The smile on Heavenly Dao's face didn't fade until he reached his apartment door.
The boost from Konoha-style Taijutsu far exceeded his expectations.
He even felt that, with his current level, being evaluated as a Special Jōnin specializing in taijutsu wouldn't be much of a stretch.
As for Mizuki—
Heavenly Dao's favorability toward him had already shifted from indifferent to average. If Mizuki came to "spar" a few more times, it might even rise to friendly.
"Looks like you're in a good mood today. Smiling like that."
A slightly raspy, mature female voice sounded behind him.
Heavenly Dao turned his head, his smile widening a little.
Leaning against the apartment entrance was a purple-haired beauty dressed casually.
She had just finished showering. Her long violet hair was still damp, and her loose robe did little to conceal her soft curves. Standing there quietly, she looked like a freehand painting of a graceful woman.
"Sister Yugao, you're back."
The voice of Yūgao Uzuki was low and gentle, like wind chimes brushing softly together—Heavenly Dao had always liked listening to her speak.
She smiled faintly.
"Mhm. I've got a mission outside the village tomorrow, so the captain gave us the night off."
"Don't worry, it's just a routine patrol—nothing dangerous. Don't go back to your place tonight. I just finished cooking, and I was worried I wouldn't be able to eat it all by myself."
"Sure, sure," Heavenly Dao agreed almost instantly.
They entered together and brought the food out from the kitchen—four dishes and a soup. Nothing extravagant, but every dish was exactly to Heavenly Dao's taste.
That was no coincidence.
Heavenly Dao and Yugao had known each other since childhood. Their parents had been close, making them classic childhood friends. Yugao was three years older and had always treated him like a younger brother.
During the Nine-Tails' Attack, both of their parents died fighting the beast, leaving the two children to rely on each other.
That was, until they graduated from the Ninja Academy and truly stepped into the ninja world.
Thanks to her outstanding talent in kenjutsu, Yugao was recruited into ANBU, and the frequency of their meetings steadily decreased.
Just as Heavenly Dao was eating—
A translucent system panel abruptly popped up before his eyes.
[New Mission: The Uchiha Bloodline Must Not End]
[Spread the branches and leaves. Let the Sharingan bloom everywhere, and add Yūgao Uzuki to the Uchiha clan registry.]
[Mission rewards will be distributed in stages.]
[Unlock "Intimate Contact" CG Reward: Konoha-style Kenjutsu]
[Unlock "Defeat" CG Reward: Yang Release chakra enhancement]
Heavenly Dao paused mid-bite.
That's it? This mission is seriously underestimating me.
He sneered inwardly, but on the surface, he put on a slightly troubled expression.
"What's wrong?" Yugao immediately set down her chopsticks, concern in her eyes.
"Is it not to your taste?"
"The soup's a bit salty," Heavenly Dao replied casually, making something up on the spot.
"Is it?"
Yugao stepped closer, picked up a spoon, and took a sip. "I was careful this time… did I still add too much?"
She leaned in, her body heat transmitting faintly through the fabric. Steam from the dishes mixed with the fresh citrus scent of her bath in the narrow space.
Heavenly Dao's gaze dropped to her slightly moist lips.
Without hesitation, he pulled her onto his lap and leaned down to kiss her.
Yugao froze for a heartbeat, then slowly closed her eyes. Her hands unconsciously clutched at his collar.
The kiss seemed to freeze time, until both of them were slightly breathless and reluctantly parted.
[First-stage mission complete]
[Reward "Konoha-style Kenjutsu" has been distributed. Please claim it promptly.]
Heavenly Dao was delighted—but kept his composure.
"Sister Yugao," he said softly, "the soup tastes just right now."
"You… you really love teasing me."
Nestled in his arms, Yugao chided him lightly.
In truth, she'd long grown used to this kind of sudden closeness—though she still couldn't help feeling shy every time.
It wasn't until the moon hung high in the sky that Heavenly Dao finally left Yugao's room.
[Claim mission reward]
At his confirmation, a vast surge of knowledge related to Konoha-style Kenjutsu flooded his mind.
It wasn't just techniques—there was muscle memory, neural reactions, precise force application, and combat experience. In almost an instant, he went from a kenjutsu novice to someone capable of fluently wielding Konoha's sword style.
This time, however, he ultimately failed to clear both stages of the mission at once.
It wasn't that the two of them weren't ready—
It was that Yugao wasn't only a kenjutsu expert, but also highly proficient in Water Release.
Even just "intimate contact" had already made her "lose too much water." With her mission scheduled for the next day, Heavenly Dao had no choice but to stop and return home, leaving himself to guard an empty room alone.
---
The next morning.
Heavenly Dao woke up at eight, as usual.
Yugao had already left early. Breakfast was waiting for him in the kitchen, still warm.
With this "breakfast of love" in his mouth, Heavenly Dao strolled off to the Hokage Building to clock in.
Agricultural Machinery Research Division—
that was his current workplace.
Wind Release Harvester—
that was the project he was responsible for.
Building Harvesters in the Naruto World.
It sounded like the title of some outrageous fanfiction, but it was genuinely his daily life.
From what could be seen in the original history, the Naruto world's technology tree was absurdly uneven.
Televisions. Radios. Surveillance cameras. Refrigerators. Trains.
Overall, it was close to late–20th-century Earth.
Yet decades of constant warfare had kept these technologies tightly controlled by the major ninja villages and the nobility, almost completely out of reach for civilians.
Commoners unlucky enough not to be born in the Five Great Nations might never see any of these things in their entire lives.
That was the reality of the ninja world.
Still, under such strict control, certain "minor innovations beneficial to the upper class" were tacitly permitted—
Such as the Wind Release Harvester, which could dramatically speed up grain harvesting.
That was also why Heavenly Dao had earned the favor of his superior, Inuzuka Akita.
He had long researched ways of "turning ninjutsu into agricultural tools," and those ideas happened to align perfectly with what Akita herself wanted to pursue.
Of course, this wasn't a coincidence.
Knowing that she would one day become the head of the Scientific Ninja Weapons Team in the Boruto era, Heavenly Dao had deliberately allowed her to "accidentally" see his research notes.
As for why he didn't directly develop Scientific Ninja Weapons—
The answer was simple: the resistance was too great.
Even in Boruto, Scientific Ninja Weapons were highly controversial. Trying to push them now—before Shippuden had even begun—would be nothing short of suicide.
The establishment of the Agricultural Machinery Research Division was the result of compromise between multiple parties.
Primarily, the Inuzuka Clan had applied pressure behind the scenes.
Otherwise, as a commoner, Heavenly Dao wouldn't have had the qualifications to propose an entirely new department.
He sat down at his desk.
The third version of the Wind Release Harvester had already been finalized and was undergoing mechanical validation. For the time being, his workload was light.
Thinking of the Konoha-style Kenjutsu he'd obtained the night before, he rubbed his chin.
In next month's funding application, I'll need to emphasize "chakra metal loss" a bit more.
After all, Edison tested thousands of materials to invent the lightbulb. It was perfectly reasonable for him to conduct more experiments for agricultural tools.
Experiments always involved losses.
Melting down a few "scraps" to forge a sword on the side was entirely logical.
The key was polishing the experimental report carefully—so carefully that no one could find a single flaw.
While calculating these plans for "rational resource utilization", Heavenly Dao picked up his teacup, ready to brew some red-date-and-goji health tea.
Just then—
Two overwhelming waves of pressure silently descended from behind him.
His hand paused slightly.
Heavenly Dao slowly turned around.
What met his eyes was the dark expression of his superior, Inuzuka Akita, her face grim enough to rival the King of Hell.
"Heavenly Dao," she said coldly, "your secret's out. Come with me."
Heavenly Dao: "..."
Wait. He hadn't even submitted the funding application yet.