"Ah, that hurts! Sensei…"
"Why are your hands so heavy now!"
Jiraiya covered his head; a large bump had already risen where Hiruzen had struck him.
It looked as if he had not used much strength, yet when it landed it hurt terribly…
"Whether Nagato truly possesses the Rinnegan or not, he is still an orphan of the Uzumaki clan."
"The prophecy of the Great Toad Sage can be taken as a reference to some extent. The Land of Rain is preparing to deepen cooperation with the village, so confirming whether Nagato is alive or dead will be more convenient."
"After you register the matter, the information on Nagato and the others will be handed to the ANBU. You should also pay attention to it."
"However, your most urgent priority right now is to have one or two real skills to rely on…"
Hiruzen tapped Jiraiya with a finger.
"I won't concern myself with the things you used to do, but if you keep loafing around without making progress, then as your sensei I'll have no choice but to personally increase your training."
Jiraiya waved his hands repeatedly.
"Sensei, I'll train, I'll train! I'll definitely master senjutsu as soon as possible!"
"Don't worry, Sensei. I'm very talented in this area. Both Fukasaku-sennin and Shima-sennin said I can do it…"
"I'll train in senjutsu while also going to find Nagato and the others, and I'll take missions to contribute to the village!"
"Oh right, Sensei—my novel about the 'Sage Region Pills' is almost finished. I'll show it to you when it's done!"
Jiraiya felt extremely ashamed.
The matter with Nagato had clearly been his responsibility…
But Hiruzen had treated it lightly and taken most of the blame onto himself.
As a disciple, he had truly caused trouble for his teacher…
"You're not going to finish learning senjutsu in one go?" Orochimaru asked in surprise.
"How long does it take to learn senjutsu at Mount Myōboku?"
"At the shortest, three years; five or even ten years is also possible. But I can rely on assistance from Fukasaku-sennin and Shima-sennin. If I arrange things in advance, I don't have to completely master it personally before being able to use it in real combat." Jiraiya answered.
"It takes that long? I thought you said you were talented…" Orochimaru chuckled.
"I've already discovered a group related to natural energy. By the time you finally master it, perhaps I will already have deciphered the secrets of senjutsu and promoted it throughout the village."
Jiraiya rolled his eyes irritably. "Stop bragging. When you went to Ryūchi Cave to receive senjutsu inheritance and failed, even your body felt awful for several days, didn't it?"
"Just sensing natural energy is already a major threshold. Then turning it into senjutsu chakra, and finally applying it in real combat—each step is a hurdle!"
"Not to mention authentic senjutsu—even a simplified version, I don't believe you could develop it…"
According to the senjutsu training records at Mount Myōboku, the fastest an ordinary person had ever mastered senjutsu was five years.
However, Jiraiya had also seen cases where some contract holders mastered it in half a year, or even in two or three months.
The records even mentioned that Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo had learned senjutsu within a single breath, as if it were instinct.
But Fukasaku-sennin and Shima-sennin had told Jiraiya not to worry about it.
Because those were contract holders with special origins, people who had an inseparable relationship with the Sage of Six Paths.
The specific causal details were not something they did not want to tell Jiraiya; rather, only the Great Toad Sage knew them.
But the Great Toad Sage had an agreement with the Sage of Six Paths.
They could not be spoken of…
In short, this was simply not something a grassroots person like him could compare himself to.
So Fukasaku-sennin and Shima-sennin told Jiraiya that he only needed to keep a steady mindset and work hard.
"You should all do your best and give it your all. If you need help with anything, tell your sensei…"
With one arm around each of their shoulders, Hiruzen said to Orochimaru and Jiraiya with emotion, "Senjutsu is, without a doubt, something that makes people envious…"
"I also tried it, but unfortunately, I truly do not have that talent."
"But the two of you still have hope. If you master it, that is equivalent to me mastering it, so do it well. Treat it as making up this regret for me!"
Jiraiya and Orochimaru were both stunned for a moment.
This was Hiruzen's classic way of breaking up their arguments when they were children.
They had not experienced it in a long time…
"Don't worry, Sensei, leave it to us!" Jiraiya and Orochimaru said.
But interestingly, besides being moved by their teacher's expectations of them, the two of them belatedly realized that Hiruzen's build seemed to have grown a little larger again, and putting an arm around both of them took no effort at all…
Even though his palms were merely resting on their shoulders, they could still feel the sense of strength coming from them.
"Sensei, how about you give it a try too?"
"Although Mount Myōboku normally would not agree, since this concerns the inheritance of its contract, you are, after all, very likely the 'Master of the Prophecy'…"
"This might be something worth discussing!" Jiraiya asked tentatively.
"I have my own path. You two just focus on learning it properly…" Hiruzen said with a smile, shaking his head.
The new talent he could currently sense clearly was the fusion of two chakra natures.
Lately, the Hokage had been pondering this matter, so senjutsu was obviously not the main direction of his development.
Moreover, judging from the fact that his talent was strongly connected with Konoha… most likely, his aptitude for senjutsu was related to the shinobi of Konoha who had mastered senjutsu.
Therefore, it would not be too late to first let these two disciples train for him, stack up the talent, and then try it himself…
There was no need to do something that would result in twice the effort for half the result.
After Hiruko and Jiraiya left, Hiruzen kept Orochimaru behind.
"Sensei, what is it?"
"I was thinking—do you think the Box of Ultimate Bliss could have some effect on the problem of the Uchiha clan?" Hiruzen narrowed his eyes and looked at the pitch-black box.
"You have also read the notes of the Second Hokage, so you know that the instability of the Uchiha lies in how negative emotions stimulate the brain to generate chakra. Besides manifesting in the eyes, a portion of it remains in the brainstem…"
"If we communicate with the Uchiha clan in advance, after they awaken their eyes, would it be feasible to have the Box of Ultimate Bliss absorb the stubborn negative-emotion chakra remaining in the brainstem?"
"After all, that portion of chakra will no longer increase their dōjutsu power, yet it will continue to influence the extremity of their personalities."
Orochimaru's eyes lit up.
Recently, his teacher had often proposed ideas that greatly interested him.
"A very excellent line of thought…"
"But Sensei, we still have not found a way to control the Box of Ultimate Bliss."
"However, we could try following the line of research the Second Hokage used when studying the Zero-Tails."
"And there is also the issue of trust," Orochimaru said in a low voice.
Selectively absorbing negative-emotion chakra would indeed help stabilize the Uchiha.
But because of the long-standing resentment between the Uchiha and the village, even though things had improved somewhat at present, it was only a beginning—the foundation was still not solid…
Anything related to the brain would naturally make everyone exercise extreme caution.
"If there could be a powerful Uchiha standing on our side, acting as a bridge of trust and endorsing the developed technology, only then could the results truly be implemented."
"Besides, my understanding of the mechanism of the Sharingan is still limited to what is written on paper. I'm not particularly skilled in this area."
Orochimaru said this straightforwardly, without making sweeping claims that he could accomplish it.
This was also something Hiruzen had always emphasized to him—if there were difficulties, they should be raised instead of forcing oneself to push through…
Clearly, Orochimaru had taken it to heart, and he trusted that his teacher would understand.
Hiruzen nodded.
He knew Orochimaru was telling the truth.
Developing this project would not be simple to begin with.
But even if it were successfully achieved, if the Uchiha clan did not dare to use it, the successful research would merely amount to a waste of resources.
'These prerequisites…'
'Understanding the Sharingan, daring to endorse it, understanding the Zero-Tails, and possessing research capability…'
'This project will be left to my sensei in the future,' Hiruzen thought to himself.
Professional matters should be handled by professionals…
In fact, regarding the application of the Box of Ultimate Bliss, Hiruzen had an even deeper idea.
According to what Jiraiya had said, the ability of Satori was mobility and a combat perception that could anticipate malicious intent…
That sounded quite compatible with Senju Tobirama.
If Senju Tobirama could become the jinchūriki of Satori, then absorbing the negative energy of the Uchiha might also become artificially controllable.
Compared to an ugly pitch-black box, the degree of trust the Uchiha clan had in Uchiha Seisui would clearly be much higher.
However, in the end, it still depended on Senju Tobirama himself—on the results of the research on the Box of Ultimate Bliss and on his willingness to accept it.
Hiruzen could provide Tobirama with ideas, materials, and resources…
But he would not force his own teacher to take risks.
"Come on, give me a hand. Let's seal this box first!"
Hiruzen shook his head and, together with Orochimaru, covered the Box of Ultimate Bliss with dense layers of fūinjutsu.
The road still had to be walked step by step.
If one hurried too much, trouble would inevitably follow.
...
Uchiha Clan Compound.
The Senju Tobirama whom Hiruzen placed great hopes in was currently undergoing a special training session arranged by Isshin.
After gaining fame at the Ninja Academy, Isshin was extremely delighted.
Not only did he have brains, he could also fight?
This time, he had truly picked up a treasure!
So Isshin brought Tobirama a large number of Uchiha texts.
Including but not limited to Izuna's quotations, copied volumes of Madara's training notes, precious ancient books, and so on…
He wished he could stuff Tobirama full through sheer cramming.
What delighted Isshin even more was that Tobirama, much like his current name "Seisui" suggested… had turned into a surging current of water, swallowing up this difficult knowledge completely at astonishing speed.
So today, Isshin had called over quite a few elite members of the Uchiha.
He intended to use their strengths to give "Seisui" a practical combat lesson!
After all, merely saying that one had learned something was not enough—one still had to test whether it had truly been mastered…
It also served, indirectly, to raise Seisui's reputation!
And on the other side of the shinobi world, Uchiha Madara was watching solemnly…
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