Chapter 195: Tomie Commits to Fighting Seisui to the Bitter End! The Birth of Naruto and Sasuke, and the Curiosity of the Sage of Six Paths!
Tomie blinked forcefully.
An optical glitch?
Yet the intelligence dashboard projected within her consciousness remained entirely static. It displayed nothing but a uniform wall of question marks.
Observing Tomie's paralyzed expression, Orochimaru and Tsunade, who were accompanying Hiruzen Sarutobi on his executive inspection, exchanged a knowing glance. Both offered a silent, professional smile.
When they had first witnessed Hiruzen physically dominating Hanzo of the Salamander, their expressions had been significantly more exaggerated than Tomie's current state.
Orochimaru and Tsunade were well aware that ever since Hiruzen began experiencing his "prophetic dreams" of Tobirama several years ago, he had completely abandoned the rigid, bureaucratic red tape of the past.
Not only had he initiated sweeping, aggressive corporate reforms across the village, but he had evidently embraced a vast portfolio of forbidden jutsu to optimize his own combat metrics.
Leveraging his foundational pedigree as the disciple of the Second Hokage and the "Professor of Ninjutsu," it was impossible to calculate the sheer volume of experimental bio-modifications he had subjected himself to.
What Orochimaru and Tsunade had not anticipated, however, was the staggering altitude their Sensei had reached.
Whether it was the Uzumaki clan's ultimate forbidden architecture, the Myriad Seals Body Integration Mark, or the synthesis of various artificial Kekkei Genkai...
If a jutsu offered a viable pathway to scaling his kinetic yield, Hiruzen would quietly decompile and master it in absolute secrecy, rarely tapping into the village's public R&D budget.
More importantly, his integration protocols were flawlessly successful!
His combat metrics were skyrocketing!
During private gatherings of the Sarutobi squad, Orochimaru, Jiraiya, and Tsunade frequently shared a similar sentiment: their Sensei had operated as the village's pragmatic, conservative executive for so long that the market had forgotten he was originally a generational prodigy.
In a sense, Hiruzen's current operational output had shattered the historical filters surrounding his youth, placing him on absolute parity with the Second Hokage and rapidly approaching the god-tier metrics of the First.
"How is this possible..."
"My ocular penetration cannot breach Lord Hokage's biological firewall. I am wielding a Mangekyou!"
Following the awakening of these eyes, this was the very first time Tomie had encountered an absolute system rejection.
In Tomie's estimation, deploying Kuebiko in its lowest-power diagnostic mode consumed minimal ocular bandwidth. Consequently, she had developed a habit of casually auditing the stat panels of random Konoha operatives during her daily commute.
She had even privately criticized Elder Isshin's conservative stance. The veteran had strictly warned her that Mangekyou ocular power was a finite, non-renewable resource that demanded extreme operational discipline.
Tomie had simply assumed her biological hardware was superior.
She lacked the medical literacy to realize that her Mangekyou possessed an abnormally high durability and mild regenerative capacity because she had consumed massive quantities of Shio Uzumaki's blood, saturating her system with extreme Uzumaki vitality and chakra density.
Within Seisui's vessel, Tobirama and Izuna both chuckled inwardly.
As Hiruzen's closest proxy partners during his cultivation of the Evil Sealing Method, these two fully comprehended the Hokage's current resistance profile. Hiruzen's defense against visual genjutsu and Yin-release ocular incursions was absolute—a standard three-tomoe Uchiha burning maximum chakra could not register a single millimeter of psychological impact.
Even against a Mangekyou Sharingan, a low-yield diagnostic probe like Tomie's was completely ineffective.
Izuna had already run the clinical tests himself, leading him to a profound conclusion: Fuinjutsu is truly a miraculous architecture...
"Ah, I apologize. I overlooked the interference..."
Noticing Tomie's bewildered paralysis, Hiruzen offered a warm, accommodating smile. "My recent integration of advanced sealing arts has established an automated baseline defense. I will temporarily suspend the suppression protocols. Please, Tomie, do not feel restricted. We are all corporate stakeholders here; my tactical intelligence is not classified among trusted assets."
"Consider this a sanctioned training exercise to benchmark your ocular jutsu against anomalous, high-tier targets. It will optimize your situational awareness for future combat deployments."
Instantly, the dashboard within Tomie's vision shifted.
The entire UI framework seemed to be caught in a localized gravitational distortion, warping into a volatile, semi-translucent state. The question marks that previously populated the data fields were being physically dragged and stretched.
This occurred because the moment Tomie's ocular chakra made contact with Hiruzen's physical vessel, it was violently decompiled and absorbed as if swallowed by a singularity.
Without a continuous, high-density flow of ocular power to sustain the connection, the diagnostic interface initiated a crash sequence.
Tomie nodded, her mind racing.
Fuinjutsu?
She hadn't detected any standard operational signatures of sealing arts. There were no visible chakra fluctuations, no hand seals...
"Don't the historical archives state that Mangekyou ocular jutsu possess virtually zero counter-mechanisms?" Tomie mused internally. "It seems our ancestors were fond of launching fraudulent PR campaigns..."
Focusing her absolute concentration, Tomie surged her chakra output, the intricate Mangekyou patterns spinning to life.
She understood that the Hokage was deliberately facilitating her development. The shinobi market was saturated with anomalous threats and bizarre combat architectures. Attempting to rely solely on her diagnostic jutsu against easily readable targets would leave her fatally exposed when confronting a genuine, high-threat executive.
This was a highly sanitized, risk-free stress test provided by the village's supreme commander!
"In shinobi warfare, intelligence supremacy dictates operational survival."
"Lord Hokage is not only granting me clearance to audit his metrics, but actively coaching me to refine my combat application!" Tomie felt a profound surge of institutional gratitude toward Hiruzen's benevolent leadership.
What she failed to realize was that Hiruzen genuinely did not care if his combat mechanics were cataloged.
He was not an operative who relied on elaborate, highly choreographed jutsu combos that could be countered via strategic espionage. His entire combat doctrine was anchored upon overwhelming, brute-force numerical superiority.
Even if an adversary downloaded his complete stat sheet, formulating a viable countermeasure was virtually impossible.
His portfolio consisted entirely of apocalyptic speed, devastating kinetic force, unbreakable physical durability, absolute crowd-control immunity, and flawless mastery over the five fundamental elemental natures.
The Hokage possessed zero reliance on flashy, vulnerable gimmicks.
Taking a deep breath, Tomie simultaneously engaged both ocular jutsu, pushing their operational yield to maximum capacity.
The activation of Kotoshironushi initiated the Epiphany state. A faint, abyssal-black aura seemed to radiate from her eyes, granting her a profound, divine intuition that drastically amplified the efficiency of any jutsu she deployed.
Concurrently, Kuebiko entered its deep-dive analytical mode.
Hiruzen actively retracted the automated defenses of the Evil Sealing Method, genuinely curious to see the upper limits of Tomie's ocular capabilities.
However, he could not entirely disable his systemic genjutsu resistance; doing so would require manually un-tensing his very cellular structure. As Ashina Uzumaki had theorized, Hiruzen had achieved the insane milestone of "Human-Seal Unification"—his physical body was now a living, evolving fuinjutsu matrix.
"It breached the firewall..."
"I have the data! I see it!" Tomie's eyes lit up with triumph as she pushed her ocular output to the redline.
Successfully parsing an apex executive of the Hokage's caliber was an immense developmental milestone for her optical hardware.
The distorted UI stabilized, rendering a comprehensive intelligence readout.
In this deep-dive state, Kuebiko extracted the target's core parameters, leveraging Tomie's own analytical capacity to translate the raw chakra signatures into structured data:
[Target possesses extreme biological vitality, physical durability, and spiritual density. Comprehensive metrics surpass any previously audited entity.]
[Possesses all seven fundamental chakra natures. Target demonstrates absolute mastery across the spectrum, accompanied by traces of high-level chakra fusion. Highly probable access to proprietary sealing and kinetic-amplification capabilities.]
[Target's physical architecture exhibits extreme, hyper-dense fuinjutsu properties. Incoming ocular chakra is currently experiencing rapid decompilation and absorption. Extrapolated data suggests analogous absorption phenomena occur against all other incoming elemental chakra attacks.]
[Projected absolute immunity/extreme resistance to Genjutsu, Fire Release, and Water Release. Suspected capacity to absorb and dismantle incoming jutsu architecture.]
[A massive, hyper-compressed reservoir of chakra is localized behind the target's forehead. Suspected capacity for instantaneous, single-burst kinetic deployment.]
[Target's internal network contains an unanalyzable anomaly—projected to be a bespoke, synthetic chakra polymer. This structure exponentially scales physical durability, chakra density, and jutsu execution velocity.]
Reviewing the intelligence dump provided by Kuebiko, Tomie fell into a stunned, absolute silence.
What did this data even imply?
It meant the Hokage was a walking, sentient forbidden sealing matrix.
A matrix equipped with god-tier speed, apocalyptic strength, flawless mastery over all seven natures, and multiple proprietary Kekkei Genkai?
Furthermore, he possessed a strategic reserve analogous to Lady Mito's Yin Seal, held as an ultimate trump card for absolute escalation?
This was...
Tomie suddenly let out a soft, self-deprecating laugh of pure liberation.
She finally understood why Clan Head Isshin—despite successfully awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan—had become exponentially more humble and low-profile. She understood why Seisui, despite being an Uchiha, had been smoothly granted security clearance to master the Flying Thunder God.
She understood why the Hokage could wave a hand and aggressively scale the combat power of notoriously volatile noble clans without a second thought.
While it was certainly anchored in his mastery of the Will of Fire, interest alignment, and corporate team-building...
The core structural reality was that his personal combat metrics were lightyears ahead of everyone else's!
He possessed the absolute, uncontested kinetic deterrence required to underwrite his entire administrative vision.
"If I were to initiate hostile combat protocols against an operative of the Hokage's caliber..." The thought involuntarily drifted into Tomie's mind.
In that exact microsecond, the Epiphany state granted by Kotoshironushi triggered a catastrophic system alarm!
The entire perimeter of Tomie's vision was flooded with an aggressive, suffocating crimson hue bordering on pitch black. A deafening, localized siren roared within her consciousness, mimicking the apocalyptic wail of Konoha's village-wide wartime evacuation alarms!
This was the absolute predictive warning of Kotoshironushi.
"A completely unsurvivable engagement?"
Tomie's consciousness wavered. She immediately deactivated the Mangekyou Sharingan, sinking into a profound, humbling silence.
Over the past few months, riding the high of her Mangekyou awakening, Tomie had leveraged her near-invincible intuition to rapidly lock in the correct R&D vectors for several of Konoha's mega-projects.
Orochimaru had repeatedly praised her: "With Tomie on the board, the village has conserved incalculable volumes of budget, manpower, and material resources!"
Furthermore, having discovered that her ocular reserves were unusually resilient, an undeniable, creeping arrogance had begun to root itself in her psychology.
She had genuinely begun to believe her talent placed her at the absolute apex of the village's hierarchy.
Sure, Shio was formidable, and Seisui was highly competent, but since her own development had been bottlenecked by her chronic illness, her explosive, post-recovery trajectory led her to conclude she was the superior asset among the trio!
In the quiet hours of the night, Tomie had even indulged in grandiose corporate fantasies.
Not merely the strongest of the trio—perhaps the premier female operative of the era, or eventually, the supreme combat asset of Konoha entirely?
This was not baseless megalomania. The Mangekyou Sharingan provided a shockingly vertical, immediate escalation in an Uchiha's combat metrics.
The sudden acquisition of this god-tier power, combined with the rare dual-jutsu awakening, her history of terminal illness, the bizarre physiological synergy between Uzumaki and Uchiha traits, and the deliberate psychological conditioning administered by Tobirama and Shio...
This volatile cocktail of variables had left Tomie severely intoxicated on her own hype.
Yet Hiruzen Sarutobi stood before her like an unscalable, primordial mountain.
The sheer, suffocating gravity of his presence instantly snapped her back to objective reality.
She was still lightyears behind.
Immediately following that realization, a profound, almost incomprehensible confusion washed over her.
With kinetic force this absolute, why had the Hokage never deployed hardline, authoritarian methods to resolve administrative friction?
Throughout Konoha's recent developmental history, virtually every major crisis had been resolved by executives sitting down at the negotiation table.
Even the Uchiha clan's complex, generation-spanning historical liabilities had been untangled and resolved with a mutually beneficial outcome. The Hokage's terrifying martial power was never brandished as a diplomatic threat.
"What an unfathomable synthesis of character and strength..." Tomie murmured in genuine reverence.
What Tomie failed to realize was that Hiruzen's martial supremacy was the exact foundational variable that made those negotiations possible.
It simply never needed to be overtly displayed.
Whether it was Isshin or Tenzo Hyuga, or Orochimaru and Danzo.
Whether they were High Commissioners, standard field operatives, feudal lords of the Land of Fire, or visiting international merchants...
They all possessed advanced survival instincts.
Hiruzen's combat power was not a blunt instrument used to force submission; it was the structural guarantee that forced everyone to calm down, suppress their egos, and engage in rational, good-faith dialogue.
In many corporate conflicts, the hardest phase isn't the negotiation itself—it's getting the hostile parties to sit at the table in the first place.
"What data did you extract, Tomie?" Tobirama asked, unable to contain his curiosity.
Had his beloved disciple secretly engaged in highly volatile forbidden jutsu cultivation?
Tobirama felt a spike of genuine anxiety. He prayed Hiruzen hadn't succumbed to the crushing administrative pressure and taken a hazardous shortcut, losing his way on the treacherous path of forbidden arts.
Konoha could not survive without him!
"Even if I briefed you, you lack the processing capacity to comprehend it. Young operatives must remain grounded in reality."
Tomie cast a sidelong glance at Tobirama, her tone thick with profound, seasoned wisdom: "Certain individuals harbor the delusion that they are the paramount prodigies of Konoha. Yet when benchmarked against genuine apex predators..."
Tomie shook her head with a dramatic sigh. "Do not allow yourself to drown in the superficial glory of your bloodline. You will merely squander your operational timeline until you hit a hard ceiling and find yourself paralyzed with panic."
Tobirama's face turned the color of charcoal.
Brat, I was slaughtering fully-grown Uchiha on the battlefield before you were even a genetic concept!
Are you seriously trying to lecture me on operational seniority?!
Yet the inescapable reality was that, within the context of this specific generation, Tomie was objectively his senior in age.
"Tomie's assessment is flawlessly accurate, Seisui. Although you possess the hybridized matrix of the Senju and Uchiha, spawning you directly at the finish line for most shinobi, you must never allow that to breed complacency."
Izuna immediately seized the conversational high ground from within: "Across the shinobi market, countless operatives completely devoid of Senju or Uchiha bloodlines have secured monumental, history-altering achievements through sheer, unrelenting execution."
"Some have even reached combat thresholds capable of presenting legitimate kinetic threats to anomalies like my brother and Hashirama."
"Take your grandfather, Tobirama Senju, for example. His core combat doctrine was virtually decoupled from standard Senju biological advantages. Whether it was his terrifying sensory radar or his exhaustive portfolio of forbidden jutsu, his entire arsenal was engineered through relentless, post-natal grind."
"If he had merely rested on the laurels of his Senju chakra reserves, Tobirama Senju would never have qualified as my rival. My greatest operational regret is failing to symmetrically diversify my skill tree beyond the Sharingan architecture..."
Izuna delivered the lecture with the solemn, weighty tone of an elder patriarch.
Tobirama was caught between profound satisfaction and absolute irritation.
On one hand, he was delighted that Izuna had finally, openly conceded to being outclassed by his proprietary combat architecture and operational work ethic.
On the other hand, after so many decades, he felt like he had been dragged back to the Warring States era, being subjected to one of his father Butsuma's trademark comparative lectures.
"What do you children know?! Back to the training grounds!"
"Look at the neighbor's kid!"
Standing nearby, Hiruko watched the entire exchange with an expression of pure, unadulterated bliss. He took a deep, intoxicating breath, savoring the sheer shock and awe radiating from everyone's faces like fine wine.
Back when Hiruzen had physically broken Hanzo, Hiruko had been deeply aggrieved to miss the live broadcast, having only heard the after-action reports from Tsunade and Orochimaru.
Later, when Hiruzen had engaged Jiraiya, the slippery Orochimaru had manipulated the shift schedule, causing Hiruko—the Hokage's number one fanatic—to miss the spectacle yet again!
It had nearly caused his blood vessels to rupture in frustration!
Today, the moment Hiruzen arrived for his inspection, Hiruko had executed a flawless tactical sprint, anchoring himself half a pace behind the Hokage, delivering a non-stop, highly detailed presentation on the R&D division's progress.
In a very real sense, Hiruko was Hiruzen's ultimate corporate loyalist. Seeing others struck dumb by the Hokage's unfathomable power brought a genuine, irrepressible smile to his face.
This is the Hokage I endorse!
A Mangekyou Sharingan was certainly a formidable asset, but this was Konoha.
"Go ahead, speak freely. You have full clearance." Hiruzen asked, his curiosity piqued.
He was genuinely interested in benchmarking the upper limits of Tomie's Mangekyou.
Though Tomie had, under Isshin's strict guidance, maintained total transparency with the village administration regarding her ocular abilities...
Hiruzen still wished to witness the practical application of such an unreasonable, logic-defying intelligence gathering and predictive intuition system.
It reinforced his profound wariness regarding the raw, unhinged potential of the Uchiha clan.
No wonder Grand-Sensei Tobirama deployed such aggressive containment protocols...
Taking a single step that bypasses two thousand years of manual labor and R&D... who wouldn't be paralyzed by that threat model?
Tomie hesitated briefly before reciting the intelligence readout generated by Kuebiko, followed by the catastrophic danger warning supplied by Kotoshironushi.
Hiruzen's expression turned remarkably peculiar.
Having engaged with video games in his past life, the mechanics she described triggered intense nostalgia. It was functionally identical to an "Inspect Stat Panel" paired with a "Lethal Hit Warning HUD."
The Uchiha's imagination was truly boundless.
It certainly lived up to the moniker of the "Eye that Reflects the Heart."
"An exceptionally formidable corporate asset."
Hiruzen pondered aloud: "For a shinobi, intelligence represents a secondary lifebar. Deploying this to forecast R&D vectors is equally revolutionary."
Should Konoha ever face an incursion from a top-tier hostile entity, Tomie's ability could instantaneously neutralize the enemy's informational asymmetry, securing a massive tactical advantage.
For instance, against that unidentified Warring States operative highly suspected to be Madara Uchiha.
Even though, aside from Hiruzen himself, an increasing majority of Konoha's executives were quietly convinced it was Tobirama.
Tomie listened obediently to the Hokage's debrief.
"However, I am also briefed on the structural flaws of Mangekyou ocular power. Every deployment inflicts irreversible degradation upon the optic nerves. Therefore, you must exercise extreme fiscal discipline."
Hiruzen shifted his tone: "Tomie, your abilities possess the capacity to secure a significantly brighter future for the village, but your personal operational longevity is equally critical to our infrastructure."
"You must conserve your ocular capital. Orochimaru has recently briefed me on the derivative research surrounding Lord Hashirama's cells. They have verified that Yin-release chakra—such as the Sharingan—exhibits a suppressive effect against the hyper-volatility of Hashirama's cells."
"More crucially, they have identified a symbiotic derivative phenomenon: Lord Hashirama's cells possess the biological capacity to replenish depleted Sharingan ocular power."
"The contributions you have made to Konoha are permanently logged in the ledger. Both myself and the entire administration will remember it. It is my firm directive that the village's technological output will one day subsidize your personal recovery."
"The day will come when the ocular degradation bottleneck of the Uchiha Mangekyou is permanently and safely resolved."
Hiruzen spoke with absolute, executive gravity.
Over the past two months, reports from Orochimaru and Hiruko regarding Tomie's performance had flooded his desk like a blizzard, continually highlighting the staggering ROI generated by the Mangekyou.
While Hiruzen marveled at the Mangekyou's reality-warping convenience, his primary concern was Tomie's deployment methodology.
Or rather, the trademark "All-In" gambling reflex unique to the Uchiha.
Whether it was Tomie or the usually conservative Isshin, the moment they acquired a new vector for power, they demonstrated a terrifying compulsion to dump their entire hand onto the table at once.
It was as if they believed Mangekyou ocular power came with an expiration date and would void if left unused.
Even Fugaku, who had yet to awaken the Mangekyou, exhibited identical behavioral tendencies when chasing power upgrades.
Hiruzen had been briefed that after failing his integration surgery twice, Fugaku hadn't displayed a single millimeter of hesitation—he just kept rolling the dice!
It made Hiruzen laugh out loud. He was completely out of administrative countermeasures for these red-eyed fanatics.
Therefore, his visit today was specifically engineered to order Tomie to enforce sustainable development protocols regarding her Mangekyou.
He refused to let her burn out as a short-lived firework.
"I understand, Lord Hokage!" Tomie was initially stunned, followed by a profound surge of warmth in her chest.
Was this the sensation of being sheltered by a caring elder?
Tomie had never experienced such familial warmth in her entire life. Her grandfather and grandmother had constantly preached the doctrine of blood vengeance; rather than advising her to conserve her Mangekyou, they likely would have screamed that she wasn't applying enough kinetic pressure.
"Sensei, I am aggressively pushing the pipeline on this initiative. I project we will secure actionable clinical results within three years. Preliminary, mass-market applications of Lord Hashirama's cells will become viable."
"As you are aware, the volatility of Lord Hashirama's cells is catastrophic. Even though we have isolated a suppression protocol, we must execute exhaustive, repetitive clinical trials to guarantee absolute stability and safety."
"We have secured executive clearance from Lady Mito to utilize Yamato's cellular matrix as a control baseline. We are currently finalizing the granular procedural details using the vectors Tomie identified."
Hiruzen nodded, patting Orochimaru's shoulder: "Excellent! I have total, unconditional faith in your management of the R&D division. Ensure all project milestones adhere strictly to compliance protocols. Do not compromise safety margins simply to accelerate output. I am fully capable of securing the village's perimeter and holding the line until the tech matures."
Hiruzen did not deploy the rhetoric he used with Hanzo—"do not rush, but maintain maximum speed."
Amegakure's low-tier manufacturing could be optimized through sheer grit and extended shifts to boost production volume.
But Konoha's R&D division operated on cutting-edge, high-risk, volatile projects. Orochimaru and Hiruko were already operating at maximum bandwidth; applying additional executive pressure would only trigger catastrophic laboratory accidents.
Orochimaru offered a knowing smile. He had predicted Sensei would adopt exactly this posture.
"Tomie, your biological profile is highly anomalous."
Orochimaru continued with analytical precision: "In clinical reality, Lord Hashirama's cells are not the exclusive variable capable of replenishing the Sharingan. Theoretically, any high-density Yang-release chakra and corresponding cellular tissue could trigger the reaction. This includes the Uzumaki bloodline, which shares close biological proximity to the Senju."
"At a foundational level, this represents a highly specialized, symbiotic fusion of Yin and Yang chakra natures."
"You have ingested massive quantities of Shio Uzumaki's blood, which is saturated with her proprietary chakra and extreme vitality. That is the highly probable variable separating your ocular resilience from the standard Mangekyou Uchiha documented in the historical archives."
Tomie's expression contorted in absolute shock.
She had genuinely believed that by deploying her Mangekyou to advance Konoha's R&D—identifying the Box of Ultimate Bliss conversion vector for Seisui, and locating the optimal Tailed Beast chakra sealing pathway for Shio—she had completely balanced the ledger!
The accounts were supposed to be settled!
How was she somehow back in institutional debt to that woman?!
"Why the grimace? This is highly positive data, is it not?"
Orochimaru observed Tomie with a peculiar, calculating look: "Your interpersonal synergy with Shio is exceptionally high, isn't it? I consistently observe the two of you conducting joint cultivation and synchronized R&D sessions."
The operational dynamic between Shio Uzumaki and Tomie strongly reminded Orochimaru of his own historical partnership with Jiraiya.
While the granular details differed, the overarching corporate aesthetic was virtually identical, merely gender-swapped.
As for Seisui, who occasionally contributed to their theoretical debates, Orochimaru categorized him as the 'Tsunade' of their triad. The bond density was noticeably inferior.
Coupled with Seisui's aggressively low emotional intelligence, Orochimaru's professional assessment was that the boy would eventually be marginalized to the periphery.
However, Orochimaru suspected Seisui would not register a single complaint, because their psychological profiles were remarkably similar.
The "Tobirama Faction" of R&D shinobi historically harbored zero interest in romantic entanglements; they possessed far too many critical operational deliverables to execute.
Seisui was arguably even more reclusive than Orochimaru.
Much like holding a conversation with himself, Seisui would frequently freeze mid-sentence, struck by sudden technical inspiration, before returning home after his shift to converse solely with his younger brothers, displaying zero interest in external networking.
Even regarding the issue of securing an heir—given Konoha's current trajectory of biotechnological acceleration, Orochimaru theorized he could simply synthesize a bespoke clone in the lab down the line.
Perhaps not just one or two, but six or seven, depending entirely on market demand and personal preference.
"I suppose it is highly functional..." Tomie replied, keeping her facial muscles rigidly controlled. "That woman simply lacks volume control during operational hours."
"No one is querying you on her vocal habits."
Orochimaru chuckled. "In summary: if your ocular power is deployed with optimized methodology, it will simultaneously generate positive feedback loops for Shio Uzumaki's own bloodline limit development."
"If your joint operations yield actionable empirical data regarding the symbiotic exchange between ocular power and bloodline vitality, it will massively accelerate our primary research into the First Hokage's cells. This is a newly assigned, high-priority mandate for the R&D division."
"I have already briefed Shio. She confirmed zero operational friction on her end. The ball is in your court."
Hearing this, Tomie's expression darkened completely: "She actually authorized that?"
Orochimaru offered a definitive nod.
"There is truly no reasoning with her. Fine. I accept the parameters. I acknowledge the mandate," Tomie sighed, officially logging her compliance.
Hiruzen maintained a carefully neutral expression.
It appeared Konoha's grand web of operational bonds had just forged an entirely new, high-tension link.
As the Hokage, he possessed zero administrative countermeasures against this phenomenon. Perhaps this too was merely an organic manifestation of the Will of Fire in action.
"Lord Hokage, may I officially petition for a transfer to the Root Division?" Tomie hesitated for a fraction of a second before submitting the request.
In modern Konoha, the "Azure Root Defending the Firmament" had transitioned into the most prestigious, highly coveted deployment vector in the village.
In the eyes of the shinobi corps, while all active-duty personnel were honorable defenders of the Will of Fire, Root operatives were universally recognized as elite heroes who executed special, high-impact contributions for the state, commanding absolute respect.
"Hmm..." Hiruzen evaluated the request briefly before nodding. "Permission granted. Your integration into Root will serve as a profound expansion of the division's core operational philosophy!"
"Thank you, Lord Hokage!" Tomie replied, her voice ringing with genuine, heartfelt gratitude.
Hiruzen offered a warm chuckle.
The modern iteration of the Root Division was rapidly accumulating an unprecedented roster of eccentric, anomalous prodigies. It was practically evolving into a convention of absolute monsters.
The mere thought of the division's current org chart made Hiruzen want to laugh.
Tomie's Mangekyou driving R&D into the stratosphere, Shio Uzumaki running ground-level Tailed Beast chakra experiments, Hizashi Hyuga maintaining overwatch across the entire grid, while Might Dai stood in the center, weeping uncontrollably while screaming about the Power of Youth.
Sprinkled throughout were the Aburame's nano-venom insects, Sai's artistic espionage, the Iburi clan's smoke-transformation kinetics, and the synchronized heavy-artillery of the Ino-Shika-Cho formation.
However, none of this required the Hokage's direct micromanagement. He would happily delegate the administrative headaches to Danzo and Grand-Sensei Tobirama!
Hiruzen would simply step in periodically to secure the final corporate dividends.
"Still, Tomie's forensic audit of my network serves as empirical validation of the methodology outlined in the Sage of Six Paths' monument."
"The invisible Kekkei Genkai filaments I have woven are highly likely the 'unanalyzable chakra polymer' her dashboard flagged."
Hiruzen smiled brightly, waving farewell to the facility staff as he concluded his inspection.
The moment Hiruzen exited the module.
Tomie marched directly up to Tobirama, her voice dripping with icy, venomous authority: "Listen closely, rookie. Do not operate under the delusion that just because Clan Head Isshin intends to yield his Konoha High Commissioner seat to you, your ascension is guaranteed. That old relic possesses zero leverage over the Hokage's absolute meritocracy."
"I am now an official operative of the Root Division. That executive seat is by no means guaranteed to be yours!"
"My Mangekyou possesses the processing capacity to forecast a far more lucrative strategic future for this village than your mediocre eyes ever could!"
Without waiting for Tobirama to formulate a response, Tomie spun on her heel and strode out of the lab.
Tobirama was left standing in absolute, stupefied silence.
Excuse me?
Just a few months ago, you were threatening self-termination to secure a romantic partnership with me. Now you are addressing me as 'rookie'?
The volatility of this pivot is statistically impossible!
While Tobirama harbored zero ambition to reclaim the Hokage seat in this lifecycle, securing a seat on the Konoha High Commission was a mandatory operational objective.
But now he was facing an active, hostile corporate takeover for the position!
What was the operational logic here?
Under the current geopolitical distribution, the Uchiha clan controlled two executive seats. Fugaku, operating in his physical prime and having sacrificed two automated lifelines for the village's clinical trials, was absolutely immune to being unseated.
That left only Isshin's impending vacancy.
While Tobirama possessed immense backchannel influence and could potentially lobby his beloved disciple Hiruzen to artificially expand the board of directors...
Unless confronted with an absolute systemic crisis, Tobirama loathed the idea of manually corrupting the village's established administrative framework for personal gain.
"Alas, the sheer disrespect of lacking raw combat metrics, yes?"
"Do not let it destabilize you, Seisui. You can simply wait out Fugaku's biological depreciation and inherit his seat in a few decades."
"Tomie wields the Mangekyou. In the R&D vertical, her throughput is absolute. You cannot compete with her processing power," Izuna sighed, deliberately pouring gasoline onto the fire with a tone of faux-sympathy.
Tobirama instantly recognized the psychological manipulation. Izuna was actively trying to provoke him.
But knowing the tactic did not immunize him. Hearing it specifically from Izuna's mouth caused his internal pressure to spike to critical levels.
"What strategic value does a Mangekyou Sharingan hold?"
"When the Second Hokage ran his blade through Izuna Uchiha's chest, was he deploying a Mangekyou?"
Tobirama sneered with glacial contempt. "I am the supreme R&D operative of Konohagakure. Neither Tomie nor Orochimaru possesses the foundational architecture to challenge me!"
"The executive seat belongs to me, and I will secure it."
"Izuna. Since you have proposed the initiative, you will assist my cultivation. Within a twenty-four-month window—prior to the awakening of the demonic entity within the Box of Ultimate Bliss—we will engineer a protocol to seal it permanently within my core."
"This will simultaneously resolve the village's industrial energy bottleneck, and systematically eradicate the physiological constraints plaguing the Uchiha's Sharingan."
The inherent psychological instability triggered by the awakening of the Sharingan was a documented, universally acknowledged liability within the Uchiha clan.
The core bottleneck was execution: entrusting an external operative to manually filter those emotions carried catastrophic risk.
Setting aside basic institutional trust, if the extraction protocol was applied with excessive force, siphoning too much negative emotion, the patient would be permanently lobotomized into a smiling, vegetative husk.
But Tobirama was an anomaly.
Seisui's corporate reputation within the Uchiha clan was utterly bulletproof.
He possessed the sacred Uchiha bloodline, had systematically restored the clan's historical prestige through undeniable geopolitical victories, and was universally recognized as a once-in-a-century R&D prodigy.
Not a single Uchiha operative would reject Seisui's offer to scrub their emotional volatility.
It was essentially offering them the psychological equivalent of laser eye surgery, completely bypassing the horrors of a frontal lobotomy.
Izuna quickly realized that whenever he attempted to provoke Seisui, the bastard's default counter-measure was to casually drop the line: 'You were stabbed by Tobirama.'
And infuriatingly, Izuna possessed zero historical leverage to counter the point.
Perhaps the older generation simply could not out-maneuver the younger.
"..." Izuna sighed, drawing out the vowel in reluctant surrender.
Executing this protocol would undoubtedly trigger massive depletion of the 'Yata Spirit Mark,' permanently severing his ability to return to the mortal plane from the Pure Land.
The internal architecture of the Box of Ultimate Bliss was a labyrinth of chaotic data, and Satori was an incredibly complex demonic entity.
While Izuna felt a profound pang of reluctance, he understood the ROI was absolute.
Extreme emotional volatility mutating into psychological psychopathy was a terminal bug that had plagued the Uchiha for over a millennium. If this operation succeeded, it would generate incalculable, permanent dividends for the entire clan. It was a mandatory strategic gamble.
"If this deployment prevents my return, ensure you finalize the methodology to replenish the 'Yata Spirit Mark.' I wish to witness the ultimate architecture of the clan and the village in the future," Izuna stated, his tone heavy with genuine emotion.
"Acknowledged." Tobirama instinctively prepared to launch another verbal barb at Izuna, but the words died in his throat.
He had no logical grounds to reject the final request of an operative who genuinely desired to see Konoha achieve absolute prosperity.
"Perhaps I will engineer a protocol to resurrect you completely," Tobirama thought, a sudden spark of inspiration igniting.
"Do not test me, brat. How long have we operated together?"
Izuna chuckled softly. "Resurrection appears to be a flawless victory on paper, but the secondary fallout introduces a cascade of uncontrollable variables. It represents the most volatile, untamable vector of human greed."
"Do not waste your operational bandwidth on me. Operating as a pure Guardian Spirit is a highly satisfactory deployment. I am content."
Tobirama's lips curled upward. He cleared the psychological audit as well.
As for the undeniable fact that he himself was a resurrected asset... Tobirama instinctively compartmentalized that data point.
Besides, his circumstances were entirely different!
Meanwhile, Tomie's Mangekyou awakening had triggered shockwaves not merely within the R&D division, but across the entire village infrastructure. It generated massive waves of envy among junior operatives and young Uchiha.
After all, the concept of bypassing decades of grinding to achieve instantaneous, god-tier ascension was an operational fantasy every shinobi harbored.
One week later.
Konoha.
Ichiraku Ramen.
Obito, Rin Nohara, and Kakashi sat shoulder-to-shoulder at the counter. The three youths, their physiques already hinting at adult conditioning, inhaled their ramen with aggressive, starving intensity.
They had just been dragged through a live-fire tactical marathon by Minato. They looked as though they had shed an entire layer of skin.
Minato watched them with a warm, beaming smile: "A highly productive operational cycle today, wasn't it? Eat your fill; I am covering the expenses."
Obito and Kakashi lifted their heads in perfect, exhausted synchronization: "Uncle Ichiraku, three additional orders of char siu!"
The proprietor approached with a cheerful grin. His name was Teuchi.
However, because his establishment was named "Ichiraku Ramen," the vast majority of the shinobi corps simply addressed him as "Uncle Ichiraku."
"I am upgrading you to five orders of char siu each, plus complimentary lemon water. And I will only charge you the standard double rate!" Uncle Ichiraku raised a finger with a conspiratorial wink. "You happen to be our one-hundredth customers today, qualifying you for elite promotional benefits!"
This was a complete fabrication.
Teuchi simply held immense affection for Team Minato; the kids were frequent patrons who occasionally assisted with sweeping the storefront after hours.
Seeing them looking utterly hollowed out from over-training, Teuchi just wanted to inject some morale into their day! A minor, low-cost gesture of goodwill often yielded a massive positive shift in operational psychology.
"Thank you, Uncle Ichiraku! You're the best!"
Obito's face lit up with absolute joy. "It proves that not everyone operates like Minato Sensei. He projects a sunny disposition, but in reality..."
"In reality, what?"
Minato laughed warmly. Without anyone tracking the motion, three Flying Thunder God kunai had materialized in his hand, spinning smoothly between his fingers.
Obito's face instantly collapsed into a mask of bitter compliance: "In reality, he is extremely sunny and encouraging!"
"My training protocols are engineered for your long-term survival. Sweating profusely in the training grounds today guarantees you will bleed significantly less on tomorrow's battlefield."
"That is a core doctrine passed down from my Grand-Sensei." Minato shrugged lightly. The three Flying Thunder God kunai drifted smoothly through the air, landing perfectly in front of Kakashi, Obito, and Rin, the hilts presented for easy retrieval.
Kakashi's eyebrow twitched. An incredibly slick micro-kinetic display.
He was beginning to realize that Minato Sensei's "style metrics" might actually exceed his own!
"I commissioned Kushina to forge these three specific kunai. If you encounter lethal threat levels on the battlefield, channel your chakra directly into the hilt. There is a high statistical probability I will detect the ping."
"Consider it an exclusive fringe benefit of operating under my command."
"However, do not allow this to breed tactical complacency. The moment theater war erupts, battlefield variables become infinitely chaotic. I cannot maintain continuous, uninterrupted overwatch over your grid. You must prioritize scaling your own kinetic force."
"Finish your meals." The moment Minato's voice faded, his physical form vanished from the stool without a trace.
"Sigh." Obito stared at the empty space with profound envy, then turned to Kakashi. "Did you catch the latest intelligence regarding Tomie-neechan?"
"I was briefed."
Kakashi nodded. "According to the debrief, Seisui-nii deliberately engineered an extreme psychological crisis to stimulate her emotional matrix, successfully triggering her Mangekyou awakening to motivate her development!"
"Huh? What version of the intel did you download?"
Obito looked completely baffled. "The internal clan network reported that they engaged in a catastrophic, irreconcilable fallout! They are currently locked in a hostile corporate takeover for the Konoha High Commissioner seat, and a physical duel is imminent!"
"The latest update says Tomie-neechan has formed a strategic alliance with Lady Shio to systematically force Seisui-nii off the board!"
Kakashi felt a swarm of question marks manifesting above his head.
The discrepancy in the intelligence was astronomical!
However, both versions contained fragments of the truth. The divergence stemmed entirely from the source of the leak.
Some fragments originated from Orochimaru, some from Tsunade, and Elder Isshin had aggressively spun his own narrative.
When a single data point passes through ten different intelligence analysts, it inevitably mutates into an entirely different tactical assessment.
"If your intel is accurate..."
Obito pondered for a fraction of a second, his eyes lighting up. "Kakashi, do you think a mysterious, god-tier operative like Seisui-nii has secretly placed me under surveillance? Perhaps they recognize my peerless latent talent..."
"And they are currently engineering an elaborate crisis to trigger my Mangekyou awakening, launching me into the stratosphere just like Tomie-neechan!"
"Mmhmm..." Obito drifted into a deep, euphoric daydream, giggling foolishly. "Hehe, and if my Mangekyou unlocks a space-time ocular jutsu, my mobility metrics will completely surpass Minato Sensei's..."
Kakashi turned his head away in absolute, disgusted silence.
This idiot is malfunctioning.
Did he genuinely believe Mangekyou awakenings were distributed via lottery?
Even if a crisis was perfectly engineered, did he think every random Uchiha possessed the biological hardware to awaken it?
Without the prerequisite genetic talent, all the psychological trauma in the world would yield a zero percent ROI.
"Go home, take a shower, and go to sleep. You can achieve anything in your dreams." Kakashi stealthily intercepted the char siu from Obito's bowl, transferring it to his own.
However, Tomie's explosive ascension forced Kakashi to acknowledge the strategic validity of his father, Sakumo's, logic.
The village's talent pool was expanding at a terrifying velocity. If an operative failed to push the envelope, they would be permanently outclassed by their peers.
Kakashi achieved his own epiphany: viewed through this macro-lens, Minato's brutal combat simulations were an absolute strategic necessity.
He was a genuinely elite mentor.
"Wait, where did my char siu go?!" Obito suddenly identified the missing assets.
"I lack that data." Kakashi responded, his cheeks bulging. His face mask displayed two distinct protrusions. No one could comprehend the physics of how he consumed ramen at high velocity while maintaining the mask seal.
His hand speed was truly unparalleled.
"Spit it out, you thief!" Obito roared, launching a chaotic, flailing assault on Kakashi.
Sitting beside them, Rin Nohara watched the two boys brawl with a warm, beaming smile, taking small bites of her noodles while mentally reviewing her recent operational training.
She was currently mastering advanced medical ninjutsu and the combat application of medical chakra scrolls. Leveraging a direct referral from Minato, she was receiving high-level clinical instruction from Tsunade.
This included advanced trauma protocols, such as deploying Earth Grudge Fear threads for internal organ suturing, including cardiovascular reconstruction.
"I must double my operational output! These techniques require absolute, flawless muscle memory."
Rin resolved internally. "If these two sustain catastrophic damage on the field, I must possess the capacity to keep them online."
Several months later.
Konoha experienced a period of uninterrupted, frictionless expansion.
No major geopolitical shockwaves disrupted the schedule. The development roadmap proceeded with clockwork precision.
However, a highly notable demographic metric captured the village's attention: a massive wave of newborn assets entered the registry.
Among them were Minato's son, Naruto, and Fugaku's second son, Sasuke, alongside numerous other children belonging to the golden generation's cohort.
Simultaneously, within the boundless void of the Pure Land.
A pair of eyes adorned with deep, concentric ripples slowly opened.
"Has the cycle initiated once more? Indra..." It was the Sage of Six Paths.
Under standard metaphysical protocols, so long as Madara Uchiha—the current reincarnation—remained alive, Indra's chakra would remain tethered to Madara's physical vessel.
But the variable had changed: Madara had successfully awakened the Rinnegan.
The Rinnegan was not merely the superficial hybridization of Senju or Uzumaki tissue with Uchiha ocular power.
A basic physical combination could generate complementary effects, but it could not trigger qualitative biological ascension.
It required the absolute, perfect synthesis of Asura and Indra's chakra, generating a unique energy signature nearly identical to the Sage of Six Paths, which served as the mandatory catalyst to awaken the supreme ocular jutsu.
Detecting the repulsive, unmistakable aura of the Sage of Six Paths flooding Madara's core, Indra's chakra had immediately detached in absolute disgust, drifting straight back to the Pure Land without lingering for a single microsecond.
"It has been an eternity since I audited the shinobi plane..."
"I project it remains trapped in the same cycle of stagnation. Did I engineer a flawed system?"
The Sage of Six Paths let out a heavy sigh, casting a rare, sweeping diagnostic scan across the mortal realm. Yet instantly, his gaze froze.
Viewed through the Rinnegan, the entire shinobi continent resembled a massive meteorological heat-map, actively tracking and categorizing the emotional density of every sovereign sector.
This was the Sage's primary methodology for executing rapid macroeconomic audits of the world's stability.
This time, one specific hidden village registered a massive, unprecedented anomaly: its positive emotional density was radiating off the charts.
It represented a structural deviation unlike any shinobi conglomerate the Sage had witnessed in over a millennium of observation.
For the first time in centuries, the Sage of Six Paths felt a genuine, burning curiosity to conduct a deeper inspection!
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