Watching my plant dimension from one of the cliffs overlooking the largest meadows, I heard steps behind me.
I didn't need to turn around to know that it was Saiken and Kokuo. My relationship with Saiken especially had cooled quite a bit since I sealed her away for daring to talk about my secrets with Kokuo before I took the tailed beast from its jinchūriki Han. It probably would never get back to what it was before.
But they were adequate as groundskeepers for my personal sage region.
The two tailed beasts were in their human forms and carried the recently 'born' Shukaku, the one-tails, and Chomei, the seven-tails, in their pup-sized forms.
"Yoshihiro-sama," Kokuo greeted. "The fire-lizards have evolved again after another 'purge', as you call it."
I just nodded.
"The metal ants show tremendous growth, too. Their size increased by almost half after we forced them to create another queen," the five-tails added.
"How many ripe fruits are on my trees?"
"Eleven for the Uchiha, one for Chinoike, and two for the Kaguya trees," Saiken answered.
"Any progress on the other bijū seeds?"
"Only the eight-tails and the nine-tails copies are missing. The rest have formed with a spare for both of us. Kurama's seed has shown progress ever since the other's have hatched. Gyuki's copy should be born before the year ends," Kokuo diligently explained.
Hearing the progress report, my eyes changed into my new dojutsu form and I vanished from their view to arrive at my little hut with the furnaces inside. My clones managed to progress with one of the pills I've been trying to create.
"Got a name yet?" One of my clones asked and I rolled my shining eyes.
Only I would think talking to myself with nobody around would be funny. My clone was, of course, talking about my eyes. I hadn't given the dojutsu a name yet.
"Tsui'sekigan," I said just to shut myself up, as ridiculous as it was. "Eyes of Pursuit."
Not only was I getting closer to a truth higher than mere chakra wielded by shinobi thanks to those eyes, a truth I didn't know I was pursuing, but literally pursuing someone was also getting easier and easier now. After all, I finally managed to bridge a gap in my many talents and learned a space-time jutsu.
My eyes allowed me to exchange places with my own chakra with its first evolution. For anybody with less chakra than me that might be a very limited ability, but I could easily drown the entire island of Kiri in my chakra and teleport all over before even breaking a sweat.
Thanks to my chakra control, I even managed to incorporate small bits and pieces of my chakra and sealed away some 'battery caches' in that range. The ability was technically less convenient than the marks of the Flying Thunder God jutsu created by the Second Hokage and perfected for killing by the Fourth Hokage. But it was my ability and I kept improving it.
I was proud of that.
"What about the pill, hand it over?" I asked my clone with barely any patience.
Even my own antics weren't cute despite knowing my own humor the best.
The clone tossed me a golden pill with fūinjutsu markings carved on its surface.
"Finally," I muttered under my breath.
One of my abilities granted by the entity who brought me here told me the effects of a pill as long as I created it in the extra sage region bound to my soul.
"Try and create another, use up your chakra to do so if you must," I instructed and left the plant dimension to reappear in my office at the academy.
It was in the middle of the night.
"Hmm?"
With my mind's eye, I looked through walls, directly at a Kumo ninja rifling through Mabui's meticulously organised files two rooms over. The man was littered all over with seals meant to hide his presence.
A clone of mine noticed I left the plant dimension and let me know why Kumo was bold enough to try. The clone was openly out drinking with both Mabui and Samui, making the Kumo faction believe the academy was empty.
My dojutsu flared up again and I appeared behind the hidden Kumo nin.
"How much do you want to reveal before you die?"
The random ninja stiffened, slumped his shoulders and swallowed a suicide pill.
I didn't care enough to stop his actions. Instead, I collected the body and used my space-time jutsu to drop the body in the kage's office before disappearing.
———
[3rd person POV, minutes earlier]
"Konoha and Kiri are allies for the time being. Why would we want to break our fragile cooperation just to start another war?" Mei asked with an unimpressed frown.
The towering mountain of muscle sitting opposite her held none of the arrogance he would have held with any other kage. The Raikage gave Mei a mocking smile regardless of his apprehension and countered, "I know of your husband's strength. With him and me on the frontline, Konoha would be finished in weeks."
Mei looked at A then gave Darui behind the man a short look before tentatively pointing out, "You know of Yoshihiro's strength and yet the only two times he has stepped up as an aggressor since I took office was to defend Kiri against… you. What makes you think my husband is interested in fighting a war we initiated? I could have done so without Kumo years ago, if he and I were of the same opinion on the matter."
Raikage A gave her a shrewd smile while looking at her with narrowed eyes and suggested, "If you are interested, while he is not… why not get dragged into the war and urge him to fight after 'losing' on one front?"
Ao's eyes behind Mei gained a dangerous glint. The Raikage had just suggested they should allow some Kiri nin to die to give Yoshihiro an excuse for the powerful jinchūriki to fight a war for… him, an enemy kage.
Mei got that point, too, and mockingly quipped, "My husband is not only stronger than you but also much smarter. I value the life of my villagers too much to do something so disdainful just to earn my husband's ire and ridicule in return."
The Fourth Raikage's eyes turned red for the shortest moments, his face gaining a furious grimace. But he schooled his emotions just as quickly and countered, "In that case, I want to negotiate the release of Samui and Mabui. They have been prisoners for much too long already and we need Samui's strength and Mabui's help with the logistics."
"Giving your hand away before the negotiation even started?" Mei retorted disdainfully. Though the disdain was for the Raikage's ignorance. Samui had long surpassed her previous self in strength by countless dimensions. Mei was sure the Kumo kunoichi could go toe-to-toe with the Raikage sitting in front of her and come out of the fight with a high chance of winning. And that was only because she was ignorant of Samui's true strength.
Before the Kumo faction could retort, Mei held up a hand and explained, "Samui and Mabui are under the employ of my husband. Despite being his kage, he has earned the privilege to handle his own people. Though, I doubt he will relinquish his hold on those two. They have been instrumental in our ninja ac-"
Her words were cut short as a fresh corpse suddenly dropped between the two kage in an instantaneous flash of light.
"-ademy."
Mei looked at the corpse, just like Ao, and they quickly came to the same conclusion. A Kumo nin.
Slowly, Terumi Mei's eyes wandered back up as she gave the Raikage an unimpressed stare.
When her fellow kage wouldn't say anything, Mei, with a dead-pan, quipped, "If you ask for a jōnin sacrifice for this turd and think I'd cave like that fool Sarutobi, you're in for a rude awakening. Yoshihiro doesn't go around killing random people in our village. This is a message. He is displeased with your spies."
The Raikage clenched his fists so hard, his arms and shoulders trembled. But the fear of facing Terumi Yoshihiro again was too much for him. Any spy he sent into Kiri to track down Mabui and Samui and gain information from them was never heard from again over the years. And when they thought themselves clever and wanted to make three genius genin disappear to learn more about Kiri's secrets last year at the joint Genin Exams hosted by Kumo just for this purpose, they were found out and almost had their two-tails jinchūriki destroyed by a mere pre-sealed clone of the six-tails vessel.
"If this is everything you came here to discuss, you best leave. You have a war to attend to and we want no part in it," Mei declared and gestured toward the door.
Darui stepped past his kage and picked up their dead spy by the scruff of his neck. The Kumo delegation made their way back toward their ship with quick steps.
Once on it and far enough from the coast, all Kumo nin heard something break in the captain's quarters where the Raikage claimed his residence.
"DAMNIT!"
———
"You're late, Karin," I said with a drawl as I sat in my private study in the Terumi clan.
"Yo-san, you meanie. Nobody could have broken that seal faster than me except you and maybe my mom," the red-haired girl with the glasses complained as she fell onto a cushion on the floor next to me. I had sealed my entrance door to test her solving speed.
I ignored her pout and chided, "What makes you think there's nobody else who could do so? What about Orochimaru and Tsunade?"
"Tssk," she mouthed and turned her head to the side.
"You're getting a bit unruly now that you have a boy you want to pursue," I pointed out with narrowed eyes and enjoyed watching her blush reach critical levels. "Of course, I knew you would end up falling in love with Haku even when you were just four. You just took a while to find out what a crush even is."
"I'll bite you if you tell him," Karin threatened with a growl to hide her own shyness. She didn't even dare meet my eyes.
"Take off those glasses," I instructed to change the topic and though she feigned reluctance, Karin followed my order promptly.
Studying her expression for a moment, I nodded and tossed her a golden pill with inscriptions all over. The one I had just been given by my clone.
Technically, I already had pills to awaken the 'Tsui'sekigan', but this pill was even better. I theorized that the Eyes of Pursuit each came with their own abilities following my original recipe, much like the later stages of the Sharingan, but I tried my hand at purposefully imbuing a certain ability inside the awakening pill tailored specifically for Karin.
And succeeded.
"A new pill, Yo-san?" Without glasses, she brought the pill close to her face as she felt the grooves of the inscribed seals and enjoyed the pleasant flowery smell of the round ball.
"A gift for you reaching the jōnin rank. You were curious about my dojutsu, no? This will help you awaken it, too. The first after me, not even my kids have those eyes yet," I complimented easily.
In all fairness, had I ensured my kids awakened these eyes first, I would have told her something equally sentimental. I just didn't care about the order and wanted to make sure Karin felt valued.
With my pills, the kage level was easy to reach for anyone with even the slightest bit of talent and dedication. But the super-kage level was out of reach even with my pills unless I gave these pills to inherently special characters.
In theory, Karin had the potential to even break that bottle-neck and reach the six-paths level. I had high hopes for her. And therefore wanted her to stay on my side, just because of convenience.
With a last unfocused look toward me, Karin swallowed the golden pill without further questions and concentrated on digesting the pill with her chakra. She was a capable medi nin and knew how to control parts of her body to accelerate the process.
Several minutes later, Karin gasped in pain and brought her hands to her eyes. She started crying tears of blood, her entire body cringed in short bursts of agony. Slowly, she fell over and brought her knees to her head as her body started convulsing in pain.
I just watched the entire process with a focused yet indifferent frown.
My own awakening wasn't half as painful as Karin's, I had to consider if there was something wrong with her. But when she stopped groaning and gritting her teeth and simply fell unconscious, I judged that I was simply tougher.
Or my constitution was plainly different because of that bloodline pill that granted me all those Uzumaki abilities. Her bloodline compared to the one I was born with was better, but that was no longer true.
Two hours later during which I pumped Karin full of healing chakra to mend her body, the young girl stirred. I had already wiped away all the blood from her face and sat at a grill in my living room to make the two of us some food.
"Smells nice," Karin muttered under her breath.
"Potato wedges with cheese, your favorite," I said without turning back.
Her head snapped in my direction and her eyes widened. When it looked like she was about to say something, her eyes widened even more.
"I can see!"
I merely chuckled in response.
"You know what I mean! I don't need my glasses anymore!" Karin chided with an exasperated sigh when she heard my laugh.
"Try to gently bring chakra to your eyes. If you don't know by instinct, try with neutral chakra and go through your affinities starting with yang chakra," I explained as I fixed two plates and brought them to Karin.
Sitting in front of her, I saw her red pupils suddenly turn ocean blue. In no time, they were shining with potent chakra filling these eyes and the round pupil turned into a vertical slit, just like my eyes.
"How is it?"
Karin brought her hands in front of her face and, without using hand seals, she activated her yang chakra to use the Mystical Palm healing jutsu that I had extorted from Tsunade a couple of years ago for a renewal of the pill contract.
Kiri's versions of healing jutsus were a bit lacking and we couldn't just solely rely on my pills. We could, but I didn't care enough to craft so many healing pills.
So, Tsunade and I came to an agreement that we would compare notes on our healing jutsu in the name of the alliance. Which obviously benefited Kiri tremendously. And pained Tsunade, a big plus in my book.
"My chakra control… It's instinctual now! I feel like I can use any water and yang release jutsu without hand seals," Karin muttered in awe as she watched her hands closely.
"Try your hands at jutsu creation in the coming months. I have high hopes that you can create a few high-level healing jutsu, maybe even break through and make a bloodline ability. Ask your other sensei, for help. My sister has good ideas that you can try to create. Additionally, your water, wind, earth, and yang release are high enough. You have access to my library, so get the notes on how I merged my chakra natures to create new kekkei genkai. And your boyfriend can show you how to create ice release. Nothing should stop you from copying his chakra," I instructed as I gave the young kunoichi a pleased nod.
"Thank you, sensei," Karin eventually cried out with a deep, reverent bow from her seated position.
I merely gently ruffled her hair and changed the subject.
"Eat. With me around the food might not get cold, but it could turn mushy," I quipped with a small smile.
For the few silent minutes of our meal, Karin's happy tears didn't stop. But eventually, she turned curious with her new dojutsu still active and asked, "Say, Yo-san. If you have this much power, why is Kiri still keeping such a low profile? All we do is dominate the Chūnin exams and rarely send out our ninja unless it's the old guard hunting rogue nin."
"Hmm, what does Kiri lack?" I asked in return.
"Uhhh, strong ninja?"
I flicked her forehead. Giving her a thin-lipped smile, I ordered, "Try again."
"Money?"
"Also wrong. I have more money than all the nobles in the Land of Water combined and have almost no need for it. If I wanted, no shinobi in Kiri would ever have to work again in this or the next generation."
Karin was sensible enough to not ask why I didn't do that and tapped a finger on her chin in thought.
"I can't think of anything," she eventually admitted with a helpless smile.
"Exactly," I said with a pleased grin. "We no longer lack food sources like before with my fertilizer pills and Mei's earth release initiative to help the civilian farmers of the Land of Water. Our population is booming thanks to that and even more after I brought Tsunade's notes on medical jutsu back to Kiri and funded the Kiri hospital's expansion on the premise that they treat civilians free of charge for the next decade."
Seeing her nod with a deeply contemplative look, I added, "Additionally, with me around, Kiri gained more geniuses than Konoha could ever hope to gather, all in a single generation. Many more geniuses than any of the other villages combined. In a few years when you are all grown up, nothing could ever stand in our way."
"So we have no need for more land or more people?"
"Exactly. I discouraged Mei heavily from fighting wars. Shinobi might inherently crave conflict to prove their strength, their worth. But there's nothing we need to fight for, is there?"
The young jōnin nodded as she studied the remainder of her food with her new dojutsu.
"Honor," Karin said in a small voice moments later, still looking at her food.
"Honor and fun, yeah," I drawled out in a dry voice. "Why do you think Hozuki Mangetsu is a rogue nin?"
"Well, didn't he betray Kiri?"
I shook my head.
"He didn't?"
"He failed his mission to get all seven swords back and he failed to kill the other defectors. A mission that he was given by three consecutive Mizukage," I explained patiently. "And even then, Mangetsu was still not kicked out of Kiri. Mei even made him the head of the ANBU before Haku took over. Instead, he became a rogue nin when he almost started a war with Suna, lost an arm, and needed me to bail his ass out. Do you know what he told me on the way back to Kiri?"
Karin shook her head.
"'I am bored out of my mind. There's nobody to kill, the remaining two swords are gone for good. Can't even summon them back like the rest. And I can't even kill my teammates or civilians like I used to with all these new rules.'"
"Is he stupid? The bloody mist was a terrible era to live through," Karin complained with a frown.
"Well, that's what I taught you in the academy. And while I whole-heartedly agree that it's stupid to choose the life of a rogue nin over a hunter nin that actively runs through the elemental nations to kill people in the bingo book, it's still what Mangetsu chose," I countered with a shrug.
"That is because Mangestu is an idiot," I added dryly.