More than two years later, in the Land of Hot Water, within the new main Jashinist hideout where Kimimaro and the girls now permanently resided.
Kimimaro was fifteen now.
Emi had turned seventeen.
They were deep inside the new underground facility there, the one sealed, insulated, and reinforced so heavily it felt closer to an isolated bunker than a lab.
After securing Orochimaru's support, their research had exploded forward.
What started as a theory and scattered notes, and basic equipment, had turned into a real project, something that advanced every month in measurable leaps.
The goal was simple on paper, insane in practice.
External cultivation of enhanced, very pure Byakugan eyes.
The process initially began with tiny samples that Kimimaro carefully extracted from her eyes long before her cursed seal fully awakened.
The Hyūga seal wasn't triggered only by death, after all.
It also activated if someone tried to gouge the eye out while the owner was still alive; otherwise, the whole thing would be just a dumb plothole.
So Emi had to let him take only the tiniest fragments, just enough to work with but not enough to trigger the seal's ingrained, automatic defense from the inside.
Six months ago, after nearly two years of daily work, they finally did it.
Or more accurately, Emi did it.
She spent nearly her entire days in the cultivation chamber, guiding the process with microscopic Byakugan vision, chakra-thread precision, Yang release shaping, and the assistance of the top-grade instruments they had acquired with Orochimaru's backing.
She kept refining her efficiency as she worked, and month after month she shaped and nurtured the samples until, amazingly, she produced an entirely new, extraordinarily pure Byakugan pair with her own hands in a tube.
That was when Kimimaro himself stepped in directly as well.
However, that also only happened after several silent months of painstaking preparation on his own side, as well, of course.
Eventually, he took the completed set and transplanted it directly into Emi, amplifying her dōjutsu far beyond its previous limits.
But he wasn't a medic, and he didn't have her surgical finesse, after all, so he compensated with a kind of 'micro-fuinjutsu', improvising stabilization seals based on Ashina's high-level advice, which the old ghost thankfully didn't charge for, and Kimimaro's own sealing skill.
Emi trusted him completely during the procedure, which meant failure wasn't an option.
It was delicate work, unforgiving down to the smallest movement, but fortunately, he didn't fail her once again.
The transplant succeeded on the very first attempt, and ever since then, for the last six months, her Byakugan had been operating at least twice its original strength naturally.
In truth, judging by her performance, it was probably even more than just double power.
The whole process went so surprisingly smoothly because of that discovery they made five years ago, not long after they first met.
When the Main Branch tried to target Emi from afar, that concentrated Byakugan surge Kimimaro sealed away as a defense, later revealed one crucial fact, the very insight that set this entire research path in motion from the start.
That the Byakugan was inherently a very 'stable' phenomenon, inherently compatible, almost shaped for fusion and transplantation.
So, after he used that stored essence to strengthen Emi's eyes and realized it was basically condensed, purified Byakugan matter, at that time, the next step became very obvious.
If the Main Branch could produce something like that in secret, then with her own unique talents and approach, Emi should be able to create something similar herself. And after years of effort, she truly did.
She grew a new pair of pure Byakugan entirely in vitro, a scientific achievement almost unheard of in the shinobi world.
Once she accomplished that, merging one of the new eyes into her original pair wasn't the nightmare it sounded like it should have been.
With the Byakugan's natural propensity and a few tight layers of fuinjutsu, just like before, a new fusion and evolution settled in cleanly yet again.
The cultivation chamber was quiet except for the low hum of seals and glass.
Emi stood over the incubation pod, violet sleeveless top under a white lab coat that she absolutely did not need but enjoyed wearing for the role.
Inside the pod floated a newly grown pair of advanced Byakugan.
The second generation.
Faster, cleaner, more precise than the first.
Kimimaro stepped beside her, arms folded, watching the pale lenses turn slowly in the solution. "How is it..." he asked.
Emi didn't answer right away.
She leaned closer, eyes soft with the same bizarre fondness one might use on a pet they weren't supposed to care about.
Then she nodded once.
"It's ready," she said. "Growing time has been shaved down to almost a third. I'm getting very good at this."
Her tone was proud, but the way she kept gazing at the pod made it look like she'd been raising an infant.
Kimimaro knew that, after all, they weren't just proof of her mastery and effort.
They represented something much bigger for her… freedom.
No wonder she looked at them with that subtle, slightly odd, almost tender kind of 'care'.
So he just gave a small, quiet, but amused exhale. "Good. Just in time. Orochimaru should finish his preparations soon. Our little excursion to Konoha may start earlier than expected."
Emi straightened immediately, a spark lighting behind her eyes.
"So that means," she said, a small grin forming, "if this one fuses cleanly too… Then the situation changes too, and... you're not going to leave me behind this time, after all, right?"
Her tone was bright, almost smug, like she already knew the answer but wanted to hear him say it. "If my Byakugan gets past the seal completely, then I'm definitely coming with you. No excuses. And you know I've earned that much."
She didn't need to spell it out. The Main Branch. Their history. Their arrogance.
And the fact that Kimimaro planned to 'harvest' their eyes for both himself and for her.
Emi wasn't about to be the one left behind, out of all five of them, while the clan that tormented her was finally brought down to its heels in real time.
That was why she pushed herself the way she did, tireless and sleepless, never once complaining. And lately, even more than ever, perhaps. That drive alone was part of what made this new speed possible.
Kimimaro pretended to mull it over again, letting a small silence hang in the air.
Emi immediately narrowed her eyes at him, hands on her hips, foot tapping once against the floor. "Don't do that. I can see you teasing me," she said, a bright flash of annoyance mixing with amusement. "You're not subtle."
He let the corner of his mouth twitch, but didn't answer her right away.
He remembered their tests months ago.
How they pushed and prodded the cursed seal's remnants.
How little reaction it gave, no matter what they tried.
That was the moment he changed his mind about bringing her.
She wasn't a liability there anymore.
At Konoha, she would also be another asset.
So he finally stopped teasing her and spoke plainly.
"After the last fusion," he said, "we examined the seal from every angle. Its response was weak. Almost inert. If this second enhancement settles properly, it could invalidate it completely. Even at point-blank range, the command might not do anything meaningful. Honestly, I'm already being generous waiting for this set."
Emi's breath caught, her posture sharpening.
"And if your eyes outgrow the original design entirely," he went on, "then, for example, the seal won't be able to damage them even if we remove and reinsert them later. It would be irrelevant. Just another advantage of this evolution."
Emi didn't answer right away.
She just stared at him, and slowly that sharp, anticipatory tension melted into something brighter. Warmer. Almost victorious.
"So I'm really going..." she said softly, but her smile was anything but soft. "Good."
She stepped toward him without hesitation, lab coat shifting around her legs, violet sleeveless top catching the sterile light.
Before Kimimaro could react, she leaned in and pressed a quick, confident kiss to his cheek.
Then her hand slid up into his hair, fingers weaving through the long silver-white strands he refused to cut.
She ruffled it deliberately, as if punishing him for taking this long to say the obvious.
"You really did grow up," she teased, fingertips brushing his jaw. "Tall, sharp, even broader than before… honestly, it's unfair. That angular jawline, the straight nose, those green eyes. You turned into a very handsome guy, you know."
Her fingers brushed his cheekbone, light and curious, the way someone might test the craftsmanship of a mannequin they personally adored.
She tilted his face a fraction, inspecting him like a piece of art that had finally reached its intended shape.
Kimimaro didn't swat her hand away.
He didn't blush.
He didn't freeze.
He simply absorbed her enthusiasm the same way he absorbed everything else in life, with cool indifference that somehow made her bolder.
"You're unusually energetic today," he just said dryly.
Emi's grin sharpened. "Obviously. I've only been waiting forever for you to finally notice how useful I'd be there, instead of 'cruelly' dismissing me like before."
He exhaled, the closest thing he ever gave to a laugh.
"Then stop harassing my face," he said, brushing her hand aside with the gentlest dismissal imaginable. "If you're done evaluating my 'structural integrity', you can go prepare. We start soon. Sterilization room number three."
"Yes, doctor," she replied, giving him an exaggerated bow as her coat flared. "Try not to take a whole century. I'm warmed up already."
She turned to leave, her steps light, almost bouncy, girlish in a way that didn't match her age at all. Even for her, it wasn't a common sight. She looked… figuratively lighter. Freer.
And why wouldn't she be? If the cursed seal was about to be ninety percent gone, how could she not feel like she could practically float?
So, she was also so caught up in that rush that she completely forgot her earlier boldness, her little 'advances', the way she'd been poking at his face and teasing just moments ago.
And that was when Kimimaro's hand moved.
A light, precise, absolutely deliberate smack to her rear, 'mid-bounce', right as she was drifting away and practically humming to herself.
Not hard. Not crude.
Just unmistakably 'corrective' - in his own way.
A silent reminder of who still held the 'reins'.
Emi froze mid-step, her coat swaying around her legs.
Her entire face went scarlet in an instant.
That part of her was still… unfamiliar territory, and she knew her earlier boldness had been nothing but raw, instinctive happiness, a sudden spike of peak affection for him bursting out, not anything close to real composure or deliberate intent... yet.
"K-Kimimaro…!" she sputtered, whipping around, torn between outrage and a very unconvincing attempt at dignity. "You can't just— I mean— that's—"
He glanced at her with calm indifference, as if she were the one being unreasonable.
"You were getting bold," he said simply. "Consider it balance."
She covered her face with both hands, groaning into her palms.
"I hate that you're right," she muttered, voice muffled with a mix of embarrassment and something she couldn't quite name, though it definitely wasn't clear regret.
He tilted his head, faint amusement glinting in his eyes as if genuinely entertained by her flustered 'defeat'. "Go on, then. Don't lose that kind of 'momentum' now."
Emi made a strangled little noise, somewhere between a laugh and a complaint, then spun around and practically fled toward the sterilization room, steps quick and chaotic now.
"J-just… hurry up!" she shouted back, flustered beyond recovery.
Her earlier bouncing steps were gone, replaced with frantic speed that echoed loud against the metal walls.
Kimimaro watched her disappear, expression as still as ever—
But the hint of satisfaction beneath it was unmistakable.
Not just because of that little interaction, but because she was about to take another massive step forward.
If this fusion succeeded, she could very well hover around peak-Kage level like the other three.
After all… a Byakugan refined to this kind of purity level didn't just improve vision and chakra.
It, perhaps, awakened new, unexpected layers that were always there, new growth, all on its own.