After finishing his bath, Haseo returned to the street and parted ways with Jiraiya and Orochimaru.
However, he hadn't even walked a few steps forward when he stopped again, standing on the wooden bridge spanning the hot spring river, staring at Orochimaru's retreating figure. His gaze then turned pensive.
While walking down the road, Orochimaru suddenly sneezed, his entire body shivering slightly. He thought to himself that it was indeed unwise to rush directly from a warm indoor area into the snowy outdoors—was he actually catching a cold?
Strange, snakes could catch colds too.
Then, Haseo silently withdrew his gaze and headed back home.
It was still afternoon, but due to the heavy snowfall and thick cloud cover overhead, it looked more like dusk than midday. Though taking a bath and then sleeping seemed like an excellent plan at this moment, Haseo didn't really have time to rest.
After returning home and changing into regular clothes, he strapped his long sword and other ninja tools onto his body, then went out once more.
Haseo's residence was located on the top floor of the building. Outside his door lay a semi-open corridor, from which he lightly flipped upward and landed atop the rooftop.
From here, he could clearly overlook the area behind Hot Spring Town... Originally, that area should have been vacant, yet now a new district was under construction.
No matter how prosperous Hot Spring Town might be, it was still merely a secondary district serving primarily for entertainment purposes, and therefore not very important to the ninja village. Previously, this place had marked the outermost edge of Konoha.
But precisely because of this, as Konoha continued expanding outward, the density of buildings in these peripheral areas would inevitably keep increasing... although a large part of the reason why the current street was being built exactly there was also due to Haseo himself.
What was currently being developed at the back was naturally the Uzumaki clan's residential district.
Of course, Haseo himself was someone with strong moral values... rather, you could say he was almost obsessive about ethical purity, having long since transcended base interests.
Though he had no interest in visiting the questionable establishments run by female ninja across the street—or engaging in any activity that would bring him discomfort while satisfying others' desires—after the Uzumakis gathered here, he became even more conscious about his personal image.
Had Jiraiya not invited him, he would never have crossed the centerline of the hot spring river in his entire life—not even glancing toward that side once.
Directly flipping off the rooftop across Hot Spring Town, Haseo arrived at the streets of the Uzumaki district.
Though only separated by one street, compared with the bustling front streets, this neighborhood felt much quieter; partly because fewer people lived here, but mostly because construction remained ongoing.
Thanks to the protection and concealment policies Haseo personally designed, almost everyone seen in this district appeared to be just another ordinary black-haired citizen.
You must understand that the Uzumaki clan was destroyed far earlier than other ninja clans like the Uchiha, Kaguya, and Hozuki. Therefore, although the migration of the Uzumaki toward Konoha had already begun and was about halfway completed, Haseo still considered these protective measures necessary.
The Uzumaki understood Haseo's reasoning and readily accepted this arrangement. Even if an occasional redhead appeared on the streets, it really didn't matter anymore… After all, no one could assume every red-haired person in the world belonged to the Uzumaki clan, as long as they didn't gather together in obvious groups.
"Lord Haseo…"
As Haseo passed through the district, people softly greeted him along the way, and he politely nodded back at these fellow Uzumaki clansmen.
After taking a quick look around and finding nothing unusual, Haseo finally turned to leave, heading into the dim underground for an even more secretive assignment beneath the gloomy weather.
The underground space beneath Kagenami had now become extremely well-guarded. Although the core personnel remained unchanged, additional outer-circle members had been added, bringing the total number to about thirty.
Over the past three years or so, since peace had generally prevailed across the entire ninja world, Haseo hadn't taken on any particularly dramatic or dangerous missions. Instead, he performed many standard Jonin-level assignments—mostly bodyguard duties. Comparatively speaking, the most significant task during this period was indeed the sculpting work on statues of the First Hokage and Madara Uchiha at the Valley of the End. The project had been successfully completed without any quality issues; this definitely counted as one of Haseo's achievements.
Also during this time with no major tasks, Haseo had been able to focus on cultivation and training. Now, despite no particularly dramatic qualitative transformation occurring within him, his strength had steadily improved. If measured purely by chakra reserves, his capacity had multiplied several times over.
Currently, his usual level had nearly reached half of the chakra he had forcibly exerted during the Frostfield Battle, meaning it was about tenfold greater than his normal capacity five years ago.
Strictly speaking, this wasn't good news at all—it meant Haseo's chakra corrosion problem was worse than he'd originally thought. However, having already grown accustomed to the pain caused by the corrosion, you could call it somewhat fortunate… As long as he managed to survive, of course.
Regarding ninjutsu, just as he had told Jiraiya, after spending so much time, he had barely completed only 0.5 stage of the Flying Thunder God technique. With its versatility and power greatly reduced, Haseo himself felt too embarrassed to call it the Flying Thunder God anymore, simply naming it "[Feather Shift]" instead.
Strictly speaking, this year would mark the birth—or imminent birth—of the rightful and most orthodox inheritor of the Flying Thunder God technique. However, this supreme-level Space-time Ninjutsu had already been thoroughly ruined by Haseo over three years ago.
But Haseo did not care about such matters. Generation after generation of shinobi would eventually rise and shine—but before that happened, the current ninja world still belonged to Haseo's generation.
Haseo entered the underground hideout, where Shikou was already waiting.
Actually, she was on a long shift, closely monitoring certain intel from the Ninjutsu World and ready to report to Haseo the moment any news came in.
"Do you have any updates on that front?" Haseo asked directly.
Shikou shook her head. "Nothing yet. I suppose that creature wouldn't want to fall back into the ninja villages' hands anyway."
"What about our preparations then?"
"Since we're working under tight time constraints, they're still in progress..."
Now it was clear what Haseo had been so urgently preparing for… The Two-Tails had returned.
Though in reality, what Haseo had actually defeated was only the Jinchuriki—who hadn't even managed to transform into the beast yet—saying he defeated a Tailed Beast directly made it sound far more impressive.
Someone had sighted the Two-Tails within the Ninjutsu World, and obviously, a beast that had finally gained freedom would never willingly return to Kumo. Right now, it was on the move across the Ninjutsu World.
So... shouldn't someone get involved?
Technically speaking, hunting rare beasts from the Ninjutsu World was illegal—especially since the Two-Tails still had the Raikage's brand on its backside. But didn't everyone know the golden rule? If you don't get caught, it's not a crime.
There was also an ancient saying: "Heaven's treasures and earth's bounty belong to those of virtue." Previously, thorough and convincing arguments had already established Haseo as a man of noble character who had transcended base desires. Therefore, wasn't that Tailed Beast naturally destined to belong to him?
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