"Scared?"
Kei Yamanaka dispelled his Susanoo, fueled by his own spiritual energy, then ruffled Kushina's hair playfully and explained.
"I just had a bit of an epiphany. It's probably similar to how I was able to copy genjutsu like Tsukuyomi before. Right now, I should be able to mimic most Kekkei Genkai abilities."
"Oh~"
Kushina studied Kei Yamanaka's eyes for several seconds before slowly nodding her head.
Though she still couldn't figure out how ordinary eyes could activate Susanoo, if it was her boyfriend, maybe it wasn't so surprising after all?
After all, he was currently the strongest ninja in the world, standing on equal footing with the Sage of Six Paths.
Having some special powers—wasn't that perfectly normal?
Besides, no matter how powerful he became, he was still her boyfriend.
Hehehe!
"Just wait for me a moment while I think through what I just realized."
Kei Yamanaka pulled Kushina into his arms, letting her rest her head on his lap for a nap, then resumed studying other abilities.
Starting from the simplest—the Byakugan.
He recalled Hiashi Hyūga, Hizashi Hyūga, and others using Byakugan, as well as the chakra pathways within the ocular meridians when they activated their dōjutsu.
He channeled a thin thread of spiritual energy, imitating the chakra nature unique to the Hyūga clan.
Slowly, the energy began flowing along the delicate eye meridians.
Carefully adjusting the intensity of his spiritual energy.
It took a full hour of effort before Kei's eyes gradually emitted a brilliant white glow. His vision transformed completely.
Everything around him started turning translucent.
Traces of chakra flow became visible to him.
"It seems each Hyūga clan member's ocular meridians have slight variations... Could it be related to their ability levels? Are stronger Byakugan associated with more meridians and increased chakra flow? Then the Tenseigan likely has even more meridians and alters the nature of the energy..."
Kei continued theorizing internally.
His 'Byakugan' could already detect detailed chakra flows from ten kilometers away once activated.
This level of visual acuity surpassed that of Hiashi Hyūga and Hizashi Hyūga.
If he wanted to improve further, he'd need to return and observe other Hyūga members' ocular meridian flows when using Byakugan.
Putting further study of the Byakugan on hold for now,
Kei kept his 'Byakugan' active as he turned his palm outward, retrieving the three-comma Sharingan from the Boundless Realm's storage space.
With his 'Byakugan,' he began examining the countless tiny meridians within the eye.
He mimicked the chakra signature of the eye, composed of intense Yin Release properties interwoven with unique mental energy via spiritual power.
In just over ten minutes,
A streak of crimson light flickered in Kei's pupils. His vision sharpened dramatically, and his dynamic visual acuity surged!
The crimson glow pulsed intensely under the influence of pure Yin Release energy.
Gradually forming within it were three teardrop-shaped patterns composed entirely of highly concentrated Yin Release chakra—
But distinct from the Uchiha Clan's three-comma Sharingan.
Kei Yamanaka's eyes appeared transformed—not through bloodline change, but through technique alone—resembling advanced contact lenses.
He spent a significant amount of time experimenting with the three-tomoe Sharingan eyes.
Yet he couldn't find a way to transform them into Mangekyō.
Kei Yamanaka turned his gaze toward Fugaku Uchiha upstairs. His pupils flickered and shifted once more—this time into the "Byakugan."
"Man… I've never been this serious in all three years of high school!"
He muttered under his breath.
Carefully, Kei began observing the neural connections between Fugaku's eyes and his brain.
——————
Two days flew by in the blink of an eye.
After endless arguments and mutual compromises,
The detailed arrangements for merging the villages had largely been settled, with most department heads already appointed.
As for the remaining details…
Kitsuchi, A, and Pakura all understood—Kei Yamanaka and Tsunade wanted to wait until they'd taken down Kirigakure together, pulling it into their alliance, before beginning any division of spoils!
And now, their mission was to unite the forces of four hidden villages and mount an immediate assault on Kirigakure!
However…
"Hokage, do we really need to mobilize our full strength just for one Mist Village?"
Raikage asked Tsunade, puzzled.
His Cloud Village had been fighting Kirigakure for a while, and though he knew the enemy hadn't revealed their full power yet, Kumogakure itself had held back too.
In his opinion, four ninja villages deploying around three thousand elite shinobi apiece should have been more than sufficient to overwhelm Kirigakure.
But now the Hokage was telling him to gather all available forces?
"I'll explain things to everyone."
Kei climbed onto the rooftop, standing before the five seated Kages.
Upon seeing him, the Third Raikage involuntarily grimaced, using his rough palm to rub his face hard, trying to steady himself.
Sitting beside him, Tsunade and Pakura caught sight of Raikage's expression.
Remembering what had happened two nights ago, the corners of their mouths twitched upward slightly.
Two evenings prior, after finishing another day of negotiations,
Despite still recovering from war wounds, Raikage requested a sparring match with Kei Yamanaka.
Then—
Without using any powerful jutsu at all, Kei casually created a wooden rod roughly the thickness of a rolling pin.
Within three seconds,
That towering, muscular man—Second Raikage—was yelling, "Great-grandma is coming to get me!"
All in all, the fight didn't even last a minute, yet the next morning, Raikage still seemed dazed!
Thinking back to that moment, both women burst out laughing again.
And ever since that night, whether because of his defeat or not, Raikage's fiery temper had noticeably cooled.
The number of times he slammed tables or glared angrily had sharply declined!
"A thousand years ago, two members of the Otsutsuki Clan—Isshiki Otsutsuki and Kaguya Otsutsuki—arrived on our planet…"
Kei began explaining in detail the origins of chakra and the ancient history of the ninja world.
He revealed everything—from Kaguya Otsutsuki and Isshiki Otsutsuki, to Hagoromo Otsutsuki, Hamura Otsutsuki, the God Tree, White Zetsu, Ashura, and Indra.
Right now, he truly had the capability to sever the God Tree completely, just as in canon, and wipe out a hundred thousand White Zetsu instantly.
But that required first fusing all nine tailed beasts into one to regenerate the Ten-Tails!
Only then could the Ten-Tails revert to the God Tree form and reestablish its connection with all the White Zetsu.
He wasn't particularly concerned if Kaguya Otsutsuki appeared.
In fact, if she did appear, it would give him an ideal chance to study firsthand how techniques like [Yomi Teleportation] and [All-Killing Ash Bones] worked!
The real issue was that the appearance of the God Tree could mean more than just Kaguya showing up.
In canon, why hadn't any other members of the Otsutsuki Clan come to Earth after Kaguya was sealed away and the Ten-Tails was split into the nine beasts? Why had they started appearing again after the Fourth Great Ninja War?
There must be some kind of link between these events.
What if, in the future, the Otsutsuki Clan decided to descend upon the ninja world while he wasn't around? He wasn't sure if Kushina and Tsunade could handle them...
"A racial war, huh?"
Hikuta took a deep breath, wearing an unusually grim expression.
"Is Kirigakure working together with the Otsutsuki Clan... or something even worse?"
The Third Raikage also frowned deeply.
An alien race enslaving and controlling the native species—such news was simply too shocking to process.
Kei Yamanaka formed hand seals and expanded a barrier using his spiritual power, enclosing everyone within it before speaking again.
"The Mizukage is on our side, but the Otsutsuki are not. White Zetsu can be controlled and commanded by any Otsutsuki; it's genetically encoded into their being..."
Kei chose not to delve into the Mizukage's current situation, instead returning to talk about the White Zetsu.
If left unchecked, they would only become a problem later.
Better to eliminate them all now, while Hikaku Uchiha still barely retained authority over them through the permissions given by Black Zetsu.
Even if some test subjects needed to be kept, fewer were better.
Eradicating all the White Zetsu would leave only the physical body of the Ten-Tails within the Boundless Realm.
That would greatly reduce the chances of Otsutsuki Clan members setting foot on this fragile little world.
But there was an even more important reason.
Kei wanted to observe how the Sage of Six Paths would respond when the souls of a hundred thousand White Zetsu and many Mist shinobi entered the Pure Land.
Of course, he hadn't shared this last thought with the Kages and others.
After all, even now, Kei still hadn't deciphered Hagoromo Otsutsuki's true intentions.
The very man who pioneered ninjutsu and dispersed chakra across the world—if his sole goal had been gathering chakra, why fragment the Ten-Tails into nine distinct beasts?
Yet if collecting chakra wasn't his objective, then why interfere with the function of the Pure Land?
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