"Now go and send a letter to Jiraiya. Tell him to e back as soon as he ," Hiruzen ordered.

  "Lord Third, we lost tact with him after he pleted his st mission," Shikaku reminded Hiruzen.

  "That brat, always taking time off, even in such situations. You go now; I will tact him myself," Hiruzen said. Shikaku bowed his head a.

  Hiruzen then wrote a note on special paper and made some hand seals.

  Poof.

  "Oh, Hiruzen, ying very rapidly. It feels like just yesterday you were such a small human child," said a small toad that appeared suddenly in the Hokage’s office.

  "It’s o meet you as well, Kousuke-sama. I have an urgent message for Jiraiya; could you please deliver it to him?" Hiruzen said respectfully. The toad in front of him was more than twice his age and quite powerful. Though not at Kage level, it could handle some Jonin-level ninja on its own. sidering it was just a messeoad, this spoke volumes of its strength.

  "Don’t worry, I’ll deliver it within an hour," Kousuke said, taking the paper from Hiruzen.

  "Thank you, Kousuke-sama," Hiruzen replied, and poof, Kousuke disappeared in smoke once again.

  ---

  Jiraiya was doing his "research" at the moment, just about to head towards his favorite location in the Land of Hot Water. It ot where he could directly see inside his ‘study area.’ But before he could take a look...

  Poof.

  "Jiraiya boy, long time no see. What are you—" Jiraiya quickly closed Kousuke’s mouth, but it was already too te. The dies ihe bathhouse ran out, brandishing various ing from mops to knives.

  "I’m going to kill that pervert this time!" one young girl shouted.

  "No, first we’ll torture him. I want first dibs," another one said.

  "Okay, I’ll take sed pce then," a third chimed in.

  Cold sweat dripped from Jiraiya’s forehead.

  "I think you should run now," Kousuke said, still in Jiraiya’s grasp.

  Without wasting a sed, Jiraiya ran at full speed. After running across the vilge, he stopped at a natural hot spring, a little away from the vilge.

  "So, Kousuke-sama, why did you ruin my research this time?" Jiraiya asked. Clearly, this wasn’t the first time this had happened.

  "Though I’d like to point out that what you were doing was not 'research,' there’s no point in arguing. I’ll get to the main reason I’m here: Hiruzehis letter for you." Kousuke hahe letter to Jiraiya.

  Jiraiya took the letter, ign Kousuke’s earlier remark.

  ---

  ***

  I hope this letter finds you not in the middle of "research" at some questiohhouse. If you are, please sider this an urgent remihat peeping does not t as a diplomatic missioh know Tsunade would throw you across the ti if she found out.

  Now, to the main topic: I need you ba the vilge in two days. Make sure you take this seriously, or I will personally e for you with Tsunade. She is still mad about the earlier i, but I’m sure there will be no need for that, right?

  ***

  The letter ended.

  "Sensei is unusually forceful this time. Did something happen in Konoha?" Jiraiya asked.

  "I don’t know, but from Hiruzen’s plexion and tone, I didn’t feel there was any major problem in Konoha—at least nothing urgent."

  "Then why is Sensei calling me? Is it because of the Danzo i?" Jiraiya asked, mostly to himself.

  "What happeo that boy?" Kousuke asked.

  "He lotting something against the vilge, killed many young ninja, especially Uchiha. The Uchiha blew up his base to expose him to the whole vilge. Sensei had no ce to save him, and he was killed by the Uchiha," Jiraiya expined briefly. He didn’t want to go into full details.

  (A.N.: And how did Jiraiya know all this? For those of you who don’t know, Jiraiya was the spy master of Konoha. He knew about many major events, even about Akatsuki, long before anyone else, so knowing something that every major vilge knows is no big deal for him.)

  "Poor boy, I always told him his ambitiooo big aructive for his own good. Looks like he didn’t listen to my advice. Well, anyway, my job here is doake care, Jiraiya boy," Kousuke said, patting Jiraiya’s back before disappearing with a poof.

  "Well, I’m free anyway. Let’s give my vilge a visit for a ge," Jiraiya said before vanishing from his position.

  ---

  Kaida had just woken up from a deep sleep. After suffering through the torture/procedure, he was both physically aally exhausted. As soon as his head hit the pillow, he lost sciousness and only regai after 10 hours.

  'Man, that was some good sleep. This much time should be enough for my body to get used to the seal, right?' Kaida thought, then started pushing his chakra into the seal. By the time he had stuffed 50% of his chakra into it, it became difficult to push any more.

  'I must’ve reached the same amount of chakra I filled st time. Now, let’s push some more,' Kaida thought as his eyes began to glow red, with three tomoe appearing in them. Slowly, they started rotating. If someoh a Sharingan or Byakugan had been watg, they’d have seen how Kaida’s chakra was flowing into the seal—slowly but steadily, like honey dripping down a slope.

  The amount of chakra ihe seal started increasing from 70% of Kaida’s reserves to 80%... then 85%... When he reached 92%, it became increasingly difficult to push any more in.

  'Let’s take a break and go downstairs… What?' Kaida was shocked to see the time—it was 12:15 p.m. It had taken him 4 hours to push just 17% more chakra into the seal. Though surprised, this was actually very fast. For parison, Sakura took 3 years to pletely fill her seal. In trast, Kaida would only need 2-3 months at most. That was the power of the Sharingan: advanced trol over chakra, though it also increased strain on the body.

  Now, Kaida’s chakra reserves were almost empty, and even after waking up from such a deep sleep, he was once again feelially exhausted from using his Sharingan for 4 hours.

  Even with his Senju bloodline, Kaida's eyes were ag so badly. Almost like someone had poured a freshly crushed red pepper the hottest ones in his eyes, he went to the kit and took out some ice to put on his burning eyes.

  "What were you doing that you need ice for?" Shisui asked, walking into the kit.

  "I was using the Sharingan to fill the seal," Kaida said, pointing to his forehead. Pain evident in his voibsp;"But without realizing it, I used it for 4 hours," he tinued.

  "What? You used the Sharingan for 4 hours? How the hell are you not blind right now?" Shisui asked, though his as tradicted his words. Not anger but care He went into his room and came out with a dropper.

  "Hurry, show me your eyes," Shisui said, dropping some of the medie into Kaida’s eyes. Instantly, Kaida’s eyes stopped burning.

  "Wow, brother, I feel pletely fine now! What is this medie? you give me a bottle too?" Kaida asked.

  "This bottle e around 10 million Ryo, though I paid with tribution Points. sidering the exge rate, it was about that much. If you want it, go do some S-rank missions and buy one for yourself... Now stop ging the topic. Why the hell did you use the Sharingan for so long?" Shisui asked, clearly a bit angry.

  "I’m sorry, brother. I was so focused on filling the seal that I fot about everything else," Kaida expined.

  "What the f**king nonsense are you spouting? Your eyes should've been burning after just one hour!" Shisui said, because this was the norm for every other Uchiha.

  "Well, they did start hurting like they were burning, but only after I stopped using my Sharingan," Kaida said, still a little surprised.

  "... You cheater. Having a Senju body is such a cheat—a plete cheat!" Shisui grumbled as he walked toward the hall.

  "What happened, brother? Why are you ag this way?" Kaida asked, following him.

  "Any normal Uchiha with a three-tomoe Sharingan only use it for 15 minutes without a problem. After 30 miheir eyes start burning. After an hour, the blood vessels ihe eyes begin to get damaged. Though the damage is curable, it reduces the performance of the Sharingaime. That’s why no one uses their Sharingan for that long. You're just lucky—you have a much higher capacity to use the Sharingan pared to others. Otherwise, you might have gone blind by now," Shisui expined, emphasizing the seriousness of Kaida’s recklessness.

  "Why the hell do I have eight times the normal capacity?" Kaida asked, pletely ign Shisui’s warning.

  Smack!

  "Is that the question you should be worried abht now? You nearly went blind!" Shisui said, nding a square pun Kaida’s head.

  "I know, brother. I won’t do it again. I’m just curious about the reason," Kaida said, rubbing the small bump on his head.

  "I don’t know... The simple answer could be that due to your Uchiha physique, you got this be. But from some ret findings, we’ve learned some iing things..." Shisui paused for a sed, pting whether to tinue. "As the Sharingan evolves, it enhahe user's body so they wield its power. But usually, an Uchiha's body isn’t adaptable enough to haoo much ge. However, you also have Senju blood, which gives you not only high physical capability but also high adaptability. As a result, your body is a perfect vessel for the Sharingan. But there’s a dowo it as well. If you awaken..."