Chapter 278: The Kazekage Captured
High above Konoha, a messenger hawk soared in from the distance, eventually landing at the Intelligence Communication Department.
...
Achoo!
Kakashi wiped his nose once again.
"An emergency mission. A message from the Hidden Sand: the Kazekage has been captured by the Akatsuki," Tsunade said, her expression grim, showing no concern for whether Kakashi had a cold. "They are requesting reinforcements from Konoha. Besides Tonbo Tobitake, you are the only person in the village who has had direct contact with the Akatsuki. I want you to lead Team Kakashi to support the Sand and retrieve the Kazekage."
"Understood. But Naruto..." Kakashi started to say.
"The Akatsuki's target is Naruto. We cannot protect him forever. He needs to grow," Tsunade said firmly, having already made up her mind.
"Understood."
"Then move out immediately."
Tonbo Tobitake received Tsunade's orders: maintain the security of Konoha. The news of the Kazekage's abduction reached him shortly after.
"Dad, what happened?" Keigo asked. He was currently hammering away at a suit of armor. Four long mechanical tentacles extended from his back, and he wore a pair of dark goggles. The tentacles occasionally swapped tools—drills, tweezers, blowtorches—with mechanical precision.
Clang! Clang!
"Nothing much. The Hidden Sand was attacked. The Hokage wants me to keep an eye on Konoha's safety," Tonbo replied, watching the various tools in motion. "So, is your old man's ninjutsu convenient or what? This will definitely let you feel the charm of ninjutsu ahead of schedule."
The tools were instruments Tonbo had constructed using his Eye of the Creator technique based on his own knowledge. They were linked to Keigo's nervous system via a specialized connective ninjutsu. This not only reduced the neural strain on the boy but also drew the required chakra from Tonbo himself, the master of the technique.
"It's amazing! How did you think of this, Dad? Now I can perform all sorts of operations even before I've learned to refine chakra!" Keigo's eyes were full of genuine praise, causing Tonbo to tilt his head back in pride. Finally, some positive feedback from this kid.
"But Dad, where did you get these scientific ninja tools and all this data?" Keigo asked suspiciously.
He had started reading extensively at age one; by two, he had finished most of the research books in the Konoha Library. Now three, he had a general grasp of the village's non-classified research. According to the "Leaky Bucket" theory, the general level of public knowledge usually indicates a collective's ceiling. The data in front of him—specifically regarding scientific ninja tools—far exceeded the knowledge Konoha should possess.
"Heh, your father is a ninja. I've roamed dozens of large and small nations. What's wrong with spying out some useful intel? Don't go questioning your father's professional standards," Tonbo said proudly.
The armor was from the Land of Snow; the research data was a compilation of results from many countries, including some from the Takumi Village. Since Keigo had a talent for this, Tonbo wanted to nurture it early.
Once the Fourth Ninja War began, he would need his son's help to analyze the Hashirama cells, Madara's cells, samples from the nine Tailed Beasts, the Ten-Tails, and the body tissues of Kaguya. Tonbo's Forced Evolution required a deep understanding of those biological structures to find the right path for his own evolution. He needed "information fraud" to trick his body into evolving, and a mistake in gene compilation would be disastrous.
Doing the research himself was too tedious, and there were few people he could truly trust. If his son could grow into his right-hand man, it would be perfect.
"Stealing is stealing, don't call it 'professional standards.' You're so hypocritical, Dad," Keigo muttered with disdain. But his eyes betrayed him; he was clearly hungry for the knowledge in the data and the armor before him.
"You haven't started your ninja curriculum yet, so of course you don't understand. But let's not talk about that," Tonbo said, watching his son dismantle the armor. He suddenly posed a question: "You've read so many books. If there were an enemy technique that could counter-attack anyone who harbored killing intent toward them—where the stronger the intent, the higher the damage—and it was a passive ability... how would you solve it?"
Tonbo had thought about this for a long time. If a Shinjutsu could judge an action itself as "malice," he couldn't find a direction for a solution. His only hope was that the technique judged subjective malice via soul waves rather than objective physical movement. But he didn't like relying on hope.
"Dad, how could such a terrifying ninjutsu exist? Do you have a fever?" Keigo stopped his mechanical work and deadpanned. If such a judgment mechanism existed, would other ninjas even need to exist?
"What if it really does exist?" Tonbo pressed.
Keigo gave his father a long look, seeing his unwavering conviction.
Has Dad actually encountered an enemy like that?
He then sank into deep thought. The first rule of scientific research: if it exists, it is rational. If such an enemy truly existed, how would he, a three-year-old child, solve the problem?
"I would probably try to distribute televisions to the people of every nation. Then, at a specific moment, I'd expose that person's threat to the entire world simultaneously. This would cause everyone on earth to harbor killing intent toward him at once. Even if he is an incredibly powerful ninja, the sheer volume of reflections should eventually drain his chakra, right?"
Keigo thought for fifteen minutes before coming up with this "mutual destruction" strategy.
He knew that as soon as he took action to deal with such an enemy, he would inevitably be flagged by the technique and die. Likewise, the citizens who harbored killing intent would also perish. Whether the malice was judged by the soul or by the action, the resulting backlash would be immense. To him, this was the only viable solution.
"Do you have any other, better ideas?" Tonbo Tobitake's eyes lit up.
As expected of his son—brilliant. To think he came up with a way to force a stalemate so quickly.
"Dad... I'm only three years old. How am I supposed to solve such a complex problem?" Keigo was getting annoyed. The question was haunting his mind now, and it was distracting him from his research. He wanted to push it aside, but for someone with such a strong desire for knowledge, the puzzle was too seductive to ignore.
"What does being three have to do with it? Haven't you heard that the younger you are, the closer you are to the source of the world? Maybe you'll have a flash of inspiration. I don't care—keep doing your research, but you have to keep thinking about this for me," Tonbo countered.
"Why don't you ask big brother and sister to help you think?"
"Them? They have brains, sure, but not enough. They aren't cut out for this kind of thinking."
"You're in trouble, Dad. I'm going to tell Mom that you said my siblings are brainless."
"Don't you dare."
"Then get serious and build me some more tools suitable for my research."
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