After placing the shrunken Box of Ultimate Bliss into a sealing scroll, Kiyohara turned and walked toward Hōzuki Castle.
The three children followed behind him.
...
Hōzuki Castle, underground hall.
Mui was still kneeling in place.
Although Kiyohara's medical ninjutsu had stopped the bleeding from both severed arms early on, his face looked even more ashen than before.
He had not personally witnessed the battle that had ended so quickly, but he could sense an evil chakra fluctuation.
The Box of Ultimate Bliss was definitely not anything good.
Even if he continued to possess it, his wish to revive his son Muku would likely have ended in failure.
Not to mention, Kiyohara had now already taken the Box of Ultimate Bliss away.
"To think… all those years of planning were so laughable."
Mui's heart was bitter.
He heard footsteps and raised his head.
Kiyohara's figure descended the stairs.
"Lord of Hōzuki Castle, I have a way to revive your son."
Kiyohara said calmly.
He began painting a tempting picture for Mui.
In the shinobi world, the line between life and death was actually quite thin.
For example, there was the Impure World Reincarnation Technique.
Of course, reviving in that state was better described as becoming a living corpse—dragging around a fabricated dead body.
For a perfect resurrection with no side effects, the simplest method was to take Madara's Rinnegan and use Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique.
Or rather, control someone capable of withstanding that eye and have them perform the technique for Kiyohara.
However, Hōzuki Castle's value was not high enough for Kiyohara to go that far.
What Kiyohara was thinking of was controlling the puppets inside the Box of Ultimate Bliss.
Since the puppets inside the Box of Ultimate Bliss would be brainwashed by it, then if Kiyohara controlled the Box of Ultimate Bliss, wouldn't that be equivalent to controlling the puppets within it?
The Satori that had just fought Kiyohara was actually Mui's son, Muku, only transformed into a monster's body.
Of course, a human body also existed.
Unfortunately, he was no longer human. After spending so long in lightless darkness and being corrupted, his mental state was not very stable.
But as long as Kiyohara ordered him not to do evil, he should be able to live a normal life.
Hearing Kiyohara's words, Mui's heart shook.
There was another way to revive his son?
Hope appeared in those eyes that had already resigned themselves to fate, like a drowning man seeing the final straw.
"You truly have a way?"
Mui immediately asked.
"Yes."
Kiyohara nodded.
"However, it may not be as perfect as you imagine. Resurrection ninjutsu has flaws too."
Kiyohara said.
It was a warning in advance, so Mui would not later discover that something was wrong with his son and react badly.
If he spent enough time being influenced by so-called "bonds," perhaps some of him could be pulled back.
"The premise of all this is that you work for me."
Kiyohara continued.
Hearing Kiyohara's words, Mui endured the pain in both arms and slammed his forehead heavily onto the stone floor.
"I agree."
Mui said.
He had spent so many years researching, even conducting many experiments behind Kusagakure's back, all to revive his only son.
"I agree to anything."
"Very good."
Kiyohara nodded.
"Itachi, go pick up his hands."
Kiyohara turned to Uchiha Itachi.
"Yes, Teacher."
Uchiha Itachi went and returned quickly, finding Mui's arms that had fallen outside the castle.
One arm had a clean cut. The other clearly showed tearing marks.
Kiyohara took both arms and reattached them for Mui.
From the time he defeated Mui to the time he released the monster from the Box of Ultimate Bliss, only about twenty minutes had passed. He could still use Yang Release chakra to stimulate the cellular activity inside.
Limb regeneration was relatively difficult to achieve in the shinobi world, but reattaching limbs was much easier.
Even though the torn-off arm was not in perfect condition, with Kiyohara's exquisite medical ninjutsu, he still reconnected it flawlessly.
"Miraculous…"
Mui flexed his hands and suppressed the shock in his heart.
He looked at Kiyohara.
Kiyohara's group wore no ninja headbands, but Mui had vaguely guessed that they were Konoha ninja.
And with medical ninjutsu of this level, there was clearly only one possible person.
"I am willing to work for you, Lord Kiyohara, as long as you revive my son."
Mui, desperate to save his son, crouched down directly.
Kiyohara nodded.
The plot of this movie was actually very simple. Mui single-mindedly wanted to revive his son, even turning against Kusagakure's elders. In the end, he discovered his son had become a monster and had no choice but to die together with him.
Kiyohara took out a Flying Thunder God kunai and stuck it into the ground in front of Mui.
"I want you to continue controlling Hōzuki Castle. Find a way to infiltrate Kusagakure. If you do well, I will come fulfill my promise."
Kiyohara said.
This way, Kusagakure would secretly fall under Kiyohara's control.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Earth did not border each other; the Land of Grass happened to lie between them.
Through the Land of Grass, Kiyohara would be able to grasp movements in the Land of Earth.
The current Four-Tails jinchūriki should already have fallen out with Ōnoki and become a wandering monk.
This would help Kiyohara gather intelligence and eventually obtain part of the Four-Tails Son Gokū's flesh to absorb its chakra.
Currently, he had fully adapted to the Three-Tails, and he had adapted to the Two-Tails and Eight-Tails to different degrees.
Kiyohara also planned to start trying to adapt to the Nine-Tails' chakra.
The only flaw was that this placed too much burden on the body.
The Kinkaku and Ginkaku brothers had spent their entire lives adapting to only one tailed beast's chakra.
Kiyohara turned and led Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Izumi, and Shion toward the stairs.
Mui's voice came from behind him.
"When… will you…"
"When I'm in a good mood."
Kiyohara did not turn back.
The sound of footsteps gradually faded.
Mui knelt alone in the empty underground hall. Before him, a kunai inscribed with the Flying Thunder God formula was stuck in the ground.
When Kiyohara sent the three children back to Konoha, the sky had already darkened.
Uchiha Izumi had fallen asleep on the airship, her head leaning against Shion's shoulder.
Shion did not last much longer. Shortly after Uchiha Izumi leaned over, she also closed her eyes.
Only Uchiha Itachi was still awake, sitting beside the porthole and looking at the lights of Konoha as they drew closer outside the window.
"Goodbye, Kiyohara-sensei."
Uchiha Izumi waved at Kiyohara.
"Goodbye."
Kiyohara waved back.
He brought the three children back to their respective homes, then returned to his own residence.
When he pushed open the entrance door, Kiyohara saw Tsunade had just come out of the bathroom.
Her golden hair still carried damp mist, falling over her shoulders, a few strands clinging to her fair neck.
Today, she wore something Kiyohara had never seen before: a tight white camisole with a very low neckline, outlining the full curves beneath.
Below, she wore matching white garter stockings that tightly wrapped her full thighs. The stocking tops dug into her flesh, leaving faint red marks.
"You're back?"
Tsunade leaned against the bathroom doorframe, holding a towel and casually drying her hair.
Kiyohara's gaze lingered on her for a few seconds.
"Mm. The Hōzuki Castle matter is handled."
"That fast?"
Tsunade was surprised.
Kiyohara had left in the morning and returned in the afternoon?
No matter what, that was an international prison that Kusagakure valued greatly.
"What about that box?"
Tsunade was curious about how Kiyohara would handle it.
"I brought it back."
Hearing this, Tsunade tossed aside the towel and walked barefoot across the wooden floor to stand in front of Kiyohara, raising her head.
"What does it look like? Show me."
Tsunade wanted to make a wish and see if it could improve her gambling skills.
"I'll show you tomorrow. Rest first today."
Tsunade's lips pouted slightly, but she did not insist.
She turned and sat down on the sofa, then patted the spot beside her.
Kiyohara sat beside her.
Tsunade turned sideways, then slowly slid down and rested her chin on Kiyohara's thigh, looking up at him from below with her brown-gold eyes.
From this angle, Kiyohara could clearly see the area pressed even fuller.
"Kiyohara."
Tsunade's voice suddenly became very soft.
"Mm?"
"Are you… also in strange relationships with Kurenai and Rin?"
Her fingers unconsciously traced circles on his knee.
Tsunade was not stupid. Being much older, she actually knew many things. She simply did not say most of them.
"Mm."
Kiyohara hesitated for a few seconds, but still did not deny it.
Although Tsunade had suspected it, really hearing it still made her feel angry.
She knew Kiyohara was not that honest!
Tsunade bit her lower lip and lowered her head.
"Hiss."
Kiyohara inhaled sharply and reached out, pressing the back of Tsunade's head. Golden strands slipped through his fingers.
"Teacher, gently."
Kiyohara said.
Tsunade was a "monster strength woman." She could use monstrous strength anywhere.
If not for Kiyohara's incredibly sturdy body and the layer of Steel Release he had quickly applied, he might have been injured in return.
When dealing seriously with people like Obito, he could get through without injury.
Yet he had nearly capsized here with Tsunade.
Tsunade did not let go.
After a long while, she finally raised her head.
Her eyes were slightly red. It was impossible to tell whether it was anger or something else.
"You… disobedient student."
Kiyohara's hand slid from the back of her head to her cheek, and his thumb brushed across the wet corner of her mouth.
"But Teacher is the most beautiful woman I've ever seen."
Tsunade's eyelashes trembled.
She turned her face away and snorted, but Kiyohara could feel that the cheek pressed against his leg was warmer than before.
"Stop using that trick."
She muttered.
"Then who was your first kiss?"
After saying it, Tsunade felt that she had asked something unnecessary.
Kiyohara's hand paused.
This question was dangerous.
"Teacher's."
Tsunade's eyes widened slightly.
She stared at Kiyohara's face, as if trying to find traces of a lie in his expression.
But she could not find any.
The experienced Kiyohara had already turned his attitude into a mask over his heart.
Naturally, what Kiyohara said just now was a lie.
First kiss?
Mm. His first kiss had been gone many years ago.
But first kisses refreshed every day. Wasn't that common knowledge?
Yesterday's Kiyohara and today's Kiyohara were two different people.
Tsunade clearly had not expected Kiyohara to answer this way.
"Like I'd believe you."
Tsunade did not quite believe Kiyohara's nonsense, but what if?
Tsunade wondered, what if it really was true?
She had heard that some men and women were ambiguous but only had a spiritual relationship. That kind of relationship was extremely pure.
Although the possibility was very small, Tsunade was still willing to think that way.
Otherwise, in terms of age, she really had no advantage.
At the end of the day, she was an older woman eating tender grass.
Looking at Kiyohara's young face even gave her a sense of guilt.
And they were teacher and student too.
Moonlight outside the window shone through the gap in the curtains and fell on Tsunade's golden hair.
That night, Kiyohara had a rather torturous time.
A few days later.
Konoha, Kiyohara's private laboratory.
Kiyohara stood before the experimental table. In front of him was a spherical container about half a meter in diameter.
The container's material was very special, with a texture somewhere between biological tissue and metal.
This was something Kiyohara had spent a great amount of time and effort creating.
It was an artificial tailed beast vessel made from fibers smelted from that special ore from the Land of Lightning, combined with multiple chakra-conducting materials.
Soft, resilient, and capable of withstanding large amounts of chakra infusion without collapsing.
"It's finally taken shape."
Kiyohara thought.
He took out a special sealing scroll from another sealing scroll.
Inside the sealing scroll was a portion of chakra extracted from Mōryō's body.
Kiyohara drew out some purple-black chakra and aimed it at the injection port at the top of the sphere.
The purple-black chakra flowed through the tube and entered the container. The surface of the spherical container began changing color.
From its original milky white, it was rapidly dyed purple-black.
The biomimetic patterns began writhing under the chakra infusion, pulsing like living blood vessels and evenly transporting Mōryō's chakra to every corner of the vessel.
Inside the container, the purple-black chakra began condensing, forming a fist-sized core.
Kiyohara's Byakugan pierced through the outer shell of the container, observing the internal chakra flow.
Everything was stable. There was no rejection reaction, no structural collapse.
The vessel's internal biomimetic chakra pathways successfully dispersed Mōryō chakra's corrosive nature across the entire spherical surface, preventing it from concentrating its power to destroy any single point.
"Not bad."
Kiyohara nodded.
This vessel was even more successful than he had expected.
Next, he only needed to continuously infuse chakra, letting the internal chakra core keep growing until it ultimately formed a complete artificial tailed beast.
At that time, he could attempt to devour this artificial tailed beast's flesh, just like with the Three-Tails, and turn Mōryō's chakra into his own power.
Kiyohara shifted his gaze away from the spherical container and looked at the shrunken Box of Ultimate Bliss in the corner of the experimental table.
"The Box of Ultimate Bliss' chakra can also be put in to try."
He muttered to himself.
However, at present, the artificial tailed beast vessel had only just completed its first infusion and still needed time to stabilize.
It would not be too late to consider adding other types of chakra once the Mōryō chakra core fully formed.
Kiyohara closed the valve on the chakra storage tank and placed the spherical container back into a culture tank filled with nutrient fluid.
This semi-biological vessel also needed nutrients supplied daily to ensure normal growth.
The pale-green liquid submerged the purple-black sphere, and bubbles slowly rose from the surface of the container.
Kiyohara turned and left the laboratory.
At this time, somewhere deep in the mountains of the Land of Fire.
Two figures emerged from underground and arrived on the surface.
"It has been a long time since I came to the lower world."
Ōtsutsuki Toneri's father spoke.
He wore a white robe, its hem dragging a long shadow across the ground.
Deep-blue hair fell to his waist, its ends slightly curled.
His face was young, seemingly in his twenties, and his skin was pale as if it had never seen sunlight.
Beneath this valley, there were many places resembling pools of water.
But those pools were actually passages connecting the moon and Earth.
Even if touched, that water would not wet the body.
Illusions had even been set up to prevent others from accidentally entering.
Anyone who entered would fall into a dream.
"Father, is this the lower world?"
Ōtsutsuki Toneri was coming here for the first time.
"Yes. This is the lower world."
Toneri's father nodded.
"I see."
Ōtsutsuki Toneri was thoughtful. He looked very much like his father, with the same blue hair and pale skin.
"This is Earth."
Toneri's father glanced at the surrounding environment.
"It is much larger than the moon."
Ōtsutsuki Toneri said.
Although he had been born without eyes, he could sense everything around him.
Thus, he could also understand the basic geography.
"Of course the moon is not as large as Earth."
Toneri's father shook his head.
"Let's go. First, we need to find the Hyūga clan."
The two leapt up, their figures merging into the night as they sped toward the central region of the Land of Fire.
Elsewhere.
The chakra fluctuation caused by the arrival of Ōtsutsuki Toneri and his father also caught the attention of a monk.
He wore a white haori, with his hair gathered at the top of his head and a long braid hanging behind him.
Below his left eye was the Roman numeral IV, and on his chin was a black diamond-shaped mark.
Jigen elegantly lowered the wine glass in his hand.
"Same clan?"
Jigen thought.
But his hand was trembling.
"You truly are useless, Jigen."
Jigen frowned slightly.
The consciousness currently controlling this body was Ōtsutsuki Isshiki.
But he shared this body with Jigen.
Normally, Jigen's own consciousness was suppressed by Ōtsutsuki Isshiki in a corner, only occasionally surfacing.
"Relax. I won't randomly kill people."
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki shook his head.
If he had not been ambushed by Ōtsutsuki Kaguya a thousand years ago and forced to find this rigid monk out of desperation, Isshiki would never have looked twice at this body.
Its aptitude was truly too poor.
If this vessel had slightly better aptitude, he would have been much more active and would not have had to live in the shadows.
"The Ōtsutsuki clan does not allow killing fellow clan members."
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki controlled Jigen and spoke calmly.
"No. They are… natives."
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki sensed carefully and discovered that although the bloodline was very pure, the chakra fluctuation was something he had never encountered before.
He instantly understood. It was the ones from the moon who had descended.
For the past thousand years, Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had been hiding in the shinobi world and had some understanding of the Ōtsutsuki branch on the moon.
They were all descendants of Ōtsutsuki Kaguya's second son.
"A bunch of mixed-blood mongrels can actually undergo ancestral regression."
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's tone was full of undisguised contempt.
After Ōtsutsuki Kaguya consumed the Chakra Fruit, she could not bear the excessive chakra and had no choice but to split her power, giving birth to Ōtsutsuki Hamura and Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo.
That step had been beautified by the natives as "a blessing of all living beings."
But in Ōtsutsuki Isshiki's view, it was merely a beautification of Kaguya's theft.
"However…"
He suddenly thought of something, and the corner of his mouth curved into a smile.
"It would be good to let them test that Konoha fellow."
Kiyohara, the Fourth Hokage of Konoha.
Even though Isshiki hid in the shadows of the shinobi world, he had long heard that name.
The power and ambition displayed by this native had far exceeded the category of ordinary ninja.
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki had once suspected whether Kiyohara had some connection to the Ōtsutsuki clan.
But after observing him from the shadows multiple times, he denied that suspicion.
Kiyohara had no Karma, no Ōtsutsuki clan chakra traits. He was merely an exceptionally gifted native.
Even so, this native's strength could not be underestimated.
With the current quality of his vessel, acting rashly would be too risky.
"Let them test the road first."
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki closed his eyes again.
If that fellow turned out to be weak, perhaps he could try using Kiyohara's body as a vessel.
After all, in the end, that native, even if not a pure-blooded Ōtsutsuki, had inherited some faint Ōtsutsuki bloodline.
It was far better than his current body.
"Amado."
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki looked toward the depths.
"Lord Jigen, is there something you need?"
A man with a full beard and yellow glasses walked out.
"How is the experiment on a vessel for Karma?"
Ōtsutsuki Isshiki asked.
"It is still under research. To withstand your power is truly quite difficult."
Sanzu Amado shook his head.
Jigen was the strongest being he had ever seen among all living creatures.
If he could freely unleash his power, Sanzu Amado suspected that there would have been no room left for the current ninja.
The entire shinobi world would have long since become his "farmland."