[send power stones please]
What the little Nine-Tails was thinking, Hikaru had no idea.
Nor did he have the time to care.
He had other matters to think through properly.
For example—
where exactly he should plant the Nine-Tails' chakra he had in hand.
And when Hiruzen went to meet the daimyō, how exactly he should deal with those so-called Twelve Guardian Ninja.
Obito's arm was still sealed inside that tree.
Even by the time Hikaru set out, there had still been no response at all.
That made him start to wonder whether he had simply been absurdly lucky before—whether that earlier success, when he got Asura's power in one shot, had just been pure fortune.
And now that the situation was different, maybe he simply could not get what he wanted anymore.
That possibility was not small.
In fact, it was pretty high.
That left him feeling helpless—but he had no real alternative.
All he could do now was wait.
Wait and see whether some miracle would come out of that tree.
The improvement of Asura's power was directly tied to the further strengthening of his bloodline.
Now that he had already reached the intermediate stage, there was no way he wanted to stay where he was.
He was still very much looking forward to a higher level of power.
The turbulent future ahead could only barely be endured with the strength he had now.
And if he intended to become the ultimate boss of the entire ninja world, then he was absolutely not allowed to face the future with that kind of mentality.
He had to keep moving forward.
He had to keep improving.
He had to keep climbing toward an even higher level!
"Come to think of it, the path I'm walking now really does resemble the route of the Ōtsutsuki… So maybe one day I'll end up with a pair of special eyes too?"
He had not given the matter of eyes much thought before.
But now that he considered it more carefully, it was hard to say whether or not such a thing might actually happen.
After all, for the Ōtsutsuki, not having some kind of special eyes was what would truly be strange.
As for whether they would be Sharingan, Rinnegan, or the most basic Byakugan—
that was impossible to say.
Still, all of that was far too distant.
Thinking too much about it brought him no practical benefit.
"Besides, even if I did get some special eyes, I'm already used to fighting without relying on them. At most, they'd just be icing on the cake."
That really was the truth.
Even if he did awaken some extraordinary eyes, they would only be a bonus.
His fighting style was already set.
If anything, if he suddenly got a pair of Sharingan or Rinnegan—eyes more suited to precision control and visual warfare—it might actually be less useful to him than people would think.
Chuckling to himself, Hikaru stretched lazily.
The thought was not completely unrealistic—
but there was no need to keep dwelling on it.
What mattered more now was something much more practical:
those so-called Twelve Guardian Ninja.
More accurately—
the Eleven Guardian Ninja.
Kazuma had already been dealt with.
The rest might be troublesome, but that kind of trouble was not enough to truly bother Hikaru.
Of course, they were not exactly pushovers either.
For example, there were the four who could combine their strength and use Lightning Release: Limelight, an extremely dangerous lightning technique.
And there was also the monk Chiriku, who in Hikaru's memory seemed to possess something close to senjutsu, and who had taken in Saya in the original story.
As for the others, Hikaru could not be bothered to care all that much.
The reason he remembered these few at all was only because, in his memory, they were the ones more aligned with the Hokage faction.
The others, meanwhile, believed the daimyō was the true "king," and sincerely wanted to elevate him into a position that did not belong to him.
Honestly, they really were a group of idealists swimming against the current.
And Hikaru did, in fact, hold a certain respect for idealists like that—people who not only believed in their ideals, but actually tried to put them into practice.
Jiraiya was that kind of person.
Minato was too.
Hikaru respected both of them in that sense.
But whether their starting point was admirable or not—
the moment Kazuma and the others started doing things that were fundamentally out of step with the age and seriously threatened the interests of shinobi like Hikaru, their fate was already decided.
They would either avoid capture altogether—
or be wiped out completely.
Unfortunately for them, they had already fallen into Hikaru's hands.
Still, at least they would die for their ideals.
"Bare minimum, five of them need to die. Though considering how closely tied they are, the final number might end up higher.
It's regrettable, of course.
But for the sake of the daimyō's safety—and to eliminate unstable elements—some bloodshed and sacrifice are unavoidable.
There's no helping that."
Hikaru sighed lightly, almost casually, as he spoke.
The little Nine-Tails looked up at him in total confusion.
He truly could not understand what this human who had created him was talking about.
But judging from the tone, Hikaru was clearly up to no good again.
That left the little fox rather speechless.
Still, he had learned his lesson and no longer foolishly blurted out things like then just kill them all.
After Hikaru had emphasized the difference between humans and animals so many times, the little fox had stopped bothering to invite trouble for himself.
"Oh, right. Little guy."
Just then, Hikaru suddenly remembered something and asked, "You've got the big guy's memories, so do you know of any special chakra?"
"Special chakra?"
The little Nine-Tails tilted his head.
"Why are you asking that? And what exactly do you mean by special chakra?"
"Special chakra… I mean something like…"
Hikaru rubbed his chin.
For a moment, even he did not know how to define it properly.
Now that he had already thought through how he wanted to handle those eleven, his attention naturally shifted back to the little fox.
This little guy getting stronger was currently the best possible outcome for Hikaru.
Because if the little fox grew stronger, then he would have more chakra to help Hikaru cultivate seeds.
And maybe he would even be strong enough to help in combat.
The problem was—
how exactly should "special chakra" be defined?
Should he just say outright that it meant tailed beast chakra?
"In that case, if you mean ownerless chakra that's different from normal human chakra…"
The little Nine-Tails spoke again before Hikaru could finish his thoughts.
"…then I do remember something like that. And there's a lot of it."
"Oh?"
Hikaru's eyes lit up instantly.
That was an excellent answer.
"Where?"
"Funny enough, you've already come into contact with it before. You should know better than anyone where it is."
The little Nine-Tails looked at Hikaru strangely before continuing at his own pace.
"Wasn't it already in your memories? You were even planning to go back and take it for yourself."
Hikaru froze for a second.
Then a smile slowly spread across his lips.
Only then did he realize—
he had temporarily overlooked the easiest source of all.
There was an old saying that fit this perfectly:
the darkest place was right under the lamp.
That was exactly Hikaru's situation now.
He clearly already possessed access to a massive source of special chakra that he could use for himself—
and yet he had overlooked it completely.
Or rather, in his subconscious, he had always categorized that energy for other uses.
For example, forcing certain seeds to mature.
Or increasing his own chakra reserves.
That was why his mind had never gone in this direction at all.
But after the little Nine-Tails' reminder, Hikaru suddenly realized that he had been sitting on a treasure trove the entire time.
If possible, even that so-called Zero-Tails was, in essence, a form of special chakra.
And if Hikaru wished, he could even consider that route.
"So in the end, these so-called special chakra sources really are the same ownerless chakra sources I'd been considering before."
As Hikaru walked beside Hiruzen, he thought it over in silence.
After the reminder the night before, he already had a rough plan.
But if he wanted to retrieve the Dragon Vein's chakra, he would still need to wait.
At the very least, he had to finish the matters directly in front of him first.
Still, at least now he had a direction.
He was no longer stumbling around like a headless fly.
Of course, to be safe, he still kept the chakra he already had in reserve.
If the Dragon Vein's chakra did not produce the results he wanted, then he would still have a backup option.
Having one extra layer of preparation was never a bad thing.
When he and Hiruzen were just about to reach the daimyō's palace, both of them stopped in perfect unspoken sync.
Then they turned and looked at each other.
"Minister Hikaru, I'm going to meet the daimyō now," Hiruzen said first. "As for the matter of the guardian ninja, I'll leave that to you."
"Don't worry, Hokage-sama."
Hikaru smiled and nodded.
"I certainly won't disappoint you. At the end of the day, they're just a bunch of rabble."
"Good."
Hiruzen nodded seriously.
Then, with a strangely emotional tone, he said, "Working with Minister Hikaru truly is a pleasure. Your intelligence and ability are impressive enough to leave me in awe."
"I don't think we need to remain so openly hostile to one another. I can't promise anything, of course, since I don't know what agreement you and Minato reached."
"But I will say this—Minato can be far too naive sometimes. Perhaps that very naivety is why you chose to stand by his side."
"Still, you and I are the same kind of person. I could already feel that from our conversation last night."
"Following Minato and helping him may indeed bring you greater gains—but the road will not be smooth."
"And you still have other options."
"I think you understand what I mean."
"As for the matter of the Senju Clan…" Hiruzen's gaze deepened. "I refuse to believe that someone as intelligent as you, standing in my position and looking from my angle back then, could fail to understand why I made the choices I did."
"In fact, I believe that if the roles had been reversed…"
Hiruzen's voice slowed slightly.
"…you would have been even colder. Even harsher. Wouldn't you?"
He stopped there and quietly looked at Hikaru, clearly waiting for an answer.
Outwardly, Hikaru remained as calm as ever.
Inside, though, he really had been caught off guard.
This old man was actually trying to pull him over?
For a moment, Hikaru found the whole thing bizarre.
But after thinking it through, he could also understand why.
Perhaps it was Hikaru's conduct over this recent stretch of time—
or perhaps it was their exchange the night before—
that had prompted Hiruzen to make a decision that seemed, at first glance, utterly unreasonable.
After all, Hikaru's stance had always been fundamentally pro-Konoha.
And as someone who had crossed over from another world, who had received a more advanced and comprehensive education than anyone here, the way he carried himself truly did make even Hiruzen pause.
So although it seemed unrealistic, Hiruzen's approach actually fit his character rather well.
Still, after thinking it over, Hikaru only smiled and shook his head.
"Hokage-sama, what are you talking about? I'm ANBU's minister. I've always stood behind the Hokage."
"Is that so?"
Hiruzen sounded faintly disappointed.
"Are you sure you stand behind me?"
"No."
This time, Hikaru put deliberate emphasis on the word.
"I stand behind the Hokage."
"As ANBU, that's who I serve."
"Then… you want to become Hokage yourself?" Hiruzen raised a brow.
"Becoming Hokage is every Konoha child's dream. I'm no exception."
Hikaru smiled at him.
"I told you my dream long ago, Hokage-sama. I've always dreamed of becoming Hokage."
"So that's why you never truly acknowledged me."
Hiruzen seemed to understand.
"And why you chose Minato instead."
"In the end, your goal is the same as mine?"
Then he shook his head.
"No… no, you're not the same as me. I wanted Minato to truly understand my thinking and integrate into it."
"But you…"
"Hokage-sama, the world is changing. The ninja world is changing too. No one can say with certainty that they alone are right."
Hikaru interrupted him directly.
He had no interest in dragging that conversation further right now.
And more importantly, he had already settled on his own path.
If this had all happened earlier, he absolutely would have been willing to move closer to Hiruzen while maintaining his ties to Minato as well.
That way, he could have continued extracting what he needed from both Hokage in turn, until he fully secured everything he wanted.
But now things were different.
Leaving aside the fact that Hikaru already knew what Hiruzen's future looked like, he was no longer the same young boy he had once been.
He had no intention of remaining dependent on anyone else—
especially not now, after already laying his cards on the table with Minato.
He would continue walking the path he had chosen from the start.
"I understand your meaning now."
After a long silence, Hiruzen finally nodded.
"In that case… the future will show us."
"The future will show us."
Hikaru smiled as well.
"I think in every sense, I won't disappoint Hokage-sama."
Hiruzen silently nodded.
Of course he understood what Hikaru meant.
In every sense.
That meant that whether in opposing Hiruzen's faction—or in governing Konoha—Hikaru intended to prove himself fully.
Hiruzen could hear the confidence in the boy's words.
And he also knew Hikaru had every right to speak that way.
After all, much of the miserable position Hiruzen and the others found themselves in now—
really had been caused by this very boy.
After separating from Hiruzen, Hikaru immediately concealed himself and headed toward the daimyō's palace.
Their conversation had gone far enough.
Though it certainly had not been a particularly pleasant exchange, that would not affect the task at hand.
At the end of the day, that was still only an internal Konoha conflict of position and ideology.
When it came to protecting Konoha's interests—or more bluntly, securing greater benefits for themselves within Konoha—both of them were absolutely willing to set those differences aside and complete the task before them.
Hikaru's task was different from Hiruzen's.
Hiruzen was Hokage.
He needed to meet the daimyō, negotiate, communicate, and "deepen mutual understanding and trust."
Of course, that was only the polished version for public consumption.
In reality, all of it was nonsense.
Fundamentally, Hiruzen's job here was to pressure the daimyō and remind him exactly where he stood.
Hikaru's role was much simpler:
to make the daimyō understand the attitude and resolve of Konoha itself.
There was no "good cop, bad cop" here.
Both of them were doing the same thing—
dragging the daimyō further and further toward the abyss.
"How extravagant."
When Hikaru slipped silently into the palace, he took in the absurdly luxurious decorations around him and could not help shaking his head.
Still, he recovered quickly.
The daimyō of the Land of Fire truly was unimaginably wealthy.
The fortune accumulated by that family over generations was staggering.
Supporting an entire hidden village had never meaningfully reduced their wealth in any substantial way.
Of course, where there was payment, there was return.
The daimyō financed the village's development.
And the village gave him protection and convenience in return, allowing him to continue growing richer.
In some ways, it was a perfectly functioning cycle.
The two sides depended on one another.
But in truth, their positions were not equal.
Other villages might be a different story.
But in the Land of Fire, Konoha—the first hidden village ever established—had always been the one selecting the daimyō, not the other way around.
Hikaru moved silently through the corridors.
His sensory perception spread outward, and soon enough he locked onto a particular room.
Inside it, eleven shinobi were gathered together.
Their chakra signatures were all fairly solid.
What puzzled him, however, was why they were all gathered in one place rather than protecting the daimyō.
As the daimyō's bodyguards, they should have been rotating in shifts around him at all times, guarding against any possible threat.
Yet they were not doing that.
Though it made things far more convenient for Hikaru, it also forced him to wonder whether something unexpected had come up.
"Has Hiruzen already gone in?"
Before he could think further, his senses caught a familiar chakra signature.
That instantly told him it was time to move more quickly.
"Whatever. I don't know what exactly you lot are plotting, but wiping you all out at once sounds better."
With that thought, Hikaru vanished from where he stood.
After slipping past several guards without making a sound, he stopped outside the room.
"Damn it, why is there still no news from Kazuma? What the hell happened to him?"
Just then, a voice came from behind the door.
Hikaru immediately paused.
The voice had been low—quiet enough that an ordinary person would never have noticed it.
But Hikaru was ANBU.
Gathering intelligence under extreme circumstances was part of his nature.
Even after becoming minister, he had not forgotten that.
And from that single sentence alone, he understood the situation.
So this really did have something to do with him.
In plain terms, because he had captured Kazuma, those people had spent the whole day unable to locate him. That was why they had gathered to compare notes and consolidate information.
Once he understood that, Hikaru nodded inwardly, satisfied.
And when he sensed a samurai-like figure quickly approaching, he became even more certain that he had the right target.
"You—"
In the next instant, Hikaru flickered behind the approaching samurai.
Without even giving the man time to finish speaking, Hikaru knocked him unconscious with a chop to the neck.
Then, using a single-handed seal, he transformed into that samurai's appearance.
After dragging the unconscious man into a shadowed corner, Hikaru returned to the door.
Knock. Knock. Knock.
He rapped lightly.
Soon, the noise inside the room stopped.
A moment later, the door opened.
A bald man who looked like a monk stood there.
"Mr. Musashi?"
The monk seemed slightly surprised when he saw Hikaru in disguise.
"Has something happened with the daimyō?"
"Yes."
Hikaru nodded lightly while letting his gaze flick subtly across the room.
In that instant, he had already memorized everyone's positions and formed a clear estimate.
Though he was certain he could wipe them all out with ease, caution was always preferable.
Hikaru took risks when profit demanded it.
But carefulness had long since become part of his bones.
"I understand, Mr. Musashi."
Chiriku nodded seriously.
"We'll assign some men to go at once. Please wait a moment."
"No."
Hikaru shook his head and smiled.
"This time… I'm afraid all of you need to come."
"Oh?"
Chiriku looked at him strangely.
"What do you mean, Mr. Musashi?"
"Because the Hokage has arrived."
Hikaru's smile became even brighter.
"So this time, all of you are needed."
"The Hokage is here?"
Chiriku had clearly not known that.
His face turned serious at once.
"I see. Then we'll gather at once."
"Sorry, shinobi-san."
Hikaru interrupted him again.
"You do need to come over there."
"But not on your own feet."
This time, Chiriku finally realized something was off.
If the Hokage had truly arrived, why was "Musashi" still smiling like this, calm and relaxed, without the slightest tension?
And the things he was saying made no sense at all.
Even a fool would have understood by now that the man in front of him was suspicious.
"Mr. Musashi."
Chiriku frowned and deliberately raised his voice to alert the others in the room.
"What exactly do you mean by this?"
"What I mean is simple."
Hikaru raised his head, a strange smile tugging at his lips.
"I don't need you to walk there."
"What I need…"
His smile sharpened.
"…is for you to go there lying down."
"What… who exactly… are you…"
Inside the room, eleven bodies now lay scattered in all directions.
Some of them were breathing weakly, clearly on the verge of death.
Some had already collapsed in pools of blood.
And a few could still speak.
Chiriku was one of the latter.
He clutched his abdomen and glared at the man he had believed was "Musashi," his voice strained and full of pain.
He truly could not comprehend what had just happened.
And he was not alone.
The others who remained conscious were just as stunned.
After "Musashi" had spoken those provocative words, only a few seconds had passed—
and all eleven of them had been reduced to this state.
They had not even seen clearly what he had done.
Nor had they understood how he had attacked.
All they knew was that they had seen something like a ghost.
An apparition moving like a phantom through the room, appearing beside each of them in an instant.
And then came sprays of blood and the flash of blade after blade—
until they all crashed to the floor without the slightest ability to resist.
Such speed…
Such terrifying methods…
The only explanation they could think of was space-time ninjutsu.
That kind of speed had gone far beyond human imagination.
That simply was not the sort of speed an ordinary person could possess.
But space-time ninjutsu was no trivial matter.
As far as they knew, Konoha only had two people capable of it.
One was the Fourth Hokage.
The other was Konoha's infamous Nightingale—the very man who had humiliated Sunagakure beyond measure.
Yet both of those men were Konoha shinobi.
One of them was Konoha's Hokage.
No matter how they looked at it, there should have been no reason for either of them to target the Guardian Ninja like this.
In fact, in a certain sense, they should have been allies, not enemies.
And besides, Konoha's space-time ninjutsu—Flying Thunder God—required marked coordinates.
That much they at least knew.
But the "Musashi" before them had not thrown a single marked kunai or anything carrying a seal at all.
That was what truly baffled them.
"As for me…"
Hikaru looked down at the broken, bloodied survivors and thought for a moment.
Then he released the Transformation Technique without hesitation.
He smiled at those still conscious and spoke calmly.
"I am Konoha ANBU Minister, Senju Hikaru."
"Senju Hikaru?"
Chiriku and the others froze.
Clearly, the name was unfamiliar to them.
Though the surname stirred old memories in them, they truly did not know who Hikaru was.
Still, the title ANBU Minister made all their pupils constrict.
The Minister of ANBU was no longer someone hidden purely in darkness.
That was a figure who could stand in the light.
A figure who could openly approach the light.
They knew ANBU's minister was Murashima Takumi—a silent, cold, powerful man.
Since when had the minister become a mere boy?
Could it be because of what had happened during the Nine-Tails incident?
Or was this whole thing a deception?
Hikaru saw the confusion and complexity in their eyes and shook his head lightly.
Then he continued, "Perhaps my name doesn't mean much to you. But that's fine."
"My codename in ANBU might sound more familiar."
"You can call me… Nightingale."
"Nightingale?"
The moment they heard that name, all remaining doubt vanished.
They now knew exactly who stood before them.
Konoha's Nightingale.
To them, that codename was like a demon from hell itself.
That was a reputation piled up on the corpses of over a hundred shinobi.
"Minister… why…" Chiriku clutched his abdomen and spoke with difficulty. "Why are you doing this to us? We…"
"Don't talk."
Hikaru smiled at him.
"The more you talk, the faster you bleed."
"And the faster you die."
He shook his head, his face full of regret.
"I know what you're wondering. Why I attacked, right?"
"The answer is simple."
"Weren't you all wondering why Kazuma disappeared?"
"He disappeared because I captured him."
"And he was doing something very interesting."
"Kazuma… was captured by you? Why?"
"Why?"
Hikaru smiled.
"Because you were collecting the Nine-Tails' chakra."
"Impossible! That's impossible!"
Inside the audience chamber where the daimyō was receiving the Hokage, Hiruzen sat calmly and steadily in his seat.
The daimyō, however, stared at him in shock and disbelief.
At first, he had assumed Hiruzen had come simply to discuss the temporary transfer of Hokage authority.
But he had never imagined that Hiruzen would bring up something that made cold sweat pour down his back.
His own bodyguards—
were secretly collecting the Nine-Tails' chakra.
And worse, they had been caught red-handed.
That was practically a death sentence for him.
At another time, perhaps he could have smoothed things over.
But now?
Now, this was the absolute worst possible moment.
The Nine-Tails had only just rampaged through Konoha and caused devastating losses.
If this matter exploded now, the daimyō could clearly imagine the consequences.
"Originally, I didn't want to believe it either."
Hiruzen slowly looked up, his voice deep and heavy.
"But the facts are the facts, Daimyō-sama."
"It seems you may have been deceived."
"This…"
The daimyō swallowed hard, then forced a stiff smile onto his face.
"I think… perhaps we should investigate this matter carefully first, don't you think, Hokage?"
"It certainly does deserve investigation."
A new voice suddenly rang out in the chamber.
At the exact same moment, twelve figures crashed down from above and slammed hard onto the floor.
Cries of pain mixed with the splatter of blood, and the daimyō began trembling in terror.
He instinctively looked upward.
A young man stood on the roof beam above, arms folded across his chest, smiling.
A moment later, the young man jumped down lightly and spoke in a gentle, courteous tone.
"I am Konoha ANBU Minister, Senju Hikaru."
Then he looked at the daimyō with a calm, pleasant smile and continued,
"Daimyō-sama, I think this matter should be investigated right here. Right now."
"What do you think?"
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