The Rebirth Jutsu was conceived with lofty ambitions—it aimed to directly grant life to puppets. However, the creator ultimately realized that it required a life to be exchanged, essentially a life-for-life deal, and abandoned the technique.
Still, for chakra-rich and highly resilient ninja like Hyuga Mirai and Ayaka Uzumaki, the technique was only slightly dangerous—not fatal.
When it came to using Yang Release chakra to create and heal organs and tissues, Hyuga Mirai believed there was still room for improvement. He considered experimenting with healing talismans. If used in combination with Edo Tensei, they might one day eliminate the fear of death altogether.
"The technique's fine, just not very useful."
After recording the forbidden jutsu, Hyuga Mirai set the scroll aside. In the ninja world, there wasn't really anyone he wanted to resurrect. Even with enhancements, the jutsu could only help those who had just recently died under his command.
Kushina Uzumaki, seeing how casually Mirai had put the scroll aside, curiously reached out to touch it. When Mirai said nothing, she realized she was allowed to read it—otherwise, he would have warned her the moment she touched it.
"Rebirth Jutsu..."
Kushina muttered as she read through the scroll.
"You thinking about using this jutsu to bring Namikaze Minato back?"
Seeing her intrigued, Hyuga Mirai couldn't help but ask. If she was considering it, he would have to dissuade her on multiple fronts.
Kushina shook her head. "Not at all. I'm just curious about the jutsu. As for Minato... if he were alive again, I'm not sure what role he'd assume in Naruto's life."
The thought had flashed briefly through Kushina's mind but was quickly dismissed.
Years ago, Minato had decisively chosen to prioritize his role as Hokage over being a father, planning Naruto's future accordingly. And with Naruto recently used by Root to suppress the Uchiha clan, Kushina could never accept that. If Minato were resurrected, she feared he might again prioritize his Hokage duties over their son.
"By the way, about that Asura chakra inside Naruto—when do you plan to remove it?" Kushina suddenly remembered and asked.
The idea that her son was the reincarnation of someone else's chakra was hard for her to accept. Moreover, she'd heard that Asura believed love was essential for peace. She didn't want Naruto to be influenced into such naive thinking—it was already beginning to show.
"If possible, I'd prefer you remove whatever anomaly is inside Naruto as soon as you can."
"I've considered it," said Mirai. "I used spirit projection to enter his consciousness, but I haven't found any signs of Asura's chakra awakening yet. So it's difficult to intervene. Let Naruto and Sasuke interact for a while. Their time together might accelerate the awakening of both Asura and Indra."
"If, in two years, there's still no sign of chakra awakening in either of them, I'll use a soul-revealing forbidden jutsu for a deeper investigation."
Kushina suddenly interrupted. "Wait, did you just say Sasuke has someone else's chakra reincarnated in him too—Indra?"
"Yeah. I didn't tell you that before?" Mirai nodded, giving her a look like it was no big deal.
"You absolutely didn't! This is the first I've heard of it. No wonder you keep pairing Naruto and Sasuke together." Kushina sighed in relief, then casually added, "I thought you were interested in Mikoto..."
She suddenly stopped, realizing she'd spoken too fast.
Mirai gave her a side-eye with his Byakugan, then got up and walked out. Before leaving, he said, "If I were into married women, do you think you'd have been able to escape?"
With that, he left, leaving Kushina blushing furiously, her head still bowed long after he'd gone.
The banter in the house had no effect on Hyuga Mirai. Once outside, he turned his thoughts to the Federation's development. Progress was still a bit slow. The next step was to quickly unify the Land of Wind and use the Kado Shipping Company to link the Land of Tea, Uzumaki Land, the Land of Rainbows, and the Land of Waves—to blockade the Land of Water.
Before that, though, Sasori needed to implement military reforms for all Sand ninja. Since Sunagakure had always specialized in puppets, the new Sand Federation should expand on that legacy. Future battlefield troops must be equipped with mech puppets or modern artillery for dense firepower combat.
While that might not be effective against top-tier ninja, it would devastate lower- and mid-tier ninja—who made up the bulk of all major village forces. Jonin were rare.
After leaving his quarters, Hyuga Mirai arrived at the training grounds where Ayaka Uzumaki was teaching Naruto Uzumaki. He stood atop a large transplanted tree, watching Naruto train. After a while, bored, he activated his terminal communicator and called Unit 18.
"Unit 18, how's the situation between Konoha and Amegakure?"
"Neither side has launched an attack yet, sir. There's too little intel to predict the next engagement. However, Tsunade is training hard in Konoha in preparation for battle."
Unit 18 pulled up footage of Tsunade's training. Mirai watched for a moment, found it dizzying, and skipped ahead.
Intel was limited. The main aggressor now was Nagato. His Six Paths of Pain had taken heavy losses due to Konoha's targeted tactics, though his real body was still hidden. After treatment by medical devices, his actual power was even greater than the combined strength of the Six Paths. Nagato couldn't be sealed so easily.
Currently, he remained near the Konoha encampment, as detected by satellite. Other Akatsuki members were also gradually encircling the area, staying far enough from Konoha's patrols to avoid detection.
This suggested that Nagato planned to eliminate both Konoha and Iwa-nin at once. With the Six Paths' tactics exposed, the next move would likely involve his true body.
"Hyuga-san."
A member of the Federation Guard approached. Mirai looked back and recognized him as a Uchiha clansman, now in standard uniform, with the Uchiha crest hidden.
Mirai smiled. "I remember you—Uchiha Ao, right? What is it?"
"So you do remember me! Thank you again for saving my clan that night." Ao smiled brightly. "The upper council has called a meeting. The captain asked me to inform you."
"A Federation council meeting?"
Perhaps he'd missed something. When deeply focused on research, Mirai often muted external alerts. If it were critical, Unit 18 or Tsunade would have contacted him directly.
Since there'd been no urgent notice, the meeting likely wasn't that important.
"Got it. Let's go."
Mirai followed Uchiha Ao toward the Kazekage building.
Though he held no official title, that was only because Pakura wasn't present to assign one. Given Mirai's strength, his role as acting king of Roran, and president of the Uzumaki Trade Association, even being a department head would be beneath him.
When Mirai arrived, the meeting began. Uchiha Tekka was present too—he hadn't attended the last Roran merger meeting because he was out familiarizing himself with guard patrol routes.
This time, Tekka attended as commander of the Federation Guard.
It didn't take long for Mirai to understand the meeting's topic.
The deaths of the Land of Wind's daimyo and several nobles could no longer be concealed. Internal strife had broken out. After two assassination attempts by Pakura and Kakuzu, the daimyo's entire bloodline had been wiped out. Allied nobles were also either dead or gravely wounded.
Though Kakuzu had grumbled about not getting paid, he carried out the mission flawlessly, eliminating everyone on the list—and even added a few dozen names as a bonus for the Sand Federation.
Given the situation in the Land of Wind, the Federation had only one option: military occupation.
Fortunately, there was no powerful ninja village there. Sending just a hundred Federation ninja would be enough to crush all resistance. The real challenge was governance and absorbing the territory, something the Federation always struggled with.
After two years of development and training, they had just barely managed to control their current towns. Gaining a new territory would stretch their manpower thin again.
"Hyuga-san, may we borrow some administrative personnel from the Uzumaki Trade Association?"
Yashamaru, Pakura's assistant, asked suddenly. This was a method they had used when integrating the Hyakusa Trade Association—borrowing personnel to get through tough transitions.
Mirai hadn't expected Yashamaru to be so considerate. After pretending to ponder for a moment, he replied, "If the Federation needs help, I can immediately dispatch seventy deputy administrators. Any more, and it would affect our operations."
(End of Chapter)