Inside the room, a soft pale blue glow gradually illuminated the space.
Tsunade was leaning beside the bed, her hands pressed against a young girl's chest, using the Mystical Palm Technique to heal her. The girl was unconscious, her expression pained, sweat beading on her forehead.
As time passed, the furrowed brows on the girl's face slowly relaxed. Her previously pale complexion regained its rosy hue, and her breathing steadied.
Then Tsunade used the same method to treat the other children in the room one after another.
During this time,
Whoosh~
Heiyan glanced at the red-haired little girl, retracted the Celestial Binding Chain wrapped around her, and walked toward Tsunade to assist.
The little girl didn't try to escape or scream—she'd already figured out that these two didn't seem like bad people.
"How are things going?" Heiyan approached Tsunade, helping as he asked.
"Fortunately, these children weren't affected by meteorite energy for very long. After treatment, they just need rest and will recover completely," Tsunade replied happily. She had always been compassionate and kind-hearted at her core.
"Um…thank you…both of you…" The red-haired little girl timidly stepped forward, softly murmured, and bowed deeply at a ninety-degree angle to them.
"Come over here." Tsunade took her hand, leading the girl to lie down on the bed before treating her too.
"Promise me you won't use Kujaku again. You can't control that power yet; if you keep it up, you'll eventually die. Understand?"
After finishing treatment, Tsunade warned the little girl.
"Mm." The girl hesitated slightly before finally nodding.
"What's your name?" Heiyan suddenly asked.
"I'm…Summer." The girl answered honestly.
Oh?
Upon hearing this name, Heiyan immediately remembered something.
In the original storyline, Summer was a Jonin from Hoshigakure—a rare genius who appeared once every hundred years, having mastered Kujaku to perfection.
Thinking about this, Heiyan reached out and ruffled Summer's hair gently as he spoke:
"We're leaving now. Take good care of your friends while we're gone."
Saying this, he exchanged glances with Tsunade. With Summer watching them carefully, they both turned and walked out of the room.
Once outside the meteorite crater,
Zoooom!
Heiyan scooped Tsunade into his arms again, flapping his wings to shoot skyward. At the same time, many Scale Powder particles sprayed forth from his living armor's joints, concealing their figures within the mist.
This living armor, created from Seven-Tails, possessed the dual capabilities of flight and invisibility—it was extremely suitable for stealth operations and reconnaissance.
[Byakugan, activate!]
His symbiotic Byakugan eye opened from his forehead, scanning the surface below from midair, extending his search radius step by step.
They made a full circle above Hoshigakure village.
Found it.
Heiyan narrowed his eyes. Twenty kilometers northeast of the village, out of sight from the villagers, he discovered a hidden cave entrance.
Within Heiyan's Byakugan vision, an incredibly powerful energy fluctuation emanated from deep inside the cave. Even compared to the Longmai, it was barely less powerful.
Clearly, this was Hoshigakure's village treasure—the "Star" [a mysterious meteorite revered by Hoshigakure].
Heiyan and Tsunade gently landed in front of the cave entrance before rushing straight inside.
Inside the dim cave, the Star emitted a faint purple glow. Dozens of rogue ninja from Hoshigakure formed a circle around it, sitting cross-legged in meditation as they cultivated Kujaku with the Star's energy.
The leader of these rogues was Chihuo—known here as Akka. He did not train alongside his subordinates, instead pacing back and forth while supervising their cultivation and preaching:
"Put all your effort into absorbing the Star's power! As long as Hoshigakure produces five more experts like me, together we will be strong enough to sweep across the Five Great Ninja Villages and dominate the entire world of shinobi! At that time, each one of you will have the opportunity to rule a major ninja village and bear the title of Kage."
Under his incitement, everyone became excited, fully believing in Akka's ambitious words.
"I suggest you stop dreaming."
Just then, a voice filled with subtle mockery and tinged with pity echoed from outside the cave.
"Who's there?!"
Akka and others suddenly snapped out of it, immediately halting their training and turning their gazes toward the cave entrance.
In the midst of these wary eyes, Heiyan and Tsunade, clad in living armors resembling the Seven-Tails and Six-Tails respectively, slowly emerged from the darkness and stood before the group.
Heiyan took in the sight of these pitiful fools.
Ninja from small, remote villages rarely saw the wider world; once they gained even a fragment of true power, they easily became inflated with arrogance, filled with conceit and ignorance.
Akka also examined the unexpected visitors before him. With no patience for unnecessary words, he narrowed his eyes and barked an order to his men:
"Attack. Kill them!"
As soon as he spoke, this group of rogue ninja from Hoshigakure surged forward, launching a fierce assault on the two newcomers.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
As they rapidly formed hand seals, tangible purple chakra burst forth from their bodies, forming peacock-feather-shaped tails behind their backs.
This was Hoshigakure's secret technique—Kujaku [Hoshigakure's secret technique that channels Star energy into peacock-shaped chakra tails].
This jutsu combined the energy drawn from the Star with the user's own chakra, creating behind them a tail shaped like a peacock's feathers, pushing chakra activity to its peak.
However, to Heiyan's Byakugan, those so-called peacock tails bore a striking resemblance to… the ten tails of the Ten-Tails.
Seeing Kujaku firsthand solidified his belief—the Star must be connected to the Ten-Tails somehow.
"Roar!"
Right then, the enemy's attack charged directly toward them—beasts of chakra, shaped like dragons or tigers, dazzlingly magnificent and exuding overwhelming aura.
However—
Pah!
Tsunade clapped her hands together, then suddenly opened her mouth wide and spat forward. A massive wave of acid belonging to the Six-Tails' Boil Release flew out like a flood breaking through a dam, surging ahead.
The Six-Tails' Boil Release itself was already immensely powerful. Under the enhancement of Tsunade's Sage Transformation, its destructive power more than doubled, surpassing that of ordinary Kekkei Genkai ninjutsu.
Hiss… hiss…
The colliding ninjutsu met midair, but the outcome was never in doubt. One after another, those chakra-summoned beasts were destroyed.
"Aaaargh!"
Amid screams of agony, the group of Rogue Ninja from Hoshigakure was engulfed by Chihuo's acid, almost entirely wiped out.
The only survivor was their leader, Chihuo.
Not good.
After witnessing Tsunade's overwhelming power, Chihuo was shocked. Without hesitation, he grabbed Star and fled through a side passage of the cave.
Heiyan and Tsunade naturally had no intention of letting him escape, giving chase immediately.
During the pursuit:
Glancing back, Chihuo saw that the two refused to give up. Realizing escape was impossible, and with no other options left, he gritted his teeth and made a desperate decision.
With a fierce expression, he suddenly pressed Star against his chest. Instantly, Star emitted brilliant light and began visibly merging into Chihuo's body, injecting massive amounts of energy into him.
Whoosh!
Chihuo exited the cave and arrived at an open field, where he abruptly stopped running.
His gamble had paid off.
The wild energy within "Star" did not kill Chihuo; instead, it fused completely with his being, instantly granting him immense power.
At this moment, Chihuo felt stronger than ever before—unrivaled in the shinobi world.
"Hahahaha! Die!"
Cackling wildly, he unleashed [Kujaku], manifesting a colossal dragon over ten meters long, which surged toward Heiyan and Tsunade as they emerged from the cave.
But the next second, his laughter died in his throat.
Zzzzzip!
From Heiyan's hand shot forth the Celestial Binding Chain—a crimson chakra chain glowing red as it mercilessly seized the incoming dragon and sealed it on the spot.
Then, the binding chain extended from the dragon's body straight toward Chihuo, tightly wrapping his entire form.
Chihuo was still just an ordinary man. Even though he sacrificed his flesh and forcibly fused with Star, he could barely utilize one percent of its true power.
Though his strength multiplied several times over, before Heiyan, he remained nothing more than a worthless ant.
Whoosh!
With a single yank of the Celestial Binding Chain, Heiyan pulled. The "Star" embedded in Chihuo's chest flew out, soaring dozens of meters through the air before finally landing in Heiyan's palm.
Bang!
Chihuo collapsed with a look of unwillingness, shock, and despair etched onto his face—he was dead.
Thus, everything went smoothly.
After arriving at Hoshigakure, Heiyan and Tsunade first healed the children who had fallen ill due to practicing [Kujaku]. Then they eliminated the group of rogue ninja led by Chihuo, successfully retrieving "Star".
"There are people coming."
Suddenly, Heiyan turned his gaze toward the distant woods, sensing dozens of chakra signatures. It seemed the disturbance from the battle had attracted attention from the Star Village.
"We should leave."
Tsunade said, and this time, she didn't wait for Heiyan to act. Naturally, she stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his neck. However, out of shyness, she turned her head away, avoiding his gaze.
Smiling gently, Heiyan effortlessly scooped her up into his arms, unfurled his wings, and soared into the sky, swiftly departing the scene.
A few minutes later.
The Third Star Shadow, accompanied by ninja from Hoshigakure, hurried over in haste.
They quickly discovered the corpses of Chihuo and the other rogue ninja, but also realized the Star Meteorite was gone.
"Was it those two mysterious ninja?" the Third Star Shadow murmured. From Summer, he already knew that two armored ninja had infiltrated Hoshigakure, seemingly targeting the Star Meteorite.
Suddenly, he thought that maybe this outcome wasn't so bad after all.
Living over a hundred years, the Third had long recognized the drawbacks of [Kujaku's Method]. After prolonged hesitation, he'd wanted to ban this practice within the village, but as Star Shadow, he never found the resolve.
Now though, he could issue an order abolishing this cultivation method with complete justification, since the Star Meteorite was already missing.
"Star Shadow-sama, you must come see this quickly!"
Just then, one ninja ran over with obvious excitement, bringing good news to the Third. It turned out they had discovered a large hoard of gold near the battlefield site—rough estimation valued it at several tens of millions.
Clearly, these golden treasures were left behind by those two mysterious ninja, indicating they had purchased the meteorite from Hoshigakure.
That was actually quite generous.
Thinking thus, the Third ordered his subordinates to transport the hoard back to the village. As for tracking the meteorite's whereabouts, there was no need to pursue further.
Dozens of kilometers away, deep within a secluded woodland area,
Tsunade removed her Six-Tails armor and tried returning it to Heiyan, but he insisted she keep it for herself.
After all, half of the 100 million ryō Heiyan previously used to purchase the Dragon Vein of Louran came from Tsunade's mission rewards. Now the gold left behind at Hoshigakure was also Tsunade's contribution.
Heiyan couldn't possibly keep living off Tsunade's money forever.
"Besides, you actually look pretty wearing that armor," Heiyan sincerely complimented.
"Really?"
Tsunade blushed at his words and then caught a funny look in Heiyan's eyes.
Figuring out what he meant, she shot him an annoyed look, playfully protesting, "You, when did you turn into such a smooth-talker?"
Still scolding him a bit afterward, she accepted the Six-Tails armor anyway, giving him face. Because Tsunade realized how useful the Six-Tails armor could be for undercover missions.
Next, Heiyan retrieved [the Star Meteorite].
This violet meteorite surface was riddled with numerous pores, constantly emitting energy from within.
Heiyan extended his hand close to the meteorite, attempting to resonate using his own chakra.
Perhaps due to his Sage Transformation, he barely exerted effort and succeeded effortlessly on the first try.
Hiss... hiss...
A tide-like influx of energy surged into Heiyan's body. The next moment, he seemed to hear the Ten-Tails roaring—a domineering force rampaging internally, tearing meridians and impacting acupoints.
No wonder ordinary people can't handle such violent energy.
However, Heiyan's Sage Transformation proved effective. It quickly adapted to the shock, suppressing the rampaging energy inside him, calming it and transforming it from utter chaos into perfect order.
Tsunade followed Heiyan's method and successfully underwent the same process. She absorbed the Star Meteorite's energy without experiencing any side effects.
This proved that Heiyan's guess had indeed been correct.
This meteorite served as a great enhancement to both of their Sage Transformations.
"This isn't a good place. Let's go to Shikkotsu Forest."
Heiyan made a suggestion to Tsunade.
Thus, the two were once again in close physical proximity. Heiyan wrapped one arm around Tsunade's slender waist while calmly performing the Reverse Summoning with his other hand, transporting both of them to Shikkotsu Forest's island.
They arrived at the edge of the crater lake.
"What is this?"
Tsunade was quite startled, staring in astonishment at the surface of the lake water, where a massive creature was floating.
It was Samehada.
Samehada, unseen only days ago, had grown rapidly and now took up nearly half the crater lake.
Its front half still resembled that of a fish—like a bulldog whale—while its rear had transformed into a long dragon tail. Additionally, two massive fins extended from either side of its body.
Seeing Samehada's current form suddenly reminded Heiyan of a certain creature buried deep within his memories.
[There is a fish in the northern ocean named Kun.] Heiyan recalled an ancient saying.
In Heiyan's opinion, the evolved Samehada looked exactly like the mythical Kun from legends. Perhaps from now on, "Samekun" would suit it better than Samehada.
Just at this moment—
Wooosh—wooosh—wooosh!
Samehada suddenly opened its huge mouth, unleashing a powerful suction force like a hurricane, attempting to swallow both Heiyan and Tsunade into its belly.
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