Tamura Hao entered the bathhouse, chose a private bathing room, and paid extra for a scrubbing service. Before long, a bath attendant with an utterly ordinary appearance entered.
Tamura Hao naturally stepped out of the pool and lay face-down on the wooden platform, enjoying the scrubbing.
"Danzo's people contacted you?"
The bath attendant—Tutai, disguised using the Transformation Technique—asked in a low voice.
This was their agreed signal. As long as Tamura Hao came here, it meant there had been movement on Danzo's side.
The two couldn't meet openly and could only communicate this way, to avoid alerting the other side's spies.
"He wants intelligence on the village's plans for the coming war, and on progress in tailed beast utilization. I asked for the Sword of the Thunder God," Tamura Hao replied simply.
There was no need to elaborate. With Tutai's intelligence, he would understand immediately.
Sure enough, Tutai fell into deep thought.
He wasn't surprised by Shimura Danzo's intentions at all—he had expected them. After all, even Tutai himself wanted to know how Konoha was planning for the coming war. Every great village wanted insight into the others.
"With your current status—and even with Fukuroi's position—you can't access anything too deep," Tutai said after a moment.
"I'll give you some surface-level and peripheral intelligence. It'll be enough for Danzo's side to analyze something."
After some thought, Tutai passed on several scattered pieces of information—details that were plausible for someone of Tamura Hao's standing to obtain.
Then he offered further advice.
"You can give them the village's war planning first. As for tailed beast intelligence—including plans related to the former Land of Whirlpools—keep that as a bargaining chip to exchange for the Sword of the Thunder God.
"That said, from what I know, using that sword properly requires enormous chakra. It won't be very useful to you."
Tutai had heard of the sword before. When Tobirama Senju wielded it in conjunction with the Flying Thunder God Technique, it was lethal to nearly any opponent.
Back then, Kinkaku and Ginkaku had only survived thanks to their Tailed Beast Cloaks—otherwise, they would have been cut down on the spot.
"I want to use the Sword of the Thunder God to assist with Lightning Release nature transformation training—not for combat," Tamura Hao said.
"After I'm done with it, I'll turn it over to the village. Maybe it can serve as the basis for creating large-scale ninja tools to help others train Lightning Release.
"That should count as a major contribution, right?"
Tamura Hao had thought this through carefully.
The sword's lightning-blade form was extremely powerful, but it required massive chakra to sustain. Without sufficient chakra, its true power couldn't be unleashed—and in the original history, it was eventually destroyed.
What he lacked most was chakra.
For him, the sword was a training aid, not a weapon.
With Big Meow and Little Meow, his combat needs were already covered.
If the sword had no long-term use to him, he might as well trade it for other resources by turning it over to the village.
"That's a good idea," Tutai said, momentarily stunned, then nodding in agreement.
His thoughts drifted to the Six Paths Treasured Tools sealed away by Kinkaku and Ginkaku. One of them—the Bashōsen—could convert chakra into all five elemental attributes.
If that tool could be recovered, it could theoretically assist training in all five nature transformations.
They had always thought of those tools purely as weapons. The idea of using them to accelerate training had been completely overlooked.
"Young people really do think more flexibly," Tutai sighed, clearly excited.
If this plan succeeded, Kumogakure could quickly produce a new batch of jōnin.
After all, mastering chakra nature transformation was one of the defining thresholds for becoming a jōnin, and the resulting boost in combat power was enormous. Unfortunately, nature transformation was far more difficult than shape transformation, and many shinobi were permanently stuck at that bottleneck.
"When you obtain the Sword of the Thunder God, that'll count as one S-rank merit," Tutai continued.
"Combined with your previous two intelligence contributions, that makes three S-rank merits in total.
"Is there anything you want?"
Tutai was being unusually generous, and his appreciation for this young man was growing by the minute.
To Kumogakure, Tamura Hao truly seemed like a lucky star.
"Does the village have any Sharingan?" Tamura Hao asked.
"I've heard the Sharingan greatly enhances dynamic vision. I plan to follow a speed-based path, and I need better dynamic vision to support high-speed movement.
"Also, I need a way to increase my chakra reserves. My talent in that area is terrible—it seriously limits my growth."
He laid out his reasoning clearly.
He wanted to follow a path similar to Uchiha Sasuke's Chidori-style combat, which required exceptional dynamic vision.
Training alone wouldn't be enough. He needed an advantage—a shortcut.
His sparring match with Fukuroi had made this painfully clear. No matter how sharp or tricky his blade techniques were, Fukuroi could calmly block them all.
When Fukuroi attacked at lightning speed, Tamura Hao couldn't even see the strike clearly—let alone block it. And that wasn't even Fukuroi's full strength. Once Lightning Release nintaijutsu was added, the speed would only increase further.
Against opponents like that, he wouldn't even get a chance to react.
Dynamic vision was absolutely critical—and in the shinobi world, nothing surpassed the Sharingan in that regard.
Given Kumogakure's style, it was very likely they had confiscated Sharingan from fallen Uchiha. Unlike the Hyūga, the Uchiha had no Caged Bird Seal to destroy their eyes upon death.
"I don't plan to transplant it," Tamura Hao added internally. He just wanted to study it.
"We do have Sharingan," Tutai confirmed.
"We've obtained some in past battles with Uchiha shinobi. Sharingan can be transplanted, but non-Uchiha can't deactivate it. It continuously drains chakra—it's not suitable for you."
Tutai firmly rejected the idea of transplantation. They had tried before, and every attempt had failed.
Even the Third Raikage couldn't sustain that level of chakra drain, let alone Tamura Hao.
"I'm not trying to transplant it," Tamura Hao clarified.
"I just want to study the principles behind how it enhances dynamic vision, to gain some inspiration."
Tutai understood immediately.
Even Hatake Kakashi, a once-in-a-generation prodigy who became a jōnin at twelve, had been crippled by the constant chakra drain.
Tamura Hao wouldn't last a day.
"I'll report this to the Third Raikage," Tutai said after some thought.
"I'll arrange for you to visit the research division. They're studying various bloodline limits there, as well as the Eight-Tails' flesh. You might be able to provide some new ideas."
He had to admit—the boy's mind was frighteningly sharp. He always focused on angles others overlooked.
Perhaps letting him into the research division would lead to unexpected breakthroughs.
"Thank you, Lord Tutai!"
Tamura Hao was genuinely excited.
He had wanted to study tailed beast flesh for some time now.
Others couldn't refine it—but he had his golden finger. If he could erase even the Sage of Six Paths' imprints from chakra, then tailed beast chakra should be manageable as well.
If he could fuse even a fraction of that power, his chakra reserves would skyrocket.
And beyond that, he had many ideas that required foundational resources to test. Entering Kumogakure's research division was the perfect opportunity.
"The Third Raikage and I both think highly of you," Tutai added.
"When the Third steps down in the future, you could take my position and assist the Fourth."
This was no empty praise.
Kumogakure had no shortage of powerful fighters—but true strategists were rare.
This boy had the potential to become the future Fourth Raikage's right-hand man.
"I won't disappoint you or the Raikage," Tamura Hao replied without hesitation.
This was no time for doubt.
And in truth, he desperately needed to raise his standing within Kumogakure.
Only with higher status could he avoid becoming expendable cannon fodder—and gain access to more resources.
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