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"Tsunade-sensei~ Breakfast is ready!"
Almost immediately after the girl's call, a dull thud of a door being kicked followed.
"Bang!"
Sawara Yuki walked into her teacher's bedroom with a look of inquiry, without an ounce of respect. What met her eyes was Tsunade, still lying on the low futon, looking hazy and raising her eyes to her, with what looked like several question marks above her head.
"Why did you kick my door?"
"Nothing, it's just getting late, and I brought you breakfast."
Sawara Yuki looked calm, completely ignoring her teacher's rapidly darkening face. She walked closer to Tsunade, placed the sandwich and milk she was holding on the bedside table, and casually sniffed around.
No smell?
It even smelled a little fragrant.
Yuki's brows furrowed imperceptibly, but then she seemed to relax.
"Huh?"
Tsunade looked at this rude disciple who had burst into her room first thing in the morning, and pulled the blanket up to cover her body.
Noticing her small movement, Sawara Yuki's gaze lingered for a moment on the flat blanket. However, out of the last bit of respect for her teacher, she hesitated and did not lift it, instead walking out quickly:
"It's getting late, remember to eat quickly and go to work."
"Your lunch bento is at the entrance, don't forget to take it again. Kiri's is there too."
"I have to leave early today—"
"Hey! At least explain yourself clearly to me!" Tsunade, still huddled in her covers, grumbled angrily, looking quite displeased. "Are you inspecting? You burst in and started searching! I haven't had enough sleep!"
"Tsk—"
Sawara Yuki gave her a disgusted look.
Her expression was very clear.
You, you conniving cat, don't you know what I came to check?
Seeing Yuki's suddenly stern expression, the dignified Fourth Hokage, who was huddled in her covers, inexplicably began to feel guilty and just lay there, unable to speak.
Seeing this, Sawara Yuki strode out of the bedroom door.
"Phew."
Only after the door closed did 'Tsunade', still huddled in the covers, slowly poke her head out and stretch her limbs. Listening to the rapidly fading footsteps outside the door, she secretly breathed a sigh of relief.
At the same time, she inexplicably muttered under her breath:
"That bastard main body, enjoying himself with his lover, leaving me..."
"Bang—!"
Second time's the charm.
Miss Sawara Yuki poked her head back through the doorway.
And then, she saw Tsunade, fully dressed and seemingly ready to leave, standing there. Upon hearing the noise, she turned her head with an even more bewildered expression to meet Yuki's gaze.
Perhaps it was noticing that her teacher truly hadn't been secretly enjoying her beloved brother, or perhaps Sawara Yuki herself felt that her current behavior was a bit excessive.
As their eyes met, a blush spread across the girl's fair cheeks, and she said with a hint of embarrassment: "I forgot to ask what fruit you want for lunch. We still have oranges and pears at home."
"Bang!"
'Tsunade' grabbed the pillow from the low futon and threw it towards the door. Sawara Yuki quickly closed the door, and the pillow hit the doorframe with a thud.
This time, Sawara Yuki, who was inspecting, seemed to have really left.
However, 'Tsunade' did not relax. Instead, she walked out of the room with extreme suspicion, looking up, down, left, and right, even stepping on the floor tiles a few times to confirm that she had indeed left, before closing the door again.
"Little brat."
Tsunade grumbled under her breath, then returned to the room and formed hand signs to release her clone state.
Clearly, the reason her bedroom was so clean and odorless was simple.
The crime scene was not here.
Soon after, two shadowy figures emerged from another bedroom deep within the Senju Residence, dispersing one after another.
Upon returning to her own bedroom, Tsunade sniffed the overly strong scent on her body, as well as the slight sticky, dried marks on her loose robe, and her fists clenched again.
Damn you, Sawara Kiri.
Was it easy for her to be the Fourth Hokage?
She toiled tirelessly outside, and at home, she had to endure endless labor. In her prime, she met someone as fierce as a tiger, yet she had a sister constantly watching her. It made her feel like a thief every day, even having to leave a Shadow Clone in her room as a backup when she slept, just in case she was caught off guard and couldn't get up.
The reason Tsunade developed this habit was simple—they had been caught in the act more than once, and the consequences were always quite dire.
In fact, she, as a teacher, now felt somewhat unable to face her disciple, Sawara Yuki.
Anyone who was tied up in a cross-legged position, suspended in mid-air playing a bell-ringing game, and then had their door kicked open by their direct disciple witnessing it all, would probably find it hard to project any teacher's authority afterward—they might even transform into an abnormal 'conjugal mother-daughter' relationship with Yuki, like them.
The most unbearable thing was that this scoundrel even had a girlfriend.
"Sigh."
Tsunade rubbed her forehead, walked to the spacious bath in the back of the bedroom, and turned on the hot water, rubbing her slightly sore lower abdomen.
She didn't even know how she had fallen to this state step by step.
"This is truly unbecoming."
"If this private life were exposed by the newspapers, the Fourth Hokage's term would be over, wouldn't it?"
"Fortunately, his girlfriend is an Uchiha."
"Hmph."
Such is the nature of ancestral feuds.
On the other side, Sawara Kiri, who had just finished cleaning himself, was now in high spirits.
Unfortunately, while Kakashi and the other youngsters had a few days off after their mission, he, as an adult, could not take a break.
Not only could he not take a break, but because of what Tsunade told him last night, he also needed to work overtime.
Therefore, as soon as he finished breakfast, Sawara Kiri arrived at the 'Launch Site' located in the western suburbs of Konoha.
This place, which he jokingly called the 'Launch Site', was actually a circular, hollow pentagon building. The sign in front of the building read 'Konoha Central Research Institute'.
If one were to only consider this surface building, ignoring the massive underground ant-nest-like experimental complex, it could only be described as unremarkable.
However, whenever Konoha Villagers passed by this street, they would often stop nearby, just like Sawara Kiri now, and look up, gazing for a moment before continuing on their way.
The reason was simple.
It was because of the gigantic floating island, the Human Existence Assurance Organization · Chaldea, Konoha's highest scientific research achievement to date, which floated 30 kilometers directly above this building 24 hours a day.
Although from the ground, the floating island now appeared as a not-so-small smudge in the sky, just knowing what it was, the deep sense of shock it evoked would likely be hard to dispel.
As Sawara Kiri was feeling this emotion, acquaintances happened to pass by, greeting him one after another:
"Lord Sawara!"
"Special-Grade Sawara, another launch?"
"Lord Orochimaru should not be in seclusion today, but you have to be quick."
"Yes, Special-Grade Orochimaru's schedule is very unpredictable."
"Yes, yes~"
Sawara Kiri, facing these most precious research personnel in all of Konoha, had no airs at all, greeting everyone warmly and joking with them.
However, his route was different from most researchers who went directly underground; he had to turn halfway to the central core of this pentagonal building.
"Special-Grade Sawara."
Noticing him entering the hall, a white-coated figure with dark circles under his eyes, seemingly accustomed to it, waved from afar, signaling that preparations were complete.
So, Sawara Kiri strode into the formation drawn on the central floor of the hall.
He called this place a launch site, and not without reason.
Just like now.
"Identity verification complete, launch approved."
"Three."
"Two."
"One."
"Super Heavenly Transfer Jutsu, prepare—"
Accompanied by the familiar female voice from the broadcast, Sawara Kiri felt the shallow layer of Limitless floating on his body suddenly vibrate, and tens or hundreds of Gs of gravitational acceleration instantly pressed down on this narrow three-dimensional surface.
The scenery outside his body transformed into colorful, overlapping lines at an incredibly fast speed. The air resistance appeared as visible ripples, which he forcibly pushed through layer by layer. Faintly, he could even hear the sharp whistling sound of being rapidly thrown off.
Sawara, Human Cannonball No. 1, thus broke through a distance of thirty kilometers in just a few seconds, and was shot into the receiving node on the periphery of Chaldea with extremely precise trajectory, surrounded by countless high-density barriers.
It was like being entangled by countless jellies.
If an unverified foreign flying object suddenly crashed into this barrier, the outcome would naturally be predictable.
It wasn't until a few minutes later that Sawara Kiri was slowly expelled by the barrier, like wriggling within a snake's body, and squeezed onto a platform.
Standing directly in front of him was Mr. Orochimaru, dressed in a white lab coat.
Although it was still very early, the diligent genius Orochimaru had already begun to work.
"Excuse me, Special-Grade Orochimaru."
Sawara Kiri looked at his diligent appearance, not only blurring the lines between day and night but also gradually blurring the lines between genders, and he couldn't help but feel a little guilty—surely, when he was messing around at home yesterday, Lord Orochimaru must have been diligently working for Konoha's future, right?
"I came today to inquire about 'Future Observation'."
"According to intelligence from the Fourth Hokage, the activity in Hidden Mist is increasing. We now need a relatively precise time to determine when to intervene."
Orochimaru, still chewing on a piece of bread, turned his head to glance at him, then casually swiped the tabletop tablet, and the image on the large screen instantly changed:
"You've come at a good time."
"These are the images observed by the 'Near-Future Observation Lens' over the past three days—all are 'possibilities' of Hidden Mist."
Sawara Kiri's brow furrowed as he saw the images on the large screen.
The first photo was a high-angle overhead view. Hidden Mist Village, at the center of the image, was almost completely flattened. The entire Village had sunk a layer, and there was a clear crater on the island where it was located.
The second was a humanoid monster, like a Tailed Beast, covered in bright red Chakra—no, more like blood-colored Chakra.
In the center of the image, it was holding the severed half of Yagura Karatachi's body.
The third image also showed the blood-red monster, but it was lying in the center of the crater, with dense plant tendrils growing from half of its body, seemingly groaning and looking extremely pathetic.
"Special-Grade Orochimaru, what exactly is this...?"
Sawara Kiri turned back to look at him, somewhat puzzled.
Orochimaru quickly stuffed the rest of the bread into his mouth in two bites and said, "According to the 'Observation Team's' speculation, these should be the three possible world-lines of Hidden Mist Village."
"Due to computer processing power issues, we can currently only observe these three through Ryumakyu energy. As for the various branching effects that will occur later... our analysis capability is insufficient."
"However, it can be seen that the key to everything lies with this monster—our 'Observation Team' has temporarily named it 'Beast of Blood'."
"Clearly, with this monster's interference, our 'Village Unification Plan' has encountered an unprecedented failure."
"As for how it happened, it's completely unknown."
Upon hearing this, Sawara Kiri couldn't help but sigh.
Orochimaru, however, completely disregarded his slight expression. After solving this small matter for him, he quickly switched the screen back to the scientific research analysis project he was currently working on.
Just as he had seen.
The 'Near-Future Observation Lens · Sheba' had indeed succeeded, thanks to Ryumakyu energy and Orochimaru's scientific miracle.
Through the spatiotemporal properties of the Ryumakyu, they were able to use high-energy supercomputing and special algorithms to analyze a portion of 'images' or 'results' from the future from countless energy information.
It was precisely because of this that Konoha was able to complete a large number of research projects at lightning speed in just a few years—because they could directly see the answers to the test questions.
As for its application in predicting world political trends, that was a very rare case.
Politics is a game of human hearts; it's not like mathematics and physics, having neither right nor wrong, nor boundaries. A high-ranking official not having a good meal could lead to a series of changes in important matters—as Orochimaru would say, it's a meaningless thing.
"So," Sawara Kiri looked at Orochimaru, who had buried himself in work again, "you mean to give up on this operation? We've been preparing for a long time, you know."
"No, quite the opposite."
Orochimaru looked up at him with his golden vertical pupils: "You go figure out a way to capture that thing and bring it back to me."
"...?"
Sawara Kiri was somewhat puzzled.
Then, Orochimaru's face gradually showed a hint of fanaticism, and he chuckled: "Haven't you noticed? That is clearly the product of a complex bloodline fusion, even exhibiting unstable Wood Release properties, and such a level of energy reaction."
"Sawara Kiri, you must find a way."
"Konoha needs him."
Orochimaru looked at him, saying something utterly absurd, yet his expression was unusually serious:
"Furthermore, if its structure is indeed as I imagine..."
"Then we..."
"Should be able to create a god."
"Huh?"
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