That night.
Roran… no, it should be called the Mechanical City now.
Although the Mechanical City wasn't fully built yet, Roran had completely become history the moment the landmass took flight.
The Sunagakure's Shinobi and the people of Roran were celebrating in the plaza.
Confetti flew, balloons were released.
Amidst the festive music, everyone indulged in eating and drinking.
They had been too exhausted over the past half month.
Not only did they work overtime every day, but they also had to guard constantly against enemy infiltration and sabotage.
Now that the external threat was resolved, they naturally wanted to celebrate properly.
By a bonfire, Pakura and Ryuji sat close together on the steps before a spire's entrance.
Whether it was because of the bonfire or the alcohol, Pakura's face was slightly flushed.
She looked down at the wine cup in her hands and warned, "After I leave, don't get yourself poisoned to death."
"Poisoned?"
Ryuji pretended not to understand, feigning confusion. "With Elder Ebizo here, how could I possibly get poisoned?"
Pakura raised her head, glaring at him fiercely. A faint, indistinct killing intent emanated from her.
It wasn't strong; even an ordinary person wouldn't feel anything unusual.
But Ryuji felt a shiver run down his spine, a sense of unease.
Thinking of the fate of the famous 'Makoto-kun' from his previous life, he quickly forced an awkward laugh. "I know, I know. I was just joking earlier."
"Don't joke about things like that with me."
Pakura looked at Ryuji seriously. After hesitating for a moment, she said earnestly, "I don't know if you're truly naive or just pretending, and I don't know if we can be together in the future. But even if nothing comes of it in the end, I won't allow you to get involved with a woman from the Kagero Clan. You'll die."
On October 18th, after completing the formula conversion experiments for the anti-gravity system, Ryuji began his research on Hawk Eyes.
Pakura, who had come to help, also learned about Chie Kana being from the Kagero Clan.
She was extremely worried and opposed to this.
She feared Ryuji wouldn't be able to resist the Kagero Clan's natural seductive charm, would get involved with her, and then die from the deadly poison.
"You're overthinking it." Ryuji pulled her into his arms, comforting her. "Even if it's a natural seductive charm, it can't possibly fool me. Besides, her body structure has already been recorded by the Observation Device. There's no need to study it further through her."
Hearing this, Pakura relaxed.
She leaned against the man's comforting chest, closing her eyes to enjoy this brief sweetness.
As Shinobi, even couples found it hard to be together often.
Once the crisis at the Mechanical City was resolved, she and the elite teams Rasa brought to help would have to return to the village to report and then embark on new missions.
Although Ryuji could assign her to stay by his side, Pakura was an independent woman who didn't want others interfering in her life.
He respected her choice.
...
Early the next morning.
Pakura and Rasa led the ten elite teams away from the Mechanical City.
The remaining Shinobi also returned to their respective duties, resuming work.
Ryuji buried himself back in the laboratory, researching Hawk Eyes.
With the Observation Device and research samples, research became a relatively easy task.
The day after Ryuji began researching Hawk Eyes, he successfully replicated them.
However.
Human eyes function through the optic nerves connecting to the brain. Simply creating an eyeball was useless.
Kana possessed Hawk Eyes precisely because she had an inherently seductive body different from ordinary people's… and a lethally poisonous one at that.
If Ryuji wanted to replicate Hawk Eyes, he would have to replicate Kana's inherently seductive body.
But doing so would be like placing a ticking time bomb beside him.
After all, people have physiological reactions. Even if you can control desire, you can't stop the body from reacting.
If enemies learned of this characteristic and exploited it, it could easily lead to a self-destruct scenario.
So, he couldn't create an artificial human of the Kagero Clan.
Moreover, he already had Kuro as a Sensor-type Shinobi; he didn't plan to make another.
His idea was to create an artificial eye with Hawk Eye functionality and install it for Kuro, giving him both Chakra-sensing and visual-sensing abilities.
However.
As mentioned earlier, human eyes function through the optic nerves connecting to the brain.
Creating a prosthetic eye device based on the structure and operating principles of Hawk Eyes was a very difficult task.
But, to eliminate the safety hazard, no matter how difficult, it had to be done.
Ryuji buried himself in the new research.
…
Time passed bit by bit.
Factory equipment produced parts for the flight system every day.
Ryuji stayed in the laboratory researching every day, only emerging at the end of the day to assemble the core technology only he understood.
The worker puppets and the Sunagakure's engineering team worked on construction every day.
Without enemy harassment, everyone worked relaxed and swiftly. Progress was rapid; the Specific Gravity System gradually took shape.
November 3rd.
Kuro sent a message: suitable candidates for Wood Release Shinobi had been found.
But Ryuji, busy with matters at hand, didn't immediately go to Konoha.
He created many more worker puppets and began simultaneously constructing the Planetary Engines.
November 4th, 5th, 6th...
The captured Sensor-type Shinobi were successively ransomed back by their villages at high prices. With the influx of funds, Ryuji accelerated the construction pace again.
November 10th.
After fourteen days, the Specific Gravity System was completed.
With the Dragon Vein conduits connected, the Mechanical City gained the ability to adjust its weight up and down by a factor of thirty.
November 12th.
The Third Kazekage informed him that Shimogakure had refused to pay the ransom for Kana.
...
"It's not a matter of more or less money. They simply never considered ransoming Kana," The Third Kazekage said in the Sea of Consciousness. "The negotiator I sent reported that Shimogakure's attitude showed they didn't care about Kana at all. They didn't even bargain; they directly refused."
"I understand."
Ending the communication with the Third Kazekage, Ryuji fell silent.
Chie Kana was from the Kagero Clan, secluded deep in the mountain stream… someone who joined a village later with her skills.
Her being scared off by his casual teasing remarks before showed she was naive, likely having left the mountains not long ago and not yet fully integrated into the outside world.
Plus, with the dangerous nature of her Kagero Clan's special constitution, Shimogakure probably hadn't yet accepted her as a true comrade.
"That's truly sad news."
Ryuji let out a deep sigh, then opened the door and left.
Regardless, this was her own affair. He just needed to tell her the truth and let her decide.
...
Because the Mechanical City floated two kilometers high, there was no worry about people who couldn't fly leaving on their own.
Therefore, prisoners who cooperated and posed little threat weren't strictly confined.
Chie Kana was one such case.
When Ryuji found her, she was sitting alone at the edge of the landmass, her silhouette looking somewhat lonely.
Ryuji walked to her side, looking at the clouds passing below. "Aren't you afraid of being blown off by the wind here?"
"Huh?" Kana turned her head sideways, giving him a look as if he were an idiot. "Just attach Chakra to your butt, and you can stick to the surface. Haven't you learned how to walk vertically on rock walls?"
Ryuji ignored this. After a moment of silence, he got straight to the point.
"Shimogakure replied."
"I-is that so."
Kana's expression froze for a moment, then she turned back to look at the clouds below.
"Shimogakure..."
"They refused to pay the ransom for me, right?"
Kana finished the sentence before him, surprising Ryuji.
The girl's tone was calm, as if she had long expected this outcome and didn't care much.
But,
Did she truly not care?
He remembered this girl would rather die than betray Shimogakure.
"So, are you here to kill me?"
Kana continued looking at the scenery beneath her feet as she asked, seeming indifferent to life and death as well.
"...No." Ryuji, surprised by the girl's reaction, hesitated before saying, "If Shimogakure doesn't want you, then you can't go back, right? That means we're not enemies anymore. Letting you go is fine."
"Aren't you afraid we might become enemies again later?"
"Then I'll just kill you then."
Kana turned her head back, looking at him as if seeing him for the first time, her bright eyes flashing with a strange light.
"I investigated you before this mission. Many people say you're a genius, decisive, killing without blinking… whether enemy or comrade, as long as they stand against you, you eliminate them without hesitation."
"Yes. As long as someone stands against me, given the chance, I will act without hesitation."
"Then why do I feel you're actually very gentle?"
"Pfft!" Ryuji couldn't help but scoff. "Girls are so emotional, especially little girls. I simply spare your life, and you think I'm gentle. Have you forgotten how I killed those who invaded the Mechanical City these past days?"
Kana gently shook her head, then said, "I'm not talking about that aspect."
"Not that aspect?" Ryuji was taken aback, instinctively asking, "Then what?"
"It's... never mind. Someone like you wouldn't understand even if I told you."
Ryuji's brows furrowed.
He hated it most in life when people spoke in half-sentences. But looking at the girl who had turned back to the scenery below, he couldn't bring himself to blame her.
"Are you planning to return to the Kagero Clan, or go to Konoha to find Jiraiya?" Ryuji said. "That guy Jiraiya might not be serious usually, but he's reliable when it counts. Most importantly, he's a good person. You have a connection with him; if you seek him out, Konoha would take you in."
Hearing this, Kana laughed self-deprecatingly.
"If I were going to seek out Jiraiya, I would have gone straight to him after leaving my clan's secluded stream. Why would I randomly join some small village?"
"...Is it because of the incident where you almost poisoned him?"
"Yes."
"He's not that kind of petty—"
"I know he's not that kind of person."
Kana interrupted Ryuji, saying self-mockingly, "You always thought Jiraiya almost being poisoned was a misunderstanding. Actually, there was no misunderstanding at all. My clansmen intentionally tried to harm him. Even though he acted afterward like he didn't care at all, I couldn't possibly have the cheek to go seek him out."