However, such power did not come without a price. While amplifying chakra, it also rapidly consumed the user's vitality.
Because of this, the Hero Water had always been sealed away in a secret location within the village and could never be used lightly unless the village faced a crisis threatening its very survival.
The reason it was named Hero Water was that it was reserved for those brave enough to stake their own lives to protect the village when driven into a desperate corner.
Shibuki's mother knelt before the divine tree with both knees on the ground, clasped her hands together, bowed devoutly, and silently offered her prayers.
Her husband, the leader of Takigakure, had traveled to Konoha this time.
On the surface, he was attending the inauguration ceremony of the Ninja Way Origins Research Society founded by Shinichi Higashino, but in truth, his journey had an even more urgent purpose.
The village's elderly seven-tails Jinchūriki had been growing weaker by the day, and he likely did not have much time left.
Back then, when the first Hokage assigned the Seven-Tails to Takigakure, he had personally sealed it for them after learning that they lacked the ability to seal a tailed beast themselves.
But times had changed; now the current Seven-Tails Jinchūriki was nearing the end of his life, yet Takigakure had no means of safely transferring the Seven-Tails from the current Jinchūriki's body, and a suitable successor had still not been found.
Her husband's trip to Konoha was to ask Konoha to lend its assistance once again. Even if no suitable Jinchūriki could be found for the time being, he hoped Konoha would temporarily seal away the seven-tails first and wait until an appropriate candidate appeared in the future.
Otherwise, if the seven-tails were to vanish together with the current Jinchūriki on some unknown night, such a loss would be unbearable for Takigakure.
Worse still, the current Jinchūriki was finding it increasingly difficult to suppress the tailed beast within him. If the tailed beast were ever to break free one day, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Shibuki's mother prayed for quite some time before finally rising and slowly departing.
By then, the moon hung directly overhead, and for some unknown reason, tonight's moonlight was exceptionally bright, yet strangely eerie.
Moonlight poured down as a night breeze suddenly swept through, gently swaying the giant tree's branches while its leaves rustled softly.
Amid the shifting interplay of light and shadow beneath the moon, the tree's dancing silhouette merged with the pale moonlight, forming a vague outline of a monster with ten tails!
...
The next morning, three figures dressed in black robes entered through Konoha's main gate.
Two were men, one was a woman, and as they walked, they could not help glancing around at their surroundings.
They were Yahiko, Konan, and Kyosuke Idate.
Five days earlier, after receiving Konoha's approval, they had set out immediately, and after hurrying along the entire way, they had finally arrived at Konoha two days before the society's inauguration.
Walking along the edge of the group, Kyosuke Idate kept turning his head from side to side, taking in every building whose style was completely different from that of the Village Hidden in the Rain, while muttering, "So this is the greatest of the Five Great Ninja Villages? It looks pretty ordinary. It's not even as big as I imagined."
The Village Hidden in the Rain experienced constant rainfall and frequent thunderstorms, so most houses there were equipped with lightning rods, with drainage pipes extending beneath the eaves, while crisscrossing drainage channels lined both sides of every street. Compared to those, the neat, clean houses before them, lacking all those features, seemed somewhat fragile instead.
Konan said nothing, her gaze merely drifted quietly across both sides of the street. Compared with the buildings, it was the people who drew her attention.
The streets of the Village Hidden in the Rain were filled with homeless people huddled beneath eaves and orphaned children begging along the roadside. The people there carried permanently gloomy, heavy expressions, like the leaden clouds that forever blanketed the skies of the Village Hidden in the Rain.
Yet here, although Konoha was still at war, pedestrians walked calmly, shops remained open for business as usual, and several children chased each other, laughing at the mouth of an alley. The entire village radiated peace and stability.
Konan suddenly let out a quiet sigh that even she herself could not tell whether it was envy or something else.
"Konan? What's wrong?" Yahiko asked as he noticed her sigh.
"Yahiko."
Konan spoke with a complicated expression. "Do you think that someday, the people of the Village Hidden in the Rain will be able to live like the people of Konoha... Um... Like this..."
She left the sentence unfinished.
"Of course they can! They definitely can!"
Yahiko immediately picked up where she had stopped and nodded firmly. "In the future, we'll not only let the people of the Village Hidden in the Rain live happy and fulfilling lives, but we'll also bring peace to the entire Shinobi World, allowing people to truly understand one another, with no more wars and no more hatred. So, it starts with Konoha. It starts here!"
As his words fell, he strode several steps forward into the middle of the street, suddenly spread both arms wide, closed his eyes, and faced the sunlight as though embracing something intangible yet incomparably real.
The morning breeze swept past behind him, causing his black robe to flap loudly.
"From this moment on, this world shall know peace!"
His voice was so loud that many villagers turned to look. Some were merely curious, others watched with amusement, and someone even muttered under their breath, wondering where this country bumpkin had come from.
Kyosuke Idate covered his face with one hand and sighed helplessly.
"Here we go again."
Meanwhile, Konan simply watched the scene with a smile.
"Did you really have to shout that here?" Kyosuke Idate asked through gritted teeth.
"Of course I did!"
Yahiko still wore a brilliant smile, showing not the slightest trace of embarrassment. "Everyone here will one day become witnesses to our organization's ideals! We've come to Konoha not only to witness the establishment of Shinichi Higashino's society, but also to promote our own ideals to Konoha!"
Where did this attention-seeking guy come from? He's certainly full of confidence.
Passing by at just that moment, Obito Uchiha witnessed the entire scene and muttered inwardly.
However, upon hearing that the three had come for the society's inauguration, he, as one of Shinichi Society's self-proclaimed founding members, stopped walking, strode over, and took the initiative to speak.
"You three came to attend Shinichi Society's inauguration too?"
'Shinichi Society?'
The three of them froze simultaneously, failing to recognize the name at first.
Yahiko was the first to recover, smiling as he replied, "Yes. We've come to witness the inauguration of the Ninja Way Origins Research Society. My name is Yahiko. This is my companion Konan, and this is Kyosuke Idate. We're from the Village Hidden in the Rain."
"From the Village Hidden in the Rain?"
Obito looked the three of them up and down. Surprise first appeared on his face before quickly giving way to a flood of curiosity.
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