What kind of form Kiyohara would eventually take—even he himself could not say for certain.
The ultimate life-form?
After all, in theory, no living creature had ever fully adapted to the chakra of all nine tailed beasts, Sage Art, and all kinds of bloodlines at the same time.
Just among the sacred land bloodlines, Kiyohara already had two.
That meant he already possessed the factors for longevity.
And if one really wanted to stack exploits, Kiyohara would have the chakra of the One-Tails through the Nine-Tails, plus a separate Ten-Tails—ten tailed beasts' worth of chakra in total.
Even Ōtsutsuki Kaguya only had one Ten-Tails.
Kiyohara kept his eyes closed, feeling the changes inside his body.
The last power left behind by Red-Horn Kiyohara had completely fused into his chakra pathway system.
Ever since he defeated Toneri's father, he could feel that some faint, almost intangible connection had formed between him and the Golden Tenseigan hanging high in the sky.
That connection was extremely weak, like a thread stretching across an immense distance, faintly tugging at his eyes.
Kiyohara opened his eyes.
Deep within his black pupils, a faint blue ring flashed once, then vanished.
"The fetal movement stage… has progressed again."
He murmured softly.
Toneri's father's final attack really had been powerful.
The moment Kiyohara took it head-on, he could feel as if something had stimulated his eyeballs. The originally dormant fetal movement suddenly became violent.
Now, the fetal movement had calmed down, but the faint pulsing deep within his eyes had not disappeared.
Kiyohara gathered his thoughts and began dealing with the aftermath.
After returning to Konoha, the office door was pushed open.
Tsunade walked in. Her golden hair was somewhat disheveled, with a few strands falling beside her ears. Clearly, she had rushed over from the casino.
There was still a faint scent of alcohol on her, but there was no trace of drunkenness in her brown-gold eyes.
"I heard you fought someone outside the village. What happened?"
Her gaze swept over Kiyohara, and when she saw the tears in his robe from the shockwaves, her brows furrowed even more deeply.
She walked up to Kiyohara, reached out, and pulled open his collar to check whether there were any wounds on his chest.
Kiyohara let her check and said,
"They were people from the moon."
"The moon?"
Tsunade froze. Her eyes widened roundly, and her face was full of disbelief.
"There are actually people on the moon?"
"Mm."
Kiyohara nodded.
"People have always lived on the moon. They're descendants of Ōtsutsuki Hamura, the younger brother of the Sage of Six Paths. They moved to the moon a thousand years ago. This time, they came down to find a spouse for one of their descendants."
It took Tsunade a long time to digest that statement.
She released Kiyohara's collar, sat down in a chair, and rubbed her temples.
"There are people on the moon… Hamura's descendants… looking for a spouse?"
"Are you sure you're not joking?"
"I'm not."
Kiyohara sat down in another chair and poured himself a cup of tea.
He took a sip, then briefly told her about his fight with Ōtsutsuki Toneri and his father.
He skipped over the part where he had resonated with the moon, only saying that the other party had called upon a weapon on the moon to attack him, that he had blocked it with the Susanoo Buddha, and that the enemy had fled after losing an arm.
After hearing everything, Tsunade was silent for a long while.
"How strong was he?"
"Very strong. If he hadn't lost his assistance at the last moment, the outcome would have been hard to say."
Kiyohara said.
The power of the Golden Tenseigan was indeed powerful, like an orbital cannon that struck wherever it was aimed.
After all, that was power great enough to move or destroy a planet.
Tsunade sighed.
"The shinobi world is getting less and less peaceful. First Akatsuki, now people from the moon. What's going to pop out next? The Sage of Six Paths himself?"
"Who knows?"
Kiyohara spread his hands.
In the future, the Sage of Six Paths himself really would appear.
But certain conditions had to be met first.
"You don't need to worry about this, Teacher. I'll handle it."
Kiyohara reassured her.
He did not continue the topic. He set down his teacup and stood.
"I'm going to take a bath and change clothes. Want to come with me, Teacher?"
Tsunade's cheeks flushed slightly, but she did not refuse.
She stood and followed Kiyohara toward the rest room behind the office.
At the border of the Land of Fire, in a certain deep mountain.
Meanwhile, Ōtsutsuki Toneri and his father, who had been heavily injured by Kiyohara, had already moved far away from Konoha.
Toneri's father had clean bandages wrapped around the stump of his severed arm, but his face was still pale.
Toneri followed on his left, afraid that his father might collapse at any moment.
After witnessing Kiyohara's terrifying strength and the drastic changes in the current shinobi world, the father and son did not immediately return to the moon.
"Father, are we going back to the moon?"
Toneri asked.
"No."
Toneri's father shook his head.
"If we go back now, we may expose the passage between the moon and Earth. We need to make sure no one is tracking us. First, we'll find a safe place."
He raised his head and looked toward the continuous mountains in the distance. Although he had lost his Byakugan, his sensory ability remained.
Deep within these mountains were several places very suitable for hiding.
Moreover, the changes in the lower world had far exceeded his expectations. Toneri's father planned to travel through the shinobi world for a while and see exactly what this place had become.
The two continued forward.
After walking for about an hour, Toneri's father suddenly stopped.
He shielded Toneri behind him and raised his head, looking toward the forest ahead.
"Come out."
A spatial vortex appeared at the edge of the forest.
The vortex widened as it spun, and a figure stepped out from within.
Tiger-striped mask. Black cloak with red clouds. Crimson Sharingan.
Obito stood at the edge of the forest, looking at the father and son before him.
Another figure followed behind him: the Deva Path Pain.
"We are Akatsuki. I know you have a grudge against Konoha's Kiyohara. So do we. Why not join us and work together to overthrow this rotten shinobi world?"
Obito said calmly.
Toneri's father's face instantly darkened. He was displeased.
He had just been thoroughly hammered by Kiyohara, and his injuries had not fully recovered. Now these lower-world ninja, who did not know the height of the heavens or the depth of the earth, had blocked his path and even wanted him to condescend to join some nameless organization?
"Who are you?"
Toneri's father asked.
"Who I am doesn't matter."
Obito took a step forward.
"What matters is that we can cooperate. You come from the moon and possess powerful strength. We have a common enemy—Konoha's Kiyohara. If you are willing to join Akatsuki, we can…"
Before he could finish, Toneri's father's cold laugh interrupted him.
"Cooperate? With you?"
Toneri's father looked down on Obito and the others completely.
In his eyes, everything in the lower world was merely dragging out its last breath.
Once Toneri reached adulthood and obtained the right Byakugan, he would be able to nurture the Tenseigan.
Then he could destroy the failed world created by the Sage of Six Paths and create a new, peaceful world.
"It seems you still haven't understood your situation."
Obito frowned.
He could sense the other party's arrogance.
But just like him, the other party could not defeat Kiyohara either. What right did he have to be arrogant?
"You do it."
Obito looked at Nagato.
In terms of offensive techniques, Nagato was better than him.
"Arrogant ants who know nothing of the world."
Toneri's father snorted coldly. Chakra surged around him with a roar. He had no interest in wasting words, and raised his hand to fire a condensed air cannon directly at Obito and Pain.
The two sides began fighting on the spot.
"Shinra Tensei."
The Deva Path Pain extended his hand. An invisible repulsive field spread outward from him.
The invisible repulsion exploded and collided violently with the air cannon.
A fierce shockwave swept the surroundings, instantly cracking the ground into countless spiderweb-like fractures.
"No effect…"
Nagato, who was hiding in the back and controlling the Deva Path Pain, frowned.
He immediately cut off chakra to the other puppets and concentrated it in the Deva Path Pain.
"Super Shinra Tensei!"
An even greater shockwave spread outward.
Seeing this, Obito also quickly used Kamui to avoid being caught in it.
Rotation!
Toneri's father immediately responded.
A blue chakra barrier formed around him, but the power of Super Shinra Tensei far exceeded his expectations.
The barrier lasted only a moment before shattering under the shockwave. The remaining repulsive force sent his entire body flying, smashing him into the mountain wall behind him.
Rock shattered, and dust filled the air.
Toneri climbed up from the ground and ran toward his father.
But just as he took a step, Obito appeared in front of him. That crimson Sharingan looked down at him.
"As expected. After fighting Kiyohara, you were injured."
Obito reached out to grab Toneri.
"Courting death!"
Toneri's father once again connected with the Golden Tenseigan on the moon and regained full authority to call upon it.
Just as Obito's fingers were about to touch Toneri's collar, a pillar of light descended from the sky.
A pure-white torrent of light burned the air until it twisted and deformed. Wherever it fell, rock melted and trees were reduced directly to ash.
Obito's Sharingan caught the danger in that instant.
He abandoned the attempt to grab Toneri and activated Kamui, his body vanishing into a spatial vortex.
But the Deva Path Pain was not so lucky.
The white pillar of light struck him directly. In that instant, his body was swallowed by white light, leaving not even ash behind.
Nagato, who was hiding not far away and controlling the Deva Path Pain, was affected as well.
The light pillar's range was too vast, and Nagato almost failed to escape it.
He had concentrated most of his chakra into the Deva Path Pain, and such a wide-area attack caught him off guard.
"Cough…"
Nagato barely escaped to the edge and spat out blood.
A large mouthful of blood sprayed from his mouth, and his body crashed heavily to the ground. Most of his internal organs had already been shattered.
Ōtsutsuki Toneri's father stood on high ground.
The bandages around the stump of his left arm had been shaken loose, and blood flowed down his remaining right arm, pooling into a small puddle on the ground.
He panted heavily.
"Father!"
Toneri ran over and supported his father's swaying body.
"Go."
Toneri's father said in a low voice.
He took one last look in the direction where Obito had disappeared, then wrapped his arm around Toneri and leapt up. The two figures turned into two white streams of light and vanished into the horizon.
The forest became quiet again.
Only the deep pit left by the white pillar of light remained on the ground.
A spatial vortex appeared, and Obito's figure stepped out.
He stood at the edge of the pit, looking down at the charred earth at the bottom. The expression beneath his mask was extremely ugly.
Again.
It was that kind of power far beyond ordinary ninjutsu again.
First Kiyohara's Mangekyō Sharingan and Wood Release, and now this moon father and son's Tenseigan and that white pillar of light.
Damn it.
Why were there so many powerful people in the shinobi world?
Black Zetsu slowly rose from the shadow behind him.
"Failed."
Obito could hear the wariness in Black Zetsu's tone.
"Those people from the moon are actually this powerful."
This was also Black Zetsu's first time facing people from the moon.
In the past, those Ōtsutsuki on the moon had interfered very little with the shinobi world.
Black Zetsu had not expected them to still possess such terrifying power.
"This level of power can no longer be handled by a single member."
Black Zetsu continued.
"We need more chess pieces. More manpower. If those moon people cannot be recruited, they must be dealt with as soon as possible."
He did not want anyone interfering with his plan.
"You saw it too. He destroyed the Deva Path Pain with a single attack."
Obito shook his head.
Black Zetsu was silent for a moment, then spoke.
"Take Nagato away first. The Rinnegan must not be lost."
Obito nodded. His figure vanished once more into a spatial vortex.
The next day.
Land of Rain.
Nagato lay on a bed, his abdomen wrapped in layers of bandages, but blood was still seeping out.
His face was as pale as paper, and there was no color on his lips.
Yahiko stood before him, holding a freshly written letter.
"I've already notified Konan."
Yahiko spoke.
His gaze fell on the wound on Nagato's abdomen, his brows tightly furrowed.
"That guy was too ruthless. He didn't just destroy your internal organs; he also left some chakra in the wound. The medical ninja's medical ninjutsu can't remove it."
"I was careless."
Nagato looked at Yahiko.
Although the two had disagreements, after learning that Nagato was seriously injured, Yahiko had immediately rushed over.
That made warmth rise in Nagato's heart.
Yahiko folded the letter and placed it into the leg ring of a ninja crow.
The ninja crow flapped its wings, flew through the rain, and headed toward Konoha.
Konoha, Hokage's office.
When Konan pushed the door open, Kiyohara was reviewing documents.
He raised his head. Seeing the expression on Konan's face, he put down the pen in his hand.
"What happened?"
"Nagato is seriously injured."
Konan walked to the desk and placed Yahiko's letter on it.
Kiyohara picked up the letter and glanced over it.
The handwriting was messy, clearly written under urgent circumstances.
Nagato's internal organs were damaged. Residual chakra could not be removed. His life was in danger.
Kiyohara had already guessed why Nagato had been severely injured.
Most likely, he had gone to contact the Ōtsutsuki father and son. There were not many people in the shinobi world who could put Nagato in such a sorry state.
This result did not surprise him.
Although Toneri's father had been badly injured by Kiyohara, with the Ōtsutsuki clan's constitution, recovering some battle strength after a short rest was not strange.
And their strength lay in the fact that they could control the Golden Tenseigan.
This was not an ordinary Tenseigan. According to the official novel's description, it was twenty meters in diameter.
It was filled with Byakugan and also contained Hamura's chakra.
How could an ordinary Rinnegan possibly contend against that?
Moreover, Nagato could not bring out the true power of the Rinnegan.
Only Uchiha Madara himself could fully exert the Rinnegan's power.
"Can you save him?"
Konan looked at Kiyohara, her tone pleading.
"I can save him."
Faced with Konan's plea, Kiyohara answered directly.
Konan raised her head, hope flashing in her blue eyes.
"But…"
Kiyohara changed his tone.
"Konan, I've helped you so many times. Shouldn't you show some sincerity?"
Konan's body stiffened slightly. Looking at Kiyohara's expression, she instantly understood what he meant.
After spending so much time around Kiyohara, she already understood his personality quite well.
This person never helped for free.
"You…"
Konan bit her lip.
She lowered her head, her short blue hair covering half her face, leaving only the tip of an ear flushed red.
"…I can fulfill one request of yours."
Konan nodded.
Kiyohara stood up, walked in front of Konan, and raised his hand to press down on her shoulder.
The next moment, the two vanished from the office.
Amegakure.
"Kiyohara!"
Yahiko's voice carried relief.
Kiyohara did not exchange pleasantries and walked directly up to Nagato. A layer of emerald-green chakra appeared in his right palm.
The Byakugan's see-through ability had already penetrated the bandages and clearly seen the condition inside.
A large portion of the internal organs had been blown apart.
The remaining Tenseigan chakra was embedded in the flesh like countless tiny needles, preventing the wound from healing.
"Your injury is serious."
Kiyohara said.
His gaze fell on Nagato's abdomen, his brows slightly furrowing.
There were traces of transplanted Hashirama cells inside Nagato. At this moment, those Hashirama cells were clashing violently with the Tenseigan chakra, making the injury even more complicated.
The Hashirama cells wanted to devour the Tenseigan chakra, while the Tenseigan chakra counterattacked. The two powers fought within his body without regard for whether the host could withstand it.
"Can it be treated?"
Nagato asked.
"Yes."
Kiyohara raised his right hand, and the green chakra in his palm grew denser.
He pressed his palm onto the wound on Nagato's abdomen. Yang Release chakra seeped into the chakra pathways and began peeling away the residual Tenseigan chakra layer by layer.
The Tenseigan chakra had a subtle similarity to a certain power inside Kiyohara. Every time his chakra touched the residual chakra, it caused tiny resonances.
Kiyohara could feel that his own chakra was devouring those chakras bit by bit.
This counted as an unexpected gain. Kiyohara continued the treatment.
Soon, he separated the shattered organ fragments from the flesh and used Yang Release chakra to promote the growth of new tissue.
At the same time, he split off another strand of chakra to suppress the rampaging Hashirama cells inside Nagato, locking them back into the chakra pathways of the transplanted region.
After a while, Kiyohara finally withdrew his hand.
"It's done."
Kiyohara straightened up and flicked away the remaining blood on his fingers.
"The residual chakra has been cleared, and your organs have been repaired. But you lost too much. You'll need a long period of rest now."
Nagato gasped for breath.
At last, some color returned to his pale face, and his breathing stabilized.
He raised his hand and touched the wound on his abdomen. Beneath the bandages, the skin there had already healed completely, leaving only a shallow scar.
"Good."
Nagato nodded.
Yahiko stepped forward and reached a hand toward Kiyohara.
"Thank you so much, Kiyohara. If it weren't for you, Nagato might have…"
"No need to be so polite."
Kiyohara shook his hand.
"Nagato is my cooperation partner. Saving him is only natural."
His gaze lingered on Yahiko's face for a moment.
As in the original story, there were differences in ideology between Yahiko and Nagato.
Yahiko advocated changing the Land of Rain through peaceful means, while Nagato, after experiencing too much betrayal, leaned more toward using force to deter the nations.
But at least in the face of Nagato's injuries, those differences had been temporarily set aside.
Konan stood to the side. Her tense shoulders finally relaxed.
Kiyohara observed in the ward for several more minutes. After confirming that Nagato's chakra flow had fully returned to normal, he pushed open the door and left the room.
"My Byakugan seems to have absorbed some of that chakra."
Kiyohara thought.
The chakra contained within the Golden Tenseigan had been partially absorbed by Kiyohara. He wondered whether it would accelerate the gestation.
At this moment, footsteps came from behind him.
Kiyohara turned back.
Konan had followed him out of the room.
She walked up to Kiyohara, stopped, and raised her head. Her blue eyes met his gaze.
"Thank you."
Her voice was not as cold as usual.
Kiyohara looked at her, the corner of his mouth curving slightly.
"Just thank you? We did make an agreement, didn't we?"
Konan's eyelashes trembled.
"You…"
Konan bit her lip. Her blue eyes turned aside, not daring to look directly at Kiyohara.
"…What do you want?"
Kiyohara did not answer. He simply took one step forward, narrowing the distance between them to a single pace.
Konan could feel his breath.
"Konan."
Kiyohara spoke.
"You know what I want."
Kiyohara made it clear: Konan was also on the ninja world's must-try list.
Konan, who looked dignified, beautiful, and like a proper good woman, actually had both lip and navel piercings. The contrast was incredible.
However, personality-wise, Konan was indeed very conservative. Her appearance was just a little bold.
Konan's body stiffened slightly.
She raised her head, and Kiyohara's face was reflected in her eyes.
"Just this once."
Konan said.
Kiyohara raised a hand and pressed it against the wall.
Konan subconsciously closed her eyes, her long eyelashes trembling faintly.
Then Kiyohara lowered his head and kissed her.
Kiyohara could feel her hand gripping the side of his robe.
Her lips parted slightly, but she did not go any further.
After a long while, Konan gently pushed him away.
She wiped her lower lip with her fingertip, her breathing somewhat unsteady.
"No tongue."
Konan's voice returned to its usual coolness.
"I understand."
Kiyohara looked at her stern little face and replied with a smile.
Konan turned aside. Her short blue hair covered half her face, leaving only an earlobe flushed red almost translucent.
She took a deep breath, suppressed the heart in her chest that was beating completely out of rhythm, then turned and walked toward the other end of the corridor.
After a few steps, she stopped again, without looking back.
"I'm going to check on Nagato."
After saying that, she continued forward. Her footsteps echoed through the corridor, a little faster than usual, her boot heels tapping against the stone floor.
Kiyohara leaned against the wall and watched that blue figure disappear around the corridor corner.
So if he did it this way, Konan could accept it?
After Konan left Kiyohara's line of sight, she leaned against the wall around the corner and raised a hand to cover her face.
She closed her eyes and calmed herself.
When she opened her eyes again, her usual coldness had returned, but that flush had still not completely faded.
"Damn Kiyohara…"
She buried her face in her palm and muttered hatefully.
Half a month later.
Konoha, Third Training Ground.
Uchiha Itachi stood in the clearing, holding a practice kunai. His black eyes stared at the targets ten meters ahead.
The targets were made of bundled straw. There were ten in total, arranged in a fan shape across the clearing. A red circle was drawn at the center of each target.
Uchiha Itachi took a deep breath. His left hand reached into the ninja tool pouch at his waist, and his fingertips simultaneously clamped four shuriken.
His wrist flicked, and the four shuriken flew from his hand.
Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Four crisp metallic sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
All four shuriken struck precisely within the red circles at the targets' centers.
The kunai in Uchiha Itachi's right hand spun once in his palm, then shot out.
The kunai collided with three shuriken in midair, changing their flight paths. The shuriken struck three different targets, all hitting the bullseyes.
Kiyohara stood behind him, the corners of his mouth slightly raised.
Uchiha Itachi's talent was not only in genjutsu. His shurikenjutsu was equally astonishing.
In the original story, at the age of five or six, he could use shuriken to hit multiple targets in blind spots simultaneously. That spatial awareness and precision were things even many jōnin could not achieve.
However, Uchiha Itachi's weak points were taijutsu and chakra volume.
Kiyohara had already made up for those two with the cursed seal, so there was no need to worry much.
"Itachi, you've already mastered shurikenjutsu very well."
Kiyohara stepped forward and patted Uchiha Itachi's shoulder.
"Today, I'll teach you a new ninjutsu: the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique."
Uchiha Itachi's eyes brightened slightly.
"This is a ninjutsu the Third Hokage is good at."
Kiyohara took a shuriken from his tool pouch and pinched it between his fingers.
"An ordinary Shadow Clone Technique requires a large amount of chakra to create clones, but the Shuriken Shadow Clone Technique is different. It applies the principles of shadow clones to shuriken.
"After one shuriken is thrown, it can split into countless shuriken in midair."
He raised his hand and threw the shuriken toward the targets.
Halfway through its flight, the shuriken suddenly split into dozens of shuriken.
Chichichichi!
The ten targets were covered with shuriken. Each target had at least five or six stuck into it, densely packed.
Uchiha Itachi looked at the targets filled with shuriken, and a trace of amazement flashed in his black eyes.
"The key to this technique lies in chakra distribution and timing."
Kiyohara explained, telling Uchiha Itachi some of the details.
Uchiha Itachi nodded and took a shuriken from his pouch.
The shuriken left his hand.
It trembled once, split into two, then the two split into four.
Four shuriken stuck into the targets, but only one hit the bullseye. The other three landed near the edges of the targets.
"Not bad."
Kiyohara nodded. To split one shuriken into four on the first try, and have most of them hit the targets, was already quite rare talent.
"Continue practicing here. Izumi, come with me."
Uchiha Izumi froze, then hurried after Kiyohara toward the other side of the training ground.
She nervously gripped the kunai in her hand, her peach-blossom eyes secretly glancing at Kiyohara.
What was Teacher going to teach her privately?
"Izumi, your speed and reaction are top-tier among your peers, but your attack power is still insufficient. The damage ninja tools can cause is limited, and they're too easily blocked by defensive ninjutsu."
Uchiha Izumi nodded, her small face showing a trace of dejection.
"So today, I'll teach you a Lightning Release ninjutsu: Lightning Release: Swift Thunder Arrow."
This technique gathered Lightning Release chakra in the right hand, then fired multiple arrow-like white bolts of lightning from the palm to attack the opponent.
Uchiha Izumi's eyes instantly lit up.
Kiyohara raised his right hand and demonstrated once for her.
A tree trunk was instantly pierced by white lightning, its edges scorched black and still emitting heat.
Uchiha Izumi stared at the hole, her peach-blossom eyes wide.
"So strong!"
"Come on. Try it."
Kiyohara withdrew his hand and explained the method of condensing Lightning Release chakra and the chakra pathway route in detail.
Then he reached out, placed a hand on Uchiha Izumi's shoulder, and injected a small stream of Lightning Release chakra into her body, letting her feel the way that chakra flowed.
Uchiha Izumi closed her eyes and seriously felt the method that chakra used to move through her pathways.
After Kiyohara withdrew his hand, Uchiha Izumi also began trying to condense Lightning Release chakra.
After opening the three-tomoe Sharingan, her chakra control had also improved greatly.
Several hours later.
Uchiha Izumi sat on the ground. In the palm of her right hand, a crooked arc of lightning was slowly dissipating.
The bolt of lightning had just pierced the trunk of a small tree, leaving behind a small blackened hole.
Although its power was still far from Kiyohara's casual strike, for her age, it was already an impressive achievement.
"Teacher, I did it!"
She raised her head, her face covered in sweat and smiles.
"You did very well."
Uchiha Izumi giggled twice.
Kiyohara looked at her, gave her a few more reminders about training precautions, then left a shadow clone behind to continue guiding the two children while his real body walked toward the Forest of Death.
Forest of Death.
"I've almost adapted to the Eight-Tails' chakra."
Kiyohara raised a brow.
He adapted to the Eight-Tails' chakra even faster than the Two-Tails'.
Kiyohara extended his hand. A tentacle condensed from Eight-Tails chakra appeared.
The tentacle was about as thick as an adult's arm, with fine suction cups covering its surface.
The Two-Tails and Eight-Tails had been imprisoned in the dungeon for too long, so Kiyohara had methods to collect their chakra.
To a certain extent, tailed beast chakra could materialize into flesh, which was why Kiyohara had been able to collect it so smoothly.
Kiyohara tossed the tentacle into the air.
The tentacle flipped several times midair, and when it landed, it had already transformed into his appearance.
Eight-Tails Style: Substitution Technique!
Kiyohara circled this clone once. Three tomoe appeared in his eyes.
The three tomoe slowly rotated and focused, attempting to find the difference between the clone and the original.
The Mangekyō pattern then appeared in Kiyohara's eyes, but even the Mangekyō Sharingan could not distinguish which was real and which was false.
"The Eight-Tails' power… really is interesting."
Kiyohara withdrew his Sharingan, the corner of his mouth lifting slightly.
Eight-Tails Style: Substitution Technique was a unique ability of the Eight-Tails.
A clone created from a severed tentacle could not be distinguished from the real body even by the Mangekyō Sharingan.
This clone technique was different from shadow clones. It was a physical clone. It did not disperse when attacked and had extremely high durability. The only drawback was that creating it consumed tentacles.
After devouring the Eight-Tails' flesh, Kiyohara had already adapted to the Eight-Tails' chakra.
"Right now, my chakra amount should be approaching the total of two tailed beasts."
Kiyohara thought.
His original chakra reserves had already far exceeded ordinary tailed beasts.
After consecutively devouring the flesh of the Three-Tails and Eight-Tails, his chakra amount had grown by another large margin.
The only limitation was adaptation speed.
After continuously devouring the Three-Tails' and Eight-Tails' chakra, his body developed a strange "fullness."
He needed to let his cells completely digest the power already absorbed before he could continue devouring the next kind of tailed beast chakra.
So his adaptation to the Two-Tails had become somewhat slower.
Kiyohara guessed this was a sign of his body rapidly evolving.
Every act of devouring changed the upper limit of the chakra his cells could contain, and the cells needed time to adapt to that change.
Once he fully digested the power of the Eight-Tails and Three-Tails, that feeling of fullness would disappear. Then he would be able to continue devouring other tailed beast chakra.
He released the Eight-Tails Style: Substitution Technique and continued using the Eight-Tails' other abilities.
One week later.
Deep within the Forest of Death.
Kiyohara stood beside a muddy stream, holding a kunai in his left hand.
He raised the kunai, aimed it at his right wrist, then cut cleanly.
Crack.
His right hand was severed at the wrist. Pale bone showed at the cut, and blood gushed out.
But as the blood poured out, it wrapped around the falling severed hand and pulled it back to the wound.
The bones aligned automatically. Muscles reconnected. Skin covered and healed.
Kiyohara moved his reattached wrist, flexing his fingers open and closed with full agility. It was no different from before it was severed.
"Regeneration of severed limbs… or rather, reattachment of severed limbs. I've become very skilled at it."
He had been capable of reattaching severed limbs before.
Now, the speed had become even faster.
"With my current body, even if my brain were cut off, it would be hard for me to die."
Kiyohara stroked his chin.
In the shinobi world, souls existed.
Consciousness resided in the soul. After the flesh died, the soul returned to the Pure Land.
But Kiyohara's body's recovery ability had already reached the point where even if his brain were destroyed, it could heal within an extremely short time.
As long as the healing was fast enough, the soul would not leave the body.
Of course, this was only a theoretical deduction.
He was not insane enough to actually cut off his own head for an experiment.
But injuries like being cut in half at the waist had already been tested. Even if he were bisected, he could reconnect himself in an extremely short time.
"I still need to enhance my recovery ability a bit more."
Kiyohara stroked his chin.
"The Eight-Tails' Ink Sealing Technique is also worth deeper research. In the future, it can be used together with other sealing techniques."
He stood up from beside the stream, rolled his shoulders, then walked toward the village.
Casino.
When Kiyohara pushed open the casino door, a wave of noise rushed toward him.
Excited and dejected shouts from gamblers mixed together.
His gaze swept through the casino, and he quickly found Tsunade in a corner.
Only a few chips remained in front of Tsunade. Compared to the surrounding piles, they looked pitiful.
"Big again."
The dealer's voice sounded, and the chips were taken away.
Tsunade watched her final few chips get swept away. She collapsed into her chair like a deflated ball, completely different from her earlier high-spirited appearance.
"Teacher."
Kiyohara walked behind her and placed both hands on her shoulders.
"Lost again?"
Tsunade gave an "mm."
"Come on. I'll buy you a drink."
Tsunade looked up.
Her mouth was slightly pouted, as if she had suffered a terrible grievance.
Why did she lose every day?
In front of Kiyohara, Tsunade always showed a different side of herself.
Every time Kiyohara saw her like this, he found it funny.
Outside, she was the mighty one of the Three Sannin, the greatest medical ninja in the shinobi world. At the casino, she became the table's money-distributing child.
Tsunade stood from the chair, tucked the few remaining bills into her clothes, and followed Kiyohara out of the casino.
The two walked side by side along Konoha's streets.
The night breeze was slightly cool, dispersing some of the scent of alcohol on Tsunade.
Most shops on both sides of the street had already closed. Only a few izakaya were still lit.
"Teacher, how is your Wood Release practice going?"
Kiyohara asked curiously.
At the mention of that, Tsunade's expression instantly brightened.
She turned her head, lifted her chin slightly, and showed a small proud smile.
"I can already refine Wood Release chakra in its early stage."
A green light appeared in Tsunade's palm.
"That's fast progress."
Kiyohara praised.
Although it was still far from Senju Hashirama's level of Wood Release, she had achieved this entirely through the revival of her own bloodline.
Kurenai Yūhi and Nohara Rin had both received his infusions, but Tsunade was the only one who had awakened Wood Release.
"Of course."
Tsunade bumped Kiyohara's arm with her elbow, a heroic smile appearing on her face.
"Doesn't Teacher think she should thank me?"
Kiyohara said.
Tsunade turned to look at him. The smile at the corner of her mouth carried a hint of teasing.
"Oh? Thank you for what? For making me work overtime every day, you brat?"
"Thank my cells. If I hadn't been supplementing Teacher's vitality every day, would Teacher's Wood Release have awakened so quickly?"
Tsunade's cheeks instantly turned red.
She turned her face away, her golden hair sliding down from her shoulder and covering half her face.
"Stop running your mouth."
Kiyohara smiled and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him.
Next, what Kiyohara needed to do was wait for the new "last letter."
At the same time, he could also attempt to seal the dragon vein into the artificial tailed beast's container.
Kiyohara was now highly accomplished in space-time ninjutsu, but in the end, what he was truly skilled at was space ninjutsu.
As for techniques related to time, Kiyohara had not mastered a single one.
He was very curious. The dragon vein's chakra was capable of affecting time.
Then what would happen if he mastered the dragon vein's chakra?