Hokage — that title will be mine!
As if sensing Minato's gaze, Yuki Seisui turned his head and smiled faintly.
I'm the one who'll become Hokage, Minato.
Inside the house, Uzumaki Mito sensed the ambition burning within Seisui's heart. Though she didn't know what he was truly planning, her eyes lingered on the faint, narrow line etched on the floor.
Her hand brushed against her abdomen once more.
"Hashirama," she murmured softly, "it seems someone isn't too fond of your shinobi village system."
Her lips curved into a quiet smile.
"But it feels… rather refreshing."
"Young people have their own paths to walk. We old ones can only watch them do as they will."
As she spoke, her gaze turned inward—toward the Nine-Tails.
"Tell me, Kurama," she said lightly, "do you prefer males or females?"
The Nine-Tails froze for a full second, then erupted in fury.
"Damn humans!" it roared.
Though sealed inside her, it could still sense the outside world—and having lived with Mito for decades, it instantly understood why she had asked.
But did it have a choice in the matter?!
No!
And if there was no choice—then why even ask?!
Kurama's rage boiled over as old memories surfaced.
Once, it had been a carefree fox, spending its days fighting Shukaku and napping contentedly. Life had been simple, peaceful—until one day, that damned man named Hashirama Senju appeared.
He'd said the beast was too powerful and had to be restrained.
Then, without hesitation, he'd reached out and grabbed it by the head with one hand—like catching a chick—and sealed it away.
The pain of a tailed beast… you humans could never understand!
"Damn Uzumaki Mito! Once I get out, I'll make you all suffer the same pain!"
Kurama continued to roar, but Mito simply shook her head with a calm smile.
"You're still just as short-tempered as ever, Kurama."
"It seems Hashirama was right."
"You truly do need to be restrained."
Kurama grew even more furious. Why do you think I'm angry? Do you really not know?!
"Feel my pain!" it bellowed.
"Stay quiet," Mito replied serenely as she withdrew her consciousness from the sealing space. Her eyes opened once more, landing on Seisui.
"He's grown," she whispered softly.
"That's good… very good."
To witness the Uzumaki clan thriving once more before her death—perhaps that was enough to fulfill her final wish.
Her eyes slowly closed, her aura dimming, her body steeped in the calm of twilight.
Meanwhile, Yuki Seisui was still staring at Minato, lost in thought.
Should I move here? he wondered silently.
This place is way bigger than my house.
Plenty of land, too—I could even build another one beside it.
And it's right in the heart of Konoha… not far from the Uchiha compound.
Which means closer to Haru as well.
Perfect central location.
Back then, the Uchiha hadn't yet been pushed to the outskirts of the village; they still lived in the heart of Konoha.
Their territory might have been prime, but not a single Uchiha held a high-ranking position—except for the Konoha Military Police, their only domain.
Hashirama's plan had been clever: by letting the Uchiha manage village affairs, he hoped they'd slowly integrate with Konoha's people.
A kind-hearted fool, that Senju ghost.
But his calculations were off.
The Uchiha's pride made them naturally distant, and the more they handled daily disputes, the more friction grew between them and the villagers.
Instead of harmony, resentment deepened.
And yet, the Uchiha refused to relinquish the Konoha Military Police—cementing the cycle of conflict.
Seisui sighed and shook his head.
Then he looked back at the group.
"I've got something to take care of," he said casually. "You guys keep practicing."
He had already learned the Adamantine Sealing Chains well enough—what he needed now was refinement.
Besides, there was another project waiting for him: the Mutual Multiplying Explosive Tag.
Just thinking about it made him grin with excitement.
After bidding farewell to Uzumaki Mito, Seisui returned home—then immediately performed the Reverse Summoning Technique.
A white flash later, he appeared in the land of the pandas.
Before he could even speak, Panda Ming's gruff voice boomed beside him.
"Seisui, can you please stop summoning Kuma all the time?"
Seisui blinked, confused.
"When did I summon Kuma?"
Then it hit him.
Ah… probably Haru.
"Kuma's still growing," Panda Ming grumbled. "Every time she's about to eat bamboo, she gets summoned away!"
"If she keeps missing meals, she'll be malnourished!"
Seisui's mouth twitched. "Alright, alright. No more summoning her. I just need to find Panda Wu for something!"
Before Ming could scold him again, Seisui vanished in a blur.
Panda Ming was getting more and more like a nagging old mother these days—he could barely stand it.
Panda Wu's clay workshop had been relocated several times by the Panda Sage and now stood a fair distance from the bamboo forest.
The upside? There was plenty of clay.
Nearly all the soil beneath their paws was rich in materials perfect for explosive clay.
When Panda Wu saw Seisui approach, he tilted his head curiously. "Seisui, what brings you here?"
Surrounded by small clay pandas hopping about, Seisui twitched an eyebrow, then pulled out a scroll.
"This is a new jutsu I got my hands on."
"Huh?" Panda Wu scratched his head. "And…?"
Seeing his lack of interest, Seisui shook some mud from his sandal and continued, "It's called the Mutual Multiplying Explosive Tag Formation."
"You stick one tag onto the enemy. When it explodes, two more tags are summoned. When those explode, they summon four more—and so on."
"An endless chain of explosions. Relentless. Overwhelming."
At that, Panda Wu's eyes lit up.
"That's brilliant!" he exclaimed. "I see what you're getting at—you want to adapt it for clay, right?"
He turned toward the clay pandas dancing nearby.
"So one clay panda becomes two, two become four, four become eight…" His eyes gleamed. "Soon I'd have hundreds of clay pandas!"
Seisui was nodding along—until he realized where that logic led. A bead of sweat slid down his cheek.
"Not quite!" he blurted out. "It doesn't actually multiply—it just summons pre-prepared ones for continuous explosions."
Panda Wu's face fell instantly.
"A jutsu that can't infinitely summon… how dull."
"The grand beauty of an explosion is in that fleeting instant! That is true art!"
Listening to Panda Wu's passionate speech, Seisui gave a dry laugh.
Just wait. One day, Deidara's going to come begging to be your student.
He couldn't help sighing as Deidara's image popped into his mind.
You could've become Tsuchikage and played with Kurotsuchi instead, but no—you just had to chase "the art of explosion."
Artists, huh… they really are something else.
Originally, Seisui had thought improving the Mutual Multiplying Explosive Tag would be complicated, but when he started experimenting, he realized it was actually simple—he only needed to replace the summoning medium with clay.
Not much of an upgrade, really—more like a substitution.
Still, simpler was better.
He didn't want to waste too much time perfecting it.
Once he finished his modifications, Seisui made sure to find a place far from any existing explosive clay—especially Panda Wu's workshop.
If a single chain reaction went off, the entire panda territory could vanish in smoke.
He crossed through the bamboo forest and headed in the opposite direction.
Finally, he reached a roaring waterfall. Water thundered down into the valley below.
"This should do nicely," he muttered, rubbing his chin.
He tossed out a fist-sized lump of clay, clapped his hands together, and declared with dramatic flair:
"Mutual Mutual Multiplying Explosive Clay Formation Formation!"
The clay immediately glowed red-hot, pulsing violently—then exploded.
In the next instant, two more lumps appeared, flashing in sequence before detonating one after another.
Then four. Then eight.
The chain reaction roared to life, shaking the cliffs.
As chakra drained rapidly from his body, Seisui watched the dazzling explosions with awe.
Still… he frowned.
"The power's not quite there," he murmured.
In his mind, this jutsu should unleash a blinding cascade of detonations—fast, devastating, and inescapable.
But right now, it was more of a light show than a weapon.
After a brief pause, he grit his teeth, pressed his hands together again, and poured out half his chakra.
A thunderous rumble split the air.
Above the waterfall—two hundred meters high—a massive clay mound spread across a seventy-meter radius, glowing red before erupting into a blinding inferno.
BOOOOOOM!
A shockwave of invisible force blasted Seisui off his feet, hurling him across the ground. He rolled several times before finally stopping.
For a long moment, he just lay there—then slowly stood, wiping cold sweat from his brow.
"Damn…" he panted, grinning. "That was way too close!"