Chapter 574: Pursuing Bloodline Purity and the Tenseigan
Kenichi sat atop the Hokage Rock, overlooking Konoha below.
The village looked exactly as it always had, seemingly untouched by everything he had revealed the previous day.
But that calm was only superficial.
Kenichi knew very well that Konoha had already changed.
More accurately, the entire Shinobi World had begun to shift after yesterday's revelations.
People's hearts were no longer at peace.
Beneath the seemingly tranquil surface, powerful undercurrents were already moving.
Yesterday, Kenichi had exposed Black Zetsu's existence, Akatsuki's conspiracy, Madara's schemes, and the greatest threat currently facing the Shinobi World: Isshiki Otsutsuki.
The revelation had thrown the entire Shinobi World into turmoil.
Whether they liked it or not, Kumogakure, Sunagakure, and Iwagakure had all agreed to cooperate against the coming disaster.
Under the combined pressure of Kenichi and the Sage of Six Paths, the leaders of those villages had clearly understood something.
If they refused to cooperate and tried to sit back while everyone else fought, Kenichi and Hagoromo would never allow them to simply reap the benefits afterward.
Of course, Kenichi himself had never actually intended to force them like that.
His main objective was much simpler.
He wanted to test this timeline's Isshiki and observe all of his abilities.
That way, when Kenichi returned to his original timeline and faced his own Isshiki, he would already know what kinds of trump cards to prepare.
According to Kenichi's deductions, the Isshiki in this world should be stronger than the one in his original timeline.
This version had been given far more time to recover.
As long as Kenichi could observe his methods and combat style, he could roughly estimate what the Isshiki waiting for him back home might be capable of.
Thinking of that made Kenichi feel slightly more relaxed.
He continued looking down at Konoha, his expression thoughtful.
Naruto and Sasuke had originally been candidates to be taken away for special training.
After all, Kenichi had openly declared that the two would eventually become the hope of the Shinobi World and grow into extraordinary powerhouses.
However, because Kenichi himself was already training them, the other villages had wisely refrained from interfering.
Instead, Konoha simply suspended mission assignments for Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata.
For the foreseeable future, Team 7's only responsibility was training under Kenichi and becoming stronger.
At that moment, Naruto and Sasuke were practicing ninjutsu in the forest behind him.
Hinata was nearby, trying to shorten the amount of time she needed to enter Sage Mode.
"Big brother, why don't we have to do missions anymore?"
Naruto looked toward Kenichi curiously.
Only yesterday, he had been thinking about taking another C-rank mission to challenge himself.
Then everything suddenly changed.
Team 7 no longer needed to accept missions at all.
They only had to train.
"Because your responsibility right now isn't completing missions."
Kenichi's expression remained calm.
"It's becoming stronger."
Kenichi knew the real reason.
But he had no intention of telling Naruto and Sasuke everything yet.
The truth was far too heavy.
Placing the fate of the entire Shinobi World onto the shoulders of two children was absurd.
Then again, Kenichi had somewhat contradicted himself already.
Originally, he had planned to leave Naruto and Sasuke alone and allow them to follow their own paths.
But in order to obtain a second time machine, Kenichi had ultimately chosen to reveal nearly everything.
If he wanted another time machine, Hagoromo was his only realistic option.
And Kenichi had no idea where Hagoromo had originally found the device that had struck him and sent him into this timeline.
Kenichi had already spent an enormous amount of time searching for the first machine.
Trying to locate another one hidden somewhere in the world could take an equally ridiculous amount of time.
So Kenichi had chosen a simpler method.
Make Hagoromo hand one over personally.
The problem was that the Sage of Six Paths spent most of his time hidden within the Pure Land.
Ordinary events were not enough to draw him out.
Kenichi had even considered whether allowing Black Zetsu's scheme to continue until Kaguya was resurrected might have been enough to force Hagoromo to appear.
And based on what Kenichi had seen in his own world...
He even suspected that Hagoromo might have known more about Black Zetsu than he let on.
Perhaps the Sage of Six Paths had been aware of Black Zetsu's activities all along and deliberately allowed them to continue, wanting to see whether his mother, Kaguya, had changed during her long imprisonment.
Otherwise, why had Hagoromo always seemed so calm about the possibility of Kaguya returning?
He had even prepared countermeasures in advance for the possibility of her breaking free.
That old man was far more calculating than he appeared.
However, even Hagoromo seemed to have overlooked one critical existence.
Isshiki Otsutsuki.
Almost no one knew Isshiki was still alive.
Kenichi suspected Hagoromo had been ignorant of him as well.
That was why Isshiki had been the perfect bait.
Reveal Isshiki.
Force Hagoromo to appear.
Then exchange the information for the time machine Kenichi wanted.
That had been Kenichi's plan from the beginning.
And judging from the result, it had worked extremely well.
"Getting stronger is fine with me."
Sasuke clenched his fists.
"I encountered... that man recently."
His voice grew colder.
"My strength is still too weak."
Sasuke looked directly at Kenichi.
"Kenichi-sensei, please teach me how to become stronger."
He struggled to suppress the anger burning inside him.
He had finally encountered Itachi again.
Yet before Sasuke could even truly fight him, Itachi had simply left.
More importantly, the way Itachi had looked at him told Sasuke everything he needed to know.
Even with the three-tomoe Sharingan he had awakened under Kenichi's guidance, Sasuke was still nowhere near his older brother's level.
Kenichi glanced toward him.
Sasuke's situation was rather complicated.
Itachi's role in the original story had always been strange, somewhere between villain and tragic protector.
That was probably the result of the story being adjusted later.
Regardless, Kenichi believed Sasuke was better off learning the truth now.
If Sasuke continued living with hatred for years before eventually discovering everything on his own, the consequences could become far worse.
Better to explain it while there was still room to correct his path.
Once Sasuke matured with years of hatred fermented inside him like bitter wine, changing his mindset would become much harder.
"Your true enemy isn't actually Itachi."
Sasuke froze.
He looked up at Kenichi in disbelief.
Kenichi scratched his head.
Explaining the full story of Itachi and the Uchiha Clan would be extremely troublesome.
There were far too many layers.
The conflict between clan and village.
Danzo's manipulation.
The coup.
Itachi's choices.
Konoha itself had already changed considerably because of Kenichi's presence, so allowing Sasuke to understand part of the truth now did not seem like a bad idea.
Kenichi decided against explaining everything verbally.
Too troublesome.
His Mangekyo activated.
Genjutsu enveloped Sasuke.
Kenichi simply allowed him to see the truth for himself.
The impossible choice Itachi had faced between the Uchiha Clan and Konoha.
The burden his older brother had carried.
And the filthy things Danzo had done behind the scenes.
The revelation would undoubtedly strike Sasuke hard.
For years, the enemy he had sworn to kill had been Itachi.
Now that enemy was being revealed as someone who had walked through darkness while carrying both Sasuke and the clan's burden.
Meanwhile, Konoha, the village that presented itself as righteous and magnificent, suddenly looked much more calculating and dirty.
But a festering wound had to be opened eventually.
Better for Kenichi to lance it now, while the infection was still manageable.
If he waited until the wound rotted deeper, the consequences would be much worse.
In the original future, Sasuke's eventual conflict with Naruto had also been heavily influenced by the truth surrounding Itachi.
Kenichi watched the dazed Sasuke and yawned.
He had originally wanted to conduct more research today.
Unfortunately, Naruto, Sasuke, and Hinata still needed his guidance.
The leaders of the other hidden villages had also returned home to discuss how they would respond to Isshiki.
As for Black Zetsu...
Hagoromo had taken him away.
Apparently, the Sage of Six Paths intended to have a proper conversation with his own younger brother.
What exactly they were discussing was anyone's guess.
Probably family matters.
Either way, Kenichi no longer needed to worry about Black Zetsu.
Hagoromo had remained silent about Black Zetsu for so long because he clearly had his own considerations.
Now that he had personally taken Black Zetsu away for a familial discussion, he naturally had his own plans as well.
Whatever happened next was Hagoromo's problem.
Kenichi did not need to interfere.
The only thing Kenichi remained curious about was what Hagoromo intended to do regarding Hashirama and Madara.
At this point in history, Madara's strength had probably already surpassed Hashirama's.
A Madara possessing the Rinnegan was extraordinarily powerful.
Still, compared with the current Kage, Hashirama would also be far more capable of contributing in a battle against Isshiki.
"Big brother, how should I keep getting stronger?"
Naruto looked toward Kenichi while casually rotating a Rasengan in his palm.
Kenichi thought about it.
For most people, that might have been a difficult question.
For Naruto?
The answer was almost comically simple.
How did Naruto fight in the future?
Rasengan.
Bigger Rasengan.
Different kinds of Rasengan.
Sage Mode, then Rasengan.
Tailed Beast chakra cloak, then Rasengan.
Whenever there was any doubt whatsoever...
Use another Rasengan.
At this point, Naruto might as well have changed his name to Uzumaki Rasengan.
"It's simple."
Kenichi yawned.
"Keep improving the Rasengan."
"Master Sage Mode."
"And start communicating properly with the big fox inside you."
That was probably the simplest path toward accelerating Naruto's growth.
Naruto's development route was already perfectly viable.
Kenichi even knew what path Sasuke should follow in the future.
Hinata, however...
Kenichi glanced toward the girl.
Hinata stood there with an adorably blank expression.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
In the original future, Hinata had never played an especially significant role in high-level battles.
The Byakugan looked extremely powerful early in the story.
But later, compared with the increasingly ridiculous abilities of the Sharingan, it fell far behind.
Still, Hinata herself possessed something unique.
Her bloodline was extremely pure.
Even Toneri Otsutsuki, that troublesome man on the moon, had specifically acknowledged the purity of her Byakugan.
So Hinata's path was not actually a dead end.
The story simply had never developed it far enough.
If her Byakugan were allowed to evolve further along its bloodline path, her potential could become completely different.
Hinata's future route should therefore focus on bloodline evolution.
Kenichi stared at her Byakugan.
He remembered that the ultimate evolution associated with the Byakugan was the Tenseigan.
It was extraordinarily powerful.
A dojutsu capable of standing alongside the Rinnegan.
And since the Tenseigan was related to an Otsutsuki bloodline...
"Hina, come here."
Kenichi beckoned.
Hinata immediately obeyed.
She walked over and quietly stood beside him.
Every so often, however, her eyes drifted toward Naruto.
Naruto remained completely oblivious.
Kenichi was almost speechless.
That little brat really was unbelievably dense.
Calling Naruto completely insensitive would not be accurate, since he had displayed extremely obvious feelings for Sakura in the original story.
But outside of Sakura, he seemed remarkably oblivious to almost everyone else.
Especially Hinata.
Hinata's feelings might not truly register with Naruto until Nagato had him pinned down and Hinata stepped forward to protect him.
And even then, whether Naruto fully understood them at the time was debatable.
"Hinata."
Kenichi looked at her.
"Do you want to become stronger?"
Hinata blinked.
Her first instinct was to glance toward Naruto.
Then she hesitated briefly before nodding.
Kenichi's mouth twitched.
Was she seriously choosing to become stronger because of Naruto?
Then again...
That really did fit Hinata's personality.
"In that case..."
Kenichi carefully studied her.
He had researched Hinata's genetics before.
At the time, he had reached an agreement with Hiashi and obtained biological samples from Hinata for analysis.
Compared with Sasuke and several others, Hinata's genetic structure possessed some similarities but also clear differences.
The distinction was probably connected to her descent from Hamura Otsutsuki, Hagoromo's younger brother.
The effect was not overwhelming after so many generations, but the traces were still there.
Kenichi was confident that he could strengthen Hinata's Otsutsuki bloodline.
And if he succeeded in elevating it far enough, awakening the Tenseigan should naturally become possible.
He immediately began considering taking Hinata to the laboratory.
First, he would need to implant or reconstruct a stronger Otsutsuki bloodline within her.
Then another problem occurred to him.
Hinata's genetics were the product of countless generations of inheritance.
Compared with Hamura himself, her bloodline had naturally become much more diluted.
If Kenichi implanted genetic material closer to Hagoromo's lineage into Hinata...
Would that create problems?
"It probably wouldn't matter too much..."
Kenichi paused.
"No. Wait."
Another possibility suddenly occurred to him.
Kaguya.
When Kaguya first appeared, her natural eyes had not been ordinary Rinnegan.
She possessed two Byakugan.
And on her forehead was the Rinne Sharingan.
In a sense, Kaguya carried characteristics later associated with both of her sons.
The Byakugan connected to Hamura.
The Rinnegan lineage associated with Hagoromo.
And she herself possessed something even greater than either one individually.
If Kenichi obtained Hamura's genetics...
Then isolated and combined the useful Otsutsuki traits from both bloodlines...
Could he move himself closer to Kaguya's level?
Kenichi's expression became thoughtful.
In other words, what he needed next was genetic material from Hamura's direct line.
And Hamura's remains should still be on the moon.
Kenichi slowly raised his head and looked toward the sky.
It seemed a trip to the moon was unavoidable.
Only by going there could he gain more material for strengthening both Hinata and himself.
And potentially obtain additional trump cards for whatever waited in the future.
Fortunately, Naruto and Sasuke still needed plenty of time to train and mature.
Kenichi had time.
A trip to the moon would fit into his schedule perfectly.
....
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