"This breathing technique is amazing! I can feel it—I'm digesting and absorbing the Sea King meat much more efficiently!"
Having completed her first round of Longevity Breathing, Mikoto was astonished.
She could feel tangible changes in her body: her constitution, vitality, and even chakra had all improved slightly.
With this kind of progress, she couldn't imagine just how powerful she might become—or how fast.
And it was all thanks to Genkei.
Thinking of that, Mikoto looked at him with sparkling eyes full of gratitude. "Thank you, Genkei!"
"No worries."
Genkei smiled and waved his hand dismissively. "You earned it. Without your goodwill toward me, I couldn't have contracted with you in the first place."
Hearing that—combined with the sight of Genkei's increasingly handsome face—Mikoto's cheeks flushed red.
She glanced away, clearly flustered. "Don't get the wrong idea about that goodwill. We're family, aren't we?"
"Oh?"
Genkei smirked, clearly enjoying her reaction. "Wrong idea? Like I might think you're in love with me?"
"G-Genkei!!!"
Mikoto immediately blew up. Stomping her foot and red as a beet, she shot him an angry glare before dashing out of the training hall—and straight out of Kureha's cottage.
Once outside, she was immediately captivated by the snowy landscape.
Genkei strolled out casually behind her. Seeing her shivering slightly, he silently reached into the Dimensional Gate and pulled out a thick, fur-lined cloak, draping it gently over her shoulders.
Then he stood beside her, gazing at the snowy expanse in the distance.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" he said softly. "Konoha doesn't really get snow like this, huh?"
"No, not really," Mikoto said, rubbing her hands together and breathing warm air into them.
"Konoha's pretty mild, even in winter. Just a light snowfall, and it melts quickly."
"But wait… Konoha is in summer right now. And it's winter here?"
"So the seasons in the two worlds aren't synced?"
"Not exactly," Genkei chuckled. "It's even weirder than that. We're on Drum Island right now—one of the 'Winter Islands.'"
"That means it's always winter here. All year round. No spring, no summer, no fall. Just snow, all the time."
"Wait—seriously? That's a thing?"
Mikoto blinked in surprise. "A place with eternal winter sounds… kind of boring. And cold."
"Is the rest of this world like that too?"
Today had been full of surprises for her.
She'd just come over for a simple dinner—and ended up discovering another world, meeting a top-tier doctor, and starting a whole new training regimen. No wonder Genkei and Aunt Chiri had been so busy lately.
She still couldn't wrap her head around how Genkei had awakened such an absurd power.
"Didn't I include all of this in the info from the contract?" Genkei said, raising an eyebrow. "Looks like you didn't read it all, huh?"
"Eh? Did you?"
Mikoto looked startled. "Lemme check again—"
She paused to sort through the massive influx of information that had come with the contract sigil.
A moment later, she blinked and stuck her tongue out sheepishly. "Oops. My bad. It was in there."
"There was just so much! I haven't had time to fully digest it yet!"
"But it's incredible... I didn't realize there were Winter, Spring, Summer, and Autumn Islands… not to mention Thunder Islands, Sky Islands, the Calm Belt, the Red Line… so many amazing places!"
"This world is so much bigger than the ninja world!"
Honestly, just four or five Alabasta Kingdoms would probably cover all the landmass in the Hidden Leaf's world.
And the total landmass of the pirate world? Easily hundreds of Alabastas—if not more. That's not even counting the vast seas.
"More or less," Genkei nodded.
"The shinobi world used to be bigger too. At least the livable parts were."
"But that changed with the arrival of the Divine Tree."
"The Divine Tree? What's that?" Mikoto asked, tilting her head.
"Nothing you need to worry about right now," Genkei said, shaking his head. "When the time is right, I'll tell you."
Mikoto looked disappointed but didn't push the issue. She simply tucked the name away in her mind for later.
"Let's head back inside. It's too cold here. Don't want to catch a cold."
Genkei turned and gestured toward the house.
They went back into the training hall, and Genkei resumed coaching her on the Longevity Breathing technique.
Meanwhile, he continued with his own post-meal cultivation.
Right now, he divided his daily training into three sessions—one after each meal—to maximize efficiency.
In the Days That Followed…
Mikoto began using shadow clones to attend school, keeping her true body in the pirate world to train with Genkei.
Her strength and stamina began growing at a visible pace.
She was improving so quickly, she found herself looking forward to training every day.
Naturally, her feelings toward Genkei only deepened.
Her goodwill quickly shot past 90—steadily climbing toward the max value of 100.
Back in the Ninja World, in Konoha…
After finalizing the Uchiha clan's reform plan with Genkei, Chiri wasted no time.
She called for a full clan meeting.
Using her own name—since Genkei was still too young—she presented the new plan.
Because if she had said it came from an eight-year-old? Nobody would've taken it seriously.
That's just how people were.
Once she explained the reforms, Chiri swept her sharp gaze across the gathered crowd.
"Anyone with objections, speak now," she said coolly.
"But if you stay quiet and then start causing trouble after everything's been decided—don't blame me for turning hostile."
As she spoke, her presence suddenly flared outward—immense and oppressive.
Her left eye snapped open—revealing the swirling red pattern of the Mangekyō Sharingan.
WHOOOM—
A terrifying surge of chakra and ocular power swept over the room.
Everyone present felt their knees buckle under the weight.
Their Sharingans—even fully matured ones—were forced shut, overwhelmed by her sheer presence.
"Hisss!!"
The elders gasped in shock, especially the older generation.
"Lady Chiri... Your body—has it recovered? Your vision too?"
Third Elder's voice trembled as he stared at her in disbelief.
Everyone else was equally stunned.
No one had ever heard of someone restoring Mangekyō power—let alone recovering from the gradual blindness that inevitably came with it.
They'd all assumed her prime had passed.
They were dead wrong.
They didn't understand the true cause of Mangekyō degradation.
Each time the eye's power was used, it damaged the optic nerve and the surrounding chakra pathways.
This constant strain lowered the eye's capacity over time—reducing how much chakra could be channeled into it.
Eventually, blindness would set in—not because of lost energy, but because the body simply couldn't handle the strain anymore.
What they didn't know… was that Chiri had already found a way to counteract that degeneration.