"Or perhaps, if you don't cooperate, you'll lose everything."
Hearing this, Terumi Mei couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "Is that a threat?"
"The things you can obtain..." Hiroki paused for a moment before continuing, "Right now, you could easily take over Kiri. In the future, you could rule the entire Land of Water..."
"Are you planning to abolish the Daimyo system?" Terumi asked.
"Daimyos are just symbolic figures anyway," Hiroki replied indifferently. "Those countries will continue functioning perfectly fine without them."
"Fine then, what should I do?" Terumi didn't seem particularly resistant to his ideas.
"You don't have to do anything at all," Hiroki shrugged again.
"You're serious?" She raised her eyebrows, smirking slightly. "If we're going to cooperate, there needs to be mutual trust."
"Just as I said. What I mean is genuine. You simply need to stay where you are in Kiri."
"Huh?" Terumi was completely taken aback.
What the heck does that even mean?
"Oh right, there's one more thing I need to give you." Hiroki took out an introductory manual on Sage Art compiled by Tsunade and handed it to her.
Taking it with an outstretched hand, Terumi gave it a quick glance before seemingly losing interest.
"I hope when we meet again, you've already become the Mizukage of Kiri." With that, Hiroki prepared to leave.
Watching his back disappear into the distance, she remained utterly confused.
Sighing deeply, Terumi walked into her room.
"Why did he say that doing nothing at all is actually helping him?"
Muttering to herself, Terumi's expression turned strange. Could that guy have already done something to her?
Or maybe his mental invasion ability works similarly to Genjutsu — like how the one-eyed masked man once controlled the Fourth Mizukage...
"Hey hey hey, Hiroki Hyuga?" She tried reaching out mentally, but got no response at all.
"Forget it..." Shaking her head, Terumi's expression returned to normal. "I'll just pretend nothing ever happened. Whatever he said, so be it."
After leaving Kiri, Hiroki made his way toward Kumogakure.
He should check in with Yugito again. Though under Kaguya's control, she might still hold some resentment — better to visit in person just in case.
White Zetsu delivered the latest intel.
The villages—Sunagakure, Kiri, and Iwa—were all starting to set up Sealing Formations to keep White Zetsu's spies out.
It seemed they had begun sharing information and preparing collectively to respond to common threats.
As for Naruto and Minato, after vanishing previously, they hadn't reappeared within the Ninja World for quite a while. They must be undergoing secret training somewhere.
"Hmm," Hiroki muttered as he contacted Kaguya mentally. "Kaguya, when are you coming back?"
"What? Do you have something important to tell me? Seems unlikely." Kaguya responded.
"It's not about anything important. This is personal—I miss you."
Upon hearing this, the corners of Kaguya's mouth involuntarily lifted slightly, though she still spoke contradictory words. "...Are you still not grown up yet?"
"Can't I miss you?"
"Don't tell me you want me to return immediately whenever you call? Don't flatter yourself!"
Still, despite her words, she had already decided to return to the Country of Hot Springs to wait for him there.
To be honest, Kaguya's experience was quite peculiar—while one of her physical clones was intimately engaging with someone, a spiritual form within her inner world watched everything with an indulgent smile.
In Kumogakure, inside a certain house, Yugito looked mentally drained, as if she were spacing out, sitting still with a dazed expression, gazing unfocusedly out the window.
Even during what should have been her rest time, she still felt exhausted.
To the ninja of Kumogakure, she was the Kage—powerful yet distant, making it hard for anyone to get close to her.
This left her without anyone to confide in.
Only she herself knew how deeply tired she truly was. She didn't know how much longer she had to remain in this role or even what she was really supposed to achieve.
Sighing, she walked into the courtyard.
A gentle breeze blew, and somewhere, shadows seemed to flicker slightly. Yugito's expression instantly turned cold as she sharply turned her head.
Hiroki calmly appeared before her.
Glancing at the Konoha forehead protector on his head, Yugito didn't attack directly but wore an even colder look instead.
"I don't know whether Kaguya has spoken to you…"
"Kaguya?" Upon hearing that name, Yugito immediately cut him off. "You mean that white-eyed woman with horns growing out of her head?"
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"…Yes."
"Are you working under her?" Yugito asked, her expression darkening further. Her impression of Kaguya was definitely not positive.
"You could see it that way."
Suddenly, a self-mocking look crossed Yugito's face. "Oh? What do you people want from me this time?"
That mysterious woman hadn't shown up since their last meeting.
"We will destroy other ninja villages."
Yugito clearly hesitated for a moment before scoffing, "Starting a war, huh? Then go ahead—start right now. I'm more than ready."
Her voice carried a note of complete resignation.
Tired? Fine, let it all burn already!
Who cares about the Raikage, or the village—do whatever you want!
"That's not exactly what I meant."
Hearing this, Yugito seemed to sigh silently, showing no reaction whatsoever as she turned and walked back into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
"Hey…" Hiroki called from behind—he hadn't finished speaking yet.
The next day, inside the Raikage Tower office.
Mabui stood holding a stack of documents, eyes darting between Hiroki and Yugito with a mix of confusion and disbelief.
He came in right behind Yugito, and since she showed no objection, no one dared stop him.
Sitting in the Raikage's seat, Yugito slammed her fist down so hard it punched straight through the desk as she shouted at Mabui, "Mabui, go tell all the ninja in the village—if anyone dares provoke us again, fight them! Beat them soundly. The bigger the commotion, the better. If one ninja can't take them down, send a whole squad!"
Hiroki felt a bit gloomy. Was there actually some kind of curse affecting the Kage of Kumogakure—that even when women became Raikage, they would inherit the Fourth's fiery temper?
He clearly remembered that Yugito was supposed to be reserved and composed...
"Yugito, don't act recklessly..."
"Wasn't it you who said we should conquer other ninja villages? Then let's start now..."
Mabui immediately perked up her ears. She looked like she'd just heard something unbelievable.
"We still need some time to prepare," Hiroki said.
"I can't take it anymore. Start the plan now. I just want to destroy anything that might interfere with me. I don't want to be stuck in this position anymore."
Yugito became emotionally charged, seemingly eager to go somewhere and fire off a few Tailed Beast Balls immediately.
"Lord Raikage..." After hearing her words, Mabui looked puzzled.
After a moment of headache, Hiroki took out a booklet compiled by Tsunade. "Although you are powerful, the people from Kumogakure aren't. If a major war breaks out now, they could suffer heavy casualties..."
"What is this?"
"A new spiritual cultivation technique. You can spread it throughout the village."
Yugito: "How long will that take? I can't wait anymore..."
Hiroki: "You really just want to vent your anger that badly?"
"Yes."
In the evening, Kaguya waited for Hiroki at the Palace of the Country of Hot Springs, along with Yugito he had brought.
Hiroki was slightly surprised to see Kaguya there.
Yugito, on the other hand, upon seeing Kaguya, coldly asked, "So this is your true form?"
As she spoke, she attempted to channel Two-Tails' chakra to initiate the Tailed Beast Transformation.
Unexpectedly, Nekomata would rather resist than provide her any chakra.
This greatly angered Yugito. "Two-Tails, what's wrong with you?"
"Yugito, you're not planning to fight her, are you? Don't do it," Two-Tails advised.
"Coward."
Yugito inwardly scoffed. If Two-Tails refused, Eight-Tails' attitude was likely similar.
Without relying on those two tailed beasts anymore, she directly pulled out her long sword from her back and charged toward Kaguya.
Hiroki silently watched this unfold, mentally commenting: No wonder Kaguya's the final leader. Her provocation factor's through the roof—does everyone who sees her have to pull a stunt like this?
What he meant by letting Yugito let off steam wasn't for her to challenge Kaguya alone.
Kaguya also felt somewhat speechless inside. Why did everyone seem determined to confront her?
With a 'clack,' Kaguya gently placed her hand on the blade aimed at her. The sword snapped in two, yet not a drop of blood touched her hand.
"Enough?" Kaguya asked calmly.
Yugito gave no answer, and Kaguya coldly turned away.
One moment brave, the next utterly defeated.
Hiroki wasn't remotely surprised by this outcome.
As the night grew darker, he led Yugito out to an open field.
Looking around, some spots were faintly shining.
Those were the spots where metal rails had already been laid down.
"If you really need a place to let off steam, there are several suspicious-looking ninjas here every night—neither from Konoha nor Kumogakure. You can use them as targets," Hiroki suggested.
He naturally referred to the enemies trying to destroy the railway tracks.
Since the guarding duties were entrusted to shinobi from Konoha or the Cloud Village, would-be troublemakers had found it difficult to cause trouble here.
The ninja following them had no choice but to intervene directly.
At times, loud and intense clashing sounds would echo from this place—usually just the guarding shinobi battling against those attempting sabotage.
After a moment of silence, Yugito spoke, "I've already let off some steam."
Hiroki's lips twitched. Was she referring to Kaguya?
"You mentioned before," she continued, "that this creature, the White Zetsu, can take me anywhere. Right?"
Hiroki nodded.
"Then I will come here every day." With that, she slid her long blade halfway into its sheath. "Don't think I'm just going to drop this."
Hiroki sweated. Looks like another person was determined to go up against Kaguya.
Meanwhile, on the same day, in the ninja academy deep within Konoha, another practical training session was underway.
"...Winner: Kiba Inuzuka."
"...Winner: Choji Akimichi."
"...Winner: Hinata Hyuga."
...
After recording the match results, Iruka flipped through the student roster, slowly frowning.
It was normal for civilian-born students to fall short compared to clan prodigies, right?
But why did it seem like they hadn't improved at all recently...
That shouldn't be the case.
Once the matches ended, students naturally turned to the target dummies to practice their throwing techniques.
In one corner of the training field, a group of civilian-born students gathered together.
They were puzzled too. Day after day, they practiced exactly what the Hokage had taught—so why weren't they improving? If anything, they seemed to be falling even farther behind Shikamaru and the rest.
The group murmured among themselves.
"Did you guys practice [Sage Art Basics]?"
"Yeah."
"But why does it feel useless...like we're just wasting time..."
"That was something strongly emphasized by the Hokage. It must have value, right?"
Finally, a boy stepped forward and approached Iruka with his question, "Sensei Iruka, can you tell us exactly what qualifies as successfully mastering [Sage Art Basics]?"
At this, the rest of the students also stopped what they were doing, directing their gazes toward Iruka.
Their thoughts were almost the same—they too were eager to find out.
Feeling the weight of everyone's eyes upon him, Iruka gave an inward sigh. His own understanding of Sage Art was still unclear—he had been studying for nearly as long as these students.
Earlier, Tsunade herself had told him that learning Sage Art entirely depended on talent.
Mastery relied entirely on talent. Those who couldn't grasp its essence were simply wasting their effort.
You either got it or you didn't.
Still, he didn't want to say that outright—it might discourage his students.
After a pause, he replied, "The Hokage once said that cultivating Sage Art is a long-term commitment."
"Tsk..." The students muttered among themselves and scattered.
"This still doesn't make any sense..."
"To be honest, this class is taking up more and more of our time. But it's totally impossible to learn anything—it makes me want to fall asleep every time I go to class. What should we do?"
"Do you think they might pick things up faster? After all, they each have guidance from high-level ninja..."
At this point, many couldn't help but feel discouraged.
Did having a late start mean you'd always be behind?
The "they" everyone referred to were obviously Hinata, Shikamaru, and the rest.
Shikamaru silently fixed his gaze upon Hinata.
Nowadays, the Hyuga Clan had become a trendsetter for other clans.
That influence extended even into the Academy.
Other clans only dared to follow once they saw what the Hyuga had done—afraid their own families might share the Sarutobi Clan's fate.
Hinata silently took in what was being said and then reported all she'd heard to Kaguya.
She knew Tsunade wouldn't just start teaching without a reason—it must have been something she and Kaguya had planned together.
But if there was no visible progress or results over time, those people might likely give up.
Kaguya understood this too.
Therefore, one afternoon after classes at the Ninja Academy, Tsunade suddenly felt her body temporarily slip beyond her control once again.
She couldn't help but form a helpless smile inwardly.
After a short while, the sensation passed.
Meanwhile, back at the Hyuga estate inside Hiashi's home, Hinata sat cross-legged beneath a tree in the courtyard, eyes closed.
Waves of energy—both gentle and wild—constantly surged around her.
Passing by, Hiashi happened to witness this scene, momentarily stunned.
Then, he activated his Byakugan for closer observation.
"Chakra from the air... flowing into Hinata's body?"
"No, wait—this seems more like the Natural Energy Hokage mentioned before?"
"Could Hinata's talent truly be this impressive?"
Hiashi felt greatly surprised.
After a short while, Hinata finally opened her eyes, carrying a composure far beyond her years.
Hiashi remained silent, waiting patiently by her side.
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