Naruto: The King Behind the Curtain

Watching Natsuhoshi leave, Asuma let out a sigh. "Pfft! Life sure isn't easy for those tiny ninja villages. I wouldn't even bother glancing at their secret techniques—they have to pay with their lives just to cultivate!"

Seiki sighed as well. "Fairness has never been this world's nature!"

Relatively speaking, Seiki had already been quite lucky. If he'd started off in Hoshigakure, no amount of scheming would have done him any good.

Kurenai still looked worried. "Seiki, do you think that Natsuhoshi onee-san will be alright?"

Seiki shook his head slightly. "She'll probably be okay for now, but the further she goes, the harder it'll be to turn back."

"If even she's willing to go that far, what excuse do I have left to hold back?" Asuma gave himself a heavy dose of motivation and shouted, "Seiki, let's start our special training too!"

After a moment's silence, Seiki said, "You won't get significantly stronger in such a short time, so we'll work on your reflexes and mental resilience."

Asuma asked curiously, "I get reflex training, but what exactly is mental resilience training?"

Spinning a kunai between his fingers, Seiki gave a faint smile. "I'll keep attacking you using the Flying Thunder God Technique. While sharpening your reflexes, it'll also let you experience the pain of continuous failure. This way, no matter what happens during the exam, you should be able to stay calm."

"Just that?" Asuma scoffed, suddenly feeling an overwhelming confidence surge within him. "I've failed over a thousand times already—failure doesn't shake me anymore!"

"Besides," he added, "once you're prepared, there's nothing scary about the Flying Thunder God Technique!"

Sliding the kunai back into his pouch, Seiki then pulled out a hefty handful of shuriken. "The position of one kunai is indeed easy to judge. How about thirty shuriken then?"

Asuma swallowed hard, mentally crunching the numbers in an instant. "If I lose three to five seconds each time, that's at least twelve losses per minute—seven hundred twenty per hour. Even factoring in chakra recovery time, two hours should cover a full thousand defeats!"

Realizing this, Asuma's eyes went blank. "So today alone, I might fail enough times to cover five years' worth of failures?"

...

After finishing the training session and returning home.

"The meteorite of Hoshigakure? Perhaps it's mildly intriguing—but not enough to warrant serious attention." Seiki smiled slightly, then paid it no mind after assigning tasks to certain expendable personnel.

He found Hoshigakure's meteorite and its chakra mildly intriguing—but not enough to warrant serious attention.

After all, he absolutely didn't want his body contaminated by such dangerous chakra.

Both previous examples—one where Orochimaru's soul couldn't harmonize with his host body, allowing Itachi Uchiha to defeat him with a single genjutsu, and another where Danzo's experimental modifications caused delayed reflexes, leaving him vulnerable to Sasuke Uchiha despite having eleven chances—highlighted the importance of keeping both body and soul intact and pure.

Therefore, from the start, Seiki chose the most orthodox—and safest—path available.

Techniques like bloodline transfer or eye implantation were never even considered options for him. The experiences of Kakashi and Nagato made one thing perfectly clear—a gift isn't yours unless it naturally belongs to you.

"And... as long as we're bound by the otsutsuki, we'll never break free from their shadow!" Seiki was certain that beyond the hidden shadows of the shinobi world lurked an even greater darkness. Continuing down the path of the otsutsuki would only lead to helpless destruction when that darkness finally descended.

"So instead of just stealing or copying bloodline abilities, why not forge my own? After all, if Kekkei Genkai and Kekkei Tōta can be developed, there's no reason Kekkei Mōra can't be achieved!"

In Seiki's eyes, if others had created and passed down powerful bloodlines across generations, then maybe even the otsutsuki strength wasn't innate—but something honed over time.

If they could accomplish such feats, then he had no reason to hesitate in trying!

Even so, Seiki knew this would be an enormous undertaking. By himself alone, he might never reach such a goal.

That's why he wanted to harness the wisdom of others—or rather, the combined power of the entire world!

"But self-improvement is still essential. Without true strength, all your schemes are meaningless—you'll just end up doing all the hard work while someone else reaps the rewards! And my steady, personal progress has been far too slow..."

Seiki's gaze turned deep with thought. "The shinobi world holds many treasures similar to Hoshigakure's meteorite fragments. It'd be a shame to abandon them completely. Maybe I can create a perfect clone to carry out these experiments for me. That way, I won't risk being tainted myself!"

"The Third Great Ninja War might just be the perfect opportunity!"

...

Fifteen days passed quickly amidst the tense and electrifying war preparations.

Unlike the previous exam rounds, which were relatively closed off, the Official Competition was open to everyone.

"Whoa, so many people here!"

"I wonder which village will take first place in this Chūnin Exam?"

"Duh, it's obviously Konoha!"

"No way! It should definitely be Kumogakure!"

"Don't underestimate Sunagakure either!"

"Hmph! We from Iwagakure—"

"Pfft, Iwagakure folks, don't even bother boasting!"

Hearing the noisy buzz around her, Kurenai became visibly excited, her cheeks flushed with anticipation. "This time, spectators from over a dozen countries are watching. For the honor of our village, we've got to aim for the top spots!"

Asuma remained calm, almost slipping into his 'sage mode' again. "Winning or losing doesn't matter to me anymore."

Ibiki, standing nearby, couldn't help but ask, "Was it eye discharge?"

"Oh right, you got 'killed' over ten times in under a minute during training—it looked really cool!"

Asuma snapped out of it instantly, clearly flustered. "Agh! How did you find out?!"

"Actually, Hokage-sama used you as an example during pre-battle instructions using the Telescope Technique!"

Asuma's expression went blank as he muttered things like "pull the oxygen tube" and "sign the consent form," leaving Ibiki utterly confused.

On the other side of the spectator platform, Nagato whispered apologetically, lowering his voice. "Sorry… because of me, you guys ended up withdrawing early..."

Yahiko casually threw an arm around him. "Since you understand that, you're doing my laundry this week!"

Nagato let out a startled sound, hesitantly asking, "When exactly was the last time you washed your underwear?"

Yahiko recalled solemnly, "Probably...half a month ago?"

Upon hearing this, Konan and Nagato subtly edged away a bit, without changing their expressions.

Yahiko didn't mind. He simply gazed around with hopeful eyes and declared, "In the future, we'll host an even grander exam, and let the bloom of peace spread across the world!"

Above the spectator platform,

Seated among various daimyos and Kage, Kitsuchi was visibly tense as he spoke, "My father accidentally sprained his waist, so I'm here to attend this Chunin Exam in his place."

The Third smiled warmly, "Haha, someone so young shouldering such heavy duties already? That's enough to make an old geezer like me green with envy! But tell me, how could Onoki be so careless? Could it be he doesn't want to see his old friend anymore?"

The Raikage and Mizukage exchanged scornful glances. You Konoha people left only one person standing after your last battle, and you still have the nerve to ask why Tsuchikage isn't here?

Kitsuchi himself felt helpless inside. It wasn't that his father avoided coming out of shame—it was because he actually threw out his back from sheer rage.

Meanwhile, Rasa, the newly appointed Kazekage, quietly exhaled in relief, glad that Iwagakure was drawing attention away from him.

Otherwise, those lecherous old men would've mercilessly teased him for being a rookie!

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