The girl appeared to be only a little over ten years old.
Half of her hair was silver-white, while the other half was jet black.
Her delicate face carried a faintly sickly smile, and her eyes were heterochromatic—one black, one white.
Her clothing revealed a strong sense of fashion in its details.
From the patterns along the collar to the decorative designs across her outfit, everything was exquisitely crafted.
Long hair draped along both sides of her face, tied with elegant ribbons.
Her black stockings and leather boots further accentuated her youthful beauty.
Although she had lived for over a hundred years, according to half-elf aging, she was still considered a young girl in the prime of youth.
As a descendant whose bloodline had returned to its ancestral form—a mixture of the Eight Greed Kings and the Six Great Gods—she bore a title far heavier than someone of her apparent age should carry.
She was:
The Extra Seat of the Black Scripture,
A God-kin with ancestral blood,
The Slane Theocracy's undefeated trump card,
The last guardian of humanity,
A being born through the impossible phenomenon of "hybrid reproduction that should not exist."
Her name—
Antilene Heran Fouche.
Also known as Zesshi Zetsumei.
The higher-ups of the Slane Theocracy had kept her existence extremely secret.
Even Fluder, who had lived for more than two hundred years, had never heard of her.
During the previous war against Iwagakure, Zesshi had not been deployed.
On one hand, the Theocracy wished to preserve its greatest hope for revival.
On the other hand, the God-kin Captain had judged that against Tsuchikage Rōshi, Zesshi's appearance was unnecessary.
Furthermore—
Her existence was a taboo for the Platinum Dragon Lord of the Council State.
If he were to discover her, unpredictable consequences might follow.
The Platinum Dragon Lord had once gathered allies to surround the Eight Greed Kings.
In the end, he alone survived.
He had witnessed the moment when the dragon race was forced from the center of the world into the shadows.
Since then, he had harbored deep hatred for anything connected to the Eight Greed Kings.
And Zesshi—
Carrying the sinful blood of the Eight Greed Kings and possessing power equivalent to the Blazing Sun level—
Was exactly the kind of existence he despised most.
When the Slane Theocracy and the Baharuth Empire finally met, they only exchanged brief greetings.
Yet through a single glance between the High Priest and the Blood Emperor Jircniv, mutual understanding had already been reached.
"Hatake!"
The one escorting the Theocracy delegation was Might Duy.
He knew he was not good at conversation, so he had barely spoken during the entire journey.
But the naturally cheerful and energetic Duy had been holding in a mountain of words.
Now that he had finally returned to Konoha and spotted Hatake Sakumo, his excitement was immediately visible.
"Take the guests to the foreign embassy hotel first."
"We'll talk later."
The two groups walked one after the other along the stone-paved streets.
Surprisingly, they attracted very little attention.
The Sarutobi Clan Residence
Nearly ten years old, Sarutobi Shinnosuke had already reached Chūnin-level strength.
Under the careful guidance of his clan's jōnin and his grandfather Sarutobi Sasuke, he had made tremendous progress over the past four years.
Within his grade at the academy, only one rival could compete with him for first place—
An Uchiha.
But after that rival consumed a Bloodline Seed, Shinnosuke knew his own strength was no longer enough.
Now, as he hurried home, he hoped his grandfather could exchange a Bloodline Seed for him as well.
Preferably something like Ice Release, which could counter Fire Release and Lava Release.
If he could maintain first place until graduation, it would bring tremendous advantages.
Not only could he choose a top-tier advanced ninja academy, but he would also have greater influence in selecting his future instructor.
Upon enrollment, he would also gain a large amount of academy points.
Those points could be used to exchange powerful ninjutsu or accumulate credits.
Some of them could even be used to purchase discounted Bloodline Seeds sold by the academy.
Sarutobi Shinnosuke had already set a personal goal.
After graduating from the advanced ninja academy—
He would become an Elite Jōnin with dual bloodline abilities.
Ideally, he would reach the Morning Star level.
And then join the Royal Court Shinobi Army, dedicating his life to the Supreme Leader.
That way, he would live up to his grandfather's teachings and the expectations of his teachers and classmates.
"Those must be people from the Magic Continent."
Shinnosuke glanced at the strangely dressed delegations.
He didn't pay much attention.
Recently, the ninja academy had urgently printed new textbooks about other continents.
The sudden increase in courses made many children miserable.
As the second generation of a ninja clan, however, Shinnosuke was already very familiar with the Magic Continent.
Every evening and during rest days, he overheard deeper discussions about world affairs.
Even when he didn't fully understand something, Sarutobi Sasuke would patiently explain and encourage him to remember it.
Later in life, he would slowly comprehend its meaning.
"Today is the day when the defeated nations come to meet the Supreme Leader."
Shinnosuke recalled his grandfather's words from yesterday.
He cast one last glance at the delegations.
Then he noticed the white-haired man and the bowl-cut ninja wearing the emblem of the Royal Court Shinobi Army.
A trace of envy flashed in his eyes.
"One day…"
"I'll reach that level too."
According to Sarutobi Sasuke's plan, Shinnosuke—like most ninja clan children—had no intention of skipping grades or graduating early.
The ninja academy was the best environment for growth.
Except for forbidden techniques, most knowledge could be obtained cheaply by performing well and earning academic credits.
Compared with merit points, earning academy credits was nearly ten times easier.
Use Konoha's resources to accelerate personal growth.
Then, after becoming strong—
Give back to Konoha.
The relationship was mutually beneficial.
Even the Uchiha and Senju clans followed this philosophy.
Recently, however, a new exchange item in the academy had sparked a frenzy.
"Wood Release — Bloodline Seed."
Its appearance triggered an intense wave of competition.
Thinking about this, Shinnosuke quickened his pace toward the clan compound.
After greeting several clan members along the way, he found the jōnin instructor responsible for his after-school training.
Soon, he resumed practice in the three fundamental shinobi arts—ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.
At the same time, Uchiha Soren's existence brought both pride and pressure to the Uchiha clan.
Outstanding Uchiha children were inevitably urged by their elders to accelerate their training.
Relaxation and leisure?
Most talented Uchiha children had never heard of such concepts.
From the moment they could extract chakra, they were pushed to train relentlessly.
If not for Uchiha Hikari pulling back the reins at times—
Working 24 hours a day, seven days a week might have been considered a blessing for them.
Study until exhaustion.
Train until collapse.
Within the academy—
First place must belong to the Uchiha.
Under this philosophy, Uchiha children trained so intensely that other kids felt their teeth ache just watching.
Parents from other ninja clans often said to their children:
"Look at that Uchiha kid—he's already first in the grade and still studying hard."
"How can you afford to slack off?"
Soon the other clan children started pushing themselves harder.
That, in turn, created even more pressure for the Uchiha children—
Who trained even harder.
The ninja clan children competed.
The civilian children felt the atmosphere and joined in.
Children pushed each other further and further.
Eventually—
Even the adults didn't want to be surpassed by kids who weren't even one-third their age.
Thus a culture of effort, and then even greater effort, spread outward from the ninja academy—
Sweeping across the entire shinobi world.
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