Escaping the Caged Bird Seal

Sunagakure, Land of Wind

The Third Kazekage had been missing for some time. During this period, Sunagakure had dispatched a large number of ninja, yet they had not found even the slightest clue about him. However, as the leader of a village, having vanished without a sound for so long most likely meant he had been killed.

Otherwise, the Third Kazekage would have sent word back to the village no matter what. As the village's highest leader, he should have known what such a prolonged lack of contact meant for Sunagakure.

At Sunagakure's highest-level meeting, the village elders and heads of every department had discussed the matter of the Third Kazekage countless times. They had even invited Elder Ebizo and Elder Chiyo, who had long since retired, yet still failed to settle on a definite plan.

At the meeting, Rasa, who had trained under the Third Kazekage, spoke up. "The Third Kazekage has been missing for two months now. Not only can we no longer keep it from the ninja below, even the other major ninja villages are probing for information about him. And according to the Anbu's intelligence, that bastard, the Third Raikage, seems to have his sights set on us."

Although the Land of Wind was barren, the Third Kazekage had been ambitious and stockpiled considerable resources along Sunagakure's front line. According to Sunagakure's Anbu intelligence, Kumo-nin were very likely harboring ill intentions toward the area.

Upon hearing this, a Sunagakure elder angrily said, "The Third Raikage? Did he see that the Third Kazekage is gone and decide we're easy prey!?"

Another elder said, "If it's that brute, there's no need to fear him. He didn't dare act while the Third Kazekage was around, but the moment he learned of his disappearance, he wanted to come trample on Sunagakure. Hmph!"

"We should be thinking of a way to deal with Kumo-nin's invasion, not talking about irrelevant matters."

After lightly coughing, Chiyo addressed the crowd. Though she had stepped down long ago, as the First Kazekage's wife and Sunagakure's strongest Puppet Master, her words still carried considerable weight.

"Rasa, if the village were entrusted to you, would you be confident in protecting Sunagakure from enemy invasion?"

The moment Chiyo said this, everyone in the conference room was startled.

She was clearly preparing to choose Rasa as the Fourth Kazekage. How could such an important matter be decided so casually? Even if Chiyo was the First Kazekage's wife, she could not simply disregard their opinions.

Someone immediately wanted to speak up and oppose Chiyo's intention to appoint Rasa as the Fourth Kazekage.

As for the choice of Kazekage, the elders of Sunagakure each had their own candidates in mind. Rasa had merely trained alongside the Third Kazekage for a time. Though he had learned Magnet Release, he had never been accepted as the Third Kazekage's disciple.

"Elder Chiyo."

"If any of you can repel the Third Raikage and protect the village, then you can become the Fourth Kazekage. If you want to become Kazekage, the merit of protecting the village is essential."

Chiyo spoke slowly in her aged voice, then swept her gaze across everyone seated at the conference table. Yet under her gaze, everyone except Rasa unconsciously looked away.

After all, their opponent was the Third Raikage, a man said to be capable of suppressing the Eight-Tails all by himself.

Even though they privately called him a muscle-brained brute, they had no choice but to acknowledge that brute's strength.

"I am willing to stop Kumo-nin's invasion, Elder Chiyo!"

Rasa rose to his feet, his expression solemn as he said, "But I am not doing this for the position of Kazekage. I am doing it to protect Sunagakure."

Chiyo nodded. "Then I leave it to you."

The Third Kazekage's disappearance had dealt Sunagakure a severe blow. Its high-end combat power was lacking, while the ninja below were growing increasingly agitated. Though Chiyo had not managed village affairs for a long time, her old eyes were far from dim.

In the current Sunagakure, only two young ninja, Rasa and Pakura, could shoulder the burden. Pakura was strong, but her political awareness was far too lacking.

Compared to Sunagakure's unrest, Konoha remained peaceful internally, but the fighting along its borders had grown increasingly intense.

Escort missions that once passed through the Lands of Fire, Grass, and Earth had now all been suspended.

At the same time, Konoha was purchasing large quantities of strategic Supplies such as Kunai, Shuriken, and Exploding Tags, causing weapon prices at ninja tool shops throughout the village to rise by twenty percent.

Such a sharp price increase at ninja tool shops hit Chunin and Genin the hardest. They did not know many ninjutsu, and their primary killing methods were Shuriken, Kunai, and Exploding Tags.

With prices suddenly rising so much, the number of weapons they could purchase had dropped considerably.

If they went to the battlefield like this, they could very well be killed at a critical moment because they did not have enough Shuriken.

Even Hyuga Mirai received a mandatory assignment: he had to submit ten Healing Tags every day, with every two days counting as one wartime B-rank Mission.

Hyuga Mirai held a special position at Konoha Hospital. His authority was equivalent to that of an associate director, yet he did not need to do any work.

But this time, even he had been issued a mandatory assignment. It was clear how resolute the Konoha Higher-ups and the Third Hokage were.

As a result, Hyuga Mirai could only create two fewer Shadow Clones to complete the village's assignments. He also used this as an excuse to turn down Hyuga Kiyomi and Yuhi Kurenai's request to train together.

Konoha Hospital Laboratory

Hyuga Mirai stared intently at the gene fusion inside the instrument. The current fusion rate had reached 87%, already meeting the standard for producing an injection, but Hyuga Mirai still wanted to wait until it reached one hundred percent before injecting it.

The Shadow Clone scratched his head and said, "This is already the most optimized calculation result. It seems Hashirama Senju's genes are simply too powerful. If you could get some of Tsunade's genes and compare them to find something slightly weaker, we might be able to ensure a one hundred percent successful fusion."

Hyuga Mirai glanced at the Shadow Clone and said, "She's not even in Konoha anymore. What's the point of saying that now? Run the calculations again. If that doesn't work, we'll do as Orochimaru did and directly remove part of the genes."

Time was tight. Even Hyuga Mirai's main body had come to the Laboratory to help. Under normal circumstances, he could have taken his time experimenting.

But now, Sarutobi Hiruzen could dispatch Hyuga Mirai to the border for reinforcements at any moment, forcing him to complete his research as soon as possible.

Then, after repeated calculations and experiments by Hyuga Mirai's main body and Shadow Clone, they finally raised the fusion rate to 96%.

Seeing this result, the Shadow Clone could not help but say, "With the Chakra accumulated in the Yang Seal, it should be possible to raise it by another one or two percent. This is already the limit."

The Yang Seal was a Sealing Technique Hyuga Mirai had developed based on the principles of Tsunade's Yin Seal, and it was extremely similar to it. However, this Sealing Technique's passive capabilities outweighed its active ones. It sealed Yang Release Chakra within the acupuncture points across Hyuga Mirai's body.

Through this, Yang Release Chakra gradually nourished his body's cells, thereby strengthening Hyuga Mirai's physical constitution.

Yet the human body had countless acupuncture points. After nearly two years, Hyuga Mirai had only activated the points around his digestive organs, improving his digestion and allowing his energy to recover faster.

"This is the only way. If we remove some of the genetic traits of the Hashirama Cells, it just won't feel complete. It would be no different from Orochimaru's test subjects."

Hyuga Mirai shook his head. Then, taking an injection from the Shadow Clone, he directly injected it near his chest.

One injection every three days. It would take five injections over twelve days to completely alter his Gene Sequence.

After the first three injections, Hyuga Mirai would lose his Byakugan, but the final two injections would give him a flawless Byakugan.

"I can finally get rid of this ugly mark."

Hyuga Mirai looked at his forehead in the mirror, and the corners of his lips could not help but curl upward slightly.

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