The next day.
Beside the urn in his mental world, Kiyohara summoned the spirit of White Snake Kiyohara.
"My future self—when it comes to Ryūchi Cave sage arts, is there any shortcut?"
He asked bluntly.
If he already had a white snake future self, then not learning Ryūchi Cave sage arts would be a complete waste.
White Snake Kiyohara's pale golden slit pupils shifted slightly, his tongue flicking out once.
"A shortcut? There's no such thing as a real shortcut in cultivation… but if I temporarily attach myself to your body and use my experience to guide the flow of natural energy within you, then you'd be able to experience a complete Ryūchi Cave Sage Mode in advance.
You could think of it as… lowering the difficulty of training it on your own later."
Kiyohara immediately brightened.
Toad Kiyohara had used a similar method too.
Put simply, this was basically a trial card.
If he could do this a few more times, then once his body got used to this kind of natural energy flow, formally training it himself later would absolutely be much easier.
"Then what are we waiting for? Let's do it."
Kiyohara said readily.
White Snake Kiyohara's spirit turned into a streak of pale light and slowly merged into Kiyohara's body.
In that instant, Kiyohara felt a cold, eerie chakra begin moving through specific pathways in his body.
A purple eyeshadow-like pattern began appearing around his eyes, completely different from Mount Myoboku Sage Mode. It was narrower, more sinister-looking, and his pupils also started shifting toward slit-like reptilian eyes, though they hadn't fully stabilized yet.
Faint white scale-like patterns appeared across his skin, and a thin membrane formed over the eye area.
"Hm?"
White Snake Kiyohara, in the possessed state, let out a startled sound.
"Your body… why does it feel so strange?"
He carefully sensed this shell of flesh.
"Besides Uchiha blood and the Yotsuki clan bloodline… why does it also carry traces of those toads from Mount Myoboku's sage arts? What kind of path did you, my past self, even walk?"
Kiyohara answered within his consciousness:
"A lucky coincidence. I inherited a little from a toad-related future self, that's all."
"A little?"
White Snake Kiyohara's eyes widened.
"This is far from just 'a little'… Wait, this… this is?"
His senses touched something even deeper.
He detected the White Snake power cells that Kiyohara had once absorbed—cells originating from Orochimaru's early experiments.
Until now, those cells had quietly lain dormant, enhancing Kiyohara's regeneration and flexibility.
But at this moment, stimulated by both White Snake Kiyohara's spirit and Ryūchi Cave natural energy of the same origin, they seemed to awaken from sleep and suddenly burst with unprecedented activity.
"You already had white snake clan cells inside you?"
White Snake Kiyohara seemed a little at a loss.
Looking at the mess of things inside Kiyohara, he genuinely didn't know how to describe it.
The body was a stew of all kinds of bloodlines, while the spiritual world was basically a graveyard full of urns.
This past self of his was… hard to evaluate.
"I thought you'd be a pure human body… but apparently, you're only wearing a human shape."
White Snake Kiyohara said.
Kiyohara felt the changes in his body and smiled.
"Can't be helped. This is a world that values bloodlines."
It was like the world of Dragon Ball—collect the seven Dragon Balls and you summon Shenron.
In the ninja world, if you collected enough bloodline limits, you could try to revert back toward Ōtsutsuki blood.
After all, most of these bloodline limits ultimately traced back to the Ōtsutsuki as the original source, only branching out over the course of a thousand years.
Being able to reproduce really was a blessing.
If the Sage of Six Paths had had nine sons instead of two, the bloodline limits of the shinobi world might have become even more varied.
…
That afternoon.
At Training Ground Three, two figures were crossing paths at high speed, accompanied by dense metallic clashes and thunderous crackling.
It was Kiyohara and Kakashi.
Today, Kakashi unusually wasn't reading dirty novels and was instead fully focused on fighting.
His Sharingan eye cover had been pushed up, and the three tomoe in his crimson eye were spinning. But what he was using in battle wasn't the Sharingan-dependent Chidori—it was a deeper-colored, violet-toned lightning.
"Lightning Release: Purple Electricity!"
Kakashi shouted lowly. The lightning gathering in his palm was no longer a piercing thrust from high speed. Instead, it burst outward into a flickering mass of electricity, and with a sweep of his hand, smashed toward Kiyohara.
Kiyohara's figure swayed and slipped past the edge of the lightning, surprise flashing through his eyes.
Earlier, when chatting casually with Kakashi, he had only mentioned the name Purple Electricity once and given a rough description of it as a possible Chidori substitute—basically just handing him a concept-level presentation.
He hadn't expected Kakashi to really rely on his own mastery of Lightning Release to forcibly turn that concept into reality.
"Interesting."
The corners of Kiyohara's lips lifted, his interest clearly piqued.
So Kakashi had indeed developed Lightning Release: Purple Electricity ahead of time.
"Let me feel for myself just how strong your Purple Electricity is."
He raised his right hand, where the familiar blue lightning gathered in his palm—standard Chidori.
The next instant, Kiyohara charged at Kakashi on purpose.
Clang!
Bzzzz!
Chidori and Purple Electricity collided, blue and violet arcs exploding and eroding each other.
Kakashi gave a muffled grunt and stumbled back three steps. The Purple Electricity in his hand flickered unstably, clearly losing out in a direct lightning clash.
But his gaze only grew brighter, his Sharingan tracking the changes in Kiyohara's lightning chakra as he tried to learn from it.
After a few exchanges, Kiyohara suddenly changed tactics.
The lightning crackling in his palm deepened in color—he was now imitating Kakashi's Purple Electricity.
Kakashi's pupils shrank.
He knew the Sharingan could copy techniques, but Purple Electricity was a new jutsu he had created himself based on his own understanding of Lightning Release. Many of the fine details of its chakra nature transformation were highly personal.
And yet after only a few exchanges, Kiyohara had already touched the threshold, and was even starting to improve it.
In the end, Kiyohara successfully condensed a more refined violet lightning sphere in his palm. It wasn't as mature as Kakashi's version, but it was already there in embryonic form.
"Not bad."
Kiyohara dispersed the lightning and nodded.
"You've got good control over Lightning Release's violent nature, and you found a solid balance between area damage and focused destructive power. But there's still room to improve the stability of the shape transformation. You might try optimizing that further."
Kakashi lowered his mask and let out a breath, clear admiration on his face.
"Kiyohara… you only needed one look to learn the rough idea, and you can already point out ways to improve it? I was hoping to keep Purple Electricity as a secret weapon."
Kiyohara walked over and patted his shoulder.
"A weapon only has value if it gets used. And your thought process is excellent. This technique has a lot of potential."
Compared to the original Chidori, Purple Electricity's advantage was that it required neither hand seals nor Sharingan assistance.
It was a bit slower, but its power wasn't weakened in the slightest—instead, its area of damage had expanded.
Kakashi really was a genius when it came to Lightning Release.
Just then, Kurenai, who had been watching nearby, walked over, eager to try something herself.
"Kiyohara, spar with me too. I've had some new ideas for genjutsu lately, and I want to test them."
Kiyohara glanced at her and smiled.
"A new genjutsu? Test it on someone else first. If you use it on me right away and I bounce it back at you, you're going to feel awful for a while."
His Sharingan and mental strength gave him extremely high resistance to genjutsu.
Kurenai pouted and turned to look at Rin, who was standing nearby.
"Rin, then spar with me."
Rin had been watching their fight with interest and nodded.
"Sure. I want to see how much you've improved too, Kurenai."
The two stepped apart.
Rin formed hand seals, misty vapor rising around her.
"Water Release: Wild Water Wave!"
Several streams of water lashed out like whips toward Kurenai.
But Kurenai remained completely calm. She took a soft breath and, instead of forming visual illusion hand seals like usual, parted her lips and let out a string of notes infused with chakra vibration.
Her voice was lovely, almost like she was singing.
The sound wasn't loud, but it had extraordinary penetrating power, as though it drilled straight into the mind.
There was even a faint hint of Wind Release chakra mixed into the sound, allowing it to spread farther and become harder to guard against.
Rin's movements paused slightly, and her gaze blurred for a moment.
Multiple overlapping afterimages appeared before her, Kurenai's figure becoming uncertain and drifting, and Rin's control over her Water Release faltered.
However, just as the illusion was about to fully take hold, the vast, dormant Three-Tails chakra inside Rin stirred on its own. A brute surge of power broke through the genjutsu's restraint.
Rin immediately regained clarity and stabilized the Water Release that had almost gone out of control, but her offensive momentum had already slowed.
She looked at Kurenai in surprise.
"Kurenai, that just now… was that sound-based genjutsu? Combined with Wind Release for propagation?"
Kurenai stopped the technique and gave a smug little smile, her cheeks flushed.
"What do you think? I followed Kiyohara's suggestion, mixed some sound-based ninjutsu ideas into traditional genjutsu, and tried channeling chakra through sound to bypass vision and target hearing and the brain directly."
"I'd already been trying this direction before and developed something similar. This is basically a new version, though it still needs work. I didn't think you'd break out that fast."
Rin sincerely praised her.
"That was already amazing. If I didn't have… well, special chakra inside me, I definitely would've been caught by that. You've improved so much, Kurenai!"
Kurenai grew a little embarrassed from the praise, but her eyes sparkled as they drifted toward Kiyohara, as if saying, See? I've been working hard too.
Kiyohara gave her an approving look, and the smile on Kurenai's face only grew brighter.
After that, everyone continued training.
Kiyohara and Kakashi, meanwhile, kept discussing the deeper principles of Lightning Release.
Might Guy was also there at Training Ground Three.
He was training Itachi Uchiha.
The two of them, both dressed in green bodysuits, were running around Training Ground Three in endless loops.
With every step, Guy shouted about youth.
Left with no choice, Itachi had to shout along with him.
By now, he had discovered something.
Even if this training method was deeply absurd, it really did help temper the body.
So Itachi could only grit his teeth, keep a straight face, and throw his useless pride on the ground.
Still, he felt one thing very strongly.
At least so far, he still hadn't run into Izumi Uchiha even once while dressed like this.
…
That evening, Kiyohara went to Kushina Uzumaki's residence.
Kushina opened the door. She was still as energetic as ever, her long red hair blazing like fire.
The moment she saw Kiyohara, her eyes lit up.
"Oh, Kiyohara! Come in, come in! It's only been a little while, but you look even taller now. And sturdier too!"
Kiyohara smiled as he entered.
"Kushina-senpai, is Karine here?"
"Karine? She's still out on a mission today. She hasn't come back yet."
Kushina blinked.
"Or is it… that you wanted to study sealing techniques?"
She wore a look that clearly said I've already seen through you.
Kiyohara admitted it readily.
"I did come to ask about a few sealing techniques."
The moment she heard that, Kushina puffed out her chest and slapped it proudly, setting off an impressive wave of motion.
"Why ask Karine? Almost everything she knows, I know too. Come on, sit down. Sealing arts, right? Leave it to me. What do you want to learn?"
She enthusiastically pulled Kiyohara down to sit and launched straight into explanations.
Kushina's mastery of sealing techniques really was extremely high. She explained things clearly and simply, and many of her unique insights benefited Kiyohara a lot.
Time flew by in focused study, and only when the wall clock struck nine did Kiyohara realize how late it had gotten and stand to leave.
Kushina, still unsatisfied, walked him to the door.
"Come again next time!"
Kushina's social circle was actually very small. Besides Tsunade, Minato Namikaze, Karine Uzumaki, and a few like Kiyohara, there really wasn't anyone else.
Kiyohara thanked her and left.
He had only just come downstairs when he happened to run into Minato Namikaze passing by.
"Minato-sama."
Kiyohara nodded in greeting.
Seeing Kiyohara coming out of Kushina's place, Minato looked slightly surprised, but quickly smiled warmly.
"Oh, Kiyohara. Came to see Kushina? Still talking about ninjutsu this late?"
"Yes. I asked Kushina-senpai about some sealing technique questions."
Approval flashed through Minato's eyes.
"You're this diligent? No wonder your progress is so fast. Be careful on your way back."
As he watched Kiyohara walk away, Minato thought to himself that with this kind of dedication and that kind of talent, Kiyohara would unquestionably become one of Konoha's pillars in the future.
…
A few days later, after hearing that Orochimaru had returned to the village, Kiyohara took the initiative to visit his underground laboratory.
At the entrance, a girl in a fishnet undershirt and brown outerwear was baring her teeth as she formed hand seals in front of a summoning circle. It was Anko Mitarashi.
Sweat dotted her forehead. She was trying to summon more poisonous snakes, but her chakra control seemed a little unstable.
The sound of Kiyohara's footsteps approaching distracted her. Her hand seals slipped, and the few poisonous snakes that had just begun emerging from the summoning circle instantly went out of control.
One of them reared back sharply, its venomous fangs glinting coldly, and lunged straight at Anko's wrist.
"Watch out."
At the same instant Kiyohara spoke, his hand had already shot out, seizing the snake by the neck and freezing its fangs just an inch from Anko's skin.
"Who the hell are you, walking over here and messing with this my training—"
Anko jumped in fright, then immediately flared up and turned to snap at him. But the moment she got a clear look at his face, the scolding caught in her throat.
The young man standing in front of her had a tall, straight figure and strikingly handsome features.
Aside from Kiyohara, Anko had never seen a man in the village who looked this good and had this kind of presence. She was stunned for a second, and without realizing it, the anger disappeared from her face, replaced by a faint blush.
"S-sorry… I didn't mean you…"
Her voice softened all on its own, and she even stammered a little.
She quickly stood up straighter and adjusted her clothes.
Kiyohara let go of the snake and tossed the dizzy thing back into the summoning circle. Seeing her sudden attitude change, he found it faintly amusing.
"It's fine. I was the one who interrupted you. Is Orochimaru-sama inside?"
He suddenly felt like Anko wasn't nearly as unruly as in the original story.
At least not with him.
"He is!"
Anko nodded immediately and stepped aside to lead the way. She knew Kiyohara was one of Orochimaru's assistants.
She just rarely got the chance to see him in person, and the few times she had, his looks had completely stunned her.
"I'll take you in. Orochimaru-sama only got back a little while ago."
As she led him inside, she kept secretly glancing at him out of the corner of her eye.
So this was the guy who had killed the Mizukage lately?
Just like the rumors said… unbelievably strong.
And ridiculously good-looking too.
Anko muttered inwardly, feeling her cheeks heat up.
Deep inside the laboratory, Orochimaru was standing before a machine recording data.
Hearing the footsteps, he slowly turned around. The slit golden pupils in his snake-like eyes brightened slightly when they landed on Kiyohara, and a smile spread across his pale face.
"Kiyohara-kun. What a rare guest. It's been a long time."
Orochimaru's voice was low and hoarse.
"Orochimaru-sama."
Kiyohara responded politely.
Orochimaru set down the clipboard in his hand and looked Kiyohara over with clear interest.
"I've heard your performance on the battlefield has been astonishing. Even the Third Mizukage… hehe. The young truly are frightening."
Then he abruptly changed the subject, as if asking casually:
"Kiyohara-kun, what do you think about the village's future? For example… the next Hokage?"
Kiyohara immediately understood. Orochimaru was probing his political stance.
His expression didn't change.
"Orochimaru-sama is erudite, and his research ability is unmatched in the shinobi world. If he were to become Hokage, he would surely lead Konoha into a new era. His chances are very promising."
The smile on Orochimaru's lips deepened. He was clearly pleased by the flattery, though not satisfied.
"What about Minato Namikaze, then?"
Kiyohara replied at once:
"Minato-sama is exceptionally powerful, with brilliant war achievements. He's deeply trusted by the Hokage and beloved by the villagers. He's one of the hottest candidates. His chances are also very promising."
A faint crease appeared in Orochimaru's brow.
"And Tsunade?"
Kiyohara answered smoothly:
"Tsunade-sensei's medical skill is miraculous. She's saved countless wounded, and her prestige within the medical system and among many ninja is extremely high. If she were willing to shoulder that role, her chances would also be very promising."
Orochimaru: "…"
The smile on his face was beginning to crack.
This Kiyohara really was airtight when he spoke. He had praised every single candidate, and all of them had "very promising chances," which was essentially the same as saying nothing at all.
That kind of slickness really didn't fit his age.
It could only be said that Kiyohara wasn't a genius only in terms of raw power.
At least he also hadn't turned out like the arrogant Uchiha hotheads, with their minds filled with nothing but strength, strength, strength.
Yes, their power surpassed most ninja—but in politics and emotional intelligence, many of them were practically zero.
The Uchiha clan's delicate position didn't come only from being suppressed by Konoha's higher-ups. Part of it was also that they had offended plenty of people themselves.
Suddenly, Orochimaru's nostrils twitched ever so slightly, and his snake-like pupils narrowed sharply as he stared at Kiyohara, as though trying to see through him completely.
Why did Kiyohara smell faintly of… snake?
~~~
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