The Fourth Shinobi World War Is Coming!

Buzz!

Hyuga Yunchuan extended his palm, about to grasp the black orb.

But the next instant, his movements suddenly froze. The corner of his eye twitched slightly as he looked toward another direction.

He had escaped.

Yes, Hiruko had actually escaped. Without a shred of hesitation, he had used Swift Release to flee.

Even if Hyuga Yunchuan wanted to pursue him, he truly would not be able to catch up.

This was Hyuga Yunchuan's first time encountering someone so shameless. A dignified senior had shown up, spat out a few threats, gotten punched once, then activated his Kekkei Genkai and fled in disgrace. Even Orochimaru, someone so desperate to preserve his life, could not do something like that.

This guy really was a sharp-nosed rat, fleeing the moment he caught even the slightest scent of danger.

"What a pity."

Hyuga Yunchuan sighed, rubbing his stinging, throbbing eyes as he thought, I wanted to try out my newly acquired abilities. At the very least, Hiruko could have brought my dear Lord Orochimaru my regards.

With that thought in mind, he raised his head and looked at the panel before him.

[Bloodline: Ōtsutsuki Clan (6.8% → 9.8%)]

[Kekkei Genkai: Tenseigan, Stage Two (22.3% → 30.2%) [Abilities: Heart Chakra Binding Seal, Jade Wheel Spirit-Devouring Blast, Chakra Bead]]

Looking at his Ōtsutsuki bloodline, which had already reached 9.8%, Hyuga Yunchuan's gaze flickered as he pondered, No wonder Otsutsuki Toneri was able to begin awakening the Tenseigan so quickly after transplanting pure Byakugan.

Uchiha Madara had transplanted Hashirama Cells and endured until the end of his life before awakening the Rinnegan. Although Otsutsuki Toneri's bloodline was powerful, it should have been impossible for him to awaken the Tenseigan in just a few days.

Now, it seemed very likely that the Giant Tenseigan had been responsible. It had gathered the Pupil Power of every member of the Ōtsutsuki Clan.

Although his connection to the Giant Tenseigan on the moon had already been severed, the feedback of Pupil Power had still greatly accelerated his Tenseigan awakening. Otsutsuki Toneri had likely awakened it through that Giant Tenseigan as well.

"Still, Hiruko did remind me of something." Thinking of the Chimera Technique, Hyuga Yunchuan pondered, Logically speaking, since I possess Ōtsutsuki blood, I should be able to awaken other Kekkei Genkai as well.

For example, Shikotsumyaku.

Or Wood Release.

So, what was he missing now?

"Just a key." A smile appeared at the corner of Hyuga Yunchuan's mouth. "The Chakra and cells of Kekkei Genkai shinobi."

As long as he activated the dormant genetic fragments within his body, then with the purity of this body's bloodline, he should be able to awaken other Kekkei Genkai too.

Moreover, this seemed capable of further completing his Ōtsutsuki bloodline. Otsutsuki Toneri was not the endpoint of the Ōtsutsuki bloodline, after all.

"Hyuga Yunchuan!"

The grave voice of an Anbu shinobi carried over from afar. They had probably noticed that Hyuga Yunchuan had fallen behind and come looking for him.

Hyuga Yunchuan snapped out of his thoughts and headed in the direction of the voice.

If the Ninja World continued to maintain this fragile, false peace, he would have no chance to leave the village and make certain arrangements. Nor could he plunder Kekkei Genkai shinobi from the other villages.

Therefore, war.

War! War was a necessary prerequisite!

Meanwhile, by the time Hyuga Yunchuan had caught up with the group and explained that he had been using his Byakugan to observe the lingering aftermath of the distant battle—

At the border between the Land of Grass and the Land of Rain, a woman unfurled a Summoning Scroll inside a cave.

Poof!

As a cloud of smoke burst forth and dispersed, a bedraggled Hiruko appeared.

"Lord Hiruko! What happened to you...?"

The woman's expression immediately changed. She hurried forward to support him, only for Hiruko to raise a hand and fling her aside.

"Damn it! Damn it! Just a brat from the Hyuga Clan..." Hiruko snarled bitterly.

Just as he fumed over his miserable state, a teasing voice suddenly sounded.

"Hehe." The laughter seemed neither male nor female, with two voices mixed together. "Our Lord Hiruko is truly in a sorry state."

Hiruko abruptly raised his head toward the depths of the cave. Seeing the dark figure writhing toward him, he caught that distinct, pungent scent. An uncontrollable look of disgust appeared on his face.

As someone who often used rats and snakes for experiments, he naturally understood exactly what that smell was.

A female snake in heat secreted a brown, viscous fluid with a distinct pungent odor from her cloaca to attract male snakes.

That was the smell of that brown, viscous secretion.

"Orochimaru." Hiruko said coldly, "If you're in heat, get out and go into heat somewhere else. Don't disgust me in front of me!"

"Hehe." Orochimaru's tone was indifferent. "Isn't your soul the same? Just as ugly and disgusting as mine."

Ten in the morning, close to noon, inside the Hokage Office.

Thin sunlight shone through the half-open window onto the mahogany desk, only to be completely blocked by piles of documents stacked together like a mountain.

Rustle, rustle.

Sarutobi Hiruzen sat in his chair, flipping through the documents on the desk with one hand while skillfully holding his pipe in the other.

"Puff!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen brought the pipe stem to his lips. The tobacco in its bowl glowed faintly, wisps of pale smoke rising with every inhale and exhale as fine ash was carried out the window by the wind.

"Cough! Cough, cough!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen took a deep drag and choked on the smoke, frowning as he let out a slightly hoarse cough.

Yet after the itching sensation in his throat subsided, he took another drag without pause.

"Cough. Sarutobi, haven't you been smoking too much these past two days?"

Mitokado Homura sat in a chair against the opposite wall, far away from the window that continuously drew out the smoke and ash. He reminded him, "I know you're under a lot of pressure right now, but you should pay some attention to your health, shouldn't you?"

"..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen had no mind to respond. He merely lowered his head in silence and reread the letters sent back yesterday. In truth, he had already read these letters hundreds of times, but he could not shake his unease.

It had been three days since the team escorting Hyuga Hiashi's corpse left Konoha. Under normal circumstances, it should take no more than two days to travel from Konoha to the border, and the letter Akamichi Chodo had sent back through a ninja beast the previous day had confirmed that.

In the first letter, Akamichi Chodo had said the escort team was not far from their destination. Yet in the second letter, he had mentioned that they had accidentally encountered a group of Iwagakure Missing-nin along the way.

Not only had he stated in the letter that the team was safe and had suffered no losses, but he had also praised Hyuga Yunchuan's abilities and temperament.

While Sarutobi Hiruzen was pleased that Hyuga Yunchuan might be capable of shouldering great responsibility, the sudden appearance of Iwagakure Missing-nin left him uneasy. And now, a full day had passed since the last letter without another message arriving.

It should not have taken this long.

Could Iwagakure be planning to intervene as well?

At that thought, concern appeared on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face as he took a fierce drag from his pipe.

Knock! Knock knock!

Just as Mitokado Homura was about to remind Sarutobi Hiruzen again to smoke less, hurried, panicked footsteps suddenly sounded outside the Hokage Office.

Sarutobi Hiruzen's heart instantly skipped a beat. He looked up and saw a masked Anbu shinobi enter the office.

"Third Hokage! The escort team has returned, but..."

The Anbu shinobi tightly clutched a Scroll soaked in blood. Before he could finish speaking, Sarutobi Hiruzen vanished in an instant, reappeared before him, and snatched the Scroll away.

He unfurled the Scroll and swept his gaze across it. Sarutobi Hiruzen's pupils constricted, his aged face turning slightly pale as fear and fury surfaced at the same time.

"What happened?"

Seeing that even Sarutobi Hiruzen's hand holding the Scroll was trembling, Mitokado Homura immediately sensed that something was wrong. He hurriedly stood and asked, "Sarutobi! What happened? Say something!"

"War... war... how could this be..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen's face alternated between green and white. He even raised a hand to clutch his chest in pain, his voice hoarse as he said, "The Fourth Shinobi World War is coming!"

"What?" Mitokado Homura froze for a moment, then his expression changed.

I wrote too hastily yesterday, and readers pointed out a few issues.

① Although it felt strange that Truth-Seeking Orbs could be used without the Ten-Tails, and I did not portray their ability to destroy all things, I had previously only seen Ōtsutsuki Hamura possessing Truth-Seeking Orbs in the anime, manga, and Data Book. There was no mention of what the black spheres used by Otsutsuki Toneri were. Plus, the fanfics I had read before also called them Truth-Seeking Orbs, so I ultimately wrote them as Truth-Seeking Orbs.

However, I saw a reader named Lin Meng mention in the comments that they were called "beads," which suddenly reminded me that there were original novel side stories as well, like Itachi Shinden. So I went to take a look and found that it really was mentioned. It was not a fanfiction-derived setting.

"Toneri used one of his Chakra Beads to create a gigantic birdcage and threw Hinata into it, imprisoning her." That was what the original text said.

So it has now been changed. They are confirmed to be Chakra Beads, and the beads used by the protagonist have been changed to two as well.

② I was out of it when I wrote yesterday and had the protagonist ask Toroi which generation Raikage Ai was. I forgot that this point in time was not long after the village's founding, so I changed it too. It has been changed to asking about the Ninja Sect. Those who read early can go back and check the revised version.

Lastly, thank you all for your comments, thank you, thank you. I read every comment, and if there are mistakes, I will revise them. I just hope you will go easy on me QAQ.

By the way, please vote with monthly tickets. We're almost at one thousand. There will be extra chapters after it goes premium. Arigato QAQ.