"Older Brother Zou."
Hinata rose from the ground and called out when she saw Zou Hyuga approaching.
Naruto, beside her, also greeted him with a grin. "Oh, it's Uncle Zou! Long time no see... You're here for Hinata, right?"
Zou Hyuga's face darkened. He nodded lightly and gave Naruto a helpless look.
He was barely in his twenties. How had he become an uncle?
Just then, Sasuke approached and greeted him respectfully. "Senior Zou..."
He did not know why he had to address this Hyuga ninja as his senior, but his brother did so. Besides, this jonin named Zou Hyuga supposedly had some ambiguous relationship with the clan's Big Sister.
If even his Older Brother treated someone with respect, Sasuke could only tread carefully around him.
Zou Hyuga studied Sasuke for a moment, recalling the earlier assessment. Just as in the original timeline, Sasuke had displayed astonishing talent from childhood and was unquestionably the best in his class.
That had something to do with Indra, his Uchiha talent, and his bloodline.
Sasuke's hard work also played a part. Influenced by Itachi, he had even turned practicing ninjutsu and taijutsu into a hobby, and he never lacked guidance from the clan's jonin.
Naruto, left largely to his own devices, could not match that. He was also affected by the Nine-Tails chakra.
Speaking of chakra, after acquiring some of Shukaku's chakra, Zou had gradually become more sensitive to the chakra of other tailed beasts. He could sense the Nine-Tails chakra constantly leaking from Naruto.
After stepping closer, Zou Hyuga could sense the Nine-Tails chakra even more clearly.
Compared with Shukaku's chakra, the Nine-Tails chakra was of somewhat higher quality, but it possessed no elemental nature and thus lacked the ability to use Ninjutsu like the other tailed beasts.
In other words, the