Naruto: Legend of the Eighteen-Tailed Beasts

But Hinata's bloodline had been separated from Otsutsuki Kaguya's by an unknown number of generations. There was no way she could suddenly possess the same bloodline as Otsutsuki Kaguya.

This needed a process.

Over the past three years, the highly corrosive bloodline from Otsutsuki Kaguya had constantly sought to devour the Hyper-mutation Factors that formed Hinata's Immortal Body.

But no matter how corrosive the God Tree was, could it surpass the corrosiveness of Calamity Beast Genes?

Hinata's body had now become a battlefield.

The God Tree Factors and Hyper-mutation Factors constantly devoured one another, each attempting to consume the other and strengthen itself.

The God Tree Factors had only just awakened and had yet to gain a foothold within Hinata's body. But the Hyper-mutation Factors were the same, having only just awakened the Immortal Body.

For the moment, they were evenly matched. But after Hinata placed the Immortal Body into the AFK Slot on the System Panel...

The God Tree Factors began suffering defeat after defeat on the battlefield within Hinata's body.

If Hinata had not kept the Byakugan in the AFK Slot, providing the God Tree Factors with some nourishment while strengthening the Byakugan...

The God Tree Factors would have been devoured long ago.

But Hinata could not bear to give up such a useful ability as the Byakugan, so she had kept it on the System Panel.

Over the past three years, Hinata's Byakugan had allowed her to see more clearly and farther away. Her dynamic vision, X-ray vision, and insight had all grown stronger as well. And then... there was nothing else.

Hinata had thought she would awaken the Tenseigan, but reality proved that she had been overthinking it.

The Byakugan was still the same Byakugan, but its enhancements had reached an utterly insane level.

First, her vision had reached the point where she could ignore distance and obstacles to see any target within a thousand kilometers around her with incomparable clarity.

She had truly achieved the level of a clairvoyant eye that could see a thousand miles away.

Hinata guessed that the reason she had not awakened the Tenseigan, Jōgan, or anything similar was that once the Byakugan reached Level 10, it would awaken an eye unique to her.

Now, the Immortal Body was nearly Level 2. Once it fully reached Level 2, it would be able to completely devour every last God Tree Factor inside Hinata's body.

It would undergo a complete transformation!

This transformation might even transform the Byakugan along with it, turning it into an eye unique to her!

Although all this looked wonderful, it was only because Hinata had the Immortal Body as a safety net.

If someone else allowed God Tree Factors equivalent to those inside Hinata's body to run rampant, he would probably become another God Tree.

Then he would draw out Otsutsuki Kaguya's son, the Sage of Six Paths.

Then the Sage of Six Paths would divide him, after he became the God Tree, into nine parts—nine tailed beasts.

Then the title of this book would probably have to be changed to Naruto: Legend of the Eighteen-Tailed Beasts...

Watching the "Experience +1" that popped up on the System Panel every so often, Hinata eagerly anticipated the changes that would come once the Immortal Body reached Level 2.

"Hinata, dinner's ready."

"Got it, Mother."

Looking up, Hinata saw that it was indeed around noon.

When she returned indoors, Hinata's parents were already seated at the table, waiting for her.

"Hinata, tomorrow is your birthday. Are you happy?"

Hinata's mother looked at her with a face full of affection.

After all, Hinata was so adorable.

"...It's alright."

Hyuga Hiashi frowned. His daughter was good in every way, except she was far too mature for her age.

The corners of Hiashi's mouth twitched for a moment. "Let's eat."

If he had not been absolutely certain it was impossible, he might have suspected his wife of cuckolding him.

But it was only a passing thought. Hinata's mother had always remained within the clan compound, and he himself had rarely left it either. Such a thing was simply impossible.

It had to be said that the Hyuga Clan's Main Family were truly masters of lying low.

To protect the Byakugan, members of the Main Family almost never left Konoha. Some had never even left the clan compound in their entire lives.

After Hyuga Hiashi became the clan head as an adult, he had not stepped outside the compound even once.

And he did not find it stifling...

As for why Hinata had horns on her forehead, Hiashi guessed that perhaps the Hyuga Clan had once intermarried with some clan from Kumogakure.

That was right—the clan that had produced the Gold and Silver Brothers.

It could not be helped. When people thought of horned individuals, those two were the first to come to mind.

After all, the deeds those brothers had committed were far too significant. Both the Second Raikage and the Second Hokage had fallen at their hands.

But their horns grew on either side of their heads, more like bull horns, while Hinata's horns grew from the front of her forehead.

Of course, the Third Hokage knew about Hinata's horns. He too thought of the Gold and Silver Brothers who had killed his teacher, but he also knew the Hyuga Clan could not possibly be related to them, so he said nothing.

Meanwhile, Danzo from Root—the man who looked at everyone as if they owed him two million—had a great deal of dissatisfaction toward Hinata.

But if he provoked both of Konoha's Two Great Dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai Clans, life would not be easy for him either.

So he could only secretly decide to make things difficult for Hinata in the future.

Hinata did not care much about her birthday. It was just a birthday, after all.

But the Hyuga Clan did not see it that way. The birthday of the Hyuga Clan's young miss naturally had to be celebrated in grand style.

They had even skipped the arrival of Kumogakure to sign the ceasefire agreement in order to celebrate Hinata's third birthday.

"Tomorrow, huh..."

Although Hinata did not remember when Kumogakure had planned to kidnap her...

She did remember that Kumogakure had used the signing of the ceasefire agreement as an opportunity to sneak into the clan compound and abduct her.

She had not expected it to coincide with her birthday.

"Tomorrow, I'll let Kumogakure's people take a stroll around Konoha."

Although she appeared not to care about her birthday, it only came once a year. She did not want it to be disrupted like this.

The next day, the Hyuga Clan Compound was especially festive.

Sarutobi Hiruzen, who had been waiting at Konoha's gates since early morning, also wore a smile.

As long as they signed the agreement with Kumogakure, the war would officially be over.

Konoha would also have a chance to catch its breath. During this time, they had to nurture Konoha's next generation as quickly as possible.

Sarutobi Hiruzen did not have to wait long before Kumogakure's Peace Envoy arrived in Konoha.

Although Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to sign the ceasefire agreement as soon as possible, such an agreement was naturally not something simple.

There were countless matters to handle on every front, especially war reparations. Both Konoha and Kumogakure did everything in their power to fight for their own interests, and they argued back and forth for an entire day.

The sun set, and the moon rose.

Hyuga Clan Compound.

Since they were celebrating Young Miss Hinata's birthday, there naturally had to be a banquet.

As a renowned prestigious clan of the Shinobi World, all of Konoha's major clans attended this banquet. Even Hokage-sama came to offer his congratulations.

The banquet began in the evening and continued for a long time.

Meanwhile, over on Kumogakure's side, no one noticed that someone from Kumogakure's Peace Envoy was quietly slipping away.

In the dead of night, surely he was not just looking for somewhere to relieve himself.

His target was the Hyuga Clan's young miss, Hyuga Hinata.

But he would never have imagined what he would encounter tonight.