Heavenly Dao's smile did not fade even as he reached the door of his apartment.
The boost provided by Konoha-style Taijutsu had far exceeded his expectations. With his current level of physical combat skill, he felt confident that he could easily be evaluated as a Special Jōnin specializing in taijutsu alone.
As for Mizuki—
Heavenly Dao's favorability toward him had already shifted from indifferent to average. If Mizuki challenged him a few more times, that relationship would soon rise to friendly.
"It looks like you're in a particularly good mood today," a slightly raspy yet mature female voice sounded beside him. "You're smiling like you just won the lottery."
Heavenly Dao turned his head, the corners of his lips lifting a little more.
At the entrance to the apartment stood a purple-haired beauty dressed in casual clothing. She had clearly just finished showering; her long violet hair was still damp, clinging lightly to her shoulders. The loose robe she wore could not quite conceal her soft, graceful curves.
Just standing there quietly, she looked like a freehand painting—serene, elegant, and captivating.
"Sister Yugao, you're back," Heavenly Dao said warmly.
Yūgao Uzuki's voice was low and gentle, like wind chimes softly touching one another. Heavenly Dao had always enjoyed listening to her speak.
"Mhm." She smiled faintly. "I have a mission outside the village tomorrow. The captain gave us the night off."
She paused briefly, then added in a lighter tone, "Don't worry—it's just a routine patrol. Nothing dangerous. Don't go back to your place tonight. I just finished cooking, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to finish everything by myself."
"Sure," Heavenly Dao agreed almost instantly.
The two entered the apartment together. Yugao brought the dishes out from the kitchen—four dishes and a soup. It wasn't extravagant, but every dish happened to be one of Heavenly Dao's favorites.
That, of course, was no coincidence.
Heavenly Dao and Yūgao Uzuki had known each other since childhood. Their parents had been close friends, making the two of them classic childhood companions. Yugao was three years older than him and had always regarded herself as his older sister.
During the Nine-Tails incident, both of their parents had died fighting the beast. The two orphaned children had relied on each other to survive ever since.
That was, until they graduated from the Ninja Academy and officially stepped into the ninja world.
Yugao's talent in kenjutsu was exceptional. She was recruited into ANBU at a young age, and the frequency of their meetings steadily decreased.
Just as Heavenly Dao was eating, a translucent system panel suddenly appeared in front of his eyes.
[Latest Mission: The Uchiha bloodline must not end!
Quickly "spread the branches and leaves," allow the Sharingan to bloom everywhere, and include Yūgao Uzuki in the Uchiha Clan registry.]
[Mission rewards will be distributed in stages.]
[Unlock Intimate Contact CG Reward: Konoha-style Kenjutsu.]
[Unlock Defeat CG Reward: Yang Release Chakra Enhancement.]
Heavenly Dao paused, chopsticks hovering mid-air.
That's it? he sneered internally. This mission is seriously underestimating me.
Outwardly, however, he put on a slightly troubled expression.
"What's wrong?" Yugao asked immediately, noticing the change in his face. She set down her chopsticks, her voice tinged with concern. "Is the food not to your taste?"
"The soup seems a bit salty," Heavenly Dao replied casually, making up an excuse on the spot.
"Salty?" Yugao frowned. She stood up, walked over, picked up a spoon, and tasted it herself. "I paid special attention this time. Did I still add too much salt?"
As she leaned closer, her body heat passed through the thin fabric between them. The steam rising from the dishes mixed with the faint citrus scent left from her bath, filling the small kitchen.
Heavenly Dao's gaze fell on her slightly moist lips.
Without hesitation, he pulled her onto his lap and leaned down to kiss her.
Yugao froze for a moment, eyes widening in surprise. Then, slowly, she closed them. Her hands instinctively grasped the front of his collar.
The kiss seemed to suspend time itself. When they finally separated, both of them were slightly out of breath.
[First-stage mission completed.
Reward "Konoha-style Kenjutsu" has been distributed. Please claim it promptly.]
Heavenly Dao was delighted inwardly, but his expression remained calm. He smiled softly and said, "Sister Yugao, the soup tastes just right now."
"You… you really know how to tease people," Yugao scolded him lightly, her cheeks faintly flushed as she leaned against him.
In truth, she had long since grown accustomed to his sudden moments of boldness—though they still made her shy every time.
It wasn't until the moon reached its highest point that Heavenly Dao quietly emerged from Yugao's room.
[Claim mission reward.]
The moment he confirmed it mentally, an enormous amount of knowledge and experience regarding Konoha-style Kenjutsu surged into his mind like a tidal wave.
Muscle memory, neural response, stance control, chakra flow—everything formed almost instantly. In mere moments, he went from a complete novice to a master capable of skillfully executing Konoha's kenjutsu techniques.
However, this time, he failed to complete both stages of the mission at once.
It wasn't that either of them lacked the intention—
Rather, Yūgao Uzuki was not only a kenjutsu expert, but also a Water Release specialist. Even simple intimacy had already caused her to "lose too much water." With her mission scheduled for the next day, Heavenly Dao had no choice but to stop and return home, reluctantly guarding an empty room by himself.
The next morning, Heavenly Dao woke up at eight as usual.
Yugao, who lived next door, had already left early. A warm breakfast had been left in his kitchen.
With this "breakfast of love" in his stomach, Heavenly Dao strolled leisurely toward the Hokage Building to clock in for work.
His current workplace was the Agricultural Machinery Research Class.
His current project—
The Wind Release Harvester.
"Building Harvesters in the Naruto World".
It sounded like the title of some outrageous fan-fiction, but it was, in fact, his daily reality.
From the original canon, it was clear that the technological development of the Naruto world was strangely unbalanced.
There were monitors, radios, surveillance cameras, refrigerators, and even trains. Overall, the technology level was comparable to Earth in the late twentieth century.
However, decades of constant warfare had placed these technologies firmly under the control of the major ninja villages and noble clans. They were almost completely inaccessible to commoners.
Commoners unlucky enough not to be born within the Five Great Nations might never see such things in their entire lives.
This was the harsh reality of the ninja world.
Even so, under such strict control, certain "small innovations beneficial to the upper class" were tacitly permitted.
For example—the Wind Release Harvester, which could greatly increase the speed of grain harvesting.
This was precisely why Heavenly Dao had managed to gain the favor of his immediate superior, Inuzuka Akita.
He had conducted extensive research into "converting ninjutsu into agricultural tools," and many of his ideas happened to align closely with what Inuzuka Akita had always wanted to pursue.
Of course, this was no coincidence.
Knowing that she would later become the head of the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team in the non-combustible sequel Boruto, Heavenly Dao had deliberately allowed her to "accidentally" see his research manuscripts.
As for why he didn't directly develop Scientific Ninja Weapons—
The reason was simple: the resistance was far too great.
Even in Boruto, Scientific Ninja Weapons were still highly controversial. At the current point in time—before Shippuden had even begun—attempting to develop them would have been nothing short of suicide.
The establishment of the Agricultural Machinery Research Class itself was already the result of compromise between multiple factions.
Naturally, the Inuzuka Clan had exerted considerable influence behind the scenes.
Otherwise, as a mere commoner, Heavenly Dao would never have qualified to push for the creation of a new department.
He sat down at his desk.
The third version of the Wind Release Harvester had already been finalized and was in the machine-testing stage. His workload at the moment was actually quite light.
Thinking of the Konoha-style Kenjutsu he had obtained the night before, Heavenly Dao rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
In next month's funding application report, he would need to emphasize Chakra Metal loss a little more.
After all, Edison had tested thousands of materials before inventing the light bulb. It was perfectly reasonable for him to conduct additional experiments for agricultural equipment.
Experiments always involved losses.
Melting down a few "scraps" of Chakra Metal to forge a sword on the side was entirely logical.
The only thing he needed to be careful about was ensuring the experimental reports were polished thoroughly, leaving no room for criticism.
While calculating these plans for "rational resource utilization," Heavenly Dao picked up his teacup, preparing to brew some red date and goji berry health tea.
At that moment—
Two massive waves of pressure descended silently from behind him.
Heavenly Dao's hand paused slightly. Slowly, he turned around.
What greeted his eyes was the darkened expression of his superior, Inuzuka Akita, her face comparable to that of Yama himself.
"Heavenly Dao," she said coldly, "your secret's out. Come with me."
Heavenly Dao: "…"
Wait a second.
I haven't even submitted the funding application yet.