Moon.
Inside a magnificent and gorgeous castle, Tsunade stood by the window, watching meteorites streak past outside and the distant giant blue planet floating in space.
From this vantage point, observing all beings in the ninja world gave her an unusual feeling. Facing the boundless cosmos and starry sky, humans seemed so insignificant; even the entire ninja world was nothing more than a grain of sand in the vast ocean.
"What are you thinking about?" Heiyan approached, wrapping his arm around her shoulder with a smile.
"Nothing much."
Tsunade leaned her head against Heiyan's chest, curiously asking, "By the way, what kind of facility exactly do you want to build to collect solar energy?"
"Come with me, and you'll see soon enough."
Heiyan said mysteriously.
So together, the two left the castle and arrived at an open lot outside. This area had flat terrain without atmospheric interference, making it ideal for fully receiving sunlight.
From Heiyan's memory of his previous life, the most famous theory regarding light energy utilization was the Dyson Sphere.
A Dyson Sphere refers to using a massive artificial celestial body to encase the sun completely, thereby absorbing all the light energy emitted from it and obtaining most of its energy output.
To put it simply, it was a natural nuclear fusion reactor using the sun as its power source.
However, completely surrounding the sun with such a structure was too crazy and impractical. Therefore, many simplified versions of the Dyson Sphere emerged, such as the Dyson Ring, Dyson Bubble, and Dyson Swarm.
The plan Heiyan adopted utilized the basic principle of a Dyson Sphere while adjusting according to practical conditions, creating a sanctum specifically designed for cultivating with solar energy.
Several days later.
On this stretch of land on the moon, a magnificent spectacle appeared.
It consisted of tens of thousands of solar panels floating in midair, forming a hollow cylindrical structure that resembled [Ice Release: Demonic Mirroring Thin Ice].
All the solar panels absorbed sunlight, shining brilliantly while channeling their collected light energy toward the center of the cylinder. Inside was a meditation platform meant for cultivation.
Heiyan did a final lap around the cylinder to complete his inspection, then gently gave Tsunade a nudge on the back and said,
"Hurry up and try it out. It's specially made for you."
"Okay."
Tsunade shot Heiyan a delighted glance before walking eagerly into the cylinder and sitting cross-legged on the cultivation platform.
As soon as she sat down, her entire body was submerged in radiant light surging in from all directions.
"What… is this?"
Tsunade wore an astonished expression. She felt a steady flow of warm energy pouring into her body. This energy was pure and intense, completely free of impurities—superior even to natural energy—and every cell in Tsunade's body seemed to vibrate with joy.
This... was solar energy?
Stunned by the sensation, Tsunade quickly focused, absorbing the energy and converting it into her own power.
Under the continuous impact of the solar energy, only Tsunade's Sage Transformation could withstand it. For anyone else, their body would have exploded instantly, reduced to nothing more than a scattering of ash dissolving in the radiance.
Heiyan slowly flew over from a distance.
"Starting today, you'll begin your closed-door cultivation here. I estimate it will only take a few years for your Sage Transformation to complete its metamorphosis and reach the Six Paths Tier."
He placed his hand on Tsunade's shoulder and encouraged her.
"What about you?"
Tsunade was taken aback and quickly asked. She had assumed Heiyan would stay here and cultivate alongside her.
"The light energy here is still way too weak for me. Therefore, I must go somewhere much closer to the sun, where I can construct an even larger Cultivation Sanctum."
Heiyan said with patience.
"I see." Hearing this, Tsunade inevitably felt somewhat disappointed, but she quickly adjusted her attitude, expressing full understanding and support toward Heiyan.
"Just be careful," she reminded him earnestly.
"Don't worry, I'll be fine."
Saying this, Heiyan turned his head, gazing toward the direction of the sun.
Before departing, he also shared the Parasitic Spores Technique with Tsunade, enabling her to control Hamura's descendants on the moon so they could serve her whenever needed.
[Parasitic Spores Technique]
Then, Heiyan left the moon, flying toward the sun like a moth drawn recklessly to the flame.
Swish.
Throughout the journey, he continuously traversed space using Kamui, quickly leaving Earth and the moon far behind.
One day later, looking back, Heiyan could no longer see any trace of Earth and the moon. Before him stretched nothing but profound cosmic darkness.
Looking ahead, the sun appeared like a giant fireball, burning fiercely while constantly emitting intense light and heat. Heiyan could even see the rolling magma across its surface, resembling countless colossal dragons of flame roaring skyward.
This was it—the place he'd been searching for.
Heiyan found an asteroid belt in orbit around the sun, slowly descending onto the largest asteroid.
Here, he discovered abundant mineral veins, which he conveniently used as raw materials. Combined with Yin and Yang Release techniques, within a month, he created a massive Cultivation Sanctum hundreds of times larger than the previous one.
Buzzzzz.
The sanctum gathered solar energy, and countless enormous solar panels emitted dazzling brilliance. Viewed from afar, it looked like a miniature sun shining brightly in the night sky.
Heiyan flew into the sanctum, floating at its center, spreading his arms wide, and bathing himself in endless sunlight.
Here, the energy within sunlight formed an ocean of light. Waves surged, producing resonant sounds echoing through space.
And Heiyan, like an ever-expanding vacuum, never ceased absorbing energy from this sea of light. His entire being entered a state of Anātman, merging with sunlight while transcending into a higher level of existence...
This was the cultivation path surpassing the Otsutsuki Clan.
It was an unknown path. When Heiyan eventually stopped, no one knew what form he might take or how far he could advance.
Meanwhile,
Back on Earth, the situation within the shinobi world was undergoing new changes.
During this period, Konoha officially held a new Hokage election, although the process couldn't be described as smooth—it instead ended up in chaos.
It turned out that even before the election started, several candidates had already run into trouble one after another.
First, several members of the Uchiha police force faced provocation during their nighttime patrol. Acting impulsively, they ended up in a street fight that left many innocent passersby injured.
A video of the incident was secretly recorded by someone with ulterior motives and selectively edited before being broadcast on television, causing an uproar and creating a terribly negative impression.
The Uchiha clan's reputation plummeted overnight. As the clan head and captain of the police force, Fugaku Uchiha naturally became implicated as well.
The very next day, a large group of villagers "spontaneously" organized a street protest against the police force's brutal law enforcement, which led to further clashes between the villagers and the police, escalating the situation.
In the end, Danzo Shimura, advisor to the Hokage, arrived just in time to defuse the crisis.
The Hyuga clan initially watched the Uchiha's turmoil with a sense of schadenfreude, but unexpectedly, their own clan head Hiashi Hyuga also ran into trouble.
It turned out that a former female kunoichi who once worked with Hiashi suddenly showed up on television, accusing him of long-term voyeurism and harassment. She claimed Hiashi had threatened to silence her permanently if she ever exposed it.
As proof, she presented one of Hiashi Hyuga's rare symbiotic Byakugan eyes, claiming he used it to monitor every move in the village—he was a twisted voyeur.
Upon learning of the accusations, Hiashi immediately came forward to clarify, explaining that his symbiotic Byakugan had been mysteriously lost recently and never recovered. Moreover, he had never used his Byakugan to spy on anyone's private affairs.
However, in the face of overwhelming public outrage, Hiashi's explanation seemed weak and unconvincing.
Once smeared with such false accusations, his reputation could never be fully restored—his honor ruined much like Fugaku's.
But compared to what happened to Fugaku Uchiha and Hiashi Hyuga, the scandal surrounding the third Hokage candidate—Orochimaru—was by far the most explosive.
An underground secret laboratory hidden within the village, where Orochimaru had once conducted cruel human experimentation, was suddenly exposed.
Photos, documents, and video evidence began circulating throughout the Leaf Village within hours.
Orochimaru, serving as the Director of the Konoha Research Division, had been concealing monstrous experiments beneath his composed exterior—all of which caused immense shock, anger, and hatred among the people.
As soon as the news broke, Danzo swiftly led a team to raid the Konoha Research Division building to confront Orochimaru.
But no one expected that Orochimaru, realizing things had taken a bad turn and seeing no chance of redemption, had already fled ahead of time.
That same day, an official announcement came from the Hokage Tower declaring Orochimaru a missing-nin who had defected from the village and listing him officially as an S-ranked rogue ninja, with a bounty reaching 100 million ryō.
Fugaku Uchiha faced accusations of negligence; Hiashi Hyuga sank into scandal; Orochimaru betrayed the village and fled.
Within just two or three days, the top three of the four Hokage candidates all fell from grace, losing the support of the people.
The gaze of both the villagers and ninjas in the village inevitably shifted toward the final Hokage candidate—Danzo Shimura.
Seemingly, this long-time underdog, known for his hidden schemes and meticulous planning, was about to win effortlessly.
Of course, many people suspected that the scandals involving Fugaku and the other two were all connected to Danzo, believing he had meticulously planned everything and secretly ordered his subordinates to carry it out.
Still, the voices of doubt didn't last long—they were soon silenced without causing much of a stir. After all, these were mere accusations with no evidence to back them up.
That's right.
A sly old fox like Danzo wouldn't possibly leave any incriminating traces behind.
He thought he had already secured victory and was even ready to pop open a bottle of champagne in celebration.
Yet, no one expected what happened next.
At the very last moment, former Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly announced an emergency return to politics, delivering a heartfelt public speech and rejoining the race for the Hokage position.
It came down to just two contenders.
The outcome was never in doubt.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was elected Hokage once again.
Danzo was furious enough to explode, but after calming down, he could only reluctantly accept this reality. At least it wasn't someone else taking the position—it was somewhat bearable for him to have Hiruzen as Hokage.
This farce revolving around the Hokage election finally came to an end. With every faction in Konoha exhausted from internal conflicts, they all found themselves right back where they started.
Konoha lost much of its strength after this incident.
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