Divine Power

The battle between Fuyuki and Orochimaru lasted a mere two minutes. Fuyuki opened with a trump card, followed by a barrage of attacks that instantly annihilated Orochimaru, leaving the latter—who had been clutching seventeen cards in his hand—completely dumbfounded.

The fight ended so quickly that by the time the Sealing Squad noticed the anomaly and reported it to the Third Hokage, Fuyuki had already returned home and Orochimaru had fled to Ryūchi Cave. All that remained at the scene was a devastated forest and an abyssal canyon where the terrain had been reshaped by Kaguya-hime.

The Third Hokage arrived at the scene with a squad of Anbu, and almost everyone present could hardly believe their eyes.

The lush forest had vanished entirely, replaced by uneven trenches carved into the unnaturally flattened earth. What shocked the Third Hokage most of all was the stepped lake at the center of the battlefield; to his experienced eyes, it was unmistakably a fist print!

A single punch had blasted out over two hundred square meters, causing the ground to sink nearly thirty meters. What kind of monster was the person who performed this technique?

"Lord Third, please come over here. We have discovered some important clues."

An Anbu member wearing an animal mask appeared before the Third Hokage using the Body Flicker Technique. He knelt on one knee, his voice serious and stiff as he reported their findings.

The Third Hokage glanced at the lake before following the Anbu member to where the clues were located.

"This..."

Seeing the evidence collected by the Anbu, the Third Hokage's pupils constricted sharply. He then lowered the brim of his Hokage hat and commanded, "Seal off all surrounding villages and conduct a thorough investigation. We must find out exactly what happened here today."

Laid out before the Third Hokage were four items: the twisted, shed skin of Orochimaru's limbs, a pale, flesh-and-blood arm, and several other human tissues and a large amount of snake meat paste collected by the Anbu squad.

The moment he saw these items, it was as if the Third Hokage had witnessed the battle between Orochimaru and the mysterious figure with his own eyes.

The Third Hokage knew Orochimaru too well. He could imagine Orochimaru encountering the mysterious figure, being severely wounded in an instant, using the Shedding Substitution Technique, and then attempting to counterattack with the Manyōra-jin, only to be ruthlessly crushed!

Seeing evidence of Orochimaru's death, the Third Hokage felt an intense, aching sadness; after all, he was his beloved disciple.

He vaguely remembered the quiet, heartwarming smile of young Orochimaru. When he had discovered that Orochimaru was using fellow villagers for human experiments, he had intentionally let him go, hoping he would turn back.

It was a pity that he had died in the end.

After the grief passed, the Third Hokage returned to his role as Hokage, issuing orders in an orderly fashion. He dispatched Anbu ninjas and members of the Hyuga clan to conduct a massive search around Konoha, hunting for the powerhouse who had killed Orochimaru.

With a powerful, mysterious figure moving freely within the borders of the Land of Fire, the Third Hokage could not rest easy. At the very least, he had to determine whether this person was a friend or a foe!

More than ten kilometers away, inside a shelter beneath the Hokage Rock in Konoha, Fuyuki looked on with interest, holding his adorable younger sister in his arms and teasing her. He had no idea that the Hokage's direct Anbu and the members of the Hyuga clan were currently receiving search orders from the Third Hokage with heavy hearts.

Some had even written their wills, setting off to find the so-called "mysterious person" with the resolve of martyrs!

Yet, no one knew that the mysterious person who had beaten Orochimaru into a meatball was currently babysitting his sister, huddled in the final line of defense of Konoha alongside a group of trembling civilians, waiting for the alert to be lifted.

"Fuyuki, get out here! You had the guts to beat me up before, now have the guts to come out! I'll definitely knock your teeth out this time!"

In the silent underground bunker, Naruto's boisterous voice rang out.

He seemed unaware that standing right in front of him were nearly a hundred members of the Hyuga clan.

Even the Hyuga clan members who didn't care much for training were almost all at the level of Chunin by the time they reached adulthood!

Provoking the heir of the Hyuga clan in the heart of their territory—Naruto clearly had never received a truly brutal beating!

Faced with the gaze of a hundred pairs of white eyes, Naruto's brash expression stiffened slightly, as if he realized something was wrong.

"Uh, I was just running my mouth. You guys go back to what you were doing, I have things to attend to, I'm off!" Beads of sweat trickled down Naruto's forehead, his expression awkward. "I really have stuff at home. The fresh milk expires today; if I don't go back and drink it, it'll turn into yogurt."

In his daily interactions with Fuyuki, he would usually shout and provoke him wildly, only to be sprayed in the face by a Water Spirit.

Naruto had specifically sought out the Hyuga camp in the vast sea of people, but of course, it wasn't to fight Fuyuki.

He was simply afraid of the people in the village. They were exceptionally cold toward him, unwilling to speak a single word to him, and often wouldn't even spare him a glance. Sometimes, cold violence was far more terrifying than a physical beating.

The whole world was clearly bustling and lively, yet he couldn't integrate into that warmth. He felt like a forgotten, ignored stone, watching others laugh and talk.

Although Fuyuki was impatient with him and would sometimes summon a water ball to spray him, Naruto could feel that Fuyuki and Hinata didn't harbor any disgust toward him, unlike the other villagers who ignored and forgot him.

In the confined space, most of the villagers continued to ignore Naruto, leaving him feeling exceptionally lonely and fearful. That was why Naruto had specifically sought out the Hyuga clan, wanting to stay with Fuyuki and Hinata!

Even if it meant fighting, or getting beaten up, it at least proved that he existed!

"You really are a blockhead. If I hadn't heard your voice, believe me, our family would have rolled their eyes at you more times than you've ever been looked down upon."

Fuyuki pushed through the crowd with a helpless expression, stopping the clansmen who wanted to beat Naruto's backside, and said, "Let's save the one-on-one for later! There are too many people here, and you're not going to become a god in just a few days anyway."

"You're going to get beaten up sooner or later, a few days won't make a difference."

The Hyuga clan were not commoners; they all knew that Naruto was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.

But so what? They were beating up Uzumaki Naruto for provoking the Hyuga clan, what did that have to do with the Nine-Tails Fox!

If Fuyuki hadn't stepped out to stop the farce, the Hyuga elders wouldn't have let Naruto off so easily; those old men valued family honor more than their own lives!

At that rate, Naruto might have ended up becoming Naruko-chan!

"Young Master..."

An elder looked as if he wanted to say something but hesitated, feeling a bit embarrassed to bring it up.

Fuyuki understood what he wanted to say, but he didn't care: "The old man Third Hokage isn't that petty, no need to worry."

The Nine-Tails belonged to the Hokage, and most ninja clans avoided Uzumaki Naruto, fearing they might be misunderstood, only for Danzo, the "pot-bearer" of Konoha, to come over and stir up trouble with his snide remarks.

Danzo hadn't been coveting the position of Hokage for just a day or two, and he was determined to get his hands on Uzumaki Naruto. If it weren't for the Third Hokage inviting Naruto to BBQs every now and then, Naruto would be calling Danzo "Grandpa" instead of the Third.

However, the Hyuga clan didn't actually need to worry about Danzo, because the Hyuga clan was the Hokage's faction—they listened to whoever was Hokage.

At high-level meetings, when the Hokage made a suggestion, other clans had to deliberate, but the Hyuga clan didn't need to; they didn't even need to attend. As long as there was meat to be shared, the Hyuga would always say, "Lord Hokage is absolutely right!"

Furthermore, with the Caged Bird seal, Danzo would only need to become Hokage to gain the support of the Hyuga clan, and since the other Hyuga members listened to the Main Branch, and the Main Branch listened to the Hokage, there was no need to worry about internal dissent or betrayal.

Well, that was assuming he actually became Hokage.