Pursuit

Katsuki ran at full speed. Even after a full day of grueling training, he still possessed abundant stamina and energy. At times like this, the benefits of the Human-Human Fruit began to reveal just the tip of the iceberg.

He took his ninjutsu training seriously, and developing the Human-Human Fruit was equally paramount. After years of exploration and experimentation, especially with his recent training, he had gradually found a direction for developing the Fruit. By pushing his body to its limits, he could in turn force out the Human-Human Fruit's power. That was one path.

Recently, because of his ninjutsu training, he had been extracting far more chakra than before. As a result, he discovered that draining chakra was also an indirect way of developing the Human-Human Fruit's power.

Chakra was the power created by combining spiritual energy and physical energy. Extracting chakra in a drain-the-well-dry manner would cause immense harm to the body; military ration pills were a prime example. Thanks to the Uzumaki Clan's innate chakra reserves, ten or even a hundred times greater than ordinary people's, Katsuki had practically never truly exhausted his chakra. At least, before he began seriously studying ninjutsu, something like the Three Basic Ninjutsu barely consumed any chakra at all.

Training with the Rock Rods let Katsuki discover another path for developing the Human-Human Fruit. Exhausting chakra to the limit could likewise stimulate the Fruit's replenishing effects. Vaguely, Katsuki had begun to make a few plans for his future fighting style.

However, all of that remained no more than thoughts in his mind. The future was still unknown. He was too young and too inexperienced, and he needed time to build up his foundation.

What he needed to deal with now was the Nine-Tails problem.

The Senju Clan estate.

It was a highly revered place in Konoha, but also an extremely closed-off one. It was no less insular than the Uchiha Clan's family territory, which was practically its own little kingdom, and perhaps even more exclusionary.

However, compared to those Red Eye sufferers of the proud and arrogant Uchiha, the Senju Clan had completely withdrawn from the spotlight after losing its two outstanding clan heads, the First and Second Hokage. They retreated behind the scenes, doing everything they could to downplay the Senju Clan's existence among the village's ordinary residents, while continuing to strengthen the Senju faction among the village leadership through master-disciple succession.

It had to be said that, compared to the haughty Uchiha, the Senju Clan was clearly more politically astute. Just look at the Hokage of later generations: nearly all of them were disciples or descendants of the Senju line. The Third Hokage had been the First and Second Hokage's disciple, the Fourth Hokage had been the Third Hokage's disciple's disciple, the Fifth Hokage had been the Third Hokage's disciple, the Sixth Hokage had been the Fourth Hokage's disciple, and the Seventh Hokage had been both the Fourth Hokage's son and the Sixth Hokage's disciple. As for the Eighth Hokage... sorry, AB stopped there.

Looking at those lines of succession, it was clear that the village's authority had always been firmly held by the Senju faction and had never fallen into other hands for even a moment. The Uchiha dreamed of laying their hands on the Hokage position, yet despite generations of effort, they never succeeded. In the end, they were thoroughly played into ruin, becoming a clan with only a single bloodline branch left. Who knew when they might go extinct.

Katsuki had rushed into the Senju Clan's territory, but the place he had once entered and left freely was blocked off today.

ANBU.

Wearing a dog-faced mask, a short sword on his back, a black bodysuit, and a gray vest, one blocked the three children's path.

"The Senju Clan is not receiving outside guests today. You three should leave."

With an even, emotionless voice, the ANBU stood on the rooftop and silently watched Katsuki in the middle of the path.

He had not attacked Katsuki and the other two immediately. They knew the red-haired boy before them. After all, Katsuki and Kushina had entered and left the Senju Clan estate more than once, so the guarding ANBU naturally recognized him. As for Minato and Otome, they did not care about them at all. Even if the little girl had a fan crest on her clothes, so what?

Konoha was the Senju's Konoha. The Uchiha were merely one part of Konoha.

"I want to see my sister. Please make way, or pass word inside for me." Katsuki had no intention of forcing his way in. He stopped and began negotiating with the man.

However.

"Sorry, but my mission is to guard this place. Abandoning my post would be a serious offense."

The ANBU was like a nail hammered into the ground, utterly unmoving as he directly rejected any possibility of negotiation.

Katsuki's face instantly darkened. This attitude proved one thing: his guess had been correct. The next Nine-Tails Jinchuriki would soon be chosen, and Kushina had already been selected as the next Jinchuriki.

He set Otome down and formed the simplest hand seal, the Ram.

Shadow Clone Technique.

Six shadow clones appeared around him, every one of them cold-eyed and brimming with killing intent.

The dog-masked ANBU's pupils contracted. He put away his initial arrogance. The kid's killing intent was no fake, and he could even use the Shadow Clone Technique. Now things were interesting. He could not afford to be careless. If he capsized in this little gutter, he would be humiliated beyond belief.

Still, he did not dare strike too heavily. His duty was to eliminate any suspicious individuals who dared approach and spy on the area, not attack a legitimate direct descendant of the Senju Clan like Katsuki. That would simply be courting death.

Thus, he did not draw his sword. He stood where he was, empty-handed and fully focused.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Ever since he had gone to the battlefield in the Land of Rain, Katsuki had developed the habit of carrying a Ninja Tool Bag with him. He was no longer like a student who only carried ninja tools during training.

Facing such a sudden situation, he was grateful that he had brought ninja tools. Otherwise, what the hell could he do empty-handed? Though in the memories of his previous life, ANBU had been nothing but cannon fodder, endlessly beaten down in every possible way by all sorts of powerful figures, only the absolute top experts had the right to treat them like that.

ANBU were unquestionably the elite beneath the Jonin ranks. From the Second Hokage's establishment of ANBU to the painstaking efforts of Hiruzen, the Third Hokage, their strength had become formidable. Aside from a few exceptionally gifted Genin, those selected for ANBU were either veteran Chunin or Special Jonin, and their overall strength was extremely impressive.

In other words, the one blocking their path was at least a Chunin.

The six shadow clones began wildly throwing Shuriken together. In Katsuki's view, the Shadow Clone Technique was an absolute cheat. The clones it created were not only physical, but they also copied the original's entire set of equipment. Every Shuriken in his bag was replicated without exception, though Explosive Tags could not be copied. That was damned unfair.

But on second thought, it made sense. Explosive Tags and Shuriken had vastly different costs. If Explosive Tags could use the Clone Technique just like Shuriken, the ninja tool industry would decline by an entire level. As for the secret behind it, Katsuki had considered it and guessed that it was probably due to the Explosive Tag's complicated manufacturing process.

An Explosive Tag was, plainly speaking, Fire Release sealed into a paper talisman: a portable ninjutsu. Unlike a physically existing Shuriken, the core of an Explosive Tag was the Fire Release sealed within it, and that could not be replicated along with a clone.

Otherwise, would the Uchiha Clan's business not plummet overnight?

That was right. The Uchiha Clan was the largest source of Explosive Tags. Across the ninja world, no other force could compete with the Uchiha Clan in Fire Release. This thing had originally been developed by the Uchiha Clan.