536 Naruto the Flame-Flame Fruit

Kiyosuke rested at home for more than a week. Only then did the side effects of the Eight Gates fade. During that time he was so drained he couldn't even bother to play any of those little husband-and-wife games with Mei Terumi.

Afterward, he went to the Scientific Ninja Tool Research Center. Amado was now one of its researchers. Although he had just joined and was still labeled a criminal, he quickly earned the respect of all the scientists with his skills.

"So? What do you want from me?"

"Honestly, I thought you'd recover sooner. Didn't expect it to take this long. Is it because you're getting old?" Amado asked.

Kiyosuke's face darkened. Amado continued, "It's about the Ōtsutsuki Clan."

He pulled over a chair and sat down. "Tell me."

"I'm sure you know the Ōtsutsuki roam the stars searching for planets suitable for planting God Trees. They use the God Tree to drain a planet's life force, harvest Chakra Fruit, and gain immortality along with ridiculous, godlike power."

"Yeah, that much I know."

"But now I'm telling you—someone out there in the universe is hunting them. Do you believe that?"

"Who?"

"No idea. All I have is a faint signal caught by one of the devices I built. You can listen."

Amado took out a device, adjusted it, and a voice came through. To Kiyosuke's surprise, he understood it.

"Ōtsutsuki Ryūshiki has been forced into a corner by Rodney-sama! Deploy the capture net! Our secret weapon is ready to launch."

"Understood!"

Then came the sounds of intense fighting. Kiyosuke listened with a strange expression.

"Hey, Momoshiki, do you know this Rodney?"

In his mind, Momoshiki hissed through clenched teeth, "Of course. He's a mortal enemy of the Ōtsutsuki Clan!"

He hated that clansman who had stirred up a monster.

Originally, two Ōtsutsuki had discovered a planet overflowing with life force—perfect for planting a God Tree. The two cooperated, ready to plant it. At the time, the planet's situation was chaotic enough that they found an opening.

But not long after, a young man arrived alone and beat the two Ōtsutsuki so badly they practically rolled away crying.

Normally, those monkeys couldn't cross the stars. But somehow, by coating a ship in a bubble, it could fly through space. What kind of nonsense was that?

A whole group sailed in their bubbled ship and attacked. That young man shouted something about "points" and began hunting the Ōtsutsuki. It was brutal.

No one knew how many Ōtsutsuki died at his hands.

"Damn… what kind of creature did you people provoke?" Kiyosuke rubbed his chin.

"He's a monster," Momoshiki snorted. "And he targets only the Ōtsutsuki."

"That guy holds grudges," Kiyosuke muttered, then said to Amado, "The Ōtsutsuki picked a fight with the wrong thing. Now they're being hunted. Our planet should be safe for a while."

"I know that. But we must remain wary. Kiyosuke-sama, you're strong—strong enough that if we modified your body, you could surpass even the Ōtsutsuki."

"What are you worried about?"

"The future." Amado pushed up his glasses and said calmly, "In this world, whenever something catastrophic happens, it's always you, the Hokage, and Sasuke who solve it. Like the Isshiki incident. But what about after you're gone? Should we rely on Edo Tensei to resurrect you? That's unrealistic. It's a forbidden technique—few can even learn it. But I can keep you alive forever. I can even make you ageless. We need a blade sharp enough to face whatever comes."

"I'm not interested in immortality. Leaving things to the next generation is what we parents should do. Amado, no matter what you think, I won't do that. I trust my descendants to grow stronger and protect this planet." Kiyosuke patted his shoulder. "Still, some defensive measures aren't a bad idea."

...

Not long after, Kiyosuke walked out of the lab, baring his teeth in pain.

"That old fossil… asking for a little blood and then taking that much?"

Inside the lab, Amado stored away the vial of blood.

"Asakawa Kiyosuke, a necessary power to safeguard this world. I don't have any attachment to this world, but I still don't want to see it destroyed. Become the force that protects it."

In the future, he would create a clone of Kiyosuke, modify him, and make him surpass the Ōtsutsuki. He had created beings of that level before, but Jigen feared that power and forced him to destroy them.

Looking back, what a waste.

That signal from space weighed on his mind. He had to act.

He wouldn't activate Kiyosuke's clone, but he would give the key to Kiyosuke and Naruto for safekeeping.

If they activated it, or if they passed it on to their descendants—that would be their choice.

Kiyosuke returned home. Mei Terumi was preparing lunch. When she saw him, she smiled softly.

"Welcome home."

"I'm back."

He stepped forward, wrapped an arm around her slim waist. "Life like this is really comfortable."

"Of course peace feels good."

Mei leaned against Kiyosuke's chest.

"When will you retire?"

He had actually retired long ago, but the recent events had forced him back into action.

"I'll talk to Naruto this afternoon. I should have retired ages ago. The future… won't belong to ninja anymore."

The development of scientific ninja tools was unstoppable. The age of ninja was coming to an end.

Soon, missions would be handled by kids wielding scientific tools. But that had nothing to do with him. The future belonged to those children.

And if anything went wrong, Amado's safeguards were still there…

In the decades that followed, peace remained the main theme. Kiyosuke traveled the world with Mei Terumi, visiting every corner of the Five Great Nations. Occasionally, they returned to Konohagakure and Kirigakure to visit family.

Konohagakure's technology flourished under Amado's help, eventually advancing a full century ahead of the other four villages. With this power, the Land of Fire achieved peaceful unification. The entire shinobi world became the domain of the Land of Fire.

After unification, humanity did not stop advancing. They reached out into the unknown stars—and eventually encountered remnants of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

A great war erupted.

It lasted a long time. Humanity won, barely. Their resolve strengthened—the Ōtsutsuki were the enemy of mankind.

Then the long-dormant safeguard activated. A young man identical to Kiyosuke awakened inside a cryo-pod, cracked his neck, and said:

"That was a nice nap… Wait—did I… transmigrate?"

...

T/N: Finally this fanfic has come to an end. I personally loved the MC's personality, the power scaling, and the way the romance was handled. From my experience, long Chinese fanfics (more than 250–300 chapters) always have some flaws, usually used by the author to fill time. Very often, this could be extended cooking scenes, several chapters devoted to the MC cooking, describing the process, and so on. Or overly macho conversations. But this fanfic had none of that which was really refreshing.

In my mind, the story feels quite well-structured, though I'm not entirely sure how it reads from a general reader's perspective.

For those who are interested. On Webnovel there are plenty of comments complaining about "stupid" moments, repeated plots, cooking chapters or other filler. Many readers wonder why authors include them.

From what I can tell it's because popular Chinese platform uses a different system. Authors can receive "gifts," similar to TikTok gifts during live streams, and many use a system where, for example, "if you gift me this, I'll post an additional chapter." This leads to chapters being written with little real content. Just to get paid or to extend the story for more profit. That's why so many Chinese fanfics end up exceeding 1,000 chapters.