Teammates? My Death Omen Star Is Shining!

Hyuga Hiashi's letter of recommendation carried considerable weight.

On the day it was submitted, so many Konoha High-Ranking Officials were present in the Hokage's Office. Yet aside from Mitokado Homura, who made a probing jab at Hyuga Hiashi, the rest of them were decidedly ambiguous in their attitude toward Shinichi Hyuga.

Even Danzo, who in Shinichi's stereotypical impression loved stirring up trouble more than anyone else, chose to tacitly approve this matter.

As for the others, once they learned that Shinichi had mastered the Flying Thunder God, their surprise was followed by overwhelming delight.

Didn't this mean... that for the next fifty years, Konoha would have no need to worry about lacking successors?

Although Shinichi Hyuga was still young, in the Shinobi World, strength was authority. And the Flying Thunder God Technique represented strength—represented authority!

Its weight even far surpassed the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan Kekkei Genkai!

Shinichi Hyuga became the youngest Special Jonin in the village's history. Though this differed from being a Jonin in the true sense, once his appointment papers were issued, his name once again spread widely through Konoha Ninja circles.

However, only Shinichi's reputation spread. The fact that he had mastered the Flying Thunder God at such a young age was not exposed.

The Konoha High-Ranking Officials shared an unspoken understanding and voluntarily concealed the matter.

The Shinobi World had never lacked gifted prodigies. What it lacked were youthful heroes who could rise to prominence naturally.

The Shinobi World was vast, and Konoha was hardly the only Ninja Village that "produced" geniuses. The names of Genius Ninja often circulated from other Ninja Villages as well.

Thus, becoming a Special Jonin did not bring any major changes to Shinichi's life.

The only one who changed, perhaps, was his father, Hyuga Hiashi.

His son had become the youngest Special Jonin in the village's history, yet as his father, Hiashi was even more excited than Shinichi himself.

Whenever he walked down the street, people praised Hiashi for raising such a fine son. The stream of congratulations over the past several days left Hiashi floating on air. Usually stern and rigid, he had been beaming with pride lately, his face constantly wreathed in smiles.

The clansmen all thought their clan head had changed his ways.

Shinichi becoming a Special Jonin did not make much difference to him personally.

But the atmosphere and environment of the Hyuga Clan underwent enormous changes because of him. When Hyuga Clan Members spent time with friends and companions from the same village, they naturally could not avoid hearing others mention that genius from their clan.

Hearing the praise and admiration of others, their fellow Hyuga naturally felt immensely proud as well.

While marveling at the genius of the Main Family's heir, the resentment in the hearts of those Hyuga from the Branch Family was also soothed to some extent.

If the Main Family was weak, the Branch Family clansmen would often feel dissatisfied with their birth. They would feel it unfair—even resentful—that such a "weak" Main Family could lead them solely because of their lineage.

But Shinichi's emergence greatly diluted such thoughts among the Branch Family clansmen.

Having witnessed Shinichi's talent, the Branch Family clansmen could only sigh, "As expected of the Main Family." Being led by the Main Family, they felt it was only natural to be governed by the strong, and they no longer harbored much resentment.

Although it did not fundamentally resolve the essential conflict between the Main Family and the Branch Family, Hyuga Hiashi could clearly sense that the Main Family's prestige had risen again. His words carried more weight, and even the clan's cohesion had grown stronger.

This discovery delighted Hiashi beyond measure. Even his relationship with his younger brother Hizashi had become much more harmonious than before.

Hizashi Hyuga and Hyuga Hiashi were twins. Their talents were actually quite similar, with Hizashi even being slightly superior.

This had always left Hizashi deeply troubled by his identity as a Branch Family member. He believed he was not inferior to his older brother in any respect, yet because he had been born later, he became part of the Branch Family. This had long become Hizashi's inner demon.

However, after Shinichi was born and displayed his talent, this inner demon gradually faded away.

Watching Shinichi's astonishing rate of growth, Hizashi could only sigh. His father's choice back then seemed to have been entirely correct.

If the Main Family's heir was such a genius, then he could willingly assist his nephew properly.

As for his own son...

Under the guidance of such an older brother, he would surely become an outstanding ninja!

Time slowly passed. One week later, Konoha experienced a major event. Following orders from the higher-ups, the Clan Compounds of Konoha's major ninja clans were reassigned.

The Uchiha, originally located in the central district, were moved to the edge of the village. The Clan Compounds of the other clans also underwent some changes.

Only the Hyuga remained in the very center of Konoha. Their Clan Compound did not change at all; it even expanded to a certain extent due to population growth.

Shinichi did not know what had happened at that meeting, but according to his father, although there had been opposition from Clan Head Fugaku's side, it was suppressed by the Council of Elders.

Although the Fourth Hokage tried to mediate, he could not offer the Uchiha much help in this matter.

Shinichi could actually guess one or two of the reasons himself.

The essence of moving the Uchiha away from Konoha's center was the Konoha High-Ranking Officials' distrust. At the same time, considering that the Uchiha possessed the power to control Tailed Beasts, the two had to be managed separately.

Even Minato Namikaze could not block the group of higher-ups led by the Third Hokage in this matter.

This also made Shinichi realize that Minato's authority was limited.

The Council of Elders, Root, the Anbu commander, the "Deer" who headed the Jonin Squad—these higher-ups were all people of the Third Hokage. Minato was simply isolated and outnumbered.

Minato was constrained in major matters, but when it came to certain specific minor matters, he was still the one who could make decisions.

Not long after Shinichi's appointment was issued, Minato personally selected teammates for him.

That was right, Shinichi's team was built entirely around Shinichi himself.

Though Shinichi held the title of Special Jonin, the Fourth Hokage clearly did not regard him as an "ordinary" Special Jonin when making these arrangements.

The team captain was named Shibi Aburame. At twenty-seven, he was at the most mature age for a ninja. He had once been Minato Namikaze's teammate and was deeply trusted by Minato, so he became the captain of Shinichi's team.

Another member was a Chunin named Shisui Uchiha. Though he was a Chunin, this Uchiha Clan member was only ten years old this year and was a rather renowned Genius Ninja of the Uchiha Clan.

As for Shinichi's other teammate, his name was Might Guy. He was seventeen or eighteen, bursting with energy, and had only recently become a Jonin. The number of missions he had completed was also limited.

It was clear that Shinichi's team was not the usual arrangement of one Jonin leading three young Genin.

Assembling such a team during the Shinobi World War, Minato clearly had no intention of raising Shinichi as an ordinary child.

During this period of the Third Shinobi War, a team with this composition... could even play a certain role on the frontal battlefield.

When Shinichi learned that these were his teammates, the expression on his face froze for a moment.

It was known that Shisui Uchiha would awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan in the future, while Shibi Aburame and Might Guy both survived until the end.

So the question was, who... would help Shisui Uchiha awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan?