"All right..."
Sarutobi Hiruzen shrugged. He hadn't expected to talk Kakashi into it.
From another perspective, insisting on using Obito's Sharingan was itself an expression of Kakashi's Will of Fire.
Hiruzen didn't believe in that anymore, but he still had to give his subordinates a little brainwashing.
"Now that we know about Shimura Danzō's conspiracy..."
"I'll have to send you on a mission, Kakashi."
There was a murderous edge to Hiruzen's voice.
"I'll take care of everything in the village..."
"There'll be someone special on the assassination squad."
"You'll recognize him at a glance..."
"Bring him back safely."
Kakashi immediately understood. Hiruzen wanted him to impersonate the Third Hokage and draw attention.
Though he was a little puzzled by the special person Hiruzen had mentioned, Kakashi was now an exceptionally competent Ninja. He just did his job and didn't ask questions.
"Yes, Third Hokage!"
Hiruzen patted Kakashi on the shoulder, looking mysterious.
"Once you've completed this mission,"
"I'll have a surprise for you."
Kakashi stared blankly at Hiruzen, who was standing right in front of him.
He felt that the Third Hokage seemed to have changed somehow, but he couldn't put his finger on it.
It's like... the Third Hokage has gotten younger at heart?!
Kakashi tried to describe the change in Hiruzen, but something about it felt off.
But this version of the Third Hokage...
seems a little more approachable...
After assigning Kakashi's mission, Hiruzen looked at the empty space before him, his expression darkening again.
In just a few days, he would face his first crisis since transmigrating: Danzō's assassination attempt.
"Though I came through that assassination attempt completely unharmed in the original story..."
"This time, I'm not letting that old bastard Danzō off the hook."
Hiruzen narrowed his eyes, a dangerous glint in them.
"On paper, Danzō's strength and influence are both far inferior to mine..."
"And I have the Hokage's authority on my side..."
"But knowing that bastard Danzō, even if he's sentenced to death, he won't surrender without a fight..."
So, just to be safe, Hiruzen wasn't going to face Danzō without making any preparations.
Hiruzen looked at his system.
In the short term, it was the only variable he could rely on.
Without hesitation, Hiruzen thought to himself,
"Time to add some points, dee..."
"Ahem, that's not the right catchphrase."
"System! Prepare to transmigrate!"
A hazy glow immediately enveloped Hiruzen, activating some mysterious space-time mechanism.
"Please select the world's level."
"Two-Star World..."
Hiruzen answered without hesitation.
Naturally, he had to choose a world with supernatural powers if he wanted to gain anything.
"Please select the keyword for the world you wish to transmigrate to..."
"You can narrow down the range of worlds and select one more precisely by assigning a transmigration Entry..."
"Warning: each keyword added to a Two-Star World requires an additional 500 Source Energy."
Hiruzen furrowed his brow. The system hadn't mentioned this feature before.
More importantly, he had only a little over 1,300 points of Space-Time Source Energy. After paying the cost of transmigrating to a Two-Star World, he wouldn't have any left to assign an Entry.
"For your first transmigration, you may obtain one Entry for free..."
"Would you like to use it?"
Perhaps sensing what Hiruzen was thinking, the system offered its host one chance to get something for free.
"Of course I'll use it..."
Hiruzen certainly wasn't going to pass up a freebie.
"Please confirm the Entry."
The system's emotionless voice rang out.
"Immortality..."
Hiruzen's calm voice followed immediately.
"Confirm transmigration..."
"Two-Star World... Keyword... Immortality..."
"Searching..."
"World matching keyword found."
"Beginning to break through the World Barrier..."
"Beginning transmigration..."
As the system's voice continued, Hiruzen vanished from where he stood.
Birds, flowers, insects, fish, green waters, and verdant mountains.
When Hiruzen came to, he was already in a completely new environment.
His nerves tensed instantly, then relaxed.
He was surrounded by an ordinary forest, with no sign of anyone around.
But that was no obstacle for Hiruzen, the Professor of Ninjutsu.
After surveying his surroundings, Hiruzen used the Body Flicker Technique and disappeared.
With a few quick, light leaps, he appeared on a branch dozens of meters above the ground.
As Kunai attached to metal wires crisscrossed through the air,
Hiruzen had several sparrows from the tree in his hand.
"Ninja Art..."
"Mind Clone Technique!"
As a Professor of Ninjutsu who knows every technique in Konoha, it's only natural that I'd know the Yamanaka Clan's secret techniques.
Hiruzen joked to himself.
If creatures from other worlds had Chakra in their bodies, he could have used a much simpler Sensory Ninjutsu to detect their presence.
But clearly, techniques based on sensing Chakra wouldn't work, so he had to use this more complicated method.
Hiruzen then released the sparrows, whose vision he shared.
"It seems like an environment close to ancient times..."
"The plants and animals are all extremely lush and primitive..."
"And there's no sign of supernatural powers..."
As the sparrows flew, the scenes in Hiruzen's mind gradually grew more vivid.
"Our village has no food left but this..."
"My lords..."
"We truly have nothing more!"
In a quaint village, the villagers stared fearfully at the mounted samurai before them.
Calling those men samurai was less accurate than calling them bandits.
"If you don't have enough food..."
"That's fine too."
The leader sneered at the villagers.
"Hand over the women you're hiding..."
"And I'll let you off this time."
"Otherwise..."
His stubbled face was full of murderous intent.
"I'll have to kill every last one of you!"
The villagers exchanged uneasy glances, their faces growing tense.
Before the samurai arrived, they had indeed hidden the women and children in their homes, hoping to keep the cruel men from violating their wives and children.
But they hadn't expected the samurai to discover their hiding place so easily.
Seeing the villagers still hesitate, the samurai's expressions turned fierce.
"Clang!"
The sound of blades being drawn rang out one after another. The shabby samurai's swords, however, were all quite new, their sharp edges glinting.
They had clearly been well maintained.
In this era, only the samurai class had the right to carry swords.
That was what set them apart from commoners and gave them the confidence to plunder them at will.
The fighting ability of someone armed with a weapon was on an entirely different level from that of someone empty-handed.
A well-trained samurai with a sword could easily cut down seven or eight commoners armed with farming tools.
If the poor farmers didn't even have the courage to fight back with their tools, then perhaps the words "well-trained" weren't even necessary.
Before you continue