After leaving the Hyuga compound, Kiyohara found himself thinking.
"Does reincarnated chakra have an order of succession?"
He stroked his chin.
Maybe because Indra was Asura's older brother, Sasuke had been born a month before Naruto.
In canon, Sasuke was born on July 23, while Naruto was born on October 10, a gap of two to three months.
Hashirama Senju, meanwhile, had been born on October 23, and Madara Uchiha on December 24.
Of course, whether they had even been born in the same year was another matter entirely.
"No, that's not right. Hashirama and Madara's ages are fixed, but Sasuke and Naruto should be different from canon now that I've affected things."
That was when Kiyohara suddenly realized it.
The reason he was dwelling on this was because he didn't know how Asura's chakra would regard him.
Would it treat the portion inside him as part of its own scattered chakra, and as a result let the Asura chakra currently in the shinobi world take up residence in his body?
In that case, would Naruto still be Asura's reincarnation?
"Either way, I'll have my answer within the next few months."
Kiyohara shook his head.
Sooner or later, it would prove itself.
There was a kind of instinctive awareness between reincarnated chakras.
After Pain's invasion, Naruto had vaguely sensed that he and Sasuke shared an extraordinary connection.
And in truth, that feeling had been right.
Otherwise, throughout the past thousand years, one reincarnation would not have repeatedly opposed the other, plunging them into endless conflict.
Naruto and Sasuke had gone through that same struggle. Sasuke only accepted Naruto's words after losing and finally being convinced.
When Kiyohara returned to his room and was getting ready to rest, Konan jumped in through the window.
"There's a door, you know."
Kiyohara said.
"Don't Konoha's Anbu all like doing it this way?"
"…"
For a moment, Kiyohara had no response.
Anbu really did seem to prefer going through windows instead of front doors.
In that sense, Konan was just blending into local customs.
"So, what do you want?"
Kiyohara asked.
"It's about Nagato. How long will the research take?"
Konan went straight to the point.
There was no way she could remain in Konoha indefinitely. Nagato's condition weighed on her like a stone pressing against her heart.
With how gaunt and skeletal he looked, anyone who saw him would think he was terminally ill.
Like he might stop breathing at any moment.
"I still need to study Nagato's cells a lot more before I can figure out how to make something that can heal him,"
Kiyohara said.
Nagato's cells were extremely valuable for research. He was a mixed descendant of both the Uzumaki and Senju clans.
After all, the Senju had never truly gone extinct. They had simply dissolved and merged into Konoha.
In Itachi Shinden, it was even mentioned that many of the Ninja Academy teachers came from the former Senju clan.
If Madara had wanted to find a vessel that could hold the Rinnegan, he would have had plenty of choices.
The fact that he had been willing to transplant both Rinnegan into Nagato when Nagato had only been a small child was enough to show how much potential Nagato had.
"Alright."
Although Konan was anxious, she knew this was the best option.
"If you're really worried, you can use letters. Later on, I'll apply for a messenger hawk for you, but I'll need to review anything you send."
Kiyohara said.
Messenger hawks were incredibly fast, and more importantly, they could go anywhere.
They could even reach places that communications devices or communication ninjutsu couldn't.
"Thank you."
Konan nodded.
That would be perfect for contacting either Nagato or Yahiko.
…
Over the following days, Kiyohara kept his promise and continued researching Nagato's cells.
Inside the laboratory at Konoha Hospital, Kiyohara studied the readings on the instruments.
Konan stood beside him, her expression blank beneath her mask.
She obviously had no idea what the data actually meant.
Kiyohara picked up a pen and wrote a few lines onto a scroll.
"The vitality in these cells has been overdrawn. Once the body is drained that far, chakra refinement efficiency starts to drop…"
Kiyohara said.
The human body had limits. If it endured that kind of damage over long periods of time, even the upper limit of chakra reserves would begin to decline.
So even if Nagato stopped using the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path, it would still be very difficult for his body to recover to its original state.
"I see…"
Konan frowned.
"Yeah."
Kiyohara nodded.
"His body is like a bucket with a hole in it, constantly leaking life force. Patching that hole will take time and materials."
"And on top of that, he's still going to keep using the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path."
Konan fell silent.
She knew Kiyohara was telling the truth.
Nagato could never abandon the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
That was their trump card—the शक्ति protecting the Land of Rain.
"Then we'll patch it little by little,"
Konan said at last.
"Whatever can be restored, we restore."
"I understand."
Kiyohara looked away from the instruments.
"From here on, I'll focus on the treatment plan."
The best solution, of course, would be to transplant Hashirama's cells directly. Given Nagato's compatibility, Kiyohara estimated it would go very smoothly.
But if he did that, Obito would probably notice, and it might even strengthen Nagato's control over the Rinnegan.
Eyes carried their own unique ocular techniques with them when transplanted.
Shisui's Mangekyō Sharingan was proof enough—both Danzō Shimura and Itachi Uchiha had used Kotoamatsukami.
So it was entirely possible that the Rinnegan's ocular techniques could be transferred as well.
Right now, both Obito and Nagato could only use the basic abilities of the Rinnegan.
But if Nagato got a power boost and suddenly gained access to Limbo: Border Jail, that would become a massive problem.
That technique was basically impossible to resist unless you had a Rinnegan or Six Paths senjutsu. Against weaker enemies, it was practically the ultimate one-sided slaughter technique.
"While I'm working on this, you can help me make more explosive tags."
Kiyohara said.
"Why?"
Konan couldn't see what explosive tags had to do with Nagato's condition.
"Medical expenses."
"…Fine."
Konan nodded.
That evening, Kiyohara left Konoha Hospital.
The experiments were progressing smoothly.
What remained now was just more testing and adjustments.
Just as he was nearing Tsunade's house, he ran into someone.
Orochimaru's pale face turned toward him, and he let out a hoarse chuckle.
"Kiyohara-kun."
Kiyohara's steps slowed slightly.
"What a coincidence, Lord Orochimaru."
Kiyohara looked at him.
They hadn't crossed paths at all lately.
This was the first time in a while.
"I wonder if Kiyohara-kun happens to have time?"
Orochimaru asked.
"Do you need my help with some research, Lord Orochimaru?"
"No. I want a spar."
Orochimaru said.
"A spar?"
Kiyohara's brow shifted slightly.
"Mm."
Orochimaru nodded.
"I want to see how strong you are now."
Kiyohara looked at him.
Those golden slit pupils held a trace of seriousness.
"Sure."
Kiyohara didn't refuse.
…
The Forest of Death.
Orochimaru was still wearing that green flak jacket, but now there was a purple rope tied around his waist.
His arms hung naturally at his sides as those golden slit eyes fixed on Kiyohara.
"Kiyohara-kun."
He spoke.
"I've heard you can now freely use the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique I gave you."
"That's thanks to the scroll you gave me, Lord Orochimaru."
Kiyohara didn't deny it.
Orochimaru was bound to know by now. Too many people had seen it.
Orochimaru smiled faintly.
"That was still an incomplete version."
He corrected him.
"The fact that you refined it was your own achievement."
That only made Kiyohara's talent stand out more.
"Show me how far you've perfected it."
The moment Orochimaru finished speaking, he vanished from sight.
In the next instant, he was already in front of Kiyohara.
His hands flashed through seals.
"Hidden Shadow Snake Hands!"
Dozens of venomous snakes were summoned from his sleeves, baring their fangs as they lunged at Kiyohara.
They were so fast they crossed the distance in a blink.
Kiyohara stood still.
He didn't dodge.
The snakes bit into him, their fangs piercing his skin.
But in the next second, Orochimaru's pupils narrowed slightly.
He saw the snakes' fangs strike Kiyohara's skin—and the sound that rang out was the sharp metallic clash of impact.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
Sparks flew.
The snakes' fangs had actually shattered!
"…What?"
Orochimaru frowned.
He knew Kiyohara could harden his body. He had even prepared venom specifically designed to counter earth-style hardening techniques, so why couldn't it pierce him?
Naturally, Kiyohara had no intention of explaining that he also possessed Steel Release.
His body gave a sudden shake.
The snakes coiled around him were blasted away in every direction.
Orochimaru withdrew his hand and stepped back.
He looked at Kiyohara, and a trace of gravity flashed through his golden slit pupils.
"Kiyohara-kun is more interesting than I imagined,"
he murmured.
Then the two of them exchanged blows at high speed.
Slice.
Orochimaru's arm was cut by Kiyohara, and blood splattered out.
Orochimaru frowned.
This time, he didn't use ninjutsu.
His body twisted and warped in midair.
In the blink of an eye, a giant white snake appeared in the clearing!
Its body was covered in pale scales and stretched for dozens of meters.
It opened its jaws, revealing rows of white fangs, and lunged at Kiyohara.
Kiyohara stood where he was.
He looked at the white snake charging at him, three tomoe slowly rotating in his eyes.
Then his body began to change as well.
In the next instant, an even larger white snake appeared in the clearing!
Its body was covered in pale scales too, but it was thicker, heavier, and far more massive than Orochimaru's.
Eight enormous snake heads rose high into the air, every one of them opening wide to reveal rows of white fangs.
The Eight-Headed Serpent Technique!
Those eight heads stared down at Orochimaru's transformed snake body from eight different angles.
Orochimaru tilted his head back and looked up at them.
Those eight pairs of golden slit eyes were all fixed on him at once.
"This is an even better result than when I use the Eight-Headed Serpent Technique myself…"
Kiyohara's voice came from one of the serpent heads.
"Lord Orochimaru, do you still want to continue?"
Orochimaru remained silent.
He looked at those eight heads, at that massive body, at the scales infused with senjutsu chakra.
"No need."
His voice carried up.
"I've lost."
Orochimaru shook his head.
Even now, his own version of the technique was only half-finished.
Against Kiyohara, there was simply no point in continuing.
The white snake's body began to change.
In the blink of an eye, Orochimaru returned to human form and landed on the ground.
He stood there, looking up at the eight heads towering over him.
"Kiyohara-kun."
He spoke.
"You really are… a genius."
Kiyohara reverted to human form as well and landed in front of him.
"You overpraise me, Lord Orochimaru."
Orochimaru shook his head.
"No. I'm not."
"If you want, Lord Orochimaru, I can give you my optimized version."
As he said that, Kiyohara pulled out a scroll containing some of his own insights.
Of course, the real reason he could produce that level of result was his White Snake bloodline and his massive chakra reserves.
Even if Orochimaru followed the scroll exactly, he still wouldn't be able to reproduce Kiyohara's version.
"Then I'll thank you for it, Kiyohara-kun."
Orochimaru hadn't expected this pleasant surprise and accepted at once.
…
Tsunade's house.
When Kiyohara pushed open the door, Kurenai Yuhi was sitting in the living room.
Now that she had become more and more familiar with both Kiyohara and Tsunade, she came by often.
"Who were you fighting just now?"
Kurenai noticed the marks of battle on Kiyohara's clothes.
Kiyohara shook his head.
"Just sparring."
He sat down across from her.
Kurenai looked at him.
"That person just now… was Orochimaru?"
Kiyohara nodded.
"I see."
That was enough for her.
At this point, the only people who could really serve as proper sparring partners for Kiyohara were probably those on the level of the Sannin.
"Did you win, then?"
Kurenai asked curiously.
Kiyohara smiled slightly.
"It was only a spar. There's no real winner or loser."
That was just politeness.
If he had gone all out, Orochimaru had no chance of beating him.
That said, there was one thing Kiyohara genuinely admired about Orochimaru—his survivability.
Among top-level shinobi, Orochimaru's ability to stay alive ranked among the very best.
Kurenai looked at him but said nothing more.
She already knew the answer in her heart.
She believed Kiyohara had won.
Not long after Kurenai left, Kiyohara returned to his room and took out another bottle, this one containing some blood.
Konan watched curiously.
Kiyohara didn't avoid the topic at all. He just started studying it.
Before long, Konan walked over.
This time, she had used the front door.
"Orochimaru's blood?"
Konan had gone to the Forest of Death with Kiyohara too, though she had only stayed hidden in the shadows to do her job.
"Of course."
Kiyohara nodded.
"Orochimaru's cells are very interesting."
"Isn't Orochimaru just a civilian?"
Konan asked.
She didn't mean social standing. She meant bloodline—a civilian by heritage.
After all, Orochimaru didn't possess a kekkei genkai or any inherited secret art.
"Mm."
Kiyohara nodded.
"Being born ordinary doesn't mean you can't change yourself later."
He shook his head.
The rich rely on technology. The poor rely on mutation.
Orochimaru was the type who relied on technology to rebuild himself.
And not all of that technology was useless.
A lot of Orochimaru's achievements were real, hard results. He had delved into both the soul and the body.
"His cellular activity is far stronger than that of an ordinary shinobi."
Kiyohara paused.
"And his cells contain reptilian traits."
Konan frowned slightly.
"What do you mean?"
"He altered himself,"
Kiyohara said.
"He fused snake genes into his body."
Konan remembered the enormous white serpent Orochimaru had turned into.
"Why would he do that?"
she asked.
Kiyohara looked at her.
"For immortality."
Konan was skeptical.
"Snakes shed their skin,"
Kiyohara explained.
"Every shedding is like a new rebirth. He turned himself into a snake to gain that kind of ability."
Then he added,
"Though in practice, it's more symbolic than literal. What he really wanted was extreme regenerative ability."
"Then did you alter yourself too?"
Konan remembered that Kiyohara could also transform into a giant white serpent.
"No."
Kiyohara smiled.
There was no way he'd ever turn himself into something half-human, half-monster like that.
Back when he had injected the Power of the White Snake into himself, it had only strengthened his cellular regeneration.
He'd never remake himself the way Orochimaru had, to the point of completely abandoning human form.
That was a dead-end path, just like Sasori turning himself into a puppet.
…
At the same time, elsewhere—
Deep inside the Graveyard of Mountains, the dim cave was dominated by the enormous body of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
The giant statue hung its head low. Several chakra receiver pipes extended from it like withered vines, connecting to the shriveled body seated before it.
Madara Uchiha had not moved in a very long time.
So long, at times, that he could no longer tell whether he was still alive or had already died.
The chakra of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path flowed slowly through the tubes into his body, sustaining the last traces of life in that shell teetering on collapse.
But the sensation was growing weaker and weaker. It no longer had the same effect it once did.
Madara opened his eyes.
He raised one hand.
It was withered like a dead branch, loose skin hanging over bone, the black-blue network of veins visible beneath it.
He stared at that hand for a long time.
Then, slowly, he clenched it into a fist.
He could feel it.
Every day, with every breath, he was moving one step closer to death.
The effect of the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path's chakra was weakening.
Even with those pipes inserted into him, even with the statue's chakra sustaining him, he would still die in the end.
That was an unavoidable fact.
Birth, aging, sickness, death—those were the iron laws of nature.
Even awakening the Rinnegan couldn't spare someone from that. It didn't grant any special lifespan.
But more than that, there was something else bothering him.
The feeling was strange.
As if something inside him were slowly being drawn away.
He couldn't say exactly what it was.
But he could tell that something was leaving.
And in the darkness, Black Zetsu was watching him.
Those yellow eyes seemed to be deep in thought.
'Indra's chakra is leaving Madara Uchiha…'
Black Zetsu muttered inwardly.
He could sense that clump of chakra peeling away from Madara's body like a thin wisp of smoke, drifting out into the shinobi world.
Black Zetsu narrowed his eyes.
That meant a new Uchiha bloodline had triggered Indra's chakra.
A new reincarnation was about to appear.
Madara had simply lived too long.
In all the thousand years that had passed, Black Zetsu had never encountered anything like this.
Because Madara was the only reincarnation who had ever awakened the Rinnegan, and also the only reincarnation who had used the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to keep himself alive and refuse death.
In all the centuries before, once a reincarnation died, the reincarnated chakra that had accompanied them through life vanished with them.
That chakra would then go back into the shinobi world and seek out a new reincarnation.
A thought suddenly flashed through Black Zetsu's mind.
If Madara died, and if Obito failed…
Could Kiyohara become the vessel instead?
After all, whether Madara existed or not wasn't what mattered.
What mattered was the Rinnegan, and making sure a Ten-Tails jinchūriki could appear successfully.
Once there was a Ten-Tails jinchūriki, Black Zetsu only needed to complete the final step for Mother Ōtsutsuki Kaguya to be reborn inside that host.
To Black Zetsu, Kiyohara—who possessed so many different kekkei genkai—might actually be the most suitable vessel of all.