Soon, Mitarashi Anko brought the man who had been causing disturbance in the Hokage Tower—stating that he was a ninja from Takigakure—to Mirai Uchiha.
Mirai Uchiha raised his hand and gently directed a wave of soothing chakra into the man's body.
Shortly afterward, the man slightly furrowed his brows and slowly opened his eyes.
"Where… am I?"
Dazed, he instinctively reached up and touched his head.
Looking up, he directly faced Mirai Uchiha, who was seated behind the desk.
"A-Are you…?"
The man wore an expression of shock.
Though he already had a vague suspicion in his heart, he still couldn't bring himself to believe it completely.
As the man hesitated, Mirai Uchiha calmly spoke first, "I am Mirai Uchiha. You said you were a ninja from Takigakure—what is your business with me?"
After hearing Mirai Uchiha personally confirm his identity, the man couldn't help but gape in astonishment.
This young man before him—who appeared as gentle as jade—was actually Mirai Uchiha, the ruler of the Five Great Ninja Villages?!
How could he possibly be so young?
Although Mirai Uchiha's appearance wasn't exactly a secret within the ninja world, for Takigakure ninjas—who kept their village isolated and rarely interacted with outsiders—the name was nothing more than a distant legend.
"What is your name?" Mirai Uchiha asked again.
The man snapped back to reality and hurriedly knelt on the ground. "My name is Shibuki, and I am the leader of Takigakure."
"Shibuki?"
Mirai repeated the name, having already guessed the identity of this man.
He must be the father of Shibo—the character briefly mentioned in the original story.
Thinking about this, Mirai slowly asked, "[Submit]? You said earlier that Takigakure wishes to [submit] to me?"
"That's correct," Shibuki replied solemnly. "Not long ago, Takigakure was attacked by two unknown ninjas. Their strength was immense; many of our village's shinobi were killed by them."
"If not for the protective barrier set up by our ancestors, our entire village might have already been wiped out."
"I risked my life to come here and seek your aid—please, save Takigakure!"
With that, Shibuki heavily bowed his head three times onto the floor.
Mirai Uchiha responded nonchalantly, "Describe the appearance of the attackers targeting Takigakure."
Upon hearing this, Shibuki composed himself quickly and responded in haste, "Those two ninjas… one looked like a shark-faced man, and the other resembled a hunchbacked old man."
"They both wore black robes adorned with red clouds, and each wore a forehead protector of a rogue ninja—one bearing Sunagakure's symbol, the other marked with Kiri's insignia."
After hearing Shibuki's description, Mirai Uchiha gave a silent nod.
Those are Kisame Hoshigaki and Sasori, the Crimson Sands.
In this era before Itachi Uchiha's defection, when Deidara was still just a boy, these two somehow formed a team together.
How interesting.
Thinking about it, Mirai Uchiha spoke up: "I already know about the situation in Takigakure. I will personally go handle those two dangerous ninja."
"As compensation, both Takigakure and its surrounding land will henceforth be under my rule."
Shibuki didn't hesitate at all, immediately nodding in agreement: "We accept all your conditions. Please head to Takigakure as soon as possible—the villagers won't last much longer."
"Lord Mirai, let me guide you there."
Hearing Shibuki's words, Mirai Uchiha shook his head: "Although I've agreed to help resolve the crisis in Takigakure, I cannot ignore your act of public disturbance directly in front of the Hokage Tower."
"Anko, take him into custody according to the law."
Anko Mitarashi nodded: "Yes, Your Majesty!"
Though she still privately referred to Mirai Uchiha as that arrogant bastard, she had to keep her tone in check when outsiders were around.
Approaching Shibuki, Anko Mitarashi said coldly, "According to Ordinance Article 47, you are hereby sentenced to fourteen days' detention."
"Come with me."
With no choice, Shibuki stood up reluctantly and followed Anko Mitarashi toward the exit.
Although anxiety burned within him, he could only obey in the face of absolute authority.
After they left, Mirai Uchiha activated his technique with a mere thought and vanished instantly via [otsutsuki Teleportation].
—
Takigakure Village.
At the waterfall entrance of the village,
dozens of Takigakure ninja corpses lay strewn about in chaos.
Sasori stared coldly ahead at the protective barrier, his voice tinged with impatience: "Why won't these annoying ants just die quietly?"
As he finished speaking, the steel tail behind him shot forward violently,
only to rebound quickly after being blocked by the barrier.
"Tch, looks like I'll have to use the Human Puppet of the Third Kazekage then..."
Sasori muttered to himself.
Originally, he hadn't wanted to reveal the existence of the Third Kazekage puppet so soon, but with regular Puppet Techniques alone, breaking through this barrier would be difficult.
Just as Sasori prepared to summon the Human Puppet of the Third Kazekage, Kisame Hoshigaki let out a soft chuckle and strode toward the barrier with Samehada slung over his shoulder.
"Elder Sasori, allow me."
"As long as it involves chakra, nothing can escape Samehada's bite."
As he said this, he tightened his grip slightly; wrapped in bandages, Samehada extended countless razor-sharp blades.
Kisame swung dozens of times at the barrier, and its glow immediately dimmed.
"Hehehe..."
"Just as I thought."
Swinging the Samehada in his hand, the protective barrier finally shattered into pieces.
Kisame rushed behind the waterfall first, followed closely by Sasori.
As soon as they entered, dozens of shuriken shot toward them.
Kisame blocked all the attacks by holding his Samehada in front of him.
Then he quickly formed hand seals. [Water Release: Water Shark Breakthrough!]
A giant shark-shaped mass of water surged toward the ninja of Takigakure.
The ninja from Takigakure also formed hand seals simultaneously. [Wind Release: Pressure Damage!]
The combined wind techniques sliced the water shark into countless pieces.
But in the next second, those droplets scattered in midair transformed into swarms of small sharks.
Puchi! Puchi! Puchi!
The sharks bit fiercely into the bodies of the Takigakure ninja, splattering blood mist into the air.
The Takigakure ninja screamed in agony, suffering heavy casualties in an instant.
"This is how the world works—survival of the fittest."
"Even in their mother's womb, baby sharks tear each other apart for nutrients."
"Humans are no different—the weaklings must live by the will of the strong… or die."
Kisame looked at the few remaining Takigakure ninja and coldly declared, "So, how will you choose your fate?"
"Will you obediently hand over the Seven-Tails... or die?"
The ninja of Takigakure exchanged glances, momentarily at a loss.
With only a dozen or so remaining, not even a sliver of hope remained—they had no chance against these two monsters.
Better to give up the Seven-Tails than to die pointlessly...
Just as the Takigakure ninja were about to speak, Sasori's cold voice chilled their hearts. "Kisame, the weak have no right to choose."
"Step aside. I'll turn them all into human puppets. Not a single soul will be left alive."
Kisame Hoshigaki shook his head helplessly. "What a shame. Then I'll leave them to you, Master Sasori."
Watching the terrified expressions on the faces of the Takigakure ninja, Sasori slowly stepped forward a few paces.
His steel scorpion tail suddenly lashed out.
Clang!
A Black Receiver impaled the scorpion tail, snapping it clean off. Moments later, a purple beam fired, piercing straight through Hiruko and shattering it completely.
As everyone stared in shock, Mirai Uchiha let his hand drop and smirked faintly. "Am I late?"
<><><><><><><><>
Thank you for reading! Your support will keep me updating!
~ Every 50 Powerstones = **4 Bonus Chapters** this weekend!
<><><><><><><><>
~ 100+ Advanced Chapters Available on Patreon!
~ More *Free* Chapters and Books Available on Patreon!
patreon.com/Tansnovel
<><><><><><><><>