"I didn't expect it to be the Six-Tails Jinchuriki!"
On the lively festival street, fireworks continuously bloomed across the night sky.
Watching Karin and Shizune laughing and playing happily ahead, Tsunade smiled. Although she was slightly surprised by the appearance of the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, she wasn't particularly concerned.
"Then the other chakra signatures... they shouldn't all belong to the Mist Village, right?"
"Mm, they really are members of the Mist Village's Anbu assassination squad."
Akira Ren chuckled softly.
Red chakra swirled within his eyes as his gaze swept across the entire Hot Springs Town.
Every ninja hidden among the crowd, no matter how well they concealed themselves or suppressed their chakra, remained clearly visible to him. None could escape his sight.
Thanks to the mutated Sen Sen Fruit and by devouring Ranmaru's blood, extracting his genetic information, and perfectly fusing it with his own, Akira Ren had already acquired the power of the Red Eye.
Moreover, his observational ability far surpassed Kurenai's, whose Red Eye had yet to fully mature or reveal its full potential.
His field of vision had reached an unimaginable level.
If he wished, Akira Ren could clearly observe every blade of grass and every tree throughout Hot Springs Town.
He could even spot a tiny insect dozens of kilometers away and distinguish whether it was male or female.
"Tsk... That beautiful face, that mature and alluring figure, and a chakra signature that doesn't lose to Sister Tsunade's..."
Akira Ren's eyes lit up as they settled on a graceful figure in the distant crowd.
Wearing a red-and-white kimono, with a tall and curvaceous figure that radiated mature charm, she wore a demon mask just like the Six-Tails Jinchuriki as she quietly moved through the crowd.
A faint smile appeared on his face.
"The future Fifth Mizukage of the Mist Village... Terumi Mei!"
In the entire ninja world, very few women possessed both such overwhelming beauty and remarkable strength.
He had never expected to encounter not only the Six-Tails Jinchuriki, but also the future Mizukage.
"Tsk... This mature, voluptuous, and seductive figure really can only be matched by Sister Tsunade."
Akira Ren stroked his chin, feeling his body grow slightly warm.
Delicate facial features.
A stunningly voluptuous figure.
Fair skin.
Waist-length hair.
When she looked down, her chest completely blocked the view of her toes.
She truly was a peerless beauty.
He had to admit that every aspect of Terumi Mei perfectly matched his tastes.
"What is it?"
Seeing Akira Ren staring at something, Tsunade turned toward him.
"Nothing. I just spotted someone interesting."
Akira Ren smiled lightly as he withdrew his gaze.
"Heh... A Byakugan?"
His eyes briefly shifted toward the masked young man silently following behind Terumi Mei like a bodyguard.
"He noticed Sister Tsunade?"
The red glow within his eyes gradually faded.
He paid it no mind.
He could perfectly conceal his own presence.
Even without entering Sage Mode, he could naturally merge with his surroundings, making it extremely difficult for anyone to sense him.
Especially after learning the secret behind the Dustless Bewildering Cover—the Second Tsuchikage Mu's unique stealth technique that could even evade the Byakugan—and completely mastering its principles, his concealment had reached an entirely new level.
As long as he didn't release excessive chakra or create noticeable fluctuations, even using simple chakra techniques like observing targets with the Red Eye wouldn't expose him.
If Akira Ren activated Dustless Bewildering Cover to become invisible while simultaneously blending into nature, even standing directly in front of a hundred Hyuga clan members with fully activated Byakugan, none of them would be able to detect his existence.
Gulp!
"That chakra..."
At that moment, on another street, a tall masked man suddenly stiffened.
Cold sweat formed beneath his mask as he instinctively swallowed.
The instant Akira Ren's gaze briefly swept toward him, the Mist Village Jonin Ao was startled and hurriedly deactivated his Byakugan, his face filled with shock.
"It's the First Hokage's granddaughter... one of Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Princess Tsunade!"
That amount of chakra was like facing a living human-shaped Tailed Beast.
Just as Akira Ren had expected, despite being one of the Mist Village's greatest sensory ninjas, Ao hadn't sensed Akira Ren's presence at all.
The only chakra he detected belonged to Tsunade, who had consumed the artificial Devil Fruit cultivated from the First Hokage's cells, awakened Wood Release, and whose chakra reserves had increased to nearly the level of a Tailed Beast.
Of course, there were enormous differences between the chakra reserves of the Tailed Beasts themselves.
As Akira Ren's Sen Sen Fruit continued to evolve and his body steadily matured, his constant photosynthesis absorbed limitless natural light every day, causing his chakra reserves to increase at an astonishing pace over the past two years.
They grew larger every single day.
If Tsunade's current chakra reserves were roughly comparable to the One-Tail or Two-Tails, then Akira Ren's reserves were probably equal to about half of the Nine-Tails.
What did that represent?
As everyone knew, when the Sage of Six Paths divided the chakra of the Nine Tailed Beasts, it probably went something like this:
One share for the One-Tail.
Two shares for the Two-Tails.
Three shares for the Three-Tails.
Each additional tail represented one extra share.
After distributing them all, the Sage of Six Paths realized that half of the Ten-Tails' chakra still remained.
So he simply gave the rest to the Nine-Tails.
Of course, what truly made the Tailed Beasts so terrifying wasn't merely their immense chakra reserves.
It was their incredible chakra recovery speed.
No matter how much chakra they consumed, they could constantly replenish it from nature and recover almost endlessly.
This was something no human powerhouse—or even giant summoned beasts—could compare to.
That was why the Tailed Beasts were known as possessing infinite chakra.
It was also why the entire ninja world feared them.
However, Akira Ren had already reached nearly that same level.
Thanks to the dramatically improved efficiency of his photosynthesis over the past two years, his chakra recovery speed had become fully comparable to that of any Tailed Beast.
It was even more extraordinary.
"Lady Mei..."
Ao quickly stepped forward and approached the graceful woman whose ordinary mask and kimono did nothing to conceal her alluring figure. Many men couldn't help but stare at her as she passed.
"What is it, Ao?"
Terumi Mei paused and turned around in surprise.
Her clear, melodious voice sounded like pearls falling onto polished jade.
Just hearing it made one imagine an incomparably beautiful woman.
"Not only has the Six-Tails Jinchuriki Utakata—the traitor who murdered his own master and defected from the Mist Village—appeared here..." Ao reported in a low voice with a grave expression. "I also discovered Konoha's Legendary Sannin, Princess Tsunade."
"Tsunade?"
Terumi Mei raised an eyebrow slightly.
Naturally, she had heard of the Legendary Sannin.
Among them, the Slug Princess Tsunade had earned countless military achievements during the Great Ninja Wars, saved innumerable wounded shinobi, and was revered throughout the ninja world as a legendary medical expert.
She had long been the idol of countless women.
Terumi Mei was no exception.
For years, she had worked tirelessly with the goal of surpassing Tsunade and becoming the future Fifth Mizukage.
"That's right..."
Ao swallowed hard.
As a sensory ninja who had defeated a member of the Hyuga main family during the Third Great Ninja War and obtained a Byakugan, his sensing abilities had reached an entirely different level.
The chakra Tsunade radiated was simply terrifying.
She felt like a living Tailed Beast.
Why had he never heard that Konoha's Princess possessed such monstrous chakra reserves?
"By the way..."
Ao suddenly thought of something and couldn't help blurting it out.
"Could she be Konoha's new Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?"
You can read extra chapters ahead on Patreon if you're interested:
patreon.com/Luna023