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Right above an endless open sea, somewhere West of the great Land of Water's territory, near the previous Uzushiogakure's old ruins, Neji, Kiyomi, and Karin stood together on top of the water on a hot day by attaching chakra onto their feet. The salty smell of the sea filled their noses. Many months had already passed by since they first made that secretive Uzumaki coral island their home.
Today was the first time they were going to leave it. They got pretty connected and grew closer to one another during that time, having been constantly training and discussing various things together mainly about their power buildups and new jutsu. Lately, they even fought a few times while using their full powers. Neji also purposefully tried to build some kind of "us vs the world" mentality inside of them so they would be less likely to betray him in the future. Although, he did it very subtly so they couldn't catch on. It was how they passed all their time in the middle of this sea.
Neji already turned seventeen years old, he was now six foot three in height, and it seemed that his body finally developed completely. His face was more mature and his hair was still very long for a male and was kept loosened to fall freely. Kiyomi and Karin were around the same age, but they looked the same as they did months ago. It appeared that they developed even earlier than himself. Neji was wearing his usual white colored kimono, Kiyomi wore her black sleeveless skirt which was a shinobi uniform as well, and Karin wore her favorite light purple top under which was mesh armor.
Neji looked at the two girls beside him, who appeared quite serious and prepared, and he smiled, 'It seems that Gaara already became the Kazekage, so, the Akatsuki would soon go to capture him, and then the second part of Naruto's plot would officially start...', Neji thought suddenly. News travels fast in this world, and thanks to Kiyomi's black markets sources Neji knew about Gaara.
Now was the time to finally visit Konoha once again and take that chakra source from Hiashi. He needs to grow faster now, he needs more chakra for him to be able to use his dojutsu even more. Until he turned the DNA vision, he could only rely on more chakra quantity. The Akatsuki would soon start collecting the tailed beasts and even the Fourth Great Shinobi War wasn't that far away from that point onward as the plot in Shippuden happened quite fast. He needs to get prepared.
With his lifelong outstanding chakra control, Neji developed a way to be able to activate that mode on any part of his body in isolation, during the last few months after carefully planning this specific operation and scenario inside of his head. He could apply it just on his legs to make himself quicker.
He could apply it just on his hands to make his punches more powerful, and even on other parts of his body where he expects damage to come for general durability purposes. However, he still wasn't able to enlarge any of his body parts, as it was probably a unique ability of those Giant Tenseigan energy vessels of Toneri and Hiashi. Neji was now high up the early Six Paths level in his estimates due to this chakra-saving method that he devised. It brought him even more confidence to start this operation with both Might Guy and Jiraiya probably not leaving Konoha anymore nowadays.
He was confident enough to finally use Tenseigan once more, in the Konoha, despite Toneri possibly locating them again, because their strength grew enough that he was convinced that they together could be able to push Toneri back head-on. He already saw what they were capable of now before.
After all, one was Uzumaki and one Uchiha. Whereas he grew slowly during this period, learning just a few new things, they grew exponentially like supernovas, 'Especially her... She is already on my level!', Neji thought seriously after looking at Kiyomi Uchiha. Performing that Hashirama Senju cellular injection on the two did wonders for them. He performed that using his previous thought-out method with his expert-level chakra control and cell vision. Just like that operation on himself.
Kiyomi not only got rid of her blindness and pain problems after successfully adopting those cells, reversing all of the previous damage by an extension, but her chakra reserves skyrocketed as well allowing her to use more of her Mangekyo's abilities in a single battle. It was the first development,
However, the second and additional development for her was that after practicing Dan Kato's soul techniques during those months, her spiritual and yin powers soared as well giving her access to the second powerful Armoured Susanoo Stage and even the final Perfect Susanoo wasn't that far off, however, it still required more time. Her other Mangekyo time slowing and speeding abilities, which by default relied on Yin Release as well, got the boost in effect and shortened cooldowns.
It could be said that Kiyomi, from an ordinary world traveler, joined the ranks of only a few peak powerhouses on this continent, and it was all thanks to himself, 'She is now early Six Paths same as me, and in the future, she could even join the middle Six Paths level, she just needs more time to practice that soul exercise as I did... And then some idiots in my previous life thought that genetics and inherited power didn't matter in the Naruverse. It is actually the most important thing instead.'
'Your bloodlines are the main thing that matters here. Or in other words, fate is the most important thing. However, some people can really break that fate, but not through training and working hard, but mainly by working smart and being visionary, by changing your programmed code, your own DNA...', Neji suddenly thought while reminiscing. In fact, he reached that conclusion way back in that dark period right after he transmigrated into young Neji's body after a lot of very extensive thinking during those three years. The only thing that he could do there was to think all day long.
'And Kiyomi didn't just have the right genes and experiences for awakening the Mangekyo, she also had an unearthly luck to meet me, the only person who could do a successful and safe injection of Senju cells on her, who also had this much experience in improving yin dojutsu powers...', Neji thought while looking at her intensely. She was as dazzling as ever in terms of physical appearance.
Kiyomi furrowed her pretty eyebrows after seeing Neji suddenly looking at her so seriously, while Karin opened her mouth curiously a little in a joking manner, Neji eventually finally asked frankly, "Kiyomi, what I am to you?", Karin now widened her eyes, not having the previous funny demeanor, while Kiyomi turned silent for a while and looked straight at Neji's eyes, "I'm your subordinate. I will keep my word to you no matter what happens.", Kiyomi finally answered in a very resolute manner.
She also understood Neji's concerns, after all, she was not an ordinary jonin level person anymore. Even she didn't know how exactly strong she was currently, or if maybe she already surpassed Neji. But, it didn't change her previous thoughts about Neji who gave her everything in the first place. She wouldn't have even been alive now had Neji not saved her at that time, not to mention this powerful. If Neji didn't interfere in her revenge plans, she would always listen to him unreservedly.
"You will continue listening to me even If I'm weaker than you now?", Neji continued probing seriously, "Yes, as long as you don't interfere in my revenge plans for later.", Kiyomi responded.
"That's good to hear. But, I'm not weaker than you yet. We're for now around the same level in my estimates... However, even now, you're still incapable of enacting your revenge. Itachi and Kisame are both peak Kage levels, they could potentially run away from you. Konoha has many monsters hidden that you don't even know much about. Meanwhile, Sasuke Uchiha has even more potential than you! I'm from Konoha and I know everything about it. Even if you fully master your Susanoo, in the future, you would still not be able to fully complete your revenge...", Neji returned to a normal tone. He just wanted to test her a little before telling her all of those secrets he prepared for now.
Kiyomi made a surprised expression after hearing his explanation. But she understood Neji quite well now, and she knew that he probably had a second part to his explanation, and she was right, Neji continued speaking, Karin was also listening in surprise, "That is unless you stay with me until I unlock the most important potential of my dojutsu, the DNA vision. At that time, only the sky is the limit, then I could try to unlock an even greater level of dojutsu for you, which is an extension of the Mangekyo Sharingan, the Rinnegan, of the Sage of Six Paths, on the same level as my own dojutsu.", Karin exclaimed in surprise, and even Kiyomi felt flabbergasted while looking toward him.
"In fact, you two deserve to know all of these secrets now after following me for so long, so listen carefully...", And just like that, Neji started relying on the same kind of information he once told to Orochimaru. After all, he planned for both of them to unlock legendary Rinengan after touching upon their genes later. He was sure that now, due to Senju cells and their genetic heritage, they at least had a chance of unlocking it, especially Kiyomi, who was both Senju and Uchiha in a way now. He told this mainly because of Kiyomi, just to be hundred percent sure that she won't leave him. It took quite a while for those two to digest all of the things he said, but right after that, they moved.
***
Around twenty-four hours later, they were already inside the luscious territory of the Land of Fire. They were passing by many smaller and bigger civilian villages, on their way to Konoha, through various forests, mountains, and terrains. They were now all moving much faster than before even at their base speed because Neji didn't have to slow back his speed at all this time around. Neji said while glancing at the two girls, one red-haired and one black-haired, who were also running beside him, "Do you remember everything about the plan completely? This is really important to me, I trust you two!", Neji said as he glanced specifically at Karin's pretty face, now without glasses due to Senju healing factor. She was also very pretty now, on Tenten's level, albeit both of them were not on Kiyomi's level. Neji felt more confident about Kiyomi following his plans perfectly than Karin.
"Don't worry, Neji, I will perform this mission successfully, no matter what happens!", Karin looked at Neji lovingly and winked. She was now somehow even more confident than she was before. She was aware of her current strength and pretty appearance without glasses. Neji just nodded at her.
She knew that she was just a level below Kiyomi and Neji in strength now, and already on the peak of this continent, stronger than many Kage. Unlike Kiyomi, her Senju cell injections already gave her the perfect Wood Release, albeit not on the level of the First Hokage, who also had a powerful Sage Mode to assist him even further, but still very powerful. Her mindset was that of a powerhouse now.
She could also now perform medical ninjutsu, fuinjutsu, various elemental ninjutsu, some Uzumaki clan's secret techniques, barrier ninjutsu, Explosive Shadow Clones, and many others. And she will become even stronger in the future as she really doesn't want to be left behind in front of Neji and Kiyomi, especially the latter. She always regarded her as some kind of a competitor for some reason. Nowadays she could even sense two hundred kilometers away with her ordinary sensing and hundred kilometers ahead with her Kagura's Mind Eye. It was fourth times better range than before.
She was sure that the more time passes, the more proficient she would be in those areas that she previously didn't know much about. She had great motivation to learn. It was all to repay Neji and be useful to him. After all, he cured her eyesight, saved her from Orochimaru, and gave her this world-class level of strength and so much secret knowledge of this world. He was also the first person who showed her real love. Even if it was not in that kind of man-to-woman way, she didn't experience someone caring for her in any way ever since her mother died from overworking then.
"Well, Karin it was one of the best decisions of my life to pick you up from that hole back then...", Neji smiled and praised her while teasing her at the same time. He also moved to pat her head a little. He then suddenly thought about her recent astonishing growth, 'She is at a peak Kage level already with true potential for even more growth. She just needs more time...', Neji knew about Karin's Wood Release very well as they fought many times recently during their training sessions.
'It obviously isn't on Hashirama's level due to her lack of Sage Mode that he possessed and use in addition to his fabled Wood Release which was possibly the Slug Sage Mode, the strongest and most difficult one to learn... However, the Senju cells implantation increased her Yang Release affinities. And the soul exercise method I also gave her some time ago increased her Yin Release affinity. It all made her pretty quick in learning those advanced stages of the Adamantine Sealing Chains and the Death Repear Seal of her clan...', Neji marveled at her enormous potential as well.
"Kiyomi, I guess this time you could maybe also get a taste of revenge a little if our plans don't go perfectly. Then maybe the strongest people of Konoha will attack us, are you ready?", Neji finished his previous train of thought and asked Kiyomi next, who was on the other side of him while running, "They should get ready for me!", Kiyomi replied full of a menacing aura. She also became much more confident than ever before. Neji nodded while thinking of his recently revised plan next.
Previously, Neji plan's was to engage Hiashi inside the Konoha, make him call upon the energy of that Giant Tenseigan of his, alongside Kiyomi for long enough until Karin, who was supposed to be outside the village, manage to find the position of his chakra vessel by following its small vortex-like trace and leave her clones behind to lead the way. However, recently, after a lot of thinking, Neji threw out that plan completely. Mainly because he thought of a lot safer alternative. All three of them were going to attack and immobilize Hiashi, at the maximum speed possible, and then he is going to search Hiahsi's memories with his Tenseigan memory reading ability to find the exact location of it way easier. Three of them could probably take Hiashi out relatively easily and swiftly.