The golden light faded, and Nawaki stood in the izakaya's private room, alive and breathing hard.
Though the commotion of reversing life and death had been alarming, Xuanye had casually set up a genjutsu barrier. The owner and diners outside noticed nothing unusual and continued noisily playing drinking games.
Inside the private room, Tsunade threw her arms around the younger brother she had lost and regained, and the siblings sobbed in each other's arms.
Xuanye, meanwhile, remained perfectly relaxed in his seat, enjoying Uzuki Yugao's adoring gaze as he opened his mouth for the grilled meat she fed him.
"I've never heard of the Uchiha Clan's Mangekyō Sharingan being able to bring the dead back to life."
Uzuki Yugao knew her almost-boyfriend was absurdly powerful, but only today did she realize she had no idea where this man's limits lay.
Whenever they sparred with swords, Xuanye effortlessly overpowered her. She had long since come to idolize him.
"These eyes can bring people back to life, and they can also send them to hell."
Xuanye swallowed the meat and shrugged indifferently. "Basically, it just takes a little ocular power to forcibly rewrite a dead soul's life and death. It's no big deal."
Creating something from nothing, reversing life and death.
That was the unique Mangekyō ocular technique he had awakened.
Although Xuanye had awakened this ocular technique himself when his eyes evolved, years of enhancement by the Daily Check-in System had utterly transformed its power and effects.
In the system's words, ordinary Mangekyō ocular techniques simply weren't worthy of his current stats.
First, he used Impure World Reincarnation to drag a soul out of the Pure Land. Then he used a White Zetsu sacrifice as flesh-and-blood material to mold a new living body. Finally, he stuffed the soul inside and completely fused them to resurrect the person. For Xuanye as he was now, the whole process was as easy as drinking water.
As for why, during the Night of the Nine-Tails three years ago, he had only saved Kushina Uzumaki without bringing back the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze, too?
The reason was simple: Xuanye wasn't some bleeding heart out to save everyone.
Before dying, Minato had only asked him to help look after his wife, never asking to be saved. Xuanye had no reason to stick his nose in and offer help where it wasn't wanted.
Besides, three years ago, his Sharingan hadn't yet evolved into the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Forcing that ocular technique would have depleted his fundamental ocular power, and he had no desire to go blind saving a romantic rival.
What was more, Minato himself had been set on dying.
It only took Xuanye a little thought to see through Minato's plan.
After becoming the Fourth Hokage, the little sun had clearly also seen the rot in Konoha High Command and understood that he alone could never bring down Hiruzen Sarutobi and those other old foxes.
So Minato had simply placed his hopes of turning things around on the newborn Naruto, deliberately leaving a portion of his chakra in his son's belly while sealing the Nine-Tails.
Using the sacrifice of his biological parents to spur his son to grow up faster?
Xuanye couldn't understand that way of thinking at all.
Of course, he couldn't be bothered to judge whether Minato qualified as a decent father, either.
In any case, over the past three years, he had cared for Minato's widow so well that she had grown fair and plump and lived in complete comfort.
One needed a powerful backer to survive; the other happened to covet beauty and enjoy life. They each got what they needed. It couldn't have been more reasonable.
Only after a full ten minutes or so of crying did Tsunade dry her tears and recover.
This princess of Konoha had always been straightforward, clearly distinguishing gratitude from grudges.
Xuanye had not only brought her brother back but given him a genuine living body. She was profoundly grateful for this enormous favor.
In Xuanye's view, though, the dead were ultimately the dead. No matter how their souls were dragged out of the Pure Land, it was essentially disturbing the departed.
But since Tsunade was happy with the result, Xuanye naturally wouldn't spoil the mood by saying so.
Tsunade didn't immediately press Nawaki for the details of how he had been killed on the battlefield.
She picked up the wine jar on the table and gulped down several more mouthfuls before plopping back into the seat opposite Xuanye.
Beside her, Nawaki still had tear tracks on his face and was utterly bewildered, in a state of Who am I? Where am I? Shizune, having recovered her senses, pulled him into a corner to quietly explain the situation.
"Tell me. What exactly do you need me to do for you?"
Tsunade wiped the corner of her mouth and stared seriously at Xuanye. "Let me make this clear up front. As long as you don't ask me to destroy Konoha, I'll agree to any terms!"
"Relax. What I want you to do is a good deed that'll earn you some merit."
Xuanye didn't take advantage of her situation to make some outrageous demand that she sleep with him.
With his personality, even if he wanted to add Tsunade to his harem, he would win her over with his personal charm and sheer strength.
"My earlier offer still stands. Besides eight million ryo in free gambling money every day, you'll also receive a generous fixed monthly salary."
Xuanye uncorked his wine gourd and took a sip, then said unhurriedly:
"As the head of the Konoha Military Police Force, I have to secure some benefits for the men risking their lives under me."
"Starting today, the Konoha Military Police Force will officially establish its own medical squad, with you serving as its nominal captain."
"You won't normally have to treat injuries yourself. Just help me get the medical squad up and running, pick a few promising students you like and teach them some medical skills, and make sure my squad members receive immediate treatment when they're wounded. That's all."
The request was simple and clear, without a single political assignment attached.
Xuanye had brought Uzuki Yugao out of the village today to enjoy the scenery and a date during his time off, while also recruiting Tsunade into the Konoha Military Police Force as a figurehead to lend it some prestige.
"Be a squad captain in the Konoha Military Police Force? You mean you want me to return to Konoha with you?"
Tsunade paused, then turned to glance at her lively younger brother in the corner. Her brows furrowed slightly as she rapidly weighed things up.
Thinking it over, she really ought to make a trip back to Konoha.
When Nawaki had died on the battlefield, Orochimaru, his team leader, had been evasive in his subsequent report. There had clearly been something suspicious about it.
At the time, Nawaki had been the Senju Clan's last remaining male descendant of the direct line. With his death, the Senju Clan's lineage had been cut off entirely.
Now that Nawaki was alive again, taking him back to the village would be the perfect chance to dig up that old case and get to the bottom of it!
"All right! I'll take the job! When do we leave?"
Tsunade was a woman of action. Once she had made up her mind, she didn't hesitate in the slightest.
She raised her bowl of wine, clinked it against the wine gourd in Xuanye's hand, then tipped her head back and drained it.
Setting down the empty bowl, Tsunade looked Xuanye up and down with a complicated gaze.
She really couldn't quite understand the young man before her. He was clearly an Uchiha bearing the clan's fan crest, yet rather than scheming, he was paying such a great price to improve medical coverage for his subordinates.
Still, she couldn't be bothered to delve into it. As long as Xuanye's gambling money arrived on time, returning to the Konoha Military Police Force to hold a sinecure was no trouble at all.
"There's something I need to make clear beforehand. Although I'm one of the Konoha Sannin and old man Sarutobi's student, don't think you can use me as a pawn in some political game against Konoha High Command."
Tsunade's gaze sharpened as she laid out her bottom line.
As a descendant of the Senju Clan, she naturally harbored some wariness toward the Uchiha Clan.
Back then, she had left in anger because she was sick of the village leadership's dirty schemes. This time, she was only returning to uncover the truth behind her brother's death. She absolutely would not get involved in the Uchiha and Hokage faction's wretched power struggle.
"You're overthinking it. The Konoha Military Police Force is my turf."
Xuanye rose straight from his chair, his tone calm yet utterly commanding:
"As it stands, even the Uchiha Main Family has no right to interfere in the Konoha Military Police Force. On my turf, only my rules apply. Anyone who dares break them gets their claws chopped off, even if Hiruzen Sarutobi comes in person!"
With that, Xuanye glanced at the leftover food on the table and yawned.
"As for when we leave... we're done eating and drinking, so let's go now."
"I want to get back to the village early, take a bath, and get some sleep. I still have to clock in for work on time first thing tomorrow."
At those words, Tsunade, who had just been about to put on the airs of a senior expert, felt the corners of her mouth twitch hard twice.
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