Outskirts of Konohagakure

Caw caw caw caw caw caw

Accompanied by multiple cawing sounds, a murder of black crows flew from one side of the forest to the other.

The Konoha Shinobi who was responsible for the patrol duties looked at the murder of crows that soon disappeared into black dots and muttered to his companion with a doubtful expression, “Hey, Naito… don’t you think the number of crows in the nearby forest has increased several times in the past few days?”

The Konoha Shinobi named Naito thought a little, and nodded, “Now that I think about it, it seems to be true.”

Not only this patrol team, but many other people have noticed this sudden increase in the number of crows… and the Anbu even reported this issue to the Hokage, as such a sudden change is simply unreasonable and the members of the Konoha Anbu were worried that someone is trying to spy on the village using these crows.

However, Sandaime Hokage did not say anything and instructed them to consciously ignore this issue, so even if Anbu were a little worried because of Hokage-sama’s orders they did not say anything, chose to trust his judgment, and decided to consciously ignore the presence of these crows.

Of course, Sarutobi Hiruzen has not foolishly ignored this matter, and he has his own considerations for the sudden increase in the number of crows, as for what exactly that reason is. It is perhaps only known to him.

Whatever that may be, the real reason for the sudden increase in the number of crows is Hyuga Kuroto.

Three whole weeks have already passed since Itachi and Shisui’s original disappeared, and about a week ago even the Crow Clones the two of them left behind disappeared all of a sudden for seemingly no reason. Although Kuroto managed to cover up their disappearance somehow; it didn’t change the fact that he has lost all forms of contact with Shisui and Itachi.

The earlier disappearance of the original did worry Kuroto but the sudden disappearance of Crow Clones has started to make him feel a bit uneasy. But because there is no clue, so Kuroto can only spread-out thousands of ninja crows and snakes to conduct a carpet search.

Of course, he did not spread out too many snakes near Konoha, else it would definitely attract Orochimaru’s attention, which is something Kuroto doesn’t want.

Anyway, in addition to arranging crows and snakes to search for Shisui and Itachi, Kuroto has also been watching the Gokage conference in the past few days from the eyes of either of Yagura, at the same time, he is also cooperating with Orochimaru and Shimura Danzo as Fujin to improve the Chimera Jutsu.

Kuroto had to admit that his Sensei indeed has an unparalleled talent in the development of Kinjutsu, and Kuroto too because of his extraordinarily deep insight because of possessing the Tenseigan coupled with rich experience is no inferior to Hiruko in terms of knowledge of Chimera Jutsu.

So, when the two great minds of Kuroto and Orochimaru worked together for a few days with the objective of improving the Chimera Jutsu, coupled with the manpower and financial resources that the Root of Shimura Danzo displayed, many of the problems that were troubling before were solved in one fell swoop.

The speed of progress was so fast that even Kuroto was taken aback. The same degree of improvement of Chimera Jutsu which only took a little over a week would have actually taken at least six months if it were him alone, so he had to accept that this approach of using Shimura Danzo as a pawn was indeed a very good idea.

Today, Kuroto, who is controlling the Futen Clone and wearing the Fujin disguise is at one of the laboratories of Root and is currently testing the performance of one of the new colloidal materials to determine whether it is suitable for cultivating the Chimera Buds.

In terms of finding suitable materials, Danzo once again showed the depths of his pockets and the manpower he commands.

And within just two to three days, the Root that should have been disbanded by Sandaime-sama actually managed to collect more than 70 different types of new colloidal materials. Some of the colloidal materials are not only unknown to Fujin but even to Orochimaru.

Of course, whether any of the colloidal materials among these 70 different types will be suitable or not will depend purely on luck, and all Fujin can do is try the luck of the test subjects by using the process of elimination on the live subjects.

If the test subject is unlucky and the result is a failure, then the test subject will be overtaken by the Chimera Bud, writhe in agony and explode immediately into bloody gore but if the test subject is lucky and the result is not a failure, then the test subject will not be overtaken by the Chimera bud and die peacefully.

If the luck of the test subjects is good enough, and the material that Fujin picks up next is suitable, then many of the problems that have plagued him may be solved in an instant, however, if the test subject is unlucky then Fujin will have to keep spending more time and effort which will result in the agony and death of more test subjects due to exploding into bloody gore then those dying peacefully.

After excluding the ninth colloidal material due to failure, and signaling the Root ninja to clean up the bloody mess, Fujin walked out of the test room and thought to himself, ‘Before selecting the suitable material, these tests must have been carried out by Hiruko too… if Shinno had obtained that data then a lot of my workload would have been decreased… but alas…’

With a sigh of disappointment, Fujin turned to look at Orochimaru standing not far away from him.

Similar to Fujin, Orochimaru is also doing the performance test to select a new colloidal material. Fujin is always surprised by the change in Orochimaru while he is doing anything related to research. The insidious, wicked, and cunning snake completely turns into something else… his entire mind gets focused, and as a result, he becomes fully absorbed, and his attitude turns meticulous with no signs of superfluous expression.

This change in Orochimaru also reminds Fujin of his early genin days when he used to work as Orochimaru’s lab assistant in carrying out many types of research.

And now, Fujin is no longer just a lab assistant of Orochimaru, he has graduated from being a lab assistant to a qualified equal collaborator, who thinking so an unusual smile appeared on his emotional face under the mask, and he can’t help but think ‘Unexpectedly, I have come so far.’ But soon a determined look appeared on his face, and he thought, ‘But I still have a long road ahead, so I must not get ahead of myself.’

Fujin soon retracted his gaze, then his expression turned into a frowned one.

He is not exactly sure why, but for some reason, he is having a bad feeling today, it’s a gut feeling, it’s as if something is about to happen today, like an Ominous Foreboding.

Of course, Fujin did not ignore his gut feeling, because he understands very well that as long as the soul is strong enough, and the insight is high enough… it will have some miraculous effects… This is also how a few forms of future telling work. Therefore, Fujin’s gut feeling is telling him that something is about to happen, and Kuroto can only think of one thing that is big enough to even make him feel pressured, ‘Is today the day Akatsuki Organization attacks Konoha for revenge?’

…

Konohagakure.

Today, the streets are crowded with people and it is especially lively today, the reason is also very simple today is the day a new generation of students is enrolled in the academy.

Amidst the crowd, Hyuga Hizashi wearing regular clothing led his son, Hyuga Neji in the direction of the academy.

When Neji came to the academy, he did not misbehave, laugh or play unlike most of the other children, instead, he carefully observed and analyzed the contemporaries who were also here to be admitted to the academy.

After a while of observation, Neji’s serious face shook slightly and he sighed in disappointment.

Hizashi has been paying attention to Neji’s behavior and asked, “What happened?”

Neji replied with a somewhat regrettable expression, “Otou-sama, there doesn’t seem to be any good student who could prove to be a challenge.”

Hizashi smiled slightly and shook his head.

Hizashi is well aware that his son is a very rare genius even by the high standards of the Hyuga Clan, and even when looking at the entire Konoha village there have been very few shinobi who could match up to his talent, so Hizashi wasn’t much surprised that no one in this academic year interests Neji, after all, not everyone is a born genius.

But Hizashi as a father must also make sure that Neji doesn’t get too ahead of himself and lost sight of himself, so after thinking a little, he said to Neji, “Remember Neji, one’s true opponent is always oneself… what you must always strive for is to be better than you were in the past… only this way will you know your path forward.”

Neji listened intently to his father, and nodded, “Yes, Otou-sama I will keep these words in mind.”

The forms for the academy were already filled, and then the entrance ceremony began which lasted for a long time and didn’t end until the evening.

After everything was done, the pair of father and son walked out of the gate of the academy but noting that Neji was not in high spirits, instead, he had a thoughtful expression, so Hizashi asked, “What are you thinking about Neji?”

With a bit of hesitation, Neji looked at Hizashi and asked, “Otou-sama, did you not say that Hokage-sama hosts the entrance ceremony every year? But Hokage-sama did not come for the ceremony today… is it because this year is not good enough, and worthy of Hokage-sama’s attention?”

Hizashi looked at Neji with a complicated expression, he knows his son may seem calm on the outside but has become extremely sensitive in his heart for the past few years, so he gently rubbed Neji’s head and said, “Silly child, didn’t Tsunade-sama host the ceremony? Hokage-sama must have had something very important at his hand so he was unable to attend the entrance ceremony, it has nothing to do with whether your academic year is worthy of his attention or not.”

After listening to his father’s words, Neji lowered his head and whispered lightly, “I see.”

Ever since he witnessed his father being punished by his uncle in the main family, the Patriarch of the Hyuga Clan using the Caged Bird Cursed Seal a few years ago, Neji has become extraordinarily sensitive in his heart. Even if pointed by a member of the same clan from far away, Neji would be particularly concerned.

Hizashi has of course noticed this and has tried to help Neji overcome this problem in his heart, but he has not been able to do anything about it. Worried about his son’s growth, Hizashi even discussed this issue with Hyuga Kuroto.

But Hyuga Kuroto only said, ‘Your son is much stronger than you think Hizashi-sama, he can overcome such problems on his own, and it is necessary that he overcomes them on his own as that is what we call growth. Therefore, all you need to do is to have faith in your son and support him as a father, as for the rest of the issues? Leave them to Neji, and me, as his Sensei… If I have agreed to take Neji under my wing, so obviously I will watch over him.’

Noting Kuroto’s confidence in Neji, Hizashi chose to trust him and hasn’t particularly said anything to Neji in regard to his sensitive character, only hoping that his son will be able to overcome this problem on his own as he grows up.

While the father and duo were walking out of the academy, Neji’s gaze shifted to a distant tree, and locked on a specific child with black hair, “Uchiha Sasuke.”

Hizashi also cast his gaze over and said casually, “If I remember correctly, the second child of the Uchiha Patriarch is a year younger than you… so he should not be starting the academy until next year.”

Neji said with a serious tone, “I see, Otou-sama. According to what Kuroto-sensei told me, Uchiha Sasuke has a very high potential. It’s a pity that he is not in the same year, otherwise, I could compete against him.”

…

On the tree, three children were present, two boys and one girl. The two young boys, both about 7 years old were hanging upside down on the branch of a tree, one had blond hair, blue eyes, and six-whiskers on his face, while the other kid had black hair and black eyes. At the same time the young girl, about 6 years old with similar black hair and black eyes was sitting on the swing.

The blond hair boy pointed in the direction of Neji who was staring at Sasuke and said, “Sasuke, look that guy with the Byakugan has been staring at you.”

The black-haired buy, Sasuke snorted softly, “Naruto you fool, if you can notice him, then how can I not notice it? I am an Uchiha who has awakened the Sharingan, and that guy with the Byakugan is not even trying to conceal his gaze… so obviously I have noticed it much before you!”

Naruto thought a little and it made sense, but then he was puzzled again, and asked, “But why is he staring at you?”

Sasuke smiled and was about to answer triumphantly, but before he could answer, the six-year-old girl with black hair on the swing said immediately, “It’s because he realizes that only Sasuke-nii-chan can match up to him here…”

Interrupted midway, Sasuke was annoyed and said to the girl, “Kiyomi, haven’t I already told you not to follow me?!”

The black-haired girl, named Kiyomi quickly said, “But Sasuke-nii-chan, nobody is at my home… I don’t like being alone at home… Obaa-chan used to say that I must make friends of my age.”

Sasuke immediately said, “Then make friends of your age… why do you follow me? I am clearly older than you! And in the first place, how did you even find me?”

“Ehehehe… Mikoto-Kaa-chan told me that you were going to play near the academy… so finding you was easy.” Kiyomi said with a mischievous giggle.

Sasuke immediately pouted, “Kaa-san you traitor.”

Naruto who was silent for a while suddenly asked Sasuke in a whispering tone, “Sasuke, I have been meaning to ask for a while… who is she?”

Sasuke turned to Naruto with a thoughtful expression, then after a bit of silence, he said, “Her name is Kiyomi and she is also an Uchiha, well half Uchiha to be exact. Her Otou-san was a Konoha Jonin who died in the war against Kumogakure a few years ago, and her Okaasan died while giving birth to her… since then, only she and her grandma were left in the family… but two weeks ago her grandma also passed away… So, well… Okaasan decided to take care of her since her Okaasan and my Okaasan were friends…”

Naruto nodded… he is also an orphan, so perhaps he can somewhat relate to Kiyomi and said, “Say, Kiyomi-chan…”

Wooo Wooo Wooo

But before Naruto could finish speaking, suddenly, several loud roars and wailing cries sounded in the distance. The sounds were layered on top of each other and felt like they were coming from a different space altogether, at the same time, they seem to be distorting the space… for a moment they sounded far away in the sky, and at the other moment they sounded very close to the ears… Overall, the roars and cries made everyone shiver and made them feel very uncomfortable.

All three of Naruto, Sasuke, and Kiyomi stopped instantly and looked at each other, then Naruto asked “Did you two hear that too?”

Sasuke nodded with a solemn expression and looked into the distance, as his black eyes turned scarlet with a black tomoe spinning in them.

On the other hand, Kiyomi felt scared, and all her goosebumps were erected… To her, the roars and wailing sounds seemed evil.