Half a month later, Training Ground Three.
The sky had yet to brighten, and the first rays of dawn had not even appeared on the horizon. Uchiha Izumi was already standing in the open clearing of the training ground, waiting.
"Are you ready?"
Kiyohara looked at Izumi.
Over the past half month, Izumi had grown considerably stronger. Her overall physical abilities, speed, and combat awareness had all improved at a noticeable rate.
"I'm ready!"
The moment Izumi finished speaking, she pushed off the ground with one foot and shot forward like an arrow released from a bow.
The kunai spun once in her hand before she thrust it toward Kiyohara's waist from the right side.
Kiyohara sidestepped and avoided the attack.
Taking advantage of the momentum from her charge, Izumi lowered her body. The kunai in her hand then slashed upward from below, aiming directly at Kiyohara's chin.
Her movements were much faster than they had been half a month ago.
A hint of approval flashed through Kiyohara's eyes. He raised his hand and flicked the edge of the kunai away with his fingers.
The force of the impact left Izumi's thumb and the web between her fingers numb, but she did not loosen her grip. Instead, she used the force of the rebound to flip once in midair.
When she landed, she had already created some distance between herself and Kiyohara.
Her left hand reached into her shinobi pouch. Three shuriken were caught between her fingers before she flung them forward.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Kiyohara casually raised his hand and deflected the three shuriken one after another.
However, Izumi's figure had already disappeared from her original position.
Kiyohara slightly tilted his head.
She was behind him.
Izumi thrust her kunai forward from behind, the blade aimed directly at the back of Kiyohara's heart.
Poof.
Kiyohara disappeared from where he had been standing.
"Shadow Clone?!"
Izumi's eyes widened.
At some point, Kiyohara had already appeared beside her.
"You were too impatient."
Kiyohara spoke in a calm voice.
"Your speed and shurikenjutsu have improved tremendously, but you wanted to land that final strike too badly, and you exposed an opening. If I had been a real enemy, you would already be dead."
"Yes, Kiyohara-sensei."
Izumi nodded seriously.
"Take a break first."
Kiyohara walked toward the edge of the training ground. He took a water bottle from his backpack and handed it to Izumi.
Izumi accepted it and raised her head, taking several gulps of water. Some of it trickled from the corners of her mouth, running down her chin before dripping onto the collar of her clothes.
She did not bother wiping it properly. She simply used her sleeve to casually wipe her mouth.
"Sensei, will I be able to pass the exam?"
"You will."
Kiyohara nodded.
At Izumi's current level, graduating from the Academy would be extremely easy.
The Shinobi Academy only tested the Three Basic Techniques. With Izumi's current ability, she could practically pass them with her eyes closed.
Even if she went directly into the Chunin Exams, her chances of passing would be extremely high.
"With your current strength, dealing with ordinary Chunin will not be a problem. However, you will encounter all kinds of opponents during the Chunin Exams. I'm going to teach you a new technique."
Izumi's eyes widened slightly.
"What technique?"
"Phantom Body Flicker Technique."
Kiyohara withdrew his hand and stood up from the ground.
"Your speed is already at the very top among your peers. Combined with the perception of your Sharingan, ordinary Chunin will have a difficult time even touching you. However, you lack a finishing move that can instantly determine the outcome of a battle."
"Is it that technique used by Shisui-senpai?"
"Yes."
Kiyohara nodded.
Shisui's Phantom Body Flicker Technique was a variation of the Body Flicker Technique. It created a large number of afterimages while moving, making it difficult for an opponent to determine the user's true position.
Although it could not compare with the Flying Thunder God Technique in terms of sheer speed, its requirements for the user's physical abilities were nowhere near as demanding.
With Izumi's natural talent and the speed she had already developed, she would be able to master it given enough time.
"Are we learning it now?"
"Yes."
Kiyohara formed a series of hand seals.
His figure instantly split into several images across the training ground. Each afterimage moved slightly differently, making it difficult to distinguish which one was real.
Izumi's eyes immediately turned scarlet.
Three tomoe spun rapidly within her pupils as she desperately tried to capture Kiyohara's movements.
However, even with her Three-Tomoe Sharingan, she could barely make out a vague trajectory.
Even though Kiyohara was deliberately holding back, his speed was still far too fast.
The several afterimages disappeared at the same time.
Kiyohara appeared behind her.
"Did you see it clearly?"
"I couldn't."
"Then I'll demonstrate it again."
…
Land of Wind, desert.
The scorching sun burned directly overhead, while endless yellow sand stretched across the ground all the way to the horizon.
The air was so hot that it seemed to twist and distort. In the distance, sand dunes slowly shifted beneath the wind.
Kiyohara walked around to the back of a sand dune.
The sand here was softer than in the surrounding area. When he stepped down, his foot sank approximately half a palm's depth into the loose sand.
He raised his right hand, palm facing upward.
A small flame rose from the center of his palm.
However, the flame was not the ordinary orange-red color.
It was a deep, eerie blue.
The flames of the Two-Tails, Matatabi.
Kiyohara stared at the faintly glowing blue flame in his palm.
He had almost completely adapted to the chakra of the Two-Tails.
Unlike the Water Release nature of the Three-Tails' chakra, the chakra of the Two-Tails possessed a pure Fire nature.
Furthermore, it was a kind of eerie blue flame capable of reducing almost anything to ashes. Its temperature was far higher than that of ordinary Fire Release, almost reaching the level of Scorch Release.
Under Kiyohara's chakra control, the flames continued to grow stronger.
The small flame gradually expanded until it became a fireball roughly the size of a fist.
"Let's see what kind of effect it has."
Kiyohara took a deep breath, causing his chest to expand slightly.
"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!"
He opened his mouth.
A massive fireball erupted from his mouth.
However, instead of the familiar orange-red color, the fireball was an eerie blue.
The flames rolled and expanded through the air, transforming into a gigantic sphere of blue fire more than three meters in diameter before crashing toward the sand dune ahead.
BOOM!
The moment the blue fireball struck the sand dune, the grains of sand did not simply turn black and scorch as they would under ordinary flames.
They melted directly.
When the flames finally dispersed, a huge, charred depression had appeared in the sand dune.
"The temperature really is much higher."
Kiyohara stroked his chin thoughtfully.
At this temperature, most shinobi tools and armor would be melted almost instantly.
Kiyohara gathered his chakra once more.
"Fire Release: Majestic Destroyer Flame!"
His chest expanded violently before he opened his mouth.
Eerie blue flames surged out of his mouth like a raging tide.
The reason Kiyohara had chosen the desert was because the terrain here was sufficiently flat and open, making it an ideal place for experimenting with his techniques.
What emerged was not the ordinary orange-red sea of fire produced by the Majestic Destroyer Flame.
Instead, it was an enormous wave of eerie blue flames.
The flames blotted out the sky and covered the earth, dyeing the entire desert blue.
The inferno lasted for a full half minute.
When the waves of flame finally dissipated, the desert within several kilometers had been completely transformed.
The landscape was almost unrecognizable.
"That should be enough."
Kiyohara rotated his wrist a few times, then turned around and began walking toward the direction of Konoha.
...
Konoha, Hokage's Office.
By the time Kiyohara pushed open the door and walked inside, the sky outside had already darkened.
As soon as he entered, Kiyohara noticed that there was an extra lunch box on the desk.
The lunch box was made of lacquered wood and coated in dark red lacquer. Several small cherry blossoms had been painted across the lid, and the craftsmanship was exceptionally delicate.
Beside the lunch box was a pair of bamboo chopsticks resting on a clean piece of cloth.
Who had brought this?
Kiyohara walked over and opened the lunch box.
Inside, various dishes had been arranged neatly.
At the very top was a row of grilled eel slices cooked to a golden brown, their edges slightly crisp from the heat.
Underneath the eel was white rice.
On the other side of the lunch box were several pieces of tofu fried until golden, accompanied by a few slices of pickled radish.
"Quite a feast."
Kiyohara already had an idea of who the owner of the lunch box might be.
He picked up the bamboo chopsticks, took a slice of eel, and put it into his mouth.
"Is it good?"
Kurenai entered from outside and walked over to Kiyohara's side.
"Not bad. Did you buy this from a restaurant?"
Kiyohara asked.
He had already guessed that Kurenai might have brought it.
After all, Kurenai was essentially serving as the Hokage's secretary, so she came here much more frequently than Tsunade or Rin.
"No. I made it myself."
Kiyohara raised his head and glanced at Kurenai.
"That's pretty impressive."
Kiyohara noticed that Kurenai's cooking skills had improved once again.
He picked up another slice of eel and held it toward Kurenai's mouth.
Kurenai opened her mouth and ate the eel.
Her lips brushed against the chopsticks Kiyohara was holding.
"You should eat it yourself. I've already eaten."
She spoke quietly.
Kiyohara then picked up a piece of tofu and placed it into her bowl before continuing to eat his own meal.
Kurenai lowered her head and looked at the golden piece of tofu in her bowl.
She picked up her chopsticks and began eating it in small bites.
Knock, knock, knock.
A knock suddenly sounded from the door.
Kurenai's chopsticks trembled, and the tofu almost slipped from between them.
She instinctively reached up and straightened the loose curls that had fallen beside her cheek.
"Come in."
Kiyohara said.
The door opened.
Yugao walked inside.
"Kurenai-senpai."
Yugao greeted her.
"Yugao."
Kurenai nodded toward her.
Yugao then turned her attention away from Kurenai.
"Hokage-sama, an envoy from Kirigakure is requesting an audience."
Kiyohara lowered his chopsticks.
His eyebrows rose slightly.
"Kiri? Is it an official delegation or a private visit?"
Relations between Kiri and Konoha had remained neither particularly warm nor particularly hostile since the end of the Third Shinobi World War.
"It isn't an official delegation."
Yugao shook her head.
"Only one person came. She specifically stated that she was visiting in a private capacity and requested a private audience with the Hokage."
Kurenai's brows furrowed slightly.
"One person? A private visit?"
Something about the situation made her feel that something was not quite right.
"Who is it?"
"Terumi Mei."
Yugao answered.
Kiyohara's eyebrows rose for real this time.
Mei.
The only shinobi in Kiri who possessed both the Lava Release and Boil Release.
She was also one of the strongest candidates to become the future Fifth Mizukage.
…
She had come all the way to Konoha at this particular time and had specifically emphasized that she was visiting in a private capacity. Obviously, she had not come merely to have tea and reminisce about old times.
"Let her in."
Kiyohara put down his chopsticks.
Yugao nodded and turned to leave the office.
Her footsteps gradually faded away across the wooden floor.
Kurenai walked over to Kiyohara's side.
"A Mist shinobi is seeking you out in private. Could there be a problem?"
"If she dared to come here alone, it means the matter is serious enough that she considers it worth taking the risk."
Kiyohara spoke calmly, his fingers lightly tapping the surface of the desk twice.
Before long, Yugao returned.
A tall figure followed behind her.
"Hokage-sama."
Mei stopped in front of the desk and gave a slight bow.
"I apologize for coming without notice. I hope you will forgive my intrusion."
"Mei, it has been a long time."
Kiyohara leaned back against his chair.
Mei seemed much more polite this time.
She was still addressing him as Hokage-sama, and there was no obvious dissatisfaction on her face either.
"What brings you to Konoha in a private capacity?"
Mei glanced at Kurenai and Yugao, seemingly wanting to say something but hesitating.
Kiyohara followed her gaze and immediately understood what she meant.
"Kurenai, Yugao, you two can leave for now."
"Yes."
The two women bowed and withdrew from the office, closing the door behind them.
The office was now occupied only by Kiyohara and Mei.
Kiyohara pointed toward the chair opposite his desk.
"Sit."
Mei sat down and folded her hands together over her knees.
"The matter you want to discuss cannot even be mentioned in Kiri?"
Kiyohara picked up the teacup on the desk again and took a sip of tea that had already gone cold.
Mei took a deep breath before raising her head. Her reddish-brown eyes looked directly at Kiyohara.
"There are traitors within Kiri's higher ranks."
Kiyohara put down his teacup and motioned for her to continue.
"Not just one."
Mei pursed her lips.
"After the Fourth Mizukage returned, he purged a group of high-ranking officials who had secretly been colluding with outsiders."
"I thought that matter had already been settled, but recently, I discovered that some of Master Genji's trusted subordinates, as well as the people responsible for several of the village's intelligence networks, have been behaving more and more strangely."
She paused for a moment before continuing.
"On the surface, there is nothing unusual about them. They appear completely loyal to the Mizukage and continue to handle Kiri's affairs diligently."
"But their decisions always seem to go wrong at the most critical moments. It is almost as if someone is manipulating everything from behind the scenes."
"I followed one of the people in charge for nearly a month. I personally saw him enter an abandoned warehouse alone and speak to himself while facing a wall."
"And the tone of his voice was completely different from usual. It was almost as though he had suddenly become another person."
Kiyohara's brows furrowed slightly.
"Did you tell the Fourth Mizukage?"
A trace of bitterness flashed across Mei's face.
"The Fourth Mizukage is also acting somewhat strangely. I was afraid that I would alert the enemy and ruin everything."
"I was worried that if people discovered that more members of Kiri's higher ranks were being secretly controlled, the entire village's system of trust would collapse."
After listening to everything she had said, Kiyohara spoke.
"So that is why you came looking for me."
Mei raised her head.
"You are the strongest shinobi I have ever met."
She had overcome quite a few psychological obstacles before deciding to come to Kiyohara for help.
Kiyohara was somewhat surprised that Mei had chosen to seek him out.
However, he quickly understood the logic behind her decision.
Mei was not the kind of person who would easily ask someone else for help. Since she was willing to put aside her pride and travel alone to Konoha to seek assistance, the situation within Kiri had clearly reached a point that she could no longer handle by herself.
Kiyohara crossed his hands on the desk, his dark eyes meeting Mei's gaze.
"I can help you."
A trace of delight flashed through Mei's eyes, but she did not immediately thank him. Instead, she waited for him to state the rest of his conditions.
"What is the price?"
She asked the question frankly.
Since she had dared to come alone to Konoha to ask for assistance, she had naturally prepared herself mentally to pay a price.
Mei knew very well that Kiyohara would definitely make a request.
Kiyohara looked at her for a moment before slowly speaking.
"First, Kiri will need to provide me with a portion of its supply of chakra metal."
Mei's eyebrows moved slightly.
"Second, once this matter is resolved, I will secretly support your advancement within Kiri. You can understand it this way. Once you become the Fifth Mizukage, Kiri and Konoha will need to sign a long-term strategic cooperation agreement."
Mei remained silent for a moment.
Neither of these conditions was light.
However, after thinking about it carefully, if Master Genji and those high-ranking officials really were being secretly controlled, then Kiri's resources were likely being continuously transported into the hands of some unknown organization.
If this continued for a long time, the entire village would eventually be hollowed out from within.
Rather than allowing Kiri to be drained dry by an invisible enemy, it would be better to let Kiyohara take a portion of the benefits.
At least Kiyohara was an enemy she could see clearly.
"Fine."
Mei raised her head, her tone firm and decisive.
"As long as you help me investigate this matter and uncover the truth, I agree to both conditions."
Kiyohara calmly extended his hand.
"Then we have a deal."
Mei extended her hand as well and firmly shook his.
"When can I leave?"
"Tomorrow."
"As for everything that happens afterward, we can discuss the details later."
"I understand."
Kiyohara turned toward the door and called out.
"Yugao."
The door opened.
Yugao walked inside, her long purple hair swaying gently with her movements.
"Take Mei to the accommodation that has been arranged for her. Tomorrow, I will personally travel to Kiri."
Yugao glanced at Mei and nodded slightly.
"Yes. Lady Mei, please follow me."
Mei stood up and followed Yugao out of the office.
Their footsteps gradually faded into the distance before the door closed once again.
Kurenai then walked in from outside.
She approached Kiyohara and lightly bumped his arm with her elbow, a teasing smile curling at the corners of her lips.
"Looks like the Hokage-sama is going to be busy again."
Kiyohara glanced at her.
"Jealous?"
"Who's jealous?"
Kurenai turned her face away and gave a soft snort, slightly raising her chin.
"But that woman..."
She turned her face back toward him, her large eyes filled with unmistakable curiosity.
"She is quite beautiful, and she has a pretty good figure too. What did she come looking for you about?"
Kiyohara explained that Mei suspected that there were still people within Kiri's higher ranks who were being secretly controlled and had deliberately come to ask him for help.
After hearing his explanation, the smile on Kurenai's face gradually disappeared.
Her brows furrowed.
"Kiri has been infiltrated that deeply? Will you be in danger?"
"Danger?"
Kiyohara looked at her.
The rest of Kurenai's words immediately became stuck in her throat.
If Kiyohara were to reveal his current strength, even he would feel as though he were boasting.
"In an era where those at the level of the Six Paths do not appear, I am invincible."
Kiyohara lifted the teacup and drained it in one gulp.
That was the confidence he possessed.
After inheriting so much power and knowledge from the future, Kiyohara's basic attributes had long since reached an astonishing level. On top of that, he possessed a vast number of different ninjutsu.
There was hardly anything he could not handle.
...
Akatsuki Secret Base.
Inside a hidden chamber, candlelight flickered restlessly, casting several shadows across the stone walls.
Orochimaru stood in front of a stone platform.
A specially constructed body was lying on top of it.
"It is finally finished."
Orochimaru's voice trembled with barely suppressed excitement.
He took a step backward and looked at the body before him, the result of countless hours of research and experimentation.
Obito stood with his arms crossed against the wall.
His tiger-striped mask covered most of his face, revealing only his single scarlet Sharingan.
Black Zetsu was attached to half of White Zetsu's body and stood within the shadows in the corner of the chamber.
"This body uses a cellular composition that is as close as possible to Madara's physical constitution."
Orochimaru licked his lips and began explaining.
"We used Hashirama's cells to strengthen its vitality, White Zetsu cells as a buffering medium, and then incorporated some of the experimental data I obtained from Kiyohara. Of course, the most important component is this."
He took a small, perfectly sealed bottle from inside his clothes.
There were several dark-red fragments inside.
They were samples of Uchiha Madara's DNA.
Obito had obtained them from a place known only to him.
It was also during his research into these materials that Orochimaru discovered something quite unexpected.
Obito was not Madara at all.
He was another mysterious Uchiha.
Who exactly was he?
Even Orochimaru could not determine Obito's true identity.
He suspected that Obito might have been a figure from the same era as Uchiha Madara, someone who was merely using Madara's name to carry out his plans.
"With this DNA, I can revive Madara through the framework of the Impure World Reincarnation and restore him to a state close to how he was when he was alive."
"Of course, he will not be quite as powerful as he was at the absolute peak of his life, but the difference will not be particularly large."
Obito finally spoke.
"That will be enough."
Orochimaru was reasonably satisfied with the result.
The next moment, Orochimaru began forming hand seals and activated the technique.
A cold and sinister chakra suddenly surged throughout the chamber.
The candle flames on the walls violently flickered at the same time.
Countless tiny pieces of paper-like material emerged from thin air and surged toward the body lying on the stone platform.
The paper fragments covered the body layer by layer.
They resembled countless pale hands, continuously reconstructing the shape and form of a human being.
The figure on the stone platform began to change as well.
The outline of a shinobi wearing red armor gradually emerged.
The tightly closed eyes suddenly opened.
A pair of scarlet Sharingan appeared.
Three tomoe slowly rotated within the pupils.
Then the three tomoe connected and transformed into the far more complicated pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Uchiha Madara had been resurrected!
Orochimaru instinctively took a step backward.
His hands dropped slightly at his sides, and an unusual trace of wariness appeared on his face.
Even though the Madara standing before him was merely a body created through Impure World Reincarnation rather than a truly living person, the moment those Mangekyō Sharingan opened, every hair on Orochimaru's body still stood on end.
It was an instinctive fear.
The primal terror of standing before a creature higher up on the food chain.
Obito stepped forward and stood in front of the stone platform, looking down at the body that had just been resurrected.
Madara supported himself against the stone platform and slowly sat up.
His movements were somewhat sluggish, as though he were still adapting to his new body.
He lowered his head and looked at his own hands.
A smile gradually appeared on his sharply defined face.
"Looks like the plan succeeded, brat."
Madara spoke.
He then moved his fingers before raising his right hand.
He immediately noticed several cracks running across it.
His brows furrowed slightly.
"Impure World Reincarnation?"
He raised his head.
Those Mangekyō Sharingan stared directly at Obito.
"Why was I not revived with the Outer Path: Samsara of Heavenly Life Technique (Rinne Tensei)? Where is Nagato?"
Obito remained silent for a moment before finally speaking.
"Something changed."
Obito paused.
"Kiyohara's strength has already surpassed ours by far."
Obito then began explaining to Madara why he had been forced to resurrect him in this manner.
(End of Chapter)