Amegakure.
After leaving Orochimaru's place, Makoto grabbed the scroll containing the Eight-Tails' cells and went to find Nagato.
"Here. Absorb some of this. See if it has any effect on you"
"The power of a Tailed Beast?"
Nagato looked slightly surprised, but then he shook his head.
"Thank you for your kindness, but this power should be left for others. I am not in such dire need of it yet..."
Nagato was truly someone who had transcended base desires for his ideals.
He was basically the king of "suffering builds character."
In the original timeline, even after capturing multiple Tailed Beasts and looking like a skeleton, he never any of them to heal himself.
"Look, actually, I wanted you to summon the Gedo Statue and test whether its attacks could grant me any new abilities," Makoto said, rolling his eyes slightly. "As for your recovery? That's just a side effect. I'm just worried you're going to get drained dry because of this."
"...Alright then."
Hearing that it was a request for help rather than charity, Nagato stopped refusing.
He raised his hand toward the Eight-Tails horn.
"Preta Path!"
Crimson Tailed Beast Chakra surged from the horn, getting absorb straight into Nagato's body.
"How is it? is it good?" Makoto asked.
"It is effective... but somewhat slow."
Nagato kept his hand raised, frowning slightly as the energy trickled in.
"That's fine. As long as it works, take your time recovering. I'm in no hurry, and I have plenty of other shit to do anyway."
Without further ado, Makoto left the command tower.
Effective but slow-acting—this wasn't a surprise.
In the original story, when Nagato absorbed Killer Bee's Chakra and instantly recovered from his weak white-haired state to a healthy redhead, it was primarily because he was in an Impure World Reincarnation body.
Chakra and Life Force are linked sure, Kakashi dies if his Chakra hits zero, and the Uzumaki clan has tons of both, but they aren't the same thing.
The Impure World Reincarnation body is basically a cheat code.
It has "unlimited Chakra," or more accurately, a recharging buff.
The upper limit is fixed (which is why the Second Tsuchikage couldn't nuke people with Dust Release after splitting his body), but it refills instantly.
Living bodies are different. Absorbing Tailed Beast Chakra replenishes your fuel tank, but it doesn't automatically repair the engine.
You need to convert that energy into life force.
As for how the conversion works, just like how the Gedou statue extended Madara's life for so many years, only they themselves know.
...
Training Ground, Outside the Village.
Hanabi, dressed in a simple gray robe, was sparring with Fu.
Meanwhile, Karin sat on the sidelines, resting her chin in her hand, watching the two go at it.
Fu was extremely happy. Her decision to leave her village to see the world was paying off big time.
She had now achieved the accomplishment of making friends with both the Uzumaki clan and the Hyuga clan!
The match ended.
Even without using Tailed Beast hacks and holding back her true strength, Fu absolutely wrecked Hanabi.
Hanabi wasn't discouraged by the defeat, though.
She happily turned to run back to Karin for a break. But then she spotted Makoto, and her expression immediately got weird.
She hesitated for a moment, then slowly walked up to him.
"Um..."
"What is it? You want to ask about combining hardness and softness again? Look, you have to figure that out yourself."
"No... well, actually yes, I do want to know that. But I have another question." Hanabi shook her head, her long hair swinging.
"Hmm? Just spit it out." Makoto found her fidgeting strange.
"Okay then."
Hanabi took a deep breath, puffed out her chest, and mustered her courage.
"I suddenly thought about something—you said you came from twenty years in the future, right? In twenty years, you'll be this age... but I'll be twenty-seven. So, logically speaking, you should actually call me 'Onee-san'..."
Hanabi's voice started strong but grew softer and softer until she was basically whispering to her own shoes.
"Hmm?"
'What the hell was that logic?'
Future Hanabi forced her nephew Boruto to call her "Onee-san" and now present-day Hanabi wants him to call her that, too?
Was this some kind of genetic Hyuga defect? Because of her childhood admiration for Hinata, did Hanabi develop a complex where she desperately needed to be the "Onee-san"?
"Um! I was just joking! Let's talk about training seriously!"
Before Makoto could respond, Hanabi panicked and quickly changed the subject.
It wasn't that she had a fetish for being called onee-san—she just liked the idea of protecting others.
She wanted to be needed.
This was the same ambition that made her drunk adult self ramble on in Boruto. Even now, she had big dreams.
But to protect people, you need strength.
"Alright then, sit down. I'll give you some general explanations, but the specifics will depend on your own comprehension."
Makoto didn't press the awkward "Onee-san" issue.
He sat down and began explaining the concepts of Tai Chi. Energy flow, redirecting force, advancing steps with parrying punches—basically the theory.
If Konohamaru could learn the Rasengan from Naruto's explanation of "Pfft-Pfft-Pow," then a prodigy like Hanabi could definitely grasp this.
At least Makoto was using actual words.
After chatting with Hanabi for a while, Makoto got a notification that someone was looking for him at the village entrance.
He told Hanabi to "meditate on it" and headed out.
...
Amegakure Entrance.
"Here. For you."
Temari chucked an envelope at Makoto's face and immediately turned to leave.
"Whoa, wait a second!"
Makoto caught the envelope and called out to stop her.
If he guessed correctly, the contents of this envelope were the legendary cursed artifacts he had requested: Granny Chiyo's swimsuit photos.
It was honestly surprising that Chiyo actually sent them.
And very quickly too!
But upon second thought, the old lady might have some ulterioi motives.
First, by delivering this, she let Makoto know that she got the message about Sasori being in the Akatsuki.
But she didn't know Sasori was currently a wooden human puppet.
She probably assumed that if Makoto showed these horrific photos to Sasori, the sheer psychological damage and insult would cause Sasori to quit the Akatsuki and maybe even return to Sunagakure just to kill the messenger.
"What is it? If you have something to say, spit it out. I have a mountain of things to deal with back in the village. I already delayed important meetings just to personally deliver this letter..."
Temari stopped walking, tapping her foot impatiently.
Sunagakure was in chaos after the failed invasion and the death of the Fourth Kazekage, so her stress levels were through the roof.
"Wait here for a moment. I need to... deal with these photos. Then I'm coming back with you." Makoto waved the envelope in his hand.
"Huh? What do you want to do?" Temari looked startled.
"I want..."
Naturally, Makoto wanted to go find the Dragon Vein and, along the way, unseal Uchiha Hikari's sealing place.
But as soon as he spoke, he thought of Sunagakure current political vacuum.
This was a golden opportunity!
A chance to completely free Sunagakure from the Daimyo's financial chokehold.
He could make it happen.
So, he paused mid-thought while holding the envelope of granny chiyo nudes.
"...Pervert!"
While Makoto was hesitating, Temari's mind must have wandered somewhere inappropriate again, as she suddenly cursed.
"I didn't know you were into that kind of thing! Disgusting!"