Kitazawa and Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo stepped out of the portal.
They arrived at the royal palace of the Fire Nation Metropolis.
It was already ten in the morning—working hours.
Although the Imperial Guard's duty was to protect the Emperor, it was obvious Kitazawa didn't need their protection. On top of that, he had all kinds of space–time ninjutsu and was usually here one moment, gone the next.
So their work mostly consisted of going out on missions, or sparring and training.
Kitazawa had thoughtfully prepared a training ground for them.
Because every one of them was extraordinary, he had also set up the Four Red Yang Formation around the perimeter.
The Four Red Yang Formation had astonishing defensive power—so strong it could even withstand the Ten-Tails' Tailed Beast Bomb.
Every member of the Imperial Guard was a jinchūriki.
As long as Uchiha Sasuke and Uzumaki Naruto weren't trying to kill each other, they could go all out inside the barrier without worrying about collateral damage.
"Kitazawa-sensei!"
Naruto was the first to notice him and hurriedly called out.
Sasuke was about to greet him too, when his gaze suddenly sharpened.
His eyes locked onto Ōtsutsuki Hagoromo—especially those Rinnegan, which left him completely baffled.
It wasn't just Sasuke. The others also noticed Hagoromo.
They all had the same thought: Where did this Rinnegan user suddenly come from?
There were nine members in the Imperial Guard in total.
But only seven were here.
That was because Yakushi Kabuto and Yamanaka Ino weren't present.
The former was the commander of the Fifth Ninja Corps, while the latter had become the Hokage's secretary.
"Sasuke, Naruto—come with me. The rest of you, keep training."
Kitazawa waved his hand as he spoke.
Hatake Kakashi, Karin, and the others were curious about Hagoromo, but none of them asked. They simply turned and left.
"Kitazawa-sensei," Naruto asked impatiently. "Is there a mission?"
Sasuke looked eager as well.
Ever since the Fourth Great Ninja War ended, any mission was basically child's play for them.
If it was a mission personally assigned by Kitazawa, maybe it would be difficult.
But they were destined to be disappointed.
With their current strength, there really wasn't anyone left who could count as an opponent.
Ōtsutsuki Kaguya was an exception.
It was just that, for the sake of his system quest, Kitazawa couldn't exactly hand her over to Sasuke and Naruto.
Still, it wasn't impossible.
Once Ōtsutsuki Momoshiki, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki, and Ōtsutsuki Kinshiki descended, he'd probably have a use for them.
"I'm introducing you to a new teacher," Kitazawa said casually.
Sasuke and Naruto instinctively looked at Hagoromo.
"Have you heard of the Sage of Six Paths?" Kitazawa asked with a smile.
Sasuke and Naruto nodded.
The legend of the Sage of Six Paths was widespread. A ninja who hadn't heard of it was the rare one.
"He is the Sage of Six Paths," Kitazawa continued.
"Huh?!"
Sasuke and Naruto wore the exact same shocked expression.
"The Sage of Six Paths thinks you two are talented," Kitazawa said, glancing at Hagoromo. "So he's going to teach you for a week."
Hagoromo understood what Kitazawa meant—
Don't tell Sasuke and Naruto about Asura and Indra.
Kitazawa had two reasons for doing this.
First, they were still young.
Second, there was no need.
Whether they knew or didn't know wouldn't change anything for them.
If anything, knowing would just create unnecessary trouble.
It would be like telling them: the reason you're so powerful isn't because you're gifted—it's because your bloodline is thicker.
It was true, but it also erased their hard work.
And there was another reason as well.
There was no need to tie Hagoromo to them.
Besides, Sasuke and Naruto already had their own parents. Having a strange "father" suddenly pop up would be… weird.
Hagoromo thought about it and didn't insist.
One reason was that Kitazawa was extremely powerful, and Hagoromo didn't want to offend him.
Another was that Sasuke and Naruto could at most be considered half his sons—not truly his sons.
They were reincarnations of Asura's and Indra's chakra, not reincarnations of their souls.
He was helping Naruto and Sasuke mainly to deal with Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
"What can he even teach us?" Sasuke asked curiously.
Even if Hagoromo was the legendary Sage of Six Paths, Sasuke felt Kitazawa had already taught him so much that there wasn't much left to learn.
"I can teach you how to awaken the Rinnegan," Hagoromo replied.
Sasuke froze.
Then confusion followed—because Kitazawa had previously said Sasuke couldn't awaken it yet due to insufficient accumulation.
"Right here is fine," Kitazawa said, stopping.
"I'll pass some chakra to you first," Hagoromo said bluntly. "Don't resist."
Sasuke and Naruto looked at Kitazawa.
Only after he nodded did they relax.
Hagoromo raised both hands.
Chakra mixed with yin and yang power surged from his palms.
Sasuke and Naruto instantly stiffened, feeling earthshaking changes happening inside their bodies.
Kitazawa watched quietly from the side.
With his strength, he could absolutely do what Hagoromo was doing—pouring power into others.
But there was no need.
Doing that would weaken his own power.
And Kitazawa had a better method anyway: refining pills through sacrifice.
Of course, if Hagoromo wanted to empower Sasuke and Naruto, Kitazawa wasn't going to refuse.
"Hahahahahahaha!"
Sasuke suddenly burst into wild laughter.
After absorbing Hagoromo's chakra, his Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan advanced into the Rinnegan.
An unprecedented surge of power flooded him, and he couldn't control his emotions.
Kitazawa snapped back to himself and examined him.
Sasuke didn't develop the six-tomoe Rinnegan like he had in the original story.
Maybe it was because he was still young.
After all, he had only just turned thirteen.
But from what was shown in the original story, the six-tomoe Rinnegan wasn't that different from a normal Rinnegan.
Aside from having six tomoe, it didn't come with extra abilities or unique dōjutsu.
Compared to Sasuke's obvious transformation, Naruto didn't look like he'd changed much.
His chakra presence was simply far denser than before.
Kitazawa remembered that in the original story, after Naruto received Hagoromo's chakra, he awakened a so-called Six Paths Sage Mode.
Six Paths Sage Mode was more or less Naruto's strongest form, surpassing both Sage Mode and Nine-Tails Mode.
But whether Naruto could awaken it now was another question.
First, he hadn't learned Sage Mode.
Second, Six Paths Sage Mode didn't just require Hagoromo's chakra—it also required the chakra of all nine tailed beasts.
Sage Mode could be learned, but the nine tailed beasts could never be handed over to Naruto.
Still, with Hagoromo's chakra, Naruto's strength would definitely increase substantially.
"For this week, follow him and study properly," Kitazawa said, leaving Sasuke and Naruto with Hagoromo.
He vanished from where he stood and quickly returned to the Hokage's office.
"Kitazawa-sensei."
Hinata, who was seated on the sofa, noticed him and stood up immediately.
"What is it?" Kitazawa asked, looking at her.
She was the Hokage's secretary now. If she came to his office, it was either to deliver documents or because something important had happened.
"The Ministry of Economy asked me to hand this document to you," Hinata said at once, pointing to the file on the Hokage's desk.
"Thanks, Hinata."
Kitazawa pinched her cheek lightly.
"It's no trouble."
Hinata's lips curled into a smile as she shook her head.
She should've just left the file and gone, but she'd stayed behind to wait for him to return.
Kitazawa walked over and picked up the file.
The contents were simple: they were asking which industries across the ninja world needed to be brought under their oversight.
This was obviously a crucial question.
His first thought was banking.
The ninja world had banks.
In the original story, Jiraiya had even shown a bankbook.
But there were also underground banks and an underground black market.
Especially the latter—Kitazawa would never allow it to continue existing.
Besides banking, there were many other industries, like mining.
Konoha's jewelry stores needed gold and silver mines.
But for the Fire Nation, important minerals weren't limited to gold and silver.
Even if many mines couldn't be used right now due to the level of development, it was never wrong to prepare in advance.
"Hinata, wait a moment."
Kitazawa picked up a pen and began writing.
Under normal circumstances, it would be difficult to take these industries out of private hands—but this was the ninja world, where strength ruled.
As for the underground black market, he planned to hand it to Nagato.
He didn't know who the black market's leader was, but it had gathered huge numbers of wandering ninja and rogue ninja.
If Kitazawa tried to abolish it, he'd likely face resistance.
Nagato would lead the First Ninja Corps in a full-scale purge of the underground black markets across the entire ninja world.
He could also give it to Kakuzu.
Kakuzu had operated in the underground world for a long time and understood it thoroughly.
But Kakuzu was busy right now—he was the head of the Ministry of Economy.
And with each of the five ninja corps having its own commander, it wasn't easy to reassign people.
If it went to Nagato, he'd definitely be eager to erase these factors that threatened peace in the ninja world.
"All right. Take this to the Ministry of Economy," Kitazawa said, patting Hinata on the head.
"Goodbye, Kitazawa-sensei."
Hinata took the file and turned to leave.
Konan appeared right after.
With Hinata there, it wasn't convenient for her to show herself earlier.
She was about to walk up to Kitazawa and let him take advantage of her when a knock sounded at the door.
Konan sighed inwardly and vanished again.
"Kitazawa!"
The door swung open, and Yūhi Kurenai walked briskly up to him.
She stopped, and her body trembled slightly—especially beneath her clothes, rising and falling with her breath.
Not as overwhelming as Tsunade, but she had her own unique charm.
"You seem really happy today," Kitazawa said, reaching out to pull her closer. "What good thing happened?"
"I finished the script for my next film," Kurenai said with a smile. "Guess what story it is."
"How would I guess that?" Kitazawa smacked her pale thigh. "Spit it out, or you'll regret it."
"What regret?" Kurenai wasn't afraid of his threat at all.
Kitazawa raised an eyebrow.
He scooped her up and set her on the Hokage's desk.
"Wait!"
Kurenai's expression changed. She quickly took out a document and said, "This is the script!"
She was afraid that if she was even a second too late, she wouldn't be able to stay conscious—she'd end up babbling nonsense.
Kitazawa chuckled.
He casually opened the document.
When he saw the title, he paused.
Honestly, he hadn't expected Kurenai to choose to film the Fourth Great Ninja War.
"Something about this feels weird," Kitazawa commented after reading it.
"What's weird?" Kurenai leaned forward as she sat on the desk.
"No need to film it this early," Kitazawa explained. "The Fourth Great Ninja War just ended."
"Is that so…?" Kurenai looked conflicted.
"You can delay it," Kitazawa suggested after a brief pause. "As for the next film—make it about the new Fire Nation."
"The new Fire Nation?" Kurenai didn't quite understand.
"Unifying the ninja world is a brand-new era," Kitazawa said with a smile. "A lot of people don't even understand what happened. You can show it through film."
It was a movie with a mission attached.
Making money was secondary.
After all, Kitazawa wasn't short on money anymore.
Kurenai fell into thought.
"No rush. Film it slowly," Kitazawa added. "When the time comes, have the other departments cooperate with you. Build more cinemas across the ninja world and expand the market."
The growth of film relied on economic prosperity.
In the past, they were stuck in a feudal era—and with ninja in the mix, nobody really cared about the economy.
Now the era had changed. More and more people would go to the cinema.
"This is perfect!" Kurenai's eyes lit up, and she smiled.
"Then how are you going to thank me?" Kitazawa raised a hand and kneaded her soft, springy hips.
Kurenai shot him a look.
She lowered her head, stuck out her tongue, and gently licked his cheek.
Kitazawa shuddered.
Seeing the haze in Kurenai's eyes and her irresistibly seductive expression, he immediately leaned in and pulled her into his arms.
There was no space left between them.
Kurenai quickly relaxed.
Her long pale legs swung lightly in the air, bouncing with her mood.
Konan peeked out from behind the bookshelf.
After the Hokage's office was moved into the palace of the Fire Nation Metropolis, its size had increased several times over.
Besides the Hokage's desk, there were bookshelves and a duty bed, among other things.
Konan forced herself to resist the urge to step forward.
Only after Kurenai collapsed from exhaustion and passed out did Konan slip off her clothes, walk up behind Kitazawa, and wrap her arms around him.
Her red lips parted as she bit his ear, then slowly moved downward.
Kitazawa let out a breath.
He was holding Kurenai, but Konan was holding him.
Softness pressed from both front and back, sending tingles across his scalp.
On top of that was the thrill of worrying Kurenai might notice.
Kitazawa turned and shot Konan a glare.
But her beautiful eyes were full of tenderness, completely ignoring his warning.
She clung to him like an octopus.
Left with no choice, Kitazawa guided Kurenai onto the duty bed and set up a barrier.
Then he turned around and pulled Konan tight.
He sealed her soft lips with his own.
Before long, Konan paid a heavy price for her bold "coup."
~~~
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