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Konan's technique wasn't particularly skilled; in fact, as a Ninja, her hands, honed by countless training sessions and scars, were somewhat rough. When massaging his temples, he could clearly feel the faint scars left by tiny scratches on her fingertips and palms, unlike Tsunade's delicate softness, which came from countless treatments and maintenance.
Compared to the skilled ladies in a massage parlor, there was no comparison at all.
But at this moment, Sawara Kiri was not enjoying a technique full of skill and devoid of emotion, but rather Konan's gradual opening of her heart to him.
Ever since she took on her duties and began striving for her ideals, Konan seemed to have rarely spoken to him about the past.
This was a good sign.
Sawara Kiri thought to himself, his eyes unconsciously opening. He sat back in the armchair, maintaining an upward gaze, quietly watching Konan's face as she gently massaged him, her eyelids lowered.
Her delicate and gentle face, like a young girl's, still wore that meticulous expression, a look of displeasure, but a faint blush inexplicably appeared on her fair cheeks, whether from shyness or annoyance, as she tried her best to avoid his gaze.
It was a small expression that seemed to say, "Although I'm very reluctant, thank you for everything recently."
How amusing.
Sawara Kiri thought this to himself, unconsciously raising his hand, wanting to touch her cheek.
But Konan seemed to suddenly startle, stepping back with extreme nervousness, her eyes darting away as she lowered her voice:
"What are you doing?"
"There are still people here!"
Sawara Kiri froze, instinctively turning his head.
Only then did he see the young Kakashi, facing the door, hands clasped behind his back, pretending to look at an ant hole.
He almost forgot about him.
"Ahem."
"Konan, you go ahead and get busy."
"I have other things to do here later."
Upon hearing this, Konan, who had been flustered a second ago, immediately let out a long sigh of relief.
Also relieved was young Kakashi, who pretended he knew nothing and saw nothing.
Sawara Kiri got up and saw Konan out.
Just as Konan stepped out of the room and turned to face outside, her hand was suddenly taken.
She instinctively looked back.
She saw Sawara Kiri suddenly lower his head and peck her.
Chu.
Konan was momentarily stunned.
Then, she heard Sawara Kiri whisper: "Next time, help me massage my shoulders too; they're very sore here."
"You—"
Konan's cheeks suddenly flushed crimson, and she wanted to loudly scold him.
But footsteps coming from around the corner of the hallway instantly extinguished her anger. Her shoulders hunched like a quail, looking like a wronged little wife who dared not speak, she gave him a fierce glare.
Seeing that his captive female Ninja actually dared to glare at him, Sawara Kiri, who was about to release her hand, suddenly gripped it tighter, pulling her into his embrace. Even her ample clothing was flattened, and the faint warmth of their breath on their skin became so clear.
Konan couldn't break free for a moment, and her heart grew even more flustered.
"What do you want to do?"
"It's still... it's still daytime!"
So it's fine at night?
Sawara Kiri looked at her with a bewildered expression.
Even Konan herself didn't realize that her first reaction now wasn't to fight Sawara Kiri, but rather the shy and annoyed reaction of a young girlfriend caught by her boyfriend on a first date. Her most urgent subconscious thought was actually fear of their relationship being discovered by others.
She completely lacked the awareness of a captive female Ninja.
"An answer?"
Sawara Kiri, on the other hand, was calm and composed, looking very assertive, as if his domestic standing had invisibly risen by a level.
"I'll agree, alright!"
"Let go quickly."
Konan's voice grew more urgent, her gaze constantly darting towards the hallway where the sound came from.
"That's more like it."
Sawara Kiri finally got a satisfactory answer and leisurely released her: "Remember to come tonight."
"Pfft."
Konan spat at him in a low voice, quickly smoothing out her disheveled clothes and tugging at her hem, trying her best to maintain her usual serious and cold female Ninja demeanor.
Seeing no flaws, she finally gave him one last sidelong glance and hurried out of the building.
Sawara Kiri looked at Konan's retreating figure, feeling that this bond was likely inescapable.
The reason was simple.
"sahara friend account: Konan"
"Bond Level Up ↑"
"Konan Bond Level: Two → Three"
"First activation of special path 'The Path of a Captured Female Ninja's Submission'"
"Inner Conflict Points +1"
"Note: Wahhh... Kill me! I will never submit beneath your crotch!"
Listening to the system's rare suggestive words, Sawara Kiri's worries slightly eased.
He had been wondering where to get Inner Conflict Points in the future.
Now, here they were, weren't they?
Also, there was another small matter to resolve before this.
Sawara Kiri thought to himself, turning his head towards the masked boy in the room with a gentle expression, and said softly:
"Kakashi-kun."
Kakashi immediately stiffened, a look of panic appearing on his small face beneath his mask.
What to do? It seemed he had stumbled upon something extraordinary.
Would Sawara silence him?
However, when his neck slowly turned like rusted machinery, and his gaze stiffly met Sawara Kiri's gentle eyes, he heard Sawara Kiri say kindly:
"You wouldn't want Rin and Obito to know that you read the collector's edition illustrated 18+ Icha Icha Paradise, would you?"
"Eh?!"
"Sawara-sensei, how did you know...?"
Kakashi-kun, who a second ago might have only been silenced, suddenly found himself facing an option that might be more terrifying than death—social death.
Twelve-year-old Konoha youth Kakashi had not yet matured into the seasoned Ninja he would become later in the story, daring to openly read his perverted books in front of his students.
On the contrary, he was currently in the naive stage of buying H-books and fearing discovery by family, friends, and parents. His caution at this time could not even be described as merely hiding his head and tail and secretly practicing; he even maintained his Transformation Jutsu for a long time every time he entered the 18+ section of a bookstore.
Because of this, his gaze towards Sawara at this moment was like seeing a god.
"You don't need to worry about that then."
Sawara Kiri smiled gently, coaxing him: "Kakashi-kun should know what shouldn't be said, right?"
"This is a secret between the two of us."
You're clearly threatening me, aren't you?!
Young Kakashi finally, at the age of twelve, witnessed the treachery of the Ninja World.
In the end, he could only, under the gravity of reality, helplessly lower his proud head.
"...Yes."
"That's good."
Sawara Kiri's smile grew even gentler, and at the same time, he let out a huge sigh of relief in his heart.
If Megumi found out about today's events, he would probably be torn into several pieces, or at the very least, be confined to his room for at least a week.
As for how he knew Kakashi's secret?
Are you kidding? On the day of the book signing, he was the one who transformed and signed the names. Even the illustrations in that book were drawn by his own hand. Kakashi's transformation skills were no different from nonexistent in front of his Six Eyes, so he could naturally see through it at a glance.
Next time, he couldn't be so arrogant just because the timing was right.
Sawara Kiri, despite his immense strength, always secretly reminded himself, truly a model Ninja.
At the same time.
Just as the Ninja World was embroiled in various chaotic wars.
On the other side, another group of people was busy with their own endeavors.
"Buzz—"
Accompanied by a violent flicker like the aurora.
Three figures abruptly traversed a spatial tunnel, appearing on the surface of a silent white desert.
The leader looked at the desolate expanse before him and suddenly spoke:
"Is this the Moon?"
"That's right."
Beside him, the man with his body clearly divided into black and white maintained a strange smile and spoke faintly.
The arrivals were Nagato, Yahiko, and Zetsu's group.
After the previous failure, Nagato had completely realized that confronting a monster like Sawara Kiri head-on was by no means a way to win; he would even lose more than he gained.
Even more deeply impressed by this was Black Zetsu beside him.
Thus, in the following two months, led by Black Zetsu, they continuously searched for hidden treasures buried throughout the Ninja World, attempting to uncover content related to the Moon.
Fortunately, persistence paid off.
Black Zetsu searched his millennia-long memory bank for a long time and finally found some traces of communication between the Hyuga Clan and the Ōtsutsuki branch family from a few hundred years ago, left in some remaining texts of Otsutsuki Hagoromo.
With clues in hand, they then delved deeper, and through Black Zetsu's various methods, found the Hyuga Clan's hidden method of contact with the celestial beings in their secret vault, thereby discovering a spatial distortion tunnel.
The other side of this tunnel was precisely the Moon.
However, the scene they were now witnessing differed from the history recorded in the texts they had collected.
Nagato frowned deeply, turning to look at Zetsu beside him: "Didn't you say that Otsutsuki Hagoromo's descendants have been multiplying on the Moon for nearly a thousand years?"
"Why is it still like this here?"
Despite their current cooperation, Nagato had never let down his guard against this fellow.
After all, he had learned long ago that he was merely a vessel for Uchiha Madara's eyes. Aside from his closest companions, Nagato always maintained a sense of caution.
"Don't worry, Nagato."
"The connection between the Hyuga and Ōtsutsuki has been broken for several hundred years after all, and this timing also happens to coincide with when the Hyuga Clan began to widely impose the Caged Bird Seal on their branch family members."
"Over such a long time, it's not surprising for anything to happen to humans."
"As long as what we're looking for is still here, that's enough."
Black Zetsu spoke faintly, though he was actually equally puzzled in his heart.
With such a secret treasure suppressing the clan, and the situation on the Moon not as complex as in the Ninja World, could Hagoromo's clan members still undergo such a major change?
Hearing this, Yahiko also took the opportunity to interrupt Nagato's words and change the subject: "We've already reached the Moon. Now, can you finally tell us what that secret treasure capable of rivaling Sawara Kiri actually is?"
Nagato paused, then immediately nodded.
Black Zetsu's voice paused, his face still maintaining that unpleasant smile, his tone flat:
"It's an eye."
"To be precise, it should be a bloodline limit powerful enough to rival your Rinnegan, no, it should be even superior to yours."
"—The Tenseigan."
The expressions on Nagato and Yahiko's faces both froze.
Capable of rivaling the Rinnegan? Even surpassing it?
Others might not understand, but Nagato knew very well.
Ninety-nine percent of his strength lay in his Rinnegan.
If he only had a massive Chakra reserve, his upper limit would probably be inferior to even Sarutobi Hiruzen of Konoha in his prime.
"What is that?"
Nagato unconsciously blurted out.
"If the Rinnegan is a bloodline limit dependent on the Sharingan, an unstable evolution formed by the convergence of countless Yin Release Chakra, then the Tenseigan is the ultimate power originating from the essence of the Ōtsutsuki Clan, formed by the convergence of countless Byakugan and Yang Release Chakra."
Black Zetsu stood with his back to them, his tone growing calmer: "The two are Yin and Yang, opposing each other, yet possessing infinite potential for fusion, complementing each other."
"Although neither can rival a monster like Sawara Kiri on its own, when the two converge to form the Zenith of Yin-Yang, then we will have a true trump card."
"And that is you, Nagato."
A power that could contend with Sawara Kiri.
The moment he thought of this, Nagato felt countless emotions surging within him, and he couldn't help but clench his fists tightly.
Yahiko was even more excited: "Then we can definitely rescue Konan!"
"Don't mention that person, Yahiko!"
However, just as he spoke, he heard Nagato roar uncontrollably.
Yahiko's expression froze, and he stared at him blankly.
Nagato, however, lowered his gaze: "She's no longer on our side, Yahiko."
"Nagato, you..."
"Enough."
At this moment, Black Zetsu interrupted: "No matter what you two want, we'll talk after we get that eye."
"Hagoromo's descendants are not as easy to deal with as the Hyuga."
Upon hearing this, the two immediately perked up and reacted.
If the other party truly possessed that eye, their strength could not possibly be inferior to Nagato's.
Thinking this, the risk was indeed considerable.
Just as they were thinking this and planning to split up and begin their search, Black Zetsu suddenly looked up in a certain direction and quickly said:
"Chakra reaction! Very fast!"
Nagato and Yahiko immediately stopped, looking in the direction from which the Chakra reaction came.
In a short while, three figures appeared before them.
"Hmm?"
"Aren't they Hyuga people?"
The one who spoke was a tall elder at the front.
The three of them wore identical pure white loose robes, with only the Ōtsutsuki Clan emblem embroidered on their vests, and their Byakugan eyes were profound.
They had originally sensed that the spatial tunnel to the clan's secret treasure had been activated and thought that some news had come from the Ninja World again.
As it turned out, they seemed to be uninvited guests.
"It's good that they came."
Nagato, however, secretly breathed a sigh of relief after his initial vigilance.
Looking at the Chakra reactions of these three, they had not exceeded his scope of response, and some were even a bit weak.
It seemed that the Ōtsutsuki Clan, legendary for producing sages, was not strong in every generation after all.
So, he stepped forward and said coldly:
"Are you the descendants of Otsutsuki Hagoromo?"
"I won't waste any more words."
"Hand over the Tenseigan!"
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