Uchiha Obito had returned to a past Parallel World; what he might do there can wait. For now, Vegapunk—having confirmed that Obito had crossed into that Parallel World—needed only to wait.
Vegapunk waited at leisure, while the entire Ninja World, aside from the Land of Sea and the Land of Wind, had already been thrown into utter chaos.
Kumogakure, as expected of a Village famed for its Lightning Release, acted with lightning efficiency. The Fourth Raikage in particular declared war on the spot; after merely telling his subordinates war was coming, he ignored the main force and charged straight for Konohagakure in the Land of Fire.
What followed was a one-man show by the Fourth Raikage. Having trained in Current Propulsion, his already peak speed had tripled or quadrupled. Now he was a superlative mower of men: every Konoha outpost he met offered almost no resistance before its garrison was wiped out in an instant.
No great Village can rely on its home settlement alone; otherwise a single mission would waste ten days or half a month on the road, and by then the opportunity would be long gone.
In truth, the Five Great Ninja Villages serve only as training hubs and the most vital administrative centers. Each Village maintains numerous branch strongholds throughout its country to accept commissions locally and complete missions. In wartime these strongholds double as fortresses for defending the realm.
Such small posts hold only a dozen or so Ninja, rarely more than twenty, and their strength is limited: most commanders are Elite Chunin, at best Special Jonin. Against the Fourth Raikage they had no time even to sound an alarm before being slaughtered.
Only when the Raikage came within ten-odd kilometers of Konoha was he detected—not because any Ninja sent a signal, but because his near-boiling Chakra, completely unmasked, was sensed by Konoha's sensor corps.
Barely a single night had passed since Vegapunk's abduction; the higher-ups under the Third Hokage had never imagined the Fourth Raikage would be this reckless.
In one night the Fourth Raikage had breached at least seventeen or eighteen Konoha outposts and slain two or three hundred Konoha Ninja, halting only at the Village's outer perimeter.
Hokage Office. The Third Hokage's face was creased with worry as he looked at the Ninja before him. "Kumogakure has declared war on Konoha. Just now, roughly three thousand Kumogakure Ninja crossed the border into the Land of Fire."
"Let's hear your thoughts."
Below the Hokage stood the clan heads and senior officials of Konoha, along with its Jonin—including Kakashi Hatake and Uchiha Shisui—all wearing grave expressions.
"I say we deal with that brute outside first. Kill the Fourth Raikage and Kumogakure's morale will plummet, giving us a much better chance…"
Danzo spoke first, but the Third Hokage merely gave him a languid glance and said nothing.
The Third Hokage, using his Telescope Technique, had seen the Raikage's speed—far beyond the limits of human reflexes. Put bluntly, an unprepared Kage-level Ninja would be one-shot in a duel, himself included—the Professor of the Ninja World.
The gap in raw power might not be huge, but Ninja are high-damage, low-defense; battles allow almost no margin for error. If your reaction speed can't keep up, no amount of strength saves you from the Raikage's instant kill.
The Third Hokage stayed silent; it was Hyuga Hiashi, head of the Hyuga Clan, who answered. "I once observed that Raikage from afar with my Byakugan. Frankly, even if Konoha emptied itself out, we'd have no hope of catching him—unless we possessed the Flying Thunder God Technique."
In fact, Hiashi had still more misgivings: with that speed, merely avoiding being cut down seven times and having morale shattered would count as lucky.
Before one reaches super-Kage level, numbers and human-wave tactics still matter. Dispatch a few thousand Konoha Ninja supported by barrier Ninjutsu and they could stall the Fourth Raikage—for a time.
But that would cost a mountain of lives and still only delay him; the Raikage could, with his speed, break out of any encirclement at will. It solved nothing.
The Fourth Raikage was no fool. He now lingered outside Konoha, but if the Village sent a large force he would not charge head-on; he would simply wage guerrilla war against the larger body.
"Even the Byakugan's perception cannot track the Fourth Raikage's movements?" Danzo asked with a frown.
Hiashi gave a bitter smile. "Humiliating as it is, to us Hyuga that speed makes us no different from ordinary Ninja."
"With my Byakugan I can barely follow his motion, but only follow; my body cannot react. His reflexes are no longer human."
"That must be Vegapunk's doing. The Raikage was never this strong!" Danzo said grimly. "Previous reports said the brat was formidable, but nowhere near this level."
"Perhaps we can ask Vegapunk for the Raikage's weakness. Hiruzen, hand him over to me…"
The Third Hokage exhaled a smoke ring. "Save your dreams for after dark. A talent like that—you think I'd send him to Root?"
Danzo grunted, not truly angry; he had only tossed out the suggestion. Unless the Third Hokage had gone senile, the idea was doomed.
Yet Danzo's words did open a line of thought. The Third Hokage rapped the table and turned to Kakashi Hatake. "Kakashi, invite Dr. Vegapunk here. We have questions for him."
Kakashi gave a slight nod and vanished.
A few minutes later the conference-room door opened, and a handsome Blond Youth walked into the Hokage Office, curiosity bright in his smiling eyes.
Danzo eyed the youth who showed no reverence and couldn't help letting out a cold snort. Vegapunk cheerfully turned to him: "What's wrong, old man? Feeling sick? If you're ill, hurry up and get treated! A dog I once had died just because I forgot to take it to the vet."
"Watch your place! You're not the real Vegapunk—just a clone!" Danzo narrowed his eyes, his voice icy.
The genuine Vegapunk was a high-born noble of several countries and heir to the Land of Sea; in public Danzo wouldn't dare show him disrespect, but an ordinary clone he felt he could handle.
Vegapunk's clone clicked his tongue. "So what? Even as a clone, my intellect and knowledge rank second in the world—otherwise you wouldn't be here begging me."
The Third Hokage glanced at Kakashi, who shook his head to show he hadn't leaked the information.
He worked it out himself? So confident in his science… "Hmph! Even without you, Konohagakure remains the strongest of the Five Great Ninja Villages. Don't overestimate yourself!"
Clapping his hands, Vegapunk said, "Fair point. Then I'll head back to house arrest. May you keep your title of strongest Village forever."
"Wait, Doctor Vegapunk!" The Third Hokage finally spoke up. "Please forgive our offense and our little test."
"Because we rescued you, Kumogakure is about to declare war on Konoha. Whatever happens, you'll be involved, so we hope you can offer the Village some technical assistance."
Vegapunk merely smiled. "I don't mind. Research is research—doesn't matter where. Konoha will do just fine."
"And don't pretend you're doing me a favor. We all know the truth: now that you've 'rescued' me, will you ever let me leave?"
The sharp question made the Third Hokage cover his mouth and cough in embarrassment. Let Vegapunk go? After everything Konoha had paid, was it really just to save a single man?
Releasing him was out of the question, but the Third Hokage had worn the virtuous mask so long that he unconsciously tried to claim the moral high ground—only to be choked by Vegapunk's retort.
Amid the awkward silence Vegapunk waved a hand. "None of that matters. Let me research and meet my needs, and we're good."
The Third Hokage blinked; almost every Ninja present wore a strange expression. Compared with shinobi raised on loyalty, this Vegapunk clone was astoundingly agreeable.
"Then, Doctor, what else do you require?" the Third Hokage asked cautiously.
Vegapunk rubbed his chin. "Did you know Kumogakure made me Fifth Raikage as a condition for my help?"
As he spoke he glanced at the Third Hokage, who opened his mouth, instantly regretting his earlier words.
More agitated than the Hokage was Danzo, the shadow-shogun. "What?! An outsider wants to be Fifth Hokage?!"
The Third Hokage hastily smoothed things over. "If Doctor Vegapunk truly wishes to join Konoha, I'd be happy to see him inherit the title."
Vegapunk chuckled ambiguously. "Look at this broken Village—no successors, endless scandals. Make me Hokage? I wouldn't take the job."
The Cloud Ninja are crude and treacherous to outsiders, but internally they reward merit and stand united; every Raikage leads from the front, so when they simply declared Vegapunk heir, no one objected.
By contrast, today's Konoha kowtows abroad and strikes its own at home; the place is a mess. Even if the Third Hokage named Vegapunk successor, no one would accept it.
His words stung the elders; every face darkened, none more so than those of the Uchiha Clan.
In this world, butterfly effects meant the Hyuga Hizashi incident never happened; otherwise the Hyuga might look even worse.
"Sorry—our Village is indeed in poor shape," the Third Hokage sighed. "But the immediate problem is Kumogakure's assault. Doctor, the Fourth Raikage's speed has multiplied several fold—does that have anything to do with you?"
"Who else could do such a thing?" Vegapunk admitted without hesitation.
"The Fourth Raikage trains in a technique I designed for him—Current Propulsion—which boosts neural reflexes ten-fold. Apart from Space-Time Ninjutsu, he's now the fastest man alive."
Excitement flickered across the Third Hokage's face. "Current Propulsion? Can it be spread among our forces?"
"Of course not," Vegapunk rolled his eyes. "If it were easy, why would the Fourth Raikage be the first? We'd need test subjects first."
"Actually the entry bar is terrifying. Someone like Kakashi Hatake would have to train Lightning Release non-stop for five or six years just to meet the minimum requirement."
A hush fell over the room.
Although Kakashi later became the "copy-Ninja" who could fight anyone to a draw, seemingly only Elite Jonin level, without the Sharingan's drain—and had he not given up training—he would have reached Kage rank long ago.
After all, Kakashi's record before age thirteen is the ceiling for non-bloodline Ninja; peak normal talent is Kakashi. Not everyone can obtain Kamui eyes and stand against Kaguya in the final battle.
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