After some time!
One kilometer outside Sunagakure!
"We're almost there!"
As Hyuga Nozomu hurried toward Sunagakure with Kakashi, he frowned and said, "It seems a fierce battle took place inside Sunagakure. The Chakra of those Sand Ninja has also been more than half depleted."
"But now... the battle seems to be over?"
"The smell of blood is incredibly strong." Pakkun added, "A lot of people probably died in Sunagakure."
"Were we too late after all?" Kakashi's expression gradually turned grave at those words.
They had entered the Land of Wind later than Hyuga Chiba, and there was no way they could match the speed of the green meteor he had become.
Most importantly, Hyuga Chiba's greatest apparent weakness was his lack of Chakra, but that was only under the premise that he needed to activate Tenseigan Chakra Mode.
Otherwise, he could absolutely be called Chakra.
Thus, Hyuga Chiba could travel nonstop, flying directly from the border of the Land of Wind to Sunagakure.
Kakashi and the others had only managed to recover their hearing and Chakra with Soldier Pills, and it seemed Hyuga Chiba's shadow clones had stopped coming out to block them along the way.
Otherwise, it would likely have taken them much longer to reach Sunagakure.
Even though Kakashi and the others were now less than a kilometer from Sunagakure, they suspected that Hyuga Chiba had already successfully obtained Shukaku's Chakra.
They simply were not sure whether he had merely extracted the One-Tail's Chakra or become the new One-Tailed Jinchuriki.
"Kakashi, two people are rapidly approaching us."
At that moment, Hyuga Nozomu warned Kakashi with an odd expression, "But their appearance and Chakra... both seem rather strange."
"That's right!" Pakkun vigorously twitched his dog nose and nodded. "They don't smell like living people. They smell more like the dead."
"And they don't smell quite like Sunagakure's puppets either."
"Dead people, but not Sunagakure's puppets?" Kakashi looked utterly confused. Then he recalled that Hyuga Chiba had taken the Scroll of Sealing with him before leaving the village, and his expression abruptly changed as a bad feeling rose within him. "Could it be the Forbidden Jutsu from the Scroll of Sealing, Impure World Reincarnation?"
"But how could Hyuga Chiba possibly have learned that Forbidden Jutsu in such a short time?"
"Hyuga Chiba learned the Forbidden Jutsu Multiple Shadow Clone Jutsu less than half an hour after leaving the village." Pakkun's voice came from ahead, reminding Kakashi.
"..." Kakashi fell silent.
He simply found it hard to accept that Hyuga Chiba might use such a jutsu that desecrated the dead.
"If it really is Impure World Reincarnation... is it coming for us?"
Kakashi forced himself to calm down quickly and made his guess.
"That is indeed possible." Hyuga Nozomu nodded slightly. "According to the clan's records, the Tenseigan is the ultimate evolution of the Byakugan."
"According to the clan's speculation, Hyuga Chiba was able to awaken the Tenseigan most likely because the bloodline within him had regressed to an ancestral state comparable to that of the first ancestor, and his Byakugan was exceptionally pure."
"That means the range of his Byakugan's farsight likely surpasses that of anyone in the present-day Hyuga Clan."
"In theory, as an advanced form of the Byakugan, the Tenseigan should also possess farsight, x-ray vision, and other abilities far beyond those of the Byakugan."
"In other words, before we discover Hyuga Chiba, he will definitely discover us first, right?" Kakashi immediately understood what Hyuga Nozomu meant and summarized it with an even deeper frown.
"They're here!" At that moment, Hyuga Nozomu seemed to have discovered something and spoke in disbelief. "Wait, they are... How is this possible?"
Kakashi was initially somewhat surprised, but as two vaguely familiar figures entered his field of vision, his pupils instantly constricted. "Those are... the First Hokage and the Second Hokage?"
The good news was that Kakashi now felt it probably was not Hyuga Chiba who had used Impure World Reincarnation.
Because that required a portion of the reincarnated person's body.
Hyuga Chiba had remained within the Hyuga Clan compound, and after awakening the Tenseigan, he had directly attacked the Hokage Building before leaving Konoha. He had no opportunity at all to obtain parts of the First Hokage's and Second Hokage's bodies.
The bad news was that Kakashi and Hyuga Nozomu were about to face Konoha's First Hokage and Second Hokage, and they might not be allies.
"Konoha forehead protectors, and the Uchiha Sharingan, the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan?"
"It seems you two are the Konoha juniors Hyuga Chiba mentioned."
After seeing Kakashi and Hyuga Nozomu, Senju Hashirama and Senju Tobirama appeared much calmer.
"It's wonderful to see Konoha's younger generation so soon."
Senju Hashirama was especially delighted. "We must have a good talk. Konoha should have developed quite well by now, right? Children no longer have to go to war, do they?"
Clearly, Senju Hashirama had not taken in the implications of what Chiba, Orochimaru, and the others had said earlier.
"..."
Upon hearing Senju Hashirama's question, Kakashi and Hyuga Nozomu immediately broke out in cold sweat, unsure how to answer.
Strictly speaking, Konoha was indeed doing fairly well at present.
But less than twelve years ago, during the Third Shinobi World War, many Ninja Academy children had indeed graduated early and gone straight to the battlefield.
Kakashi himself had been a genius who became a Jonin at only twelve years old.
In a peaceful era like the present, that would have been completely impossible.
"It seems Hyuga Chiba and Orochimaru were right. Konoha really did develop some problems after our deaths."
Seeing this, Senju Tobirama instantly understood something. He frowned, then looked far behind Kakashi and Hyuga Nozomu before saying, "But before asking about your specific circumstances, I want to know whether you recognize those three."
Kakashi and Hyuga Nozomu turned around. Before long, three figures riding strange birds gradually entered their field of vision.
One figure wore a Black Flame Cloud Robe and a Conical Hat. He was hunched over, somewhat ugly in appearance, and seemed fairly old.
The second figure also wore a Black Flame Cloud Robe. He was a young man with blond hair covering his left eye, an Iwagakure Rogue Ninja forehead protector, and fairly decent looks.
The third figure was positioned slightly behind the other two. He was none other than Uchiha Obito, who had previously met with Zetsu.
In fact, Hyuga Nozomu and Pakkun had noticed those three long ago.
They had simply been distracted by the appearance of the First Hokage and Second Hokage and had failed to mention them in time.
"Don't know them." Kakashi's gaze lingered for a moment on the third figure aboard the strange bird. Feeling that the man was somehow odd, he shook his head and said, "One of them appears to be an Iwagakure Rogue Ninja."
"The other two should also be rogue ninja from some village."
"They are not our targets this time. Perhaps we can ignore them?"
Before you continue