“You are…” The sturdy man eyed the man in front of him with vigilance. But the old man only smiled kindly and said with a look of admiration, “Young man, you have a kind heart. You are the right choice to be entrusted with the forbidden power. I’m leaving this place and I hope you can replace me to protect Konoha.”
After throwing some mystifying words, the old man pointed at the sturdy man with his cane. A golden light shot out from it, hitting the man’s chest. Feeling unbearable pain, the man immediately fell to the ground and rolled, wailing continuously.
“You are the chosen one. Just hold on a bit longer, I believe you’ll succeed. Remember to not let others know you have the forbidden power, otherwise, their jealousy will be your death.”
The sturdy man felt the entire world spinning in front of him, the severe pain making him want to bang his head to death.
Gradually, everything became dark and he felt weightless. The old man and the mist disappeared. It was as if he would reach hell in the next moment.
Bang… A heaven-shaking explosion happened in his mind and the man suddenly opened his eyes, jolting up on his bed in shock.
Taking a few heavy breaths, he wiped the sweat from his forehead. He then looked sideways at the window and saw the clear and peaceful moonlight outside. A gentle wind blew in, making him feel cold all over his body.
The man sighed in relief and shook his head, “Was just a dream…”
Suddenly, he frowned and jumped off the bed, slowly walking to the window. The window was open. The man clearly remembered he had shut it before he went to sleep.
“Did I forget to close the window?” The man frowned as he looked at the moon in the sky and fell into deep thought.
Just then, he seemed to have thought of something. He pulled open his night suit’s collar and looked at his chest. He saw a golden-red mark glittering on it, emitting a warm current that gradually spread throughout his body.
“It was not a dream…” The man stared at the mark in a daze. He made the hand signs of the Clone Technique he was not accustomed to.
Bang… With a ball of white smoke, an identical clone appeared. The man was first dumbfounded and then wild with joy. At this moment, there was only one sentence in his mind.
“I’m chosen by the world.”
Not long after, in the Uchiha district, Uchiha Tonan returned home before dawn. After his aptitude had improved, Enkuu no longer needed to soak in for the entire night. Seeing that Tonan was not present after he completed his practice, he voluntarily dispelled the Summoning Technique and returned to Mount Huaguo.
Tonan seized this time to rest. He went to the bedroom and lay down. Tonight, he had planted a cursed seal on six people who had acknowledged him. With the seal, their physiques would gradually assimilate to Tonan’s physique.
Although assimilation had its limit, it could also change their aptitudes and allow them to become ninjas. As there was a certain risk in receiving a cursed seal, Tonan must guard and help them endure before leaving.
If not, once the person died, the cursed mark was likely to be exposed. Tonan took the opportunity to carry out this task in the dream, making them think they had a fortuitous encounter.
People were selfish and they would subconsciously be secretive about such encounters. This cursed seal was not of heaven or earth. With time, it would be hidden and not appear unless Tonan stimulated it.
Most of the Cultivation Path Cursed Seal’s abilities were about control. The principle was very similar to that of the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal. As long as Tonan wanted, he could kill these people at any time without anyone discovering anything.
If anyone dared to speak out about the seal, his brain would be destroyed instantly, showing an unclear cause of death. If something like this happened in Konoha, someone would automatically take the blame for him. This was the real ration that could be eaten any time.
Like planting crops, he was sowing seeds. When the season comes, he could harvest a lot of food.
Early the next morning, Tonan came to the welfare institution and released the shadow clone making another one to look after Kotoura.
The main body walked out of the room and looked at the Maito Dai and Maito Gui father and son duo who were training hard in the institution’s open field. There were also old people gathered there in the distance.
With his new ration planting method, these elder people didn’t have much value in Tonan’s eyes anymore. Since they were already so old, they didn’t have much time to train even if he planted a cursed seal on them.
Besides, with their physique, perhaps, they might not be able to survive the pain and die. But he still wanted to nurture them because he felt his current strength was not enough.
Although these rations were not palatable, he shouldn’t waste them. When he had time, he decided to use a shadow clone to express sympathy to them and set up an elderly art troupe to develop some special skills.
Interrupting his thoughts, Tonan sensed chakra entering the welfare institution. Turning his head, he looked at the institution’s gate and saw a yellow-haired woman with black-framed glasses smiling at him. She walked over leisurely toward him and Tonan narrowed his eyes.
He then adjusted his golden-rimmed glasses and gave a warm smile. The yellow-haired woman walked over and softly said, “Hello Tonan-kun, my name is Yakushi Nono. I was the Konoha Orphanage’s director appointed by the higher-ups. Now that the orphanage is disbanded, they’ve instructed me to come work here as your assistant.”
Tonan smiled warmly, “That’s great. I’m not very good at looking after children and I’m always tied up. You must be very good at this, Yakushi-senpai. I’ve to learn from you.”
Nono smiled softly, “Tonan-kun is being kind. You defeated Orochimaru-sama. Also, I’m not much older than you, you can call me by my name.”
Tonan went over her high points while chatting. After realizing that she seemed to have no special bloodline limit or ninjutsu, he lost interest in talking with her. He opened the door, “Come in and take a look at Kotoura. Right now, he’s the only child in the welfare institution.”
Nono followed Tonan into the room and just happened to see Tonan’s shadow clone focused on changing the baby’s diaper. Seeing the shadow clone’s skilled movements, she was inwardly surprised. “Tonan-kun, you seem to like children very much. You are much more careful than me. Speaking about it, using a shadow clone to take care of a child should be too tiring. The aftereffect of the clone is not small.”
Tonan lightly shook his head, “It’s not too bad. Most of the time, I need to practice, so I can only resort to this. It doesn’t matter if I’m tired, as long as he can grow up healthy, that’s enough for me.”
Nono looked at Tonan as if she had seen a kindred spirit. “I heard what happened to you recently. Everyone has a very high opinion of you.”
Tonan simply said, “It’s an undeserved reputation. Since you’ve come, I’ll leave Kotoura to you and also let him get familiar with you. Now that I’ve some time, I’ll take care of the elders.”
Nono earnestly replied, “I’ll do my best to take good care of him.”
“I trust you.” Tonan nodded and dispelling the shadow clone, he left the room.
After walking out, his eyes instantly turned cold. Yakushi Nono, the Root spy, had arrived.
“I guess she came to the welfare institution with a mission to monitor me. Of course, this must be a long-term mission. Reporting back my everyday actions to Danzo. How about I… work out a plan to kill her? When Father Saru asks, I can slander her as a spy from the enemy village.”
“And if someone dares to speak for the dead, I can just ask the Yamanaka clan to search her memories in front of everyone. In any case, she must have a Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal, so nothing would be found. And if nothing could be found, it would be the most favorable evidence.”
Thinking of this, Tonan rubbed his chin. Soon after though, he gave up the plan. There was an issue with it. Now that he was already a ceiling-leveled combat power of Konoha, his ways of thinking should change as well. There was no need to bother to frame and kill a mere ninja.
In any case, she would never find things he didn’t want. Since she was Danzo’s informer, why not let Danzo know things he wanted to through her?
That was the best plan…
“It seems I’ve stayed up late a lot lately. My mind has become dull,” Tonan chuckled and shook his head, walking towards the open field of the welfare institution. He was preparing to get close to the Maito father and son and the old people.
