."
Kiyohara smiled and nodded.
"You're improving quickly. You haven't fallen behind in training."
After receiving praise, Uchiha Izumi instantly bloomed with happiness. Her cheeks flushed faintly, and she secretly edged closer to Kiyohara, her small hand quietly grabbing the corner of his clothes.
"Hmph. Hokage-sama, I got first in taijutsu and fourth in ninjutsu for my grade!"
Seeing Uchiha Izumi being favored, Guren was the first to be dissatisfied.
She folded her arms and stood on the other side.
At the Ninja Academy, the overbearing Guren had even earned the nickname "Guren the Great."
What she disliked most was someone having a higher place in Kiyohara's heart than her.
"Well, some people only know how to play with Crystal Release. They're always at the bottom in theory class. How can they compare to an Uchiha honor student?"
Kabuto pushed up his glasses and slowly added another stab.
"What did you say?!"
Guren instantly bristled. Her delicate face turned red, and she clenched her fists, wanting to rush up and argue with Kabuto.
"Believe it or not, I'll crystallize your glasses!"
"All right, Guren."
A gentle voice sounded as Kurama Yakumo lightly grabbed Guren's arm.
After Kiyohara's treatment, her frail body had long since improved, allowing her to undergo basic ninja training.
Her personality was gentle, and she could always easily soothe the bristling Guren. The two had an especially good relationship.
"I know, Yakumo."
Guren snorted and glared fiercely at Kabuto, but she obediently stopped. Only when she looked toward Kiyohara did her eyes still carry grievance.
Kiyohara watched the children noisily bicker and raised his hand to press the air.
"All right, stop making a fuss."
Kiyohara spoke.
"I called you here today mainly to test your tolerance for cursed seals."
As he spoke, he pointed to the black test tubes on Kabuto's tray.
These were the weakened Yang Release cursed seals he had improved.
"This cursed seal is called the Yang Release Cursed Seal. Once activated, it can supplement your shortage of Yang-nature chakra, improve your talent in medical ninjutsu and physical recovery ability. After one week, it will fully adapt to your body and leave no side effects."
Kiyohara said slowly.
The only flaw was that it had no Stage Two, and the power boost was very limited.
"Of course, whether you accept it is entirely voluntary."
As soon as he finished speaking, Kurama Yakumo stepped forward.
"Hokage-sama, I am willing to accept it."
Her body had always been weak, and what she lacked most was the vitality brought by Yang-nature chakra.
This cursed seal was undoubtedly the best gift for her.
"Come."
Kiyohara nodded.
Kabuto immediately stepped forward, holding the sterile tray with both hands, and handed one cursed-seal test tube to Kurama Yakumo.
Yakumo took the test tube without any hesitation and tilted her head back, drinking the black liquid.
In just a moment, her cheeks flushed. Her originally pale skin gained a healthy rosiness.
"How does it feel?"
Kiyohara asked.
"Very warm. It feels like there's an endless strength inside my body."
Kurama Yakumo sensed the changes within herself.
Next was Uchiha Izumi. She picked up a test tube and blinked at Kiyohara.
"Teacher, if I drink this, can I become as strong as Teacher?"
"Whether you can become as strong as me depends on your own training."
Kiyohara shook his head.
"But at least, if you're injured during training in the future, you'll recover faster."
Uchiha Izumi nodded and drank all the liquid in the test tube in one gulp.
Unlike Kurama Yakumo's gentle reaction, the moment the cursed seal entered her body, she excitedly waved her fist, feeling the chakra surging inside her.
"I feel like my chakra increased too!"
Uchiha Itachi and Guren also accepted the cursed seals one after another and drank them without hesitation.
Only Shion, standing in the corner, remained quietly where she was, her long hair falling over her shoulders.
She was the shrine maiden of the Land of Demons and possessed the ability to foresee the future. Later, Kiyohara had brought her to Konoha and accepted her as a student.
Under Kiyohara's guidance, she had also learned quite a few sealing techniques.
"Shion, aren't you going to try?"
Kiyohara looked at her and asked.
"I'll wait until they finish first."
Shion did not particularly like crowded situations, so she intended to go last.
"That's fine."
Kiyohara nodded.
He had high hopes for Shion too.
The power of a shrine maiden greatly enhanced sealing, and sealing techniques could also be considered one of the meta answers.
After everyone else drank theirs, Shion finally stepped forward, picked up a test tube, and drank it.
Seeing that all the children had accepted the cursed seal, Kiyohara nodded.
The reason he chose oral ingestion rather than injecting it through his teeth was because he feared the intensity would be too high.
Now that they had initially taken it without any problems, Kiyohara felt somewhat relieved.
Then he reminded them:
"The cursed seal will only fully adapt after one week. During this time, don't forcefully activate it, and don't undergo high-intensity training. Next week, I will come over and check your adaptation."
"Yes!"
The children responded in unison.
Kiyohara gave them a few more instructions about training precautions, then left with Yakushi Kabuto.
"Hokage-sama, are there any further instructions?"
Kabuto asked respectfully.
"Go to the Land of Rice Fields."
Kiyohara spoke slowly.
"Orochimaru is most likely hiding there."
Kabuto's body stiffened slightly. Then he seemed to understand something, pushed up his glasses, and said quietly,
"Hokage-sama wants me to… infiltrate Orochimaru's side as a spy?"
"No need."
Kiyohara shook his head.
"Orochimaru is meticulous. Your infiltration won't fool him. I'm not sending you to the Land of Rice Fields to deal with him.
"I want you to pay more attention to talented children there. Bring them back and train them into Konoha ninja."
Orochimaru would establish Otogakure in the Land of Rice Fields, and he would inevitably gather kekkei genkai orphans from various countries. Most of those children had pitiful backgrounds but excellent talent.
Rather than letting them follow Orochimaru down a crooked path, it was better to bring them into Konoha in advance and turn them into his own strength.
Kabuto instantly understood Kiyohara's intention and answered,
"Yes, Hokage-sama. I understand. I will definitely handle this properly."
"Mm."
Kiyohara nodded.
"Be careful on the road. If anything happens, remember to contact me."
After speaking, he handed Kabuto a kunai carved with a Flying Thunder God formula.
Kabuto accepted the kunai with both hands, carefully stored it in his clothes, then turned and quickly left.
After that, Kiyohara returned home.
The moment he pushed open the entrance door, he smelled a faint fragrance of sake.
On the living room sofa, Tsunade was lying there lazily. Her golden hair fell over her full chest.
It was summer, and Tsunade was dressed very lightly. She wore a white sleeveless tight tank top and black athletic shorts, revealing two fair, long legs.
Her legs were crossed, and red nail polish was painted on her raised bare foot. As she moved, it swayed gently, enough to make one dizzy.
Hearing the door open, Tsunade immediately sat up from the sofa.
She stepped barefoot onto the cool floor, walked up to Kiyohara in a few steps, and before he could sit down, pushed him down and took the initiative to sit on his lap.
Her full hips settled firmly between Kiyohara's thighs, and her arms wrapped around his neck.
Kiyohara raised a brow and reached out to steady her waist.
The usual Tsunade, no matter how intimate she was with him, still had to consider Shizune and would never be this proactive during the day.
"Why so enthusiastic today?"
Kiyohara asked with a smile.
Tsunade's face was excited.
She leaned to Kiyohara's ear, her breath fragrant, her voice carrying irrepressible joy.
"Kiyohara, I think… I may have signs of awakening Wood Release too!"
Kiyohara looked at her flushed cheeks and was not surprised.
Even Obito had awakened Wood Release. With Kiyohara's influence, how could Tsunade not awaken it?
Awakening Wood Release was actually not very difficult. Even Yamato could do it.
The difficult part was using it with the same power as Senju Hashirama.
Otherwise, if one hundred thousand White Zetsu could all use Wood Release, why would Obito need to fight the Fourth War? He could have just swept across the shinobi world.
"Oh? Teacher is finally about to awaken the First Hokage's Wood Release?"
"What do you mean, finally?"
Tsunade pinched his ear in dissatisfaction, though she did not use force.
"I am the First Hokage's biological granddaughter. In the entire shinobi world, there is no Senju bloodline purer than mine. Isn't it normal for me to awaken Wood Release?"
As she spoke, she proudly raised her chin.
Over this past year, she had spent every day with Kiyohara. Kiyohara's cells had continuously nourished her body and chakra pathways, thoroughly activating the Senju bloodline.
With her vitality and chakra reserves supplemented, it was normal for Tsunade to learn Wood Release.
After all, if one really wanted it, transplanting Hashirama cells might grant it. Obito was exactly such a case.
Kiyohara's influence on Tsunade was more subtle and gradual.
"Yes, yes. Teacher is the best."
Kiyohara smiled and played along, both hands sliding down along her waist to support her hips.
"What about Sage Mode? How is that going?"
At the mention of this, Tsunade became even more smug.
She lowered her head and lightly kissed Kiyohara's lips. Her red lips carried the sweet scent of sake, and her eyes were alluring.
"Even Lady Katsuyu said it was impossible. She said that, other than Grandpa, I'm the first person in the Senju clan to cultivate Shikkotsu Forest Sage Mode."
"That's good."
Kiyohara nodded.
He was actually somewhat interested in Shikkotsu Forest's Sage Mode as well and planned to learn it someday.
It was just that Kiyohara had been preparing to go to the moon this whole time.
"Hehe."
When Tsunade laughed, her shameless volume swayed as well.
Looking at Tsunade like this, Kiyohara felt heat rise in his heart.
As a loyal fan of curves, he could not endure it anymore.
He flipped her over and pressed her down on the sofa, lowering his head to kiss those chattering red lips.
Tsunade let out a muffled sound, and her arms instinctively tightened around his neck.