After Anko rejected Yagoromo's rather constructive proposal, it meant the matter ended there.
As for other ways to ease the pain caused by the cursed seal, Yagoromo had no idea. After all, he specialized in sealing, not medical treatment. To Yagoromo, there were only two ways to deal with a cursed seal: either tough it out, or seal it completely. There was no middle-ground option.
Of course, there was also an even more absolute method: directly erase the Heaven Cursed Seal. But that would be even more difficult. Besides, since Anko had even refused to have the cursed seal sealed away, that option naturally was not within her consideration either. After all…
Uncle Snake's sweet, sweet kiss had kept her longing for him to this day.
The cursed seal incident was only a small interlude to Yagoromo. Naturally, he would not violate Anko's own will and do anything against her wishes. There was no need for him to do so. As for the harm brought by the cursed seal, to be honest, the most dangerous period had long since passed. This sort of thing usually killed people when it was first applied. Once they survived that stage, later conditions would mostly cause pain, but not death.
That was not to say the cursed seal's corrosion could not kill anyone. Rather, the initial application was essentially a kind of screening process. Those who could survive that kind of situation were basically people with ridiculously tenacious vitality, so it would not be easy for them to die afterward either.
…
After no longer considering the cursed seal, what remained… was basically nothing.
There was no need to rush back to Konoha immediately. That night, Yagoromo followed Kurenai and Anko's original plan and chose to rest where they were. They only began their return to Konoha after daybreak the next morning.
And because Yagoromo's momentary curiosity had left Student Mitarashi Anko weak for the entire night, Anko decided from then on to keep her distance from this dangerous person. Yagoromo's luck with women was about at this level.
The next day, one man and two women happily set off on the road back to Konoha… except that Yūhi Kurenai began intermittently suspecting whether Yagoromo had a serious voyeuristic streak.
After all, yesterday he had quietly slipped over to the two women and boldly eavesdropped on their conversation. Fortunately, the two had not been discussing any private topics at the time. Otherwise, how awkward would that have been?
If Yagoromo knew what Kurenai was thinking, he would probably feel wronged to death. Please, stealth was a professional habit of shinobi and assassins, all right?
Fortunately, he did not have the ability to read minds. Also, because the goal of his trip had been achieved, Yagoromo was in quite a good mood on his way back to Konoha… until he returned to Konoha, parted with Kurenai and Anko, and went back to his own home.
Then he was dumbfounded. The reason for his state was… where was his house?
All right, there was still a house at the original address of Yagoromo's home, but wasn't this house a little too brand-new? The place he had originally lived in had been an old, creaking wooden house… Who had been so kind as to completely renovate his home in such a short time?
In truth, no one had been that kind. The reason his home had been renovated was because it had to be renovated, because it had previously suffered one round of violent demolition.
Here was what had happened:
During the short time Yagoromo had been away from Konoha, Jiraiya had been supervising Naruto's Wind Release training. However, after hearing that Naruto was already able to use the Summoning Technique, and with the attitude that he had nothing better to do anyway, Jiraiya took out the Mount Myōboku summoning scroll he had been keeping and had Naruto sign his name on it.
And so, at a certain time on a certain day, when Naruto used his new Summoning Technique, Yagoromo's old nest suffered a disaster—Gamabunta sat on it and flattened it with his backside.
Fortunately, Jiraiya was quick-eyed and quick-handed. Before the bad-tempered Bunta could cause even greater destruction, Jiraiya immediately stuffed him back to Mount Myōboku…
It had to be said that although Jiraiya was already rather old, his personality was sometimes actually the same as Naruto's. This kind of person, at times, was too single-minded. At other times, he was simply missing that single-mindedness entirely. In a densely populated village like Konoha, one absolutely could not summon large summoned beasts. Yagoromo's summoned beasts, at least, could be one hundred percent controlled. As for the residents of Mount Myōboku, because their intelligence was too high, they sometimes became even less obedient.
In short, Yagoromo's old home became the sole sacrifice.
How did that saying go again? Heaven's justice is clear; retribution never misses. While Yagoromo was off doing certain things, his old home was taken out just like that… Somehow, this matter actually seemed perfectly reasonable.
Or perhaps "satisfying to the masses" would be a more suitable way to put it?
However, after causing the incident, Jiraiya and Naruto were both somewhat nervous. Jiraiya felt that this old house should have had special commemorative meaning to Yagoromo, while Naruto was simply afraid of getting beaten up, even though Big Sister Mirai had already beaten him once.
So, after thinking it over, Uncle Jiraiya invited a famous civil engineering expert from the Anbu to rebuild Yagoromo's house according to its original appearance. That was why the scene before Yagoromo's eyes now existed.
And so, carrying a strange sense of bewilderment, Yagoromo walked into this place that was suspected to be his home.
Then what greeted him were faces that looked like primary school students who had done something wrong… Others were one thing, since they were actually primary school students, but what exactly was Uncle Jiraiya doing with that expression on his old face?
Being stared at like this, Yagoromo felt extremely innocent.
"Um, what exactly is going on here? Can someone explain it to me?"
It seemed they had already rehearsed in advance how to explain things once Yagoromo returned. Therefore, Jiraiya immediately changed his expression and spoke.
"Let's put the other matters aside for now, Yagoromo. Let me show you something interesting."
As he spoke, he patted Haku on the shoulder, then pushed him one step forward.
"Interesting? Haku?" What could be interesting about this child?
Haku stepped forward, then smiled with a mysterious restraint.
"Lord Yagoromo, please look at the new ability I have mastered."
As he formed hand seals, arcs of electricity unique to Lightning Release began to light up around his body…
"Oh? In just these few days, you've already managed Lightning Release nature transformation?" Yagoromo was slightly surprised. Although this was not some high-difficulty Lightning Release technique, it was indeed Lightning Release.
It seemed the energy-gathering ring had played its role. After all, if failing to learn meant being constantly shocked, it would definitely urge a student to learn faster.
"Not just that…" Jiraiya said.
As if to prove Jiraiya's words, Haku dispersed the Lightning Release around his body and began preparing another seal.
But what was going on? When forming hand seals, at the very least, both hands had to come together, right? What did it mean for them to be separated so far apart?
Yagoromo was baffled.
Then something happened that made him even more baffled.
Haku was forming different seals with both hands: one hand for Lightning Release, and one hand for Water Release…
One-handed hand seals alone were already a prodigious talent beyond Yagoromo's imagination. But one hand using Water Release and the other using Lightning Release—what was this?
The answer was that this was a kekkei genkai, and its name was…
Storm Release.
At this moment, Yagoromo's attention completely left the matter of his house being demolished. Then he began to wonder whether Haku of the Yuki clan was Terumī Mei's illegitimate daughter… illegitimate son!
Yagoromo blinked his eyes.
All right, this was Storm Release.
"Student Haku… you can graduate now."
After a long silence, he said this sentence with deep emotion. As for whether his words contained more gratification or more depression, even he himself could not tell.
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