Land of Rivers

"I hope he isn't planning on becoming the new Jinchuriki himself."

Kakashi rested his hand on his forehead, sighing with a look of a headache, "Once a Tailed Beast is removed from its Jinchuriki, the latter will lose their life."

"Even though Hyuga Chiba attacked the Hokage, stole the Scroll of Sealing, and killed several Root ninja, there is still a chance for him to turn back."

"But once he actually does that for the sake of the Tailed Beast's Chakra, there will truly be no turning back."

Kakashi had been in the Anbu for many years. There were dark aspects of the village he simply hadn't mentioned, but that didn't mean he was completely unaware of them.

The cold sarcasm Hyuga Chiba had directed at Sarutobi Hiruzen earlier had, at least in part, struck a chord with him.

If possible, Kakashi didn't actually want to see Hyuga Chiba fall completely into darkness.

"Since this potentially involves the Land of Rivers, the Land of Wind, and even the matter of a Jinchuriki, this is no longer something we can act on without authorization."

At this moment, Nara Shikaku thought for a moment and suggested, "Kakashi, you and this Hyuga Clan Branch Family Jonin, Hyuga Nozomu, continue to track Hyuga Chiba, but do not act rashly."

"I will return with Akimichi Choza to report to the Hokage!"

Hearing this, Kakashi nodded slightly and said, "Mm, that is the only way for now."

"I have no objections," Hyuga Nozomu replied in a cold tone.

In fact, as a member of the Branch Family, he certainly didn't want anything bad to happen to Hyuga Chiba.

But with the Caged Bird seal, he was unable to defy the orders of the Main Family.

Perhaps this pursuit of Hyuga Chiba is also an opportunity for me, a glimmer of new hope surged in Hyuga Nozomu's heart. As long as I can see Hyuga Chiba, I might be able to beg him to help me undo the Caged Bird Curse Mark.

"No matter the cost!"

Nara Shikaku glanced at Hyuga Nozomu, said nothing more, and began to head back to Konoha with Akimichi Choza.

"Let's move out as well."

Kakashi said to Hyuga Nozomu, "We in the Anbu must consider the diplomatic impact between nations, but Danzo and his Root are not necessarily so restrained."

"Even if we shouldn't act rashly, it is best not to let those Root ninja find Hyuga Chiba first."

Hyuga Nozomu naturally had no objections to this and immediately set off with Kakashi to continue tracking Hyuga Chiba.

On the other side!

"Is that the Land of Rivers up ahead?"

Chiba, whose Chakra had basically recovered, shuttled rapidly through the jungle.

Ahead of him, increasingly dense forests and mountains of varying heights gradually began to appear.

"There isn't much mentioned about the Land of Rivers in the original story."

"I just vaguely remember that there is a village called Yugakure, known for its hot springs."

"Hidan, the follower of the Evil God who possesses an Immortal Body and is a member of the Akatsuki, also hails from Yugakure."

"Right, it seems there is also a secret Akatsuki base within the Land of Rivers? At the beginning of Shippuden, it was in that base that the Akatsuki extracted the One-Tail Shukaku from inside Gaara."

Recalling the fragmented information regarding the Land of Rivers, Chiba officially entered its borders.

He currently had no great interest in the Land of Rivers, Yugakure, or the secret Akatsuki base.

He only wanted to pass straight through the Land of Rivers and head toward Sunagakure in the Land of Wind.

The Tenseigan can absorb the Chakra inside a target. As long as I don't drain Shukaku completely from Gaara, he shouldn't die, right?

At the same time, Chiba pondered this in his heart.

Clearly, unlike some of the guesses made by Kakashi and the others, he had never once thought about becoming a Jinchuriki.

After all, if a Tailed Beast is removed, the Jinchuriki dies; that side effect is still a bit of a trouble.

Chiba also had no interest in trying to understand the Tailed Beasts, like Uzumaki Naruto did in the original story.

He only needed the Chakra of these Tailed Beasts to serve as a power bank for himself.

As time passed, Chiba used his pure, flawless Byakugan—which was far superior to those of other Hyuga—to discern his direction and avoid going off course or getting lost.

He traveled at full speed in a nearly straight line toward the Land of Wind on the other side of the Land of Rivers.

Occasionally, when he encountered terrain that was too complex or would require a long detour, he would simply activate the Tenseigan and fly directly over it.

During the process, Chiba did not forget to occasionally split off a Shadow Clone, having them continue practicing Ninjutsu and intercepting any potential pursuers from behind.

"Almost there!"

Perhaps because Chiba's speed was fast enough, or perhaps because he had been traveling non-stop, by the time the morning sun began to sprinkle its light upon him, his Byakugan had already spotted a vast desert in the distance.

That was undoubtedly the border of the Land of Wind.

"Come to think of it, the geography of this Hokage World is quite magical."

"Whether it's the Land of Rivers or the Land of Rain, there is so much water it's practically overflowing, yet their neighbor, the Land of Wind, is severely lacking in water."

"What's even more absurd is that Sunagakure wasn't built near the water sources on the border of the Land of Rivers or the Land of Rain, but in the center of this massive desert in the Land of Wind?"

Chiba muttered a casual complaint, though his figure gradually began to slow down.

Because... he was hungry!

"Ever since I awakened the Tenseigan yesterday, I haven't eaten a single thing or drunk a drop of water."

"Once I enter the Land of Wind and Sunagakure, there's a good chance I'll have to fight the Fourth Kazekage, Rasa, Shukaku inside Gaara, or perhaps even Orochimaru, who might be lurking over there."

"How can I manage without filling my stomach first?"

Thinking this, Chiba prepared to find a few "lucky" wild boars or rabbits to have his first picnic of this life and the last.

"Hm?"

Suddenly, Chiba's expression shifted slightly.

A faint scent of blood drifted on the wind from a distance.

With his Byakugan, Chiba could clearly see a group of people in that direction being hunted by several individuals dressed in identical black robes. The direction they were fleeing in happened to be exactly where Chiba was.

Further off, there was a small village being subjected to a brutal, inhumane massacre by another group of similarly dressed figures in black robes.

Incidentally, unlike the white-tinted vision of other Hyuga Byakugan users, the images Chiba's Byakugan perceived remained in full color, just like normal eyes.

"Sacrifice, Evil God..."

Although Chiba had never learned to lip-read, he used the extreme long-range vision and X-ray capabilities of his Byakugan to clearly observe the movement of the black-robed figures' mouths, vaguely discerning those two words.

"Could those black-robed figures be followers of the Evil God Cult, just like Hidan?"

Chiba frowned slightly.

In the original story, the Evil God Cult didn't appear much, but it was well-known to the audience because of Hidan's existence.

The doctrine of the Evil God Cult was to indiscriminately slaughter those around them and offer them as sacrifices to the so-called Evil God through certain rituals.

The key point was that this Evil God might actually exist.

After all, it was through the Evil God Cult's experiments and the power of the Evil God that Hidan had obtained his immortal body and the bizarre ability to kill a target using only a single drop of their blood.