Konoha's Tatsuya

"Is that so? That's rather unfortunate. Perhaps next time, then," Mei Terumi replied. Her gaze swept across the faces of Kyoko and Uchiha Misuke before she nodded. Her ambiguous, smiling gaze made Kyoko shift slightly uncomfortably, while Uchiha Misuke simply turned her head away, avoiding eye contact.

After the meal, Mei Terumi departed with Ao and Kakashi. Kakashi had been personally assigned by the Third Hokage as their escort, tasked primarily with showing Mei Terumi around Konoha.

Back at their accommodations, the look of regret vanished entirely from Mei Terumi's face, replaced by a more serious tone as she addressed Ao. "Ao, how strong were Kyoko Akimichi and Uchiha Misuke back there?"

In Kirigakure, Ao was renowned as a Jonin with exceptional sensory abilities. During the Third Shinobi World War, Ao had acquired a Byakugan from Konoha's Hyuga clan and transplanted it into his right eye socket. Because of this, Ao was subsequently added to Konoha's high-value wanted list. Serving as Mei Terumi's bodyguard during this diplomatic mission to Konoha, Ao kept his Byakugan constantly covered, refraining from using it openly within the village. Konoha's leadership and the Hyuga clan elders had chosen to tacitly acknowledge this situation.

Ao considered for a moment before replying, his voice grave. "They are both very strong. Their chakra reserves are immense... definitely at the Elite Jonin level."

"Both at the Elite Jonin level...? Konoha truly lives up to its reputation as the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Their hidden depths are truly profound," Mei Terumi murmured softly after a moment of silence.

Mei Terumi and Ao only stayed in Konoha for three days before departing. Just like their arrival, their departure was low-key, without any major fanfare from the village. To this day, not a whisper about the alliance between Konoha and Kirigakure had spread through the ninja world.

Conversely, news of Kirigakure's internal conflict gradually began to circulate, with rumors emerging about the death of the Fourth Mizukage, Yagura Karatachi. However, Kirigakure never confirmed this news, and the outside world remained skeptical.

After returning to the village, Tatsuya's life settled back into its usual rhythm.

In the underground laboratory situated at the edge of the Death Forest, Tatsuya was busy conducting human experiments. His trip to Kirigakure had been extremely fruitful. From Kirigakure's secret archives, Tatsuya had discreetly acquired many valuable items, copying numerous ninjutsu scrolls and several cell samples.

Most of the scrolls detailed various powerful Water Style ninjutsu and some of Kirigakure's secret techniques. The cell samples belonged to several Kekkei Genkai-wielding ninja clans collected by Kirigakure, including samples from the Kaguya clan and the Yuki clan.

Currently, Tatsuya was working on fusing Yuki clan cells with his own cells and those of his single-eyed clones. Each of the clone bodies Tatsuya created using his modified Earth Grudge Fear technique possessed an extremely high affinity for one specific chakra nature. Jizo was Earth-affinity, and Puka was Fire-affinity. This time, Tatsuya planned to construct a Water-affinity clone. By using Yuki clan cells to build the Water-affinity body, it could inherit the Yuki clan's Ice Release Kekkei Genkai.

After more than an hour, Tatsuya finally managed to fuse the three cell types using a centrifuge and placed the resulting fused cell sample into a culture dish for cultivation. At present, the dozen or so large culture tanks in the laboratory were all filled with mature clone bodies. As soon as the primary clone body for the new water-affinity vessel was successfully cultivated, Tatsuya could use his Earth Grudge Fear technique to create another specialized clone body at any time.

Having finished with the clone matters, Tatsuya began researching the Yin Seal. Since obtaining this S-rank auxiliary sealing technique, he hadn't yet had the chance to delve deeply into it. Using his bio-chip, Tatsuya had mostly analyzed the jutsu, but he hadn't performed any practical experiments.

Through analysis, Tatsuya discovered the Yin Seal was quite different from what he had imagined. Unlike the approach of his own Yin-Yang Seal, the Yin Seal utilized sealing techniques to create a separate pocket dimension within the user's body. Chakra accumulated over time was then continuously channeled into this space.

Its potential chakra storage capacity was even higher than the Yin-Yang Seal. According to the bio-chip's calculations, the Yin Seal could store at least three times more chakra than the Yin-Yang Seal.

However, the Yin Seal had a significant drawback: it demanded extremely high levels of chakra control from the ninja. For an ordinary ninja, isolating tiny amounts of excess chakra during daily training and storing it within the Yin Seal was incredibly difficult, and the accumulation process took a very long time. It was entirely possible that a whole year's worth of painstakingly saved chakra could be expended in a single fight.

Yet, this was not a problem for Tatsuya at all. And crucially, the Yin Seal was completely compatible with his Yin-Yang Seal.

This discovery sent Tatsuya into ecstatic joy! It meant he could use both the Yin-Yang Seal and the Yin Seal simultaneously. His total chakra storage capacity would reach over ten times his normal reserves.

With this, Tatsuya and his clone bodies would all officially become "Ton-Chakra Players."

However, considering the overly conspicuous diamond mark that appeared on the forehead after learning the Yin Seal, Tatsuya still planned to use the bio-chip to modify it. In the future, his main body would use the combination of the Yin-Yang Seal and the Yin Seal, while his clone bodies would use the modified Yin Seal. This modification process was estimated to take about five days to complete.

"Why?! Why?! WHY?!"

Within the Uchiha clan compound, in a secluded grove, Uchiha Hiroaki stood alone beside a large tree, his face contorted with rage. He repeatedly slashed at the tree trunk with the tanto in his hand.

Pinned to the spot Hiroaki was attacking were images of two people: one was Tatsuya Akimichi, the other was Danzo Shimura.

Uchiha Hiroaki harbored a monstrous hatred for these two individuals. Tatsuya was the murderer who had killed the clan's Mangekyō Sharingan wielder, Uchiha Teru. Danzo was the one who had led Root to intercept and kill Elder Yashiro and Yasumasa.

But the clan's handling of these two incidents had pushed Uchiha Hiroaki's mental defenses to the brink of collapse. Towards Uchiha Teru's killer, Tatsuya Akimichi, the clan not only failed to pursue justice, but prominent members like Shisui and Misuke even maintained close relationships with him. Regarding Danzo leading Root to ambush Elder Yashiro and Yasumasa, Clan Head Fugaku had almost completely ignored the entire affair.

They had died for the sake of the clan, yet this was their end result.

Uchiha Hiroaki was filled with bitter resentment. He hated Danzo and Tatsuya, but he hated the clan's inaction even more! If only he possessed enough power, he would make this degenerate village and clan disappear entirely!

As Uchiha Hiroaki continued his furious, low roars, unnoticed on a large tree nearby, a white figure peered out from the branches, silently observing his every move.