"This Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan really is incredible."
Tsunade sighed as she looked at the Mangekyō Sharingan that had once belonged to Uchiha Shisui, resting in her hand.
"They've already turned into ordinary eyes," Kitazawa said after a glance.
"Yeah." Tsunade nodded. "I just can't wrap my head around the principle behind it."
"It's probably some kind of power hidden in the bloodline itself," Kitazawa said thoughtfully.
Tsunade couldn't figure it out, so she stopped trying. After all, an Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was extremely hard to replicate.
Uchiha Sasuke was basically absurdly lucky—he happened to be able to transplant Shisui's Mangekyō into himself.
By comparison, even if Sasuke's brother Uchiha Itachi wanted to awaken an Eternal Mangekyō, he wouldn't be able to find a compatible Mangekyō to transplant.
As for shinobi outside the Uchiha clan, it wasn't even worth discussing.
Tsunade figured that for the rest of her life, this would probably be the only Eternal Mangekyō surgery she'd ever perform.
"Tsunade-sensei, you should head back to the Hokage's office," Kitazawa said after thinking for a moment. "Leave this place to me."
"Mm." Tsunade took off her gloves, then smiled teasingly. "Take me there."
"Gladly." Kitazawa held out his hand.
Because this involved the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, the surgery had been handled by only the two of them—no one else was allowed in.
And Sasuke still hadn't woken up, so there was nothing to worry about.
Tsunade took his hand.
The two arrived at the Hokage's office.
"See you next time." Kitazawa kissed her lightly, then returned to the operating room.
He found a spot to sit and waited for Sasuke to wake.
Half an hour later, Uchiha Sasuke suddenly sat bolt upright.
He immediately sensed something wrong with his eyes—the light was gone, and bandages were wrapped around them.
"You just had surgery. You'll need to rest for a while before we remove the bandages," Kitazawa said.
"Then… did I awaken the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan?" Sasuke couldn't help asking.
"If nothing unexpected happened, it's already a success." Kitazawa smiled.
"That's great—ngh!"
Sasuke only got halfway through before a surge of pain cut him off.
"Some discomfort happens occasionally during the initial fusion. That's normal," Kitazawa explained.
Sasuke nodded, forced down his excitement, and let out a long breath.
With the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, his chances of defeating Uzumaki Naruto were even higher.
It was worth noting that last semester, he hadn't really fought Naruto in a true, no-holds-barred way.
First, he'd spent most of his time getting familiar with and mastering the Mangekyō Sharingan.
Second, the final exam's team battle rules had restrictions that stopped him from going all out.
Technically, Sasuke could've challenged Naruto one-on-one, but he hadn't.
He wanted to wait—until he had awakened the Eternal Mangekyō and become a Ryūchi Cave contractor—then challenge him.
Once Kitazawa saw Sasuke was fine, he opened the door.
"Sasuke!"
Uchiha Mikoto hurried to his side.
"Kitazawa-sama, how is Sasuke?" Uchiha Itachi was far calmer, asking Kitazawa immediately.
"He's awakened the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan," Kitazawa said after a brief pause. "You can remove the bandages in half a month."
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sama." Itachi's face rarely showed emotion, but now he actually smiled.
And Uchiha Fugaku very nearly burst into wild laughter on the spot.
He caught himself—this was an operating room, and Kitazawa was still here—so he barely managed to restrain it.
But his face was glowing.
Very few people knew about the Rinnegan.
In Fugaku's eyes, the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan was the Uchiha clan's ultimate peak.
If Sasuke had reached that peak at eleven, then later on he would definitely break past the Uchiha's ceiling.
And from another angle, that meant he was one step closer to becoming Hokage.
"Kitazawa-sensei, can I train Lightning Release: Kirin during this period?" Sasuke asked quickly.
"You can train, but you can't use the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan," Kitazawa nodded.
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei." Sasuke didn't want to sit at home for half a month doing nothing and wasting time.
Especially since Naruto's strength was growing fast—he couldn't afford to fall behind.
After the Uchiha family left, Kitazawa went to find Orochimaru.
With almost no effort at all, he obtained the Ryūchi Cave contract scroll.
Orochimaru had never cared about Ryūchi Cave in the first place, so he handed it over without hesitation.
Kitazawa thought it over, then simply wrote his own name onto the contract scroll.
In theory, a shinobi could form contracts with all kinds of summoning creatures.
But there was no real need.
Most summons weren't very useful.
The creatures from the Three Great Sage Regions were different—they were all powerful.
But that came with a problem.
There was an unspoken rivalry between the Three Great Sage Regions, and in principle, they wouldn't choose the same person as a contractor.
Still… like always, you could just "convince" them with force.
Kitazawa put away the contract scroll.
He planned to take Sasuke to Ryūchi Cave once Sasuke recovered.
Ryūchi Cave had more troublesome snakes than just Manda—there were plenty of others.
He'd clean them up together, so they wouldn't sabotage him in the middle of a fight later.
After thinking it through, Kitazawa headed to the Ninja Academy.
Even though it was vacation, the Advanced Class students were still training.
"Hinata."
Kitazawa's gaze landed on Hyūga Hinata, who was practicing Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.
Hinata jogged over.
After she stopped, she exhaled, then looked up at him with eager anticipation.
"Are you willing to become a Shikkotsu Forest contractor?" Kitazawa asked, reaching out to pat her head.
"Huh?"
Hinata's pupils shrank sharply.
Of course she knew what it meant to be a Shikkotsu Forest contractor.
What shocked her was that Kitazawa had chosen her.
She'd thought it would be Haruno Sakura and Karin—girls learning medical ninjutsu.
But then Hinata's heart surged, and her small face flushed red.
Because one thought immediately surfaced.
If Kitazawa was making her a Shikkotsu Forest contractor… did that mean he'd chosen her as his true student?
As always, the shinobi world placed enormous importance on the teacher–student bond.
That was why the thought hit her so hard.
"What, you don't want to?" Kitazawa chuckled.
"I want to!" Hinata nodded rapidly.
"But it's not just you."
Kitazawa also called over Hyūga Neji, Karin, Shion, and Haruno Sakura.
Only then did Hinata realize she'd misunderstood.
She felt a bit disappointed, but even more fired up.
After all, Kitazawa still hadn't decided on his "true" student—she had to work harder.
"I'm taking you to the Forest of Death."
Kitazawa used the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Six of them appeared in a clearing inside the Forest of Death.
"Write your names."
Kitazawa took out the Shikkotsu Forest contract scroll and handed it to Hinata.
"Okay!"
Hinata opened the scroll, and when she saw the previous contractor's name, she couldn't help smiling.
She quickly wrote her own name right beside Kitazawa's.
After Hinata finished, she passed the scroll to Neji.
After everyone took turns, all five of them had written their names.
"I'll teach you the Summoning Technique now," Kitazawa said, taking back the scroll.
The Summoning Technique wasn't hard. Like the three basic jutsu, it was something most shinobi could learn.
The real difficulty was finding strong summons.
The five learned the Summoning Technique quickly.
"Hinata, you summon first," Kitazawa instructed.
Hinata tightened her expression, forming seals with total seriousness.
She bit her thumb and pressed her hand to the ground.
Bang!
A huge slug emerged in the smoke.
Because it was her first time, and because she was doing it in front of Kitazawa, Hinata went all out.
Looking at the massive slug, she couldn't help feeling excited.
The other four were the same.
Sakura practically bounced with excitement.
After all, this was a summon from one of the Three Great Sage Regions.
"This is the Shikkotsu Forest summon: the slug. Its true name is Katsuyu," Kitazawa introduced. "You can address her as Katsuyu-sama."
"Katsuyu-sama!" the five called out immediately.
"Katsuyu-sama, these are my five students." Kitazawa then introduced them to Katsuyu by name.
"Hello, everyone," Katsuyu said gently.
If it were Ryūchi Cave or Mount Myōboku suddenly gaining five new contractors, they probably wouldn't accept it.
But Shikkotsu Forest—more specifically, Katsuyu—was different.
First, her temperament was simply good.
Second, the entire Shikkotsu Forest basically had only one slug: her.
She was usually bored, and since Kitazawa and Tsunade didn't summon her often, she rarely left Shikkotsu Forest.
Now that five contractors had appeared all at once, it meant she'd have far more chances to go out and pass the time.
"Eh?" Hinata blinked in confusion at the way Katsuyu addressed her.
Sakura and the others were surprised too.
In their minds, the summons of the Three Great Sage Regions should be the old-guard types—maybe not outrageously arrogant, but at least temperamental.
They hadn't expected Katsuyu to be this polite.
"Katsuyu-sama is just like that. You can just speak naturally—no need to force a hierarchy," Kitazawa said with a smile.
The five exchanged looks.
"Now I'll introduce Katsuyu-sama's abilities."
Kitazawa gently pinched Hinata's cheek.
Katsuyu had quite a few abilities.
Her only offensive one was Acid Slime.
Everything else was support-oriented.
Among those support abilities, the most important ones for Hinata and Neji were the Great Slug Division and shared vision.
And for Sakura and the others, the big ones were long-range healing and the Katsuyu Technique.
Especially the Katsuyu Technique.
In the original timeline, Tsunade used Katsuyu's split bodies to heal the entire village by herself.
In terms of healing, it was basically the ultimate medical ninjutsu.
"Katsuyu-sama, thank you for your help today. See you next time," Kitazawa said after finishing, then sent Katsuyu back to Shikkotsu Forest.
As for Sage Mode, it still wasn't time for Hinata and the others.
Even though the original story never said it outright, Kitazawa suspected they probably didn't have the aptitude.
After all, even Sasuke—one of the main protagonists—didn't.
Still, there was no harm in trying.
When Kitazawa had time, he could teach them.
If any of them managed to learn it, their strength would skyrocket.
"In the future, if you run into danger while outside the village, you can summon Katsuyu-sama," Kitazawa reminded them, then sent them back to the Academy.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Early that morning, Kitazawa went to the Uchiha clan compound.
Today was the day to remove Sasuke's bandages.
Kitazawa stepped up to Sasuke and unwrapped the bandages covering his eyes.
Fugaku and the others watched with anticipation.
When the bandages came off, Sasuke adapted to the light, then immediately activated the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan.
The three tomoe spun into a six-pointed star, and within that star, a triangular pinwheel pattern quickly appeared.
Fugaku and Itachi didn't need Kitazawa to explain—they could feel the difference.
Compared to the Mangekyō Sharingan, it was even more eerie… and far stronger.
Sasuke clenched his fist, feeling the increase in ocular power.
If he used his Mangekyō technique, Amano-Iwato, the chakra amplification it granted would jump from double to triple.
"Congratulations, Sasuke." Kitazawa smiled.
"Thank you, Kitazawa-sensei!" Sasuke said excitedly.
He practically wanted to run out right now and challenge Naruto to a duel.
"Get used to it for two days first. Then I'll take you to Ryūchi Cave," Kitazawa suggested.
Sasuke froze, then grew even more excited.
Naruto had gained a summon from Mount Myōboku.
He was about to gain one from Ryūchi Cave.
At least in terms of summons, they'd be evenly matched.
Fugaku instinctively exchanged a look with Itachi.
They both knew what Ryūchi Cave was.
Why was Kitazawa taking Sasuke there? Was he planning to make him a Ryūchi Cave contractor?
Power was one thing—but their first thought was the "Three Legendary Sannin."
Was Sasuke about to become the next member of that echelon?
The idea filled Fugaku and Itachi with joy.
"I'll check your condition."
Kitazawa lifted a hand and placed it over Sasuke's eyes.
Chakra flowed out, circling through Sasuke's body.
"For now, everything looks normal." Kitazawa nodded, then instructed him, "If anything feels off, report it to me immediately."
"Yes, Kitazawa-sensei." Sasuke answered at once.
Just then, a knock sounded at the door.
"Kitazawa-sama, there's an Anbu shinobi looking for you," an Uchiha shinobi said from the doorway.
"Everything here is done, so I'll head out first. No need to see me off."
Kitazawa said goodbye to Fugaku and the others, then left.
"Kitazawa-sama."
Haru bowed slightly when he saw him. "The Hokage requests you to go to the Hokage's office immediately."
Kitazawa nodded and used the Flying Thunder God Technique.
"This is intel we just received," Tsunade said as soon as he arrived, handing him a scroll.
Kitazawa took it and read.
The report was simple: Akatsuki had acted again, capturing Han, the Five-Tails jinchūriki of Iwagakure.
At this point, among the nine tailed beasts, only the Two-Tails, Seven-Tails, Eight-Tails, and Nine-Tails remained.
The Two-Tails and Eight-Tails were in Kumogakure.
The Nine-Tails was in Konoha.
And the Seven-Tails was in Takigakure.
Kitazawa rubbed his chin.
Akatsuki's next target, without a doubt, was Takigakure.
After all, Kumogakure and Konoha were both hard targets—they'd require Akatsuki to concentrate its forces.
Takigakure, on the other hand, was a small village with fairly average strength.
The only issue was that Takigakure's location was extremely remote—easy to defend and hard to attack.
But Kakuzu came from Takigakure, so he definitely knew where it was.
Kitazawa was even a little surprised.
Because the Seven-Tails jinchūriki, Fū, still hadn't been captured.
After thinking, Kitazawa roughly understood why.
First, Akatsuki was capturing them in order.
Second, they were short-handed—and Kakuzu was too busy.
"Besides that, we received a request for aid from Takigakure."
Tsunade took out another scroll. "Takigakure's leader, Shibuki, hopes we'll send someone to protect the Seven-Tails jinchūriki."
Kitazawa's mind stirred—this was a good opportunity.
Akatsuki would definitely send Kakuzu.
And Kakuzu's reputation in the shinobi world was already enormous.
One, he'd repeatedly captured jinchūriki and tailed beasts.
Two, he'd always been famous in the underground bounty market.
"The best solution is to bring the Seven-Tails jinchūriki back to Konoha," Kitazawa said after a moment.
Konoha couldn't station shinobi in Takigakure forever.
And simply guarding wouldn't work anyway—unless Kitazawa personally stayed there.
But that obviously wasn't possible.
"Shibuki probably won't agree," Tsunade shook her head.
The Seven-Tails would definitely be safer in Konoha than in Takigakure.
But as always, a jinchūriki was a village's taboo and final trump card. No village would hand that over to another.
"I'll go there myself," Kitazawa said casually.
Tsunade immediately understood what he was planning.
After a brief thought, she agreed.
As Hokage, she had to be flexible.
As long as it benefited Konoha and didn't cross an unforgivable line, she could accept it.
"Takigakure sent a jōnin," Tsunade said with a nod. "It's urgent—go with him to Takigakure first."
"I'll have a shadow clone go with him back to Takigakure. Then I'll use the Flying Thunder God to get there when it's time," Kitazawa said after thinking.
He planned to wait two days, take Sasuke to Ryūchi Cave first, then head to Takigakure.
Of course, if Akatsuki arrived early at Takigakure, he would temporarily abandon the Ryūchi Cave trip.
"The Flying Thunder God really is convenient," Tsunade couldn't help laughing.
Even though she'd said that more than once already.
"It really is," Kitazawa blinked. "Without it, it'd be hard for me to sneak into your room at night."
"That technique isn't for that," Tsunade glared at him.
"Then I won't use it tonight?" Kitazawa shot back.
"Are you trying to die?" Tsunade clenched her fist instinctively, furious. "Fine—today I'm going to teach you what it means to respect your teacher!"
"Tonight, I'll study seriously," Kitazawa said with a straight face.
"…"
Tsunade was so angry she laughed, then lifted her long, beautiful leg and kicked him.
"See you tonight," Kitazawa said, glancing at her thigh with a very pointed look. "You can kick me all you want tonight."
"Stop bothering me while I'm working!" Tsunade's legs tensed reflexively as she immediately threw him out.
If this conversation continued, she really would "educate" him right here in the Hokage's office.
"Yes, Tsunade-sensei."
Kitazawa ended the flirting, turned around, and left.
He first had his shadow clone accompany the jonin to Takigakure, while his real body returned to the Ninja Academy.
Vacation was already halfway over, and the new term would start soon.
If you counted by academic year, it would be the final year.
If nothing went wrong, Naruto and the others would graduate next March.
That would most likely line up with the Fourth Great Ninja War.
Strictly speaking, if Konoha absorbed Akatsuki, there wouldn't be a Fourth Great Ninja War anymore.
But Kitazawa didn't plan to return the tailed beasts to the other villages.
He wasn't Senju Hashirama.
If he didn't return them, the other villages wouldn't let it go.
The Fourth Great Ninja War would still arrive on schedule.
How to put it?
A war you're guaranteed to win is a war you can afford to fight.
And more importantly, Kitazawa could use it as a chance to trigger a whole chain of system missions.
If his strength didn't surpass the Ōtsutsuki clan, he wouldn't feel safe.
After all, later on, Ōtsutsuki Urashiki and others would still descend upon the shinobi world.
Kitazawa looked around, and his eyes finally landed on Akimichi Chōji.
Chōji had been learning only the Akimichi clan's secret techniques.
Now he'd basically mastered them—he only lacked the Butterfly Mode.
In the original story, the first time Butterfly Mode appeared was when Chōji fought Jirōbō of the Sound Four.
Back then, he was too weak and had to rely on the Akimichi clan's special pills to activate it.
In that mode, the fat he'd accumulated would convert into chakra, and he would become a lean young man.
But the pills' side effects were brutal—he nearly lost his life.
It wasn't until the Fourth Great Ninja War that Chōji could use it with his own power, without side effects.
Kitazawa couldn't directly teach him Butterfly Mode.
But he thought of a jutsu that suited him perfectly: Yang Release Chakra Mode.
The Akimichi clan's constant eating and fat storage, at its core, was because of insufficient chakra.
Yang Release Chakra Mode could temporarily increase chakra.
If Chōji truly learned it, he might not even need to stuff himself constantly anymore.
After teaching Chōji, Kitazawa went to the Forest of Death to practice Wood Release: Wood Golem Technique.
His Wood Golem Technique was in its final stage; within a month, he should be able to master it.
By comparison, his Susanoo hadn't improved much.
But that was fine—worst case, he'd leave it to the system.
And once he mastered Wood Golem Technique, it would be equivalent to possessing a "complete" Susanoo anyway.
Time reached the third day.
Takigakure was still safe for now, so Kitazawa took Uchiha Sasuke to Ryūchi Cave.
His method was simple.
First, he summoned a small snake, left a Flying Thunder God mark on it, sent it back to Ryūchi Cave, then used the Flying Thunder God to teleport.
"So this is Ryūchi Cave?" Sasuke asked in surprise, scanning the surroundings.
Ryūchi Cave was indeed a cave—but it was enormous. At first glance, it wasn't much smaller than Konoha itself.
[Current Mission: Conquer Ryūchi Cave.]
[Mission Reward: Sage Arts of Ryūchi Cave.]
[Accept?]
Kitazawa raised an eyebrow.
His first reaction upon seeing the reward was the two Sage Arts Yakushi Kabuto used in the original story.
One was Sage Art: Inorganic Reincarnation.
It could grant "life" to inorganic matter—like controlling stone.
The other was Sage Art: White Rage Technique.
It was essentially a composite genjutsu with three effects.
It released blinding light to damage vision.
It produced a piercing sound to strip hearing.
And lastly, through vibrations in the air, it made bones go numb and robbed the target of mobility.
In the original story, Kabuto used these two Sage Arts against Itachi and Sasuke, and for a time, he held the upper hand.
Among Ryūchi Cave's Sage Arts, Sage Art: White Rage was unquestionably the most valuable.
Kitazawa also thought of something else.
The system mission said "conquer" Ryūchi Cave.
So could he assemble a summoning-beast unit?
The summons of the Three Great Sage Regions were useless to him—but for most shinobi, they were a huge boost.
Even for jōnin, the same was true.
Looks like he'd need to have a talk with the White Snake Sage.
Kitazawa's original plan was to have Sasuke beat up Manda and the others for a bit, but now that he might have to deal with the White Snake Sage, he'd have to step in personally.
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