"I'll have to get myself a pair of sunglasses later."
Under normal circumstances, it wouldn't make much difference, but if Qingshui used his Rinnegan at a critical moment, he could easily give himself away.
After all, the Rinnegan looked very different from normal eyes.
If certain people found out he had the Rinnegan, it would bring him a lot of trouble.
Shimura Danzō, for example. Or the Ne Leader, or the Hokage's Assistant.
He still wasn't invincible in the Ninja World, so he needed to keep hiding what he could.
Fortunately, the Ninja World might look like a feudal society, but it had some pretty decent technology.
They even had household appliances like refrigerators and hair dryers, so something as simple as sunglasses was no surprise.
After checking that nothing about him would be exposed, Qingshui finally left his room.
As it happened, Mikoto, who lived across the hall from him, came out at the same time.
She must have just taken a bath. Qingshui caught the faint fragrance of her body wash and shampoo.
And Mikoto wasn't wearing the clothes she'd had on during their mission. She'd changed into a snug, casual outfit, her smooth, damp hair cascading down her back.
Looking at her slender figure with its ample curves, Qingshui sighed again. She really was rich, but not generous.
At least the kids wouldn't go hungry.
"What are you looking at?"
Noticing Qingshui's gaze, Mikoto couldn't help giving him a light smack.
"I was wondering who this could be—so stunning that fish would forget to swim and the moon would hide its face. I can't take my eyes off you."
"Such a smooth talker."
As she spoke, Mikoto rolled her eyes at Qingshui.
"Even your eye roll is beautiful. You really were born gorgeous."
With a soft huff, Mikoto turned and headed for the living room. Qingshui hurried after her.
"Your hair must be uncomfortable while it's wet. I'll dry it for you in a bit."
He wasn't sure if Jiraiya had a hair dryer, but he figured Konan probably did.
After all, Konan's hair was long too. Without a hair dryer, it would take ages to dry after she washed it.
As it turned out, Qingshui was right.
After borrowing a hair dryer from Konan, Qingshui took the initiative and began drying Mikoto's hair.
"Mikoto, are you Big Brother Qingshui's girlfriend?" Konan couldn't help asking as she watched them.
Blushing, Mikoto shyly shook her head.
But Konan's question did make her think. Maybe being Qingshui's girlfriend wouldn't be so bad.
"Rest a little longer. Dinner will be ready soon."
Just then, Jiraiya came in carrying several large fish he'd caught. After saying that, he went back into the kitchen.
To take good care of the Three Little Ones, he'd spent the past year and more honing his cooking skills.
Yahiko offered to help, and Nagato, who didn't want to stay with the Konoha Ninja, went in with him.
Jiraiya took in Nagato's reaction and sighed to himself.
The only reason he'd agreed to take the Three Little Ones as students and teach them ninjutsu was Nagato.
When he was young, Jiraiya had accidentally found his way to Mount Myōboku, where he'd met the Great Toad Sage and heard a prophecy: one of his students would bring great change to the Ninja World.
Nagato possessed the legendary Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths. In Jiraiya's eyes, that made him a likely candidate for the Child of Prophecy.
Of course, he couldn't be certain Nagato was the one.
So he would keep traveling the Ninja World until he found the true Child of Prophecy and guided him to bring genuine peace to the Ninja World.
Meanwhile, unbeknownst to Jiraiya, someone had been secretly keeping an eye on Nagato.
It was White Zetsu, sent by Uchiha Madara.
The Rinnegan was key to Madara's eventual resurrection, so he naturally wanted to keep Nagato under surveillance and guide him to follow the plan once he was grown.
And White Zetsu was the perfect choice for the job.
Not only did he have the Mayfly Technique, which let him merge his body with the earth and plants, but he could also use the Disguise Technique to mimic someone's Chakra.
Unless someone had the ability to sense malice, they would never detect White Zetsu.
Now that he'd seen a member of the Uchiha Clan come into contact with Nagato, White Zetsu immediately sent the information to Uchiha Madara.
Deep underground, in a place unknown to everyone, a gigantic monster lay.
It was the Ten-Tails' body, the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path.
Tube-like tendrils extended from the statue and connected to an old man, who rested with his eyes closed.
That old man was Uchiha Madara.
So ancient and frail was he that Madara could only rely on the Demonic Statue of the Outer Path to stay alive.
The moment he lost it, he would die.
"Lord Madara, we have a problem!"
White Zetsu's voice suddenly rang out in the empty space, waking Madara.
"Lord Madara, a member of the Uchiha Clan has come into contact with Nagato."
A glint flashed in Madara's eyes. "Who?"
"Uchiha Mikoto."
Thanks to White Zetsu's outstanding intelligence-gathering abilities, Madara knew everything there was to know about the entire Uchiha Clan.
Uchiha Mikoto, who had awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan, was no exception.
"Lord Madara, should we do anything?"
After recalling what he knew about Mikoto, Madara finally replied, "It doesn't matter. She's not suitable. She won't affect my plans."
Mikoto had decent talent and had already awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.
But in Madara's eyes, she still didn't measure up. She couldn't carry out his plans after his death.
He understood the Uchiha Clan, and he understood the Sharingan even better.
When choosing a suitable person to carry out his plans, he looked above all at whether they possessed intense love, rather than judging them by talent alone.
After all, even he hadn't been an exceptionally gifted child, but that hadn't stopped him from becoming the fearsome Asura of the Ninja World.
He was known alongside Senju Hashirama, the God of Shinobi, as one of the "legendary Ninja."
"Uh, so we're not doing anything?"
White Zetsu sounded a little disappointed, but Madara changed his mind.
"We can test her once. If the results aren't too bad, we can keep her as a backup."
Madara had already found a fairly suitable candidate. The problem was, that person was still too young, so having a backup would be prudent.
Madara then told White Zetsu how to conduct the test.
"Then, Lord Madara, after I finish the mission, can you tell me what it feels like to need to poop?"
White Zetsu wasn't a normal human and never felt the urge to poop, so he loved asking people about it.
Madara's face darkened. He closed his eyes and said nothing more.
Out of sight, out of mind.
White Zetsu was used to his reaction. Muttering to himself, "What does the urge to poop feel like, anyway?" he merged with the earth and disappeared.
After leaving Madara, White Zetsu found Black Zetsu and told him all about Madara's test plan.
Madara thought he was the mastermind hiding behind the scenes. Little did he know, he was just another pawn in Black Zetsu's hands.
Beside Black Zetsu, who had lived for over a thousand years, Madara was still a complete amateur.
"Do as Madara said."
As far as Black Zetsu was concerned, as long as nothing happened to the Rinnegan, everything else was trivial.
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