Kiri once again fell into chaos. This village could certainly be considered plagued by endless misfortunes.
The Mist Ninja were once again thrown into a frenzy over Shikaru's disappearance.
Yet, they found nothing.
No clues at all.
Shikaru had vanished without a trace—his fate unknown. The ninja assigned to monitor him and the servants who cared for him had also disappeared.
These people seemed to have vanished into thin air.
Only the ruined battlefield remained as evidence of an intense battle.
How could someone accomplish this without alerting anyone?
Could it be that the masked man has returned?
Reflecting on what Terumi Mei and others had reported about that man's spatial abilities, Genshi mused.
Terumi Mei was caught up in the commotion for a while. When she finally returned home, her servants informed her that Hiroki Hyuga and Kimimaro Kaguya had already been missing for half a day.
She searched everywhere but couldn't find any trace of the two.
Their personal belongings still lay around the house, yet the two individuals themselves had completely vanished—just like Shikaru.
Initially worried, Terumi suddenly recalled Hiroki mentioning something about the Three-Tails before, and her mood became complex.
"Could it be related to their disappearance?"
While amazed by Hiroki's abilities, a hint of disappointment stirred within her heart.
"Just leaving without saying goodbye?"
Although slightly selfish, she believed she'd treated the two quite well. Now they had simply left without a word, which made her feel rather uncomfortable inside.
As she lingered in thought, a familiar voice echoed in her mind again—"Goodbye."
While communicating with Terumi Mei telepathically, Hiroki tried to take control of her body.
But failed.
Methods to manipulate another person's body through mental power either required brute force like the Kaguya clan or refined techniques like the Yamanaka.
He possessed neither brute strength nor refined mental techniques.
Given his current talent, significantly improving his strength would require waiting until Shimon Hiruko completed his experiments, increasing his physical potential ceiling. Therefore, he wanted to find a suitable vessel to use temporarily.
"The Ninja World doesn't seem to have specific training methods for spiritual energy. Does that mean I need to die repeatedly? Troublesome."
Outside Kiri Village.
Kimimaro looked toward the direction of the village. "Are we leaving?"
"You're not attached to this place?"
After thinking for a moment, Kimimaro shook his head. "No."
"Then let's go." Hiroki took him back to the Country of Hot Springs.
His thoughts began wandering.
Kimimaro knew about his plans concerning the Three-Tails, yet voiced no objection, even helping actively.
Did this mean she had changed her stance and no longer intended to oppose him?
Strangely enough, Chakra—a spiritual energy linking minds and emotions—had intertwined countless times between him and Kimimaro. They'd even shared mental communication, yet he still struggled to understand her true feelings.
Too bad.
Shortly after their departure, Terumi Mei immediately reported their disappearances to Genshi.
"So, that masked man coveted their Kekkei Genkai and took them away as well?" Genshi still considered Obito the suspect.
To him, short of space ninjutsu, how else could someone just vanish like that without getting noticed?
Terumi Mei paused, then decided not to clear things up — better he stay suspicious for now.
The origin of this matter was difficult to explain clearly. Plus, talking too much might shift suspicion onto herself, which would hinder her future development.
In the Country of Hot Springs, Tsunade had been waiting for quite some time.
The moment Shikaru suddenly appeared, she sealed his chakra and stood beside him as a guard.
"What do you want with the tailed beasts?"
"A container is needed for Three-Tails, or else it easily causes trouble again. Kimimaro is the most suitable candidate."
Hiroki didn't explain but directly pushed Kimimaro forward.
"Tsunade, you should know the jutsu for sealing tailed beasts."
Tsunade looked at him and then at the quiet Kimimaro before raising an eyebrow and asking, "Is this also Kaguya-sama's plan?"
"Yes." Hiroki smiled slightly. "Tsunade, once your Sage Art is perfected, we can begin our operation."
"What kind of operation?"
"When she regains her freedom, perhaps you can be free too." Hiroki said mysteriously.
"Freedom..." Tsunade whispered softly.
"So get training done right."
"Kimimaro, you'll stay here and train as well. You're still too weak now to be any help."
After saying this, Hiroki left the Country of Hot Springs.
In Konoha, at the Ninja Academy,
"The results for this examination have already been announced. Everyone can go take a look," Iruka said from atop the podium to the students below.
After class, Hinata made her way to the second-year notice board hallway.
This place was already crowded with people.
Everyone stretched their necks trying to peer inside, just like Hinata did.
The exam scores were divided into theoretical knowledge and practical skills, with final rankings based on comprehensive scores.
Her overall score ranked within the top ten.
Since Hiashi Hyuga had only let her practice the most basic Gentle Fist techniques at school, Hinata hadn't achieved first place in the practical section; the top spot went to Sasuke Uchiha.
[A longtime friend recommended a reading app called Ye Guo Reading — it's actually pretty great. Whether I'm driving or going to sleep, I use this text-to-speech feature to kill time listening to audiobooks.]
Looking at the theoretical score column, she saw the name ranked first was Sakura Haruno. Hinata couldn't help exclaiming, "Sakura-chan is truly amazing."
The praised Sakura was currently staring at Sasuke Uchiha with that classic fan-girl sparkle in her eyes. "Sasuke is so great! He totally crushed it again this year!"
Surrounded by a group of admiring girls in the center, Sasuke coldly snorted, pushed through the crowd, and arrogantly walked away.
Outside the school gates, Itachi Uchiha, wearing casual clothes, calmly stood at the academy entrance.
Hiroki couldn't help casting a glance toward him.
Wasn't the Uchiha Clan Downfall Massacre about to happen? How could he have time to pick up Sasuke from school?
Itachi greeted politely with a calm expression, "Long time no see."
"Long time no see."
"Did he see through White Zetsu's disguise?" Hiroki thought to himself, somewhat doubtful.
But then again, Itachi Uchiha had always been part of Anbu. Meeting him under normal circumstances was indeed a rare occurrence.
"Gave myself a scare for nothing," he mused, now feeling relieved.
Afterward, an extended silence fell once more.
Sasuke and Hinata stepped out, one after the other.
At the moment he saw Itachi Uchiha, his footsteps quickened slightly, and he couldn't help but let out a smug little hum in Hinata's direction.
See that? I have one too!
Back in his memories, some unknown Hyuga would often come pick up Hinata after school.
Today, finally, his brother had kept his promise and was here to pick him up.
It gave his ego a little boost.
You could only chalk it up to a sudden burst of childish rivalry between kids.
Hinata looked confused: "..."
She and Sasuke weren't close at all — they just went their separate ways.
On the way home, Hiroki just couldn't help giving Hinata's cheek a little pinch.
Still adorable.
Hinata pouted and dodged away before asking, "Brother Hiroki, you're back?"
If it were that impostor, there's no way he'd ever treat her like this.
"Yeah," Hiroki nodded.
"So...there's no danger anymore?"
"Not exactly."
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