Sunagakure, Land of Wind
The Third Kazekage had been missing for some time. During that period, Suna-nin had dispatched a large number of Ninja, yet they had failed to find even the slightest trace of him. However, as the leader of an entire village, for him to vanish without a sound for so long most likely meant he had been murdered.
Otherwise, the Third Kazekage would have sent word back to the village no matter what. As the village's highest leader, he should have understood what such a long period without communication meant for Sunagakure.
At Sunagakure's highest-level meeting, the village Elders and the heads of every department had discussed the Third Kazekage's disappearance countless times. They had even invited the long-retired Elders Ebizo and Chiyo, yet they still could not come up with a definite plan.
At the meeting, Rasa, who had once trained under the Third Kazekage, spoke up. "The Third Hokage has been missing for two months now. Not only can we no longer keep it from the lower-ranking Ninja, but the other major ninja villages are also probing for news of him. According to information gathered by the Anbu, that bastard Third Raikage seems to have designs on us."
Although the Land of Wind was barren, the Third Kazekage had been ambitious and had stockpiled considerable resources on Sunagakure's front line. According to Suna-nin Anbu intelligence, Kumo-nin likely intended to make a move against the area.
A Suna-nin Elder flew into a rage upon hearing that. "The Third Raikage? Does he think we're soft targets just because the Third Hokage isn't here?!"
Another Elder said, "If it's that brute, there's no need to fear him. He didn't dare act while the Third Hokage 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 coughing lightly, Chiyo addressed the crowd. Though she had stepped down long ago, as the wife of the First Kazekage 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?"
Everyone in the meeting room was startled upon hearing Chiyo's words.
She was clearly preparing to choose Rasa as the Fourth Kazekage. How could such a major matter be decided so casually? Even if Chiyo was the First Hokage's wife, she could not simply disregard their opinions.
Someone immediately wanted to speak out and oppose Chiyo's intention to appoint Rasa as the Fourth Kazekage.
As for the candidate for Kazekage, the Elders of Sunagakure each had their own thoughts. Rasa had merely trained alongside the Third Hokage for a period of time. Though he had learned Magnet Release, he had never been accepted as the Third Hokage's disciple.
"Elder Chiyo."
"If any of you can repel the Third Raikage and protect the village, then you can become the Fourth Hokage. If you want to become Kazekage, the achievement of protecting the village is essential."
Chiyo spoke slowly in her aged voice, then swept her gaze across everyone seated around the conference table. Yet beneath her gaze, everyone except Rasa unconsciously looked away.
After all, their opponent was the Third Raikage, the man rumored 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 and declared solemnly, "But I am not doing this for the position of Kazekage. I am doing it to protect Sunagakure."
Chiyo nodded. "Then I'll leave it to you."
The Third Kazekage's disappearance had dealt Sunagakure a severe blow. Its high-end fighting strength was lacking, while the lower-ranking Ninja were stirred into an uproar. Though Chiyo had not managed village affairs for a long time, her old eyes were not clouded.
In the current Sunagakure, only two young Ninja, Rasa and Pakura, could shoulder the burden. Pakura was powerful, but her political awareness was far too lacking.
Compared to Sunagakure's turmoil, Konoha remained calm internally, but the fighting along its borders was growing increasingly fierce.
In the past, escort missions would still pass through the three countries of Fire, Grass, and Earth, but now all escort missions had been halted.
At the same time, Konoha began purchasing large quantities of strategic supplies such as Kunai, Shuriken, and Exploding Tags, causing weapon prices in the village's ninja tool shops to rise by twenty percent.
Such a drastic 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 decreased considerably.
If they went to the battlefield like this, they might be killed at a critical moment because they did not have enough Shuriken.
Even Hyuga Mirai received a mandatory assignment: he had to turn in ten Healing Tags every day, with every two days counting as one wartime B-rank Mission.
It had to be known that Hyuga Mirai held a very special position at Konoha Hospital. His authority was equivalent to that of an associate director, yet he did not need to work.
But this time, even he had been issued a mandatory assignment. One could imagine the resolve of Konoha's higher-ups and the Third Hokage.
For this reason, Hyuga Mirai could only assign two fewer Shadow Clones and use them to complete the village's mission. He also used this as an excuse to decline 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 enough to produce an injection, but Hyuga Mirai still wanted to wait until it reached 100% 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 the original body could obtain some of Tsunade's genes and compare them to develop a slightly weaker version, perhaps we could guarantee a 100% successful fusion."
Hyuga Mirai glanced at the Shadow Clone and said, "She isn't even in Konoha anymore. What's the point of saying that now? Run the calculations again. If it still doesn't work, we'll do as Orochimaru did and directly remove part of the genes."
Time was pressing, and even Hyuga Mirai's original body had come to the Laboratory to help. Under normal circumstances, he could have taken his time experimenting.
But Hyuga Mirai could be sent by Sarutobi Hiruzen to the border for reinforcements at any moment, forcing him to complete the research as quickly as possible.
Then, after repeated calculations and experiments by Hyuga Mirai's original body and Shadow Clone, they finally raised the fusion rate to 96%.
Seeing this result, the Shadow Clone could not help saying, "With the Chakra accumulated in the Yang Seal, it should be possible to raise it by another 1% or 2%. This is already the limit."
The Yang Seal was an extremely similar Sealing Technique that Hyuga Mirai had developed based on the principles of Tsunade's Yin Seal. However, its passive capabilities far outweighed its active ones. It sealed Yang Release Chakra within the acupoints throughout Hyuga Mirai's body.
Through this, the Yang Release Chakra slowly nourished his body's cells, thereby strengthening Hyuga Mirai's physical constitution.
However, the human body had an enormous number of acupoints. After nearly two years, Hyuga Mirai had only activated the acupoints around his digestive organs, improving his digestion and accelerating the recovery of his stamina.
"This is all we can do. If we remove some of the genetic traits of the Hashirama Cells, it won't feel complete anymore. There would be no difference between me and Orochimaru's experimental subjects."
Hyuga Mirai shook his head, then took an injection from the Shadow Clone and injected it directly near his chest.
One injection every three days. It would take five injections and twelve days in total to completely reconstruct his Gene Sequence.
After the first three injections, Hyuga Mirai would lose his Byakugan. However, the final two injections would grant 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 mouth could not help but curl upward slightly.
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