“The transformation of the Hidden Mist Village is nearly complete,” said the man in the mask, standing inside a cave. Raindrops slid down his mask as he reached into the downpour, feeling the cold sensation on his fingertips. His voice was raspy as he continued, “That man, Hashirama, never once revealed himself.”
“He simply moved his pawns, and the entire Hidden Mist Village fell into his grasp.”
“What about the Six-Tails?” asked Konan, clearly uninterested in the fate of the Hidden Mist. Her only concern was their organization’s goal.
“Taken by Mei Terumi,” the masked man replied, pulling his hand back from the rain. “We now have another reason to oppose Hashirama.”
Konan frowned for a moment before relaxing. “Neiki said Hashirama isn’t interested in the Tailed Beasts.”
“Only believe half of what that man says. His involvement with the Akatsuki could very well be another extension of Hashirama’s influence,” the masked man said casually. “But… there are still plenty of Tailed Beasts we don’t have yet. We don’t need to rush into a conflict with him. Let’s focus on capturing the other two Tailed Beasts in his possession.”
Hearing the caution in his words, Konan nodded slightly. This was also Pain’s intention. While they were wary of the formidable Hashirama, they would save their confrontation with him for later, after handling easier targets.
The masked man shifted topics, gesturing toward Genshi’s lifeless body in the corner. “Why did you bring him out here? What are you planning?”
“I had a few questions for him, and I thought maybe we could use him to create some trouble for Hashirama,” the masked man sighed, shaking his head. “During my control of Yagura, I was well aware of Genji’s influence. Too bad…”
With a soft tap, the masked man touched Genji, and the elder’s stiff body fell back with a dull thud.
The elder who had overseen the Hidden Mist after Yagura’s disappearance was now dead—not from the massive explosion of the Six-Tails’ Tailed Beast Bomb, but here, in this desolate place. His body had frozen stiff. It wasn’t something the masked man could have prevented. It seemed Genshi had already resolved to die and had no interest in starting a new resistance against Hashirama and his forces that now controlled the Hidden Mist.
As the rain continued to fall heavily, it did little to slow their plans. After a brief meeting, the two left the Land of Water.
Both the recruitment of Neiki Hyuga and their surveillance of Hashirama were successful. Any remaining intelligence work could be handled by their spies in the Hidden Mist.
Before departing, the masked man buried the elder at the foot of a mountain. There was no particular sentiment behind the act; it was simply because, during the time when he had controlled Yagura and implemented his brutal policies, Genshi had quietly cooperated, allowing him to exact his revenge for Rin’s death.
“Yang Guang…” the masked man muttered, a name he had heard Genji mention. His eyes grew cold.
With the Fourth Great Ninja War looming, Konoha’s use of the Edo Tensei technique to fight the other four major villages had severely weakened the entire shinobi world. As the world entered a new era, under the leadership of strong figures like Pain and Hashirama, both the Akatsuki and this mysterious Yangguang organization were rising. It was inevitable that they would clash one day.
The masked man clenched his fist slowly.
“It’s time to seek new power for the new world.”
From the trees, Zetsu emerged, reminding the masked man, “We’ve located Kuromyo.”
“He’s in the Land of Fire.”
“Let’s move.”
At a remote manor in the Land of Waves, a knock sounded at the door.
Neiki Hyuga, peering through his Byakugan, noticed who it was. His eyebrow arched slightly as he opened the door.
Standing outside, drenched from head to toe like a soaked bird, was Hanabi Hyuga.
Neiki patted her head but said nothing, instead telling her that dinner was ready and she could eat after taking a bath.
“Neiki-nii,” Hanabi called quietly just as Neiki was about to head back to the basement to continue his research.
“What is it?”
“Teach me how to kill…” Hanabi said softly.
“I’ve been teaching you, haven’t I?” Neiki smiled gently.
“No… I want to learn real killing techniques!” she insisted, her head lifting to reveal eyes filled with tears or rain—her gaze, however, was unwavering.
Neiki shook his head. “Since when did you start thinking that Gentle Fist couldn’t kill?”
“But… but… I couldn’t even handle Gato or his men…” Hanabi’s voice trembled.
“Two things,” Neiki interrupted her, speaking clearly and slowly. “1. Never underestimate anyone. Arrogance clouds your judgment. 2. Anger will rob you of reason. Accept your failure gracefully, rather than searching for shortcuts to vengeance. Sure, we all want swift revenge, but getting it too easily strips it of meaning.”
Neiki continued, “Even Gato, who you look down on, reached his current strength, at least that of a mid-level ninja, because he trained relentlessly without rest.”
They stared at each other for a moment. Hanabi, biting her lip and holding back tears, finally lowered her head.
“I understand…”
“Good. Now go eat. I’ll teach you more about using the Byakugan afterward.”
Hanabi trudged into the house, disheartened.
Neiki watched her go. The young girl had never experienced such a devastating defeat before. The life-and-death stakes had left her shaken, her comrades’ injuries had left her confused, and the relentless enemies had sapped her fighting spirit.
As Gato laughed, surrounded by his men, Hanabi and her group had not prepared for the possibility of falling into a trap. It wasn’t until blood was spilled—until they saw their comrades’ limbs torn apart—that they realized the gravity of their mistake. Only through the self-sacrifice of their strongest member, Fujiwara Kusama, had the rest of them managed to escape.
Kusama’s sacrifice had left a profound impact on everyone, especially Hanabi, the strongest among them.
The Gato she once dismissed had grown much stronger.
Kusama, whom she had underestimated, chose to sacrifice himself.
Hanabi, who had joined the mission thinking she would act as a “protector” for her teammates, ended up being the one who needed to be saved. She had escaped with her life only because of others’ efforts.
Her confidence was shattered. She had fled without even seeing her comrades, leaving in a mix of shame and anger. She wanted Neiki, her all-powerful older brother, to teach her powerful killing techniques so she could exact revenge on Gato. But the world didn’t offer shortcuts to mastery, or else what was the point of ninjas training so hard?
The only thing that reassured Neiki was that Hanabi didn’t ask him to seek revenge on her behalf. Clearly, she understood that she needed to reclaim her pride on her own.
That evening, Neiki helped Hanabi practice combining the Byakugan with Gentle Fist. After a while, there was a knock at the door. Neiki stood up, patted Hanabi’s shoulder, and said, “Let’s continue tomorrow.”
Neiki’s figure vanished, leaving Hanabi fuming.
Who’s bothering us now!?
She had just gotten Neiki-nii to personally train her, and now someone was interrupting!
Using her newly activated Byakugan, she saw several blurry figures outside the door but couldn’t make out their faces clearly.
Frustrated, she stomped over to the door and opened it, revealing Inari with bandages wrapped around his forehead. Behind him were several children, also wrapped in bandages and carrying long swords, looking sheepish under Hanabi’s intense gaze.
“We were worried about you since you left so quickly… So we came to check if you were hurt…” Inari mumbled, avoiding eye contact.
Hanabi stared blankly for a moment, and with a loud creak, she slammed the door shut.
As Inari and the others stood there, dumbfounded, unsure of what to do, the door opened again. This time, Hanabi had hastily wrapped herself in a few loose bandages.
Inari blinked in confusion. “You… you look pretty hurt. Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Hanabi said flatly, though she clearly wasn’t.
“Do you want to come in?”
“No, no, it’s alright,” the group of kids quickly shook their heads. Only Inari, more familiar with Hanabi, hesitated before speaking up. “About Kusama… we’re planning to ask Hashirama-sensei for help. We wanted to let you know, so you don’t have to worry. Hashirama-sensei won’t ignore him.”
Hanabi’s expression almost crumbled, but she nodded. “If Kusama comes back, let me know… I didn’t do enough to help.”
“No, no… It’s not your fault at all,” Inari insisted, with the others nodding in agreement. “Actually, without you, we wouldn’t have even escaped. You’re a very important teammate.”
Hanabi felt a little touched, her gaze softening. But her face remained stoic as she replied
, “It was just what I had to do.”
After some more polite conversation, Inari and the others left. Hanabi closed the door and softly muttered to herself.
“Teammates…”
News of the failed assassination of the wealthy Gato by the students of Ken’in Village had stirred up waves across the Land of Waves. The defeat of Fujiwara Kusama, a student many had pinned their hopes on, had felt like a punch to the gut, leaving everyone struggling to breathe.
And with the revelation that Gato had also trained in Ken’in Village’s secret techniques, growing significantly stronger, the hopes that these brave children could break his control over the shipping routes had now been dashed.
The people continued paying exorbitant fees for shipping, suffering deeper poverty with no clear way to topple the tyrant that ruled over their country.
But where there were those who despaired, others found clarity. If no one else could be relied upon, they would have to rise themselves!
More and more citizens began to take the secret training methods seriously. If Gato could grow stronger through training, why couldn’t they?
It was a logical conclusion.
After being exploited by Gato and suffering from the battles waged by both the Hidden Mist and Konoha, even the most indifferent people of the Land of Waves began to feel their anger stir. All the powers, whether Gato, the Hidden Mist, or Konoha, had been showing them with bloody fists that this world was one where the strong devoured the weak.
There was no justice.
Only power could protect justice.
The next day, Neiki stood on the mountainside behind Ken’in Village, gazing at a tree that had grown from a single white branch into multiple intertwining vines. He nodded slightly.
“It’s working well.”
The Byakugan Divine Tree was still in its sapling stage, but even among saplings, this one was extraordinary.
At first, Neiki had to implant Byakugan essences into the sapling to nourish it. But now, it could gather Byakugan essences from the people of the Land of Waves through the Byakugan seals, using them to grow. In fact, it was producing more essences than it needed for growth, allowing Neiki to draw from the excess.
The tree now provided Neiki with approximately 1.6 units of Byakugan essence per day.
A standard unit was equivalent to the Byakugan essence that a mid-level member of the Hyuga Clan would produce.
While the speed wasn’t overwhelming—it came from fifty thousand people contributing half of their supply daily—this marked the beginning of a self-sustaining cycle. The tree’s production of Byakugan essence was only going to increase from here, especially as more people in the Land of Waves took Neiki’s training methods seriously.
With Neiki’s plans for the Land of Waves progressing, the potential for growth had not yet reached its peak. There was still more room for expansion.
“I’ve heard the population of the Land of Water is around three million…” Neiki mused, recalling the recent changes in the Hidden Mist Village.
Even if only one percent of those people diligently followed Neiki’s training methods, that would already be thirty thousand.
In the future, the amount of Byakugan essence Neiki could collect daily would increase exponentially.
“It’s exciting to think about.”
At that moment, a voice interrupted Neiki’s thoughts.
“Hashirama-sama.”
The voice came from the backyard. Neiki quickly put on his mask and set up seals to conceal the Byakugan Divine Tree before heading toward the voice.
“This… this is this month’s share,” Gato said, rubbing his hands together nervously and gesturing to a chest of money beside him.
“People aren’t shipping as much lately, so… so the profits are a little less than last month,” Gato explained cautiously, watching Hashirama’s reaction.
Hashirama glanced at the chest. “From now on, deposit the money into the newly established bank on the island. That’s a Ken’in Village asset. You don’t need to bring it directly anymore.”
“Of course… of course,” Gato stammered, but he didn’t leave. He continued wringing his hands, adding hesitantly, “About Fujiwara Kusama… I did as you instructed and let him go, but there’s one thing…”
“Speak.”
“His hand… my men accidentally broke it. We tried to fix it, but even with doctors, it couldn’t be reattached…”
“No matter. As long as he’s alive,” Neiki replied indifferently.
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