The escort mission continued.
But one thing was certain—Obito wouldn't be coming back anytime soon.
Not with that blade in Hakken's hands!
Still, he knew Obito hadn't gone all out in their fight. As Madara's successor, Obito's strength was no joke. It was only due to a moment of carelessness that Hakken found an opening. If not, he never would've severed his arm so easily.
The most valuable trait in a person is the ability to see themselves clearly.
Hakken understood—he had the system. As long as he kept swinging his blade, he'd keep getting stronger. Eventually, he'd grow so powerful that nothing in this world could stand in his way.
But becoming stronger took time. It was a process.
His battle with Obito had made that much clearer.
This time, Obito lost out because he didn't know what Hakken was capable of. Next time wouldn't be so easy.
There were always strong individuals in the ninja world.
If he wanted to shift the balance—change his fate—he had to push himself even harder.
Thankfully, the daily quest upgrades for the King of Normal Attacks gave him a clear path forward.
Endless swings of the blade!
He glanced at the system panel. The progress on the King of Normal Attacks, Zaraki Kenpachi template, brought a trace of satisfaction to his face.
Swing the blade.
If there's only one thing he could do—then he would master it completely!
...
That night, as Hakken continued the escort mission...
Inside the Hokage building in Konoha, several figures suddenly appeared in the office.
"Hokage-sama, based on all the clues gathered and the information from sixty missing children, everything points to one place..."
The masked ANBU's voice carried a faint tremor.
Recently, the number of missing children in Konoha had surged again. It had reached a point where families with children lived in constant fear. And every clue pointed to the same place.
Had it all been exposed?
The two Hokage in the room fell silent.
Minato didn't speak. Now wasn't the time for him to express his opinion.
Because the one involved... was the Third Hokage's disciple.
And that gave him every reason to remain silent.
The madman performing human experiments—Orochimaru—could no longer stay hidden.
But the timing of his exposure felt too early.
In the original timeline, Orochimaru defected after the Nine-Tails incident, when the Third Hokage resumed office and Orochimaru completely lost his chance to become Hokage.
But now, it had happened months ahead of schedule.
Even Hakken would probably be surprised by the news.
The reason for the shift was, in fact, related to Hakken.
Because of his presence, Orochimaru never implanted the Cursed Seal into Anko. Nor did he take her to various labs to observe her condition post-implantation. Instead, he devoted himself entirely to researching his Living Corpse Reincarnation technique.
But such research came at the cost of test subjects' lives—and an increasing number of them at that.
So, it made sense that his human experiments were exposed earlier.
But did the Third Hokage really not know what Orochimaru had been doing all this time?
Then why didn't he seem that surprised when he saw Yamato—the boy with Wood Release?
It wasn't ignorance.
It was tolerance.
That's just who the Third was.
Just as he tolerated Danzō, he had endless patience for his own disciples.
This wasn't a butterfly effect. It was a causal chain.
Hakken's existence had truly altered certain events.
But Orochimaru's defection... was already set in stone.
"Orochimaru, huh? I should've known."
Lighting his pipe, the Third Hokage stood up with a bitter smile.
"He was my student, after all. Let me handle this, Minato."
"Of course."
Minato nodded, never once standing to comment on the situation.
The Third always had his own reasons.
Maybe it was for the village—but turning a blind eye wasn't the right answer.
With a sigh, he watched the Third and the ANBU leave, his young face weary.
...
"It's finally done."
In a dim laboratory, Orochimaru gazed at the scroll before him, thoroughly satisfied.
Everything about Living Corpse Reincarnation was recorded within it.
He opened his mouth and unceremoniously shoved the scroll into his stomach, finally at ease.
But just as he finished, the sound of the door opening behind him made him turn around.
In an instant, his wild, predatory gaze made the ANBU behind him instinctively step back.
"Sarutobi... Sensei."
...
"Sigh."
The next morning.
The third day since Hakken left the village.
Konoha, Mitarashi residence living room.
Another sigh filled the room.
Kurenai Yuhi sat on the sofa reading a magazine, her face full of exasperation.
"Hey, seriously, you're being way too dramatic. Your brother's just out on a mission."
Unable to hold back anymore, Kurenai finally spoke up.
Since the day Hakken left the village, how many sighs had she let out?
And with that constantly worried expression—was she actually hoping something would happen to her brother?
Where was the old Anko? The hyper one who couldn't stop stuffing her face with dango?
"But it's a C-rank mission! He could run into enemies!"
Anko said anxiously.
No kidding.
What, your family's missions don't involve enemies?
Why else would anyone pay you?
"I mean, your brother's a ninja now. Fighting others is gonna be part of his life. Are you seriously going to get this worked up every time?"
Kurenai looked helpless.
"Don't give me that crap! He's not even six yet! And no matter how old he gets, he's still my little brother. Let me ask you—if your little brother's first mission was a C-rank, wouldn't you be worried?"
Anko gave Kurenai a smug look, then burst out laughing.
"Oh—sorry, I forgot. You don't have a little brother."
"You're unbelievable. Always bragging about having a little brother."
Kurenai rolled her eyes.
Yeah, ever since Anko's little brother came along, she'd developed this whole new sense of superiority.
Compare brothers?
Not a contest I can win.
But once your brother gets back, maybe I should go find one too.
After all, Hakken Yoru isn't even Anko's blood brother.
Just as the two girls were chatting, several figures suddenly pushed open the door to the Mitarashi residence and walked in.
"ANBU business."
"Mitarashi Anko, you're coming with us."
In that moment, both Kurenai and Anko—Froze.