The Imminent Grand Event

There were seven participants in the martial arts tournament. After three were eliminated in the first round, and accounting for a bye in the second, there were only four contestants left for two matches. Fuyuki versus Neji was the first, while the second was Hinata versus a five-year-old child from the Hyuga Clan.

The result was self-evident: Hinata won by a landslide. Hinata's talent was not bad, but the most terrifying thing in life is comparison.

Look at those two cheaters, Sasuke and Naruto; they reached Six Paths Level strength at sixteen. Compared to them, anyone else would seem as fragile as a porcelain doll, fit only to whimper and cry.

At the end of the tournament in early May, the high-ranking clan members entered the Main Branch courtyard alongside the Third Hokage.

The Hyuga clansmen who had been practicing their morning drills also dispersed, preparing to eat breakfast and rest for a moment before facing the medical courses that would make one's scalp go numb.

The Hyuga Gentle Fist focuses on internal organs, acupoints, and meridians, so naturally, they had to study medicine, and occasionally even law.

It was a classic case of the whole clan studying medicine, only to be struck by lightning.

Fuyuki pretended to be nonchalant, shaking off his personal maid Natsumi and the crybaby Hinata. Once he returned to his bedroom and locked the door, he reached out and gestured, causing a circle of black incantations to appear on the floor.

"Elemental Spirit Summoning: Meisete-ku!"

A black elemental spirit that looked like a bean sprout rose from the ground. It had a golden lock around its neck and stared at Fuyuki with a dazed, adorable expression, waiting for its master to issue an order.

The Summoning Technique did not require hand seals; it only required sufficient chakra and spiritual energy.

The black bean sprout Fuyuki summoned was a master of stealth, condensed from pure Yin-Style Chakra with a touch of Yang-Style Chakra. Unless they encountered a powerhouse proficient in Yin-Style, even an Elite Jonin-level ninja would be unable to detect the presence of Meisete-ku.

Upon seeing the Third Hokage, Fuyuki felt that the old man must be up to some dirty business. Moreover, the timing was very delicate—it was the eve of the Uchiha rebellion, a period when Konoha was in a state of transition. Anything that could make the Hokage take action personally was certainly unusual.

As a temporary slacker, it was only natural to eavesdrop on the deployment of the masters' critical missions.

"Infiltrate the conference room! Meisete-ku!"

Fuyuki thought to himself. The Yin-Style spirit transformed into a puddle of black shadow and slipped into the building. It traveled freely without obstruction, quickly arriving at the courtyard of Hyuga Hiashi and slipping into the conference room, providing Fuyuki in the side courtyard with a low-latency, panoramic VR live stream.

"Border defenses must continue to be strengthened. The Anbu recently discovered traces of Orochimaru in the Land of Fire."

Orochimaru, who had vanished for over a year, had reappeared in the Ninja World. If there wasn't something fishy going on, Sarutobi Hiruzen, his former teacher, would be the first to disbelieve it. It was precisely because of Orochimaru's appearance that the Third Hokage had come to visit the Hyuga Clan.

In truth, the Third Hokage had no face to come to the Hyuga Clan. Back when Kumogakure was being unreasonable and aggressive, he had played favorites to end the border conflict as quickly as possible, twisting the truth and forcing the Hyuga Clan to apologize to the Cloud Village.

Even though Konoha compensated the Hyuga Clan afterward, he, as the Third Hokage, had been derelict in his duty.

Regarding this matter, he had originally intended to let it cool down until he stepped down, allowing the Fifth Hokage to rebuild trust with the Hyuga Clan. But now the situation had changed; Orochimaru, who should have been hiding his tracks, had suddenly popped up.

It didn't matter if the Hyuga Clan slacked off on normal days—after all, he was the one who had sold them out first.

But now that Orochimaru had infiltrated the Land of Fire, regardless of his intentions, he had to be found!

This required the power of the Byakugan. The Byakugan didn't care if you were hiding your aura or not; as long as the Byakugan saw you, you were exposed and ready to be swarmed!

After hearing the Third Hokage's words, Hiashi and several elders fell into a brief silence, not responding to the Hokage's request immediately.

Searching the entire Land of Fire was not a task that could be completed in a short time. Even if they sent out every ninja in the Hyuga Clan above the rank of Special Jonin, it would take nearly half a month to conduct a thorough search.

Letting the Hyuga Clan's operations grind to a halt for half a month would result in a non-trivial amount of economic loss.

Of course, Hiashi knew the Hokage would pay a considerable reward.

Exchanging glances with several elders, Hiashi, as the clan head, finally made the call: "No problem, but we need two days to arrange the handover of our work. Lord Hokage, will this delay the mission?"

"No problem. An Anbu squad has already set out to begin a carpet search; you will serve as the second-tier reconnaissance team. Once you discover traces of Orochimaru, do not act rashly; notify the surrounding Anbu members directly via radio." The Third Hokage smiled upon hearing Hiashi's reply.

He then added pointedly, "I've been sitting in the office for too long lately, and my back often aches. I should go exercise in the forest behind the Hokage Rock more often this afternoon."

Hiashi was stunned. When he heard the Third Hokage mention his aching back, he thought the old man was going to be unseemly and invite them for a few drinks, but he hadn't expected the conversation to shift to the forest behind the Hokage Rock.

However, he understood the implication; he knew this was the Third Hokage's private way of expressing gratitude.

"Then many thanks for Lord Hokage's kindness." Hiashi immediately offered his thanks.

"Then I shall not disturb you further."

With the search mission settled and the assurance that the Hyuga Clan would not slack off regarding Orochimaru, the Third Hokage had no intention of staying longer. The amount of paperwork the Hokage had to process daily was no small sum, especially after the Nine-Tails Incident, the Cloud Village's bullying, and the Uchiha affair.

The Hokage was almost becoming the "Bald-kage."

There were simply too many things he had to handle!

"Orochimaru? Isn't the Snake Princess currently playing kissy-face and piggyback with Brother Pain? Why did she suddenly run to the Land of Fire?"

Fuyuki dispelled the Summoning Technique, letting Meisete-ku dissolve into pure chakra and return to his body.

"Well, whatever. It has nothing to do with me anyway. Let it be!"

As the saying goes, if it doesn't concern you, keep your distance. He had no grudge against Orochimaru, and he was in the most secure area of Konoha. Even if Orochimaru could fly, there was no reason for him to come and bite him for no reason, or gift him a permanent Cursed Seal.

Besides, wasn't there the Uchiha Clan? Orochimaru had been drooling over them for ages.

"I reckon the Snake Princess has some unspeakable deal with that rotten-assed Danzo again." Fuyuki straightened his clothes, pretended nothing had happened, and walked openly toward the main courtyard. He pushed open the door to his mother's room with the familiarity of a veteran, smiling broadly: "My dear little sister Hanabi, your big brother is here!"

Hanabi had been born for a while, but because newborns were fragile, his mother had been living in the Main Branch courtyard with her. They would only be free to move about after the ancestral rites on the thirty-second day.

The customs for childbirth in the Ninja World were different from his previous life; there was no "full-month" celebration. A child was named and celebrated on the seventh day after birth, and they would visit the ancestral grounds on the thirtieth or thirty-second day. If they were orphans, they would visit a shrine instead.

Fuyuki had experienced these things himself, so he was quite clear on them; as for other customs, he didn't know.