Chapter 23: An Encounter
However, when he thought about it carefully, Naruto had not even been born yet. Deidara was probably still just a kid somewhere in the Land of Earth. Recruiting him now was nothing more than a fantasy, so Kenichi Amamiya temporarily shelved the idea of hunting down Deidara as a future talent.
Besides, when it came to recruiting talent…
Kenichi thought of a child he had glimpsed once in passing, someone who seemed to be doing errands for Danzo. The boy's appearance faintly resembled Kabuto.
Kenichi shook his head. Even if that really was Kabuto, Danzo had already marked him as a useful tool. There was no way Kenichi could poach him any time soon. That would have to be left for the future.
"How is the experiment record coming along?"
Orochimaru's voice pulled Kenichi back from his thoughts. Kenichi immediately handed over the experiment log he was holding.
After Orochimaru finished reading and nodded in satisfaction, Kenichi finally let out the breath he had been holding and left the underground base alongside his teacher.
Right now, the Hidden Leaf Village was relatively peaceful. The Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, had already proven his strength in the previous war, and there was no longer an old and visibly weakening Hiruzen Sarutobi at the top.
At this point in time, Konoha's overall combat power was still very strong. Even the Raikage of the Hidden Cloud did not dare harbor any obvious ill intentions toward the village.
"But being targeted by Obito is probably worse than being targeted by any other village, isn't it?" Kenichi rubbed his chin. In the end, the ones who caused the biggest trouble were always the hot blooded youth.
If Obito had been willing to actually talk things through and understand what had really happened, the entire Naruto timeline might have turned out very differently.
Thinking of the Mangekyou Sharingan in Obito's eyes, Kenichi could not help feeling a little envious. Kamui was a terrifying eye technique, but more importantly, it was convenient.
The Kamui space looked huge. If he could obtain Kamui, he could build a completely independent laboratory inside that different dimension. It would be safe, secure, and completely untouchable.
Unfortunately, the eye techniques of the Sharingan were born from the strongest desires and traumas of each individual Uchiha. They were not something that could be designed and controlled at will.
And to be honest, Kenichi was not even sure if he could ever awaken the Mangekyou Sharingan himself.
"Obito's eye is a Mangekyou Sharingan with Kamui, and Kakashi's eye has Kamui as well. Theoretically, studying either of their eyes should yield the same results."
Kenichi casually bought two skewers of three colored dango and took a bite.
The three colored dumplings were actually quite good.
Just as he was about to take a bite from the second skewer, Kenichi suddenly felt a strong gaze on him. His instincts made him turn his head. Ninjas were especially sensitive to being watched.
Looking over, Kenichi saw a small child staring fixedly at the dango in his hand.
The kid was wearing the clearly recognizable fan crest of the Uchiha clan.
"Want some?" Kenichi asked the little Uchiha in front of him.
There were a lot of young ninja in the village these days, and this child seemed unusually quiet and well behaved. Kenichi wondered which adult had brought him out.
The boy nodded subconsciously, then quickly shook his head, which made Kenichi both amused and helpless. So did he want to eat or not?
Even so, Kenichi still held out one of the skewers of three colored dango. After hesitating for a moment, the boy accepted it and shyly whispered his thanks.
"Itachi, what are you doing here?"
An anxious voice called out as a figure landed beside the boy in a flash, an Uchiha ninja who immediately swept a sharp glance at Kenichi.
Kenichi still kept his childish smile, but inwardly he was quite surprised.
The little boy in front of him was actually Itachi Uchiha, future butcher of his own clan and the man Sasuke would hate for most of his life.
However, while Itachi would one day become terrifyingly strong, right now he was still just a child. The one who really drew Kenichi's attention was the ninja standing protectively in front of him.
Uchiha Shisui.
A genius ninja. In Kenichi's eyes, though, Shisui's most terrifying aspect was his Mangekyou Sharingan. Kotoamatsukami was simply too absurdly powerful.
If its cooldown had been very short, Shisui might have been able to use that genjutsu to truly bring peace to the ninja world.
"I noticed he kept staring at the dango in my hand, so I gave him a skewer," Kenichi explained with an easy smile.
Although he knew this man was Shisui, Kenichi was not especially worried.
Kotoamatsukami could not be used lightly, even if Shisui suddenly lost his mind. Besides, Shisui still looked pretty young. There was no guarantee he had even awakened his Mangekyou yet.
"Thank you," Shisui said politely, but he did not let his guard down as he gathered Itachi and led him away.
After they left, Shisui used his own methods to check the dango and was relieved to confirm that there was no poison.
Kenichi himself did not feel much about this chance encounter with Shisui and Itachi. At the moment, Konoha was genuinely at peace, and with the Fourth Hokage in office, the Uchiha clan had relaxed a little as well.
Minato was wary of the Uchiha, but he was nowhere near as extreme as Danzo, who wanted them wiped out as soon as possible.
It was a pity about Shisui. He should have used Kotoamatsukami on Danzo directly instead of naively hoping Danzo would suddenly become loyal to the Uchiha. Even just adjusting Danzo so that he regarded the Uchiha clan more favorably would have been enough.
If that had happened, the Uchiha clan would not have been forced all the way to rebellion. They would not have been isolated by the entire village and ultimately destroyed.
"Kotoamatsukami… tsk. I really want it."
Kenichi licked his lips unconsciously. Kotoamatsukami was too powerful. It was basically a strategic level weapon. Used properly, it could alter the situation of the entire world.
He shook his head. These thoughts were still too wild and far off.
Right now, what he needed was steady development: grow stronger step by step, then eventually dominate the ninja world, and finally take down the Otsutsuki clan.
If he could study their starships and the rest of their alien technology, he could trigger an enormous technological shift across the entire ninja world.
If everything went smoothly, Naruto's son would not need to burn himself away to become fuel. Kenichi could turn the Otsutsuki themselves into the fuel that propelled the ninja world forward.
Of course, you still had to eat your meal one bite at a time.
After dinner, Kenichi stopped by the bookstore to check whether another volume of Icha Icha Paradise had been released. Then he headed off to find his teacher.
He wanted to test using Impure World Reincarnation to summon the First Hokage. Having Orochimaru backing him up was obviously the safest option.
Once he confirmed that he could dispel Impure World Reincarnation at any moment, he would begin his Sage Mode study plan in earnest.
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