Hikaru did not explain too much about the Ōtsutsuki.
Those people were far too complicated. Their existence was not something everyone should know about.
So Hikaru chose a relatively vague explanation, but it was still accurate.
Even though his words were vague, for someone as sharp as Nara Shikaku, that was already enough.
Shikaku could tell Hikaru did not want to elaborate.
Clearly, Hikaru knew those people were not enemies ordinary shinobi could easily handle.
In that case, rather than knowing too much and overthinking, it was better to focus on the work in front of them.
After all, Konoha truly had too many matters to handle right now.
They needed to concentrate their energy where it actually mattered.
For example, the village itself required immediate attention.
And what they needed to deal with was not limited to Konoha's internal problems.
This battle had turned the entire village into something like an isolated island.
The land around Konoha had almost completely collapsed, and countless ravines now crisscrossed the area.
The depth of those ravines was terrifying.
Some had already turned into river valleys, filled by underground water.
Others had become bottomless abysses, directly separating Konoha from everything around it.
Those abysses had cut off the roads surrounding the village.
That would create enormous trouble for Konoha's trade, as well as for outsiders coming to commission missions.
These problems had to be solved.
Otherwise, they would definitely affect Konoha's future development.
This was one of their most urgent tasks.
Besides that, they also had to investigate the nearby towns around Konoha and determine how severe their losses were.
Strictly speaking, those matters were not Konoha's responsibility.
After all, Konoha only governed Konoha Village.
The rest of the Land of Fire fell under the daimyō's authority. It should be his headache.
But in truth, this incident really had been caused by Konoha's battle.
And everyone understood what kind of existence the daimyō was.
To put it bluntly, the one who truly controlled everything in the Land of Fire was Konoha.
Or more precisely, it was Senju Hikaru, the Fifth Hokage.
So Hikaru really did have to take responsibility.
Even if he did not say much, someone like Nara Shikaku would know what to do.
Of course, Hikaru did not need to worry about compensation.
The one who should pay would naturally be the Fire Daimyō.
With such a huge problem appearing, even if the responsibility did not lie with the Land of Fire or Konoha, they still had to pay.
That was inevitable.
So they had to coordinate these matters, understand the situation, and finally come up with the best possible handling plan.
It could be said that their workload was now heavy and complicated.
So thinking too much about beings that were far beyond their reach was not appropriate.
The most rational and important thing was to focus on the problems right in front of them.
After understanding this, the jōnin stopped disturbing Hikaru.
In their eyes, after such an abnormally fierce battle, their Hokage needed time to rest and recover.
Once everyone left, Hikaru was finally able to close his eyes and rest.
Physically speaking, his condition was still acceptable.
After all, Urashiki Ōtsutsuki really had been too weak in actual combat. He had not brought Hikaru that much trouble.
Even though those terrifying chakra torrents had brushed against Hikaru, Hikaru had been using the Nine-Tails' power, the Jōgan Chakra Mode, and Sage Mode at the same time.
His body had received an all-around massive boost.
And Urashiki's terrible combat experience and skill meant Hikaru had not actually been injured.
The reason he felt so exhausted now was more mental than physical.
That battle had consumed an enormous amount of his focus and energy.
But no matter what, he had done the best he could.
The corpse now being inspected by Tobirama was his greatest trophy.
And through this battle, Hikaru had also learned quite a lot about his own problems.
He was strong. There was no doubt about that.
Even if Uchiha Madara were truly revived, as long as he had not transformed into an Ōtsutsuki-level existence, Hikaru believed he would absolutely have the power to fight him.
But that only applied to Madara before Ōtsutsuki transformation.
If Madara followed the original path and reached that level, Hikaru felt he would be dead for sure.
This was not because he looked down on himself.
On the contrary, it was because he had a clear understanding of his own power.
Hikaru knew roughly how strong Uchiha Madara was.
Especially because Hashirama Senju was beside him and had told him many things about the past.
According to Hashirama, the Madara of their era had been almost equal to him.
The reason Madara lost was mainly because Hashirama had worn him down.
After all, Madara did not possess Hashirama's terrifying recovery ability.
Whether it was chakra recovery or physical regeneration, Hashirama had the advantage.
That was why Madara eventually ran out of chakra and was tricked by a Wood Clone that Hashirama had created with his remaining chakra.
That was probably why the revived Madara had once mocked Hashirama's fighting style as lacking elegance.
After all, Hashirama could attempt to tank his attacks head-on, while Madara had no choice but to dodge honestly.
It looked elegant, but in truth, it was helplessness.
After resurrection, Madara made up for his weaknesses.
Not only that, he received an even greater upgrade.
Whether it was senjutsu chakra or the Rinnegan, the revived Madara had obtained them completely.
Add to that the fact that he had lived through the most terrifying era of war, and his combat skill had reached an unimaginable peak.
In terms of overall strength, calling him the true number one in the shinobi world would not be an exaggeration.
Especially since Madara also mastered Yin-Yang Release.
In terms of basic configuration, there was almost no difference between him and Hikaru.
The only thing he probably had not mastered was tailed-beast power.
Hikaru had no doubt at all.
If Madara had not died, and those future enemies like Momoshiki Ōtsutsuki and Kinshiki Ōtsutsuki had encountered him, their endings would have been ugly.
Not to mention Urashiki, whom Hikaru had just killed.
That alone showed how terrifying Uchiha Madara's power was.
Actually, after this battle, Hikaru felt that if the one fighting had been Hashirama, it was hard to say he would have had no chance.
After all, Hashirama had also lived through that cruel era.
And now, he was learning Yin-Yang Release.
Even though he was still very rough at it, if he combined it with senjutsu, and if those Ōtsutsuki became careless, he could absolutely cause unimaginable damage.
"So I also need to go further and strengthen myself. Even though I'm already very strong, I still have plenty of room to improve.
"Especially now that I've obtained Urashiki Ōtsutsuki's corpse, I have to work even harder.
"After all, who knows whether these dangerous terrorists will descend upon the shinobi world again?"
…
Hikaru truly had to be extremely cautious about these outsiders.
After Urashiki Ōtsutsuki's arrival, no one could guarantee there would not be a second time.
Especially since Hikaru now knew Urashiki had been drawn here because of him.
To put it bluntly, Hikaru's Jōgan evolution had caused a wave of Ōtsutsuki power to leak wildly outward.
That was what allowed the Ōtsutsuki in the universe to learn that one of their kin existed in this direction.
That was why Urashiki came.
Whether there were others besides him, Hikaru truly did not know.
But he did know one thing.
If he did not continue to improve his strength, and the next one to arrive was not a fool and arrogant maniac like Urashiki—
if the next one had rich tactical experience, remained calm, and would not give up an advantage because of personal arrogance—
then Hikaru would be in serious trouble.
So constantly improving himself was the best and most important choice he could make.
He knew very well that he had been improving all this time.
Although he could not compare with Naruto and Sasuke's unreasonable growth, where they could reach that level in just three years, Hikaru had still spent a little over ten years reaching a level comparable to the revived Uchiha Madara.
That was already a massive miracle.
But he also knew it was not enough.
It was still far from enough.
The road he needed to walk remained long.
The improvements he needed were still many.
Hikaru opened his eyes slightly.
In an instant, the system panel he had not checked in a long time appeared in his eyes.
At his current level, he no longer needed to stare at it constantly like before.
And now, improving his abilities required the accumulation of time.
Reaching the heavens in one step was not suitable for him anymore.
Name: Senju Hikaru
Gender: Male
Birthday: Konoha Year 34, March 24
Level: Kage-level
System evaluation: without using any special abilities; chakra reserves are abnormally vast.
Dōjutsu: Jōgan, First Stage. Development: 99%.
Bloodline Development: Advanced. Senju Secret Techniques. Intermediate Yang Release Secret Techniques. Kekkei Tōta, unnamed. Second Kekkei Tōta, unnamed. Intermediate Shikotsumyaku. Beginner Yin Release Secret Techniques. Yin-Yang Release, can improve alongside Yin Release and Yang Release.
Jinchūriki: Nine-Tails. Also contains Two-Tails, Three-Tails, Six-Tails, and Eight-Tails power. Intermediate. Can grow by devouring large amounts of special chakra. Plant an advanced Nine-Tails fruit to promote further growth.
Seeds: None.
Fruits: Advanced Fire Release Fruit x10. Advanced Water Release Fruit x10. Advanced Earth Release Fruit x10. Advanced Lightning Release Fruit x10. Advanced Wind Release Fruit x10.
Mission: Become the true final boss of the shinobi world. Unique mission. Progress: 90%.
Ten-Tails Jinchūriki. Optional mission. Currently possesses Nine-Tails, Eight-Tails, Six-Tails, and Three-Tails. Mutual fusion progress: 50%. Overall fusion progress not yet activated.
Looking at his panel, Hikaru nodded inwardly.
Although he had not improved too much over the past three years, he had still made some progress.
In terms of the system's strength evaluation, he seemed to be fixed at the Kage-level standard.
It was as if the system had no higher option.
However, its description of his chakra had changed quite a bit.
Before, it had simply been called vast.
Now, it had become abnormally vast.
As for his bloodline, Hikaru did not know exactly how to calculate the change.
According to the system, he seemed to have reached an advanced level.
But whether that advanced level referred to Ōtsutsuki or Senju, Hikaru did not really understand.
After thinking it over, Hikaru felt he probably had not reached the Ōtsutsuki level yet.
Although Urashiki had said his bloodline belonged to their clan, he had also said Hikaru's bloodline was very weak and somewhat incomplete.
Clearly, Hikaru might indeed possess Ōtsutsuki bloodline now, but because the concentration was not high enough, the system had not recognized it as such.
However, Hikaru did not care too much.
At least this time, he had received a good answer.
And he had also obtained an Ōtsutsuki corpse.
He believed he would absolutely make an enormous breakthrough from it.
Just like when he had obtained Hashirama's flesh and truly became a force that could not be ignored.
Aside from the bloodline situation, Hikaru had also fused a second Kekkei Tōta during these three years.
However, he had discovered that his luck drawing cards from White Zetsu had become worse and worse.
He could not even remember how long it had taken to obtain this single fusion power.
So after obtaining this fusion power, Hikaru had deliberately used the chakra powers he had not used before and fused them this time.
That fusion also created a brand-new Kekkei Tōta.
And through this fusion, Hikaru had basically used every chakra nature once.
At present, among all chakra natures, he had two Kekkei Tōta powers and Yin-Yang Release.
If he drew another fusion power, then Hikaru could definitely attempt to fuse these three powers into one and let his own Kekkei Mōra descend.
"But that's just something to think about. The other elemental chakra natures are all advanced, while Yin-Yang Release is still only at the beginner level. That really can't be helped."
Thinking of Yin-Yang Release gave Hikaru a headache.
He did not know whether it was because of his body, or because he had finally obtained Shikotsumyaku from Kimimaro.
Either way, his Yang Release had improved significantly.
Now, his Yang Release had reached the intermediate level.
And he felt that perhaps it would not be long before he reached the advanced level.
But when it came to Yin Release, Hikaru's performance was far worse.
In fact, after picking up the Yin Release fruit, he had made no further progress at all.
There was nothing Hikaru could do about that.
After all, as a Senju, he really could not expect his Yin Release growth to be good.
And as Hokage, with the Uchiha all behaving obediently, he could not exactly dig out people's eyes, build a wall of Sharingan, and plant them one by one, could he?
"I was careless with that choice…"
Every time he thought of this, Hikaru could not help feeling that some of his decisions had been too hasty.
And he had also discovered something depressing.
When it came to learning Yin Release, his talent was actually worse than Hashirama Senju's.
Since there were no fruits to use for now, he had decided to train by himself.
That was the best solution Hikaru could think of.
After being resurrected, Hashirama had also begun new learning and training.
Both of them were studying Yin Release seriously.
But Hashirama had already entered the door and grasped what Hikaru considered beginner-level Yin Release.
Hikaru, on the other hand, had made no improvement at all.
As for Tobirama, he had naturally joined the training too.
But that man's speed and level of mastery in Yin Release were almost absurd.
In Hikaru's view, Tobirama might already be close to intermediate-level Yin Release.
Compared with those two, Hikaru's own situation was truly hard to describe.
This was the first time he had discovered that his learning ability could be so poor.
"Fortunately, neither of them has successfully fused Yin-Yang Release. So I still have the upper hand."
Fusing Yin-Yang Release was not easy.
In the original story, it seemed only Uchiha Madara had truly done it.
Whether Obito counted or not, Hikaru was unsure.
Forget fusing two completely opposite special powers.
Even using them individually was already extremely difficult.
Apart from certain special secret techniques that could exert the power of Yin Release and Yang Release, Hikaru could not remember many others who could use them properly.
He shook his head and stopped thinking about the Yin Release problem.
It was not a pleasant topic.
Besides Yin Release, Hikaru had other troublesome issues.
For example, Shikotsumyaku had not achieved the result he had expected.
From the time Hikaru brought Kimimaro back until now, the boy had grown into a qualified shinobi.
Even though he was only about eleven years old, Kimimaro had already displayed his talent and built an impressive record in the ANBU.
To him, the ANBU was his home.
And Hikaru was the person who had saved him and given him a new life.
So he worked exceptionally hard.
Even though both Hikaru and Kakashi, the two ANBU commanders, had required him to take proper breaks and make some friends, it did not change his desire to devote himself to Konoha.
Every time, he would actively request missions.
And the difficulty of the missions he requested kept increasing.
In return, he had already become a squad captain.
Hikaru had even heard that Uchiha Itachi might be assigned under him, because Kimimaro's squad belonged to Shisui's unit.
The boy's strength was already quite good.
Under ANBU's careful training and medical support, not only had he awakened Shikotsumyaku, but no symptoms of any bloodline disease had been discovered.
That was much better than his original fate under Orochimaru.
After all, Hikaru knew his condition and naturally took preventive measures in advance.
So the boy had not suffered the same misfortune as in the original story.
At the same time, he had provided Hikaru with the upgrade material he needed, allowing Hikaru's Shikotsumyaku to reach the intermediate level.
And based on Kimimaro's development, Hikaru believed the boy would definitely perform even better in the future.
Obtaining advanced Shikotsumyaku was only a matter of time.
The problem was that after Hikaru obtained Shikotsumyaku, he found that it did not seem to form any special linkage with his Jōgan.
After obtaining this power, his bones became harder.
He could use them as weapons.
His recovery from fractures became faster.
His Yang Release improved to a certain extent.
But aside from that, Hikaru had not discovered any other representative effect.
This truly disappointed him.
After all, judging from Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's performance, her body's foundation definitely contained the power of Shikotsumyaku.
The terrifying All-Killing Ash Bones were clearly an expression of Shikotsumyaku.
According to Hikaru's deduction, Shikotsumyaku was absolutely one of Kaguya Ōtsutsuki's powers.
Think about it.
Hikaru's Jōgan essentially came from the Byakugan.
If he obtained Shikotsumyaku and combined it with his original Senju body, wouldn't that bring him closer to the physical origin of an Ōtsutsuki?
The idea was logical and beautiful.
Unfortunately, reality was reality.
Hikaru did not feel any especially obvious change.
After thinking about it, he stopped caring.
No matter what, he had obtained the power.
Perhaps there would be a breakthrough in the future.
Aside from this disappointment, the other news was good.
For example, in terms of fruits, Hikaru had collected a huge pile over the past three years.
However, he basically would not use those fruits himself.
Using them had little effect on him now.
The purpose of collecting them was to give them to others.
With Kakashi, saya, and ayame as examples, and considering their later performance after using fruits, Hikaru could basically confirm that giving these fruits to others would not cause problems.
More importantly, he did not need to worry about betrayal after giving them out.
Putting aside his current strength, status, and reputation, which made betrayal nearly impossible, no sane person would dare do such a thing.
Especially after witnessing his battle against Urashiki outside Konoha.
After today, every Konoha shinobi would likely feel not only respect toward him, but also a layer of fear.
Hikaru did not need that fear, nor did he care much for it.
But human nature was like this.
There was nothing he could do about it.
Still, fear was not entirely unacceptable.
At the very least, it would silently deter those who truly harbored ill intentions.
The fruits Hikaru currently held were meant to be given to outstanding shinobi each year.
Whether they were jōnin, chūnin, or genin, as long as they performed well enough, Hikaru did not mind giving them enough benefits.
Actually, he had already mentioned this at last year's year-end meeting.
This year would be the first official year.
However, Hikaru had not clearly explained what exactly he would give.
So for now, no one knew his plan.
Hikaru did not care about that.
Even those who obtained the fruits would be strictly ordered to keep them secret.
What he wanted was a sense of mystery.
He wanted something that would make everyone interested and motivate them to work hard and compete for it.
For now, the effect was already visible.
And he believed that after today, the effect would become even better.
"But if they want to receive fruits, they still need to properly handle the current situation first."
Hikaru stretched slightly.
Konoha's current troubles still needed to be handled properly.
How well they handled it could absolutely be included in the year-end jōnin evaluation.
So Hikaru did not need to spend too much energy on these matters.
To be honest, having a group of capable subordinates really allowed Hikaru to easily accomplish what he wanted.
As long as his general direction did not go wrong, this group of excellent subordinates could help him finish everything properly.
A Hokage as relaxed as him was probably unique in the entire shinobi world.
"Putting Konoha's matters aside, my Jōgan seems to have reached its limit, just as I expected.
"It looks like I need to find time to visit the moon again.
"And while I'm at it, I need to remove the parts I need from Urashiki's body."
Hikaru narrowed his eyes slightly and began considering his next actions.
The development of his Jōgan's first stage had reached 99%.
This was not too surprising.
After all, it was his own eye.
He could feel it.
Now that it had reached this level, further development was naturally necessary.
And the thing Hikaru could think of to activate the second stage was, of course, that giant Tenseigan.
Hikaru had no doubt at all.
With that eye's help, his Jōgan would absolutely advance further.
He had already experienced how strong the first-stage Jōgan was.
Although some of its abilities were not useful to him for now, its strength was beyond question.
To put it bluntly, without this improved Jōgan, without the Truth-Seeking Orbs and the enhanced chakra mode it provided, Hikaru might still have won against Urashiki.
But it absolutely would not have been like this.
Now that Hikaru knew he might face even more terrifying enemies in the future, the further improvement of his eyes naturally made him very happy.
He could feel it.
His future was absolutely bright.
"Not only that, both of my missions have improved quite a bit.
"The tailed-beast mission has not gathered all the tailed beasts yet, but the single-side fusion with the Nine-Tails seems to be progressing very well.
"However, whether this fusion progress counts toward the overall fusion or only toward the fusion between the Nine-Tails and the other tailed beasts still needs further study."
The tailed-beast side was the only area where Hikaru had not made much progress in the past three years.
It was not that he did not want to.
He simply had no good opportunity for now.
Besides, he was not in a hurry.
Nagato was already following him. What did he have to worry about?
"As for the unique mission, its progress has reached 90%.
"But that is definitely not the limit, because…"
Because after today, his legend in the shinobi world would rise even further.
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