"What are you thinking about? I'm asking you a question."
Kiyohara withdrew his gaze, his expression completely unchanged.
A true shinobi never revealed his emotions on his face.
"It's for Sensei."
Tsunade froze for a moment.
"Me?"
"Mm."
Kiyohara nodded.
"The Yin Seal can already preserve youth, but that's only a side effect of storing chakra."
He paused briefly before continuing.
"If we can separate that effect and turn it into an independent technique, not only would it consume less chakra, but the results could be even better."
"Sensei already uses the Yin Seal to maintain her appearance, but if you could achieve a better effect with less chakra, wouldn't that be even better?"
Tsunade blinked.
She had genuinely never considered that approach before.
"You mean... extracting the youth-preserving effect from the Yin Seal and turning it into a ninjutsu specifically for maintaining one's appearance?"
"Exactly."
Kiyohara nodded.
"The principle shouldn't be too difficult. We just need to isolate the chakra functions within the Yin Seal that are responsible for preserving youth and create an independent sealing cycle around them."
"Under normal circumstances, it would only require a small amount of chakra to maintain, yet it could achieve the same effect as the Yin Seal, or perhaps even surpass it."
As Tsunade listened, her eyes grew brighter and brighter.
"That's actually quite interesting..."
she said.
If such a technique could be popularized, countless female shinobi would probably worship it.
Removing the large-scale chakra storage function of the Yin Seal would strip away one of its greatest characteristics, but it would also significantly lower the barrier to learning it.
Suddenly, Tsunade stood up and walked in front of him.
Kiyohara raised his head.
Tsunade bent down, placing both hands on the low table beside him.
Her face moved very close.
Close enough for him to see the curve of her eyelashes.
Close enough to feel the warmth of her breath.
The deep valley before him was completely revealed.
Beneath her black sleeveless shirt, her fair skin was pressed together, creating an even more striking outline.
From this angle, he could even see the edge of that graceful curve, and...
"Brat."
Tsunade's voice came from very close by.
"Are you trying to make me prettier, or are you trying to look at something?"
Kiyohara shifted his gaze away from that enticing sight and met her brown-golden eyes.
"Of course I'm trying to make Sensei even prettier."
His expression remained calm.
"As for what I'm looking at... if Sensei is willing to let me look, then I'll look."
Tsunade burst into laughter.
Her entire body trembled as she laughed.
Her chest rose and fell.
The sight before him swayed enough to make anyone dizzy.
"You little..."
Straightening up, she flicked his forehead with her finger.
The force wasn't strong.
It almost tickled.
"Such a smooth talker."
Kiyohara rubbed his forehead and smiled.
"But I'm telling the truth."
Tsunade snorted and returned to her seat.
Yet the smile at the corners of her lips simply refused to disappear.
"Enough. We'll discuss the beauty-preservation technique after we're done with everything else."
She waved her hand dismissively.
"Go get ready. We leave tomorrow."
"Alright."
Kiyohara stood and headed toward the exit of the tent.
When he reached the entrance, he suddenly stopped.
"Sensei."
"Hm?"
"Actually, you're already very beautiful."
After saying that, he lifted the tent flap and walked out.
Tsunade stood frozen in place.
After a long moment, she finally reacted and shouted toward the doorway.
"You little brat! Stop sweet-talking me!"
Kiyohara's laughter drifted in from outside before gradually fading into the distance.
Tsunade remained seated, unable to stop the slight smile from appearing on her face.
"This kid..."
she muttered quietly.
Yet somehow, she felt different than before.
This brat actually dared to push his luck and flirt with his own teacher.
Strangely enough, Tsunade didn't dislike it.
If Jiraiya had tried the same thing, she would have punched him long ago.
Night gradually descended.
The camp slowly quieted down.
Only the occasional footsteps of patrolling shinobi could be heard.
Kiyohara lay on his bedding with his eyes closed.
He was adapting to his Byakugan.
In the darkness, those pale white eyes faintly glowed, penetrating the canvas walls of the tent.
The camp outside.
The patrolling shinobi.
Even the nocturnal animals moving through the distant forest.
Everything was visible at a glance.
After inheriting Hyuga Kiyohara's legacy during the day, the Byakugan had completely fused with him.
The feeling was strange.
As if he had been born with it.
He could freely activate or deactivate the Byakugan.
He could control the extent of its penetrating vision.
He could even vaguely sense the flow of chakra around him.
This was the Hyuga Clan's Bloodline Limit.
As he was thinking about it, his eyebrows suddenly twitched.
Someone was outside.
And that chakra signature felt very familiar.
He opened his eyes and sat up.
The tent flap was gently lifted open.
A figure quietly slipped inside.
Under the moonlight, Kiyohara saw her face clearly.
Kurenai Yuhi.
She was wearing a light red nightgown, her long hair draped over her shoulders.
"Kurenai?"
Kiyohara raised an eyebrow.
"It's so late. What are you doing here?"
Kurenai stood inside the tent, twisting her hands together nervously.
Her eyes wandered everywhere except toward him.
"I... I..."
She stammered repeatedly, unable to form a complete sentence.
"Want to sleep with me?"
Kiyohara felt that the female shinobi of this era were surprisingly proactive.
Kurenai took a deep breath, as though she had finally made up her mind.
"I want to sleep together with you."
Kiyohara looked at her.
Under the moonlight, her thin nightgown outlined her graceful figure.
Her slender waist.
The soft curves of her body.
Her fair calves beneath her bare feet as they rested on the ground.
"Are you serious?"
Kiyohara asked.
Kurenai nodded.
"Yes."
She spoke softly.
"I... I can't sleep. I just... want to stay by your side."
Kiyohara remained silent for two seconds.
Then he reached out and gently wrapped an arm around her waist.
Kurenai let out a surprised cry as she was pulled directly into his embrace.
"Then... let's sleep together."
Kiyohara whispered beside her ear.
His warm breath brushed against it, causing her body to tremble slightly.
She raised her eyes and met the smiling gaze looking back at her.
Then she stood on tiptoe and kissed him first.
"Then let's sleep together."
Kiyohara certainly did not mind having an extra body pillow.
If they had not been preparing to depart for Iwagakure, he might have been tempted to take things further on the spot.
The next morning.
Kiyohara had already packed everything and finished preparing.
"What are you thinking about?"
Tsunade's voice sounded from behind him.
As she approached, he caught a faint scent of medicinal herbs.
"I'm thinking that Sensei looks very beautiful today."
Tsunade raised an eyebrow and immediately lifted a hand to knock his forehead.
"Enough with the sweet talk. We're leaving."
Kiyohara tilted his head and avoided the attack before following behind her toward the edge of the camp.
…
At the camp gate, Kakashi was already waiting.
He still wore that lazy expression.
In his hand was his beloved orange book.
Behind him stood Kitsuchi, bound by fuinjutsu techniques.
The Tsuchikage's son currently had his head lowered.
His complexion was gloomy.
His previously injured arm was still wrapped in a cast.
Besides him were numerous other Iwagakure prisoners.
Since a ceasefire was being negotiated, exchanging prisoners was naturally part of the process.
Although captured shinobi were relatively rare.
Under normal circumstances, they would simply be killed.
Still, there were always some shinobi whom their villages could not afford to abandon.
In an era where shinobi were becoming increasingly scarce, every single shinobi represented valuable military strength.
"Let's move."
Tsunade waved her hand decisively.
"Yes!"
The group left the camp and set out on their journey toward Iwagakure.
After several days of travel,
the winds of the Land of Earth proved even harsher than expected.
Kiyohara walked at the front of the group, his gaze sweeping across the rolling hills on either side.
The hills shed fine grains of sand beneath the relentless wind, exposing layers of rock with different colors hidden underneath.
Before long, the group arrived at Iwagakure.
The customs and scenery here were completely different from those of the Land of Fire.
"The Tsuchikage Building is up ahead."
An Iwagakure guide pointed toward a distant cluster of stone structures.
Those buildings had been constructed directly into the mountainsides, blending seamlessly with the surrounding terrain.
From afar, they resembled a gigantic fortress.
Kiyohara narrowed his eyes.
The scene before him seemed to shift.
Iwagakure was surrounded by towering mountains, granting it a naturally defensive position that was easy to defend and difficult to attack.
At the same time, however, communication with the outside world was far more difficult.
Trade and commerce inevitably suffered because of it.
Not only Iwagakure itself, but the surrounding towns and settlements were similarly enclosed by mountains on all sides.
Kiyohara was not using the Byakugan.
He was merely observing with his normal eyesight.
Even so, he could spot numerous Iwagakure ANBU shinobi hidden in the shadows.
At the entrance of the Tsuchikage Building, a short figure was already waiting there.
Only after seeing his son, Kitsuchi, did Onoki finally let out a sigh of relief.
Then his gaze moved past Tsunade, who was leading the group, and settled on Kiyohara standing behind her.
That young man...
Onoki had seen countless geniuses throughout his life, but very few like this one.
Kiyohara stood tall and straight, with handsome features. Among a crowd, he was the sort of person who would immediately attract attention.
But what truly concerned Onoki were his eyes.
They were astonishingly similar to those of Uchiha Madara from years ago.
"Princess Tsunade, it's been a long time."
Onoki took the initiative to step forward.
"Onoki, you're getting older and older."
"Haha, that's what happens when you age."
Onoki smiled and glanced over the group behind her.
"That 'Yellow Flash'... didn't come?"
"Minato is occupied with other matters."
Tsunade answered calmly.
"Oh..."
Onoki nodded before finally directing his attention to Kiyohara.
"This must be Kiyohara, correct?"
Kiyohara gave a slight nod.
"Lord Tsuchikage."
Onoki stared at him for two seconds before suddenly sighing.
"Kiyohara... you entered our attention a long time ago."
He tilted his head upward and examined him.
"You were present during the Battle of Kannabi Bridge, weren't you?"
Onoki asked.
If one were to choose a turning point in Iwagakure's war effort, there was no doubt it would be the Battle of Kannabi Bridge.
That battle had marked the moment Iwagakure lost its fortune and destiny, beginning an irreversible decline.
Even now, considering the circumstances, a ceasefire had become an urgent necessity.
"I was."
Kiyohara nodded.
"A hero truly emerges from youth."
Onoki sighed with admiration before leading everyone inside.
They had failed to seize the opportunity back then.
As a result, Kiyohara had become a second Namikaze Minato.
Tsunade followed behind him and entered the building.
Kiyohara and Kakashi remained outside, while Kitsuchi was handed over to Iwagakure's shinobi and escorted away.
The winds of the plateau swept through the area, carrying with them the dry scent of earth.
Leaning against a stone pillar beside the entrance, Kiyohara casually scanned his surroundings.
Stone shinobi moved back and forth around the area.
Some looked over curiously before quickly turning their eyes away.
Kakashi stood nearby.
At some point, his little orange book had disappeared.
Naturally, it was not suitable reading material for such a formal occasion.
"Kiyohara."
"Hm?"
"That old man... is very strong."
Kiyohara glanced sideways at him.
A slight frown had appeared on Kakashi's face.
"I felt it when he looked at you just now."
"I know."
Kiyohara replied.
The combination of two chakra natures formed a Kekkei Genkai.
The combination of three chakra natures formed a Kekkei Tota.
The fusion of all seven chakra nature transformations resulted in a Kekkei Mora.
A Kekkei Mora was essentially something only Six Paths level beings could possess.
The fact that Onoki wielded a Kekkei Tota already allowed him to overwhelm ordinary shinobi entirely.
Furthermore, the old man could fly.
His greatest weaknesses were his chakra reserves and the preparation time required to release Dust Release.
"That's true."
Kakashi nodded.
He was very curious about Dust Release.
According to rumors, it could disintegrate any form of matter.
Unfortunately, he had never witnessed it himself.
The two fell silent.
Time quietly passed.
"After all, Onoki possesses a Kekkei Tota."
Suddenly, Kiyohara's brows twitched slightly.
He sensed that something was wrong.
Was Iwagakure planning to attack them?
No.
Impossible.
Kiyohara immediately rejected that possibility.
Iwagakure undoubtedly knew that he possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique.
He could take Tsunade and the others away at any moment.
If Iwagakure chose to attack now, it would only drag them into an even bloodier war with Konoha.
Onoki would never take such a risk.
In that case, it was more likely that certain shinobi within Iwagakure were acting on their own.
The militant faction?
As Kiyohara considered the possibility, he casually rubbed his eyes while secretly allowing his Byakugan vision to pass through his hand.
Through the Byakugan, he saw something.
In an alleyway roughly three hundred meters away on the side of the building, a small figure was crouched there doing something suspicious.
It was a child.
He looked no older than six or seven years old.
His short blond hair stuck up messily in every direction.
He wore a gray robe stained with clay and dirt.
Squatting in the corner, he held a lump of white clay in his hands and kneaded it intently.
Kiyohara's gaze penetrated the walls and even the child's clothing, observing the flow of chakra within his body.
Earth chakra.
However, the way the child was using hand seals...
was somewhat strange.
He shaped the kneaded clay into a bizarre form and then formed hand seals with both hands.
Kiyohara noticed the clay beginning to change.
Chakra flowed into it.
The clay started transforming.
Eventually, it condensed into a palm-sized...
Spider?
The child held the clay spider in his hands and lifted his head, directing his gaze toward the distant Tsuchikage Building.
A proud smile appeared on his face.
Then he placed the spider on the ground.
The spider began crawling.
Straight toward the Tsuchikage Building.
Kiyohara's eyelid twitched.
Because he realized that there was already more than one spider on the building.
There were quite a few.
Turning his head, he looked at Kakashi.
"I'm going out for a moment."
Kakashi was startled.
"What happened?"
Kiyohara did not answer.
His figure vanished from where he stood.
Only Kakashi and the other Konoha guards remained behind, exchanging puzzled looks.
The Iwagakure shinobi nearby immediately became vigilant.
Some hurried after Kiyohara.
Others approached Kakashi to question him.
…
Deidara was excited.
Today would be the first time he displayed his art in front of outsiders.
Those clay bombs had taken him a very long time to develop.
As long as they crawled beneath the building and then...
'Explode!'
he thought to himself, his eyes sparkling.
Art was an explosion!
That was his ultimate pursuit.
At this very moment, the clay spider was still crawling forward and had nearly reached the base of the building.
Then a hand suddenly reached down from the side.
The hand was fair and slender, with clearly defined fingers.
It casually picked up the spider.
Deidara froze.
He looked up.
A young man was standing before him.
Kiyohara examined the spider in his hand.
"...Who are you?"
Deidara asked instinctively.
The young man did not answer.
He merely continued looking at the spider.
After a moment, he spoke.
"A clay bomb?"
Deidara's eyes widened.
"Y-you... how did you know?"
"You're a leaf shinobi?"
Only then did Deidara notice the forehead protector on Kiyohara's head.
It bore the symbol of Konoha.
Completely different from Iwagakure's.
"That's right. I'm a Konoha shinobi."
Really from Konoha?
Deidara blinked.
The village everyone talked about...
the one currently at war with Iwa?
"You..."
He was about to say something when he saw the young man's hand tighten slightly.
The spider crumbled into powder inside his palm.
"What are you doing?!"
Deidara immediately panicked.
"I worked so hard to make that!"
"It's too dangerous."
Kiyohara shook his head.
"And you've chosen the wrong target for your explosion."
Kiyohara raised a hand.
In the distance, the clay bombs that had already climbed onto the Tsuchikage Building were suddenly swept into the air by a powerful current of wind.
Boom!
A thunderous explosion erupted high in the sky.
Inside the Tsuchikage Building, everyone participating in the negotiations simultaneously looked upward.
Tsunade frowned.
Onoki's expression changed slightly.
In an instant, a large number of Iwagakure shinobi rushed outside.
Kakashi and the others immediately moved to protect Tsunade.
The atmosphere between both sides became tense enough that a battle almost broke out.
The Iwagakure side believed Konoha had launched an attack.
The Konoha side thought exactly the same thing about Iwagakure.
Onoki frowned.
He raised a hand, signaling the Iwagakure ANBU to calm down.
"What happened?"
Onoki asked.
An Iwagakure ANBU rushed into the room and dropped to one knee.
"Lord Tsuchikage! Outside the building... someone detonated bombs!"
"Clay bombs?"
Onoki's brows tightened even further.
He already had a suspicion.
Could it really be his disciple Deidara doing something stupid again?
Ever since he was young, that boy had loved carrying out what amounted to miniature terrorist attacks throughout the village.
If he still failed to improve after a few more years, Onoki would have no choice but to send him away to live somewhere remote.
"Where were they detonated?"
"In... in the sky. The bombs were moved into the sky by Wind Release before exploding. There were no casualties."
The ANBU hesitated briefly.
"We have already captured the suspect..."
"Was it Deidara?"
"...It was Deidara."
The Iwagakure shinobi answered after a pause.
A trace of helplessness flashed across Onoki's aged face.
He rubbed his large nose.
"...That brat."
Onoki sighed and waved his hand.
"Take him back."
The ANBU nodded, saluted, and departed.
Tsunade raised an eyebrow and looked at Onoki.
"Your disciple?"
"Yes. A disappointing disciple."
Onoki shook his head.
His student was undoubtedly a once-in-a-generation genius.
His talent in Earth Release was extraordinary.
Unfortunately, his temperament was troublesome and impossible to manage.
"That kid has loved researching clay bombs ever since he was little. He's always making all sorts of ridiculous things. Sorry for making all of you witness such a scene."
A faint smile appeared on Tsunade's lips.
"Interesting."
She paused briefly.
"But are you sure he's merely being playful? What if one day he blows up something other than the sky? What if he blows up this building instead?"
Onoki's expression stiffened.
He strongly suspected that the building had been the intended target all along.
The only reason it survived was because the bombs had been blown away beforehand.
"...I will discipline him properly."
Onoki placed both hands back on the negotiating table and cleared his throat.
"Let's continue the negotiations."
Outside the building, Deidara was being dragged home by the collar by an Iwagakure ANBU operative.
His head hung low.
Messy blond hair covered his face.
Yet his eyes secretly glanced backward.
Kiyohara was still standing where he had been.
Deidara quickly looked away again, but he could not stop himself from wondering.
How had that guy reacted so quickly?
The negotiations proceeded with surprising smoothness.
Konoha abandoned all demands for compensation and sought only an end to the war.
Iwagakure naturally welcomed such terms.
That very evening, the peace treaty was officially signed.
…
Onoki personally escorted Tsunade's group out of the building.
"Princess Tsunade, why not stay in the village tonight?" he offered.
(End of Chapter)