Planning

Hyuga Iwa lay on his bed, reviewing every detail of his previous life.

Some things he still remembered, but far more had already been forgotten.

In his previous life, Hyuga Iwa had not watched much of the Naruto anime—only a few episodes. The plot had dragged on too much, always slipping into flashbacks, so he had given up on it.

Still, as one of the ten most popular anime series, he had a certain understanding of it. Hyuga Iwa knew the general plot of Naruto, but unfortunately, only the general plot.

Of course, if this world really was the Naruto world from the anime, Hyuga Iwa figured he could become a prophet.

Then there was Naruto's primary power system: ninjutsu, taijutsu, and genjutsu.

Ninjutsu, as the name implied, used chakra to unleash techniques against enemies.

Based on chakra attributes, ninjutsu could be divided into wind, fire, water, earth, and lightning. However, chakra also had yin and yang attributes.

Taijutsu involved directly attacking with one's body. Its power mainly depended on the strength of the body itself, which was easy enough to understand and needed no further explanation.

Lastly was genjutsu, a technique that used chakra to create illusions and achieve indirect attacks.

There also seemed to be Cursed Seal Technique, Sealing Jutsu, secret techniques, and so on...

Right, there was also Natural Energy—Sage Jutsu, which was even stronger than the chakra system!

Thinking about it that way, Naruto's power system really was quite chaotic.

But on second thought, Hyuga Iwa felt that was perfectly normal.

Ever since Ninshu split apart, the Shinobi World had been at war. In the past, they had been small-scale wars fought between clans; after Hashirama Senju and Madara Uchiha established hidden villages, the wars became conflicts between nations.

Almost no one in the entire Shinobi World paid attention to anything besides war. The nobles of the nations did not care whether the common people lived or died, while ninja, before hidden villages were established, had merely been tools of princes and nobles.

Even after hidden villages were founded, ninja were not necessarily much better off than before. They still ran around and fought for bounties.

Without financial investment, research could hardly produce results.

Of course, over the thousands of years of the Shinobi World, many ninjutsu had been invented, but even more history had been forgotten. In such an environment, the Shinobi World developed slowly and moved forward bit by bit.

Hyuga Iwa belonged to the Hyuga Clan, so as a member of the Hyuga Clan, the Byakugan's advantages were irreplaceable.

Hyuga Iwa felt he could start with Medical Ninjutsu and taijutsu to strengthen himself.

If Hyuga Iwa remembered correctly, the Hyuga Clan had barely any standout performances in the plot. Still, at least the Hyuga Clan survived until the end.

That was not what Hyuga Iwa wanted.

He needed to master more knowledge, especially Sealing Jutsu and Sage Jutsu!

It would be even better if he could incorporate science as well.

The moment he thought of that, Hyuga Iwa felt as though one head had become two.

Science was not something one person could handle alone!

Perhaps I should—no, I had to—at the very least form a team. Otherwise, I could work myself to death and still never accomplish everything.

Hyuga Iwa repeatedly considered several candidates, but the biggest thing restricting him right now was his age.

Thinking of that, Hyuga Iwa sighed. He knew it was too early to consider such things, but some matters were better planned early. After all, war had never been far from them.

Hyuga Iwa's memories were rather jumbled; whatever came to mind came to mind, so even when organizing them, everything was a mess. Still, he had a general direction now.

But as the saying went, plans could not keep up with changes. No matter how well one planned, one still had to adapt to local conditions and the times.

As Hyuga Iwa thought, he gradually fell into a deep sleep.

The Hyuga Clan head's residence was also dimly lit. In the only room still illuminated, two people discussed something.

"When the Hokage summoned me today, I brought up the matter of you succeeding as clan head. He has already agreed. Go report to the Hokage tomorrow."

"Understood, Father."

"Mm. You have heard about the Sky Ninja, haven't you?"

"Yes. I heard about it from people in the village's jonin squad."

"Mm. I will leave this matter to you. When I went to the Hokage's Office today, I seemed to hear that the Third Hokage was preparing to go personally."

"Then our Hyuga Clan..."

Hyuga Tenka waved his hand, cutting off Hyuga Hiashi. "That is for you to consider. As long as it does not harm our Hyuga Clan, anything is fine."

"Yes, I understand."

"Right, how are the children from this batch in the clan?"

"Five successfully extracted chakra. Among them, Hyuga Iwa has the best talent, but..."

"Does he have some problem?"

"Not exactly. I just feel that he seems a little too clever."

"It does not matter. He is only a member of the Hyuga Branch Family." Hyuga Tenka did not seem concerned, but after thinking for a moment, he added, "Just use both kindness and authority. What could a three-year-old child possibly know?"

"Mm." Once Hyuga Hiashi thought about it, that was true. No matter how much a three-year-old child grew, could he, Hyuga Hiashi, truly fail to bring him under control?

As Hyuga Hiashi left, the residence gradually fell silent, with only the chirping of crickets outside.

"Whew, finally finished reviewing them."

The Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, put down his pen and shook his aching wrist.

"Someone." Hiruzen Sarutobi called out casually.

With a whoosh, a figure sprang out from behind him. Judging from the uniform, he should have been an ANBU member.

"Hokage-sama, what are your orders?"

"Sasaki, how is the investigation I assigned you going?"

"There is still no conclusive evidence that Root was responsible, but there are signs of Root's involvement."

"Mm. Classify this matter as an A-rank secret." Hiruzen Sarutobi spoke gravely. After thinking for a moment, he continued, "What do you think about Hidden Sky Village?"

Sasaki thought for a moment, then shook his head. "To be honest, without seeing it with my own eyes, I cannot imagine what kind of fortress capable of flying through the sky it is."

"Yes. Since there is reliable information saying that they actually intend to challenge our Five Great Hidden Villages, we can only strike first."

Sasaki did not respond. As an ANBU member, he knew what he should say and what he should not.

In truth, Hiruzen Sarutobi had no choice but to ask Sasaki. Although he had initiated this operation, the intelligence had not been provided by ANBU, but by Root and the daimyo. The daimyo had even directly demanded that he send troops.

Although he could ignore the daimyo's orders, he generally would not refuse them too bluntly. Besides, Root had provided the same intelligence!

Given that Hidden Sky Village intended to challenge the strength of the Five Great Nations, Hiruzen Sarutobi decided to personally lead a team there. Yet he still felt uneasy.

Come to think of it, if Hidden Sky Village had not revealed itself, Hiruzen Sarutobi would not even have known such a ninja village existed.

After all, Hiruzen Sarutobi had only been Hokage for a few years. If his teacher, Tobirama Senju, had not suddenly died and appointed him the Third Hokage, he might not have become Hokage at all.

Then the Second Shinobi War had immediately shattered his plan to slowly consolidate his authority. ANBU split into two divisions: ANBU handled internal affairs, while Root handled external matters. Although ANBU also gathered intelligence outside the village, it was still never as accurate as Root's.

This was also the first time he had personally led a team on a mission since becoming Hokage. He could only hope everything went smoothly.

Yet the operation two days later nearly made Hiruzen Sarutobi's worries come true. If he had not exhausted all his strength at the end and used his self-created Five-Style Great Combo Bullet Technique to destroy Hidden Sky Village's fortress in one blow, Leaf Village might have suffered considerable losses.

Unfortunately, they still failed to seize Hidden Sky Village's records. By the time they arrived, the former Hidden Sky Village base had already been completely empty.