Kumogakure Mobilizes, Hyuga Ao's Dream

Kumogakure is nestled among high mountains, and those mountains serve as their natural defensive position. No matter how many people attack Kumogakure, it's useless, because you first have to deal with altitude sickness.

Due to its location on a plateau, the people of Kumogakure have better cardiovascular health and lower body fat percentages, which makes it easy for muscle-bound brutes like the Raikage to appear.

Thus, Kumogakure values martial prowess; they only respect the strong.

In Kumogakure, there's one most intuitive way to judge strength—how long someone can last in Heavenly Thunder Gorge and how high they can climb.

Heavenly Thunder Gorge is Kumogakure's sacred training ground. The density and power of the natural lightning strikes there are beyond what outsiders can imagine.

Once Cloud ninja reach a certain level of strength, they begin training in Heavenly Thunder Gorge, using Lightning Release and their bodies to welcome the heavenly thunder, tempering themselves with it to gain greater power.

But at the same time, Heavenly Thunder Gorge is dangerous; every year, Cloud ninja die there.

It's said that the secret Lightning Release Chakra Mode of Kumogakure and the ultimate technique of Black Lightning are hidden at the top of Heavenly Thunder Gorge.

The Third Raikage finished his daily practice and walked down from the peak of Heavenly Thunder Gorge. The surrounding Cloud ninja looked at him with reverence, gazing at their mighty Raikage.

The Third Raikage, Ai—or rather, Old Ai—returned to the Raikage building. The secretary beside him immediately handed him the documents in hand.

Old Ai took the documents, thought for a moment, tapped his fingers on the desk with a "thump, thump," and after a while, he asked:

"Have the candidates been chosen this time?"

"They're ready. As per the Raikage-sama's orders, all are proficient in Lightning Release and meet the speed requirements. A total of 1,000 people."

"Good. In that case, assemble them! Prepare to depart!"

"Yes, Raikage-sama!"

Old Ai looked at the 1,000 dark-skinned, robust Cloud ninja below the stage, with flashes of lightning occasionally flickering through the ranks, and a look of satisfaction appeared in his eyes.

He raised one hand, and a bolt of lightning fell from the sky, striking Old Ai's palm. Old Ai savored the feeling of holding heavenly thunder in his hand, then suddenly clenched his five fingers, directly crushing the thunder, scattering sparks of lightning across the ground.

Old Ai raised his hand again, showing his unharmed palm to the Cloud ninja, and said:

"My lads, on this trip to the Land of Earth, how much you can take is up to you!"

"Move out!"

"Ooooooh!"

A thousand high-speed Cloud ninja followed the Third Raikage to raid the Land of Earth. This time, the Land of Earth would likely be thrown into chaos, with turmoil and heavy losses.

Konoha Camp.

The Konoha ninja led by the Sannin had already rendezvoused with Danzo and Hatake Sakumo's forces. Taking advantage of the Rain Ninja's rest period, Konoha was also intensifying its recovery.

At this moment, Hyuga Ao was dreaming.

Hyuga Ao 'saw' herself in a magnificent palace, filled with the natural fragrance of flowers. In the center was a large fountain, from which countless water spirits flew out, carrying various tools to clean the palace.

She herself sat on a chair in front of the fountain, with three slot machines placed before her. The her in the chair wanted to stand up, but it was as if there was an air wall, confining her to the seat, unable to move.

"Damn it, Aqua!"

Hyuga Ao remembered that she didn't know how she ended up here, waiting on the chair for a long time with no one coming.

Finally, a blue-haired girl came, shouting "Ahhhh! Not enough time!"

Aqua rushed over, her short skirt fluttering as she ran at high speed, vaguely revealing the wonderful scenery beneath the girl's hem.

But at that moment, Hyuga Ao, realizing it was Aqua, felt utterly uninterested, and an ominous premonition rose in her heart, feeling she was doomed.

And so it was. Aqua quickly pressed the buttons on the three slot machines, waiting for them to spin, while anxiously checking the time, pacing back and forth.

But after waiting for a long time, only the first slot machine ejected something.

Aqua wore an expression of giving up, muttering, "Forget it, forget it, die if we die, time's almost up."

Without even talking to Hyuga Ao, she grabbed her and threw her into the Time-Space Tunnel, followed closely by the reward from the first slot machine.

Before crossing over, Hyuga Ao vaguely saw the other two slot machines about to spin out their prizes.

The replay ended.

Hyuga Ao felt her consciousness pull away, and the previous scene turned into a light screen before her eyes. On the other side, Aqua knelt on the ground in front of the screen, her face full of shame.

An old voice sounded.

"Aqua, do you know your crime?"

Aqua nodded frantically, crawled on her knees to Hyuga Ao's feet, hugged her thigh, and rubbed against it.

Aqua cried out, "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please, be magnanimous and forgive Aqua just this once. Afterwards, Aqua is willing to make compensation."

As she spoke, Aqua looked up, her eyes full of tears, gazing at Hyuga Ao: "Anything is fine... fine... fine. Huh!?"

Aqua looked up and found that the person in front of her was a young lady.

Her previous expression of shame and embarrassment immediately vanished.

She stood up, put her hands on her hips, and laughed loudly:

"Hahahaha, old man, you finally made a mistake! The one in front of me is clearly a woman; the one that day was a man."

At that moment, an air hammer swung down fiercely, knocking Aqua to the ground.

"You bastard! Because of your screw-up, that young man ended up like this!!!"

"Huh!!!" Aqua lay half-sprawled on the ground, looking up with an expression of utter disbelief.

She quickly crawled over again, hugged Hyuga Ao's thigh, and kept on whimpering.

After a while, noticing no reaction, Aqua looked up at Hyuga Ao again, only to find Hyuga Ao staring at her performance with dead fish eyes.

Aqua was instantly at a loss for words.

Hyuga Ao said helplessly, "Isn't it common sense to show your chest when apologizing?"

Aqua had a sudden epiphany and began untying the bow on her chest.

Hyuga Ao covered her face, speechless:

"Don't you people have anyone else? Why do you always use an employee like Aqua to receive guests? What happens if something goes wrong?"

Before the hoarse voice could answer.

Aqua cut in tearfully, "That's because Aqua doesn't cost any money, you see. Aqua's already owed thirteen thousand four hundred years of work time, waaaaaah!"

With that, she burst into loud crying again.

Damn! Literally a kind of plant.

Hyuga Ao's head ached. She asked, "So how are you going to resolve this?"

The hoarse voice replied:

"Earlier, when we were enhancing you with Embryonic Breathing, there were actually some compensations."

"At the time, we activated Shikotsumyaku for you and also performed some modifications on your body."

"Originally, the Slot Machine should have drawn talent, ability, and skin. Talent and ability were supplemented, but we couldn't give you the skin. Now there are two options."

"One is the coordinates of your original world plus a full basic attribute enhancement. The other is a skill from Naruto. Which do you choose?"

Hyuga Ao was silent for a moment:

"You seem to be encouraging me to choose the original world coordinates? How did I die and end up here in the first place?"

"Some changes did occur in your original world, and that's why you came here. We cannot interfere with those changes. Going back would be much better for you, so we do hope you return." The hoarse voice answered.

Hyuga Ao said again, "And if I choose the second option?"

"We accept all choices. We also have the confidence to sit back and see how things develop."

"Alright." Hyuga Ao broke into a smile. "I'll choose one. Sometimes people shouldn't calculate things too precisely."

"Hahaha." The hoarse voice laughed heartily.

"Very well." He said sternly, "Aqua!"

"Present." Aqua stood at attention.

"Your turn!"

"Yes!" Aqua had somehow changed into a low-cut dress. She bowed deeply, and under the pull of gravity, revealed a large expanse of pale skin that made Hyuga Ao dizzy.

Aqua declared loudly, "Please accept my apology!"

With that, she picked up a small fan and swept out a stream of water that poured into Hyuga Ao's body, propelling her away.

"Damn it, Aqua." Hyuga Ao laughed helplessly, waking up in the camp under the baptism of the water.