"Sustainable development?"
Listening to Kai's unique and novel wording, future Sasuke raised a hand and pressed it against his left eye. His voice carried some hesitation.
"S-Second Brother, by that you mean…"
For some reason, an ominous feeling suddenly rose in his heart.
At the same time, Kai's laughter came to an abrupt stop.
He turned to look at future Sasuke, his bright black eyes rolling slightly as he fell into thought.
"If I remember correctly, Second Pillar, your Rinnegan should be able to open portals, right?"
"Huh? Open portals? To where—wait, y-you-you… how do you know that?"
Hearing this, alarm bells immediately rang in Sasuke's heart.
At the same time, waves rose within him.
During the battle just now, he shouldn't have shown the ability to open space–time portals.
And the Sasuke of this era clearly shouldn't have mastered that power yet.
Yet this second brother from the past had directly stated it.
In Sasuke's eyes, the mysteries surrounding his second brother, Uchiha Kai, were growing deeper and deeper.
So deep that he felt somewhat at a loss.
"Hm? What nonsense are you thinking about?"
Kai raised a brow and waved his small hand.
"These two power banks aren't enough. I'm planning to look for new supply sources."
"Although the village already has the Two-Tails, Matatabi, and the One-Tail, Shukaku… Tsk, Shukaku's sand would be gritty between the teeth, forget it."
"The main target—"
At this point, he paused. The corner of his mouth stretched open, revealing two rows of small white teeth.
"If I remember correctly, Kirigakure should still be closed off during this period…"
That's right.
Kirigakure.
He remembered very clearly that in the early parts of the original story, there were not many perfect Jinchūriki.
One of them was the Fourth Mizukage—
Yagura Karatachi!
As for imperfect Jinchūriki?
If they couldn't unleash one hundred percent of a Tailed Beast's characteristics, then the absorption effect might be worse.
Naturally, they were lower on his list of considerations.
"K-Kirigakure?"
Hearing Kai's words, Jiraiya instinctively widened his eyes and frowned.
"If I remember correctly, the current Kirigakure is still carrying out its Bloody Mist policy and practicing isolation, right?"
"And… the Three-Tails Jinchūriki, Yagura Karatachi, is also the Fourth Mizukage. If we go there now, wouldn't that…"
Jiraiya grew even more hesitant.
Of course, it wasn't because he feared Kai would lose or fail.
He was afraid that Kai would actually do it.
In his view, Konoha was already standing opposite three major ninja villages.
If they offended Kirigakure as well, then it would truly become one village against many.
At that time, Konoha's shinobi would face an even more difficult situation than now.
Perhaps that would become a true shinobi world war—
The Fourth Great Ninja War.
"Oh? Wouldn't what?"
Kai raised a brow, a faint trace of disdain appearing on his face.
"Wouldn't it trigger a shinobi world war?"
"Uh…"
Jiraiya fell silent.
That was indeed what he was thinking.
But he didn't dare say it outright.
Although Kai looked cheerful and didn't seem angry, Jiraiya had no idea whether this child would suddenly slap him.
Getting slapped would still be fine.
The real fear was being refined like the Eight-Tails.
That would be true suffering.
The moment future Sasuke heard the words "shinobi world war," his pupils contracted.
People of this era might not have experienced it yet, but he had experienced it personally.
Truly.
Thoroughly.
If they hadn't relied on Naruto's Talk no Jutsu and Kakashi's redemption to make Obito switch sides—
If Black Zetsu hadn't stabbed Uchiha Madara through the heart—
They might not even have lived long enough to see Ōtsutsuki Kaguya.
Facing Uchiha Madara's strength and battle experience, he and Naruto might not necessarily have been able to win.
That old monster's scheming, strength, and combat experience combined together…
For the two of them, maintaining a stalemate had already been their limit.
Fortunately, Black Zetsu had struck.
And Ōtsutsuki Kaguya, who had been sealed away for a thousand years, was clearly still somewhat naïve.
Whether her techniques or her experience, both could be dealt with.
They had even been able to exploit openings.
Only then, with the help of the old man of the Six Paths, had they won in one stroke—
Wait.
The old man of the Six Paths?!
Thinking of this, future Sasuke's heart suddenly skipped a beat.
An utterly insane thought surfaced in his mind.
If this second brother of his learned about the existence of the Sage of Six Paths…
Would he directly drag that guy over and use him as a power bank too?
Just like Urashiki?
The moment this thought appeared, it spread wildly through his mind.
And quickly occupied his entire brain.
After all…
One of the ways to meet the Sage of Six Paths was to directly kill Sasuke!
Or rather—
Kill the Sasuke of this timeline!
"Hey, hey, hey. What are you thinking about now?"
Just as future Sasuke was spiraling into wild thoughts, Kai suddenly frowned and muttered.
Why were all of these people acting so suspicious and paranoid?
"Ah, n-nothing."
Sasuke swallowed and said quietly,
"It's just that my current strength hasn't recovered to its peak, and opening space–time portals consumes far too much chakra…"
As he spoke, his voice grew smaller.
That was true.
But it was also an excuse.
Future Sasuke did not want his second brother to walk too far down this path of doing whatever he pleased.
But before he could finish, he suddenly felt something being stuffed into his mouth.
Lowering his eyes, he realized it was a pill emitting a dark chakra aura.
One of the pills Uchiha Kai had just refined.
"Mmph… this…"
Just as he tried to ask, he suddenly sensed a powerful aura erupting inside him.
The chakra in his body multiplied rapidly like spores.
One grain after another.
BOOM!
BOOM! BOOM!
Very quickly, the chakra inside him surged by more than half.
That powerful aura instantly scattered the clouds above the Forest of Death on Konoha's outskirts.
The sunlight became even brighter.
"So strong…"
Nearby, Jiraiya looked at Sasuke in this state and couldn't help frowning.
"Much stronger than I imagined…"
"Uchiha Itachi, Uchiha Kai… and now another Uchiha Sasuke…"
"Could it be that the Uchiha clan is the true darling of the shinobi world?"
He didn't understand.
But he respected it.
Turning silently, he took the few little ones with him and disappeared, heading back toward the village.
The matter here still needed to be reported to the village.
Otherwise, unnecessary unrest might break out later.
Only after they left did Kai suppress the excitement in his heart and point toward the village.
"Speaking of which, how long has it been since you last saw Konoha from this era?"
Hearing this, future Sasuke's heart stirred.
Ever since he had followed Orochimaru away in his youth, the Konoha from his childhood had been completely destroyed during Pain's Assault.
Everything afterward had been rebuilt.
"How about it?"
"Want to go back and take a look?"
Kai smiled.
Then he bent down, grabbed Urashiki's dried hair with one hand, and dragged Killer B's limp body up with the other, carrying them like garbage.
With a casual toss, they landed accurately in front of the Uchiha jōnin a hundred meters away.
At the same time, Kai threw over a white-quality pill and instructed,
"Take these two to the park and have people keep watch over them."
"Yes! Yes! Yes!"
The Uchiha clansman immediately bowed and responded.
His expression was solemn.
His heart was dancing with joy.
He had seen the effects of this pill with his own eyes!
Clap, clap.
Kai patted his hands.
Seeing that future Sasuke was still hesitating, Kai suddenly seemed to think of something.
The grin on his face widened even further.
"Or…"
"How about I take you to see that Onii-chan?"
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