Mount Myoboku.
The home of the Gamabunta Clan.
This place boasts a superior environment and abundant natural energy. Together with Shikkotsu Forest, home of the slug clan, and Ryuchi Cave, dwelling of the serpents, it is known as one of the three sacred lands.
"Jiraiya, do you know what foresight means?"
Deep within Mount Myoboku at a temple, Gamamaru, the enormous old toad sage whose skin was dry and wrinkled, asked slowly.
His eyes were always half-closed into narrow slits, as if he could never fully open them.
If not for speaking, others might not even know whether he was awake or dreaming.
"Ah?" Jiraiya spoke with rising concern.
He'd been out traveling and living comfortably when suddenly Gamamaru sent Fukasaku to fetch him.
He thought the toad sage might have news about the prophecy of the Child of Destiny, so without hesitation, he hurried straight back to Mount Myoboku.
"To know existing things, past events, ongoing matters — from this one can glimpse parts of the future."
"Great Toad Sage, please continue. Surely you aren't telling me that all these prophecies are fake?"
Jiraiya spoke with rising concern.
For the sake of this so-called prophecy about the Child of Destiny, he had already spent half his life traveling far and wide.
If now Gamamaru told him these weren't fixed future events but mere guesses based on deductions, then his pursuit would become nothing more than a joke.
"Since you've seen glimpses of the future before, can't you just tell me who the Child of Destiny is?" Urgency made Jiraiya speak without thinking.
"If I told you everything, the future might change," Gamamaru replied slowly.
Strangely, this response relieved Jiraiya.
"Great Toad Sage, please continue." Jiraiya resumed a respectful demeanor.
However, he waited a long time without hearing another word from Gamamaru.
When he heard the old toad start snoring softly, Jiraiya could only sigh helplessly.
Why'd he fall asleep mid-conversation again?
After bowing respectfully toward Gamamaru, Jiraiya left the temple.
Once he departed, Gamamaru slightly lifted his eyelids, gazing in the direction Jiraiya left with a soft sigh.
He took out a transparent Crystal Ball.
This artifact, also known as a Memory Stone, could show events from the past.
A thousand years ago, using this very object, he had investigated the cause behind the Ninja World's loss of earth energy.
It was also he who informed brothers Hayato and Hamura about Kaguya Otsutsuki feeding humans to the God Tree, guiding them to defeat Kaguya.
Besides this, Gamamaru had another special innate ability.
Through dreams, he could foresee the future. Though visions varied, they always maintained strong correlations.
Recently, however, the dreams he saw had almost no connection to previously foreseen futures.
As though something had abruptly severed the timeline.
"Something has changed suddenly, completely without warning..."
Gamamaru murmured while clutching the Crystal Ball, "Such a vast sea of people... where should I even start searching..."
Fukasaku and Shima hopped forward, appearing before Jiraiya who had just exited the temple.
"Jiraiya, did the old man have any new prophecies?" Fukasaku asked curiously.
Jiraiya shook his head. "Before he could finish speaking, the Great Toad Sage fell asleep again."
At that moment, a red messenger toad hopped over and said to Jiraiya, "Jiraiya, someone from Konoha couldn't find you and asked me to deliver this letter."
Jiraiya reached out to accept it and read through the letter carefully.
Then, he turned toward Fukasaku and Shima, saying, "Sorry, but I must return to Konoha now."
Konoha.
After quietly finishing lunch at home, Hinata Hyuga sneaked out of the clan compound again.
She was used to barely eating at the clan house so she could keep up her proper-lady act—only letting herself go wild once she was out.
Besides, she'd made a deal with Teuchi, the ramen shop owner, not to reveal to anyone from the Hyuga clan how much she actually ate.
Patting the money pouch in her pocket, Hinata quickly checked how much ramen she could afford.
Hmm, there would still be plenty left after that. She could buy something else.
Dad said there might be a new sibling on the way soon.
Should she get something for the baby ahead of time?
Seeing Hinata's furtive figure disappearing into the distance, Hiashi Hyuga remained expressionless but subtly signaled someone in a certain direction with his eyes.
Neji Hyuga followed Hinata at a moderate distance.
Besides him, another female clan member named Ri Hyuga, around thirteen or fourteen years old, silently shadowed Hinata from the darkness as well.
Outside Ichiraku Ramen.
Naruto Uzumaki watched helplessly as Hinata walked in. He froze up, suddenly unable to take another step, his face twisted with reluctance.
No way... Why did he have to run into that scary white-eyed girl again...
Naruto wanted to cry.
He loved eating at Ichiraku Ramen precisely because Teuchi never treated him like the other villagers did—with open hostility and hatred.
Thinking about this, he decided to just wait here for a while.
Though the white-eyed girl always gave him a creepy vibe, she was just a child after all. Her meal probably wouldn't take too long, right?
Just then, Neji Hyuga approached coldly, walking toward him and saying in a chilling tone, "Hey, freak, why are you secretly following Lady Hinata?"
Naruto got extremely angry. "What business is it of yours where I stand? Is this road yours?"
"Hmph! Not one of you lot with those white eyes is any good!"
Shouting angrily at Neji, Naruto furiously turned around and stormed off.
Neji snorted coldly in his direction.
Nowadays, Hizashi Hyuga was still alive, and father and son were living peacefully together.
Although branded with the Caged Bird seal, Neji no longer fully understood the differences between Main House and Branch House treatment. He never took his anger toward the system out on Hinata, nor did it affect his feelings for her.
Protecting his younger sister—was a choice he willingly made.
On his way back, Naruto remained filled with rage, continuously muttering under his breath "Damn it," "Damn it, damn it! More annoying people..."
After enjoying a satisfying meal, Hinata returned contentedly to the Hyuga household, maintaining her quiet and gentle appearance.
Hiashi Hyuga's expression remained calm and indifferent, acting as if he didn't know where she'd gone.
After resting briefly, Hinata resumed practicing Gentle Fist techniques.
With Hiashi Hyuga's expectations and Kaguya's secret supervision, she was taking things very seriously.
"Hinata, you've taken many scrolls from Hiashi. You must show him clear progress," Kaguya suddenly spoke up.
"I've always been trying my best. Right now I can already fight evenly against Neji-niisan," Hinata softly defended herself, worried Kaguya might reprimand her.
"I know, but you're still not fast enough."
"..."
"I'll teach you how to train."
"Big sister, are you also a member of the Hyuga clan?"
"..." Kaguya fell silent.
She chose not to explain. Instead, she started manipulating Hinata's body like a puppeteer controlling a marionette.
After possessing Hiroki Hyuga multiple times and manipulating his body, Kaguya had naturally gained his physical memories of using Taijutsu.
Her current approach was to create similar muscle memory in Hinata's body.
With those memories of chakra flow and bodily movements, Hinata would naturally be able to use them.
[Eight Trigrams - Sixteen Palms], [Eight Trigrams - Thirty-Two Palms], even future techniques like [Sixty-Four Palms] and [Heavenly Spin] could all be learned this way.
It was twice the result with half the effort.
Moreover, since both Hiroki Hyuga and Hinata Hyuga were trained under exactly the same system, there was no need to worry about any confusion or errors occurring.
Ordinary teachers teach through methods because they can't act on behalf of their students.
But Kaguya could. What she was doing right now was essentially giving Hinata a completed masterpiece, then placing a transparent sheet over it so she could trace the outlines.
By simply repeating the process again and again, Hinata could master it without needing to understand the underlying theory. The only important thing was being able to use the technique when needed.
"These are all Taijutsu techniques that Hiroki knows. His chakra flow, his movement when launching attacks, his bodily reactions—copy these in your training. Understand?"
"Okay... got it..."
After checking Hinata Hyuga's progress, Hiashi Hyuga began writing a reply letter to Hiroki.
If circumstances permitted, he wanted to rescue captured Hyuga rather than activate the Caged Bird seal.
Though members of the Branch House held a lower status, they couldn't simply be ignored.
Besides, tensions between Main House and Branch House were already high. He really didn't want anything to happen that might set off Branch House members' sensitive nerves and provoke rebellion.
As for some money, for a family that had existed for centuries, it wasn't a significant matter.
"As for the other companions..." Hiashi paused thoughtfully.
By choosing to act independently and save people, they had effectively declared Danzo Shimura their enemy.
"Enough. We cannot afford to offend both the powerful and the common folk, leaving us with no allies on either side — just like the Uchiha, who ended up standing alone in the end..."
"Hopefully it won't actually come to that." As he spoke, Hiashi slipped a badge and a gold card into the letter he had written.
He handed the letter to one of the clan members, instructing them to send it to Konoha Camp as soon as possible. Then, Hiashi walked out of the family compound, intending to chat with other clan leaders.
Since the Hyuga Clan was destined to become the target of attention, he might as well drag others along with him.
He was certain no clan would remain indifferent when it came to protecting their own blood relatives.
Even if the village really tried to blame them, when the law can't punish thousands, they walk free. With so many people involved, there was no way the village could punish everyone without thinking twice.
In a forest outside Frost Shinobi Village, Country of Frost.
Other than Hidekazu Ueno, the other eleven waited here, anticipating the signal that would summon them into the village.
All wore forehead protectors identifying them as Kumogakure ninja, having gone through careful disguises.
The women transformed into tall beauties with either golden or red hair, while the men took on dark skin tones and beards, embodying the classic Kumogakure look—strong, muscular, and dark-skinned.
While keeping one eye on the surroundings, Hiroki Hyuga found time to chat with Kaguya. "Yugito really doesn't seem skilled at managing affairs. No one in Kumogakure properly taught her those things."
"Hmm," Kaguya replied indifferently with a hum.
"Shouldn't we do something about it?"
"They reaped what they sowed."
Inside Frost Shinobi Village, Hidekazu Ueno had transformed into the appearance of a certain Frost Shinobi who once remained at the Kumogakure Camp. He rushed in looking visibly flustered.
Seeing his expression and several wounds on his body, the Frost Shinobi grew tense, fearing some crisis might have occurred outside.
The situation seemed too urgent for them to verify his identity properly.
They quickly surrounded him. "What's going on? Where did you get these wounds?"
"Where's the leader? I must see the leader!"
"What are you doing back here?" Not long after, the leader of Frost Shinobi appeared.
"Leader, disaster is coming! Leaf discovered that we've been supplying intelligence to Kumogakure—they might retaliate against us!"
"What are you talking about? You were stationed at Kumogakure; how could you even know anything about Leaf?" The village leader eyed him suspiciously. "Your story doesn't add up."
"I… Forget it..." A cruel glint flashed across Hidekazu's eyes as he lunged forward with a kunai knife aimed at the leader.
...
Inside the Frost Shinobi Village, a fire seemed to have broken out—thick black smoke rose above the walls.
"The signal came out... Chunin and Jonin, follow me inside! Genin remain here!" one Jonin ordered.
The four Genin stood still as their disguised comrades charged into Frost Shinobi Village, still looking like Kumogakure ninja.
Except for Hana Inuzuka, all three others turned their gaze toward the Gray Trio.
"Hana Inuzuka, you're the most likely to be exposed—it'd be safer for you to stay out here."
"Yeah, almost no one in Kumogakure walks around everywhere with ninja beasts, especially not three of them..."
"Can they use [Transformation Jutsu]? It would be better if they changed form."
Hiroki Hyuga, Itachi Uchiha, and another Genin named Kakei Higashi spoke one after another.
The Gray Trio bared their teeth angrily.
"That's enough already! Don't pick on the Gray brothers. Don't think I can't tell who you are just because you used Transformation Jutsu!" Hana Inuzuka huffed indignantly.
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