Hearing Tagorihime say he passed, Kiyosuke let out a deep breath of relief.
Just as he was about to relax, Tagorihime continued,
"Alright, constructing food is troublesome, but manageable. Next comes the truly difficult part—like… living things."
Living things…?
Kiyosuke looked at her in confusion.
"You're not at that level yet," Tagorihime explained. "Once your illusions can cover a radius of one kilometer, then you can begin learning that."
A whole kilometer radius? That would consume an insane amount of senjutsu chakra...
His chakra was steadily growing, but nowhere near enough to cover such a wide area. Not even after eight or nine years of constant training would he be able to do that.
So... that's something to worry about later.
"You've already grasped the key points," Tagorihime said.
"From now on, it's up to you to train diligently. That's all there is to Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu. Going forward, you'll have to develop and refine it yourself. Sage Mode will greatly enhance your power and the effectiveness of your jutsu. You can even create senjutsu techniques unique to you."
"I understand."
Just as Tagorihime said, while in Sage Mode, every aspect of his physical and mental ability had increased—more than doubled.
And most notably, his flames had become much hotter. Before, they would hit a limit and stall. But now, the temperature had skyrocketed without any apparent cap.
Normally, his flames ranged between 500 to 800 degrees Celsius.
Under Sage Mode's boost, it rose exponentially. Though he hadn't measured it precisely, it definitely exceeded a thousand degrees.
In short, his destructive power was now on a whole new level.
Sage Mode really was that strong!
He'd basically learned the fundamentals of Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu, but he hadn't fully mastered them yet.
Especially Object Transmutation—that particular technique required endless repetition and refinement to create illusions so flawless they couldn't be detected.
The "passing grade" Tagorihime mentioned only meant he'd managed to simulate a single object well enough.
He'd learned all three of the introductory senjutsu techniques Ryūchi Cave had given him.
If he wanted stronger ones now, he'd have to create them himself—and that would take time.
Besides, it was about time he returned to Konoha.
He'd been gone for almost three months now.
...
Konoha
Hokage's Office
While working, Minato suddenly noticed a massive snake slither in through the window.
He blinked in surprise as the snake opened its mouth—and a hand reached out, followed by Kiyosuke crawling out.
"Damn it," Kiyosuke grumbled. "Ryūchi Cave's transportation method is really something else. It's always like this."
To enter, a snake swallows you. And when you return, it spits you out.
Hey, think about my clothes, will you? Washing them isn't exactly easy!
Minato smiled at the sight.
"Kiyosuke, after all that training, you must've gained some serious power, right?"
"Not bad. I've completely mastered Sage Mode from Ryūchi Cave."
He clenched his fist, confidence radiating from his whole body.
Minato's eyes lit up. He knew just how powerful Sage Mode could be.
"Ryūchi Cave's senjutsu, huh… You must've gone through a lot over there."
Minato couldn't help but recall his own training at Mount Myōboku. The memory still haunted him—not because Sage Mode was particularly hard to learn, but because of Fukasaku-sama's bug-based cooking.
Those days were full of sleepless nights and horrible meals.
"It wasn't too bad," Kiyosuke replied. "The training was tough, sure. But as for the food, I brought a huge stash with me before I left. And when I ran out, I just hunted for wild game outside the cave. Honestly, I ate pretty well."
"…"
Why didn't I think of that?
Minato couldn't believe how his usually clever brain had let him down so hard back then. Of course he could've brought food from Konoha!
Compared to Kiyosuke, he felt like a total amateur.
"By the way, Minato-san, anything major happen in Konoha while I was gone?" He had no idea what might've occurred in the past few months.
"Major?" Minato paused for a second. "Well… does Kushina being pregnant count?"
"…Ah. Congratulations."
He genuinely offered his blessing.
Time really did fly—so the prince was almost here, huh?
"Thanks." Minato's expression turned serious. "Kiyosuke, I have a favor to ask."
Seeing that expression, Kiyosuke straightened up as well.
"Name it. What's the mission? Do you want me to assassinate the Fourth Mizukage? No problem! Or take out the Fourth Raikage, that hot-headed brute? I can even kill the Eight-Tails' Jinchūriki if needed!"
"Whoa, whoa, hold up!"
Minato quickly waved his hands.
"It's nothing that dangerous! If you go doing stuff like that, you'll start a war and have to apologize to the whole village! The mission I'm giving you isn't that serious!"
Did Sage Mode give him an overconfidence boost or something?
"Well, that's no fun."
"I just need you to protect Kushina."
He continued, "The baby is only a month along, but she still needs protection. You don't have any pressing duties right now, so I'm asking you to take this on."
"I can't. I've got an ANBU assignment."
Minato's face darkened.
Kiyosuke had barely been in ANBU for a few days before vanishing off to train in Ryūchi Cave. He hadn't fulfilled a single duty.
Fortunately, he still had Kakashi.
"This is your ANBU assignment."
"What about Kakashi?"
"He has another mission."
"Got it."
In the original timeline, Minato had assigned Kakashi to protect Kushina to help him recover from accidentally killing Rin.
Witnessing the growth of new life had helped ease Kakashi's grief, making him easier to get along with—for a time.
Until Minato and Kushina's deaths plunged him back into darkness...
But the Kakashi of today was doing pretty well.
He was only cold during missions. Otherwise—especially around Guy—he was becoming kind of a goofball.
So now the job of protecting Kushina fell to the currently idle Kiyosuke.
After all, with the current state of peace, there was nowhere else they could safely place a human warhead like him.
Good thing he was kind of laid-back by nature. As long as they gave him a chill mission, he'd gladly slack off indefinitely.
"Alright, I'll take it. Do I need to protect her from the shadows?"
"Up to you. As long as she's safe, I don't care how you do it."
"Understood. I accept the mission."
Minato smiled when he saw Kiyosuke agree.
"By the way, Minato-san, wouldn't this count as abuse of authority—using the village's top asset for personal reasons?"
Minato gave a faint smile.
"What are you talking about? Kushina has the Nine-Tails sealed inside her. Of course ANBU protection is justified. How is that abuse of power?"
Wow.
As expected from the ultimate wife guy.
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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