— — — — — — —
Uchiha Izuna immediately became furious upon hearing that. He glared at Senju Tobirama with resentment and snapped, "And whose fault do you think that was? You despicable, shameless sneak attacker!"
If he hadn't been caught off guard by the Flying Thunder God Technique, how could he have died at Tobirama's hands?
What a disgrace!
If the situation weren't inappropriate, he would have flipped the table right then and there.
Senju Tobirama was truly a bastard.
"Hmph! At least right now, the Hokage of Konoha is from the Uchiha clan! And in the future, the one who will lead Konoha to greater glory and unify the Ninja world will also be a Uchiha."
Izuna knew that continuing to argue about the past wouldn't get him anywhere, so he quickly changed the topic and taunted Tobirama instead.
"You…"
Tobirama was actually at a loss for words. He didn't know how to refute it because Izuna was telling the truth.
At that moment, his hatred for Sarutobi Hiruzen and Danzo grew even stronger.
He swore silently in his heart—when he return to the village, he'll make them pay.
"Enough! Stop arguing already!"
Uchiha Madara, watching the two bicker like children, rolled his eyes and said impatiently, "What's done is done. You've both already died once—just let it go!"
"As long as you meet the contract's conditions, you'll get a real chance at revival and a fresh start."
"So what's there to fight about?"
"If you really have a problem with each other, why not compete peacefully in other ways?"
"No matter if it's unifying the Ninja world or something else, someone has to do the work. You could just compete over who contributes more to the village instead. Wouldn't that be better?"
That way, the village wouldn't fall into internal strife, it would actually benefit from their efforts, and their personal grievances would be settled—a win-win solution.
"I have no objections! Do you dare?"
Tobirama raised an eyebrow and provoked Izuna.
After all, he was now the deputy head of the Research Department, in charge of numerous projects.
Once those projects succeeded, his contributions to the village would be enormous. He didn't believe Izuna could surpass him in that regard.
He admitted that in terms of intelligence and strength, Izuna was his equal.
But when it came to research? Izuna couldn't even hold a candle to him.
"Hmph! Why wouldn't I dare? Let's do it!"
Although Izuna had a nagging feeling that something was off, he couldn't back down now. He accepted the challenge without hesitation.
"Heh! You're doomed to lose."
Tobirama smirked confidently.
Izuna sneered right back, "Hah, we'll see about that!"
As the two continued their back-and-forth, Kaito couldn't stand it anymore. He spoke up, "Alright, enough! Let's head back to the village first. You can argue all you want later."
Without waiting for their response, he waved his hand.
In the blink of an eye, they all felt a shift in space.
Before they knew it, they were back on Konoha's Hokage Rock.
Uchiha Madara and Senju Tobirama's pupils contracted. They narrowed their eyes at Kaito in disbelief.
'This brat… actually has such terrifying space-time abilities?'
He hadn't even needed to touch them or get their permission—just a wave of his hand, and they were instantly teleported elsewhere.
That kind of space-time ninjutsu was too terrifying.
If used in battle, they might not even know how they died.
Just by thinking about it for a moment, they could come up with countless ways to use such an ability to trap and kill enemies.
"Could this also be a power granted by that contract?"
"But my brother and the others didn't seem to have this ability…"
"Or is this an even stronger space-time jutsu that Kaito developed from the Flying Thunder God Technique?"
Tobirama really wanted to ask Kaito directly, but he held himself back.
This was clearly a personal secret of Kaito's.
And since he hadn't yet met the conditions to sign the contract with Kaito, he probably wouldn't get a satisfying answer anyway.
"Looks like I'll have to work on improving my relationship with this kid.'' Tobirama sighed internally. "Who would've thought there'd come a day when I'd have to actively try to improve my relationship with a Uchiha?"
Time truly was full of surprises.
Anything could happen.
"This is…"
Izuna froze as he took in the change in scenery.
Then, his attention was drawn to the village below.
Taking a few steps forward, he stared intently at the thriving Konoha.
"This is Konoha?" he murmured. "It really is different from the Warring States Era…"
"It feels peaceful… relaxing…"
"This kind of scene was almost impossible to witness back then."
"At least, the shinobi village era is better than the Warring States Era."
"But it's still not enough. Unifying the Ninja world is the true answer."
"You're right," Kaito said as he stepped up beside Izuna, gazing at the village below.
"Order is always better than chaos."
"No matter how flawed an order is, it's still better than disorder."
"So, Izuna-senpai, how do you plan to contribute to the village's development?"
Now that Izuna had been revived, there was no way Kaito would let such a valuable asset go to waste.
He was definitely going to put him to work.
Thinking about lazing around? Not a chance.
"Uh…"
Izuna was momentarily stunned by the question. "I honestly haven't thought about that yet."
"Even though you've shown me plenty of images of Konoha after its founding, helping me get a rough understanding of this era…"
"I've still been disconnected from this time for too long. I don't fully grasp how things work now."
"For the moment, I have no idea what I should do or what I'd even be suited for."
"What do you suggest?"
As he spoke, Izuna turned to Kaito with a questioning look.
"Hmm…"
Kaito pondered for a moment before replying, "How about you take on a temporary advisor role in the Hokage's office? You can assist me with handling some of the Hokage's affairs for now."
"This way, you'll have time to observe and understand how things work in this era while also learning a lot about Konoha and the greater Ninja world through the job itself. It'll speed up your integration into this time period."
"Once you've fully adjusted, you'll naturally figure out what suits you best. What do you think?"
Back in the day, Izuna was able to go head-to-head with Tobirama, so he clearly had a sharp mind.
Having him help with administrative work was a perfect fit.
As for the issue of trust?
That wasn't a problem at all.
Kaito was the one who revived him—of course, he'd left some precautions in place.
He just hadn't bothered to tell Izuna or anyone else about them.
For people he couldn't fully trust, he always made sure to have a backup plan.
It was just how he operated.
"Sounds good!"
Izuna's eyes lit up slightly. He found the idea quite appealing and agreed without hesitation.
Uchiha Madara, standing to the side, didn't say anything.
Since Izuna had accepted, that was that.
Besides, he could tell that Kaito wasn't trying to take advantage of Izuna.
This arrangement was actually quite beneficial.
Satisfied, the group continued chatting for a while before finally leaving the area.
— — —
Half a Month Later
While Kaito was in the middle of training, a message suddenly arrived through the communication space.
He immediately shifted his focus to check it.
It was from Vegapunk—he had successfully replicated the Hito Hito no Mi (Human-Human Fruit)!
"Finally! It's done! Haha!"
After reading the message, Kaito was ecstatic. He immediately sent a reply to Vegapunk, arranging to meet at Space-time Gate Main Base No.1.
"What's going on? What's been completed?"
His excitement caught the attention of Mikoto, Kushina, and the others who were training nearby. Mikoto stopped what she was doing and couldn't help but ask.
"Vegapunk has successfully replicated the Human-Human Fruit!"
"Very soon, we'll each have one of our own! Isn't that something to celebrate?"
Kaito grinned as he explained.
"What? Seriously?"
Mikoto and the others were so shocked they completely abandoned their training and rushed over to confirm.
"Of course it's true!"
Kaito nodded firmly. "Come on, let's head to Space-time Gate Main Base No.1 and meet up with Vegapunk. I've already arranged the meeting."
With that, he focused his mind—and in an instant, he disappeared from the spot.
Mikoto and the others quickly followed.
— — —
Spacetime Gate Main Base No.1
Before long, the group arrived at one of the main laboratories inside Spacetime Gate Main Base No.1, where Vegapunk was already waiting.
It was worth mentioning that over the past couple of months, Kaito had constructed a massive 5,000-meter-wide survival, living, production, and research base within the Spacetime Gate dimension.
The base included:
•A large residential area for living quarters.
•A production sector with vast fields for medicinal herbs, crops, fruits, and trees.
•Five major research facilities dedicated to different fields of study.
As for the research bases:
•Research Base No.1 was assigned to Vegapunk.
•Research Base No.2 was given to Orochimaru.
•Research Base No.3 was under Tobirama's control.
Each of them was free to work on their respective projects in their own labs.
Of course, they often exchanged ideas and collaborated when necessary.
Thanks to Vegapunk's contributions, the Bloodline Limit Enhancement Serum research had made tremendous progress.
According to Orochimaru and the others' estimates, within a year or so, they should be able to create the first functional Bloodline Limit Serum.
Once they succeeded with the first serum, developing additional Bloodline Limit serums would become much easier and faster.
.
.
.