"Although the Blood Release and eye technique abilities were acquired through the system, they have been assimilated into the power of this world. Unless something unexpected happens, he will likely inherit them."
Inside the house, Yuji looked at his son lying in his swaddling clothes, a thought flashing through his mind.
Theoretically, Ryuu would surely inherit both bloodline limits. But heredity only meant that the bloodline carried these two powers. Whether they would awaken, and to what level they could be cultivated, depended entirely on the child himself.
From the time of the Third Kazekage's era, Yuji had wanted to ensure this lineage could continue, creating a formidable fighting force within the Sand Village across generations. Now he had finally succeeded.
And not only him. The child's mother was also a Scorch Release ninja. In other words, Ryuu might potentially awaken three distinct powers in the future.
"I will head back to work now," Yuji said, regaining his composure and smiling at Pakura, who had only recently given birth.
"Alright," Pakura nodded, cradling Ryuu in her arms, her face full of warmth and affection. After becoming a mother, the mature and formidable air she usually carried had softened considerably, replaced by something gentler and more luminous.
After giving a few instructions to the two Anbu guards stationed outside the door, both of whom were female and specifically assigned to look after Pakura, Yuji made his way to the Kazekage building.
Although Pakura had said the guards were unnecessary, he remained somewhat uneasy about leaving her without protection.
Along the way, Yuji turned his thoughts to the recent discussion surrounding the Hidden Sound Village.
The Land of Rice's Daimyo had already formally notified several major hidden villages of its establishment. But the outside world did not yet understand the situation regarding the mastermind behind the Hidden Sound Village, namely Orochimaru. The Daimyo had not gone into detail. After all, it was an internal matter, and other countries and villages had no right to interfere.
However, what seemed rather strange to outside observers was this. Following the relocation of certain clans to the Sand Village, there were almost no significant ninja clans remaining within the Land of Rice. Where had Orochimaru obtained the manpower to establish a hidden village?
Establishing a hidden village was not something a Daimyo alone could accomplish. There had to be a powerful supporting figure behind it. Otherwise the Hidden Sound Village could not have appeared so suddenly.
The more Yuji considered the situation, the more the inner workings became clear.
Nothing unexpected had happened with Orochimaru in the end. He had still founded the Hidden Sound Village. The continuous butterfly effect had profoundly impacted Konoha, but it had not fundamentally altered Orochimaru's personal trajectory.
His choice of the Land of Rice had clearly been carefully considered. First, the Land of Rice was close to the Land of Fire and several smaller countries, a relatively favorable geographical position. Being inland, it allowed constant awareness of changes in the ninja world. It was also further from the Land of Wind, currently home to the most powerful hidden village.
Furthermore, the Land of Rice did not have a dependent government relationship with any of the Five Great Hidden Villages, allowing the Hidden Sound Village to have independent administrative power, unlike some smaller countries that were more or less tied to one of the major villages.
What made this even more significant was that even Orochimaru could not establish a hidden village with words alone. Establishing a hidden village required skilled personnel at minimum. Ever since Orochimaru's betrayal of Konoha, and perhaps even while he was still within Konoha, he had likely already been aware that one day he would turn against the village's senior leadership and leave for foreign territory.
Therefore he must have been quietly recruiting talent for a long time.
The problem was that all the characters connected to Orochimaru in the original story had already been recruited by Yuji to the Sand Village. Therefore, to establish a complete hidden village organization, Orochimaru had needed to find entirely different people. And this kind of thing could not be done overnight.
The current establishment of the Hidden Sound Village seemed relatively fast given these constraints.
"The Hidden Sound Village has been created, which means he must still have usable people under his command. To find subordinates in such a short time requires strong intelligence support. Only someone with a thorough understanding of the ninja world could locate such specific types of talent with this degree of precision."
"It seems Black Zetsu's hand is behind this," Yuji thought, a slight tremor running through his heart.
He knew that in order to expand the organization's membership for Madara and Obito, White Zetsu had been carefully monitoring the ninja world for a very long time.
This included a few rogue ninjas. But now, understanding that the plan had already taken root gave him pause.
Using Black Zetsu's connections to help Orochimaru gain leverage and allow the Hidden Sound Village to establish a foothold in the ninja world, it was highly likely that some of the people previously targeted by Akatsuki for recruitment had been redirected toward Orochimaru's Hidden Sound Village instead.
Although rogue ninja who took refuge in a hidden village would certainly be targeted by the major villages once discovered, a slight disguise was still relatively easy to maintain. At least in the short term they would not be detected.
Moreover, this would give the Hidden Sound Village a considerable fighting force rather than a ragtag collection of nobodies.
"Who are they?" Yuji considered carefully.
Although he did not have full intelligence on the Hidden Sound Village's current situation, through his analysis of the overall circumstances combined with his understanding of both Black Zetsu and Orochimaru, he had deduced the likely truth.
"Sasori and Deidara are both in the Sand Village and cannot be recruited. That eliminates the three main original story members."
"What remains then. Hidan has not yet been discovered at this stage. So currently, the most likely candidates to have teamed up with Orochimaru are Juzo Biwa and Raiga Kurosuki, both of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen. Both are rogue ninja possibilities."
"For a newly established small hidden village, having those two plus Orochimaru and a handful of other capable individuals is more than sufficient. In fact, the village's combat strength already surpasses that of many small nations."
The corners of his mouth curled slightly.
During the Third Great Ninja War, the ninjas who in the original story had died at Might Dai's hands had undergone a slight transformation in this timeline. Juzo Biwa and Raiga Kurosuki had both survived.
Furthermore, in the original story the characters connected to Orochimaru had been prominently portrayed, but that did not mean Orochimaru was limited to finding talent like Kimimaro and the others. With Orochimaru's discerning eye and exceptional ability, locating a few capable confidants was still quite achievable.
After all, as one of Konoha's Three Legendary Sannin and a Kage-level expert, Orochimaru had single-handedly trained countless outstanding ninja in his time. It was simply a matter of time.
"Interesting. There appears to be a pattern here," Yuji took a quiet breath.
Black Zetsu helping Orochimaru was not something done out of fear of Orochimaru's hidden identity being exposed. Black Zetsu was almost certainly harboring ulterior motives.
Orochimaru's previous attack on Sasori had not been without reason. Sasori was a high-ranking Sand Village member and a representative figure of its strength.
The fact that the Land of Wind had conquered the Land of Rain had caused widespread alarm across the ninja world several years ago, arousing significant vigilance in every other hidden village. If under these circumstances either the Sand Village or the Hidden Sound Village were to launch attacks, it would undoubtedly ignite a massive conflict, directly shattering the years of peace that had prevailed.
This would instantly worsen the Sand Village's relations with every other village.
Attacking the Land of Rain had been possible because it lacked a clearly defined governmental system, functioning as a semi-independent entity. Furthermore, the Sand Village had been able to exploit internal conflicts within the Land of Rain and simultaneously place the blame on Shimura Danzo.
However, attacking the Land of Rice was an entirely different matter.
Although Yuji knew Orochimaru had founded the Hidden Sound Village, the Land of Rice had not officially announced this to the outside world. Under these circumstances, if the Sand Village were to instigate military action it would appear as a legitimate military offensive.
Combined with the previous Land of Rain conflict as a precedent, the other four great hidden villages would likely be immediately alarmed.
Furthermore, the Land of Rice's geographical position was extremely sensitive. When attacking the Land of Rain, the other villages had been unable to intervene effectively. Now things were different. Although the major villages were still developing, their strength had almost fully recovered and they had the ability to intervene in any new conflict.
"Black Zetsu wants to trigger the Fourth Great Ninja War soon," Yuji thought as the picture became clearer.
Orochimaru might not fully understand the larger scheme at play. Or Orochimaru might also be aware of it and simply want to drag the Sand Village down alongside himself.
One should not underestimate Orochimaru just because he was operating in a junior capacity here. In terms of intelligence and scheming, he could be compared to Uchiha Madara himself.
Black Zetsu wanted to deceive Yuji. But it would not be that easy.
In short, given the current situation, the more Yuji analyzed it, the more clearly he could read the two men's ulterior motives.
"I thought you two would pull off something genuinely impressive," Yuji sighed quietly.
"But this is all you have managed? Rather disappointing."
....
STONES 💎
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