In front of the tower of ancient Rōran, a slender figure slowly descended the stone steps.
The past few years had left faint traces on her face. The youthful uncertainty in her features had faded, replaced by the steadiness and dignity of a queen.
Sara stopped in front of Kiyohara and looked up at him.
"Long time no see, Kiyohara."
"It really has been a long time."
Kiyohara looked at her and gave a slight nod.
The last time they had met, he had still been an ordinary ninja, following Tsunade and Minato Namikaze to Rōran on a mission.
Back then, Sara had still been a flustered young girl. Now, she could stand on her own.
Kiyohara's gaze moved past Sara and toward the crystal at the top of the tower in the plaza.
Dragon vein chakra flowed there, supplying the entire ancient kingdom of Rōran and keeping it functioning normally.
"Sara, I need to borrow a portion of the dragon vein chakra."
Kiyohara went straight to the point.
Sara was a little surprised.
But she had also figured that Kiyohara would not come to Rōran for no reason.
"All right."
Sara nodded, turned slightly, and made an inviting gesture.
She turned around and led Kiyohara's group into the tower.
Tsunade and Pakura followed behind Kiyohara, their gazes sweeping over the walls covered in sealing formulas.
Pakura's aura was still a little weak, but her injuries had already stabilized.
This was her first time entering ancient Rōran, and she looked around with great curiosity.
The inside of the tower was much more spacious than it looked from the outside.
The inner walls were covered in dense sealing formulas. These formulas extended down from the crystal at the top of the tower, continued along the stone walls, and finally gathered at the altar in the center of the tower's base.
The altar was circular, about five meters in diameter, with its surface sunken into a shallow bowl shape.
The bottom of the bowl was engraved with ring after ring of sealing formulas. The outermost layer was a Contract Seal, while the innermost was the Four Symbols Seal. Layer after layer was nested together, firmly locking the dragon vein's power underground.
These were all Minato Namikaze's work.
When Kiyohara had observed them back then, he had thought them extremely ingenious.
Now that he looked at them again, everything seemed clear.
In terms of sealing arts, he might have unknowingly surpassed Minato Namikaze.
The current Minato Namikaze had devoted his heart to his family and had already become a good family man.
Kiyohara stopped at the edge of the altar.
He raised his right hand, and a layer of chakra flame extended from it.
Whoosh, whoosh!
Chakra shot out, striking the key nodes.
At the same time, invisible eye power surged from his eyes, and the Mangekyō Sharingan pattern slowly rotated in his pupils.
First came the Contract Seal.
Kiyohara's chakra turned into threads finer than hair, peeling apart the formulas layer by layer along the paths of the markings.
The structure of this seal was extremely complex, but for Kiyohara, who was proficient in sealing arts, undoing it was only a matter of thought.
The sealing patterns began to loosen, like knots being untied, collapsing from the outside inward layer by layer.
Purple light seeped out from the cracks in the collapsing seal.
Then came the core Four Symbols Seal.
Kiyohara took out a sealing scroll, spread it open, and laid it flat at the edge of the altar.
Complex sealing formulas were drawn across the scroll. In the center was a blank circular area, surrounded by the divinatory symbols of the Four Symbols.
He formed hand signs.
After the final seal, he pressed both hands against the edge of the altar.
The four directions of the Four Symbols Seal lit up at the same time with different colors of light.
Four pillars of light shot up from the edge of the altar and converged at the top of the tower.
The transparent membrane shattered with a sound, turning into countless points of light that vanished into the air.
At that moment, the seal collapsed.
In an instant, violent chakra erupted from the bottom of the altar.
The entire tower shook violently.
The sealing formulas on the walls began disappearing one after another.
Purple light surged from the crack at the center of the altar, and a hurricane rose out of nowhere, sweeping broken stones and dust into the air.
Queen Sara staggered, unable to keep her footing against the wind, and fell backward.
A hand steadily supported her back.
Tsunade stood beside Sara, her golden hair blown backward by the hurricane, but her feet were rooted to the ground, completely unmoving.
Her other arm shielded Pakura, protecting her behind her.
"Move back."
Tsunade said.
She protected Sara and Pakura as they retreated, not stopping until they reached a stone pillar near the tower entrance.
Sara steadied herself against the pillar, her eyes fixed on Kiyohara in front of the altar.
The hurricane whipped her skirt violently, and several strands of red hair fell across her cheeks.
Kiyohara stood within the storm.
His robe was blown backward, and his black hair danced wildly in the wind.
The pattern in his Mangekyō Sharingan slowly rotated, eye power pouring out continuously, suppressing the dragon vein chakra that was about to go out of control.
"Still not enough."
Kiyohara increased the intensity.
Then, he completely released the seal.
Crack.
A crisp breaking sound came from beneath the altar, as if something had snapped in that instant.
Immediately afterward, the ground began to shake.
The stone slabs in the plaza cracked from the tremor, and the cracks spread outward from the base of the tower like a massive spiderweb.
From beneath the once-dried altar came a deep dragon roar.
Pakura instinctively covered her ears, but the sound still echoed clearly in her mind.
Her face turned even paler than before, her eyes filled with shock.
"What is this…"
Before she could finish, a sharp sound interrupted her.
A Flying Thunder God kunai was blasted out from the center of the altar, spinning through the air before stabbing into a distant wall.
Immediately afterward, a massive amount of purple chakra erupted from the bottom of the altar.
The chakra was so concentrated that it almost condensed into liquid. It surged out through the cracks in the altar like a reverse-flowing purple waterfall, shooting straight into the sky.
The top of the tower was blasted away. A purple pillar of light pierced through the ceiling and shot directly into the sea of clouds.
The clouds were pierced by the light pillar and churned outward in all directions, forming a massive vortex.
The entire sky was dyed purple.
Above the desert, the purple pillar of light was like a huge sword stabbing into the heavens, clearly visible from hundreds of kilometers away.
Sara raised her head and stared at the pillar connecting heaven and earth, that blinding purple light reflected in her eyes.
"This commotion…"
Tsunade frowned.
A disturbance this huge could not possibly go unnoticed by Sunagakure.
Although Rōran was hidden deep in the desert and was some distance from Sunagakure, a light pillar like this—not only Suna, even people in the Land of Rivers might notice it.
"The ninja of Sunagakure will arrive soon."
Tsunade said in a low voice.
Kiyohara naturally realized this too.
He wasted no time. He took a step back from the edge of the altar and formed hand signs in front of his chest.
He took out a specially made spherical container from a sealing scroll and held it in his palm, aiming it at the purple light pillar erupting from the center of the altar.
That container was the artificial tailed beast vessel he had spent a great deal of time perfecting.
The surface of the container had a strange texture, somewhere between biological tissue and metal.
The instant its patterns came into contact with the dragon vein chakra, they began wriggling like blood vessels, continuously drawing the purple chakra into the container.
Boom!
At that moment, a portion of the dragon vein chakra suddenly split away from the light pillar and condensed into the shape of a giant purple chakra dragon. Its jaws opened wide as it lunged at Kiyohara.
Behind Kiyohara, golden chakra suddenly erupted.
The enormous form of his Complete Body Susanoo rose from behind him, golden armor covering its entire body.
Beneath the tengu mask, two Mangekyō Sharingan coldly watched the purple dragon.
The Complete Body Susanoo's giant hand reached out from the side, grabbed the purple chakra dragon by the neck, and lifted it into the air.
This section of the dragon vein had been dry for many years. Although it had accumulated some chakra again, it was far from recovering to its peak.
This level of power could not even break free from one hand of the Complete Body Susanoo.
The Susanoo's fingers tightened. The purple dragon let out a shriek before dissolving into countless purple specks of light.
Kiyohara continued advancing his artificial tailed beast plan.
Under his control, the spherical container began actively absorbing the dragon vein chakra. The more it absorbed, the more the container expanded.
Kiyohara had originally designed it as a sphere, but as the dragon vein chakra continued flowing in, irregular protrusions started appearing on its surface.
Those protrusions grew increasingly obvious, gradually forming a certain outline.
It was… dragon-shaped.
The artificial tailed beast's body expanded continuously.
One meter, two meters, three meters, four meters, five meters…
In just over a dozen breaths, the spherical container had expanded to nearly ten meters in diameter, and it was still growing.
The surface of the container had changed from its original milky white to deep purple.
At the same time, a sandstorm began sweeping through the outer region of ancient Rōran.
The dragon vein chakra's rampage had triggered chaotic chakra currents around them, sweeping up the desert's wind and sand into a sand wall dozens of meters high.
The sandstorm pushed toward Rōran from every direction. Wherever it passed, dunes were flattened.
Sara stared at the approaching sand wall and clenched her fists.
"These sandstorms…"
She knew very well that Rōran's barrier could not stop a sandstorm of this scale.
Once the sand wall pushed into the city, all of Rōran's years of rebuilding would be destroyed.
Tsunade noticed her expression.
She patted Sara on the shoulder and said in a low voice,
"Don't worry. He'll have a way."
Tsunade did not believe Kiyohara had made no preparations.
From what she knew of Kiyohara, he handled everything thoroughly.
The next instant.
Poof! Poof! Poof! Poof!
Four soft sounds rang out almost simultaneously.
Four shadow clones appeared beside Kiyohara, each shooting toward one of the four cardinal directions.
East, south, west, and north.
The four shadow clones stopped at the four main directions outside ancient Rōran.
They raised both hands at the same time and formed the same seal.
Four Red Yang Formation!
Four crimson flame barriers appeared from the palms of the four clones and converged above ancient Rōran.
They formed a huge rectangular barrier, enclosing the entire city along with the tower.
Crimson flames burned fiercely along the barrier walls, making the glow of the purple pillar even more dazzling.
The sandstorm slammed into the barrier.
It continued battering the barrier, but the barrier wall remained unmoved.
Kiyohara stood in front of the altar, continuing to control the vessel as it absorbed the dragon vein chakra.
The Four Red Yang Formation was even stronger than the Uchiha Flame Formation.
However, it required four Kage-level ninja to use it together. The caster had to release chakra from the four directions—east, south, west, and north—simultaneously, creating a rectangular barrier formed from red flame walls.
The barrier had two-way sealing properties. It could block external attacks from interfering, and it could also prevent internal targets from escaping. Anyone who touched the barrier wall would be burned by flames.
Kiyohara's chakra reserves were enormous. Even after splitting off shadow clones, he could ensure that every clone had chakra reserves above Kage level.
Meanwhile, the artificial tailed beast vessel in Kiyohara's hand continued to expand.
Fifteen meters, twenty meters, twenty-five meters.
The dragon-shaped outline on the container's surface became increasingly clear.
Head, torso, limbs, tail—the dragon vein chakra was reshaping the vessel from within, turning it from a sphere into the shape of a dragon.
After about another ten minutes, the artificial tailed beast's size finally approached its limit.
Fine cracks began appearing on the vessel's surface. The dragon vein chakra inside was almost saturated. If any more chakra was infused, the vessel risked collapsing.
The dragon vein chakra beneath the altar was almost completely exhausted as well.
The purple pillar of light shooting into the sky began to thin and fade, changing from a waterfall into a stream, then from a stream into a thin thread.
Seeing this, Kiyohara decisively stopped the absorption.
Seal!
Sealing formulas appeared from his palm, turning into countless chains that wrapped around the artificial tailed beast's shell from all directions.
Those chains tightened further and further, forcefully compressing the expanded shell inward.
But during the compression, an unexpected change occurred.
Inside the artificial tailed beast, the dragon vein chakra had already formed the shape of a dragon, while the external seal was forcing it back into a spherical form.
The two forces, internal and external, conflicted with each other, and the shell began to twist violently.
The dragon shape wanted to break free of the sphere, while the sphere wanted to flatten the dragon shape.
The two forces battled fiercely across the artificial tailed beast's surface.
Kiyohara frowned and increased the output of his sealing technique.
More chains surged from his palm, wrapping the artificial tailed beast layer upon layer.
Crack!
Under the adjustment of the sealing technique, the two opposing forces achieved a strange balance. Dragon shape and spherical shape no longer clashed and instead began to merge.
The shell slowly shrank under the pressure of the seal.
Ten meters, five meters, three meters, one meter.
When the shell shrank to the size of a palm, its form finally stabilized.
It was a purple jade disk, about five centimeters in diameter.
On the jade disk was a relief of a dragon's head biting the other end of its own tail.
The dragon's mouth held its tail, head and tail joined, forming a perfect closed loop.
Kiyohara held the jade disk in his palm and lowered his head, studying this accidentally born creation.
Its shape resembled a ritual artifact, like the artifact Miroku had left for Shion.
Inside it, however, was an enormous amount of dragon vein chakra.
"It's finally complete. I guess I count as the dragon vein's external jinchūriki now."
Kiyohara put the purple jade disk into his robe and raised his head.
After the tower's top had been blown away, the sky had already returned to its original clear blue.
The clouds closed again, blocking the sun.
The flaming walls of the Four Red Yang Formation were still burning.
Sara stood up while supporting herself against the stone pillar, her deep red eyes looking over.
"It won't affect Rōran."
Kiyohara looked at her and took the initiative to speak.
"I only drained the surface layer of the dragon vein. The dragon vein's source lies deep underground. The dragon veins of the entire planet are connected.
"It won't take long before new dragon vein chakra flows over and refills the altar."
As Kiyohara spoke, he took the purple jade disk from his robe.
Kiyohara's chakra attached to the surface of the purple jade disk. A strand of pale purple chakra was drawn out from the dragon disk and slowly floated toward the altar under his guidance.
Although that strand of chakra was faint, its quality was extremely pure. It was dragon vein source chakra.
The chakra fell into the dried crack at the bottom of the altar.
A moment later, a faint purple glow lit up again beneath the altar.
That light was much weaker than before, but it was slowly growing.
The dried cracks were being refilled with new dragon vein chakra.
Sara looked at the purple light reigniting beneath the altar, and her tense shoulders slowly relaxed.
"So Rōran won't be affected?"
Queen Sara asked.
"It will be weakened temporarily, but it will recover quickly."
Kiyohara withdrew his finger and put the dragon disk back into his robe.
"However, the commotion this time was too large. Sunagakure will definitely react."
He looked at Sara.
"Starting today, the ancient kingdom of Rōran will become a protected state of Konoha with the highest level of treatment. Konoha will send more resident ninja to Rōran to assist with defense."
Kiyohara paused, then said the most important part.
"In exchange, Rōran will provide a fixed amount of dragon vein chakra samples every year for research."
Sara was silent for a moment, then nodded.
"I agree."
She knew this was the best outcome.
Without Konoha's protection, Rōran had no way to remain independent under Sunagakure's covetous gaze.
Kiyohara nodded, then turned and walked toward Tsunade and Pakura.
Konoha, Hokage's office.
When Kiyohara pushed the door open and walked in, Konan was standing by the window, holding a scroll in her hand.
Hearing footsteps, she turned her head, her gaze falling on him.
"Why did you call me here?"
Konan asked, her voice cool.
"Help her complete the Anbu entry procedures."
Kiyohara tilted his chin toward Pakura behind him.
Pakura stood by the door, already changed into the silver-white chakra armor.
Her green hair was tied into a high ponytail.
Konan glanced at Pakura.
She had grown used to Kiyohara bringing someone back from outside from time to time. She was numb to it.
"Come with me."
Konan put away the scroll and walked toward the door.
When she reached Pakura, she stopped and looked her up and down.
"What can you do?"
"Kill people."
Pakura replied.
The corner of Konan's mouth moved slightly.
This person really is just like Uchiha Hikari.
She turned and walked out the door.
"Keep up."
Pakura glanced at Kiyohara. Kiyohara nodded to her.
She took a deep breath and followed Konan.
The door closed behind them.
Only Kiyohara remained in the office.
He sat in the Hokage's chair, picked up the purple jade disk from the desk, and gently turned it in his palm.
The dragon disk spun between his fingers, the dragon biting its own tail.
"Then, let's begin."
Kiyohara tried eating a small piece of the jade disk.
After the dragon vein chakra entered his meridians, it began seeping into his cells in a way similar to tailed beast chakra, but it was even more domineering than tailed beast chakra.
When ordinary tailed beast chakra entered the human body, it was rejected by the cells like an external invader. It required constant adaptation before the cells could accept this new chakra nature.
But dragon vein chakra was different.
After entering the cells, it directly began changing the cells' chakra capacity limit.
It was as if a container that could originally only hold one bucket of water was having its own material changed by the dragon vein chakra, turning it into a larger container.
And this change was mainly focused on physical energy.
Kiyohara could feel his muscles becoming denser under the infiltration of the dragon vein chakra.
"No wonder Anrokuzan could use it to create an immortal puppet army."
Kiyohara thought inwardly.
Dragon vein chakra's enhancement of physical energy was far more direct than any tailed beast chakra.
The reason Anrokuzan's puppets, powered by dragon vein chakra, were seemingly immortal was because dragon vein chakra could continuously modify their structure, allowing them to heal even after being shattered.
If it was used on a human body, the effect would only be more pronounced.
But at the same time, dragon vein chakra was far more domineering than tailed beast chakra.
For an ordinary person, touching tailed beast chakra was no different from touching deadly poison, while dragon vein chakra was even harder to tame.
It would not actively merge with the host's chakra. Instead, it would forcibly modify the host's cellular structure. If the host's constitution was not strong enough, the cells would collapse during the transformation.
"Looks like fully adapting to dragon vein chakra will probably take even longer than adapting to the Nine-Tails."
Kiyohara put the dragon disk back into his robe and moved his wrist.
But time was not a problem for him.
His constitution was constantly evolving. After every adaptation, his speed in adapting to the next type of chakra would become faster.
After fully inheriting the Jōgan, his body would probably evolve again.
At that time, perhaps even his adaptation speed to dragon vein chakra would be greatly shortened.
Kiyohara gathered his thoughts, stood up, and walked toward the window.
Three months later.
Konoha, Third Training Ground.
Kiyohara stepped across the leaf-covered ground and walked toward the training field.
Under the large tree by the training field, Uchiha Izumi was leaning against the trunk with her eyes closed.
Today, she wore a dark blue Uchiha clan outfit, with small flame-fan crests embroidered on her sleeves.
A sheet of paper rested on her knees. On it were several sealing formula structures.
It was obvious she had been practicing just now and had only leaned against the tree to sleep when drowsiness overtook her.
Kiyohara stopped beneath the tree and looked down at her.
Uchiha Izumi had grown quickly, already transforming from a little child into a girl with the outline of a young lady.
Her features were more delicate and defined than when she was younger, and the cool elegance between her brows and eyes had become increasingly obvious.
But as she slept right now, she looked softer than she did when she usually asked him for guidance.
Kiyohara reached out, preparing to wake her.
Before his hand touched her shoulder, Uchiha Izumi's eyelashes suddenly trembled.
Her peach-blossom eyes snapped open. Three tomoe spun rapidly in her pupils, and her right hand had already pulled a kunai from the ninja tool pouch at her waist.
But her wrist stopped halfway up.
The Sharingan had clearly seen the person before her.
The three tomoe quickly faded, the crimson returning to black, and the killing intent in her peach-blossom eyes vanished completely.
"Teacher!"
She swept the paper off her knees and jumped up from the ground.
Because she moved too quickly, the white ribbon tied behind her head was caught by a branch and slipped off. Her purple hair immediately loosened and fell over her shoulders.
She did not even bother picking up the ribbon. She raised her face and looked at Kiyohara, her peach-blossom eyes filled with delight.
"When did you get here? Why didn't you wake me?"
"I just arrived."
Kiyohara looked at her excited expression and smiled faintly.
"You looked like you were sleeping so soundly. I didn't have the heart to."
Uchiha Izumi's cheeks flushed slightly.
"I was just working on sealing arts. But I got one formula wrong. I thought I'd nap for a bit and continue after waking up, but then I fell asleep…"
Kiyohara's gaze moved past her shoulder and landed on the paper that had been swept onto the ground.
There was indeed a sealing formula structure drawn on the paper. Although there were several obvious errors, the overall framework was already quite decent.
An ordinary person at her age would not even understand the basics of sealing arts.
Yet Uchiha Izumi could independently build a formula structure. This talent was rare even among the Uchiha.
"It's already very good."
Kiyohara said.
"Sealing arts aren't something you can master in a short time. Just take it slow."
Uchiha Izumi shook her head hard, her voice carrying a trace of stubbornness.
"I'm still not good enough. The Chūnin Exams are coming soon. I don't want to embarrass Teacher during the exams."
Kiyohara looked at her serious expression, then said,
"Izumi, have you really decided to graduate early?"
"The Chūnin Exams aren't sparring in the training ground. The test will involve real dangerous missions. With your current level, it would be safer to stay at the Ninja Academy and polish yourself for another year or two."
Uchiha Izumi raised a hand and tucked the loose strands around her cheeks behind her ears. Then she raised her head, her peach-blossom eyes staring straight at Kiyohara.
"I want to follow Teacher's example. Even if I can only get a little closer to Teacher, that's enough. I want to help Teacher with my own strength, not forever hide behind Teacher and be protected."
"Since that's what you think, then go."
Uchiha Izumi's face bloomed into a wide smile.
"Really?"
"Really."
Kiyohara nodded.
"With your current strength, you truly aren't weaker than chūnin from previous years. Experiencing more real combat will also help you awaken the Mangekyō. Since you have this ambition, I naturally won't stop you."
Uchiha Izumi had his guidance and had also been personally given the Yang Release curse mark by him. Her constitution and chakra reserves far exceeded those of her peers.
So what Uchiha Izumi lacked most was experience.
More real combat training would only benefit her growth.
"Great!"
Uchiha Izumi's face was full of joy.
"But there's one condition."
Kiyohara continued.
Uchiha Izumi's smile stiffened slightly, and nervousness appeared in her peach-blossom eyes.
"What condition?"
"For the next half month, I'll give you special one-on-one training. Whether you pass or not will depend on you."
"I'll definitely pass!"