Black Zetsu's plot to test Hyuga Yu's remaining strength, Madara Uchiha's discovery of Black Zetsu's anomalies, Jigen hiding in the Land of Lightning closely monitoring the movements of the shinobi world, the crazed Otsutsuki on the moon...
For now, these various changes quietly unfolding because of Hyuga Yu will be set aside. On February 17th, at 9:00 PM, the Akatsuki organization—fresh off their victory in the civil war—along with Hyuga Yu and Kitsuchi's group from Iwagakure (who were temporarily detained in the Land of Rain), arrived at Amegakure. They took up residence in a steel tower at the center of the Hidden Rain Village.
At this moment, a Root special operations unit led by Terai caught up with Hyuga Yu to report a major impending event: "The election for the Fourth Hokage has officially begun."
"Lord Third Hokage, along with the Jonin Council and various clan representatives, have jointly nominated Minato Namikaze to run for the position of Fourth Hokage."
"Meanwhile, Lord Danzo nominated you for the Hokage election during the high-level meeting. Thanks to Lord Danzo's recent maneuvers, many nobles, landlords, and wealthy merchants within the Land of Fire have stepped forward to support the 'Tennin' becoming the Fourth Hokage."
"In addition, Lord Orochimaru has also been nominated by the higher-ups. What's strange is that, through some unknown means, Lord Orochimaru seems to have secured the backing of the other two Hokage Advisors."
"The selection process for the Fourth Hokage was originally scheduled to begin in March. However, through Lord Danzo's political maneuvering, it was intentionally delayed until mid-April. Currently, we are in the nomination phase of the election."
"In mid-April, the first round of high-level review and screening will commence."
"This is a letter sent by Lord Danzo—"
A road-weary Terai pulled a letter from his vest and handed it to Hyuga Yu, who was currently wearing a white lab coat and busy researching the embryonic Tenseigan matrix.
Hyuga Yu looked up from his crude laboratory bench. Pushing aside an optical microscope he had urgently requested Yahiko to procure, he scratched his head and took the letter. He looked at the rushed Terai with some confusion. "The first round of high-level review and screening?"
"What is that?"
Terai rolled his eyes behind his mask, utterly speechless. "Come on, you're the Hokage candidate. How do you not even know this?"
"The so-called high-level review and screening is the first step in the Hokage election. After that, there is the Jonin confidence vote, followed by the Daimyo's appointment conference. Once these four stages are completed, the final candidate for the Fourth Hokage will be announced, and the inauguration ceremony will be held."
Candidate nomination, high-level review and screening, Jonin confidence vote, and the Daimyo's appointment conference. These four steps were the mandatory path to becoming Hokage at this time.
Just as Hyuga Yu had expected, the Hidden Leaf Village had nominated three people for the position of Fourth Hokage: himself as the "Tennin," the "Yellow Flash" Minato Namikaze, and the Third Hokage's personal disciple, Orochimaru of the "Sannin."
However, prior to this, Yu hadn't paid much attention to the matter. After all...
Pit him against Minato Namikaze for the position of Fourth Hokage? Forget it, he couldn't win.
It wasn't because of a gap in combat power. While Yu couldn't really do anything to a Minato who could just teleport home whenever he wanted, Minato's damage output was akin to mere chip damage. As long as Yu was careful not to get caught off-guard by Minato's sealing jutsu, Minato couldn't do much against the current Hyuga Yu either.
The real issue was that a chasm-like gap existed between the two when it came to reputation, combat records, military exploits, and the level of support they received from the various major factions within the village.
Having left the village only a few months ago, Hyuga Yu, who had barely just made a name for himself as the "Tennin," stood no chance of competing in these areas against the Yellow Flash, who had been active for years and had established a legendary reputation across the shinobi world.
Yu figured that the calculating and politically savvy Danzo Shimura wouldn't fail to see this. But if that was the case, why did he send Terai with a letter now?
Seeing Yu's bewildered expression, Terai's face tightened slightly as he spoke. "Tennin, both you and we know that winning against Minato Namikaze in this election is virtually impossible. I suspect Lord Danzo's intention is to lay the groundwork for you to win the next election—the election for the Fifth Hokage."
"Even if you can't win this time, with Lord Danzo's backing, you can at least secure a spot among the upper echelons and claim an important position within the village."
"However, the problem lies precisely within this first round of high-level review and screening."
"The main point of contention revolves around your status."
At this point, Terai furrowed his brows deeply and said in a low voice, "According to the intelligence I've gathered, it seems someone is making an issue out of your status as a member of the Hyuga Branch Family..."
"Oh?" Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, suddenly finding it amusing.
"Is the Hyuga clan behind this? Does Hiashi Hyuga actually have the guts?"
Yu considered himself to have no other enemies inside Konoha apart from the Hyuga Main Family, whom he had thoroughly offended. Therefore, he immediately concluded that the Main Family was pulling strings from the shadows.
However, he didn't quite understand. After he had single-handedly crushed Kirigakure, where did the Main Family members, led by Hiashi Hyuga, get the courage to continue whispering behind his back in the dark?
Terai explained, "It probably isn't the Hyuga Main Family directly, though there seem to be traces of the Hyuga clan's involvement. We are still investigating the specifics. You should read the letter first; Lord Danzo should have instructions for you."
Hyuga Yu nodded and unfolded the letter sent by his mentor, Danzo Shimura. In the letter, Danzo concisely explained the first round of review and the subsequent steps of the Hokage election. Finally, he emphasized a sentence at the very end:
[Return to the village as soon as possible, handle the lingering threat of the Hyuga clan, and ensure we secure control over the post-war mission system!]
After reading the letter, Yu broadly understood the core conflict and political maneuvering behind this Hokage election.
The issue had arisen during the second phase of the election—the high-level review and screening. This was an informal evaluation and background check of the Hokage candidates, meant to ensure they possessed outstanding military exploits, Kage-level strength, the willingness to sacrifice for the village, and political reliability.
Of course, that was only on the surface. Its actual purpose was to allow the factions backing each candidate to flex their muscles. To ensure a smooth transition of power, they would also establish a preliminary political administration around the new Hokage, with various factions bargaining and compromising over the new leader's cabinet.
They would deliberate over key positions, such as the Jonin Council, the Medical Department, the Barrier Team, the Secretariat, the Cryptography Department, and the Torture and Interrogation Force.
For Hyuga Yu and Danzo Shimura, they had to secure enough leverage during this stage to guarantee that Yu could officially transition from Root to the upper echelons of Konoha after the war, ascending to a position of high authority.
What Danzo was aiming for in this process was to use the financial power of the numerous Land of Fire nobles, landlords, and high-ranking officials gathered behind him as leverage. By relying on these literal "VIP clients" of the Hidden Leaf Village, they could seize the far more practical "management rights over the post-war mission system."
In layman's terms, control over the post-war mission system was the Hidden Leaf Village's largest purse.
But now, a minor issue had cropped up with this purse. Someone had pointed out that the "Tennin," Hyuga Yu, was unreliable; his status as a member of the Hyuga Branch Family meant he was bound to unconditionally obey the commands of the Main Family.
Supporting the Tennin would be tantamount to bleeding their own wealth just to fatten the pockets of the Hyuga clan for nothing.
And therein lay the problem. Nobody's money grew on trees.
To these major clients, what exactly was the Hyuga clan? Even the Senju and Uchiha clans, who founded Konoha, hadn't directly robbed them of their money. The Hyuga clan was just a bunch of ordinary ninja, peers at best. Why should they get to ride on the Tennin's coattails and squander their wealth at will?
Yu put down the letter and pinched his chin in thought. After estimating the sheer volume of this purse in his mind, a flash of icy intent to kill instantly surged in his eyes.
Danzo's idea was to use money to buy Yu a ticket into the upper echelons, and then take a cut by managing Konoha's purse. This was precisely why Danzo had never been short on cash and could continue to fund various scientific research projects—such as Hashirama cells, the Cursed Seal of Heaven, and others—even after Root was disbanded.
But now, someone was trying to sabotage this plan. That was tantamount to crossing Hyuga Yu's absolute red line!
His own laboratory wasn't even a reality yet, and someone was already trying to poke a hole in his purse.
No matter who was stirring up trouble behind the scenes, Hyuga Yu decided to show them what real fucking pain feels like!
With that thought, Yu immediately turned to the weary Terai and said, "Go investigate this matter right now!"
"Also, report back to Teacher Danzo. Once the mission here is wrapped up, I will return to the village immediately."
Hearing this, Terai froze for a moment. Having followed closely behind Yu, he had personally witnessed how Yu swept through the Land of Rain and brutally crushed Iwagakure's counteroffensive. He immediately asked in confusion, "You're waiting until the mission ends? Isn't everything here already settled, leaving only the official peace talks to reap the rewards?"
Yu shook his head but didn't go into detail with Terai. He merely urged, "Just hurry up and investigate. I need results within half a month. Things on my end... should be wrapped up soon."
"Alright, understood." Terai nodded. He formed a hand seal and used the Body Flicker Technique, vanishing into the rainy night of the Land of Rain with a soft swoosh.
Yu tilted his head up slightly. His calm black eyes looked out across the steel high-rise. Within his line of sight, Amegakure lay shrouded in darkness. The steel towers resembled crouching behemoths, with massive, intricate networks of metal pipes piercing into the sky. Puddles accumulated within the cracks of the walls under the dim lighting. Dark clouds covered the night sky; even though the city had welcomed a new master, its cold, oppressive atmosphere had yet to dissipate.
After contemplating for a moment, Hyuga Yu turned back around and threw himself once again into analyzing the embryonic Tenseigan matrix.
Aside from his secret agreement with Iwagakure—which he couldn't disclose to Terai—and his need to stay here to receive "personal reparations" from the Stone, Yu had a mountain of backlogged work. Dealing with the farce in the Land of Rain didn't mean everything was perfectly sorted out. He still needed to study the pair of mutated Byakugan he had gouged out, develop methods to further block detection from the Giant Tenseigan on the moon, prepare his laboratory, and... give a warning to a few enemies lurking in the shadows.
Among these tasks, the most critical was officially launching the cultivation project for a true Tenseigan.
On the way to Amegakure during the day, he had negotiated another massive order worth 300 million ryo with Kitsuchi. They agreed to purchase a large amount of cutting-edge equipment needed for a biological laboratory from the Land of Earth. This solved part of his upcoming equipment shortage and further tightened his relationship with the "crown prince" of Iwagakure.
As this transactional relationship deepened, he temporarily held leverage over Iwagakure. While the equipment issues for setting up the laboratory were partially resolved, one of the most critical questions remained unanswered.
The laboratory had a bare-bones framework, but what about the research staff?
Surely Yu couldn't be expected to start from scratch in the completely foreign fields of gene fusion cultivation and biological cloning, building up a tech tree entirely on his own?
Yu quickly thought of a suitable candidate—Hiruko, whom he had previously beaten half to death.
Hiruko's Chimera Technique perfectly aligned with Yu's current needs. As long as Yu possessed the leverage and means to completely tie Hiruko to his cause, he could get the laboratory up and running in its initial phases.
Staying in the Land of Rain, besides waiting for Iwagakure to deliver the reparations, gave Yu exactly the kind of free time he needed outside the village. He could hunt down a top-tier scientist to assist him in completing the cultivation of the Tenseigan.
To this end, he had Yahiko—who was currently busy taking over the governance of the Land of Rain—specifically dispatch a group of Akatsuki ninja to the Land of Hot Water. Their mission was to track down any traces left by Hiruko there and scout out the location of his hidden laboratory.
Even so, Yu felt it wasn't foolproof. Hiruko had managed to hide among smaller nations for years, only stepping out into the open once his Chimera Technique reached mastery. Given his talent for staying hidden, ordinary ninja from the Land of Rain would likely find it difficult to track him down.
At a time like this, the only people capable of rooting him out were fellow experts of the shinobi world's underground.
And as luck would have it, there happened to be an elite among elites right beside Hyuga Yu.
After gouging out his Byakugan and replacing them with a pair of ordinary eyes, Yu had lost the visual detection capabilities of the Byakugan. However, his innate, razor-sharp sensitivity to being watched remained intact.
Right now, while continuing to operate the instruments on his workbench to analyze the embryonic Tenseigan matrix, Yu silently sensed a gaze. It was laced with greed, malice, coldness, and hesitation, lurking just outside the steel tower, keeping a constant watch on him. He proceeded to act as though he noticed nothing at all.
He was waiting for the moment when the other party could no longer suppress their greed and finally made a move against him!
Yu narrowed his eyes slightly, thinking to himself, Terai has been sent away, the Akatsuki members have been dismissed, and Yahiko and Nagato aren't around. My Byakugan have also been destroyed and gouged out... By now, you should finally be making your move, shouldn't you? Kakuzu.
Meanwhile, outside the steel tower, Kakuzu crouched amidst a dense network of metal pipes, perfectly blending into the environment. He stared with a dark, sinister expression at Hyuga Yu, who was clad in a white lab coat and studying that pair of peculiar "Byakugan."
He seemed... somewhat hesitant.
A single question lingered in his mind: The current Tennin, Hyuga Yu... just how much strength does he have left?
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