"Family? Do we have any other relatives? How come I've never heard of them before?" Hearing that it was sent by family, Senba looked puzzled. Apart from Mom Tsunade, who was away, he had never heard of any other relatives in their family.
"Why ask so many questions? Just know that it was sent by someone from our family. Besides, that person isn't in Konoha Village, so asking won't do you any good. Alright, take the scroll and go practice!" Isamu waved his hand impatiently, clearly trying to shoo Senba away.
There was no way he could casually tell Senba that the gift had been sent by his grandfather, Uchiha Madara, who was not only alive, but living quite comfortably somewhere within the Land of Fire.
"Tch! Fine, don't tell me. I only wanted to know which family member sent it so I could thank them later. Seriously, can't even ask!" Senba muttered under his breath as he grabbed the scroll and left the study.
"This brat…" Watching Senba continue grumbling as he walked away, Isamu couldn't help but laugh.
Looking at the Ninja World map spread out before him, Isamu fell into deep thought.
The Second Great Ninja War had already ended three years ago. He had no idea when the Third Great Ninja War would begin, nor how long these peaceful days would last. He only hoped that Sasori of the Red Sand would postpone making a move against Sakumo Hatake for as long as possible.
Time passed in the blink of an eye, and another three years went by.
Senba was now twelve years old and had grown considerably taller. Together with Kushina and Minato Namikaze, he had successfully become a Chunin, now proudly wearing the standard green tactical vest.
After Uzumaki Kushina grew older and became a Chunin, Isamu gave her the old house he had once shared with Tsunade. Now that they were Chunin, they deserved homes of their own. Besides, he and Senba were already living comfortably in Uzumaki Mito's large residence, so they didn't need the extra house anyway.
Inside a dim underground basement, eight White Zetsu, Isamu, and Senba stood surrounding a body lying atop a stone platform.
"Dad, will this really work? It used to be once every six months, so why has it become once every month now? My body can't take this!" Senba complained while placing both palms against the corpse on the platform, continuously channeling green life energy from his hands as the eight White Zetsu assisted from the side.
"Quit whining. Before, you only had Chunin-level strength, so I was worried you wouldn't be able to endure it, which is why it was only once every six months. Now that you're already at Elite Chunin level, once a month isn't too much. Stop complaining and focus!" Isamu rolled his eyes.
Sometimes his son was even lazier than he was. He honestly couldn't tell whether that personality came from Tsunade or himself.
Looking at the Main Body lying on the stone platform, Isamu frowned deeply.
Originally, he believed that as long as Senba continuously transferred enough pure life energy into the Main Body to reactivate the Ten-Tails within, recovery would happen quickly.
However, even after more than ten sessions, there was still no sign of activation.
The amount of energy required by the Ten-Tails was simply terrifying. Senba's current strength was far from sufficient to complete the process quickly. According to Isamu's calculations, it would probably still take another eight to ten years before the Ten-Tails fully awakened.
And awakening the Ten-Tails was only the first step.
As for when the Main Body itself would truly awaken, that remained completely unknown.
Following the principle of shortening the recovery time as much as possible, whenever Senba wasn't out on missions, Isamu would drag him down into the basement for these exhausting energy transfer sessions.
"I have to spend an entire day recovering after every session. I already barely have any free time after missions, and now I don't even have time to go on dates with Mikoto anymore!" Senba shot his father an annoyed look.
"Is dating more important, or is your father more important? Don't forget—just because I'm standing here doesn't mean I'm truly your father. I'm only a consciousness, not the real one. If you want our family to reunite sooner, then transfer the energy properly!" Isamu said seriously.
Although he hated admitting it, he truly was not the real Uchiha Tensei, nor could he replace him. That was also why he had never gone to bring Tsunade back himself. There were certain things he had no right to decide in place of the Main Body.
"Obviously Mikoto is more important. Aren't you literally standing right here already?" Senba muttered quietly under his breath.
"What are you mumbling about? Hurry up and finish so you can get out of here. You're still this young and already obsessed with dating. Wouldn't it be better to spend that time improving your strength?" Isamu lightly smacked the back of Senba's head.
"Yeah, yeah, I know already!" Senba replied impatiently as he increased the flow of energy from his hands.
Half an hour later—
Senba collapsed onto the floor, completely drained, while two White Zetsu helped carry him back to his room.
"Tian Qi, will this method really work? It doesn't seem like there's much progress at all. Isn't there a better way?" One of the White Zetsu looked at Uchiha Tensei's body lying on the stone platform and asked doubtfully.
"If there were a better method, I wouldn't be doing this. As long as we complete the first step, everything afterward will become much easier. Even if the beginning is difficult, we still have to persevere. If we want to dominate the Ninja World again, we can't do it without him." As he spoke, Isamu looked toward the motionless Main Body.
At this moment, Uchiha Tensei had completely white hair, and deep wrinkles covered his face. He looked like an elderly man in his seventies rather than someone in his thirties.
Theoretically, with the Ten-Tails and the perfected Sage Body enhancing him, his body should never have aged this badly.
Unfortunately, the technique he had used years ago had nearly exhausted every ounce of his vitality.
"Then, Tian Qi, have you ever considered stealing the Tailed Beasts from the other villages? Tailed Beasts possess enormous life energy. The life force from several of them should be enough to heal you immediately. Aren't you tempted?" White Zetsu asked with a sly grin.
"Forget it. I already tried using the Nine-Tails before, and it was useless. Only life energy transferred by someone directly related to me by blood—like Senba—actually works. Any other energy that enters my body gradually dissipates." Hearing that suggestion, Isamu rolled his eyes.
He had already tested this method using the Nine-Tails' energy inside Kushina. It only worked temporarily. Over time, the energy slowly faded away completely.
At the same time, he felt fortunate that back when Uzumaki Mito transferred the Nine-Tails' life energy to him, he had used it immediately to awaken and transfer his consciousness. Otherwise, that power would have gone entirely to waste.
As for why all outside life energy dissipated while Senba's did not, Isamu could only attribute it to the System itself.
After all, both the Ten-Tails and the perfected Sage Body had come from the System. It was only natural that they carried strange limitations.
"It dissipates? That's really strange…"
White Zetsu scratched his head in confusion.
But with White Zetsu's limited intelligence, there was no way he could ever understand anything related to the System, even if he spent his entire life thinking about it.
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