Vortex Physique

On the way back, Yahiko finally learned the full story from Konan.

For a moment, he could only press a hand to his forehead. "That Seika guy really can't stay out of trouble for even a second. How did he end up provoking the next Hokage of Konoha? Sigh!"

But what he never expected was that Konan, who always gently comforted him at times like this, would instead act completely out of character—hesitating several times before finally speaking.

"Yahiko, maybe you should give Shiba Seika a little more trust. He must have his reasons for doing this.

His wisdom is crucial to us now, and to the Akatsuki. Relying only on ourselves, we probably can't achieve true peace."

Yahiko's jaw dropped in shock.

Konan had only been out on a three-day mission—how could things have changed this much?

Before she left, hadn't she clearly said she was going to persuade Shiba Seika to understand their ideals? Now she was speaking up for him instead? And the trust in her words was downright extraordinary!

At that moment, Yahiko even felt like he might have accidentally missed several months of plot development!

How did it come to this?

And he would soon realize: Konan wasn't the only one who had changed.

All around them, members of the Akatsuki were praising the miracle Shiba Seika had just pulled off.

They passed around the special declaration Minato Namikaze had written, and for a moment, they felt their spines straighten a few degrees!

"Seika, you're incredible! You actually forced the Fourth Hokage to write something like this!"

"So cool! From now on, we don't have to worry about Konoha ninja just waltzing in whenever they feel like it!"

"That's the Hokage! The Kage of Konoha, the number one ninja village! And you walked away unscathed from facing him, securing this guarantee for the entire Land of Rain! Seika, you're amazing!"

Ever since the latter half of the Second Great Ninja War, when Hanzo the Salamander, the Demi-God of the Land of Rain, gradually lost his drive, they—the Rain Ninja—had gone far too long without being able to hold their heads up in front of other villages.

Back in the day, even though life was tough, just mentioning the Demi-God could make even a starving Rain genin puff out his chest with pride.

But in recent years, even that last shred of glory was slipping away.

Shiba Seika humbly said, "That Minato Namikaze isn't the Hokage yet."

But the Akatsuki members were now even more confident than he was.

"Sooner or later!"

They clutched the scroll Minato had left behind as if it were the lost dignity of the Land of Rain itself!

"He'll definitely become Hokage! After all, Shiba Seika, your judgment has never been wrong!"

Many of them had once resented Shiba Seika, finding him too ruthless, too extreme—at odds with the Akatsuki's ideals.

But now, with this scroll as their backing, more and more people remembered his good qualities.

They remembered his flawless calculations, his uncanny foresight.

They still respected Yahiko deeply, but his kindness and ideals destined him to be their faith—not the pillar of their pride.

In that regard, Yahiko ultimately fell short of Nagato, the future second leader of the Akatsuki.

But for now, Yahiko hadn't yet felt the shift in people's hearts.

He only felt a headache coming on, afraid that the hard-won local peace near their base would be shattered, and couldn't help but glance at the instigator of all this trouble.

But Shiba Seika had no energy to spare for Yahiko's gaze right now.

Because he was busy scrolling through the system notifications he had missed earlier.

Not long ago, the moment he decided to move against Kakashi's team, the system had drastically updated his fated outcomes.

For a terrifying moment, the probability of him not surviving the day had shot up to 78%! The cause of death was unsurprisingly "killed by Konoha ninja."

Fortunately, through his own caution, intelligence, and a bit of luck, he had managed to turn that losing hand around!

Now, his death predictions had returned to their initial state, with several outcomes still similar to when he first crossed over—except the probabilities of deaths related to Konoha had all dropped, while the chance of dying of old age had miraculously risen to 0.6%!

This meant he was on the right track, but he still hadn't truly touched the core event line of the death omen.

This increase in survival probability had also earned him some rewards.

The system had siphoned a bit of energy from the River of Fate and fished up some good stuff for him.

[Acquired: Minor Physical Enhancement]

[Acquired: Minor Chakra Reserve Increase]

[Acquired: Hatake Sakumo's Kenjutsu Training Insights (to be delivered via dreams)]

[Acquired: Uchiha Clan's Genjutsu Resistance Insights (to be delivered via dreams)]

[Acquired: Konoha Medical Team's Medical Ninjutsu Training Insights (to be delivered via dreams)]

[Acquired: Uzumaki Clan Constitution (Basic)]

Compared to the last time, when the rewards were spread evenly to build his foundation, this batch was clearly more targeted—obviously harvested from the four members of Minato's team.

The one that caught Shiba Seika's attention the most was the final reward: Basic Uzumaki Clan Constitution.

He focused on it, and the system helpfully expanded a description.

[Uzumaki Clan Constitution (Basic): Effects include passive increase in total chakra, increased chakra recovery speed, enhanced sealing technique talent, enhanced genjutsu resistance, enhanced senjutsu adaptability, increased jinchuriki compatibility probability.]

The effect was quite good, but since it was a basic constitution, it also came with certain drawbacks.

[Under this constitution, the host's total Chakra volume easily exceeds the control limit, causing excess Chakra to float beneath the skin. If bitten, this portion of Chakra is easily absorbed and produces a certain healing effect.]

Seeing this note, Shiba Seika immediately thought of a certain girl from the original story—Sasuke's devoted fangirl: Karin.

At the same time, this system note also answered a long-standing question he had—

"No wonder among the Uzumaki Clan, only Karin and her mother had a healing constitution, while Nagato, Kushina, and the earlier Mito Uzumaki did not. It must be because Nagato and the others had a higher-grade Uzumaki constitution. A high-grade constitution can control all of one's own Chakra, thus preventing it from aimlessly floating on the skin's surface." He speculated inwardly.

At the same time, this conjecture also encouraged Shiba Seika.

"I must upgrade this constitution as soon as possible!" He silently vowed in his heart.

As a man, the thought of being bitten by others all the time was really not something he could accept!

On the other hand, this system reward also reminded Shiba Seika—

"At this point in time, Karin probably hasn't been born yet, but her mother should have already fled to the Land of Grass, right?"

He thought for a moment, and suddenly felt the urge to make another move.

As for the original iron triangle of the Akatsuki Organization, Konan had already been shaken by him. So the next step, naturally, was to pry Nagato loose!

And Nagato happened to be an Uzumaki as well!

Shiba Seika pondered carefully, already beginning to plan a new scheme of deception in his mind!