The First Target

"Why must you do something for the people of Rōran, Sara?"

Hyuga Mirai spoke to Sara with a gentle expression. Although Sara was much older than Hyuga Mirai, she now seemed like a little girl receiving his guidance.

"The people of Rōran already lived prosperous lives. They were far from war, free from the burden of taxes, and most of them had stable incomes and happy families. They even had a queen who always thought of them."

Hyuga Mirai’s words made Sara blush slightly. It was recognition of how much she cared for her people, and it made her a little happy.

"Under these circumstances, you can completely think about yourself, Sara. I don’t think you should devote everything to Rōran, especially when… the people of Rōran are already capable of standing on their own. It would be better to think about yourself for once."

At that, Hyuga Mirai pretended to look troubled as he glanced at Sara, then continued.

"Come to think of it, I noticed long ago that you have a talent for inspiring people. You’d be very suited for handling foreign negotiations. If you weren’t the queen, Sara, I’d do everything I could to invite you to become the Yasunori Trading Company’s foreign negotiator. What a pity."

Sara asked in surprise, "Could I really do it, Mr. Mirai?"

"Of course. You have the greatest talent for negotiation of anyone I’ve ever seen."

Hyuga Mirai answered without hesitation. To deceive others, he first had to deceive himself. Sara did have some talent for diplomacy, but she was nowhere near as exceptional as Hyuga Mirai had claimed.

Still, with proper training, she could improve. More importantly, if Sara left, he could reshape Rōran as he pleased. Hyuga Mirai intended to use Rōran as a base to gradually infiltrate the Land of Wind.

The Medical Machine was something he had invented precisely to infiltrate the Land of Wind. Aside from Konoha, the other Ninja Villages all lacked Medical-nin because they had no complete medical training system.

Sunagakure was the Ninja Village among the Five Great Ninja Villages most desperate for Medical-nin. Not only did they lack Medical-nin, they also had pitifully little land capable of growing medicinal herbs. Whenever a war broke out, Suna-nin had to buy herbs from outside, and even their own stockpiles accumulated over several years would be used up in one go.

If he used the Medical Machine to negotiate with Suna-nin, Hyuga Mirai could already imagine their greed.

"If only I could lure Rasa out. Maybe I can use a gold mine to draw him out."

Directly controlling Rasa would be the best choice, but the Tenseigan’s control method made the controlled person appear somewhat dull. He would need additional methods to cooperate with it.

After considering it, Hyuga Mirai decided that once he was more confident, he would find an opportunity to control Rasa.

"As for the Medical Machine and the method for making Medical Talismans, that can be spread around. This thing can only achieve its greatest effect when used together with a Medical Machine. Otherwise, it’s just a power bank for a Medical-nin."

Afterward, Hyuga Mirai handed the matter of the Medical Machine over to Android 18. Under her control, she would definitely come up with the best plan.

Once the method for making Medical Talismans spread widely, their value and price would drop drastically. Moreover, Medical Talismans could only show their greatest usefulness in the hands of Medical-nin. Otherwise, they could only be used to heal ordinary external injuries.

After they became widespread, Hyuga Mirai’s trading company could purchase them in bulk and use them in the Medical Machines.

After making those arrangements, Hyuga Mirai went to the Dragon Vein Training Room.

Aside from Tagitsuhime teaching Haku about Sage Art, the other two Snake Princesses were sleeping comfortably. Even now, the White Snake Sage had not revealed her purpose. Still, the Three Snake Princesses always responded to Hyuga Mirai’s requests, so they got along rather well.

Since the White Snake Sage had no intention of speaking, Hyuga Mirai was in no hurry either.

Uzumaki Ayaka was still trying to control the Nine-Tails’ power. Eight Adamantine Sealing Chains extended from behind her, forming an Adamantine Sealing Barrier inside the training room. Hyuga Mirai took a look and saw that seven tails had already appeared on her Tailed Beast Cloak while she trained, yet she had remained conscious.

Her progress was decent. Uzumaki Ayaka had only used a Four Symbols Seal, leaving the Nine-Tails plenty of room to resist. As an Uzumaki, she also wanted to completely master the Nine-Tails Chakra, so she had not made the seal overly strong. Instead, she gave the Nine-Tails more opportunities to resist, using them to temper herself.

After checking on the situation, Hyuga Mirai left and contacted Sasori through his wristwatch.

"What is it? Hey, let me tell you some good news first. I’ve already improved the Third Kazekage puppet. It’s now a Magnetic Release Mechanical Puppet. Hmph, after my improvements, this puppet has practically no weaknesses."

The moment Sasori connected, he could not wait to boast to Hyuga Mirai about his improved puppet.

Magnet Release, thermal cannons, electromagnetic cannons, body transformation, chip control, and more. Aside from Nanotechnology, Sasori had practically given his puppet a complete overhaul while perfectly preserving the Third Kazekage’s Magnet Release Kekkei Genkai.

"Impressive. As expected of a genius in the puppet world."

Hyuga Mirai praised him sincerely. After Sasori obtained mechanical biological modification technology from him, Sasori had not asked for guidance many times. He had almost completely mastered the technology through his own efforts.

Both Sasori and Orochimaru were geniuses in that regard.

Sasori proudly explained the improvements he had made to the puppet. At the moment, he had only successfully upgraded the Third Kazekage puppet, but that was because he looked down on his other puppets. They were not worthy of being improved by him.

Only Ninja with rare Kekkei Genkai or special Ninjutsu could arouse Sasori’s interest. Every puppet was controlled through a chip behind its neck. Sasori had even made an auxiliary computer. If he had not explained it, Hyuga Mirai would have thought Sasori had woken up with a stiff neck and worn that neck-pillow-like device because it hurt.

"That’s quite impressive, Sasori. If you have enough puppets in the future, you could practically conquer the Five Great Ninja Villages alone." Hyuga Mirai was referring to Sasori’s puppet technology.

It’s just a little ugly. It has absolutely no artistic flair.

The auxiliary computer around Sasori’s neck was extremely ugly. With it on, he looked like someone suffering from a stiff neck. However, Hyuga Mirai did not tell him that. It was likely an artistic generation gap, so he respected Sasori’s taste.

"Sasori, I need you to come to Rōran. I’m preparing to make a move against the Land of Wind, and I need your help."

"Hmph, you took this long to decide to act? Fine. You’ll soon see how powerful my new puppet is…"

Before Sasori could finish, Hyuga Mirai corrected him. "I’m not attacking with force. That would cause too much commotion. I need you to help me win over Elder Chiyo and Ebizo of Sunagakure. That shouldn’t be difficult for you."

Sasori sneered and said, "Did you just wake up? I’m not the kind of—"

"Sasori, please. This is very important to me."

Hyuga Mirai spoke sincerely. Seeing Hyuga Mirai’s expression, Sasori swallowed the sarcastic words that had reached his throat. His lips twitched, and only after a moment did he turn his head and speak.

"I can try, but I can’t guarantee success."

Hyuga Mirai smiled. "No problem. I believe in you."

After settling things with Sasori, Hyuga Mirai went to train in Sage Mode.

He currently knew of four methods of achieving longevity. One was reversing cell growth to return to youth, though that would affect one’s strength somewhat. Another was Orochimaru’s Clone Body reincarnation, which, like the first method, was essentially changing into another body.

The other two were Natural Energy and Otsutsuki bloodline. Both methods had examples of longevity. If they could be combined, perhaps true immortality could be achieved.

Konoha

Although the Fourth Hokage had died during the Tailed Beast rampage, the news of Jiraiya and Tsunade’s return was like a powerful shot of stimulants to every Ninja in Konoha.

Jiraiya did not remain in Konoha for long before heading to the border to guard against the most active Kumo-nin. Tsunade, meanwhile, remained in Konoha, ready to be dispatched wherever trouble arose.

After Sarutobi Hiruzen returned to the position of Hokage as the Third Hokage, he began handling Konoha’s affairs once more. The feeling of being busy again satisfied him greatly.

When Tsunade arrived at Konoha Hospital and examined Kushina’s condition, her brows immediately furrowed. The situation was extremely difficult.

After the Nine-Tails had been extracted from Kushina, nearly all of her Chakra had been taken away along with the Tailed Beast. Then, she had squeezed the last bit of Chakra from her body. If not for the replenishment of new vitality afterward, which allowed Kushina’s cells to recover somewhat, she should have died on the spot.

However, the treatment seal on Kushina’s body had brought her bodily functions into balance. The Sealing Jutsu could not be changed, or the Sage Art Chakra inside Kushina would immediately become unbalanced, causing her cells to lose nourishment and die.

Even Tsunade could not break that balance. Combining Sealing Technique with Medical Ninjutsu was something Hyuga Mirai had pioneered, but he had not taught the method to Konoha’s Medical-nin.

"Kushina, there’s nothing I can do about your condition for now. I’m not as skilled as that White-eyed Kid when it comes to using Natural Energy, so I don’t dare rashly undo the Sealing Jutsu on your body."

After speaking, Tsunade bit her finger and used the Summoning Technique.

A two-meter-tall Katsuyu appeared in the hospital room. In a gentle voice, Katsuyu said, "Tsunade-sama, do you need a Summoning Scroll?"

"That’s right. I’m going to have Kushina form a summoning contract with Shikkotsu Forest. Katsuyu, in a moment, use the Summoning Technique to summon us to Shikkotsu Forest. I have something to ask Sage Katsuyu."

"Understood, Tsunade-sama."

Katsuyu replied gently, then squeezed a Summoning Scroll out of her body. Tsunade took it and had Kushina sign her name on it.

"Tsunade-sama, Naruto…" Kushina said worriedly.

Tsunade reassured her, "Have Kimura help take care of him for now. We’re only going to ask a few questions, so it won’t take long."

Not long afterward, a bang sounded in the hospital room. As the smoke dispersed, Tsunade and Uzumaki Kushina had vanished from the room.

Second update.

One more chapter will be a little later!