By combining the Flying Thunder God Technique with flash bombs that emitted blinding yellow light, Minato could throw kunai marked with the Flying Thunder God formula in battle and use the flash effect to defeat his enemies.
Kiyohara, however, had no need for flash bombs.
Besides Flying Thunder God, he already possessed his own means of acceleration.
Even after teleporting, his speed would still remain extremely high.
And the dynamic vision of his Sharingan was enough for him to read an enemy's movements and avoid mistakes.
In theory, that meant he was even better suited to this technique than Minato Namikaze.
"Not bad."
Kiyohara's figure blinked across the field twice in succession. The first time, he appeared beside a wooden post twenty meters away. The second time, he returned to his original position in an instant.
To an ordinary shinobi, the interval between those two movements was so short that they wouldn't even see an afterimage.
"But once there are too many Flying Thunder God coordinates, it gets hard to sense them precisely."
Kiyohara frowned slightly.
This was the biggest challenge in his Flying Thunder God training so far.
It required extraordinary neural reaction speed and spatial perception.
He already had the reaction speed.
What he lacked was spatial perception.
Kiyohara closed his eyes and slowly spread out his chakra.
In his awareness, the coordinates of the Flying Thunder God kunai around the training field were as clear as fireflies in the dark.
But the farther away they were, the more sharply that clarity dropped.
"At the moment, my effective sensing radius is about five kilometers. Beyond that, I can still vaguely tell a mark is there, but I can't lock onto it accurately enough to teleport."
That was already progress most shinobi couldn't even imagine.
After all, he had possessed Flying Thunder God for less than a month.
But Kiyohara still wasn't satisfied.
He knew Minato Namikaze could sense and teleport to Flying Thunder God marks from anywhere within the Land of Fire.
And even beyond that.
After all, Minato had once directly transferred one of Six Paths Madara's Truth-Seeking Balls to Konoha's Hokage Rock.
Of course, that required an enormous amount of chakra.
"Slowly but surely."
Kiyohara opened his eyes and was just about to continue practicing when he heard a familiar set of footsteps.
"Kiyohara!"
Kurenai came jogging over.
"I heard you're going to Sunagakure?"
"Yeah. I leave in three days."
Kiyohara nodded.
"What's wrong?"
Kurenai bit her lip and spoke softly.
"I… I'm a little worried. The situation in Sunagakure is complicated right now, and you're already a thorn in Kirigakure's side…"
"Don't worry."
Kiyohara smiled faintly.
"If I can kill the Third Mizukage, then I can obviously protect myself. And this time I'm going with Sensei too. Nothing will happen."
Even with that reassurance, Kurenai's brows were still slightly knit.
Then she seemed to remember something. She took a small pouch out of her ninja tool bag and handed it to him.
"This… I made this as a good-luck charm. I heard the wind and sand are bad over there in Sunagakure, so I put some calming medicinal herbs inside…"
Before she could even finish, her face had already turned bright red.
Kiyohara took the pouch.
It was pale red, and the stitching was a little clumsy. Clearly, Kurenai had sewn it herself.
"Thank you."
He carefully tucked the pouch into his clothing.
"I'll carry it with me."
Kurenai's face grew even redder. She lowered her head, her fingers unconsciously twisting the hem of her clothes.
"Then… then make sure you come back quickly…"
"I know."
Looking at Kurenai like this, Kiyohara felt a warm feeling rise in his chest.
He reached out and gently rubbed her hair.
"While I'm gone, make sure you keep training. When I come back, I'm going to check how much progress you've made on that sound-based genjutsu."
"Mm!"
Kurenai nodded.
After chatting a little longer, she finally left reluctantly.
Kiyohara watched her retreating figure and was just about to resume training—
when another voice came from the side.
"Kiyohara-kun."
Rin had somehow arrived at the training ground as well.
"Rin, you came to see me off too?"
Kiyohara looked a little strange.
There really were quite a lot of people seeing him off today.
"You could say that."
Rin walked up to him.
"Did you forget that you were supposed to ask about Water Release medical ninjutsu for me?"
The moment he heard that, Kiyohara realized he actually had forgotten.
"I'll ask about it for you this time."
Kiyohara said.
"Then I'll be counting on you, Kiyohara-kun."
Rin smiled.
After that, she and Kiyohara spent a while discussing medical ninjutsu again.
And after Rin left, Kiyohara had just been planning to resume training when Kakashi came looking for him too.
"Unless it's urgent, wait and tell me later."
Kiyohara left that line behind and headed off.
There were simply too many people at Training Ground Three today.
Kakashi was left standing there, looking a little bewildered.
…
The night before departure, at Tsunade's house.
Kiyohara was organizing his things, sorting the necessary ninja tools and medicines into sealing scrolls.
"Kiyohara!"
Tsunade's voice rang out from downstairs, full of barely contained excitement.
Kiyohara went down and found Tsunade leaning over the low table in the living room, where a huge map of the shinobi world had been spread out.
On the map, Sunagakure and the major towns of the Land of Wind had all been circled in red ink.
"Look, look."
Tsunade pointed at the map.
"From Konoha to Sunagakure, we'll pass through the Land of Rivers and then enter the Land of Wind. Along the way, we'll go past at least three towns with major casinos."
The more she talked, the more excited she got.
"The Tanzaku Street casino in the Land of Rivers, the Sand City gambling hall at the border of the Land of Wind, and the casino inside Sunagakure itself… I've wanted to check them out for ages."
Kiyohara: "…"
He had known it.
Tsunade definitely had some public-expense sightseeing plans in mind.
"Sensei, this is a diplomatic mission. Not a casino sightseeing tour."
Kiyohara said.
"I know, I know."
Tsunade waved her hand.
"But what's wrong with having a little fun on the way? It's not like it'll interfere with the real business."
Then she leaned closer and lowered her voice.
"And besides, think about it. If you leave Flying Thunder God kunai near each casino, then later we could gamble wherever we wanted.
Today in Tanzaku Street, tomorrow in Sand City, maybe the day after that in the Land of Hot Water…"
Kiyohara was speechless.
So that had been Tsunade's real plan all along.
"Sensei, the farther the distance of the Flying Thunder God Technique, the more chakra it consumes. Unless I raise my mastery of the technique a lot more, I'm still nowhere near that level."
Kiyohara said.
After all, he hadn't had Flying Thunder God for very long at all.
And he also didn't have any prior experience from future selves in space-time ninjutsu, which meant he was basically figuring it out entirely on his own.
Still, after all the stacking, Kiyohara's natural talent was monstrous, so even learning it on his own, his progress was still very fast.
"I'm not asking you to do it for free. If I win, you get thirty percent… no, forty percent!"
Kiyohara honestly couldn't understand why Tsunade always had this mysterious confidence that she would win.
Where exactly was that confidence coming from?
…
The next day.
At Konoha's main gate, the delegation was fully assembled and ready to depart.
Besides Kiyohara and Tsunade, there were four chunin responsible for documents and diplomatic etiquette, as well as two special jonin acting as guards.
Hiruzen Sarutobi had come personally to see them off.
"Tsunade, Kiyohara, this mission is extremely important."
Hiruzen's expression was serious.
"Not only must you help bring about peace talks, you must also demonstrate Konoha's sincerity and strength. Remember, the two of you are representing all of Konoha."
"Understood."
Tsunade nodded with unusual seriousness.
Kiyohara inclined his head as well.
"Be careful on the road."
Hiruzen patted Kiyohara on the shoulder.
"I believe the two of you can handle this."
Tsunade walked at the very front. She turned and took one last glance at Konoha, a smile lifting the corners of her mouth.
"All right. Let's go!"
…
At the same time—
deep within the Graveyard of the Mountains.
Beneath the drooping head of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, Uchiha Madara sat on a wooden seat, his withered body linked to tubes that kept him alive.
Space rippled faintly, and Uchiha Obito stepped out, wearing his tiger-striped spiral mask.
"Madara."
Obito's voice came through the mask.
"The fracture on Nagato's side has grown large enough. Yahiko's childish ideals are looking more and more pale in the cruel reality of the Land of Rain.
Nagato has already started wondering whether only by making the world feel the same pain can they ever force out what they call understanding.
Black Zetsu's contribution to that… has been considerable."
Madara slowly opened his eyes.
"Pain is the catalyst of understanding, and the source of power. Good. Let the seed keep growing in that crack."
Madara gave a faint nod.
This was inevitable.
After all, the Land of Rain had been infiltrated by every major nation until it was basically a sieve.
Even Hanzo of the Salamander, the leader of Amegakure, had been unable to solve that problem, which was why they had chosen to isolate themselves and close the country off.
How many people did the Akatsuki even have?
There was no way they could govern every corner of the Land of Rain.
And if they started recruiting more people, the purity of the organization would drop, letting in spies or opportunists.
"So then… you've heard what that little brat Kiyohara's been doing in Konoha lately, haven't you?"
Obito's expression stiffened.
Even through the mask, Madara could feel that sudden surge of emotion in him—one that Obito forcibly pushed back down.
"Yeah. I heard."
Obito's voice turned cold.
"He killed an old Third Mizukage who was already half-dead and learned a few techniques from Tsunade. Just luck. In the face of true power, all of that is nothing more than tricks."
"Tricks?"
Madara smiled faintly.
"To personally kill the Kage of a hidden village in direct battle at that age—regardless of whether that Kage was old or not—is not something that can be dismissed as 'tricks.'
And that's not even mentioning how much more interesting his bloodline limits are becoming… Sharingan, Magnet Release, Storm Release, and perhaps even more."
Obito suddenly jerked his head up. Behind the eyehole of his mask, his Sharingan appeared, the three tomoe spinning rapidly.
"What exactly are you trying to say, Madara? That you're comparing him to me? An Uchiha who can't even awaken the Mangekyo—no matter how much potential he has, he's still just trash in the end!"
The words came out with a clear edge of triggered emotion.
How was it that somehow, no matter what, things always circled back to Kiyohara?
Madara quietly watched the agitated Obito.
"The Mangekyo does not awaken purely because of talent or age. It is not strange for it to awaken at any moment."
"Obito. Sometimes, you would do well to observe Kiyohara. Learn from him. That too would be for the sake of pushing the Eye of the Moon Plan forward smoothly."
"Don't mention him."
Obito's hand clenched tight.
Right now, the two words he least wanted to hear were Kiyohara's name.
That damned bastard had stolen Rin's concern.
Obito could still vaguely remember when the two of them had once been almost evenly matched.
He had been slightly ahead, sure, but Kiyohara hadn't been that much worse.
Only after graduation—or more precisely, after Kannabi Bridge—Kiyohara had risen like a runaway force.
He had participated in battle after battle and earned incredible achievements one after another.
He might even one day compete for the position of Hokage.
That kind of person—someone who now stood so close to the dream Obito once wanted—felt blinding.
He simply couldn't understand it.
How had things ended up like this?
Wasn't that supposed to be his script?
Why had he fallen to this point, while Kiyohara stood there shining so brightly?
And Rin's concern too?
That's right.
Because this world was false.
Only in a false world could Kiyohara have picked up something like that.
As Obito's mind started to crack, his logic finally completed its own circle.
And ironically, that only strengthened his determination to carry out the Eye of the Moon Plan.
"Don't compare me to some poor fool brainwashed by Konoha's Will of Fire. I'll walk my own path."
Obito said no more and turned toward one side of the cave.
He had come here to retrieve one of the Uchiha clan's treasures—the Gunbai Uchiwa.
It was something Madara had taken with him when he left the Uchiha clan long ago.
And Obito had come now because having it would make his future actions easier.
After locating the Uchiha fan, Obito picked it up. In his hand, the heavy weapon felt weightless.
Then, carrying the Gunbai, he activated Kamui again, his figure twisting into the spiral and disappearing.
"Madara, Obito's resolve seems even firmer now."
Black Zetsu emerged from the shadows and said that.
"Indeed. I could feel his eye power strengthening."
Madara said.
The Sharingan was the power of the heart, and the body's power quickly synchronized with the power of the heart.
In other words, the more mental stimulation there was, the more the eye power fluctuated—and the easier it became for it to grow stronger.
White Zetsu, listening to the exchange between Madara and Black Zetsu, couldn't help thinking human emotions were very strange.
He remembered that Obito hated Kiyohara so intensely because of Nohara Rin.
So was it true, then—
the greener the hat, the stronger the man?
…
Elsewhere—
the endless dunes of the Land of Wind rolled like golden waves, stretching beyond sight.
Tsunade walked at the front of the group, the cloak shielding her from the sand whipping in the hot wind.
Every now and then, she lifted a hand to wipe the sweat from her brow.
Kiyohara walked beside her, and compared to Tsunade's visibly irritated expression, his face was much calmer.
Perhaps because of his Fire Release affinity, Kiyohara's heat resistance was also very high.
At the moment, the desert heat was still well within what he could comfortably tolerate.
Suddenly, the spirit of White Snake Kiyohara appeared behind him.
"Hiss… my past self, there are people here."
Even in his human form, White Snake Kiyohara's tongue was still long and snake-like.
Kiyohara paused for a moment, then spread out his perception.
Sure enough, someone was there.
If not for White Snake Kiyohara's sensory ability, Kiyohara would have had trouble noticing them unless he activated Sage Mode.
Seeing that, Kiyohara guessed that White Snake Kiyohara's spirit still retained some of the sensory abilities he'd had in life.
Which made sense. The strongest trait of Ryūchi Cave sage arts was sensory perception, and White Snake Kiyohara was a literal white snake, not human.
"To the northwest, about five li away. There's a faint trace of water vapor left behind, and… the smell of blood. The sand has covered most of it, but not enough to fool my senses.
They're traces left by those Kirigakure water-play idiots."
White Snake Kiyohara added more information.
He told Kiyohara that these Kirigakure shinobi had been stationed nearby on purpose—they weren't just passing through.
Kiyohara's mind stirred.
Kirigakure ninja inside the depths of the Land of Wind?
He didn't say anything aloud. Instead, when the group passed a giant wind-worn rock riddled with holes, Kiyohara used the moment of cover to press a Flying Thunder God kunai into the shaded side of the stone.
Once that was done, he quickened his pace and rejoined Tsunade.
…
Sunagakure.
Its buildings, formed from wind-carved stone, glowed a dull reddish-brown beneath the setting sun, blending into the endless yellow sands.
By the time the delegation arrived, the Sunagakure shinobi sent by Rasa to receive them were already waiting at the village gate.
The moment Kiyohara stepped through the entrance, a small figure darted in front of him.
It was a Sand girl who looked no older than her early teens, but the stubbornness on her young face far exceeded her age.
Strapped to her back was a cloth-wrapped scroll bigger than she was.
It was Maki—Pakura's student.
"Konoha's… Kiyohara!"
Maki's voice trembled with emotion. She glared up at him, eyes faintly red.
"And you still dare to come to Sunagakure!"
The atmosphere froze instantly.
The Konoha shinobi with the delegation instinctively moved their hands toward their gear.
Tsunade merely raised a brow and folded her arms, not saying anything right away.
Kiyohara looked down at the girl, who only reached about to his chest, his expression unreadable.
Maki had been beaten by him before, and later thrown into a prisoner camp. Naturally, there was bad blood between them.
"I came here as Konoha's representative to discuss important matters between our villages."
Kiyohara said.
"Konoha's representative?"
Maki's voice shook as she clenched her teeth.
"Wasn't it enough that you already humiliated my teacher?"
"Your teacher seems fine to me now."
Kiyohara said.
"Hmph."
Maki gave a sharp snort.
In the end, she stamped her foot angrily, shouted, "I'm definitely going to beat you someday!" and then turned and ran off.
Only then did Tsunade stroll over and lightly clap Kiyohara on the shoulder, the corners of her mouth tilted upward.
"Look at that. So young, and already you've built up quite the list of enemies."
Kiyohara only shook his head and said nothing.
…
Inside the Kazekage's building.
The meeting room was filled with the faint fragrance of tea.
Rasa sat in the main seat. Compared to the last time Kiyohara had seen him, he looked even more exhausted, and the dark circles under his eyes had deepened.
Sunagakure's losses in this war had been far heavier than the outside world realized.
"A joint Chunin Exam…"
Rasa considered Konoha's proposal carefully.
"I can feel Konoha's sincerity. This really is a good way to ease tensions and show our shared desire for peace."
He lifted his teacup but didn't drink. Instead, he looked at Tsunade, then turned his gaze to Kiyohara.
"Kiyohara's performance on the battlefield left a deep impression. The fact that Konoha sent him as part of the delegation shows how seriously the village is taking this."
Kiyohara said calmly,
"You flatter me, Kazekage-sama. I'm only carrying out the Hokage's orders. Peace between our two villages is what everyone wants."
Tsunade smoothly picked up the thread of the conversation and steered it toward medical cooperation and the detailed terms of the peace talks.
The negotiations progressed fairly smoothly.
Sunagakure was in desperate need of recovery, so it had very little room to reject the olive branch Konoha had extended.
As they neared the end of the discussion, Kiyohara brought up something else.
"Kazekage-sama, I've heard that Sunagakure has some unique research in medical Water Release. I happen to have a companion who excels in both Water Release and medical ninjutsu. I was wondering whether we might be fortunate enough to study some of it?"
Rasa looked at him for a moment, then said thoughtfully,
"Sunagakure does indeed have some related techniques and research records. But anything involving actual transmission of those traditions would require the elders' approval. Later on, I can arrange for someone to take you to the archives so you can look over the public portions."
"Thank you, Kazekage-sama."
…
That night, in the guest quarters prepared by Sunagakure.
The daytime bustle had faded, and the only sound in Sunagakure's night was the wailing of wind along stone walls.
When Kiyohara judged the timing was right, he opened his eyes. In the darkness, his pupils faintly flashed crimson.
The next moment, Kiyohara's figure vanished from the room without a sound.
…
The moment his feet touched the soft, still-hot sand, Kiyohara immediately felt the biting chill of the desert night.
The heat from the day still lingered in the ground, colliding with the cold night wind to create a brutally sharp temperature contrast.
He quickly swept his gaze around, confirmed there was nothing unusual, then lowered his body and moved stealthily toward the location White Snake Kiyohara had indicated.
The place wasn't especially far from here.
Before long, he found the area.
Under the moonlight, the sand showed obvious signs of being turned over. A few dark red stains, though mostly buried beneath yellow sand, still stood out clearly to the Sharingan's vision.
Kiyohara could even make out extremely faint footprints. Someone had definitely passed through here.
'This is the place White Snake mentioned during the day.'
Kiyohara immediately understood.
He hid nearby for a while, slowly drawing close to the Kirigakure ninja, then had White Snake Kiyohara's spirit drift over and eavesdrop on their conversation.
The result matched Kiyohara's guess almost perfectly.
They really were the group assigned to ambush Pakura's pursuers.
It just wasn't happening today.
They were still waiting.
Kiyohara didn't alert them. Instead, he chose the shaded slope behind a higher dune, used sand and broken stone to build himself a simple camouflage shelter, and hid himself completely.
Over the next few days, every night he would find time to come back and check this area.
For several days, there was nothing but howling sandstorms and a few scorpions that only came out at night.
Just when Kiyohara began wondering whether the story could only proceed according to canon once he had already returned to Konoha, his senses finally picked up a familiar chakra signature.
It was drawing closer from a distance.
It was Pakura.
~~~
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