Chapter 188: The New Nine-Tails Rampage Plan, and the Fifth Kazekage's Letter
"I told you everything would be fine," Genichi smiled, speaking into Ina's ear.
"Yes, Lord Genichi," she nodded softly.
Genichi lowered his head, lightly inhaling the unique, fresh scent from her neck. Ina straightened up, wrapped her hands around his head, her cheeks slightly red. She closed her eyes, her eyelids fluttering.
Genichi turned and entered the bedroom…
(Ten thousand words omitted here.)
Half an hour later, Genichi got up and wiped his face. After pulling the covers up, he went to the bathroom to wash. When he came out, he saw Ina, face red, ducking her head as she slipped into the bathroom.
Smiling, Genichi changed his clothes, left a note, and vanished from the living room.
Under the night sky, on a certain deserted island.
Genichi suddenly appeared. This was the benefit of leaving markers everywhere; finding a place to test jutsu wasn't a hassle.
"Now, let's see the third divine power of the Mangekyō…"
Genichi clapped his hands together. The diamond-shaped mark of the Yin Seal on his forehead split open, and the Mangekyō Sharingan opened. In the darkness, the crimson light was almost bewitching.
The next moment, an immense amount of chakra erupted. Genichi's robes whipped about, his black hair flew upwards, and his entire body was enveloped in an ice-blue chakra.
Crack! Crackle!
Behind him, the ice-blue chakra condensed into a spine, and then, one by one, ribs connected to it. The condensation was slow, but it was steadily extending.
When the entire skeleton was complete, Genichi opened his eyes and let out a long breath. Recreating it for the first time was indeed a bit difficult. He turned to look at the skeletal frame, which didn't even have a head, arms, or legs, but he nodded with satisfaction.
At least it wasn't impossible to recreate after having mirrored it. Of course, this was because he himself had awakened the Mangekyō. The condensation of the Susanoo relied not on one's own chakra control, but on the Mangekyō's dōjutsu power acting as a sort of "master computer." With only a single Mangekyō, especially one that didn't have the Susanoo innately dwelling within it, it was even more difficult. This wasn't just a question of having enough chakra.
"Next, I just need to grind it out slowly. It's also a good opportunity to hone my dōjutsu control and see if this body of mine can withstand prolonged use of the Mangekyō," he mused.
His current physical constitution, in terms of cell activity and life force, was already no less than that of a White Zetsu. No, it should be said it was no less than a Zetsu that had been modified by Madara. And his constitution could continue to grow. Especially since he had sealed half of the Nine-Tails within him, his body was now receiving a continuous stream of the Nine-Tails' power leaking from the seal. Combined with the long-term cell activation from the Art of Pyo, the effect was far greater than the power of the other Tailed Beasts. This was one of the reasons he had sealed the Nine-Tails inside himself.
His current physical transformation relied mainly on Tailed Beast chakra, the Art of Pyo, Kekkei Genkai adaptation, and his 'cheat'. The 'cheat' was the core; the other three aspects provided the power for the rapid transformation during his growth period. And the energy required to maintain the Art of Pyo also relied on Tailed Beast power—initially the Eight-Tails, now mainly the Nine-Tails, because its life force was powerful and the effect was astonishing.
A few more "cheats," and reaching Hashirama's level was, he felt, just around the corner.
"I have another training project in the future. I really can't stop."
Leaving a shadow clone behind to continue practicing the Susanoo's condensation, Genichi teleported back to Konoha. He had to say, the Shadow Clone Technique was truly a great ninjutsu. Praise be to the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju!
Back home, he didn't hole up in the lab. He had just finished a big fight and needed to relax. So he grabbed Ina, called Shizune and Tsunade, and went out to eat. They ate here, they ate there, eating their way down an entire street until their stomachs were round.
Finally, Tsunade dragged them into an izakaya. The Fourth Hokage's drinking addiction was acting up again.
"You two brats aren't adults yet, you can't drink. Ina, come have a few with me." Tsunade looked at the hand-holding Genichi and Shizune with displeasure and pulled Ina over to drink with her.
"I'm not very good at it," Ina said quickly. "I can only drink a little."
"It's fine," Tsunade waved her hand. "We're going to bed soon anyway."
Ina had no choice but to agree. In truth, she didn't want to drink because she was afraid of getting drunk, which would prevent her from sneaking over to Lord Genichi's place to sleep. However, it was clear she had underestimated her alcohol tolerance. Tsunade was already tipsy, but Ina's face wasn't even red.
Shizune stared wide-eyed.
"I… I've never really drunk before," Ina said sheepishly.
Seeing the increasingly hazy look in Tsunade's eyes, Genichi stood up. "Let's go. Time to take our Hokage home."
"I want to drink more! Ina, another round!" Tsunade shouted.
"Her skills are weak but her addiction is strong," he muttered.
"Genichi, you bastard! I'm not drunk! I heard that!" Tsunade yelled.
Shizune and Ina covered their mouths, trying not to laugh.
Genichi directly knocked her out with a genjutsu, then had Shizune help him get her onto his back.
She's really stacked, he muttered to himself, carrying her out of the izakaya.
He took Tsunade home, and Shizune stayed behind to take care of her. He then took Ina home. Sure enough, after he dispelled his clones and sorted their memories, he had just turned off the light and laid down when Ina snuck in again. She was basically a thief plugging her own ears.
Genichi smiled to himself, holding the girl who was draped over him like a kitten. The two of them whispered to each other and, without realizing it, fell asleep.
That night, he dreamed he was dominating a battlefield, spear in hand. When he opened his eyes, he indeed saw his "Gen-two" standing at full attention. Youth was a wonderful thing.
Ina also opened her eyes, peeked over, and whispered, "Lord Genichi, you're so bad." With that, she got up and ran.
"In a few years, I'll show you what 'bad' really is," Genichi huffed. He lay there, thinking about his future plans.
His experiments with sage transformation and Magnet Release couldn't stop; they were progressing well. But this had to be done by his main body, as his clones couldn't use the Primordial Spirit Technique or the Spirit Transformation Technique. That meant his clones had a heavy workload. The development of the Dust Release Kekkei Tōta was good, since it wasn't starting from scratch. Then there was genjutsu development. The awakening of his Mangekyō had led to great progress in his Yin Release. The "Brain in a Vat" also had to be pushed to completion. He had to keep digging into this direction of controlling the five senses. And, of course, the development of the Susanoo, the Wood Release Kekkei Tōta, and the many Kekkei Genkai abilities hidden within the Tailed Beast chakra.
"The future is going to be very full," Genichi got out of bed, washed up, and then went out with Ina for physical training. This was an indispensable step in tapping his own potential. He had to persist, day after day. Many failures in life were simply because one gave up.
"Hey, Genichi!" Not long after leaving the house, a familiar voice rang out.
He turned and saw Might Guy walking toward him on his hands, waving with his other hand.
"Guy!" Genichi smiled, walked over, and also flipped into a handstand.
Guy, who was about to finish, immediately flashed a bright white smile, inviting him with passionate intensity. "Genichi, I haven't seen you in a long time! Since that's the case, let's have a youthful duel! You're an even tougher opponent than that guy Kakashi, which also gets me more fired up!" The blood rushing to his head really did make him feel more hot-blooded.
"Sure," Genichi agreed without thinking. "How about this, Guy? Whoever loses has to perform a youthful dance in the middle of the busiest street."
"Of course… huh? Hmm?" Guy sputtered, his expression quickly turning into a grimace.
"Guy," Genichi said earnestly, "a hot-blooded youth isn't just about training. You also have to live life."
Dancing on the busiest street is… living life? Guy looked confused.
Ina covered her mouth to hide her giggle. Lord Genichi is being mischievous again.
"Come on, Guy! Let's unleash our youthful hot blood!" Genichi shouted.
Guy snapped out of it. Since he couldn't figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. Hot blood reoccupied his brain. "If I lose this time, then… I'll dance on the busiest street, and then add five hundred laps of handstand walking!"
"One, two, three… start!" Ina shouted from the side.
Her voice fell, and their hands scrambled like dogs digging. They kicked up two clouds of dust and vanished. The streets were already full of people, but that couldn't stop the omnipotent ninja. They climbed walls and ran on rooftops.
Once they were out of the main district, pots, pans, and bricks suddenly flew through the air. Ina, who was following, was dumbfounded. When had they grabbed so many things? In fact, it wasn't that many. It was just them throwing things at each other, and the other catching them. Most importantly, they were using their feet.
And so, with sparks flying, they raced from the downtown area to the remote suburbs, finally arriving at the top of a cliff.
"Genichi, you…" Guy was panting like a bull. He finally gave a thumbs-up to the completely unfazed Genichi.
At this moment, the sun was just rising in the east. The red sunlight shone on his profile, and Ina couldn't help but get little stars in her eyes. "Lord Genichi is so handsome!"
Catching his breath, Guy said, "Genichi, the gap between us is getting bigger and bigger."
"Don't worry about that, Guy," he smiled. "The meaning of life is not in reaching a certain goal, but in the journey itself. In the race of life, you don't stop just because you've reached one goal. You keep going, until the very last moment."
Guy thought about this seriously, then suddenly shouted with excitement, "You're right, Genichi! That's the true meaning of being an eternal rival! I won't give up just because of a small gap. On the contrary, I will work even harder! Today, I'm adding 500 laps of handstand walking and 1,000 positive kicks!"
Watching the energetic Guy, Genichi was filled with admiration. Without his 'cheat,' he wasn't sure if he could work as hard as him. But there were no 'ifs.'
"The meaning of life is in motion! Today's training begins now!" he announced with a smile, and then leaped off the cliff.
His figure floated down. He applied the Added-Weight Rock Technique to himself, then to two large boulders, and only then did he begin to climb the cliff face. Ina followed him down, also had the jutsu applied to her, and began the same training, holding boulders. This was both physical training and training for chakra control. Whether it was climbing the cliff or walking on it, these were all training exercises.
A new day had begun.
After the morning's training, Might Guy, gritting his teeth, went to the most crowded street. Under countless strange gazes, he twisted his body in his green jumpsuit and contributed his debut dance. But he was soon driven away in embarrassment by a barrage of rotten vegetables and smelly eggs.
Ina almost doubled over laughing.
"This is youth," Genichi said with a very straight face.
After breakfast, he created clones to begin his various training, while his main body entered the underground lab to continue his experiments with sage transformation and Magnet Release.
And so the days passed. Ina and Shizune, while acting as Tsunade's assistants, also received her guidance and continued to work hard on mastering the Yin Seal. With a huge team of assistants and advisors, Tsunade was much more relaxed and had more time to develop ninjutsu. The members of the Hokage Guard, like Kurenai, were also relatively idle most of the time and were quietly training on their own.
Kakashi was still squatting outside Minato's house, getting stuffed full of PDA every day. But Obito was also being forced to eat the PDA from Kakashi and Rin, and he spent every day in a state of envy, jealousy, and hate, which made him train even harder. He swore that when Kakashi's mission was over, he would definitely challenge him to a duel. That guy was going too far, making Rin work so hard to bring him a bento every day.
Asuma Sarutobi had left Konoha and gone to the Fire Daimyō's capital, becoming one of the Guardian Ninja Twelve.
Might Guy seemed to have an inexhaustible supply of passion. As long as he wasn't on a mission, he trained continuously every day, sometimes alone, sometimes with his father, becoming an indispensable and beautiful sight in Konoha.
Time moved forward, and everyone had their own path.
The Land of Rain, in a small town.
At a stone table, Tendo Pain, Konan, the masked Uchiha Tekka (Tobi), Zetsu, the also-masked Spiral Zetsu (Tobi), and Kakuzu were gathered. In this period of time, other rogue-nin had joined the Akatsuki, but unfortunately, they had all been 'liquidated' by Kakuzu. Being on a team with him was a good way to get killed.
"I have recently selected a very suitable candidate," Zetsu smiled. "And I suspect that the Third Kazekage died at his hands."
"Related to the death of the Third Kazekage?" This made Konan very curious. This matter was still a mystery in the ninja world. Of course, many people suspected Genichi had done it. After all, he had the prior conviction of assassinating the Third Mizukage, and then he had taken out the Fourth Kazekage. Being a Kage, with great strength, there weren't many ninja who could kill them, let alone without being noticed.
"That's right," Zetsu smiled. "His name is Sasori of the Red Sand. A genius puppeteer. He has currently slaughtered several cities within the Land of Wind. This guy has the power to destroy a country. He's currently wanted by the Sand Village."
"In that case, let's give him a try," Tendo Pain nodded. "Do we have his current location?"
"Of course," Zetsu nodded.
"Konan," Pain said, turning to her, "I'll leave Sasori to you."
"Understood," she nodded, her face expressionless.
Tekka had no objections. After Pain had given his orders, he finally spoke. "Konoha's Nine-Tails jinchuriki is about to give birth. This is an excellent opportunity to acquire the Nine-Tails. When she is in labor, the seal is at its weakest."
"Are you confident you can defeat Kinoshita Genichi?" Pain asked.
"We are just capturing the Nine-Tails," Tekka replied. "We don't necessarily have to defeat him."
"Our current mission," Pain said noncommittally, "is to gather intel on the Tailed Beasts and accumulate strength, and then, when the time is right, quickly capture them. The Nine-Tails is the final target. There is no need to take the risk now."
He, or rather his main body, needed time to improve. The power of the Rinnegan needed time to be excavated. Madara had been a great help in this regard, but it was a pity he was dead.
"Zetsu, continue to search for suitable candidates. We need more talent to complete this undertaking," Pain said finally.
"Of course, no problem," Zetsu smiled.
The meeting ended, and Tekka and Tobi left.
Under the light rain, Tobi said, "Tekka, it looks like Nagato isn't willing to go with you to capture the Nine-Tails. In that case, relying on your strength alone won't be enough. And you might get a beating from that Kinoshita Genichi."
"Even without him, it's not like it can't be done," Tekka said coolly. "Let's go. We're going to the Hidden Mist Village."
"What are we going to do there?" Tobi asked curiously.
"Kinoshita Genichi once assassinated their Third Mizukage. I think they would be very happy to see Konoha fall into chaos," Tekka said.
"Our identities… I'm afraid it will be hard to make them believe us," Tobi spread his hands.
A smile appeared on Tekka's face. "Of course. So we just need to get them to do it."
Madara had thought it was impossible. Nagato thought it was impossible. But he was going to try. He admitted that Genichi was strong, but he was not weak either. His dōjutsu, Yachihoko no Kami, was enough to threaten him. And as he had said before, he didn't necessarily need to fight him head-on.
Sunagakure, Kazekage's Office.
Pakura frowned as she studied the data on Magnet Release. Before, when they were resealing the One-Tail and had to extract it from the previous jinchuriki, it had accidentally rampaged. Although she had managed to suppress it, it had been a struggle. Her Scorch Release was geared toward offense, not control, and in that aspect, it was far inferior to the Third and Fourth's Magnet Release.
But after all this time, she still hadn't mastered it. Her progress was slow. If the One-Tail, or rather, the jinchuriki, rampaged next time, it would be troublesome. After all, her power made it difficult to suppress a Tailed Beast without harming the host.
I wonder if that guy has finished it… She couldn't help but think of Genichi. When the Fourth Kazekage's body had been sent back, it had been dissected. Not to mention that Genichi had also taken the research data on the One-Tail and Magnet Release from her before. She hadn't been able to refuse.
That little bastard is too domineering. Thinking of his other side, her face turned slightly red. With his talent, he should have some results by now. Those eyes of his can even copy my Scorch Release… I'm just doing this for the village.
She gritted her teeth and finally made a decision: to write a letter to Genichi and ask that little bastard for advice. Sacrificing a little for the village was nothing. Anyway, that guy was all talk.
The Hidden Leaf Village.
Genichi stretched as he came out of the lab. Unconsciously, it was already September. The new house was already set up, but it had all been Ina and Shizune's work. Namiichi's mother, Misen, also came over from time to time to help. He had been a complete hands-off boss.
Tonight was the first meal in the new house, so it had to be a good one. He had also invited quite a few people. With his hands in his pockets, he headed for the market.
At the same time, in the Hokage's office, Shizune, looking at a letter, couldn't help but exclaim, "This… seems to be a letter from the Fifth Kazekage to Genichi?"
Tsunade, who was bent over, studying a jutsu formula, looked up, still a little dazed. "A letter from the Fifth Kazekage to that guy?"
At another desk, Ina couldn't help but crane her neck. "Is it from Pakura?"
"It's asking Lord Hokage to pass it on," Shizune said.
"A letter from the Kazekage?" Tsunade came back to her senses. She walked over to Shizune's side and looked down at it. "Open it."
"This… isn't that a bad idea, Lady Hokage?" Shizune hesitated.
"This is for the good of the village," Tsunade huffed. With that, she took the letter, but just as she was about to open it, she also hesitated. After thinking about it, she didn't open it. She tossed it back to Shizune. "You give it to that guy. I want to see if he's colluding with an ally."
Shizune and Ina looked at each other and couldn't help but giggle secretly. Lady Tsunade clearly wanted to read it.
After work in the evening, the three women, plus Kurenai and the other guards, went to Genichi's new home. It was a large courtyard. After passing through it, they could already smell the aroma of food.
Coming to the kitchen, they saw two figures bustling about. Besides Genichi, there was also Misen, and his parents. Seeing Tsunade and the others arrive, he was immediately shooed out of the kitchen.
"Genichi, this is a letter for you from the Fifth Kazekage." After arriving in the living room, Shizune took out the letter and handed it to him.
A letter from Pakura? He was curious. For her to contact him on her own initiative was rare.
He took it and opened it right in front of Shizune. Ina also came over. Tsunade, although she didn't come over, kept glancing in their direction. Kurenai and the others were also very curious, their faces full of gossip.
(End of Chapter)
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