Starting from the Third Generation

"Lord Third..."

The Anbu knelt on one knee, offering a cautious reminder.

Ever since he had arrived at the office to report on his mission, the Anbu had been kneeling there for a full ten minutes.

Yet, the Third Hokage before him seemed to have drifted off into a trance, his eyes unfocused, unable to snap back to reality for a long time.

Normally, given an Anbu's patience, he wouldn't have had a single complaint even if he had to wait for half a day.

But right now, Lord Third seemed to be in a rather strange state.

"Lord Third..."

The Anbu called out once more.

"Uh."

At this moment, the Third finally seemed to regain his senses.

A glimmer of sharpness flickered in his eyes as he surveyed his surroundings.

The spacious office, the mountains of scrolls, and the Hokage's seal resting on the desk.

"Very well..."

The Third waved his hand, his expression returning to normal.

"You may withdraw."

Upon hearing this, the Anbu hesitated, wanting to say, "Lord Third, you haven't heard my mission report yet."

But out of reverence for the Hokage who had held office and power for the longest time, the Anbu ultimately said nothing more.

He simply placed the mission scroll in his hand onto the Hokage's desk, bowed to the Third, and vanished from the spot with a silent Body Flicker.

Once he saw the Anbu leave, the Third seemed to heave a sigh of relief, and the imposing aura of the Hokage he had just projected instantly slackened.

Replacing it was a sense of liveliness and curiosity, the kind usually reserved for the young.

Sarutobi Hiruzen first examined the objects around him, then looked at the familiar yet strange pipe in his hand, taking a puff out of pure physical instinct.

"Hoo."

After exhaling a long cloud of smoke, as the sensation of nicotine spread through his lungs, the surging memories in Sarutobi Hiruzen's mind finally began to settle.

"When other people transmigrate, they become someone like Yanzu or Tingfeng."

"How did I end up as an old man over fifty..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen, or rather, Yuan Fei from another world, let out a sigh.

"The legendary Strongest Hokage..."

A self-deprecating smile curled the corners of Sarutobi Hiruzen's mouth.

"But I'm destined to die within the plotline..."

"Still, since I'm here, I might as well make the best of it."

In an instant, Sarutobi Hiruzen accepted the fact that he had transmigrated into the Third Hokage.

At least he hadn't transmigrated into the timeline where Shippuden began; he had arrived quite a few years earlier.

If he had arrived as a pure old man, facing Orochimaru at his peak, he truly would have been helpless, with no one to call for aid.

"It's a pity that Orochimaru has already defected."

Sarutobi Hiruzen searched through the memories in his mind.

Not long ago, Sarutobi Hiruzen had let Orochimaru go and declared him a missing-nin.

This meant that Orochimaru's path of vengeance had already begun; even if Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to win him back, given Orochimaru's ability to hide, he wouldn't be able to find him.

Thinking of this, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but take another puff from the old-fashioned pipe.

The body's instinct for smoking had been integrated into his subconscious; even with a new soul, it was difficult to erase.

"I suppose that's what you'd expect from a ninja."

"Even a body that has begun to age is terrifyingly strong..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen felt the tobacco toxins enter his lungs, but instead of lingering as they would in an ordinary person, they were rapidly neutralized by a certain powerful energy—the source of a ninja's power: chakra.

"Or perhaps, the strength of this body is second to none even among ninjas."

Sarutobi Hiruzen could feel that this aging body contained enough power to split mountains and shatter stones.

It was a sense of overflowing power that he had never been able to experience in his sub-healthy body from his previous life.

"I can only say, setting everything else aside,"

"The Third Hokage is at least peerless in his aptitude as a ninja..."

"Even among a crowd of people with 'cheat' eyes, he can still be considered the pinnacle of mortals."

Sarutobi Hiruzen continued to console himself.

If there was any benefit to transmigrating into the Third Hokage, aside from suddenly becoming a father, it was possessing this solid, genuine strength of a Kage.

The current timeline was still over a decade before the start of Shippuden, so Sarutobi Hiruzen still had a chance to change the status quo.

Fortunately, I am not without a cheat.

Sarutobi Hiruzen whispered in his heart.

System!

Host: Sarutobi Hiruzen
Current World: Four-Star World - Hokage
Space-Time Source Energy: 1350
World Mark: None

Looking at the crude system before him, Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but take another puff of his pipe.

"Hoo."

Following the smoke came Sarutobi Hiruzen's question.

"Introduce yourself, System."

"What kind of functions do you have..."

What answered Sarutobi Hiruzen was not speech, but a form of consciousness stream transmitted directly into his brain.

The system's functions were not exactly powerful, but they were certainly crude.

The primary function of the entire system was to collect Space-Time Source Energy and then allow Sarutobi Hiruzen to travel to other worlds.

"Other worlds, huh..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded, feeling reasonably satisfied.

Although the system could not directly increase his power, the ability to travel between worlds was the greatest cheat of all.

After all, the Heavens and Myriad Worlds held countless adventures and opportunities; even a tiny fraction leaking out would be enough for him to dominate the Hokage world.

The way the system collected Space-Time Source Energy was by erasing or altering Space-Time Nodes.

Calling them Space-Time Nodes might be hard to understand.

If one referred to them as the plot-critical characters of each world, it would be very easy to grasp.

According to the system's settings, as long as one killed or altered the trajectory of a plot-critical character, the Space-Time Node would be changed, thereby granting Space-Time Source Energy.

"Simple enough..."

Sarutobi Hiruzen understood.

"So, the existing Space-Time Source Energy is the reward for me possessing Sarutobi Hiruzen?"

Having received an affirmative answer from the system, Sarutobi Hiruzen nodded.

From the moment he possessed the original Third Hokage, the trajectory of the Third had been completely altered.

It was almost no different from killing the original Third himself.

"The Third himself counts as an important supporting character, so why is it only a thousand-plus in source energy?"

Sarutobi Hiruzen couldn't help but have some doubts.

Was this system a miser from the very start?

In the information stream transmitted by the system, the Space-Time Source Energy for an important supporting character in a Four-Star World should be at least three thousand points.

Yet, in his case, it was less than half of that.

The answer that followed from the system made Sarutobi Hiruzen slightly more satisfied.

'Possessing Sarutobi Hiruzen without any side effects also comes with a price...'

That was true; if he had to pit his own will—hailing from a peaceful era—against the murderous will of the Third, it would have been unrealistic.

It was precisely because the system helped bear that cost that Sarutobi Hiruzen was able to perfectly possess the Third.

Not only did he fully inherit his strength and memories, but he was also barely influenced by the original host.

Just as Sarutobi Hiruzen wanted to study the system's functions in more depth.

"Bang!"

Suddenly, the sound of a door being pushed open rang out, piercing the quiet of the Hokage Office.

New book setting sail, please follow!