Thoughts on Kekkei Genkai

"Danzo has more or less finished probing Kirigakure's situation. Just as we expected, things over there are extremely complicated."

Inside the Hokage Office, Hiruzen Sarutobi relayed the intelligence Danzo had sent over with a somewhat worried expression.

Though he had expected it, actually seeing Kirigakure—a village "on par" with Konoha—fall into such chaos still left him uneasy.

"And according to Jiraiya's intelligence, that mysterious organization was hired by the Mizukage, so you..."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was not in a good mood, but he still patiently explained. Only, as he spoke, he felt his forehead begin to twitch.

Because he realized that both Jiraiya and Kakashi in front of him were off in their own worlds, not listening to him seriously at all!

No, this was an intelligence meeting.

Hadn't the two of you been clamoring all along to go investigate Kirigakure?

Why were you both so absent-minded now? What were you doing?

"Ahem."

Hiruzen Sarutobi coughed lightly, wanting to remind Jiraiya and Kakashi.

In the end, he found that the two were still the same as before, and a "vein" practically popped out on his forehead.

"Hey, you two, enough already! What are you doing? Do you think this sorry state of yours is acceptable?"

"Uh..."

Jiraiya and Kakashi finally came back to themselves. Both of them looked a little awkward; they had to admit that they really had not been listening seriously just now.

"What exactly happened?"

Seeing that the two had snapped back, Hiruzen Sarutobi could not help sighing before asking in confusion.

"Why are both of you like this? What are you up to?"

"Hokage, this..."

Kakashi glanced at Jiraiya, then finally decided he should be the one to speak.

"It's Gen. He..."

"Gen?"

Hearing that name, Hiruzen Sarutobi immediately perked up.

He truly liked that kid Kitagawa Gen. Though he was a little unlucky—running into Biwa Juzo and Itachi Uchiha after leaving the village.

Then, upon returning, he encountered someone who was suspected to be Obito Uchiha. After following Jiraiya to find Orochimaru, he even ran into a guy with Shikotsumyaku.

But that kid had resolved each situation one by one, which had already displayed his extraordinary potential and ability.

The problem was, that kid could really stir up trouble!

Last time, with that pot of poisonous mushroom soup, Kitagawa Gen had taught Naruto to respect the old and cherish the young. That was good.

But what about afterward?

Afterward, you just stopped caring?

Even now, from time to time, those brilliantly colored mushrooms tumbling endlessly in the pot still surfaced in his mind.

"What has that kid done this time?"

"He..."

Kakashi pondered for a moment before saying with incomparable seriousness,

"He seems to have learned Flying Thunder God."

"Mm-hm?!"

As if to calm himself down, Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded while taking out his pipe.

Only, just as he struck the match, his palm abruptly froze, and his eyes widened involuntarily.

"Flying Thunder God? He learned it?"

"That's right, old man. That kid seems to have already learned Flying Thunder God."

Looking at Hiruzen Sarutobi's expression, Jiraiya also added with a great deal of emotion,

"Just now, that kid actually condensed a Flying Thunder God mark right in front of us, and then even used it for us to see!

That technique, that method of transfer—even though it was extremely raw, I wouldn't mistake it. That was Flying Thunder God..."

At this point, Jiraiya also stopped. The shock that moment had given him was truly unimaginable.

"That's right, that's exactly what happened, Hokage."

Kakashi nodded, then also fell into silence, as though recalling everything that had happened just now.

"He learned Flying Thunder God?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi's body had stiffened as well, his eyes wide and round.

Even though he had heard Jiraiya's assessment that Kitagawa Gen's use of it was raw, the problem was: how long had that kid had Flying Thunder God?

And how difficult was Flying Thunder God?

At this moment, he truly understood Jiraiya and Kakashi's state. If it were him, he probably would not have had the heart to listen to an intelligence report either.

"That kid..."

Standing up, Hiruzen Sarutobi calmed his heart a little.

He walked to the window and looked out at Hokage Rock towering atop the mountain. After a long while, he murmured,

"Konoha will only get better and better."

The breeze blew gently, green leaves swaying with the clear wind. Yet at this moment, Hiruzen Sarutobi pursed his lips again.

"If only his personality could be a little more like Minato's, that would be even better..."

These words actually made Jiraiya and Kakashi nod at the same time.

"They left in such a hurry. The operation over in Kirigakure is probably about to begin, right?"

After Jiraiya and Kakashi left, Kitagawa Gen simply chose to go home.

Those two had left in such a hurry, and combined with the mission he had previously received, it should be this matter, barring any surprises.

In fact, this was also why he had revealed Flying Thunder God. If he wanted to deal Obito a painful blow, he naturally had to have the ability to do so.

Otherwise, if he could not even protect himself, he would rather die than accept such a mission, and it would be impossible for him to do so.

"Now I'm just afraid Hiruzen Sarutobi won't agree to let me go. Looks like I'll still have to do some persuasion..."

Kitagawa Gen pursed his lips. If he had not displayed Flying Thunder God, he probably would not even need to think about this kind of mission. But displaying Flying Thunder God might also make him even less connected to this kind of mission.

Protecting talent—things like that were far too common, and Kitagawa Gen was rather helpless about it.

"I'll watch for now. I'll try to resolve Kakashi's exclusive mission."

As he thought, Kitagawa Gen walked toward home. There were not many people in Konoha at this time, probably because it was a workday. He did not even see Naruto.

But that was fine too. He could properly think over some of his next plans and arrangements for improvement.

"The speed at which my bones absorb Chakra isn't fast, and the progress is very slow. But on the eye side..."

Kitagawa Gen had a feeling that his eyes truly seemed to be close to reaching their limit.

Right now, the rate at which his eyes absorbed and nurtured Chakra was constantly increasing, as if in one final frenzy. Perhaps once they reached a certain limit, it would slow down.

And at that time, the eyes that belonged to him would appear!

As for his own eyes, Kitagawa Gen felt there was a high probability they really would be Byakugan. After all, that could be considered "standard issue for the Otsutsuki."

"Besides, no matter what energy I absorb, in the end, it all seems to transform into the purest power and feed back into the Otsutsuki Clan Bloodline."

Kitagawa Gen muttered to himself silently. Sometimes he even suspected that his bloodline had undergone atavism.

In other words, it was the earliest state, an Otsutsuki that had not even evolved Byakugan...

Of course, that was only a guess. No one knew what the very first Otsutsuki had actually been like.

"Once my eyes finish brewing, it'll be time to wait for my body. But this can't bring me much development progress either. I still need more power. For example..."

Kekkei Genkai.

Tailed beasts.

And the power of Indra and Asura!

Kitagawa Gen did not want the bloodline he developed to be an "ordinary and unremarkable" Otsutsuki. What he yearned for even more was an Otsutsuki with the power of the God Tree Fruit.

Since that was the case, there was no way he could let any of these things go.

He still did not dare think too much about tailed beasts for now, because he temporarily could not encounter them. Although Naruto was right in front of him, he would still need to have the guts to mess with him.

Maybe he could try with that guy called Sora?

"But that's only one, nowhere near enough. And I, a genin, still can't go out on missions alone, so..."

So Kitagawa Gen felt that he should put his energy on Kekkei Genkai!

Across the entire ninja world, aside from Uchiha, Senju, Hyuga, Kaguya, and a very small number of fixed bloodlines, the rest seemed to be formed through Chakra fusion.

And his control over Chakra had already reached an almost instinctive level!

Since that was the case, he could very well work hard in that direction.

True, fusing Chakra carried extremely high risks. Otherwise, why would there be so few Kekkei Genkai ninja in the entire ninja world?

However, he could try fighting with some Kekkei Genkai ninja.

"Even if I don't get anything directly through missions, just by fighting them and sensing the ratio of their Chakra fusion, I'm confident I can replicate it!"

The new generation's Copy Ninja was not an empty title...

As luck would have it, although Kirigakure's rejection of Kekkei Genkai ninja seemed to have reached an extreme, they just so happened to truly have quite a few Kekkei Genkai ninja there.

"Looks like..."

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Gen could not help raising his head and looking toward the Hokage Office.

"Now there's one more reason I have to go."