"Legacy, huh?"
Souma blinked. That really did sound like something straight out of those old wuxia worlds from his past life…
Speaking of which—
"Back in that era, were there a lot of orders like the Fire Temple?" he asked.
"I'm not entirely sure," Chiriku admitted after thinking it over. "After all, we've had a severed period in our own history. But it's said that in that age, there were indeed a few sects similar to the Fire Temple."
He paused, then sighed.
"But most of them vanished along with their lineages. The Fire Temple is one of the lucky survivors… largely because a forebear of ours created Sage Clan Talent."
"I see."
Souma nodded lightly.
The God Tree—
It had clearly dealt a massive blow to that older era. Many powers lost the original systems they relied on, and failed to develop a chakra-integrated Sage system afterward.
So they were wiped out.
What a waste.
"That's inevitable," Chiriku went on quietly. "Every change of era leaves some people behind—those who can't keep up get discarded. If we want the Fire Temple to endure, we have to learn to let go of some things."
For example—
Pay a higher price.
Of course, these were thoughts Chiriku had only figured out in recent years.
"Sounds like you've been having a lot of realizations lately, senpai," Souma said with a small smile.
In the original timeline, Chiriku hadn't been like this. Right up to the end, he'd clung to the Fire Temple's old dogma.
But then, in that world, Souma had never proactively made deals with the Fire Temple. And the Fire Temple had never gained the benefit of a complete, battle-ready Sage Mode.
This changes now…
Existed because they'd gotten enough out of it.
Souma thought for a moment, then said:
"I actually had a bit of a concern before, but now it seems there's something I can just say to you directly."
"Please, go ahead," Chiriku said.
"Lord Third wants to arrange a time to talk with you," Souma said. "Probably to negotiate a deeper cooperation and exchange between Konoha and the Fire Temple."
Chiriku thought it over.
"That's not unacceptable," he said. "We are, after all, both in the Land of Fire…"
"Ahem, what do you think?" Elder Shiraishi asked, looking at Souma.
Souma was now their honorary abbot—only in title, yes, but as the one who'd truly redeveloped the temple's Sage path, his opinion carried enormous weight.
Souma hadn't expected the question to come back to him.
He mulled it over for a few seconds, then answered:
"That's up to you. But I don't think cooperating with Konoha would cost the Fire Temple anything."
"Mm. That's true," Chiriku said. "The 'Overlimit State' you gave us is already very powerful. In many ways, jutsu are tremendously useful to our monks."
That said—
He couldn't help recalling something Asuma had been hung up on for a long time.
"Souma," Chiriku said, "I have a question. Call it a small personal doubt. You know Asuma and I were once among the Guardian Twelve, right?"
"Mm."
"In your view… who's more important? The daimyō, or the Hokage?"
That was the knot at the heart of many Guardians.
Most of the Twelve had wrestled with that question. In the end, the rift and infighting among them had grown from those conflicting answers.
To Chiriku, Souma was exceptionally sharp. Maybe he'd see something the rest of them hadn't.
Souma went quiet for a moment.
Sure enough.
Every Guardian Twelve member circled back to this issue eventually. Asuma had already asked a version of this question before.
He decided to stick with the same answer as last time.
"I don't think either is important," he said.
"Mm?"
Chiriku's eyes widened slightly. That… was not the answer he'd expected.
"Neither is important?" he repeated. "Then what is?"
"Konoha and the Land of Fire are one whole," Souma said calmly. "Losing either is a huge blow to the other. There's no real 'higher' or 'lower' between them. But if I have to say…"
He paused, sorted out his wording, then continued:
"The Hokage used to be a ninja. I think what matters most is training the next generation—making Konoha and the Land of Fire strong forever."
"Make the Land of Fire strong forever…"
Chiriku rolled the phrase around on his tongue.
Then his face froze a little.
That… did make sense.
"Yeah," Souma said. "Does it really matter to us who's in charge? Not really. We just need to make sure the Land of Fire and Konoha are at peace, and not getting kicked around by other nations. Who controls what, who holds power—that's for the people at the top to worry about."
He said it lightly.
But it was like someone had quietly shifted the entire frame of the argument.
Chiriku felt strangely complicated.
Souma seemed to have answered him. Yet at the same time, it felt like he'd dodged the point.
Still—
He couldn't find a flaw in the logic.
As ninja and warrior monks, the struggles of power really weren't their problem. What mattered was peace and stability.
"Then what if you were Hokage?" Elder Shiraishi suddenly asked. "What would you do?"
"Mm?"
Souma turned to look at him.
This old guy's question was sharp.
Being Hokage… of course he'd thought about it before. And just as often, he'd thought it sounded like way too much trouble.
But this question?
He didn't need to hesitate at all.
"If I became Hokage," Souma said, "of course I'd stand on my own side. What, am I supposed to hand Konoha over and let the daimyō run it directly?"
He lifted a brow.
"Is daimyō a shinobi? He doesn't understand how the ninja system works. Letting him interfere is just an outsider guiding insiders."
"…"
Such an honest answer.
Chiriku and Shiraishi had the same thought at once.
But they couldn't say he was wrong.
If you let a complete outsider run Konoha… would that really be good for the village? For its ninja?
Chiriku felt like he was finally starting to get Souma's point.
"I was just asking idly," Chiriku said at last. "It's not something that really matters. Compared to that, I should worry about running the Fire Temple properly first."
Running anything wasn't easy.
Just looking after the temple left him exhausted sometimes.
Managing a village?
A whole country?
That would be a hundred times worse.
Just like Souma had said—
Some things really weren't worth him breaking his head over.
"Right, Souma. There's one more thing I wanted your opinion on," Chiriku said, suddenly thinking of Aburame Shibi. "The Aburame clan is cooperating with you, aren't they?"
"The new Parasitic Bugs are my project," Souma admitted.
"They want to trade secret techniques with us," Chiriku said. "Exchange their bug contract for our method of training Sage chakra."
Souma was folding up waste paper as he replied, "The bug project is something I'm leading. If the Fire Temple's interested, joining in wouldn't be a bad choice."
"Can you elaborate?"
"Parasitic Bugs have the ability to evolve," Souma said. "They can feed on chakra. I'm currently researching how to use Sage chakra as their food, to push them toward 'Sage-type' evolution. We've had some success so far."
"Feeding on Sage chakra?" Chiriku repeated, taken aback. "Bugs evolved that way… you're saying they can handle natural energy on their own?"
"As far as we can tell, yes," Souma nodded.
Ō was already capable of absorbing natural energy—weakly, but it was there.
Chiriku fell into deep thought.
If that was true, the bugs' potential was enormous.
The Aburame sharing their bug contract with the Fire Temple was already a very genuine offer.
It was definitely worth serious thought.
"We already have an agreement anyway," Souma said. "Why not roll all this into a single framework?"
"Mm. We'll discuss it," Chiriku said. "First, we'll talk with Lord Third. If the Fire Temple and Konoha do deepen their cooperation, then exchanging with the Aburame wouldn't be impossible."
Once the serious topics were done, Chiriku and Shiraishi finally brought up their real, burning purpose—
Sage Mode.
They'd come all this way, primarily to receive direct guidance from Souma and experience Sage Mode firsthand.
Souma had no reason to refuse.
With Asuma's case as a reference, he was already very practiced at guiding people into Sage Mode.
He took Chiriku and Shiraishi out of the institute and into the Forest of Death, then personally began walking them through how to enter the state.
With his spiritual power now enhanced, Souma could distribute his senses even more finely. Helping Chiriku and Shiraishi was no problem at all.
Chiriku, at least, was impressive.
His chakra control and raw strength were both top-tier, and his research into Sage Clan Talent went far beyond Asuma's.
After just half a day, he managed to enter Sage Mode once.
He only held it for one or two seconds—
But that was enough to show them it was possible.
If Chiriku could do it, then so could the rest of the Fire Temple.
Of course—
Elder Shiraishi quickly discovered that people could not be painted with the same brush.
By the end of the first day, he hadn't made even a little progress.
He understood all the theories. But understanding was one thing…
Doing it was another.
"There is a threshold for this mode," Souma said, not particularly surprised. "Just because you can refine Sage chakra doesn't mean you can perfectly enter Sage Mode."
"So I have no chance, then?" Shiraishi asked, a little hollow.
Souma shook his head.
"Not necessarily. If you keep at it, you might still get there," he said. "But the Fire Temple's Sage Mode relies heavily on self-control. Just being able to enter it doesn't mean you can use it in real combat."
"I know," Shiraishi sighed.
Sage Mode wasn't cabbage on a roadside stall.
He hadn't even fully mastered Sage Clan Talent in his youth. To be able to personally feel Sage Mode even once would already make his life complete.
As for battle—
At this age, what was there to fight for?
Shiraishi let out a helpless chuckle.
And then couldn't help thinking—
If only Souma had been born thirty or forty years earlier.
Would he have had a chance to properly master this technique?
As for Chiriku—
That afternoon, he managed to enter Sage Mode twice.
With Asuma's experience to lean on, his progress really was much faster.
His "Buddha-form" was more complete than Asuma's, though still a fair bit behind Souma's—
Mostly in the "卍" symbol and the full-body coverage.
But he'd only just started, and was already at Asuma's level.
When it came to the Sage arts, Chiriku's groundwork was clearly much deeper than his junior's.
It was a pity—
He was the temple's head monk.
There was no way he could stay in Konoha long-term. Once he'd fully grasped Sage Mode, he'd have to go back to the Fire Temple.
On the other hand, before they left, the Parasitic Bugs gave them a thorough fleece.
In the process, Chiriku got to see the new strain of bugs for himself.
His first reaction was—
Just what kind of monster is Souma trying to breed?
One or two of these bugs were nothing special.
What was terrifying was that every bug in the forest now shared that trait.
After they fed on Sage chakra, their aura noticeably sharpened.
And this was after only a few months of research.
What would they become in a few years?
A few decades?
The more Choriku thought about it, the more tempted he was.
Once they left the institute, what choices the Fire Temple would make—
Souma wouldn't interfere.
He had more than enough on his plate already.
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