Spark Society

Sai obediently ran home, then eagerly asked in his mind.

"Boss Tuoye? Are you there?"

"I'm here."

"What's going on?"

"Just think of it as a ninjutsu. We can communicate through our minds now, so we'll never lose contact again. I'll teach you a technique, and then you'll be able to contact me directly."

Kimura Takuya taught Sai a technique inside his mind.

It would let Sai initiate contact with Kimura Takuya, whose Soul Energy was stored inside him.

"How's Shin? How many of our people are still around?"

"Big Brother is amazing. He's very talented, even more so than me. Over the years, 182 of our people entered Root. Including me, 127 are still alive.

"But only 63 besides me can still be trusted. The rest have either been brainwashed or swallowed by the darkness. They can't be trusted anymore."

"63? Quality matters more than quantity. With you, 64 will be enough. Shin's one of them, right?"

"Of course. He's your number-one fan, Boss Tuoye. 'A spark can start a prairie fire; its flames will never die.' He was the first to vote for that slogan."

"That's right. A spark can start a prairie fire; its flames will never die."

Kimura Takuya had also returned home by then.

He lay down on his bed.

And thought back to his childhood.

At the orphanage.

He'd been sent there at just one year old, so he was practically a veteran.

One day, he met a blue-haired boy who introduced himself as Shin.

Later, a black-haired boy showed up and said his name was Ino.★🎁  🐉♝

Kimura Takuya hadn't paid them much attention at first, but one day he happened to see them standing together.

They seemed strangely familiar.

He thought about it for a long time, but couldn't figure out why.

Then he noticed that the boy named Ino liked to draw.

It came back to him in an instant. Ino was Sai, wasn't he?

And Shin was Sai's older brother from his time in Root!

He'd assumed they'd met in Root, but it turned out they'd known each other at the orphanage.

That was when Kimura Takuya, who'd been content to just coast along, came up with a plan.

A plan to overthrow Root.

He began organizing and influencing the children at the orphanage, especially Sai and Shin.

With the mind of an adult, it was easy for him to control a group of children.

He and the more mature children formed the Spark Society.

Most of them were a little older than him. At the time, Kimura Takuya was four.

Before long, the older children went to Root and lost contact with the rest. Shin was among them.

A year later, Kimura Takuya, Sai, and the others their age entered Root.

Because of his special ability, Kimura Takuya deliberately failed the selection. Sai and the others entered Root and lost contact with him, too.

In the years that followed, besides working at the hospital, Kimura Takuya often returned to the orphanage to keep influencing the children.

Six years had passed. It was remarkable that 64 of them were still around.

Of course, he and the others had never talked about overthrowing Root or anything like that.

They'd merely spread a few ideas and made the children look up to him as their leader.

Otherwise, with so many people, one traitor would've been enough to finish off the young Kimura Takuya.

"But they seem to have some doubts about you, Boss Tuoye."

"Haha, little Ino—no, I have to call you Sai now. Just say it. They've grown up and think I'm weaker than they are, right?

"I'll prove myself.

"First, here's a little surprise."

After speaking, Kimura Takuya remotely controlled Sai's chakra and used the Flesh Substitution Technique.

Sai's injured hand healed in an instant. Even the aches and fatigue left by years of training disappeared.

Sai was stunned and marveled at it again and again.

"Heh, that's nothing. I've got an even bigger surprise for everyone! It's a gift, so look forward to it. Little Ino, I've got something to do. We'll talk later."

69🅂🄷🅄🅇.🄲🄾🄼

Kimura Takuya got out of bed and picked up the petri dish containing the cultured tissue of Gekko Hayate, the Transparent Escape ninja, to take a look.

There didn't seem to be any problems. He turned around and started culturing Yakumo's tissue, too.

Once he'd confirmed that everything was fine,

he went out again, first to check on Oda Lang, who'd received Ninja Leopard's arm.

After making sure he wasn't having any adverse reactions,

he headed to the taijutsu training ground.

His research into the body was nearly complete. He could start preparing to unlock the Eight Inner Gates.

Although Kimura Takuya had never trained hard,

he knew very well that training served two purposes: improving one's physical fitness and increasing one's spiritual energy.

Together, those two things gave someone practicing the Eight Inner Gates Formation powerful chakra.

The Eight Inner Gates Formation merely removed the body's restrictions, allowing one to release that powerful chakra.

So different people, with different qualities of chakra, would wield the Eight Inner Gates Formation with different levels of power.

Soul Energy was spiritual energy. Kimura Takuya was confident that, even without training, his exceeded that of most people in this world.

As for physical energy, over the past two days, Skin Respiration had let him keenly sense his body growing stronger and the Natural Energy inside him increasing.

His cells were becoming stronger under the influence of Natural Energy.

He also kept a close eye on his body, making sure he didn't absorb too much Natural Energy and turn to stone, becoming a monster.

If he told anyone about this, it would probably make them furious.

All he had to do was activate Skin Respiration, and he grew stronger every day.

He was even improving more than other people who trained hard.

Who could he complain to about that?

Hard work?

It really did seem no match for talent.

A single idea from a genius could overturn the meaning of hard work.

Looking at it that way, the two hard-working prodigies, Might Guy and Lee, seemed destined for a tragic ending.

They could work hard all their lives and still be outdone by a cheater using a cheat.

He wondered if he should give Might Guy and Lee cheats, too.

After thinking it over, he decided to hold off for now.

It wasn't that he was stingy. Natural Energy was dangerous, after all. Even when Naruto trained in Senjutsu, someone had to watch over him.

If someone absorbed too much, another person had to knock the Natural Energy out of them. Otherwise, they'd turn to stone.

Kimura Takuya could monitor every cell in his body and stop Skin Respiration at once if he absorbed too much.

Other people couldn't do that.

So he decided to wait until he understood Natural Energy before giving anyone else a cheat.

Lost in thought, Kimura Takuya arrived at the taijutsu training ground.

Ha! Ha! Ha!

"1,000 kicks! If you can't do that, then do 1,000 push-ups!"

"Keep it up, Lee!"

At the taijutsu training ground, Lee was putting himself through a punishing training session.

Even with his legs swollen, he kept kicking. When he couldn't kick anymore, he started doing push-ups.

But the knuckles on his fists were already torn and bleeding.

Clearly, he'd practiced his punches before starting on his legs.

Might Guy stood nearby, encouraging Lee.

Tenten and Neji were resting off to one side.

Clearly, not everyone was a powerhouse with endless stamina.

How could ordinary people keep training with a workload like that?

Tenten and Neji watched in silent amazement.

It was already four or five in the afternoon. They'd come here to train after finishing their mission.

They were both planning to rest a little before heading home.

Suddenly, Neji's eyes lit up.

"Kimura Takuya, you're here!"