Land of Iron's capital, Konoha Tavern.
At night, Kanpū, Kabuto, Jugo, and Kimimaro, family of four are busy cooking up a storm, oden cooking, teppanyaki, and onigiri sushi, so busy that their feet barely touching the ground.
"Customer, this is your ordered seaweed onigiri." Kanpū proudly presented his family's ancestral masterpiece on the table.
When the customer looked at the grotesquely shaped onigiri on the dinner plate, his face immediately sank.
Slap!
He slapped the table and roared angrily: "Are you playing with me?! What kind of onigiri is this!"
"Don't judge it by its appearance. This is the native onigiri of Konoha. The taste is great!" Kanpū said confidently, his eyes are full of sincerity, as if to say, 'Please trust my craftsmanship!'
The customer couldn't help hesitating when he saw Kanpū's expression, so he grabbed a seaweed onigiri and gently stuffed it into his mouth.
Hmmmm...
After chewing it for a couple of times, it was a little bland. After chewing carefully, he ate a dozen pieces of fine salt pressed together.
'So salty!'
"Ptui!"
"Is this meant for human consumption!" The customer could no longer restrain his anger.
"How is this not meant for human consumption? I've been eating it since I was a child!" Kanpū was even angrier. His ability to pinch onigiri was self-taught, derived from the onigiri made by Hoshino's onigiri. How can the customer say that it's not meant for human consumption?
"Bastard, do you still want to do business here!" The customer was obviously not easy to mess with, as he rolled up his sleeves to show his fierce muscles.
How can Kanpū let outsiders bully? Immediately, he activated his Extraordinary Strength and planning to give him a taste of what it's like to be arm-wrestled, so that he knew that bigger muscles don't mean stronger!
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry…"
At this moment, the honest man, Jugo ran over, bowed and apologized, and promised that the meal would be free, so that he could calm down the angry customer.
Kanpū is very uncomfortable by this, 'It is rare for me to show off, but I was actually disturbed.'
Returning to his place of work, Kabuto said softly: "My Lord, why bother with an ordinary person?"
Kanpū seriously said: "He insulted my clan's century-old craftsmanship, I can't bear it!"
"Century-old craftsmanship… My Lord, are you serious?" Kabuto looked at the terrifying onigiri in Kanpū's hands, and the smile on the corner of his mouth seemed very forced.
'It's just seventy or eighty years away from that… But it's not easy to disclose it to the outside world, lest it ruin the century-old signboard of my Gekko Clan.'
The group of four people worked hard until ten o'clock in the middle of the night, and finally saw off the last guest.
Kanpū quickly ordered Jugo to close the door, lest any guests would come in later and affect their rest.
"Kimimaro, please come here to help." Jugo agreed and walked out the door while sweating profusely, his steps cheerful.
Although he works in the tavern from dawn to dusk with no pay and no days off, Jugolives a very fulfilling and happy life because he can be with Kimimaro every day!
"Wait for me." Kimimaro, with cool eyes full of innocence, wiped the sweat from his forehead and quickly chased after him.
Kanpū glanced at their backs and asked in a low voice: "How is Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai Disease?"
Now that Kabuto no longer has to bother to study Hashirama's cell transplant operation, under Kanpū's order, he turned to study Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai Disease.
Kabuto pushed up the round glasses on the bridge of his nose and said: "Kekkei Genkai Disease is a terminal illness in the Shinobi World. I have not found a cure yet."
Kanpū frowned and asked: "Then, doesn't that mean Kimimaro is as good as dead?"
Kabuto nodded gravely: "At most, he can last for another two to three years."
Kanpū actually didn't have much affection for Kimimaro in the original work. However, in this life, Kimimaro had his memories wiped and became a blank slate, to be written on as Kanpū write, so if he can save him, he would do so.
Kanpū makes his brain spun and said: "Can Shodaime's cells suppress his Kekkei Genkai Disease?"
"He will die faster." Kabuto replied without even needing to think.
"Then what about the rejection-free cells you've cloned?" Kanpū continued suggesting ideas.
Rejection-free cells are the cells cloned from Shin's left arm.
Kabuto still shook his head: "Cell rejection and Kekkei Genkai Disease are two different things."
Kanpū still has an idea, and said: "Can Jugo's cells help with Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai Disease?"
"No." Kabuto shook his head again, "My Lord, I've thought of all the methods I could think of, but I really can't find it."
Kanpū sighed helplessly, 'God is jealous of heroic genius. Originally, I wanted to train Kimimaro into Abyss's running dog, but now, it seems that I can only kill the chickens to get the eggs directly.'
Fortunately, Kanpū's shadow clones have been keeping a close watch, ensuring Kimimaro doesn't learn any random Ninjutsu and Taijutsu. If he wanted to collect him, it should be easy to succeed.
It was past midnight when Kanpū sneaked up to Kimimaro's bed and threw the Collection Technique.
The green light cluster in his mind quickly boiled, and soon a blue light dot was ejected.
'Success immediately?'
Kanpū was overjoyed, but was immediately shocked.
'A blue light dot?'
'How can it be blue?'
Kanpū quickly enveloped the blue light with his consciousness, and upon seeing it, it turned out to be the kunai throwing technique.
'Did Kimimaro used kunai during these days?'
'Obviously not!'
'Then, this kunai throwing technique is…'
Kanpū pondered for a moment, then a constipated smile appeared on his face
'I'm such an idiot. Although Kimimaro has lost his memory, it does not mean that his Taijutsu is abolished. With a little guidance, Kimimaro will soon be able to restore his Taijutsu through physical memory, so…'
'The Collection Technique can only be successfully collected from a person three times, and Kekkei Genkai requires a minimum of three collections to merge.'
'In other words, even if I was able to successfully collect Shikotsumyaku Kekkei Genkai twice afterwards, I would still have no chance to obtain Shikotsumyaku.'
'No!'
'As a wise man once said, As long as your thoughts don't slide, there are always more ways than difficulties!'
'As long as I find Kaguya Clan's grave, I can resurrect Kimimaro's Ancestors, then use Impure World Reincarnation, and collect them!'
'But this would take quite a bit of effort, and coupled with Tenseigan…'
'Forget it, let's just put the Shikotsumyaku aside for now, Tenseigan is the top priority.'
Kanpū doesn't collect Kimimaro anymore. Instead, he activated Sage Mode, climbs along the network cable to the underground base under the frozen soil hundreds of kilometers away, and continues to collect Toneri's ancestors.
A few days later, Kanpū found that his shadow clone that he left in Konoha had not disappeared yet. He guessed that the "situation" over there was still stable, so he prepared to return.
Before leaving, Kanpū originally wanted Kabuto to urge Kimimaro to train and let him use his remaining heat.
But after thinking about it, Kimimaro is a person who has entered the Abyss in the eyes of Orochimaru, Minato and the others. So if he is allowed to appear rashly, in the event he gets caught, wouldn't it expose a lot of things?
'Forget it, anyway, he only has two or three years left to live, so I'll just let him and Jugo continue to stay in this peaceful place, away from worldly affairs.
But what made Kanpū didn't expect was that when Kabuto learned that he was going back to Konoha, he actually became restless.
Kabuto's biggest mission left by Kanpū was to complete the Hashirama's cell transplant experiment, but now that Shisui had transplanted Shin's left arm, he no longer needs to study Hashirama's cells.
As for Kimimaro's Kekkei Genkai Disease, it's a terminal illness that can't be treated, so he had no reason to stay here anymore!
Kabuto wants to return to Konoha, he wants to see Nono, he wants to go back to the orphanage.
Faced with such request from his subordinates, Kanpū couldn't find a reason to refuse, so he could only agree.
"Brother Kabuto, what shall we do?" Jugo and Kimimaro held hands, looking at him with anxiety.
Although they are both Shinobi, they are also children, and one had lost his memory, while the other will go berserk after filling the 'anger value'. If they are allowed to stay here…
Kabuto looked towards Kanpū and said: "Why don't we bring them back…"
"No!" Kanpū flatly refused. If he lets Minato see Kimimaro, how could he explain?
After all, one unexplainable issue could lead to a complete collapse of his identity!
So he could never let Kimimaro leave this place.
"I'll reluctantly leave a shadow clone to take care of them." Kanpū sighed and said.
'My Lord, with your onigiri, I'm afraid this tavern will not survive…' Kabuto said seriously: "My Lord, save more money."
'I feel like you're insulting my clan's century-old craftsmanship…' Kanpū looked deeply at him.