"Hey, stupid stinky fox, do you think there really are countless worlds out there?"
On Konoha's Hokage Rock, more specifically on the hair of Hui's carved visage, Nawaki lay sprawled out, chewing on a blade of grass, chatting casually with the Nine-Tails.
"How would I know? I've never seen anything like that," the Nine-Tails replied irritably, still annoyed from their last interaction, which had thoroughly tested its patience.
"Useless fox. You don't know this, you don't know that. What's the point of having a century-old demon in my ntal space of you can’t even answer the smiplest of questions? huh?" Nawaki retorted, earning himself a tick mark on the Nine-Tails forehead.
"Forget it. I'm not wasting my breath on you. I'm going to sleep!"
Unable to argue Nawaki and equally powerless to do anything about him, the Nine-Tails opted to ignore him altogether.
"Hey, hey, don't be like that, Nine-Tails big bro. Let's keep chatting! What's the fun in sleeping all the ti? Aren't you tired of sleeping every day?" Nawaki quickly changed his tone, desperate to stave off his growing boredom.
If the Nine-Tails stopped talking to him, he might die of sheer boredom.
But this ti, the Nine-Tails wasn’t planning to indulge him. It wanted peace and quiet.
Wait, why am I even bothered about this brat?
The Nine-Tails closed its eyes, sinking into contemplation.
It felt… different sohow, but not entirely so.
This wasn’t how it used to be—so why had it changed?
Lost in its musings, the Nine-Tails began doubting its very foxhood."
,,,
While Konoha was advancing rapidly, the rest of the shinobi world was also evolving. Other nations and villages were slowly moving forward, still recovering from the scars of the last great war four years ago.
Though they hadn’t completely healed, life had to go on. Villages needed to grow, and they needed to nurture individuals capable of standing against Hui.
Unlike in the original story, this world saw not just Konoha but all the other hidden villages undergoing significant transformations.
The re appearance of Hui in the shinobi world had sent waves of alarm through every village. They lived in constant fear that he might enact so era-defining change.
Thankfully, he had simply returned to Konoha, where he reportedly succeeded the Third Hokage and focused on developing the Hidden Village.
This news brought so asure of relief to the other villages.
At the sa ti, they were intensely curious about Konoha’s progress. However, they dared not send their shinobi to investigate, or even venture into the Land of Fire, for fear of providing Konoha with an excuse to attack them.
As a result, all their information about Konoha’s developnt ca through rchants.
And yet, this was a cruel irony, these great ninja villages, bastions of espionage and subterfuge, had to rely on traders for news about their rival.
Eventually, even that source dried up.
Konoha had enacted strict regulations: any rchant caught leaking information about Konoha to the other villages would be permanently barred from doing business in the Land of Fire.
At first, many rchants dismissed the threat, thinking there was no way Konoha could trace the leaks back to them. They believed they could safely sell information about Konoha’s developnt to other villages.
Yes, "sell."
In the current climate, information about Konoha had beco incredibly valuable. Since no village dared to send spies, the only way to gather intelligence was through these rchants.
And the rchants exploited this situation for profit.
However, the next ti these rchants tried to enter the Land of Fire, they were denied entry outright.
Those who protested t grim fates, their caravans disbanded, their assets confiscated, and, in so cases, they themselves were executed.
This draconian enforcent ensured that no rchant dared to casually leak information about Konoha again.
Even those who might consider it wouldn’t risk divulging anything significant.
"Konoha is advancing rapidly. We’ve heard that there have been earth-shattering changes, but we don’t know the specifics," Ōnoki said in his office, addressing the upper echelons and elite shinobi of Iwagakure.
His words were t with a heavy silence.
What was the point of discussing this when they could do nothing about it? If they tried to investigate and were caught, Hui might seize the opportunity to start a war. How could they possibly resist?
Over four years ago, Hui was already considered a "demigod" of the shinobi world. At his current rate of growth, he had likely reached the level of the "God of Shinobi" by now.
Those who had experienced the might of the original God of Shinobi, Hashirama Senju, still rembered it vividly.
If Hui had attained a similar level, techniques like the Divine Judgent or HEaven’s Calamity, which once required preparation, were likely now part of his standard arsenal.
The re thought of their entire village writhing under the onslaught of lightning was enough to make their blood run cold.
Moreover, Hui was a creative shinobi.
Over four years, who could say what new techniques he might have developed? Perhaps he now possessed a jutsu capable of obliterating Iwagakure in an instant.
"Sigh…" Ōnoki let out a weary sigh.
Konoha had beco an enigma—a forbidden topic. They couldn’t gather intelligence, and discussing it seed futile.
Turning his thoughts to more imdiate concerns, Ōnoki asked, "How is the village’s talent developing program progressing?"
This program was one of the significant changes across the ninja world, particularly in the four great villages.
To counter the overwhelming pressure from Hui, they had launched initiatives to nurture their most talented ninjas with unparalleled resources.
Every resource in the village, from secret techniques to elite instructors and the best training aids, was directed toward these chosen few to accelerate their growth.
Such asures, once unthinkable, were now deed necessary under the shadow of Hui’s imnse power.
Over the past four years, this program had yielded impressive results. Each of the four great villages had produced at least two new Kage-level shinobi.
The numbers of elite jōnin and jōnin had also surged, bolstering the villages’ high-end combat capabilities.
Under normal circumstances, these developnts would have been cause for celebration.
But in this extraordinary era, they only deepened the sense of despair.
A handful of Kage-level shinobi was nowhere near enough to rival Hui. Unless they could field dozens of Kages simultaneously, they stood no chance.
And that was simply impossible.
As ti passed, the pressure only grew. The countdown to the 15-year deadline lood closer, now, only ten years remained.
"We must increase our investnt in talent developnt. If there’s even the slightest chance, we cannot give up," Ōnoki said, attempting to rally his subordinates, though his own confidence wavered.
Despite his doubts, Ōnoki hadn’t entirely lost hope.
Thanks to the talent developnt program, he had found a successor capable of wielding Dust Release. This gave him a glimr of optimism.
One Dust Release user might not be enough to challenge Hui, nor two. But what about five or ten?
If they could produce ten Dust Release users, defeating Hui might not be impossible!
Optimism blood in Ōnoki’s heart.
After all, he had seen shinobi of that caliber before. Both Madara Uchiha and Hashirama Senju were legendary figures, yet neither had seed invincible.
What Ōnoki didn’t realize was that Madara’s true strength far exceeded his imagination.
When he and the Second Tsuchikage had been defeated by Madara with ease, it had been nothing more than a trivial teaching session to the legendary Uchiha, hardly a demonstration of his full power.
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