Are You Kidding Me

"A kekkei genkai formed by the fusion of Lightning Release and Water Release?"

Hyuga Kagami scoffed, "But it seems I don't need Storm Release to control lightning!"

In an instant, lightning coalesced behind him into a terrifying Azure Dragon!

Its whiskers and mane were visible, its scales looked substantial, and its agile eyes rotated slightly.

It was as if... it were a living lightning dragon!

"Kill him!"

Hyuga Kagami commanded with a light shout, sounding like a monarch!

BOOM!

The lightning dragon roared!

With a furious bellow, it surged toward the four men from the Cloud Village with tyrannical force!

"This, this is impossible!"

Darui's eyes widened in disbelief; his worldview had been shattered!

"You clearly haven't mastered Storm Release, so why can you control lightning to this extent?!"

"This is impossible!"

Only Storm Release could freely control lightning.

This was practically a consensus.

Yet the man before him had shattered common sense!

That terrifying, hideous lightning blasted toward them, overwhelming and vast, like the might of the heavens!

His own lightning was not even worth mentioning in front of him!

"Run! We are no match for him!"

His heart was filled with shock and resentment, but he had no choice but to flee!

However, the physical fitness, speed, and lightning resistance of the others were far inferior to Darui's, and they perished in the sea of lightning in an instant!

"Konoha! Our Cloud Village will never let you off!"

Darui roared, his hair standing on end, his eyes bloodshot and filled with madness!

But at this moment... he could only flee in a pathetic state!

"If you're going to run, just run. Why bother with the empty threats?"

Hyuga Kagami scoffed.

Terrifying lightning erupted from his hands like divine wrath, carving horrific arcs through the air as he sent Darui flying with a brutal strike!

"Ah!"

Darui screamed in agony, yet he stubbornly climbed back to his feet.

His eyes were blood-red with rage, but he was completely helpless.

This was, of course, not Hyuga Kagami's full-power strike; if he killed Darui, how would the Raikage know that it was Konoha who had done the deed?

"I truly am going to great lengths for a brand-new ninja world!"

Hyuga Kagami clicked his tongue in wonder.

Nagato had not yet matured, and the Tailed Beasts had not been gathered.

The conditions were not yet ripe, and he was very much looking forward to seeing the bewildered expression on Black Zetsu's face when the time came.

Darui roared as he vanished from sight: "Konoha, our Cloud Village will not let you off! Just wait for the judgment of the Cloud Village!"

Fire burned in the depths of his eyes; he never imagined that he, an elite jonin, would end up in such a pathetic state.

And he had even lost three jonin!

"We can't catch him."

Hatake Kakashi's expression was grave: "Judging by Darui's words, the Cloud Village ninjas who previously signed the alliance treaty don't seem to have returned to the Cloud Village, and now we have severely wounded Darui and his men."

"War is likely unavoidable!"

"We must return to the village immediately to report to the Hokage and prepare for war!"

Suddenly, he thought of something, and his expression dimmed.

If his teacher were still alive, he would never have allowed the Cloud Village to be so arrogant, but would the current Hokage, who valued "peace above all," choose to... hand them over?

In an instant!

Hatake Kakashi thought of the tragically deceased Hyuga Hizashi and felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar!

Would he... ultimately meet the same fate as Hyuga Hizashi?

"Hmph!"

Hyuga Kagami let out a cold snort. "The Cloud Village is nothing but a pack of brutes. If they want to fight, then let us show them who the strongest ninja village in the world really is!"

"Konoha has been silent for too long, causing many to forget the glory of Konoha!"

Hatake Kakashi's eyes trembled slightly.

These words struck a chord deep within him.

How could he not wish for Konoha to return to its former glory?

But the Third Hokage... he was just too cowardly!

"Let's return to the village first and report the news to the Hokage. Now that we have the support of the Mist Village, we have no need to fear the Cloud Village!"

Hatake Kakashi's expression was grave.

However, he failed to notice the sneer and mockery hidden in the depths of Hyuga Kagami's eyes.

For a ninja like Kakashi, Konoha truly came first, but the two leaders of Konoha today were different.

One only wanted to cling to the position of Hokage and avoid starting a war.

The other only wanted to usurp the position of Hokage.

As it stood, Konoha... was nothing but a group of people occupying positions without doing any work!

Three days later.

In the Hokage's office.

Hyuga Kagami and the others wore solemn expressions as they reported the events of the past period one by one; Hatake Kakashi held nothing back.

"What!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze burned with intensity as he stared at Hyuga Kagami in disbelief. "Hyuga Kagami, your strength is enough to contend with the Fourth Mizukage in a short period! And you have sworn brotherhood with the Fourth Mizukage?!"

"From now on, the Mist Village and Konoha will form an alliance?!"

He slammed his hands on the desk and stood up, his breathing ragged.

He felt this was utterly absurd!

"Kakashi, are you sure you aren't joking? The Fourth Mizukage's Water Style ninjutsu is on par with the Second Hokage, and as a perfect jinchuriki, even I could only fight him to a draw!"

Hyuga Kagami: "..."

He cast a faint glance at the balding Third Hokage.

This old man was full of nonsense!

The "draw" you're talking about, was that you using the Dead Demon Consuming Seal to force a mutual destruction?

"Yes, Lord Hokage!"

Hatake Kakashi said earnestly, "Although I don't know what happened, Kagami-kun has gained the friendship of the Fourth Mizukage. This is the alliance treaty! The Mist Village will subsequently send ninjas to formally finalize the alliance!"

"If I recall correctly, Kagami, your strength was only at the level of an elite chunin before, wasn't it?"

A cold glint flashed through Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes as he questioned him!

Had Hyuga Kagami been hiding his strength all this time?

What was the reason?

Could it be... that Hyuga Kagami had ulterior motives?!

"That is not the case, Lord Hokage. I was indeed a dead last in the past, but one night, I saw a figure!"

Hyuga Kagami's eyes grew deep, as if recalling something, and he said earnestly, "He had golden hair and gentle blue eyes!"

"He appeared in my bedroom in the middle of the night and sealed a purple dragon into my body!"

He spouted nonsense with a straight face.

"He also instructed me to carry on the Will of Fire in the future."

"And after I woke up, I possessed a massive amount of chakra within me!"

Hyuga Kagami looked puzzled, as if he didn't quite understand it himself. "He also hoped that when I had the time, I would look after a boy named Uzumaki Naruto."

Golden hair?

Blue eyes?!

A purple dragon... that was the Dragon Vein!

And he wanted Hyuga Kagami to look after Uzumaki Naruto?

Sarutobi Hiruzen's eyes widened in shock. Could it be Namikaze Minato?!

The mission scroll from when Namikaze Minato carried out the Loulan mission mentioned a purple Dragon Vein, and the purple Dragon Vein possessed the power to reverse time and space!

Could it be that Namikaze Minato had fallen into a time rift?

And arrived in the current timeline?

And he had given the Dragon Vein to Hyuga Kagami!

Just... how absurd was that???

Although he felt it was ridiculous, looking at Hyuga Kagami's serious demeanor, his pure gaze, and his flawless expression, it looked real no matter how he scrutinized it!

Moreover, this matter...

It was impossible to verify!

Sarutobi Hiruzen stared at Hyuga Kagami for a long time, but aside from the Will of Fire, he ultimately could not see anything else.

He still chose to believe Hyuga Kagami; at the very least, he chose to believe him on the surface.

No one could put on a performance right under his nose!

What's more, the boy was already the brother of the Mizukage!

What else could he do?!

"Regarding the matter of the Mist Village, Kagami, you did well!"

"Forming an alliance with the Mist Village means Konoha's position is even more secure!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen's expression returned to normal!

His position as Hokage was now rock solid!

"Kagami, you are the backbone of Konoha. The future of Konoha needs you to protect it!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked excited.

He had painted a grand blueprint, which would have had anyone else brimming with excitement.

Hyuga Kagami's expression remained calm, the corners of his mouth curling upward: "Of course, the future of Konoha will naturally be protected by me!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen was overjoyed.

Look at this Will of Fire, how firm it was!

He didn't cause trouble, didn't stir up issues, and only sought alliances for Konoha!

But he failed to notice the trickery in the depths of Hyuga Kagami's eyes, nor the meaning revealed: what Hyuga Kagami meant... was that he would be the one to control Konoha!

"Lord Hokage, there is one more thing we must be vigilant about!"

Hatake Kakashi's face looked grim as he spoke up, recounting the encounter with the Cloud Village ninjas before releasing his storage scroll.

"These are the corpses of the Cloud Village ninjas!"

Poof!

Accompanied by a puff of smoke.

Three corpses appeared in the Hokage's office.

The air fell silent!

The smile on Sarutobi Hiruzen's face froze instantly. He slowly looked toward Hyuga Kagami and the others, his eyes filled with rage and coldness: "You... killed ninjas from the Cloud Village?!"

They had just formed an alliance with the Cloud Village.

Yet in the blink of an eye, they had killed Cloud Village ninjas. Wasn't this a precursor to war?!

"Lord Hokage..."

Hatake Kakashi's face was grim, tinged with disappointment.

As expected... Lord Hokage didn't care at all whether they had been in danger!

Hyuga Kagami sneered inwardly at the black-hearted old man, Sarutobi Hiruzen.

He had turned cowardly now.

He had become a spineless wretch who only knew how to bully his own people!

"Lord Hokage, we didn't want to resort to violence either, but the Cloud Village ninjas were slaughtering the citizens within the Land of Fire!"

Hyuga Kagami's expression was impassioned and righteous: "If we hadn't killed them, we could never have appeased the public anger!"