"I think so too."
He paused for a moment before adding another sentence.
"And I want it to change colors freely like firecrackers. It has to be more beautiful than anyone else's explosions."
Akatsuchi looked at him and scratched his head.
He could not really understand what this little junior disciple was thinking about.
Still, seeing how happy Deidara looked, it probably was not a bad thing.
"Come on, come on. Onoki-sama is still waiting for us."
He grabbed Deidara and pulled him forward.
Deidara allowed himself to be dragged along, but the images from earlier continued to fill his mind.
One day.
He silently vowed to himself.
One day, he would create that kind of art as well.
He would make Kiyohara acknowledge his art.
At this point, Deidara had already begun to regard Kiyohara as the guide who would lead him into a completely new world of artistic creation.
…
Several days later.
Konoha. The Hokage Tower.
Hiruzen sat behind his large office desk. Wisps of white smoke drifted upward from the pipe in his hand.
Tsunade and Kiyohara stood before him, carefully reporting everything that had happened during their trip to Iwagakure.
"...That is roughly how it went."
After finishing her report, Tsunade stepped back.
Hiruzen nodded.
"You've both worked hard."
He set down his pipe and turned his gaze toward Kiyohara.
"I heard you handled a little incident while you were in Iwa?"
Kiyohara naturally knew he was referring to Deidara.
"A child playing around with clay bombs. Nothing serious came from it."
Kiyohara replied calmly.
However, from the looks of it, Deidara had probably been thoroughly influenced by him.
After all, Deidara had always respected Sasori greatly and even referred to him as an elder brother.
The reason was simple.
In Deidara's eyes, he and Sasori were fellow artists walking the same path.
The difference was merely the form their art took.
Deidara used explosions to create his art and pursued what he called "art in a single moment."
Sasori used human puppets to create his art and pursued "eternal art."
Now, however, someone had appeared who understood him even more deeply than Sasori did.
Naturally, Deidara could barely contain his excitement.
Hiruzen smiled faintly.
"You handled it very well and avoided any conflict."
"You should go back and rest. I will make sure this mission is properly recorded in the archives."
Hiruzen said.
The more he used Kiyohara, the more satisfied he became.
And this boy had another advantage.
He could motivate Tsunade.
Whenever Kiyohara took part in a mission, Tsunade often followed along as well.
Otherwise, with Tsunade's laid-back attitude and tendency to avoid responsibility whenever possible, getting her to work was genuinely difficult.
"Yes."
The two turned and left.
As they reached the doorway, someone happened to be walking toward them.
Danzo Shimura.
His face was gloomy as ever.
He walked past them without even offering a greeting.
Kiyohara, however, politely greeted him.
"Lord Danzo."
Kiyohara said.
The Sharingan Danzo had generously provided him with had all been carefully stored away.
Those were practically resurrection tokens.
In fact, Kiyohara sometimes wanted to wander around outside more often just to see if he could discover and destroy another one of Danzo's secret bases.
After all, no one could ever have too many Sharingan.
"Hmph. A brat from Uchiha."
Danzo snorted coldly and continued on his way.
He had never been fond of Kiyohara.
Especially not when he saw the boy earning yet another achievement.
Every time he thought about it, his composure, honed over decades, felt close to exploding.
And meanwhile, Orochimaru still had not produced any results worth mentioning.
If things continued at this rate, Danzo was beginning to suspect that Kiyohara might actually have a better chance of becoming Hokage than Orochimaru.
Click.
The office door closed.
Danzo walked up to the desk, planted both hands on its surface, and stared at Hiruzen with his single visible eye.
"Hiruzen, do you even know what you're doing?"
Hiruzen picked up his pipe and took a slow puff.
"Danzo, if you have something to say, then say it."
"If I have something to say?"
Danzo let out a cold laugh.
"Iwagakure came forward and asked for peace, and you just accepted it that easily?"
"No reparations. No territorial concessions."
"You simply let them walk away?"
"Do you understand what that means?"
Hiruzen exhaled a cloud of smoke.
"It means the war is over."
"The war is over?"
Danzo's voice rose sharply.
Today, he had come specifically to force Hiruzen to make concessions.
This was the perfect opportunity to make him commit to stepping down.
"We lost countless shinobi. We consumed enormous amounts of supplies."
"And now we are just going to let it end like this?"
"What would you have us do?"
Hiruzen asked calmly.
"Continue the war?"
"Of course we should continue!"
Danzo slammed a hand onto the desk.
"We can still win even more!"
"Iwagakure is already on the verge of collapse. That old man Onoki is merely stalling for time!"
"If we push just a little harder, we can completely crush them!"
His words sounded aggressive and patriotic.
But in reality, he had his own calculations.
By prolonging the war, Orochimaru would gain more opportunities to earn military achievements.
Once peace arrived, opportunities like that would become exceedingly rare.
"And then what?"
Hiruzen asked.
"And then?"
Danzo paused, momentarily confused by the question.
"Then we can..."
"Can do what?"
Hiruzen interrupted him.
"Continue watching people die?"
"Continue burning through resources?"
He set down his pipe and slowly stood up.
"Danzo, have you actually calculated how many more people will die if this war continues?"
"Iwa may be reaching its limits."
"But what about us?"
"Our supply lines are reaching their limits."
"Our shinobi are reaching their limits."
"If we continue fighting, both sides will simply destroy each other."
Danzo clenched his fists.
"That still does not mean we should just let it go!"
"Do you know what people outside are saying?"
"Konoha accepted peace and gave up compensation."
"If word spreads, everyone will think we were afraid of Iwagakure!"
Hiruzen looked at him steadily.
"So what concerns you is how other people see us?"
"What concerns me is Konoha's dignity!"
Danzo's voice echoed throughout the office.
"Hiruzen, you are too weak!"
"You have always been like this!"
"Always hesitating!"
"Always looking in every direction before making a move!"
"You were like this back then, and you are still like this now!"
Hiruzen remained silent.
The smoke rising from his pipe slowly drifted through the room, obscuring parts of his face.
After a long while, he finally spoke.
"Danzo, do you know what the greatest difference between us is?"
Danzo froze slightly.
Hiruzen looked directly at him.
"You are willing to sacrifice anything for victory."
"But when the critical moment comes, I know when to hit the brakes."
Danzo's expression changed.
"You...!"
"Enough."
Hiruzen cut him off.
"The peace treaty has already been signed."
"This matter ends here."
"And I will take responsibility for it."
Hiruzen said calmly.
Take responsibility?
Responsibility for what?
Danzo's heart suddenly leaped with excitement.
Could it be that Hiruzen was actually willing to—
"Danzo, I will resign from the position of Hokage and accept responsibility."
"Of course, it will happen after the war officially ends."
"But on the very day the war concludes, the process of selecting the next Hokage will begin."
Hiruzen said as he took another puff from his pipe.
Even though Danzo had considered that possibility before, hearing it confirmed beyond all doubt still filled him with overwhelming joy.
Everyone knew that the Third Hokage was growing old.
Sooner or later, he would step down and make way for a Fourth Hokage.
The end of the war had always seemed like the most likely moment.
But would he retire one year after the war?
Two years after the war?
No one knew.
After all, even though Hiruzen was aging, his strength still remained.
Only now, after hearing those words directly from Hiruzen himself, did Danzo finally feel a massive burden lifted from his heart.
He and Hiruzen were of similar age.
If this dragged on much longer, he would become too old as well.
"Hmph. Good. At least you possess that much awareness."
Danzo said.
He did his best to maintain a calm expression before turning around and leaving.
This time, however, he even took the trouble to close the office door behind him.
At present, the key factor determining the outcome of the war was Kumo.
If Kumogakure could be dealt with, then Kirigakure would pose little threat.
Peace was already within reach.
'I need Orochimaru to earn more achievements in this final stage of the war.'
While Danzo was delighted, he also felt a growing sense of urgency.
At the very least, Orochimaru's record had to look better than that brat Kiyohara's.
Danzo thought to himself.
…
Training Ground Three.
Kiyohara extended his hand and picked up a tiny pinch of white clay.
Kiyohara looked at the clay in his hand.
This was the clay he had personally collected.
Although Earth Release chakra could produce a certain amount of clay even when no clay was available, nature contained countless varieties of high quality clay, and using those naturally occurring materials produced much better results.
Some types of clay absorbed chakra extremely quickly.
Others were much more resistant and difficult to mix with chakra.
In addition, different clays produced different explosive effects.
The power, stability, and resulting characteristics could vary greatly.
For example, in the Land of Wind, near the border of the Land of Rivers, there was an ordinary civilian settlement known as Ceramic Village. It was famous for producing all kinds of ceramics and possessed large quantities of specialized clay.
In the story recorded in Akatsuki Hiden, Sasori and Deidara had once traveled there together specifically to gather clay.
"Let's test it first."
Kiyohara took out a piece of clay and infused chakra into it.
The clay immediately began to change.
"Explosive Clay: Centipede."
The clay in his hand transformed into a white centipede.
The white creature crawled rapidly across the ground.
"Detonate."
As Kiyohara formed a hand seal, the white centipede exploded with a sharp pop.
Boom.
Fragments scattered in every direction.
"Not bad."
Kiyohara rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
Actually, he could also stuff a few explosive tags inside the clay and increase the destructive power even further.
"The only thing I still don't understand is how Deidara transformed his palms and chest into mouths."
Kiyohara shook his head.
Deidara possessed no kekkei genkai.
That meant those additional mouths were the result of his own modifications.
After the mouths swallowed clay, they automatically infused chakra into it, making the process far more efficient than ordinary methods.
"My chakra control is strong enough that I'm probably not much slower than Deidara even with those mouths."
Kiyohara kneaded another lump of clay in his palm.
As chakra flowed into it, a fresh batch of explosive clay was completed.
The essence of explosive clay was simple.
Earth Release chakra and Fire Release chakra had to be mixed together inside the clay, using the clay itself as a carrier.
If that process were completed inside a human body instead, it would become the Explosion Release kekkei genkai, like the one possessed by Gari of Iwagakure.
This time, the figure Kiyohara created was a giant white bird.
Because of his enormous chakra reserves, the size of his explosive clay creations was naturally much larger than normal.
"Kiyohara!"
A familiar voice suddenly called out from ahead.
He looked up.
Standing in front of him was Kurenai, waving in his direction.
Her long hair draped naturally over her shoulders, and her cheeks carried a faint blush from running over.
"Kurenai."
Kiyohara greeted her.
While he and Tsunade had gone to Iwa to sign the peace agreement, the shinobi who had been fighting on that front had already begun returning to Konoha in batches.
After resting, they would be reassigned to the Kumogakure front.
Kurenai was among those who had returned.
In fact, she had arrived two days earlier than Kiyohara.
Today was only his first day back.
"What are you doing here?"
Kurenai asked.
"I should be asking you that."
Kiyohara smiled.
Kurenai pressed her lips together and laughed softly.
"I came looking for you."
"Lady Tsunade said you were at the training grounds, so I came over to see."
Her eyes landed on the giant white bird behind him.
"What is that?"
"Clay."
Kiyohara replied.
"Clay that I bought and shaped into a bird."
"Clay?"
Kurenai blinked.
"It looks huge."
"And it's moving."
Kiyohara glanced back.
The giant bird lowered its head obediently, creating something like a living slide.
Kurenai stared.
"It can do that too?"
This was the first time she had ever seen clay like this.
"Come on."
Kiyohara climbed onto the bird first and extended a hand toward her.
Kurenai accepted his hand and stepped onto the bird's back.
The two stood side by side.
Moments later, the giant bird spread its wings and soared into the sky.
A powerful gust swept beneath them.
The village rapidly shrank below.
"All of this clay contains my chakra, so I can control it."
Kiyohara explained.
The actual amount of clay used was very small.
It had expanded to such a size because it was filled with enormous quantities of chakra.
"I see."
Kurenai looked down at the scenery beneath them.
The rooftops stretched endlessly below.
In the distance, the bustling village could still be seen clearly.
"It feels like there's nothing you can't do, Kiyohara."
Kurenai sighed in admiration.
They had only been apart for a short time.
Yet somehow Kiyohara had already learned another strange and incredible technique.
"That's not true."
Kiyohara shook his head.
"There are still many things I can't do."
"Like what?"
Kurenai tilted her head and looked at him curiously.
Kiyohara thought for a moment.
"For example..."
He paused.
"Giving birth."
Kurenai's face instantly turned bright red.
"You... what nonsense are you talking about?!"
She lightly punched him on the shoulder.
The blow carried almost no strength.
Kiyohara laughed and made no effort to dodge.
"Let's go back."
He guided the giant bird downward.
The bird landed smoothly on the ground.
Afterward, Kiyohara dispersed the clay and stored it away.
"It's time to head home."
Kurenai nodded and naturally walked beside him.
The two walked shoulder to shoulder through the evening streets.
The setting sun stretched their shadows long across the ground.
After a few steps, Kurenai suddenly spoke.
"Kiyohara."
"Hm?"
"That clay..."
She hesitated briefly.
"Could you make one for me?"
Kiyohara turned to look at her.
"What would you use clay for?"
"I'd keep it at home."
Then she smiled.
"Didn't you say my genjutsu and Wind Release are working together better and better?"
"If I add bombs into the mix, maybe I can develop some new tactics."
Kiyohara considered it for a moment before nodding.
"Sure."
As long as he didn't turn the clay into explosive clay, it would never detonate.
If it was simply molded into a shape, it would basically become a figurine.
"Though you'll have to wait a couple of days."
"I still need to continue studying the properties of these clays."
"Okay!"
Kurenai's smile widened.
Her eyes curved into crescent moons.
The two continued walking.
They exited the alleyway, turned a corner, and soon Tsunade's residence came into view.
"See you tomorrow."
Kiyohara said goodbye to Kurenai.
Tsunade's House.
Kiyohara pushed open the entrance door.
A rich aroma immediately drifted toward him.
"You're back?"
Tsunade's voice came from the kitchen.
After changing his shoes, Kiyohara walked inside.
Tsunade stood in front of the stove wearing an apron.
Unfortunately for the apron, Tsunade's figure was simply too impressive.
The fabric looked stretched to its limits.
Kiyohara glanced at it once and immediately began wondering whether the apron could actually withstand the strain.
Would it suddenly burst apart with a snap?
The quality certainly did not look particularly reliable.
"Sensei is cooking personally?"
After forcefully disabling his wandering thoughts, Kiyohara focused on the pot simmering on the stove.
Steam rose continuously from its surface.
"What? Am I not allowed to cook?"
Tsunade turned around and glared at him.
"Go wash your hands and get ready for dinner."
Kiyohara smiled.
"Yes, Sensei."
He turned around and went to wash up.
By the time he returned to the dining table, several dishes had already been arranged neatly.
There was also a steaming bowl of miso soup.
In the shinobi world, regardless of what meal was being served, miso soup was practically a standard accompaniment.
Tsunade removed her apron and sat across from him.
A moment later, Shizune came downstairs.
She had also recently returned from the battlefield.
"Let's eat."
Seeing everyone present, Tsunade spoke.
Kiyohara picked up a piece of meat and put it into his mouth.
" Sensei's cooking is getting better and better."
"Of course it is."
Tsunade proudly raised her chin.
"Do you know who I am?"
The three quietly continued eating.
Suddenly, Tsunade set down her chopsticks.
"Kiyohara."
"Hm?"
"Do you think..."
She paused.
"Did the old man make the right decision this time?"
Kiyohara looked up.
Tsunade was staring directly at him.
She had personally participated in the negotiations.
Never before had negotiations felt so effortless.
After all, Konoha had abandoned all demands for compensation.
Naturally, Iwagakure could not have been happier.
The two sides reached an agreement almost immediately and spent most of the time simply signing documents.
"Konoha gave up compensation and agreed to a ceasefire."
Kiyohara rubbed his chin.
"There are definitely people talking about it."
Then he looked at Tsunade.
"What do you think, Sensei?"
"I'm asking you."
Tsunade glared at him.
Kiyohara chuckled.
"I think Lord Hokage made the right decision."
"Oh?"
Tsunade raised an eyebrow.
"Why?"
"Because continuing the war no longer serves any purpose."
Kiyohara put down his chopsticks.
"Iwa can't hold on."
"Neither can we."
"If the fighting continues, both sides lose."
"Instead of sacrificing more lives for the sake of pride, it's better to cut losses while we still can."
He paused briefly.
"And once the war ends, the shinobi who survived can finally go home."
"As for those who have already died..."
"They won't have to die again."
That was genuinely how Kiyohara felt.
Although, to be fair, asking for absolutely no compensation whatsoever was still somewhat outrageous.
At the very least, Konoha should have negotiated for additional benefits.
Still, Hiruzen was the Hokage for now.
Kiyohara estimated that within a few days, news of his impending retirement would spread throughout the village.
That announcement would throw Konoha into hidden turmoil.
A village was like an enormous cake.
Every slice of that cake had already been divided and claimed by someone.
Now the person who had been distributing those slices was preparing to step down.
A new distributor would soon take his place.
Naturally, countless interests and factions would become involved.
Take Minato, for example.
If Minato became Hokage, civilian shinobi would almost certainly find it easier to gain opportunities and advancement.
"You brat."
Tsunade picked up her chopsticks again.
"You've thought this through quite clearly."
Several days later.
The entire village received an official notice.
Hiruzen would step down from the position of Hokage.
His resignation would take effect on the very day the war officially ended.
"So it's finally time to choose the Fourth Hokage."
Uchiha Fugaku lowered the kunai he had been maintaining.
He intended to convene a gathering in the secret chamber beneath Naka Shrine.
"Father, do you want to become Hokage?"
Beside him, Itachi had heard his words.
Fugaku shook his head at first, then smiled faintly.
"A shinobi who doesn't want to become Hokage is not a good shinobi."
"In the past, I would never have considered it."
"But things are different now."
"The relationship between the village and the Uchiha is improving."
"If that continues, it may not be impossible for an Uchiha to become Hokage."
His voice carried unmistakable excitement.
Becoming Hokage had always been his greatest ambition.
"Then does that mean you're the Uchiha most likely to become Hokage, Father?"
Itachi asked.
"Not necessarily."
Fugaku shook his head again.
There was another candidate.
Someone whose chances were equally impressive.
"Kiyohara."
Fugaku spoke the name slowly.
"Among the Uchiha, he may very well become Hokage too."
(End of Chapter)