Compared to that, the matters of Kumogakure and Kirigakure are hardly worth mentioning, right? No one cares about what happens to those people.
Even if they stir up trouble, what could they possibly achieve?
At most, it's just a matter of where they choose to hide.
Even if that Jigen joins them, so what? No matter how strong Jigen is, he's still just one person.
Nawaki's team can handle it.
And if they can't, they can always request reinforcements. Rather than worrying about this, it's better to focus on training.
That way, even if something truly serious happens, they'll have more options to respond.
So, time passed uneventfully.
Because of that, when Team 7, who had just graduated, completed an S-rank mission and returned to Konohagakure, they were surprised to find that the village's reaction was so calm that it didn't seem like they had mobilized a large number of ninja for this mission at all.
Are you kidding me? It's fine if you don't acknowledge Senju Nawaki.
But you're ignoring Ryuri too? He's from the Hokage's family! Two children from the Hokage's family! How could you just—
However, the village was currently focused on something else.
Inside the Raijin household, Senju Tobirama, representing the leadership of Konohagakure, and Uchiha Madara, standing alone, both silently watched as Raijin injected himself with a syringe.
The Rinnegan…
Uchiha Madara hoped that Raijin would awaken the Rinnegan. That way, he could gain permanent Senjutsu.
Senju Tobirama, on the other hand, was more concerned with how much Raijin's strength would improve after awakening the Rinnegan.
After all, that would determine whether Raijin could continue to suppress Uchiha Madara in the future.
If Raijin's strength didn't significantly improve after awakening the Rinnegan, then even if it meant forcing Uchiha Madara to act against Konohagakure, Senju Tobirama would have to reconsider the agreement between Raijin and Uchiha Madara.
Everything depended on the results.
Raijin felt helpless in this situation, but he didn't resist much either.
Slowly, he injected the genetic serum that Tsunade had developed.
He calmed his mind and focused on the subtle changes happening inside his body.
Before long, he sensed a difference. It wasn't that a new power suddenly appeared, but rather, he could feel tiny shifts in his chakra.
These changes directly affected his eyes.
Even with his eyes closed, something strange was happening.
His once golden eyes, which constantly emitted a radiant glow, were dimming.
The Mangekyou pattern, which was barely noticeable before, had completely vanished.
In its place, concentric circles resembling tree rings appeared.
Although faint, a hint of purple could already be seen.
It couldn't be helped—both the Rinnegan and Tenseigan were of the same level, but normally, a standard Tenseigan wasn't golden.
The golden Tenseigan, created by merging countless Byakugan, had more energy than a regular Rinnegan.
—
"No one's in the Hokage's office?"
Nawaki pushed open the door to the Hokage's office and was surprised to see it completely empty.
"How about we just report the mission at your place?"
He turned to Uchiha Ryuri and asked.
"Yeah."
Ryuri nodded without saying much and simply started walking toward home.
—
"So, how is it?"
The moment Raijin opened his eyes, Senju Tobirama and Uchiha Madara asked at the same time.
"Better than expected."
Raijin chuckled softly and rubbed his forehead.
"Tell me in detail."
Senju Tobirama asked Raijin.
"Honestly, there's not much improvement. I just gained better control over the Tenseigan."
Raijin replied in a calm voice.
Yes, even though he had awakened the Rinnegan, Raijin's overall strength hadn't increased that much.
But there was no doubt that his control over the Tenseigan had improved.
The reason was simple—the Tenseigan was essentially a foreign object to his body.
At its core, the Tenseigan was something that Raijin's body would naturally reject.
Although Hiruko's Chimera Technique had absorbed it, the fusion wasn't perfect.
The presence of natural energy allowed Raijin's body to slowly integrate with the Tenseigan.
However, this process was slow.
As a result, the Tenseigan was like Kakashi's Sharingan or Ao's Byakugan in the original timeline—powerful, but not truly his own.
Awakening the Rinnegan and acquiring the genetic serum from Uchiha Madara had, in a way, filled in the gaps of Raijin's body.
It was similar to transplanting Hashirama's cells into Kakashi in the original timeline.
Because of this, Raijin's control over the Tenseigan had significantly improved.
As for new abilities—honestly, none had appeared.
Only Setsuna Eternal and Futsunomitama had gotten stronger.
To be honest, it was a bit disappointing.
"An improvement is an improvement, whether it's small or huge. How much stronger have you gotten?"
Uchiha Madara narrowed his eyes as he looked at Raijin.
"Do you really think this is something that can be explained with words?"
Raijin asked back with a hint of helplessness.
"How about this—why don't you test it for me?"
"Sure."
Madara agreed without hesitation.
He really wanted to know how much stronger Raijin had become.
Even if Raijin didn't bring it up today, Madara would have found a chance to test him sooner or later.
Since Raijin was suggesting it now, there was no reason for him to refuse.
For both Uchiha Madara and Raijin, changes in their power levels directly affected their relationship.
"Let's go to the Heavenly Prison. I promise not to use its power."
Madara continued.
"Alright."
Raijin nodded, showing no intention of refusing.
No matter how much their powers evolved, the gap between them wouldn't change too drastically.
After all...
At this point, there wasn't much left in the world that could significantly increase their strength.
Even though Raijin already had a clear understanding of Madara's abilities, he still didn't turn down the challenge.
Facing the same techniques in different situations and at different times could lead to new insights.
Madara nodded, and in the next moment, his Nine-Tomoe Rinnegan activated.
Both he and Raijin instantly vanished.
Watching them disappear, Senju Tobirama remained silent.
Raijin's strength had increased, and with Uchiha Madara helping him, the first one to feel uneasy would be Madara himself.
From Tobirama's perspective, Madara surely wanted Raijin to get stronger.
But at the same time, he definitely didn't want Raijin to become too strong.
Even if Raijin became powerful enough to defeat him, Madara would still have ways to keep him in check.
Because for the two of them, the biggest problem wasn't that they couldn't beat each other—
It was that they couldn't completely kill each other.
The existence of space-time ninjutsu made them both a headache for one another.
Even if their strength was similar, as the fight dragged on, there would eventually be a winner and a loser.
But killing each other? That was impossible.
For some reason, Senju Tobirama found himself in a good mood.
The technique he had originally developed as a surprise for Uchiha Izuna had unexpectedly proven useful today.
—
How interesting…
"So, you're all here?!"
Just then, a voice rang out. Senju Tobirama turned to look and saw that it was his grandson, Senju Nawaki.
With Nawaki's arrival, everyone's attention shifted to him.
At that moment, Nawaki suddenly realized something—almost all of Konoha's high-ranking officials were gathered here.
That could only mean something very important had happened.
And this was Raijin's house.
His sister was here, which meant something must have happened to his brother-in-law.
"What's going on?"
Nawaki asked his great-uncle. If something had happened to Raijin, the entire village would be in trouble!
"It's nothing. Your mission's over? Go get some rest first."
Senju Tobirama smiled as he spoke to Nawaki.
Seeing his great-uncle's expression, Nawaki finally felt relieved.
Still, he couldn't help but ask,
"Should I report on my mission?"
"Ask your sister."
Senju Tobirama pursed his lips, turned his head, and ignored Nawaki.
He had stopped dealing with these kinds of trivial matters a long time ago.
Hearing that, Nawaki turned to look at Tsunade.
"Sigh… Minato, you handle the debrief with Nawaki."
Tsunade said helplessly to Namikaze Minato.
"Alright."
Minato nodded and walked over to Nawaki.
"Let's do it in the Hokage's office."
Tsunade thought for a moment and added.
"Okay."
Minato nodded again and led Nawaki away.
—
"This… is more than just a small improvement, isn't it?"
After parting ways with Raijin once again, Madara looked at him with a serious expression.
Just as he had promised, Madara hadn't used the abilities of Kamui.
This technique, which bordered on god-like power, had only served as the battlefield for their match this time.
Raijin and Madara had relied purely on Taijutsu for this exchange.
Neither of them had used any techniques that would be difficult for the other to counter.
And in fact, just from this Taijutsu battle alone, Madara could roughly gauge Raijin's current strength.
Compared to before, Raijin felt… more fluid.
Yes, fluid—like he had removed some kind of restriction.
Both his attacks and defense felt much more natural than before.
Because of this, even though his speed and strength hadn't changed much, it was now much harder to find an opening in his moves.
At least in this exchange, Madara had been the one on the defensive the entire time.
He had to admit—when it came to pure Taijutsu, Raijin was the better fighter.
"If we're only testing our Taijutsu, I think we can end it here."
Raijin said softly, looking at Madara.
"Do you have something more important to do?"
Madara slowly floated into the air, putting a safe distance between himself and Raijin.
"Training or even resting is way more interesting than fighting you here…"
Seeing this, Raijin let his chakra merge with natural energy, and in an instant, a thick purple-gold aura surrounded his body.
Occasionally, streaks of lightning flickered across his skin.
Sage Art: Thunder God's Descent!
"Hmph!"
Madara snorted and clenched his hand in the air. A pitch-black staff appeared in his grasp, and behind him, several Truth-Seeking Orbs circled into formation.
Then, he pointed his staff at Raijin, and the orbs shot toward him.
With a loud bang, Raijin kicked them away with ease.
The orbs crashed into the icy ground, sending shards of ice flying in all directions.
At the same time, Raijin turned into a bolt of lightning and charged straight at Uchiha Madara.
A sharp whooshing sound tore through the air as Madara tilted his body, narrowly dodging Raijin's attack.
He's fast…
Activating his Rinnegan ability, four invisible shadows rushed toward Raijin from different directions, surrounding him.
"This fight is so predictable…"
Raijin sighed, clapping his hands together.
A dozen shadow clones appeared around him, immediately engaging Madara's Limbo clones.
At the same time, Raijin leaped back, his Tenseigan glowing faintly as several purple-gold prayer beads around his wrist began spinning at high speed.
A powerful tornado suddenly formed, sweeping toward the four Limbo clones.
It didn't stop there—it also pulled in Raijin's own shadow clones.
But before they could be destroyed, Raijin simply dispelled them himself.
Madara, of course, wouldn't let this chance slip away.
Although his Limbo clones were no longer a trump card to turn the tide of battle, they were still useful for creating openings.
Taking a deep breath, Madara gathered energy, and in the next moment, a beam of purple light shot from his mouth toward Raijin.
Sage Art: Lightning Release—Light Fang!
Raijin calmly extended a single finger.
A surge of lightning crackled through the air as an invisible shockwave met Madara's attack head-on.
Sage Art: Thunderquake!
Boom!
Two completely different energies clashed in midair, erupting into a massive explosion!
—
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