No matter their strength, the nature of chakra gives shinobi a certain sensitivity to danger. It is instinct—those who lack sharpness in this regard usually die rather casually.
When Makoto and Yugito Nii clashed, the shinobi on both sides quickly withdrew.
The Kumogakure side didn't want to run into that devil, Higashino Makoto.
The Konohagakure side knew that staying would only get in the way.
So the explosion of the Tailed Beast Ball didn't affect too many people on either side.
What the Kumogakure shinobi didn't expect, however, was that their own jinchūriki would be so easily beaten—pressed to the ground and ground down in just a few moves by Konoha's "devil."
When the Two-Tails saw the Tailed Beast Ball it had painstakingly condensed being forcibly pushed back into the jinchūriki's mouth, the entire cat froze on the spot.
It could be played like this?
But at this moment, it could only do its utmost to disperse the yin-yang chakra within the Tailed Beast Ball while protecting the jinchūriki's life amid the explosion.
With a loud boom, Yugito was blasted diagonally away like a rag doll. Her clothes were shredded into rags, her entire body covered in wounds—especially her face, which was blown up so badly that even her mother wouldn't recognize her, if her mother were still alive.
Nearby Kumogakure shinobi rushed forward and caught her. Upon discovering that although she was deeply unconscious, she still had a faint breath, everyone let out a sigh of relief.
As long as she was alive, it was fine. As for her injuries? That wasn't a concern— a jinchūriki's recovery ability was on a completely different level from that of ordinary shinobi.
If this conflict had caused Kumogakure to lose their jinchūriki, it would have been a huge loss. None of them would have an easy time after returning.
This explosion drew a pause to the conflict. The shinobi entangled together quickly separated, glaring at each other in confrontation.
Kumogakure's Dodai immediately led his men to protect the jinchūriki. He cast a resentful glance at the Konoha side, then silently withdrew at high speed with his group.
Makoto looked at the commander who had come to his side and asked, "Suzaku-senpai, aren't we going to pursue?"
Suzaku shook his head. "No. Let them go. This is enough. I think after this, Kumogakure probably won't dare start large-scale conflict with Konoha again."
"Alright."
Makoto had no objection. He himself wasn't particularly of the combative faction, and most people in Konoha were the same.
Because the Land of Fire was rich in resources and Konohagakure had a deep foundation, there was little need to plunder the outside world. War was mainly for resisting invasion, and the general tone in peacetime was to avoid escalating conflicts.
Unlike certain ninja villages, where once development became unbalanced, they had to start wars to shift internal contradictions.
So in Konoha, Shimura Danzō was in the minority—few were willing to support his ideology.
...
Suzaku's judgment was correct.
At the end of Year 51 of Konoha, the conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure over the Land of Hot Water—and subsequently the chakra metal ore veins of the Sakama Mine—ended with Kumogakure's defeat.
Their Two-Tails jinchūriki had nearly had her cat head smashed in by Konoha.
From then on, Kumogakure became much more restrained. They only occasionally had small-scale squad skirmishes with Konoha and no longer dared to launch large-scale offensives.
However, they did not withdraw their troops. Unwilling to leave in disgrace, they simply remained in a standoff with Konoha within the Land of Hot Water, and the situation fell into a deadlock.
This greatly disappointed the other forces watching both sides.
Kumogakure really was… Konoha's Nine-Tails incident had given you an opportunity, but you were useless.
In his office, the old man Ōnoki held his waist and sighed at how incompetent the Kumo shinobi were.
But for them to personally go and start another round against Konoha? That was absolutely out of the question.
No matter what, Iwagakure would not take the lead prematurely this time.
Having gone through three Great Ninja Wars, Ōnoki deeply understood one principle—in the ninja world, those who jump the highest die the fastest.
After the conflict, ordinary friction no longer required Makoto to take action, and he returned to his leisurely days of training.
The training of white natural energy required no special attention—maintaining passive practice in daily life was sufficient.
All kinds of natural energy were everywhere. Ordinary people and shinobi lived within it, but they had no reaction to it. Even if they inhaled a bit during breathing, it wouldn't affect the chakra in their bodies and would soon be expelled automatically.
Makoto was different. Previously, he had needed to absorb it in the state of a consciousness body. Later, he no longer needed to manifest that consciousness externally to absorb it.
Now, after entering a normal Sage Mode, his body seemed to have become a vacuum—white natural energy would automatically enter his body, merge with his consciousness and flesh, and carry out continuous, deep transformation.
In this state, he no longer needed to use the consciousness body to neutralize the power of annihilation—that thing now had little effect on him.
The advantage was that he didn't need to worry about it; training was happening at all times.
The disadvantage was that it was quite slow—a steady, trickling process. If he actively absorbed it, the speed could be increased, but it still had to go through the consciousness body to neutralize the annihilation power.
Generally, he would enter an active training state for a period at night while sleeping.
Aside from that, the training of yin-yang chakra attributes had begun to progress again. But the closer it got to the end, the harder it became—no longer advancing by leaps and bounds like before, but instead progressing through slow, steady accumulation.
Now, he had placed most of his focus on the nature transformation of chakra.
Especially recently, he had been researching the bloodline fusion of Wood Release.
Ice Release had only taken him about ten days to successfully fuse, but Wood Release was far too mysterious. At present, he could only fuse Earth Release and Water Release to generate abundant vitality, but he still hadn't found the seed to give birth to Wood Release.
In the forest, Makoto infused this fused chakra into a small tree beside him. The tree swayed in the wind, sprouting and growing rapidly in the middle of winter. Soon, it became lush with leaves, forming a sharp contrast with the bare trees around it.
What did this count as?
Fertilizer Release?
...
Ten days passed in a flash, and it was now late December—the New Year was approaching.
Kumogakure, having been beaten once, had become more compliant. The northern front was temporarily stable, and Konoha redeployed part of its forces in rotation.
Suzaku volunteered to remain and garrison the area as commander, while Makoto and Hizashi left the northern front to return home for the New Year.
This one was essentially taking the burden for his clanmate—and clan head—Nara Shikaku. The latter had just become a father at the beginning of the year and was currently enjoying life at home with his wife and child—there was no way they could send him to the front at a time like this.
Within the forests of the Land of Fire, Konoha's shinobi forces advanced, moving faster than usual. With the New Year approaching, everyone wanted to return early.
Aside from Hizashi, there were also quite a few members of the Hyūga branch family among them.
According to Hizashi, his sister-in-law—the clan head's wife—was due at the end of the month. The main family was about to welcome the next heir, which was a major event for the Hyūga clan.
Only then did Makoto realize—it turned out that Hinata-sama was about to be born.
But her personality… whether she could become the heir of the main family was hard to say.
During a midway rest, Hizashi stood atop a tree, looking toward Konoha with a somewhat heavy expression, clearly not very happy.
Unlike ordinary branch family members, he was the twin brother of Hyūga Hiashi. Just a slight difference in birth order had made him a branch family member.
Regarding this, he had never said anything since coming of age. His relationship with his elder brother was also very good, and he was willing to give his life to protect him.
In his heart, protecting the clan head was not due to the innate obligation of the branch family, but rather the love of a younger brother for his elder brother.
But ever since Neji was born, his thoughts had begun to change.
Whenever he thought that his son, just because he was born a little later, had been designated as branch family and would one day have the Caged Bird Seal carved onto him, his heart was filled with unwillingness.
Yet he could do nothing.
This was the Hyūga tradition—even that First Hokage, the God of Shinobi, had no authority to interfere.
Hizashi watched the flock of birds flying away due to human presence and suddenly said, "Hey, Makoto, don't you think those birds are very free?"
Makoto thought to himself—no wonder you were staring toward Konoha in a daze. Turns out you were contemplating life here.
And you even came specifically to stand beside me—using me as a sounding board?
"They are very free. Hawks think so too."
"Do you think necessary control is protection?"
"For the vast majority of the weak, yes."
"So then, Makoto, what do you think freedom is?"
"It's simple—the stronger you are, the freer you are."
"What you said makes sense, but in the Hyūga clan, that doesn't hold."
"Then that just means you're not strong enough."
"…"
The conversation died on the spot. Hizashi felt like he had just been personally attacked.
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