"What kind of situation is this?"
Hikaru's expression turned extremely strange as he felt the Dragon Vein chakra surging into his body.
The most interesting part was this—
after that chakra entered him, he did not suffer any adverse reaction at all.
In fact, he discovered that his body seemed to adapt to that power with unusual ease.
"Could it be because I absorbed Dragon Vein power before, and that's why this is happening now?"
Hikaru thought it over for a long while, but in the end, he still could not come up with a better explanation.
The quantity of Dragon Vein chakra was still enormous.
Even if more than ninety-five percent of it had been devoured by the Nine-Tails, the remaining five percent still far surpassed the amount Hikaru had extracted back then.
That vast flood of chakra instantly made his whole body feel swollen.
The sensation of being filled to the brim with overwhelming power was certainly wonderful—
but in the end, this was still foreign chakra.
Completely mastering it was not going to be easy.
"Still, I've dealt with this once before. This time may be harder, but at least I'm not going in blind."
Thinking that, Hikaru quickly formed hand seals.
Sage chakra surged along with them, and before long, a sealing technique had already taken shape.
He had sealed part of the Dragon Vein's chakra before, but that chakra had long since been used up over time. Some of it had become nourishment for his seeds, while the rest had fused into his own chakra system.
This time, Hikaru intended to handle it the same way.
It just so happened that because the little Nine-Tails had temporarily left his body, his seeds currently had to rely on his own chakra for growth.
Now he could simply use this sudden influx of chakra inside him to rapidly mature them.
As for the rest of that enormous chakra—
he felt it would be better to seal it inside himself for now.
Maybe in the future, it could even be given to the Nine-Tails.
"Ninja Art: Eight Trigrams Seal!"
Once everything was ready, Hikaru pressed a hand to his lower abdomen.
At once, mysterious sealing formulas appeared beneath his clothes across his stomach.
The chakra inside him also stabilized at that moment, and the swelling sensation finally subsided.
Hikaru let out a quiet sigh of relief.
He truly had not expected that some of the Dragon Vein's chakra would ultimately end up inside his own body.
He had already been fully prepared to leave all of it to the Nine-Tails.
He never imagined it would turn out like this.
Lifting his head, Hikaru looked toward the Nine-Tails.
At this point, the little fox's body had changed completely.
The towering Sealing Tower, after being washed over by Dragon Vein chakra and further torn apart by the Nine-Tails' transformation, had already been reduced to rubble.
The Nine-Tails' size now was no weaker than that giant beast from the night it attacked Konoha.
Standing at its feet, Hikaru looked absolutely tiny.
Still, Hikaru could tell that in its current posture, this little Nine-Tails was probably only around forty to fifty meters tall while crouched.
If it stood upright, it would likely reach seventy or eighty meters.
Compared to the Nine-Tails at its peak from Hikaru's memories, though, that was still a long way off.
After all, when it had been dragged out by the Uchiha to fight Senju Hashirama, it had worn that full beastly rage state together with Perfect Susanoo.
That Susanoo had been over two hundred meters tall.
Which also meant the Nine-Tails at its peak, standing upright, had likely reached a height of around two hundred meters as well.
Of course, Naruto had also once manifested Kurama in Six Paths Mode, and that standing Nine-Tails had been enormous too.
After all, it was meant to contend with Sasuke's Ultimate Susanoo.
If it had been much smaller than that, the matchup would have been hopelessly one-sided.
"This little guy still has a long road ahead of him."
Hikaru murmured inwardly.
At the same time, the little Nine-Tails seemed to have come back to itself and lowered its gaze toward him.
"Looks like that chakra really was useful."
The little fox's voice was deep and rumbling, though strangely still not much different from before despite the massive increase in size.
"I can feel myself getting much stronger. My chakra's fuller now too. I'm far stronger than before."
"Is that so?"
Hikaru nodded lightly, and a smile appeared on his face.
"Then congratulations. At least in terms of appearance, you're already getting close to how that big guy looked when it attacked Konoha."
"Still far off."
To Hikaru's surprise, the little Nine-Tails shook its head.
"That big one was much stronger. It was just that being sealed for so long kept suppressing and weakening it, so when it came out, it wasn't anywhere near its peak."
"I know that," Hikaru said with a casual wave of his hand. "I was talking about your size. At least you look pretty decent now, even if you've still got a long way to go."
The little Nine-Tails bared its teeth, as if trying to grin.
Unfortunately, with that massive body, the result looked less like a smile and more like something out of a nightmare.
And because it had only just grown to this level, it was obvious that it still couldn't fully control its power yet.
Its aura was leaking wildly in every direction.
Its chakra control was also a mess.
Just the light flick of one tail released violent chakra waves, and even Hikaru could feel the crushing pressure.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Hikaru sensed something.
He discovered that a group of people was watching from far away.
At the same time, someone familiar was rushing toward him from the distance.
It was Sara.
What surprised Hikaru, however, was that he could clearly sense her even from that far away.
The distance between them was still very large—
yet he could perceive her with such clarity.
That could only mean one thing:
his sensory ability had improved again.
Hikaru's sensory range had always been growing, though he had never figured out exactly why.
Still, as his strength kept rising, both the radius and precision of his perception had undeniably become sharper.
Back then, even combined with Sage Mode, his sensory range had not been this broad.
But now, with Sage Mode active, he could perceive things over ten kilometers away.
The feeling was truly remarkable.
Even so, Hikaru remained extremely restrained.
After all, that ancestor of his—Senju Tobirama—had once sensed Uchiha Madara's chakra from the Land of Lightning while standing inside Konoha.
That was not just a matter of distance on the scale of kilometers.
Of course, Madara had been obscenely high-profile, but even so, anyone capable of that level of perception was unquestionably one of the absolute peaks of the ninja world.
"So the little guy still has a long road ahead, but so do I."
Hikaru thought of that and set his standards straight once again.
If he had been born an Uchiha, he would have used Uchiha Madara as his template, constantly tracing Madara's growth path and imitating it as he advanced.
Strictly speaking, that would actually have been easier.
Madara's route to power was both obvious and detailed.
But unfortunately, Hikaru had awakened in this world as a Senju.
That meant the only people he could truly use as references were the two great Senju predecessors whose paths were already established.
Of course, he was not without other possible examples.
Naruto was also one of the models Hikaru had in mind.
But only as a reference.
Because Hikaru had long realized that the road he took in the early stages was far too different from Naruto's.
And back then, he had never really believed he would have a chance to obtain a tailed beast.
At most, he had thought some tailed beast chakra would already be a miracle.
But now?
Now Hikaru really could seriously use Naruto's path as a point of comparison.
After all, in terms of versatility and completeness, both he and his Nine-Tails were already ahead of Naruto in several respects.
"The only thing I don't have is Naruto's pure, sincere heart. But someone like me doesn't need that."
Thinking that, Hikaru turned his eyes toward the little Nine-Tails.
"Come back. We're leaving this place too."
"Alright."
The little Nine-Tails nodded.
Its enormous body instantly dissolved into a mass of crimson chakra.
That red chakra flowed swiftly back into Hikaru's body.
And in that instant, Hikaru immediately felt himself becoming even stronger.
The little Nine-Tails' growth had far exceeded his expectations.
How could that not make him happy?
Closing his eyes slightly, Hikaru summoned his status screen.
Name: Senju Hikaru
Gender: Male
Birthday: March 24, Konoha Year 34
Level: Quasi-Kage (System evaluation without using any abilities) (Vast chakra reserves)
Bloodline Development: Intermediate (Senju Secret Arts, Basic Yang Release Secret Arts)
Jinchūriki: Nine-Tails (Intermediate; can grow by devouring large quantities of special chakra; planting an intermediate Nine-Tails fruit allows its growth) (Has consumed excessive chakra and is continuing to grow)
Seeds: None (Unplanted and unplantable seeds are not displayed)
Fruits: Basic Fire Release Fruit, Intermediate Sealing Fruit
Mission: Become the true ultimate boss of the ninja world (Unique) (20%)
Hikaru silently studied his status panel, and the smile at his lips grew wider and wider.
The Land of Wind really was blessed ground for him.
He had come here twice, and both times he had gained huge improvements.
That feeling was truly wonderful.
Still, this would also be the last time.
Because he had already taken just about everything in the Land of Wind that was worth taking.
There was no need for him to come here stirring up trouble again.
"And this time's growth is pretty interesting too."
Hikaru thought to himself.
His displayed level had now risen to the Quasi-Kage stage.
What exactly Quasi-Kage meant, though, he still couldn't define with perfect clarity.
Probably it meant that his raw strength had already reached Kage level, while certain areas still remained incomplete.
To be honest, Hikaru had always been a bit fuzzy about the system's combat rankings.
What exactly qualified as Kage level in a precise sense—
the system had never given him a direct answer.
But Hikaru couldn't be bothered to dwell on that.
At most, those labels were just references.
A shinobi's real power still came down to overall combat capability.
And Hikaru's overall combat power was definitely not weak.
This so-called Quasi-Kage label only measured the rough level of strength he could show without using anything else.
But was Hikaru the sort of person who refused to use the power he had?
Not to mention anything else—
Flying Thunder God had already become one of his standard techniques.
And as for Sage Mode, he had never been stingy about using it either.
"Unless I'm deliberately hiding my identity, I'll use every bit of power I've got."
Beyond the rise in his raw strength, his hidden strength had also grown further.
The two seeds he had handed off to the Nine-Tails for cultivation had already been close to completion.
Now, with the Dragon Vein's power, they had matured all at once.
That was unquestionably good news for him.
He did not care much that the Fire Release fruit was only basic.
But the improvement in sealing techniques would absolutely push his Flying Thunder God to another level.
"After all, the stronger my sealing techniques, the better I can control and use Flying Thunder God marks."
Other than the sealing fruit, there were no major obvious gains elsewhere.
The only other piece of good news was that his unique mission progress had risen a little again.
Thinking about it carefully, that was probably because news of him becoming ANBU Minister had already spread.
As for bloodline development not increasing—
Hikaru had already been mentally prepared for that.
He had never expected further advancement from this place anyway.
But the thing most worth celebrating was still the Nine-Tails.
As expected, the little fox had now reached the Intermediate stage.
And it seemed the Dragon Vein chakra had simply been too enormous.
Even after devouring so much and successfully growing stronger, the little Nine-Tails still had not fully digested all of it.
Fortunately, that extra chakra had not gone to waste.
It remained inside the Nine-Tails, continuing to contribute to its ongoing growth.
"A classic case of one huge meal, then slowly digesting it over time."
Hikaru mentally summarized the little fox's condition.
Then suddenly, he thought of something.
Back when the little Nine-Tails had lacked both chakra quality and storage, it had been unable to attempt a certain state.
In the original story, Naruto's Kurama had only been half of the full Nine-Tails.
Yet even that half had allowed Naruto to enter an astonishing mode and unleash ridiculous power.
Now, however, Hikaru felt he could finally try it for himself.
He had truly been looking forward to this so-called Nine-Tails Chakra Mode for a very long time.
"Little guy…"
He called inwardly.
Even now, when the little fox was no longer particularly little, Hikaru still found it natural to call him that.
"Can we try chakra resonance now? Can we enter that so-called Nine-Tails Chakra Mode?"
"We can probably give it a try now."
The little Nine-Tails' voice echoed quickly in Hikaru's mind.
"My chakra's abundant enough at this point. And I can also feel that I'm still growing. But there's something I need to tell you first."
"Oh?"
Hikaru asked curiously.
"What is it? Just say it."
"It's exactly what you already know."
The little Nine-Tails answered honestly.
"My current strength isn't stable yet. I've only just reached this level, so my power's still messy. Even if we enter the state, it won't last long."
"I figured as much."
Hikaru nodded lightly.
That really did not surprise him.
Even if the little fox had not said anything, he would have guessed it.
After all, the little guy's aura had been unstable just a moment ago, so poor control was only natural.
Still, as long as entering the state was possible at all, Hikaru was already satisfied.
He could wait.
He could wait for the Nine-Tails to grow.
And he could wait for himself to grow as well.
After all, he was not lacking in combat power right now.
He had time to let things advance little by little.
"It's nothing serious. Resonance isn't something that happens perfectly all at once. We can take our time and keep adjusting."
Hikaru casually brushed some dust off himself as he replied in his mind.
"It'll last as long as it lasts. We've still got a long road ahead of us anyway."
"Of course."
The little Nine-Tails sounded lazy again after returning inside him.
"But I'm looking forward to finally being useful in a real fight. I'm not just for show, you know. I inherited that big guy's memories. I've got combat ability too. I won't lose to him."
At that, Hikaru only smiled and nodded.
The little fox might have become much larger, but in every other way, he had not really changed.
And that was a good thing.
Besides, Hikaru himself was looking forward to the day when they could truly unleash that power together.
Right now, he wasn't even sure he could successfully manifest a Wood Golem—
let alone the Thousand-Armed Buddha, the colossal technique capable of contesting and even suppressing Perfect Susanoo.
He truly looked forward to the day when he could throw Sage Art Nine-Tails Chakra Mode over the Thousand-Armed Buddha and then combine it with Flying Thunder God.
That level of destructive power and battlefield suppression—
he alone would be enough to make an entire hidden village tremble.
Shaking his head lightly, Hikaru's senses locked onto Sara again as she kept running toward him.
She was still quite far away.
Which made perfect sense.
Sara was not a shinobi.
Her speed being slow was only natural.
And Hikaru knew she was coming to find him, so he had no intention of making things difficult for her.
His chakra stirred slightly.
The next instant, he vanished from the ruins of the Sealing Tower and reappeared at the outskirts of Rōran.
Then he leapt forward and ran straight toward Sara.
Under the support of chakra, his speed was even faster than before.
Across the endless desert, a streak of blue flashed like lightning.
And yet, strangely—
that streak left no drifting sand in its wake.
Inside the Kazekage's office in Sunagakure, Rasa was currently reading through reports.
The past half year could easily be described as the hardest and most frustrating stretch of time he had ever endured.
To be honest, "bad luck" was far too mild a phrase for it.
Half a year ago, Iwagakure had brazenly moved first for the sake of interests in countries like the Land of Bears—small nations bordering both the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth—and had begun attacking Sunagakure's influence in those regions.
Faced with that situation, Rasa had no choice but to respond.
And in order to avoid fighting on two fronts—since Kirigakure had also been making their life miserable at the time—he chose a policy that was, in essence, ally with the distant enemy to deal with the nearby one.
That was not how he would have phrased it aloud, of course.
But the meaning was the same.
He decided to make peace with Kirigakure so that he could focus all of his energy on resisting Iwagakure's aggression.
To that end, he had personally pushed one of Sunagakure's geniuses, Pakura of the Scorch Release, into the abyss.
And then something he could never have imagined happened.
The Konoha ANBU Nightingale had entered the Land of Wind at exactly that moment.
He had only come to return Yashamaru.
Konoha and Sunagakure had indeed ceased hostilities and even formed an alliance on paper.
But everyone knew that alliance was nothing more than appearances.
Privately, competition and conflict had never stopped.
To seize greater benefits—and especially after learning that Nightingale was an ANBU captain from Konoha—Rasa chose to make his move.
What followed was like kicking a hornet's nest.
The Leaf's Nightingale displayed power so shocking that it left everyone reeling.
Rasa still could not understand why that man had chosen to retreat at first.
But after that, relying on his own strength alone, he slaughtered more than a hundred Suna shinobi.
Worst of all, that included two entire ANBU units, along with a full sealing squad.
No hidden village could accept losses like that.
Even more suffocating was the fact that the bastard had obtained the intelligence relating to Pakura's mission and, through some unknown means, managed to decode it.
Even Chiyo, one of Sunagakure's legendary shinobi, had personally moved to intercept him—
and still returned in defeat.
Rasa had gone numb.
He had never dreamed he would face a situation like that.
And after that incident, it felt as if his luck had plunged straight through the floor.
First, Pakura somehow learned the truth of her mission and realized she had been betrayed.
So she chose to die together with the Mist shinobi sent to kill her.
That incident enraged Kirigakure.
Even though they had already agreed to withdraw, they instead stayed in place and continued making trouble for Sunagakure.
That caused no end of trouble.
And because of all that, with enemies pressing them from both sides and continuous harassment on every front, even under Rasa's leadership, Suna simply could not withstand Ōnoki's Iwa forces.
In the end, they could only withdraw in disgrace from countries like the Land of Bears.
The losses were appalling.
That chain reaction had truly pushed Rasa to the brink.
And it had dragged already struggling Sunagakure into an even worse state.
Because of that, he had no choice but to force the village into contraction.
He could only adopt a low-price policy to accept missions everywhere, trying to restore Suna's image and soft power.
To make that happen, he had even recalled the shinobi he had stationed around Rōran.
If they had not been driven into a corner, who would willingly stoop to that?
To be fair, the policy had some effect.
Though shinobi earnings had dropped sharply, the sheer volume of missions taken had made life in Sunagakure slightly more bearable.
But before Rasa had even had time to feel relieved, he received another piece of infuriating intelligence.
Konoha had been attacked by the Nine-Tails.
Normally, that should have been good news.
Especially since Suna and Konoha had always had conflicting interests.
Rasa ought to have been delighted.
But when he learned the other major development from that same incident, he went numb all over again.
That Konoha Nightingale who had once struck Sunagakure so hard—
was actually a Senju descendant.
Not only did he know Flying Thunder God—
he also possessed Wood Release.
That information was utterly terrible.
Flying Thunder God alone had already been bad enough.
Now a Wood Release user had appeared on top of that?
And according to the reports, his Wood Release was anything but weak.
He had even restrained the Nine-Tails.
How was Rasa supposed to be happy about that?
Wood Release had once been the power that pacified the ninja world.
With that now reappearing, a Konoha battered by the Nine-Tails would not just recover its standing—
it might even rise higher than before.
And the following news was no better.
In fact, it completely extinguished the last traces of retaliation in Rasa's heart.
Reliable intelligence confirmed that Murashima Takumi, the former ANBU minister of Konoha, had died.
And the new ANBU Minister was none other than Konoha's Nightingale—
Senju Hikaru.
"Why is heaven so unfair? Konoha has everything. Why does Sunagakure have nothing?"
Rasa had muttered variations of that complaint more than once now.
And he truly was tormented by the reality of it.
Still, he had no time to dwell on that today.
As he looked over the report in his hands, he frowned.
"So the Rōran people went out again to barter for supplies? Hmph. They won't hire shinobi, and they won't listen. If our situation weren't this dire, how could I possibly let them live so comfortably?"
Rasa had never held even the slightest fondness for the people of Rōran.
Those Rōran residents lived inside the Land of Wind, yet stood apart from it.
Worse, when they had problems and feared Sunagakure might covet the Dragon Vein, they would rather seek help from Konoha than ever turn to Suna.
Rasa admitted he had indeed once harbored thoughts about the Dragon Vein.
But what he truly couldn't stomach was being so thoroughly humiliated by a bunch of Rōran civilians.
That was why he had started taking retaliatory actions against Rōran.
And that was also the main reason their current life was becoming more and more difficult.
"Just wait. Before long, I'll grind them down completely."
Rasa thought viciously.
But at that very moment, a sudden throb shot through his heart.
Instinctively, he looked out the window.
His expression changed at once.
Far off near the horizon, a streak of light flashed through the sky—
and its direction was unmistakably toward Rōran.
"Kazekage-sama."
At that moment, Chiyo hurried into the office.
Her expression was grave.
"Something's happened."
"What is it?"
Rasa's face tightened at once, and he stood up immediately.
"What happened?"
"It's the Dragon Vein."
Chiyo's voice was low and serious.
"Not long ago, there was a huge chakra disturbance at the Dragon Vein site. But it vanished very quickly."
"Did the seal fail?"
Rasa asked immediately.
But before Chiyo could answer, his own face turned darker.
"Or did someone tamper with the Dragon Vein?"
Chiyo did not reply.
Because even she did not know how to answer that.
That silence only made Rasa's expression uglier.
Could something really have happened to the Dragon Vein?
He paced a few times, then turned sharply toward Chiyo.
"If… and I mean if the Dragon Vein was tampered with, who do you think did it?"
"The Dragon Vein was sealed by Konoha."
Chiyo hesitated before speaking.
"It's hard to say Konoha wouldn't have some method to deal with it. And Kazekage-sama… do you remember?"
"Remember what?"
Rasa frowned.
"If you've got something to say, say it."
"Konoha's Nightingale. Senju Hikaru."
Chiyo slowly organized her thoughts, then spoke.
"When he entered the Land of Wind half a year ago, he disappeared for a period while evading my brother's pursuit."
"He was that strong, so why did he choose to retreat at that time? And where exactly did he go after disappearing? Those are all very suspicious questions."
"So you mean…"
Rasa's face turned iron-gray.
"…that he ran into Rōran back then?"
"I don't know."
Chiyo shook her head.
"I'm only stating my suspicions."
"And besides, the Fourth Hokage's seal was not easy to break. If anyone could unravel that kind of seal, wouldn't it most likely be someone from Konoha?"
Hearing that, Rasa began pacing beside his desk again.
At last, he slammed his fist down hard on the table.
"Konoha… and that damned Senju Hikaru…"
His voice was filled with fury.
"They're utterly despicable!"
"So they finally noticed."
In the desert, Hikaru looked down at the corpses of the Suna shinobi lying on the sand and casually flicked the blood from his blade.
Then he formed a seal and used Fire Release to burn those bodies into ash.
He had already consumed both the Basic Fire Release Fruit and the Intermediate Sealing Fruit.
Naturally, that meant he could now use simple Fire Release with ease.
And even the simplest Fire Release, in his hands, could unleash astonishing destructive force.
After all, Hikaru's chakra quality was absurdly high, and his reserves were massive as well.
Overwhelming force was not a refined method.
But if he had the ability to do it, Hikaru had no intention of being stingy with chakra.
Turning back, he looked toward the caravan of Rōran refugees behind him and let out a quiet sigh.
It had already been three days since they set out.
He had not experienced such painfully slow travel in a very long time.
But he had made Sara a promise.
And no matter how flexible his moral line might be, Hikaru disdained making promises he didn't intend to keep.
The people of Rōran wanted to leave the Land of Wind.
As for where they could go, the options were actually limited.
At the very least, Hikaru had no intention of taking them to the Land of Fire.
For now, he had no desire to openly admit that he had taken the Dragon Vein.
And if the Rōran refugees entered the Land of Fire, they would inevitably draw Konoha's attention.
If Sara lost control of her mouth for even a moment, Hikaru's actions would immediately become public knowledge.
So if not the Land of Fire, and if he wanted a destination that was both safe and still reasonably livable, then after thinking it through, Hikaru found only a few choices.
One was the Land of Hot Water.
That place still had a shinobi village protecting it, and the future cult there had not yet been wiped out by Hikaru.
So that was a valid option.
Another was the Land of Tea.
It was coastal, had no shinobi village of its own, but in practice it was still Konoha's backyard.
Its safety and environment were both guaranteed.
After thinking it over, Sara ultimately chose the Land of Tea.
That choice made Hikaru quietly breathe easier.
The Land of Tea and the Land of Grass—his own intended destination—were practically worlds apart.
But from the Land of Wind, they could find a port and sail directly to the Land of Tea.
In that sense, the arrangement actually reduced Hikaru's burden.
And if there was no one dragging him down, Hikaru could cover the distance to the Land of Grass in about a week.
The problem was that these Rōran civilians were painfully slow.
And Suna was not stupid forever.
By now, they had clearly started reacting.
"Still, their response is strangely weak. What's going on with that?"
Hikaru had already experienced being hunted by Suna once before.
He knew very well how irritating that felt.
But compared to that previous time, the current pursuit was far milder.
"Are you alright?"
Just then, Sara walked up behind him and asked with obvious concern.
"For now, yes."
Hikaru smiled and shook his head.
"Two more days and we'll reach the port. At that point, you can—"
Before he could finish, Hikaru suddenly frowned.
Then he immediately turned his head toward the distance.
And there, in the far-off desert haze, several figures in black cloaks patterned with red clouds flickered in and out of view.
◇ I'll drop one bonus chapter for every 10 reviews (leave a review/comment!)
◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 100 Power Stones.
◇ Read 60 chapters ahead on P@treon: patreon.com/KageNaruto