"Sasuke!"
Uchiha Clan Compound, inside Sasuke's home.
Originally, Mikoto was having breakfast with Sasuke. But when they felt the surrounding temperature rising and saw the blinding light outside, both of them stepped out of the house at the same time.
When they looked up at the floating sun above their heads—at the figure standing at its core—Mikoto suddenly spoke.
"What's wrong, Mother?"
Sasuke was still in shock at the fact that Keizumi had turned into a sun. Hearing his mother's voice, it took him two or three seconds before he snapped back to reality.
"Promise me—learn what true justice is properly. Absolutely, absolutely don't develop any extreme thoughts, alright?"
Mikoto didn't keep looking at the sun in the sky. Instead, she turned to Sasuke and warned him word by word with complete seriousness.
"I understand…"
By now, Sasuke had already realized—his mother was clearly afraid that he might follow the same path as his father and his brother… and end up being executed in the name of justice.
After all, anyone who saw a sun floating above their head—felt that terrifying heat contained within it, and witnessed its unrestrained radiance—would panic.
"But Mother… what kind of power is this?"
"Is it a new Kekkei Genkai from Keizumi-sensei? Or is it just our Uchiha clan's Fire Release?"
After agreeing, Sasuke voiced his doubts.
And it wasn't strange for him to think this way—throughout all of Konoha, there were probably many others asking the exact same question.
For example, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had just been explaining Hokage matters to Tsunade. They had only just been startled by the eruption of Tenseigan chakra from Hyuga Hinata, and in the next moment, their attention was completely drawn to Keizumi.
"Is this the power of a Kekkei Genkai?"
"No… a simple Kekkei Genkai shouldn't be capable of something like this. Then could it be… a Kekkei Tōta?"
Hiruzen, known as the Professor of Ninjutsu, had mastered the five chakra natures to an extreme degree. If he had possessed the precise ratios required for Kekkei Genkai combinations, he might have even become the originator of one himself.
"Kekkei Tōta?"
"I remember that ??noki from Iwagakure has one—it's called Dust Release, right?"
"And when my granduncle was researching my grandfather's Wood Release, he once said it shouldn't be considered a Kekkei Genkai at all… but a Kekkei Tōta—one that requires not only Water and Earth, but also Yang Release."
"So what you're saying is… Keizumi has developed another Kekkei Tōta?"
Tsunade watched as the sun in the distance rose higher and higher—so high that it illuminated not only all of Konoha but even hundreds of miles beyond. She couldn't help but voice her doubt.
"Sensei said Wood Release is a fusion of three chakra natures?"
Hiruzen didn't even respond to her question. Instead, he stared at her in disbelief.
He had once tacitly allowed Danzo and Orochimaru to research Wood Release. They had practically tested every possible ratio of Water and Earth chakra…
And now Tsunade was telling him it actually required three attributes?
That didn't make sense!
Hiruzen clearly remembered that Orochimaru and Danzo had produced an experimental subject named Yamato.
"So… Yamato's Wood Release is weaker because it lacks Yang Release?"
Hiruzen fell into thought. He wanted to question Tsunade for withholding such crucial information—but remembering that he had allowed the desecration of the First Hokage's body for experiments, he found himself unable to speak.
Perhaps Tsunade had already decided long ago to keep the secret of Wood Release hidden.
And now… with both Orochimaru and Danzo already dead, and his tenure as Hokage nearing its end—even if he learned the truth, it would change nothing.
"If this really is a new Kekkei Tōta… then everything about Keizumi's strength makes sense."
"I've long suspected how he managed to wield Wood Release. At first, I thought he had transplanted the First Hokage's cells—but the power of his Wood Release is nearly comparable to the First himself."
"But if he recreated it through his own understanding of chakra nature combinations… then that explains everything."
Hiruzen let out a sigh.
The fact that Keizumi could use Wood Release was no secret in the shinobi world—but no one knew how he had obtained it.
However, after today, the entire world would likely realize—his strength came entirely from himself.
"Come to think of it, I never asked you—Keizumi didn't originally have Lava Release, did he?"
"The Senju clan's records never mention the Uchiha possessing Lava Release. That means his Lava Release must also have been something he created himself."
Tsunade wasn't surprised at all that Keizumi could create a new Kekkei Tōta. After reviewing the Senju records, she was already inclined to believe that he had a unique talent for combining bloodline abilities—perhaps even stumbling upon Wood Release through that.
What she was seeing now only reinforced that conclusion.
"A new Kekkei Tōta…"
"His Lava Release was already powerful. Then there's the Uchiha clan's Mangekyō Sharingan… and now this new Kekkei Tōta—on top of the Wood Release he already commands."
"Keizumi… might truly have surpassed every Hokage in history."
Hiruzen gazed at the figure in the sky—like a god of the sun—and let out a quiet sigh.
He had been called the Professor of Ninjutsu…
So why couldn't he develop something like this?
Meanwhile, at the Ninja Academy, even Fukasaku and Shima were no calmer than Jiraiya.
Even at their age, the two toad sages had never seen power like this.
Yes, the shinobi world had all kinds of strange abilities—but transforming into a sun?
Wasn't that a bit too terrifying?
That extreme heat… and the constant explosions within it…
It was enough to make people want to kneel in worship.
"...Maybe we should stop looking for the Child of Prophecy?"
Jiraiya glanced at the two sages on his shoulders and spoke in a low voice.
"I feel like… if Keizumi wanted to, he could bring peace to the shinobi world himself."
There was no deeper reason—
He was simply shaken by that sun in the sky.
He could clearly feel it—
Even if that sun did nothing, just hanging there in the sky, it could slowly turn the Land of Fire into a desert.
And if Keizumi were to descend…
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