"Haha, he's really alive…Gaara's alive!"
As soon as Naruto saw Gaara sit up, he couldn't help but yell in relief and excitement.
Then Naruto hurriedly explained everything that had happened. Gaara's face didn't show much change, but his heart was full of turmoil.
He knew the other party had taken advantage of the situation to forcibly extract a village's secret technique, but even so, the other party had saved his life—and more importantly, preserved Chiyo's formidable power for the Sand Village. Gaara still wished to express his gratitude to Uchiha Kiyo. However, by the time Gaara had awoken, Uchiha Kiyo had already left. With all eyes on Gaara, nobody noticed Kiyo's quiet departure.
"What? He just left like that? That's rude! Wait, Kakashi-sensei—why'd you hit me?!"
Kakashi rolled his eyes but took a serious tone with Naruto.
"Naruto, next time you come across a ninja like Uchiha Kiyo—whose strength and intentions are unknown—especially when you're weaker than them, don't shout. It's reckless and annoying."
If Uchiha Kiyo had heard this, he would've nodded in agreement. If Naruto didn't have the Six Paths Sage power within him, Kiyo might've already taken action.
He even suspected that characters like Naruto were created just to disrupt balance…
Kiyo, using his Instant Body Technique, arrived west of the Sand Village—ten kilometers from the Dragon Vein.
Relying on the spatial coordinates he had left previously, Kiyo teleported into the inner layer of the Dragon Vein after multiple body shifts.
After sealing a substantial amount of chakra from the Dragon Vein's core, Kiyo relocated to its periphery to begin his research.
Conducting research directly within the Dragon Vein's core was out of the question!
"Spatial properties… or rather, mutated spatial properties."
Kiyo examined the chakra from the Dragon Vein with care.
Truthfully, only because he'd performed countless body-shifting techniques and was intimately familiar with spatial manipulation could he even sense this. He still couldn't use space-attributed chakra—it wasn't that chakra couldn't possess the space attribute, but rather that it inherently lacked it.
"Dragon Vein chakra doesn't have a space attribute per se—it's been contaminated by the Dragon Vein's space power over time, giving the illusion of spatial properties."
The Dragon Vein itself was the source of this spatial power.
Across all timelines, this spatial power was tremendously potent—especially within the Dragon Vein's core, where spatial fluctuations occasionally leaked.
"Dragon Vein chakra, tainted by spatial power, can resonate with the Dragon Vein core when stimulated correctly, enabling the formation of a space-time channel—allowing for travel through time and space!"
But—was this connection limited to the region?
Could the Dragon Vein chakra, if activated from anywhere in the ninja world, connect back to the core and initiate a crossing?
"…Forget it. Best not to try."
Who knew what breaking through the spatial barrier from outside the Dragon Vein might cause?
The safest method was still to enter the space-time tunnel directly from the Dragon Vein core.
In Kiyo's view, entering from the core was like stepping through a gate directly into the time stream. Attempting to enter from other regions could result in "breaking through the wall"—and who knew what kind of chaos that would unleash?
This was the timeline connecting the past and future of the entire ninja world. If someone smashed into it at the wrong place, their existence might simply… vanish.
Of course, this was just Kiyo's speculation. Maybe in this parallel timeline, the only node into the time-stream channel was the Dragon Vein core—and all other chakra activations merely funneled through that "gate."
Still, Kiyo wasn't going to test it. As long as uncertainty remained, he wouldn't risk it.
He was cautious by nature.
"What I need now is to determine how to properly stimulate this reaction."
Kiyo focused on arousing the Dragon Vein chakra in front of him.
"Huh? There's a connection…"
Then it hit him. "The space power in the Dragon Vein chakra leaked from the timeline channel—they share the same origin. And spatial power, by its nature, transcends distance. Especially after mutating. So, once the spatial power within the chakra is stimulated, it resonates with the timeline channel!"
It was surprisingly straightforward.
"So that's how it works…"
Kiyo stared at the scroll containing the sealed Dragon Vein chakra, falling into deep thought.
Since when had research been this quick?
And so resource-efficient?
Never mind. Completing research quickly wasn't a bad thing.
He had already deciphered the time-travel mechanism. Now, he had some spare time.
"Let's contact the clone in the original timeline."
He summoned an Earth and Stone clone and used the Silent Recovery Technique. Soon, memories from the clone's half-month experience surged into his mind.
The flow of time in both dimensions was consistent—just as he had predicted.
From those memories, he learned of recent changes in the original timeline. Things remained mostly stable. The overall situation in the ninja world was still tense. Yunyin Village's aggressive posture was obvious, but they hadn't launched an attack—likely due to a lack of justification or preparation.
Kiyo had studied this thoroughly. In this timeline, he'd delved into history, especially the period between the Third Ninja War and the Uchiha Clan Massacre. He'd gathered every available detail.
He knew precisely when the Third Ninja War broke out—Konoha Year 47.
Yunyin had invaded the Land of Wind and marched through as though it were unguarded, striking straight at the Sand Village.
Of course, Uchiha Kiyo's influence had already affected the original timeline, so he couldn't treat the historical data as absolute. It was only a reference.
Once the Earth and Stone clone was revived through Annihilation Recovery, its memories began from the moment it had been created. This meant it retained full knowledge of Uchiha Kiyo's actions in the future timeline.
Kiyo shared these memories with his other clones, gaining a more comprehensive view of the current state of the original timeline.
He also discovered something new: not only souls, but even spiritual energy could serve as a medium to transcend time and space.
After all, the shadow clone was connected to his main body via spiritual energy—this wasn't surprising.
Upon digesting these new memories, Kiyo had a firm grasp of the situation.
"Eh?"
The ninja world in the original timeline hadn't changed much. The villages remained in confrontation, and the political tension was still palpable—like the calm before the storm.
What intrigued Kiyo most were the thoughts of the clones.
Clones had always served as valuable training tools. Their diverse perspectives and personalities generated a variety of ideas that helped refine theories and skills.
From this latest memory transfer, Kiyo gained several insights.
He'd thought of these ideas before, but they had been buried under the weight of busyness.
The first came from Ma Jia—Refinement Arts.
Alchemy and crafting tools had always been on Kiyo's list. If he was imitating an immortal cultivation system, then naturally, alchemy and artifact crafting had to be part of it. Once the foundational paths were laid, future generations could focus on refining and expanding them.
Speaking of future generations, Kiyo realized something—he had no apprentices. That wouldn't do. He couldn't walk this path alone forever.
"I need to find an apprentice. But not just anyone—it must be someone with aptitude. Not based on the standard ninja metrics."
Kiyo understood clearly: most of his techniques required fine chakra control and advanced sealing knowledge.
Those were the criteria he valued most.
Chakra quantity wasn't an issue. With his Self-Cultivation Technique, chakra would grow continuously.
After all, that technique had a passive buff—increasing the chakra volume by enhancing the practitioner's innate chakra potential. Like an Yi Jin Jing.
The second idea had surfaced in all four clones: soul cultivation.
To this day, Kiyo had no active method to strengthen his soul. It could only grow passively alongside his body.
"In the path of cultivation, soul training began from the Foundation Establishment stage—where essence, energy, and spirit were fused into a Golden Core, then used to form the Nascent Soul. My return to the innate state marked my own Foundation stage—so soul cultivation should begin now."
Many protagonists in cultivation novels started soul training even earlier—so why couldn't he?
The ninja world, in fact, offered unique advantages.
Even regular ninjas had ways to interact with their souls.
He had already mastered the Spirit Transformation Technique—which converted spiritual power into chakra and simulated an out-of-body experience. It wasn't direct soul manipulation, but it was still extraordinary.
"With all these tools, maybe I really can develop a soul cultivation technique."
Kiyo had pondered this since he was very young…
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