B-Rank Mission

Ignoring Jiraiya's astonishment below, the Toad Sage continued muttering to himself.

"Decisive Battle has been brought forward?

The Child of Prophecy has changed!

No!

The Child of Prophecy is still connected to the human before my eyes.

Black hair... Sharingan...

That is Uchiha..."

The Toad Sage's voice grew quieter and quieter, and Jiraiya, full of confusion, was ushered out of the palace.

He looked back at the Toad Sage's palace and frowned as he recalled the last few things the sage had said.

Connected to me? Black hair?

Unfortunately, the Toad Sage's voice had become too quiet at the time, and he had not heard the final few sentences at all.

After thinking for a while, he helplessly shook his head and stopped dwelling on those questions.

The most important thing for him now was to train hard. He could not let Team 7's companions leave him far behind!

Thinking of his goal, he headed toward the Training Ground once more, filled with anticipation.

Meanwhile, the Protagonist who had become the so-called Child of Prophecy in the Toad Sage's prophecy had no idea about any of this.

Uchiha Kagura himself was lying spread-eagled on the living room floor.

Perhaps spurred on by hearing about Jiraiya's hard training, the planned dinner gathering was canceled.

After that, Tsunade and Orochimaru each left with grim expressions, heading in different directions.

Well, they were all young people who refused to admit defeat.

Youth was wonderful.

Seeing this situation, eight-year-old Kagura stroked his chin and sighed.

And that was why Kagura was now sprawled on the floor like a corpse.

But dear readers, do not misunderstand. He was not slacking off right now; he was training.

Yes, he was "training" with the White One-Tails Shukaku inside his body.

Ever since discovering that this One-Tails had appeared within him, after several days of testing, he had found a way to communicate with it.

At this moment, he was continuously tearing his body's Chakra into tiny pieces and feeding them to the One-Tails within him.

It was as though Shukaku had eaten food it liked, radiating an aura of delight.

That aura slowly transformed into energy and flowed back into Kagura's body.

From time to time, Kagura also used his mind to scratch Shukaku beneath the chin or stroke its back.

Shukaku clearly enjoyed such caresses. It closed its eyes in satisfaction, its tails swaying happily behind it.

Influenced by its joyful mood, the aura around it grew richer once again.

Kagura could only feel the Chakra in his body being tempered, growing stronger at a visibly rapid pace.

In truth, this was not an illusion. The system's attributes showed him that it was indeed effective.

After several weeks of tempering, his Chakra had gone from Chunin Level, 42.1% progress.

To its current Chunin Level, 76.8% progress.

The speed could only be described as soaring. If he had trained by himself, it would have taken several months to reach this level.

The data in the Tailed Beast category had also improved tremendously:

Tailed Beast: One-Tails, Fusion Degree 35% (Tails Beast Cloak form unlocked)

Naturally, Kagura knew what a Tails Beast Cloak was.

Moreover, compared with this world's Jinchuriki, his greatest advantage was that he did not need to resist the Tailed Beast's malicious intent at all.

Looking at the cute beast inside him happily rolling around on the spot, Kagura thought that this was no different from raising a virtual pet. Where was this supposed malicious intent?

Letting out a long breath, Kagura sat up from the floor.

Today's Tailed Beast "training" ended here.

In fact, he had recently begun to feel that this method of training had entered a plateau.

Over the past few days, both his Chakra and Tailed Beast Fusion Degree had started progressing more slowly.

He casually picked up a glass of water from the table and drained it in one gulp. After exhaling deeply, Kagura walked to the window and considered his next goal.

Ever since transmigrating into the Uchiha Clan, he had always felt the shadow of death hanging over him.

This shadow did not come entirely from the future Uchiha Itachi.

After all, that was still thirty years away. Although Itachi's extermination of the clan did feel somewhat like plot armor.

After all, when one thought about it carefully, how could a teenager barely in his teens possibly wipe out the entire Uchiha Clan by himself, without injury and without a sound?

But upon deeper consideration, the entire Clan Annihilation Plan had actually been carried out under the arrangements of the Third Hokage and Danzo.

Then it all made sense.

So, if he wanted to escape the fate of clan annihilation, the key was not becoming stronger than Uchiha Itachi, the person placed at the forefront.

Rather, he needed strength powerful enough to rival the entire upper echelon of Konoha, represented by Sarutobi and Danzo. That was the goal Kagura needed to pursue.

And after obtaining a Tailed Beast, Kagura felt confident for the first time.

Still, from another perspective, as someone familiar with the plot, he might not lack other ways to change this whole conspiracy.

As long as he sabotaged some of its key schemes and the Uchiha Clan was no longer discriminated against.

Then the Uchiha Clan would no longer have thoughts of rebellion, and the Third Hokage's reason for having to eliminate the Uchiha Clan would naturally disappear as well.

As for the larger conspiracies behind it all, involving Uchiha Madara, Black Zetsu, and even reviving Otsutsuki Kaguya, he did not want to pay attention to them right now.

Bosses should be left for Protagonists like Naruto and Sasuke to deal with. What did any of that have to do with him?

Thinking this, he lay down on his bed with peace of mind and comfortably drifted into sleep.

At that moment, he did not know that just earlier that day.

The so-called Protagonists he was certain of had already quietly changed because of his transmigration.

And the Decisive Battle he believed was still more than forty years away would also be brought forward because of it...

Nothing happened during the night. The next morning arrived.

The four members of Team 7 gathered once more before the Mission Assignment Area.

But this time, aside from Kagura, the other three all wore tired looks and yawned.

It seemed they had all trained as if their lives depended on it yesterday.

Looking at the people before him, Kagura sighed again.

Shrugging, as the team captain, he consciously walked up to the Staff Member and asked about today's mission.

The Receptionist looked up at them before saying:

"Oh, you are this year's Team 7.

You do not need to accept a mission here today. In a little while, go directly to the Hokage Office Building.

Lord Hiruzen Sarutobi has a mission to assign to you personally."

Hearing this, the group exchanged puzzled glances.

Teacher Sarutobi had not mentioned anything about this yesterday.

Seeing their confusion, the Staff Member smiled.

"Oh, this was a Temporary Arrangement made this morning.

Hurry over. Lord Sarutobi has been waiting there for quite some time."

Upon hearing that, they did not ask further questions and hurried toward the Hokage Office Building.

Inside an office in the Hokage Office Building, Hiruzen Sarutobi revealed a faint smile as he looked at his four prized students before him.

In fact, he would be formally appointed as the Third Hokage in one week, and his work had become increasingly busy lately.

This had left him with almost no time to lead these students on missions.

Fortunately, he had heard from others that these four had recently completed every assigned mission perfectly.

That satisfied him greatly as their teacher.

He tossed the Mission Scroll in his hand before Kagura, who stood at the front, and signaled with his eyes for Kagura to open it.

Kagura untied the cord around the scroll and began examining it carefully, while Hiruzen Sarutobi explained:

"This time, you will be taking a B-Rank Mission that requires you to carry out a task outside the village.

"And this time, I will be leading the team!"