I Have a Bunch of Relatives Who Want to Be Hokage Chapter 44

The trees, which had not had many leaves to begin with, were quickly stripped bare. Then the trunks followed suit, soon disintegrating as well.

Within the area, only the Nine-Tails appeared to remain intact.

The reason it only appeared that way was because Boil Release could corrode chakra as well.

The Nine-Tails had never encountered Boil Release before. Upon seeing the mist, its first reaction was actually one of relief—it truly did not want to face the Sharingan.

But it quickly realized something was wrong. This mist was corroding its "shell." In just a few breaths, a layer of chakra on its body had already been worn away.

Though it was only an extremely thin layer, negligible to it, this was not a good sign.

Moreover, the mist blocked all chakra sensing. It could not detect Uchiha Shingen's location, let alone attack him.

Since it could not judge its surroundings, it might as well make a run for it.

Without hesitation, the Nine-Tails turned around and began to sprint.

A single step for a Tailed Beast was a distance that would leave an ordinary person... running themselves half to death.

Ninja had it a little better, but they still had to put in some effort.

The mist seemed alive as it gathered around the Nine-Tails and followed it forward.

Uchiha Shingen followed leisurely behind the Nine-Tails, secretly delighted.

Run all you want. Once it's gone far enough, I'll just move it back.

Best if it runs all night. That'd save me a lot of effort.

Thoughts on Going Premium

I'd never written one of these before. Is this how it's supposed to be done?

Getting to the point, the book was finally going premium.

Honestly, I gave it a lot of thought before deciding whether to put it behind a paywall. I probably couldn't be considered a particularly focused writer, because I started writing entirely because I couldn't find any fanfiction that resonated with me. Back then, I was writing on Qidian, and my author name was something I picked at random—a string of numbers. Later, people kept calling me "Numbers," so I added the word "Numbers" in front of that string. Eventually, it became my current pen name.

Since I started out because of fanfiction, I'd always written fanfiction. My first book, the terrible Uzumaki Six Paths, was the sort where the early chapters were only a few hundred words long. Halfway through, that book even jumped over to One Piece.

My second book was more of a power fantasy, Gundam's Newtype, and it did fairly well. I was still a hot-blooded young guy back then, so the political parts were written very naively. Still, it was a fairly standard feel-good story, and everyone seemed to think it was alright. I took down every boss that needed taking down, and, following the "true fragrance" rule, got together with Lalah. After that, I couldn't stop myself, so I wrote Naruto: The Asura Path, The Nonexistent Godslayer, and so on. All of those were completed. There were also some unfinished ones, such as One Piece: This Guy Can Fly and The Demon's Dimensional Sister-Chasing Journey—which was later renamed to remove "sister-chasing"—and so on. Then there was that whole mess between Qidian and Chuangshi. Qidian banned my account, so naturally the books were gone too. I hadn't kept backups, and later, I even forgot my Chuangshi account... (That plot was ridiculous.)

I moved to Hedgehog Cat—then called Book Guest—when I was writing Hachiman Hikigaya's Godslayer Story. That book still wasn't finished even now. The writing process had been extremely winding, and I'd stopped updating several times. There was no helping it; work and life took up far too much of my time in the first few years. Especially the past two years, when the company was restructuring, I had absolutely no energy to spare for this side of things. This year, the organizational reforms were finally completed, so I could finally write properly again. That was why I started this book.

Naruto was also an old classic. Of course, the common flaw of long-running manga was that they were a nightmare for continuity buffs. And if you were a continuity buff who liked making up secondary settings at every turn, that was hell. Don't worry, I'll hold myself back. Just like the synopsis said, I'll stick closely to the manga and won't randomly add scenes. Unless adding a little is truly necessary to make the story work, and even then, I'll make sure it doesn't directly conflict with the manga's setting. Otherwise, it wouldn't be interesting. Fanfiction for a long-running series could only be long-running itself. For a long story, consistency came first—updates had to be steady, and the content had to be steady too...

Apparently, Naruto fanfiction on Hedgehog Cat was fiercely competitive these days. That put a bit of pressure on me. I probably couldn't beat others in update speed, so I'd focus on maintaining quality and a minimum update count instead: two to three chapters every day at fixed times. That was what I said, anyway, but I'd definitely aim for a minimum of three chapters, and there generally shouldn't be any problems. Since this book needed to compete on the monthly ticket rankings, I gave it some thought: if daily monthly tickets exceeded 500, I'd add another chapter for every additional 100 tickets. I felt like I'd mostly recovered my rhythm. My writing speed had clearly picked up these past few days—as long as I didn't waste time chatting in group chats or flirting with girls, I could write like crazy.

Anyway, I'm going to do this book properly and restore my record of finishing books. Please support me a lot too. Your support is my greatest motivation. I especially love that feeling of interacting with everyone.

Ah, one last thing. Although the protagonist claims to be a non-marriage advocate, you know how it is with the "true fragrance" rule, so he still has a wife. She'll show up in the second volume. She isn't an original character either—original characters just don't have that spark.

Oh, right. He's from the Love Clan, isn't he? So you understand!

Now It's My Turn to Look Down on You

Strictly speaking, Uchiha Shingen's Boil Concealment Technique had drawn inspiration from three Mist Ninja techniques.

The Water Release: Hiding in Mist Technique commonly used by Mist Ninja.

Mei Terumi's Boil Release: Skilled Mist Technique.

Kisame Hoshigaki's Water Release: Great Exploding Water Colliding Wave.

This technique copied the strengths of all three rather well.

It was just that the latter two were still young men like him at the moment, so he had no idea whether they had developed those techniques yet.

He had never met Kisame Hoshigaki, so that could be set aside for now.

But Mei Terumi definitely had not developed hers at the time.

Still, she was very strong, with the solid level of an elite jonin. As expected of someone who would become the Mizukage in the future.

To steal Boil Release from her, Uchiha Shingen had put in no small amount of effort. He had even been mistaken for a pervert.

Even his comrades who had fought beside him thought he was planning to turn over a new leaf... no, that he had discovered love.

People always said the Leaf Village produced talent without end, but the Mist Village was no worse. It was merely tucked away in a remote corner and rarely involved itself in continental affairs, so its reputation was not as prominent.

The useful thing about Boil Release was the sheer versatility of this chakra nature.

Mist was not its only form. It could also be liquid, looking no different from Water Release, aside from consuming more chakra.

Its corrosive properties were also highly useful for defense. At the same time, when used in mist form, it could accurately track an enemy's position through chakra just like the Hiding in Mist Technique.

This was absolutely the most versatile chakra nature Uchiha Shingen had ever stolen.

Especially when Water Release was used as the surface and Boil Release as the hidden core—it was incredibly effective for ambushing people.

Only something like a Tailed Beast could charge through Boil Release without any protection and run for its life.

Just as the Nine-Tails was about to escape the range, Uchiha Shingen teleported onto its head once more and gave it a head pat.

The Nine-Tails, which had run far away, returned to the center of the Boiling Kill Mist.

It angrily swatted at him with a paw, but just like the previous times, it only gave itself a resounding slap across the face.

A technique with no hand seals was just that shameless.

Flying Raijin was just that damn annoying.

After failing to break free yet again and still unable to catch that hateful Uchiha, the Nine-Tails ran out of patience.

Tailed Beasts never calculated the cost-effectiveness of chakra when they fought. First, it was in their nature; second, they genuinely had plenty of it; and third, even if they were killed, they could still revive.

By human standards, they were strength and quantity, enormity and infinity.

The Nine-Tails stopped moving and pressed its body flat against the ground.

That familiar motion put Uchiha Shingen on guard.

Anyone who had been a bratty kid would recognize that pose. After all, they had done it plenty of times as children.

Judging by the Nine-Tails' size, Uchiha Shingen swiftly estimated the approximate range, then used Flying Raijin to teleport to the maximum possible distance.

He landed on the very hill where he had released the marmots earlier. From its peak, he had a full view of everything.

The earth trembled, and mountains crumbled.

The ground heaved and the mountains shook, while the roar echoed through the heavens.

It was as though the world was being remade and the rivers and mountains recreated.

From afar, it did not look quite so exaggerated. But if one were caught inside it, that was exactly what it felt like—one could only be swept along by the tide.

Unless one could pilot a Gundam.

Unfortunately, Uchiha Shingen could only pilot a mass-produced model right now. Though mass-produced models could beat up Gundams in short side stories, still...

Honestly, if you could pilot a custom unit, never pretend to be modest.

Even custom units came in different tiers.

It was the same principle as showing off. There was no such thing as the best at showing off, only someone even better at it.

Put Nightingale and Sazabi before animated Char Aznable and see which one he would choose.

Watching the Nine-Tails throw a tantrum and roll around, Uchiha Shingen admitted that he still craved the Mangekyo Sharingan. A Complete Body Susanoo really was the good stuff.

In the end, human desire knew no bounds.

Before the force of the Tailed Beast's tantrum, Boiling Kill Mist truly could not withstand the devastation.

It was churned apart and shattered into fragments.

That wife-obsessed Namikaze Minato was still nowhere to be seen, not even a shadow of him.

Uchiha Shingen was a generous man. It was already the middle of the night, and he decided he could be understanding for another hour or two.

Surely they were not really going to insist on timing it precisely for dawn, were they?

If he still did not show up after another hour, Uchiha Shingen could only move the Nine-Tails back again.

Otherwise, there would be too many uncontrollable variables.

He silently calculated that, with this much time, the Leaf Village's ninjas should have been able to clear out a safe zone.

Seeing the distant beast's movements begin to slow, Uchiha Shingen started preparing his next jutsu.

Rhythm was important. He could not stop.

When sparring with Shisui, he had used a Water Release jutsu called Ten Dragon Torrent. But the version he had used then had been incomplete—a severely simplified version that had been nerfed to hell.

He had originally developed this ninjutsu to flatten battlefields, specifically for attacking large targets.

For example, if the enemy had a ninja force a hundred strong, or two such ninja forces, or a whole bunch of such ninja forces.

The more people, the better. After all, genin made up the majority of a ninja force.

War existed for large-scale killing. Once people were gone, conflicts naturally eased in the short term.

Then everyone could sit back down at the negotiating table and prepare for the next round.

If the enemy was a Tailed Beast, this jutsu should be useful as well.

He just needed to change the direction.

Otherwise, if he pushed it outward again, moving it back would increase the burden.

Flying Raijin activated once more. He appeared on the other side of the Nine-Tails, leaving enough distance to increase the jutsu's impact.

Since he had plenty of time, he also silently thanked his second playthrough for being so reliable and giving him another great bloodline. He swore that before he turned fifty, he would definitely find a wife for this playthrough's parents.

After all, his plan was to retire at forty.

At forty, he would be a senior veteran. Shouldn't he retire and enjoy life by then?

A ninja's prime was around forty. Once someone reached fifty, no matter how formidable they were, their baseline combat power would inevitably decline. It was a law of nature, impossible to change.

People were made of flesh and blood, not chakra.

So people needed to know contentment. Anyone who still refused to retire at fifty was an old thief who would not die.

When it was time to give up resources, one had to yield them generously. That was called sustainable development.

During his zero playthrough, the people Uchiha Shingen despised most were those old officials who had clearly reached retirement age yet still tried every possible way to delay it. It was too ugly—utterly unmanly.

Ahead of him, the Nine-Tails had finished rolling around and had just raised its head.

Uchiha Shingen finished forming his jutsu at just the right moment.

Water dragons soared into the sky.

One, two, ten, a hundred—hundreds upon thousands, blotting out the sky and moon as they looked down upon the earth.

Water vapor infused with the power of Boil Release gathered, combined, and drifted through the air. Wherever it passed, it corroded everything away, leaving only air behind as the ground became utterly barren.

At last, the spray formed waves. Under Uchiha Shingen's control, they gathered without striking, piling higher and higher in layers, with Uchiha Shingen standing at the very top.

Now, he was the one looking down on the distant Nine-Tails.

He struck Master Roshi's moon-punching pose, except he lacked those ridiculously exaggerated muscles. The imitation was not quite there, and he did not look nearly as manly.

Boil Release: Thousand Dragon Boiling Slaughter!

Chapter 26: The Dying Uzumaki Kushina

Somewhere in the Leaf Village's forest, a shocking spectacle was unfolding.

Seemingly endless waves formed a massive vortex that mercilessly swallowed everything. Amid a deafening roar more terrifying than thunder in the sky, colossal waves surged forth.

Under the ravaging torrents, the forest was swallowed, the earth crushed, and everything ahead was instantly churned into the water and erased. The pointed crest of the tidal wave roared forward—water dragons layered upon one another, piling up to the height of a tsunami, towering even above the Tailed Beast.

Facing a wave taller than itself, the Nine-Tails rolled over and scrambled to its feet. Its beastly maw opened wide, instantly firing a Tailed Beast Ball.

People needed to charge up. Tailed Beasts did too.

Of course, they could fire without charging, but the power would be weaker.

Uchiha Shingen had been prepared for that.

Put simply, when it came to mastering the principles of chakra interconnection, during his first life, he had been the most inventive one in the Senju Clan.