join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr
The next day, early morning.
Although Konoha is not by the sea, its location deep within the forest makes the climate somewhat humid. The autumn morning air still carried a hint of damp chill, making Sawara Kiri's arm, extended from under the covers, feel slightly cool.
Looking out from the window on the top floor of this Konoha New City building, one could just see the 'Humanity's Continued Existence Assurance Organization'—its external name being the Scientific Research Department's Astronomical Observation Tower—standing like a majestic peak on the western edge of Konoha Village.
Konoha's Earth Release engineering, both in speed and quality, was quite reliable. It had been some time since this building was completed.
At this moment, the surface of the astronomical convex lens at the very top of the tower was reflecting bright light spots.
It was already quite late.
"Are you going back?"
Megumi's still soft voice sounded from beside him, seemingly startled awake by his subtle movements after waking.
But upon opening her eyes, she turned her head to look at him with a somewhat gentle gaze, her hands wrapped around his arm, as if reluctant for him to leave.
"Yuki should be making breakfast. If I don't go back, I'll be scolded again." Sawara Kiri pinched her nose, then gently released it, enjoying the warmth from beside him in the morning, feeling a sense of belonging in his heart.
"She's really strict, isn't she?"
"You should have a mission today, right? Are your Ninja tools ready?"
"Yes, yes."
It had to be said, Megumi's wifely admonishments truly gave him a sense of contentment, making Sawara Kiri somewhat unwilling to get up.
However, the thought of the significant deficit in his 'Inner Conflict Points' after obtaining 'Little Ti' instantly motivated him—in reality, even without 'Little Ti,' the bond with Yuki could not be simply cut off.
Sawara Kiri lay for a moment, then forced himself to get up and took a quick shower after Megumi finished washing.
By the time he came out, Megumi had already put on an apron and was preparing breakfast at the kitchen counter.
Sawara Kiri reached out and wrapped his arms around the girl's slender waist from behind:
"I'm heading out first."
"Hmph."
Perhaps it was because she had finally recovered some strength after being 'tossed around' for half the night, or perhaps she was secretly grumbling about him, this 'two-timing scoundrel,' Megumi let out a soft hmph of displeasure and nudged him backward.
Sawara Kiri, however, just smiled, not taking it to heart at all.
It had to be said, Megumi's leg training recently seemed to have yielded results; her already full curves had become even more elastic.
Nevertheless, even so, before he left, Megumi still reminded him:
"Don't be careless during your mission."
"Yes~"
By the time he returned to the Senju Residence, his Shadow Clone smoothly handed over duties to him, just in time for the Senju Residence's mealtime.
Since learning his lesson last time, he always remembered to leave a backup for himself—however, even a Shadow Clone had to be handled carefully; if it accidentally bumped into something, it would burst and reveal the deception.
However, even with such thorough preparation, when he sat down at the dinner table, Yuki still subtly twitched her nose, seemingly sensing something amiss, and immediately shot a rather resentful glance in his direction.
Tsunade ate as if nothing was wrong, even having a small glass of sake in the morning, otherwise she couldn't focus at work—evidently, this was the unique, distorted logic of this medical expert, but no one was qualified to refute her.
"You don't even know to spray some perfume on yourself. Recently, that girl Yuki has changed all the bath soap at home. She can smell it if the scent is off."
It wasn't until the two of them walked side by side to the Hokage Building that Tsunade quietly advised him.
Sawara Kiri was immediately startled.
So that's how he was exposed?!
Upon noticing the figures in the hallway, Tsunade returned to her usual dignified and solemn demeanor and strode into the Hokage Office.
Sawara Kiri followed her in.
Taking advantage of the convenience of living in the Senju Residence, he would be among the first to receive missions every day he went to work. Most were by direct designation, and a small portion were missions of such high difficulty that only he was suitable for them.
Although he had spent a lot of time on romantic matters recently, he didn't entirely waste his time playing 'Horse Jump' with Megumi. On the contrary, since the war ended, he had received more and more mission requests from various places—or rather, most of the powerhouses who were widely recognized as having Hokage-level strength but had not become Hokage received this treatment.
Namikaze Minato and Jiraiya, this master-disciple pair, were a very clear example; the number of missions on their personal files was ridiculously high.
Now, Sawara Kiri was in the same situation.
Especially after he was recognized as the 'Foremost Person in the Ninja World of this Era,' wealthy individuals from various countries were willing to pay three to five times the price, using A-rank or even S-rank funds, to purchase their safety for a certain period.
Therefore, Sawara Kiri could not afford to be idle.
However, before that, there were other issues to resolve.
Even before they entered, Orochimaru, who lived and ate in the Hokage Building and the Astronomical Tower, had already entered the door carrying a stack of documents and charts, looking very excited.
"Orochimaru-sama."
Sawara Kiri greeted him politely.
Then, he saw him stride over, unusually excited:
"Kiri!"
"Your idea is feasible!"
Just one sentence completely captured Sawara Kiri's attention.
Orochimaru at this moment was completely unaware of his subtle change, pressing one hand on his stack of treasures, speaking rapidly:
"Last night, our spacetime research team completed the first Ryūmyaku spacetime variation experiment. Through this verification, we can confirm that there is a three percent chance that the massive natural energy possessed by the Ryūmyaku can affect spacetime variations. Although in most cases it's chaotic spacetime fluctuations, when reacting with a large-scale Chakra source..."
Sawara Kiri rarely saw Orochimaru so uncharacteristically excited, and immediately settled down, listening quietly to his narration.
However, after listening, he still felt a little disappointed.
The experiment they conducted yesterday only proved that large-scale Ryūmyaku energy, when reacting with a massive amount of Chakra, could potentially carve a hole in the space wall.
As for how to enable humans to travel through spacetime, and how to maintain real-time monitoring of various spacetimes, there was absolutely no clue.
But this was already a breakthrough from zero to one.
As long as this starting point existed, the future application of spacetime Ninjutsu would be greatly improved on this foundation.
No wonder Orochimaru was so excited.
For him, this was equivalent to opening up a completely new direction for scientific research.
At the same time, it also indicated that the application direction proposed by Sawara Kiri had considerable pioneering value.
After finally venting the excitement in his heart, the incessantly talking Orochimaru finally calmed down, gradually returning to his usual aloof and indifferent demeanor, yet still heavily patting the stack of documents in his hand, instructing:
"In short, these materials must be preserved at the highest level of confidentiality."
"Yes, I understand." Sawara Kiri said, then smiled, "You've truly worked hard during this time, Orochimaru-sama."
Saying 'hard work' was by no means an exaggeration; on Orochimaru's pale face, two deep dark circles were already evident.
Clearly, he had been working day and night on development during this period.
Orochimaru, however, merely curled his lips, not taking this matter to heart—his interest was inherently in this area; being able to work on his hobby was truly as good as it gets.
As he was speaking, he seemed to suddenly remember something, glancing towards the Anbu outside the Hokage Office, taking a step closer to the two of them, and lowering his voice:
"Besides that, we've also achieved some results in how to extract Ryūmyaku energy to magnify the human body."
"However, let's keep these matters secret from Jiraiya for now."
Hearing this, Sawara Kiri and Tsunade both paused.
Finally, Tsunade was the first to react, nodding heavily.
In reality, it wasn't that there was any conflict between the three Sannin, but rather that Jiraiya's connection with Mount Myōboku was a bit too deep—this was actually not a very suitable situation.
Although Mount Myōboku was one of the Sage of the Three Great Sage Lands, and the thousand-year-old Toad Sages had made many contributions, this was also where the problem lay.
Among the Sage of the Three Great Sage Lands, aside from 'That Person', the Slug Sage who ignored worldly affairs, the other two parties had overly deep ties with the human world, even establishing a considerably vast intelligence network—Jiraiya's information being so well-informed didn't come out of nowhere; no one could say how much effort the Toads of Mount Myōboku had put into it.
Furthermore, the Sage Mode, which had not spread in the human world, was truly a cause for concern.
Even the Sannin didn't know how much power these Sage of the Three Great Sage Lands truly hid, only knowing that a small amount casually thrown out of their hands could establish the super-giant summoning Jutsu that served as the Sannin's 'trump card.'
Such power was absolutely impossible to ignore.
Any qualified politician, regardless of their personal relationship with the Sage of the Three Great Sage Lands, fundamentally held a great deal of vigilance towards them.
As a Ninja, a simple and pure mind is naturally a good thing.
However, Jiraiya's unsuitability to be Hokage stemmed from this very point.
If humanity were to develop its own 'Sage Art,' how would the Sage of the Three Great Sage Lands react?
No one could say for sure.
Sawara Kiri understood this principle.
As they were speaking, Tsunade seemed to recall something and casually handed a small pink bead to Orochimaru: "Oh, by the way, when you have time, don't forget to test this thing—it's from Kiri."
Orochimaru paused, instinctively took it, and glanced at Sawara Kiri with a puzzled expression.
But after looking at Tsunade and noticing her lack of reaction, he immediately understood.
It was another one of Kiri's 'magical little creations' from who knows where.
Regarding these 'little secrets,' the Sannin had long since developed a tacit understanding; Tsunade mentioning it last night was merely to give Kiri some preparation.
In fact, ever since the 'Universal Capsule' appeared, Orochimaru had already harbored such thoughts—nothing in this world appears out of thin air; even the most precious treasures have some origin, let alone a tangible scientific creation like the Universal Capsule.
Noticing Orochimaru's subtle gaze sweeping back to him, Sawara Kiri awkwardly distorted his lips.
Being too clever for one's own good is not advisable.
Just as he was thinking this, Tsunade called out to him, coming to his rescue:
"Kiri, come quickly and get a mission!"
"I have such a high pile of designated missions, and you don't even try harder!"
"Lord Fourth, Ninjas also have their own lives; please be a little more considerate."
"What 'own life'? How long has it been since I've gambled? I want to have my own life too!" Tsunade cursed impatiently, flipping to the highest-paying page in the missions and slapping it on the table. "Go! Take it. Before I have my own life, you can forget about having yours!"
"Eh—?!"
Orochimaru watched this scene with a malicious smile.
Although his recent work suited him well, it was clear that he also did not have his own life.
By the time Sawara Kiri had completed all the procedures and walked out of the Hokage Building to rendezvous with the corresponding merchant caravan, it was already nine in the morning.
Ever since he gained widespread fame and the war ended, Sawara Kiri's original powerful squad had been disbanded.
The reason was simple.
What exactly does Konoha intend to do by maintaining such a highly efficient Anbu assassination squad composed of Kage-level powerhouses? Can everyone still conduct business peacefully without capital?
Even with just Sawara Kiri alone, who could eliminate everyone from the other four Ninja Villages combined, these complaints never ceased.
The reason was none other than, 'My heart is uneasy!'
To demonstrate Konoha's sincerity in conducting peaceful business, and also to increase the Village's efficiency in completing high-level missions, Kiri, Minato, and Megumi were separated into three different squads.
Currently, he was accompanied on missions by three excellent graduates who had recently graduated from Ninja High School, each possessing the strength equivalent to an elite Chunin.
Their names were Kono, Harada, and Uesaka.
Although the Jonin ranking system had begun to be implemented, due to limited time, it hadn't been fully rolled out yet. It would probably only begin on a large scale once there were enough segmented Jonin Ninjas.
After all, if those Jonin who had been highly praised in the Ninja World for a long time were to be rated as second or even third class due to certain shortcomings during testing, it would somewhat tarnish their own reputation, wouldn't it?
Sawara Kiri thought this with a touch of malice.
"Thank you for your hard work, Lord Sawara."
When he led his three subordinates to the caravan leader, the middle-aged leader, who was tying ropes to the goods on a cart, quickly trotted out from the crowd. He didn't have the usual haughty demeanor of a typical merchant noble, suggesting he was either a vassal or had heard of his reputation.
He rubbed his hands together slightly, a warm smile crinkling the corners of his eyes. He said kindly:
"Without a great figure like yourself to oversee us, we don't know how many dangers we would face on our way back to the Land of Rainbows. We are truly grateful."
"No problem."
Sawara Kiri nodded cooperatively and smiled: "If anything happens, I will do my best to resolve it. However, you know Konoha's rules; if we encounter enemies beyond the scope of an A-rank mission, I can only do my best to ensure the safety of my subordinates."
"Understood, I understand."
The merchant caravan they encountered this time was quite rule-abiding, unlike some nobles they had met before who were unreasonable, which made him feel a little relieved.
He had encountered quite a few similar riff-raff recently; merely because of their noble status, they truly acted as if they were lords. Some even offered the price for a B-rank mission to assassinate a Daimyo of a certain small country—that was an S-rank mission scope.
Even now, Sawara Kiri found it difficult to understand where these so-called nobles, who held no power, got such confidence.
Perhaps it was the residual inherent flaws brought about by the original work's worldview, based on Japanese history.
However, such days shouldn't last much longer.
Sawara Kiri boarded the merchant caravan's carriage and traveled along the main road out of the Village. From afar, he could see the white dust rising from the industrial zone at the edge of the Village.
That place would slowly inject the power of industry into this world.
More accurately, it would be the power of large-scale, explosive productivity.
The entire journey was uneventful. In reality, travel in this era was often like this. Although Konoha had initially entered the age of electrification, most of the Land of Fire's territory remained in a small-scale agricultural economy, where self-sufficiency was the norm—this was also one of the reasons why the noble system could be maintained until now.
However, due to various reasons, this small-scale agricultural economy was easily disrupted, and dispossessed people would transform into vagrants or mountain bandits and water pirates on the road.
Most of the Ninja's enemies were these powerless individuals.
However, the graduates younger than Sawara Kiri were mostly restless. They looked around the merchant caravan's front and back throughout the journey, their work process being extremely meticulous and without any carelessness.
It made Sawara Kiri feel a bit tired.
He himself consistently maintained his Six Eyes, observing the Chakra sources in the distance—there were actually very few; apart from a few major and minor Ninja Villages, there were few places in the entire world where one could learn Chakra refinement methods.
Even though it seemed like Konoha Village was full of Ninjas, the protection of basic techniques was quite strict, and the Ninjas themselves shared a similar consensus.
Sawara Kiri was no exception.
However, on the third day, after the merchant caravan completed basic resupply at a small Village and resumed their journey, he suddenly noticed something different.
Sawara Kiri sat inside the carriage, instinctively frowning at first.
Then, he suddenly shot out of the carriage, leaped to the front of the entire caravan, and raised his hand in the distance.
"Stop!"
Almost the instant his figure appeared, the experienced caravan leader immediately reined in his horse, looking at Sawara Kiri's direction with surprise and uncertainty.
The next moment, two figures dressed as ordinary Ninjas abruptly darted out from the forest, surrounding Sawara Kiri from behind.
Sawara Kiri looked at them with some confusion, then swept his gaze towards the other two lurking in the forest, who thought they were concealed—it should be a Ninja squad.
However, both their total Chakra and physical abilities were quite ordinary.
Where did they get their courage?
"Don't you know who I am?"
The figure standing in front of him stiffly parted his lips and smiled:
"Sawara Kiri, bounty of 300 million ryo."
"We've been waiting for a long time for the chance for you to leave the Village."
So, they were desperate outlaws who didn't know their place?
Sawara Kiri instinctively thought this—he had already encountered more than one such person.
However, just as he was about to casually dispatch these idiots, his Six Eyes, in his rear vision, suddenly detected something unusual.
Beneath the clothes of these few people, on the surface of their bodies, there were strange blood-colored runes.
At the same time, the positions where the four stood formed a standard prism shape.
"Boom—"
The next moment, the figures of the four exploded simultaneously, turning into clouds of blood mist.
However, the prepared Sawara Kiri had already shot out, escaping the encirclement in advance.
Then, the area they had surrounded had already turned into a prismatic void.
But before he could sigh in relief.
From behind him, a pale hand silently reached out, aiming directly for his heart.
join p atreon.com/KeyofStars and become a Sequence 9: Reader for advance chapters | Every 100 powerstones = 1 extra chapter | Report issues @discord.com/GVBdncd9Wr