Future Plans

After the pain subsided slightly, Uchiha Qiu Yang tremblingly fished Naruto out of the water, where he was nearly submerged, and brought him to the shore.

A wave of dizziness then washed over him, causing him to collapse to the ground and lose consciousness.

When Uchiha Qiu Yang opened his eyes again, he found himself lying in the Konoha hospital.

The aftereffects of using Susanoo had not vanished; a piercing pain continued to radiate from deep within his bones.

He had been awakened by the sound of Kakashi and Naruto arguing. Kakashi was refuting Naruto, who was clamoring about going to Orochimaru to bring Sasuke back.

There was another person in the ward: his teacher, Jiraiya, who was standing by the window, looking outside and lost in thought.

Uchiha Qiu Yang had intended to close his eyes and rest, but the bickering between the master and student grew louder.

He had no choice but to endure the pain and sit up, showing everyone that he had "already woken up."

Seeing Uchiha Qiu Yang awake, Kakashi stopped trying to dissuade Naruto and sighed, stating the terrifying truth he had deduced:

"Naruto, even with you and Uchiha Qiu Yang together, you couldn't defeat Sasuke. Do you really think you can bring him back alone now?"

What? Kakashi-san, did I hear that right? You're saying I couldn't beat that brat Sasuke???

Uchiha Qiu Yang was dumbfounded. Just as he was about to retort, he saw Naruto suddenly fall silent after that sentence, stifling the rebuttal he had been about to shout.

Fine, fine. I'll just take it as him putting psychological pressure on the blond kid. My image being tarnished a little doesn't really matter.

Jiraiya, who had been looking out the window, saw that both students were fine and suddenly spoke up:

"Alright, Naruto, since you're fine, go back and pack your bags. Tomorrow, I'm taking you away for special training."

"Yeah! I'm going back to pack right now, Pervy Sage."

Naruto's mind was now entirely focused on quickly increasing his strength so he could rescue his bond from Orochimaru.

He rolled off the hospital bed and walked toward the window, intending to take a shortcut home.

But before jumping out, he seemed to remember something important, turned back, and shoved his face right in front of Uchiha Qiu Yang:

"Hey, Uchiha Qiu Yang, I will never let you have the position of Hokage. Just you wait!"

"..."

After saying that, he returned to the windowsill and leaped down, rushing toward home.

Regarding Naruto's chuunibyou behavior, Jiraiya held his forehead in resignation and told Kakashi to follow Naruto, fearing his dim-witted disciple might forget something.

"Oh, sure."

The dead-eyed Kakashi agreed readily, closed the copy of Icha Icha Paradise he had only just opened, and chose to jump out the window as well to chase after Naruto.

Once their figures disappeared from view, Jiraiya sighed and walked over to sit beside Uchiha Qiu Yang:

"Qiu Yang, tell me, did something special happen? Otherwise, how did even you end up collapsing?"

"Didn't Kakashi-senpai already say? I was also defeated by Sasuke."

Uchiha Qiu Yang replied irritably.

The result was a fist to the head from Jiraiya: "I'm talking to you about serious business, kid. Try being cheeky with me again."

Uchiha Qiu Yang clutched his head in pain, and to avoid further beatings, he told the truth:

"It was nothing, I just had a fight with Naruto after he underwent a Tailed Beast transformation."

"What? You mean Naruto underwent a Tailed Beast transformation??"

"It was just that humanoid Tailed Beast transformation wrapped in Tailed Beast chakra; besides, Jiraiya-sensei, the point you should be focusing on is the state of my injuries, right?"

Uchiha Qiu Yang looked at his unreliable teacher with resentment. Naruto is your student, but am I not?

Jiraiya realized his question was indeed inappropriate. He laughed loudly, using the excuse that he trusted in Uchiha Qiu Yang's strength to gloss over it, and then continued to ask for specific details.

Uchiha Qiu Yang considered it and decided not to hide anything. He told Jiraiya about Naruto growing four tails and the skeletal frame, though he omitted the details of his own use of Susanoo.

He only said that by using the Flying Thunder God and the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki clan, he had barely managed to suppress the Nine-Tails' rampage.

Jiraiya was naturally skeptical of Uchiha Qiu Yang's methods, but he didn't intend to get to the bottom of it. He rested his chin on his hand and analyzed it silently:

It seems that as little Naruto grows, his Tailed Beast chakra will be more easily influenced by his emotions.

Hmm, it seems that applying to Tsunade to take Naruto out on a journey to help him better control the Nine-Tails' chakra was the right move.

"Qiu Yang, tomorrow I'm taking Naruto out for training. It will likely be quite a long time before we return. I'm sorry I can't take you along this time, because..."

Uchiha Qiu Yang waved his hand, indicating that his teacher needn't worry:

"I understand, Jiraiya-sensei. You must think my strength is already so great that it surpasses yours, so I don't need your teaching anymore."

Jiraiya hit Uchiha Qiu Yang on the head again, cursing his cheeky disciple and telling him there was still much he needed to learn.

However, the matter of Jiraiya taking only Naruto for training was settled and moved past.

Uchiha Qiu Yang hadn't intended to go anyway, so this was even better; he didn't have to think of an excuse to refuse.

Before Jiraiya left the ward, Uchiha Qiu Yang specifically mentioned some security loopholes he had discovered when he infiltrated Konoha that day.

"I will speak to Tsunade about this, but as you know, with the abilities of your Sharingan, it would be easy for you to sneak into the village regardless."

That is true!

After Jiraiya instructed Qiuyang to get some rest, he immediately rushed to the Hokage's office to inform Tsunade about Naruto's Tailed Beast transformation.

Only after the sound of Jiraiya's footsteps faded away did Qiuyang lie back on the hospital bed and close his eyes, feeling deeply melancholy.

Despite how normal and cheerful he had appeared while talking to Jiraiya, his heart was actually filled with trepidation—

The moment he had woken up and opened his eyes, he discovered that his vision was obscured as if a layer of glass film had been pasted over them. He rubbed his eyes vigorously several times, but found no relief.

Qiuyang understood that the aftereffects of using the ocular techniques of this Mangekyo and the Susanoo had finally manifested!

Yet, there were times when he truly had no choice but to use them, such as the sudden Tailed Beast transformation of Naruto he encountered today...

Not to mention that when Naruto returned in three years, the power scale would undergo a major update.

With one semi-Kage level and Kage level powerhouse after another set to emerge, the Three-Tomoe Sharingan would simply be insufficient; only the Mangekyo could prevent him from falling into a passive position.

It was a pity that the more these eyes were used, the faster they would go blind.

The only solution now was to quickly break through the research on the Hashirama Cells provided by Snake Auntie.

He also had to consider how to upgrade the pair of Two-Tomoe Sharingan left behind by his original body's older brother into a Mangekyo.

Because, judging from the fact that Obito's Mangekyo had not evolved into a Rinnegan despite being fused with Hashirama Cells for so long, one of the conditions for upgrading to a Rinnegan must be to first evolve the eyes into an Eternal Mangekyo.

Qiuyang slowly closed his eyes, already having a preliminary outline for his future plans after his teacher left with Naruto.

Later, Tsunade and Hiashi, accompanied by Hanabi, came to the hospital to visit him. That same evening, Qiuyang processed his discharge papers and returned home to rest.

The next day, after seeing off Jiraiya and the incessantly chattering Naruto, Qiuyang dove headfirst back into his experiments with the Hashirama Cells.

Time waits for no one; he had to fuse the Hashirama Cells as soon as possible.