Shinobi World Has Quite a Few Lunatics

"Heh, this is actually pretty interesting. I never expected that I could stumble upon such a good show just by wandering around here!"

In the corridor.

As Mu's mocking, disdainful words fell, Hozuki Gengetsu furiously roared at him, "You bastard, this is an internal matter of Kirigakure. It has nothing to do with you.

And besides, I'm very angry right now. You'd better get lost, or I'll kill you!"

"Hahaha, hahaha, you really are amusing, Hozuki Gengetsu. As the Mizukage's assistant in Kirigakure, you were actually frightened stiff by some brat.

Yet you turn around and vent your anger on me, a mere spectator. Well done.

Still, you don't have what it takes to kill me right now.

At the very least, if I were you, I definitely wouldn't be so scared by a brat's single glance that I couldn't move."

With that, Mu sneered mockingly at Hozuki Gengetsu and prepared to leave.

"You're courting death!"

Hozuki Gengetsu had already been upset. He had just been frightened by Takenaka Kaguya and felt that he had lost face.

Now, that bastard Mu actually dared to mock him to his face. This was utterly intolerable.

Whoosh!

At that moment, Hozuki Gengetsu directly unleashed the Water Gun Technique, firing the droplets on his fingers at Mu like bullets.

However, Mu seemed to have anticipated it long ago. With a simple sidestep, he dodged it.

He then glanced at the wooden board pierced through by the Water Gun Technique and coldly said without looking back, "A sneak attack from behind is not a good habit.

This is Konoha's territory. I don't want to fight here. If you really want to kill me, pick another time and place. I'll oblige you.

Of course, that is assuming you can actually do it."

As his words fell, Mu's figure vanished before Hozuki Gengetsu's astonished eyes, as though he had never appeared at all.

Even after Hozuki Gengetsu used a detection ninjutsu, he still failed to find any trace of Mu.

However, Takenaka Kaguya had kept his Observation Haki active in the room next door. Thus, Mu's concealment technique, which Hozuki Gengetsu could not track, was like child's play before his top-tier Observation Haki.

It seems my appearance caused these two arch-enemies, Hozuki Gengetsu and Mu, to meet ahead of schedule, Takenaka Kaguya thought.

He remembered that in the original story, among the Five Great Shinobi Villages, the two Kage who had fallen at the same time were the Second Raikage A and the Second Hokage Tobirama Senju.

Next came the Second Tsuchikage Mu and the Second Mizukage Hozuki Gengetsu.

Although the original story never explained why those two had perished together, the Naruto World always seemed fond of plots where evenly matched opponents took each other down.

Many things simply made no sense.

For instance, Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha turned against each other despite once being the closest of friends merely because their views differed. In the end, one faked his death while the other perished.

Then there was the battle between Orochimaru and the Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi.

And so on. The reasons many people opposed one another were beyond the understanding of normal people. The things many people insisted on were thoughts no normal person would ever have.

For example, the reason behind the Fourth Shinobi World War was the Infinite Tsukuyomi, making everyone live in an illusory world. Honestly, no one with a functioning brain would ever use such a method.

Yet there was no way to stop them. This was evident in Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Obito joining forces to massacre the Uchiha clan, as well as Uchiha Itachi agreeing to Danzo's demand to wipe out the Uchiha clan for Uchiha Sasuke's life.

All he could say was that, aside from the Uchiha clan having more lunatics than most, there were plenty of lunatics elsewhere too.

With that thought, Takenaka Kaguya withdrew his Observation Haki, then sat cross-legged and inspected his status panel.

Host: Takenaka Kaguya.

Age: 12 years, 253 days.

Observation Haki: Top-tier.

Armament Haki: Intermediate.

Conqueror's Haki: Beginner.

Taijutsu: Intermediate Six Powers, Advanced Nintaijutsu.

Swordsmanship: Advanced.

Kekkei Genkai: Shikotsumyaku.

Ninjutsu: Intermediate Sage Mode, Mastery of Water Release Ninjutsu, Mastery of Earth Release Ninjutsu...

Overall Evaluation: Peak Kage-level.

"Phew!"

Looking at his status panel, Takenaka Kaguya frowned. His overall evaluation had already reached advanced Kage-level two years ago, when he first entered the battlefield.

Now, two years had passed, yet his Shili had only risen by one minor level.

My Shili is still improving too slowly. At this rate, it will take at least another five years for me to reach the Half-Step Six Paths level.

Come to think of it, this body's age is limiting the growth of my Shili, Takenaka Kaguya sighed inwardly.

Indeed, if not for the limitations imposed by this body's age, his hard work should have allowed him to reach the Half-Step Six Paths level at the very least.

But now, he was still at least one or two levels behind Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju.

"Forget it. There's no point thinking so much. I should keep training." Takenaka Kaguya sighed, then focused on cultivating Chakra.

However, in the room beside his, Byakuren did not even need Hozuki Gengetsu's report to understand Takenaka Kaguya's attitude.

Thus, Byakuren's expression was exceedingly grim. If he had not feared that the killing intent bursting from his body would be noticed by Takenaka Kaguya next door, he likely would have been unable to suppress the fury in his heart.

"Takenaka Kaguya, have you really betrayed the village?" Byakuren muttered.

Before this, although he had held little goodwill toward Takenaka Kaguya, what he felt more than anything was wariness toward the other man's Shili.

But now, even that final shred of goodwill had disappeared, replaced by the desire to personally execute him.

However, he knew very well that Takenaka Kaguya was extremely powerful, perhaps even stronger than he had estimated. If they fought, the best outcome would be for Kirigakure to suffer grievous losses but still kill Takenaka Kaguya.

Yet the worst outcome would be for Kirigakure to suffer grievous losses and still fail to kill him. For Kirigakure, that would be a true disaster.

Making an enemy of a young super powerhouse with limitless potential required the utmost caution. One misstep could cause the newly established Kirigakure to collapse.

Unwillingly glancing toward Takenaka Kaguya's room, Byakuren's brows were so tightly furrowed that they could have crushed a mosquito.

Time passed. The next day, Takenaka Kaguya woke up, looked at the sky outside that had already brightened, and recalled the thoughts of the Konoha Ninja he had monitored with Observation Haki last night. He muttered, "Tobirama Senju really is quite sinister. It seems Hozuki Gengetsu and Byakuren wanted to kill me yesterday because he deliberately revealed that I had visited Hashirama Senju's home.

Still, that is understandable. If I were Byakuren or Hozuki Gengetsu, faced with someone standing in my way who might even have defected to Konoha, I would feel murderous intent too."