Gento looked puzzled.
"This is…"
Kushina handed the scroll over to Gento, her expression solemn.
"This was left to me by Grandma Mito."
Gento accepted the scroll.
"Inside it are all of the Uzumaki clan's sealing jutsu."
Gento's pupils contracted.
…All of the sealing jutsu?
"When Hidden Eddy Village was destroyed back then, many sealing techniques were lost forever."
"Grandma Mito wrote every sealing jutsu she could remember into this scroll and handed it to me before she passed away."
She paused briefly.
"Later, the Hidden Leaf ordered me to hand it over, so I only turned in a portion of it."
"But the truly core techniques are all here."
She looked directly into Gento's eyes.
"Now, it belongs to you."
Gento held the scroll in his hands.
This was the Uzumaki clan's thousand-year inheritance, a secret protected by countless ancestors with their lives.
Gento said nothing further and simply pulled her tightly into his embrace.
...
Several months passed by in the blink of an eye.
Time arrived at Year 56 of the Hidden Leaf.
Gento's palace was finally all finished.
This enormous estate was filled with winding corridors and deep, tranquil gardens.
Aside from the main hall completed during the earlier conferment ceremony, there were also continuous side halls and wings.
Study rooms, tea rooms, training grounds, bathhouses, storage houses, servant quarters…
Buildings of all sizes and functions were distributed throughout the estate in an orderly fashion, all connected by long corridors.
No matter whether it was windy or raining, one could move freely through the corridors without obstruction.
What satisfied Gento the most was the number of bedrooms.
There were a full thirty-two rooms.
Each room was covered with top-quality tatami and equipped with its own closet and washroom.
The windows faced the gardens. Opening them revealed carefully pruned pines and cypresses alongside dry landscape gardens covered in white sand.
When Gen Kigami delivered the estate, he looked meaningfully at those bedrooms and then at Gento, without saying a single word.
Gento pretended not to understand.
In addition, over the past few months, the changes in Hidden Gento Village could be described as advancing with each passing day.
The Uchiha clan's strength had already been formidable to begin with.
Combined with the Mission Hall's thirty percent employer satisfaction bonus, their reputation spread fast among merchants and nobles across every nation.
Cerulean Harbor was also the largest port in the Land of Hot Water, with merchant ships constantly coming and going, making transportation greatly convenient.
An endless stream of employers came to post commissions.
From escort missions to extermination missions, from intelligence gathering to supply transportation, there was every kind imaginable.
The rules Gento established were quite fair:
Thirty percent of the mission payment belonged to the village and was used for public expenses and infrastructure construction.
The remaining seventy percent went entirely to the ninja carrying out the mission.
This distribution ratio was unprecedented in the Shinobi World.
The Hidden Leaf's standard was for the village to take fifty percent, while the ninja villages of other major nations charged as much as sixty or even seventy percent.
The Uchiha ninja earned nearly twice as much money as they had back in the Hidden Leaf, so naturally they worked even harder.
In just a few short months, Hidden Gento Village's reputation spread throughout the entire Shinobi World.
There was money to earn, dignity to possess, and a future to look forward to.
This was how every Uchiha clansman described their current lives.
At the same time, Hidden Gento Village was rapidly expanding in scale.
The area Gento had originally transferred over using the Clan Relocation Card was no longer large enough to accommodate everyone.
The Uchiha population was growing too fast.
Newborns appeared batch after batch, and the number of ninja within the clan had now surpassed five thousand.
Many families no longer had enough room in their homes and were constantly seeking the Kigami clan to expand or build new houses.
Under Gen Kigami's planning, the clan district had expanded outward in every direction by an entire additional fold.
The new streets were neat and spacious.
Shops lined both sides.
Ninja tool stores, dango shops, tea houses, bookstores, general stores… everything imaginable could be found.
The streets bustled with people. Uchiha clansmen dressed in fan-emblem clan uniforms mingled together with merchants from various nations, creating a lively atmosphere.
At dusk, cooking smoke rose gently into the air. Children chased and played through the streets and alleys, young people trained at the Training Ground drenched in sweat, while the elderly drank tea and chatted beneath the corridors.
This land had finally begun to resemble a true home.
The Uchiha clan's Family Panel was now:
[Clan: Uchiha]
⟩ Prosperity: A-rank (Flourishing)
⟩ Members: 5278
⟩ Shinobi: 2791
⟩ Buildings: Clan Ancestral Hall, Indulgence Apartments, Desire Hot Springs, Awakening Chamber, Mission Hall, Ninja Academy, Training Ground
...
Today was a special day.
After ten months of pregnancy, Kushina was finally about to give birth.
Before dawn had even broken, Gento was awake.
He sat up, draped an outer robe over himself, and walked out beneath the corridor.
"Clan Head."
Shisui's voice came from the shadows. He had already been standing guard here for the entire night.
"Everything arranged?"
"Everything is arranged."
Shisui nodded.
"Director Fugaku is stationed on the eastern side of the palace, while Itachi is on the western side."
"The Anbu have established four layers of security lines around the village perimeter. Any unusual movement will be reported immediately."
He paused briefly before adding:
"In addition, every Jonin in the clan has remained on standby within the clan district today. No external missions were assigned."
Gento nodded.
Four Susanoo.
Fugaku, Shisui, Itachi, and himself.
As long as Obito dared to come, the four Susanoo could surround him in an instant.
On top of that, Itachi's and Shisui's genjutsu countered Kamui.
Whether it was Tsukuyomi or Kotoamatsukami, either one alone would be enough to make him suffer badly.
If he dared to come…
Hmph, he would make sure Obito never returned alive!
For Kushina's childbirth this time, he intended to guarantee absolute safety!
"Tell everyone to stay alert."
"Everyone's worked hard today."
"Yes!"
Shisui's figure disappeared into the morning light.
...
Kushina's delivery room had been set up within the deepest side hall of the palace.
It was quiet and secluded, far removed from any noise.
Several of the most experienced female Medical Ninja were already in place.
Delivery tools, medical supplies, emergency medicines; everything necessary had been fully prepared.
Outside the delivery room, Gento felt tense.
Kushina's intermittent cries drifted out from within.
Kurenai's face looked somewhat pale as she tightly held Pakura's hand.
For once, Anko was not eating dango. She stood in the corner, occasionally glancing toward the delivery room.
Even the usually lively Naruto sat obediently to the side, not daring to make a sound.
Time passed second by second.
The sun rose from the ocean horizon and gradually climbed to its highest point.
"Waaah!"
A loud infant cry suddenly rang out from inside the delivery room, breaking the long wait.
Gento abruptly straightened and subconsciously rushed toward the room, only to be stopped by a Medical Ninja who had just come out.
"My lord, the madam is fine, and the child is also healthy. Please wait a moment."
Before she could finish speaking, Gento had gone around her and pushed open the door.
Kushina lay upon the tatami.
Her full head of red hair was soaked with sweat, and her face was pale as paper.
In her arms rested a small swaddled infant, while a satisfied smile hung at the corner of her lips.
Gento quickly walked to her side, knelt down, and tightly grasped her hand.
"Kushina, how are you?"
He looked at her first.
After confirming that her breathing was stable and that there were no signs of chakra disorder within her body, he finally relaxed a bit.
Seeing how nervous he looked, Kushina could not help smiling.
"I'm fine…"
"And… the baby is healthy too…"
Only then did Gento let out a breath of relief and lower his gaze toward the swaddled infant in her arms.
A tiny baby lay within.
Its wrinkled little face was topped with a tuft of light red fuzz.
"It's a boy."
Kushina said softly.
Gento carefully took the child into his arms, cradling him gently.
The instant he accepted the baby, the system notification sounded within his mind:
[Ding! Congratulations, Host, on successfully having your first child!]
[Distributing rewards…]
Please select one of the following randomly generated system traits as a talent bonus for your child:
⟩ Taijutsu Genius: Naturally possesses physical abilities and athletic reflexes far beyond ordinary people. Learns taijutsu with twice the results for half the effort, with strength, speed, and reaction all greatly surpassing normal individuals.
⟩ Unshakable Under Pressure: Naturally possesses extremely powerful mental fortitude. Capable of remaining calm and thinking clearly under any dangerous situation, unaffected by emotions.
⟩ Love-Brained: Naturally sensitive and obsessive toward emotions and relationships, easily allowing feelings to affect judgment and actions. May become powerful because of love, or fall because of love.
⟩ Great Inventor: Possesses extraordinary creativity and an acute sensitivity toward chakra, allowing the effortless improvement or creation of new ninjutsu.
⟩ Natural Sage: Possesses an extremely high affinity with natural energy. After the age of twelve, can enter Sage Mode without training, and the duration and power of Sage Mode will far exceed ordinary people. Upon reaching adulthood, will automatically master Perfect Sage Mode.
Looking at these five options, Gento's heartbeat accelerated.
Before he could make a choice, the system notification sounded once more:
[Ding! Detected that the child was born from the union of the Uchiha clan and the Uzumaki clan. Bloodline fusion has triggered an additional reward!]
[Additional selectable trait added: Six Paths Body]
⟩ Six Paths Body: Yin and Yang Release within the child's body are perfectly balanced, granting innate mastery over Yin-Yang Release techniques. Upon reaching the age of eighteen, the Rinnegan will automatically awaken.
[Note: Talent trait selection does not affect the child's inheritance of the parents' Kekkei Genkai.]
...
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