Masashi gave Pakura a suspicious look.

  He felt there was more to her words than she was letting on.

  Still, he didn't think she had any ill iions toward him. His years of experience had taught him to read people, and Pakura's chakra signature remaieady.

  By now, he had mastered entering Sage Mode swiftly, and Sage Art: Majestic Attire was as natural to him as breathing.

  There were indeed shinobi who could break the Majestic Attire, but Pakura wasn't one of them.

  Moreover...

  His gaze drifted downward. Her thighs, ed in tight-fitting pants, revealed perfect curves.

  Damn...

  Pakura had a tall and slender figure, easily the best he had seen among all the women he had entered. Everything about her figure was just right.

  To fully unleash her chakra and effectively use her Scorch Release, her attire was always rather revealing.

  "What's the matter? Afraid I'll harm you?" Pakura looked at Masashi, the ers of her eyes curving slightly as if smiling. "With your strength, there's o worry about that."

  Saying this, she straightened her bad patted her thigh again.

  This movement caused her clothing to stretto a dangerously tight curve, as if it might burst at any moment.

  She knows exactly what she's doing. Ty at this game.

  "We've got a bond here, don't we? Talking like this feels so heartless."

  Masashi responded, carefully avoiding her overly promi breasts as he rested his head ohigh.

  "So, what exactly are you cheg?" he asked, a bit muffled.

  It wasn't his to was...

  Too much, okay! It was muffling the sound!

  "Faward!" Pakura frowned slightly. She herself found these two mounds inve at times.

  Then, she began her iion seriously.

  She didn't find any signs of external injury. If it wasn't a physical wound, it might be more plicated.

  "After your training, did you notiy marks on your head?" she asked, ed. Her firaced geterns across his scalp.

  "Of course not. It's training, not self-harm." Masashi finally realized what she meant by "check." She thinks I've lost my mind. How toug.

  Just as he was about to retort, Pakura's hand nded on his head agaily kneading and massaging it. Her touch was surprisingly gentle for hands that could reduemies to ash.

  Why was she giving him a massage?

  Masashi couldn't help but fidget slightly.

  "Don't move," Pakura's hand paused. "Let me massage it for you."

  Masashi stopped moving.

  Her teique was uedly fortable.

  "My head is fine," he couldn't resist crifying, though he made no move to stop her.

  "That's good. Your dition is important now," Pakura replied calmly.

  As her hands pressed and kneaded, he started to feel drowsy.

  "Masashi," Pakura suddenly spoke again. "What do you think our retionship is now?"

  "More than friends, less than lovers?" Masashi joked, feeling the phrase fit the moment. "After all, ordinary friends don't offer p pillows."

  "My man wouldn't have the ce to fool around," Pakura's tone carried a faint trace of ughter, but beh it y something more vulnerable. "Still, I 't imagine what kind of man would willingly marry me."

  "Your way of speaking is a bit peculiar. The other Uchiha don't talk like this."

  "Uchiha are pretty straightforward," he replied, his nose brushing against her abdomen. A faint rose fragrance wafted into his nostrils. "Did you use perfume?"

  "Who erfume to a battlefield?" Pakura chuckled. "I like bathing with flower petals. Maybe the st lingered."

  Masashi had the urge to make a suggestive remark but held back.

  This wasn't the time for tea-reted jokes.

  "You're right, though. Your mates are quite 'straightforward,'" Pakura said, pausing her massage. "You turn over now."

  Obediently, Masashi flipped to his other side.

  "Are you used to living in Konoha?" he asked, genuinely curious about her adjustment.

  "Do you think Suna is some impoverished backwater? If it weren't for the wars, life there isn't that bad. It's just not as lively as Konoha."

  The two fell silent again—one quietly massaging, the other enjoying the rexation.

  In the quiet moment, Masashi started thinking about the past.

  When was the st time he felt like this?

  ht—before the First Great Ninja War.

  Back then, his days were filled with school, teasing cssmates, messing with rich kids, and evenings spent dating or pyfully annoying his friend. There had even been moments like this, enjoying a p pillow.

  Until he got spped.

  Ah, love was plicated.

  He had been the oing hit, yet the person who spped him cried the hardest.

  That Uzumaki girl eve back to her family afterward. The Uzumaki had been so prosperous back then.

  Oh, and there was that Uchiha girl named Hikari, the oed the lo. She was the st.

  Because of her, his old friend from a wealthy family was always sulking and speaking in riddles.

  Sometimes he wondered, what happeo Hikari after he died. Did she mourn him? It was strahat he couldn't find any trace of her, as if she'd been erased pletely.

  Maybe he was overthinking it—Hikari wasn't likely an important person in the grand scheme of things. At least he couldn't remember seeing her in the inal series.

  There was always a reason for being single.

  What was wrong with dating someone from the Uchiha ? Besides, he even introduced a girl to that guy. If he didn't seize the opportunity, that was on him.

  Fine, let's not criticize him anymore—he had a good heart behind his cold exterior.

  Anyway, they both ended up dying ter.

  Thanks to the fort of the massage, Masashi fell asleep.

  He was lying on a pile of hay when he woke up. It was a great nap, washing away all his fatigue.

  Pakura stood at the entrance of the cave, keeping watotig he was awake, she him, signaling that all was well.

  Of course, it was fihere were no disturbances in her sensory ninjutsu or the barrier.

  Masashi got up, checked his gear, a off with Pakura once more. The brief rest had ged somethiweehough her mentio.

  The mountainous terrain was challenging, though not for shinobi. The real difficulty y in the enviro.

  The Land of Hot Water was full of t mountains and dense forests, a terraihieves trying to avoid nobles would hesitate to enter.

  That was why he had chosen this area to set up his hidden ste back then.

  It was safe.

  After crossing a few mountain ridges and spotting a familiar mark, he began to slow down.

  "What is it?" Pakura noticed the ge in his pace.

  They were still deep in the mountains and far from their destination. Had he detected an enemy?

  She respected Masashi's chakra sensory skills. She had seen them save lives before.

  "No, I found something good," Masashi said. "Did you know, during the Warring States Period, many nobles would build their tombs ie mountains to prevent grave robbing?"

  That was true. Back then, ninjas often took on odd jobs, and grave robbing was on.

  Only during the One Vilge, One try era did ninjas truly bee prosperous.

  "That has nothing to do with our mission, does it?" Pakura frowned. Grave robbing wasn't something shinobi from the great vilges did.

  She had taken on missions to proteoble graves and hunt grave robbers but never robbed one herself.

  "There could be valuable finds," Masashi said, justifying his as with a mix of truth and fi. "Some ninja s became feudal lords, so ombs sometimes tain ninjutsu. With luck, we might uncover something... Ah, here it is."

  He sped up suddenly, darting through a forest and stopping by a cliff.

  Pakura hadn't caught up yet, but he had found what he was looking for.

  Hidden behind a rock was a sealing formu. The intricate patterns were exactly as he remembered them.

  It appeared to be pletely intact.

  Masashi moved the rock aside and pced his hand on the seal.

  Over the years, lush green moss had covered the rocky surface. However, the area where the sealing formu was located remained untouched by these pnts.

  This teique wasn't merely a simple seal; it heavily incorporated principles of space-time e, inspired by the Flying Thunder God.

  While it wasn't something he could master entirely, it served as a useful reference.

  Pg his palm on the sealing formu, he began infusing chakra, carefully moduting the flow to match the seal's patterns.

  No response.

  The chakra really isn't the same, is it... Different life, different signature. Should have expected this.

  Retrag his hand, Masashi stood up. It seemed the experiment from back then was a failure.

  His eyes narrowed as he analyzed the seal's structure more carefully.

  In that age, teeming with exceptional talent and brilliahe first iteration of himself wasn't particurly remarkable in strength.

  Based on the generally accepted fan-made sed settings among Naruto enthusiasts oh, he was at most ae jonin. During that era, kage-level individuals werely rare, if not overly abundant.

  Yet, thanks to his unique uanding of the principles behind chakra ectivity and with the help of that "generous patron" human-shaped forbidden jutsu archive, he developed his own ueiques.

  Of course, assistance from fidants and panions was indispensable.

  But above all, what truly drove him was his fervent i in the meisms behind chakra as a source of energy.

  The cases of that patron and Izuna taught everyohat achieving a breakthrough required innovation and creativity.

  At that time, the Senju deed initiated a wave of experiments, but the only one who persisted until the end was him.

  However, that patron's research aimed to create practical teiques for proteg his , ahe vilge. In trast, his research aimed to uhe principle behind Asura, the aor of the Senju, reinating chakra.

  her the first nor sed iteration of himself nor the Senju or Uchiha s had any clue about the chakra reination of these two brothers. It was a mystery entirely unknown to them.

  But he knew.

  And because of this, he never gave up, believing it to be the pinnacle of chakra manipution sihe era of the Sage of Six Paths.

  He wasn't without achievements, either.

  One ninjutsu he developed was highly praised by the "generous patron" aually entered Konoha's jutsu archive.

  Unfortunately, in this life, Masashi couldn't use it no matter what he tried, which brought the research to a halt.

  Still, he wasn't disappointed. Gains and losses were iable.

  Perhaps his first life's chakra had truly disappeared from the world. But his current chakra was nothing to scoff at either.

  However, this also meant that accessing the "warehouse" left by his previous self wouldn't be straightforward.

  This sealing formu reized only his first life's chakra.

  ---

  Behind Masashi, Pakura had already caught up.

  She saw him standing before a stone wall, deep in thought, and noticed the revealed sealing formu.

  "This formu..." She exami closely. "It's incredibly advanced."

  "Yes, it's a bit tricky," Masashi replied.

  Of course, it was advahis was the bread and butter of his previous self—if someone else got their hands on it, it'd be devastating.

  Unfortunately, his habit of setting up spatial links everywhere was eventually discovered, leading many o be destroyed. This was the only o.

  And that damn Sed Raikage! Never gave him the ce to open his ste.

  One day, he'd dig up that guy's grave. Then he'd say just ohing: "Stupid brute! I've got save files!"

  Thinking about how the brute was taken down by the Gold and Silver Brothers, Masashi felt utterly speechless.

  The "generous patron" had sacrificed himself to protect the young geion. With the Flying Thunder God at his disposal, it was uandable how he got tricked.

  But the brute? That was inexcusable.

  The Six Path Tools—weren't you the one who gave those to them?!

  "Pakura, step back a bit," Masashi said, preparing tai's see if the old theory holds true.

  No matter how advahe sealing formu was, it had to have fws. Otherwise, how could the Five Great Nations decipher their enemy's intelligence scrolls, which were all protected by sealing teiques?

  Pakura plied without question and swiftly stepped back, her eyes fixed on his movements.

  Masashi's familiarity with the pce couldn't be expined simply as exploration, but she didn't o ask.

  He also retreated to the same distance before activating his jutsu.

  A whirlwind of bzing fmes surged toward the moss-covered stone wall, apanied by an ear-pierg roar. The heat was so inte distorted the air.

  The vegetation, which had grown for decades, was ied within minutes. Even the roots hidden in the cracks were drained of moisture by the fire.

  Chakra was life energy, and naturally, it could be influenced by life energy.

  Switg hand seals, he summoned cold air from the ground. The scorg hot atmosphere quickly returo normal temperature.

  He approached the inal spot again.

  Despite his caution, the alternatiowee and cold caused cracks to appear oone wall. But the structural iy remained intact.

  Pg his hand on the seal formu again, he simuted the chakra properties of his previous self and infused chakra into it.

  This time, the chakra was successfully absorbed.

  His theory was correct. The seal formu responded.

  His current chakra shared many simirities with his first iteration, making the simution fairly ving.

  The runes of the seal began to shift. Initially sluggish, they soon flowed smoothly like tadpoles in water.

  Chakra, unless forcibly depleted, ruly disappeared. This was why the Flying Thunder God marks remain indefinitely as long as the medium wasn't destroyed or fually altered. The principle involved sealing a portion of the caster's chakra there.

  Every teleportation also replehis chakra.

  So, any seal formu that reized chakra retained a portion of the caster's chakra to unlock the seal upon activation.

  The chakra sealed within this formu beloo his first life's self.

  After nearly twenty years, Masashi felt the familiar vibrant energy chakra once again.

  If he hadn't been diligent in developing his physical energy in this life, his Uchiha-style chakra would've never activated it.

  Releasing his hand, he stepped back. There was no more need for him to intervene.

  The tadpole-like runes expanded across the stone wall, f the pattern of a door. With the seal formu plete, the stone wall disappeared, revealing a short passage leading te space at the end.

  Calming himself, he waited for the air to circute.

  When the mps ihe passage ignited due to the airflow, he entered.

  Walking through the short corridor, he reached the vast space.

  The ceiling was high and shrouded in darkness. The light wells built long ago were likely clogged after decades of disuse.

  But that didn't matter. Feeling the air currents, Masashi stood silently at the entrance.

  As the mps on the surrounding walls lit up one by ohe warehouse's true appearance was revealed.

  It was a rge, square chamber. The walls and floor were paved with stone sbs. Aside from the supp ns, there was no unnecessary decoration. Everything urely funal.

  The "iory" sisted of stone coffins arranged ly on the ground.

  The spag between the coffins allowed three people to walk side by side. They stretched from one end of the room to the other.

  The seals on the coffins indicated they were in a locked state.

  These were the remnants of his past self's final battle pns—over 300 Edo Tensei bodies painstakingly collected and sealed over a decade.

  Although they'd bee single-use due to chakra differehey'd be well worth deploying against the Kumo ninjas.