Return to Konoha

Yichen missed the best time to abduct Kakashi Hatake, and now he doesn't want to miss Neji Hyuga.

In the original Konoha 11 were members of ninja clans, and even Sakura Haruno might be a descendant of the Senju Clan.

Neji was no exception. As a member of Neji 'Konoha largest clan, it wouldn't be surprising if Neji possessed the strength described in the original story. However, Yichen knew that this wasn't the case, because Neji had never received any guidance from anyone since childhood.

There is no doubt about this, because when Neji used the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms and the Rotation, which Unique Technique of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi, was unaware of it.

If Neji had guidance from his clansmen, then Hyuga Hiashi, who had absolute control over the Hyuga Clan, couldn't possibly be unaware of it.

However, no one ever told Hyuga Hiashi about this, and in all those memories, there was no mention of Neji having any close relatives or elders from the Hyuga Clan.

Therefore, Neji was able to graduate first in his class and achieve Jonin strength a year after graduation, all thanks to his own efforts.

That's truly remarkable.

At that age, Yichen was incredibly adept at social interaction and networking. He even shamelessly sought guidance from many people. The most outrageous instance was when he asked Ōnoki for advice.

Furthermore, Yichen possesses the soul of an adult and has read the original work, giving him a level of understanding of the world, Chakra, and Ninjutsu that Neji, a true child, cannot match.

Neji, who had no one to guide him since childhood, learned the secret techniques of the Hyuga Main Family solely through his talent; this is the true foundational genius.

So, if someone gave him guidance, could Neji surpass Kakashi, who became Chunin at six and a Jonin at eleven?

If someone guided Neji, and he stopped obsessing over the Hyuga Clan and stopped learning only Gentle Fist like in the original story, but instead learned Ninjutsu like a regular ninja, what level would Neji ultimately reach?

Yichen was very curious.

The only difficult problem is the Caged Bird. While the Caged Bird Caged Bird doesn't actually restrict the Byakugan much, it puts the branch family's lives entirely in the hands of the Main Family. The Main Family can even remotely kill any branch family ninja who has the Caged Bird Seal.

If Yichen wants to Neji Hyuga, then he will have to find a way to deal with the threat posed by the Caged Bird.

Is there a way to solve the problem of Caged Bird? Yichen believes there is.

Yichen's solution wasn't to break the Caged Bird. With Yichen's Yin Release skill level, he was far from being able to study the soul, and breaking the Caged Bird couldn't be done just by using Sealing Jutsu.

However, Yichen felt there was another way to solve the Caged Bird: to kill Hyuga Hiashi.

Yichen didn't know the activation principle of Caged Bird, but he knew without a doubt that even if a branch family ninja who had been subjected to Caged Bird received the Cursed Seal, he would not be able to use Caged Bird on another branch family ninja.

Currently, the Hyuga Clan only has two Main Family: one is Hyuga Hiashi, and the other is his daughter, Hinata Hyuga.

If Yichen's guess is correct, then after killing Hyuga Hiashi, no one will be able to use the Caged Bird for a certain period of time.

All the children, including Neji (except Hinata), were subjected to the Caged Bird. This means that no one will be able to use the Caged Bird until Hinata grows up or until the other branch family members' newborn children grow up.

This period is crucial for Neji Hyuga's growth. If he can grow to the point where he can truly resist or even break the Caged Bird Technique, then Yichen will have made a huge profit. If not, at most, his small investment will not yield a return, and the loss will be minimal.

Moreover, given Yichen's understanding of Hinata's personality, even if she did become the new Main Family, she might not necessarily use the Caged Bird to kill Neji.

After careful consideration, Yichen concluded that entering Konoha to steal Neji Hyuga was a worthwhile endeavor.

Furthermore, Neji, having been subjected to the Caged Bird, would not attract much attention from the Konoha High-ranking officials or the Hyuga Clan, making his chances of success quite high.

Most importantly, Yichen has an ally, Orochimaru. Although Orochimaru doesn't know that Yichen is also going to Konoha, Yichen knows that Orochimaru will definitely target Hyuga Hiashi.

Ideally, Orochimaru would kill Hyuga Hiashi directly. If not, then Yichen will help him out and eliminate Hyuga Hiashi.

Having figured this out, Yichen prepared to discuss it with the Advisor Group. Persuading the Advisor Group wouldn't be easy. Ōnoki and the others would allow Yichen to travel around, but they still had a natural fear of Konoha, always feeling that the place was extremely dangerous.

At the High-Level Meeting, Yichen said, "When I made the deal with Orochimaru last time, I mentioned some secrets of the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan to him. He should be interested in the Byakugan. I think the Cloud ninja's sudden dispatch of a delegation to Konoha is also related to this."

"I suspect that the Cloud ninja and Orochimaru are in contact. They might be plotting against Hyuga Hiashi together, or one of them might be using the other. I plan to take this opportunity to see if there's anything I can gain."

Ōnoki immediately objected. "No way. Konoha has Three Kage-level. Even if you have Sage Mode, once you enter Konoha and are discovered, it will be very difficult for you to leave alive. Besides, your Sage Mode requires time to prepare. In Konoha, when will you have time to enter Sage Mode?"

"Don't think you're so Zhongxing just because you infiltrated Konoha. If I had known you were going to Konoha that time, I would have locked you up in the village."

The other advisors shared the same attitude as Ōnoki, including Yichen's two disciples.

Yichen said, "How about this, let Ikura visit Kusagakure. Konoha will receive the news and might send a Kage Level to the border for a standoff. That way, I'll be much safer."

"Orochimaru is also Konoha Rogue Ninja. If I'm exposed, Orochimaru can help me hold off the Konoha ninja. Once I'm airborne, Konoha won't be able to stop me if they're unprepared."

Ming asked, "So how do you plan to infiltrate Konoha? Your last attempt to use up all your Chakra was too risky. If you're discovered, you'll be completely defenseless."

Yichen thought for a moment and said, "I plan to force my way in."

Before Ōnoki could object, Yichen interjected, "Don't worry, I won't fight my way in. I'll find a suitable time to Wind Release: Breakthrough Konoha's barrier and infiltrate the Konoha. Even if the Sensory Barrier detects me, I can just hide once I'm inside."

"I refuse to believe that Konoha can keep the village under lockdown indefinitely, given that there's Cloud Ninja envoy inside."

Ōnoki frowned, but he wasn't too worried. Even if Konoha conducted a large-scale search within the village, Yichen's strength was enough to keep him from being discovered. As Yichen had said before, he could simply fly away.

At this point, Ikura came up with a plan and said, "We should also send a delegation into Konoha to stir up trouble. If Yichen really has nowhere to hide, he can hide among the delegation."

Ōnoki said, "Alright then, but I'm worried about you going alone. I'll go with you."

Yichen was taken aback. "If I go to Konoha with you, Ikura goes to the Land of Grass, what will happen to the village's defenses?"

Ōnoki glared at Yichen and said, "So you do know the village's defenses are important. Ikura will stay behind, and we'll publicly claim that Ikura was sent into the Land of Grass. Just find someone to impersonate Ikura. To prevent Konoha from taking this lightly, we'll secretly mobilize a ninja army to the border of the Land of Grass. Then we'll deliberately leak the news."

Yichen thought about it and agreed, saying, "Ikura, Senior Han gets along very well with the Five-Tails. If there's anything you can do for us, Senior Han can help us."

Ikura nodded and said, "Be careful, don't worry about things here in the village."

After discussing it for a while, Yichen and Ōnoki set off for Konoha.

Both of them used the Light-Weight Rock Technique and the Camouflage Jutsu to fly through the air at extremely high speeds.

Although the Cloud Ninja envoy had already gone to Konoha, Yichen knew that negotiations between two countries wouldn't yield results so quickly. Therefore, Yichen wasn't worried about arriving too late.

Furthermore, Yichen had actually made a prediction about when he would take action against the Cloud ninja; going to Konoha at this time would be perfect.

In mid-air, Yichen and Ōnoki chatted as they flew.

"Yichen, your flight speed has increased so much! Using the same Light-Weight Rock Technique, your speed has surpassed mine," Ōnoki said.

Yichen chimed in, "That's all because we gained quite a bit in that Gravity Space in Uzushio Village last time. Third Generation, you can give it a try too."

Ōnoki hadn't paid much attention to that Gravity Space before, but now he was starting to care.

After thinking for a moment, Ōnoki said, "In that case, let's use the Light-Weight Rock Technique to fly at our fastest speed and see how much our speeds differ."

"Okay," Yichen replied.

Then, the two accelerated simultaneously, flying forward at top speed.

After flying for about ten kilometers, Yichen slowed down and began to wait for Ōnoki.

Soon after, Ōnoki caught up. He rubbed his back and said, "I'm really getting old. I can't even handle flying this far at full speed. I just checked, and you're about 20% faster than me. It seems that Gravity Space really is amazing. I really need to experience it for myself."

Upon hearing that Ōnoki was willing to go, Yichen quickly explained some precautions. For example, it was best to enter Sage Mode before trying the Gravity Space.

"Yichen, do you have any guesses about the origin of that space? Why does such a space exist?" Ōnoki asked.

Yichen shook his head. He really didn't know. In the original work, this Gravity Space only appeared once during the final battle between Team Seven and the big boss. Yichen didn't know what that Gravity Space was all about.

Issues related to Space-Time are a blind spot in Yichen's knowledge.

"Sigh, sometimes, I feel like the Ninja World is so small. Our five ninja villages have to wage war again and again just for living space. Other times, I feel like the Ninja World is so big, with so many things we don't know." As he flew, Ōnoki looked at the land of the Land of Fire beneath his feet and said with a sigh, seemingly lost in thought.

"If I hadn't witnessed Madara Uchiha's power when I was young, with my decades of experience Tsuchikage, I might have thought that the upper limit of a ninja was just that, and I might have thought that Chakra was nothing special."

"Yichen, if only you had been born a few decades earlier, in my time. If I had known Senjutsu back then, I would have led a group to attack Konoha long ago."

Yichen thought for a moment and said, "The Ninja World is indeed vast. I think the wonders of Chakra far exceed our imagination. I've always believed that some myths and legends aren't necessarily fictional. Perhaps the Sage of Six Paths really did exist."

"For example, the Chakra Fusion is called Kekkei Genkai, the fusion of three types is called Kekkei Tōta, so what about four types? Five types? What about the fusion of Yin Release Chakra and Yang Release Chakra? What about the fusion of all seven types of Chakra?"

"I speculate that if the Sage of Six Paths truly existed, he might have been a powerful being who fused five types of Chakra, or the Yin and Yang halves attributes, or even Seven Attributes of Chakra."