Hokage Building.
Hokage Conference Room.
Once again, Kyūsei found himself in this so-called "conference room," and couldn't help feeling helpless.
Calling it a conference room was ridiculous.
They might as well rename it the War Room.
Every time there was a battle plan, it was made here. It had nothing to do with holding meetings at all.
After Hatake Sakumo informed Kyūsei, he hurriedly brought him to the Hokage Building. Kaoru , worried about Kyūsei, followed along as well.
Because the two of them had been training in Sage Mode recently, dark circles were clearly visible under their eyes.
Including Kyūsei and Kaoru , there were only a few people in the room.
Hiruzen Sarutobi, Hatake Sakumo, and Orochimaru.
All of them looked grim, especially Hiruzen, whose brows were tightly furrowed.
Seeing that Kyūsei and Kaoru had arrived, Hiruzen cleared his throat and said,
"Kyūsei, Sakumo should've already explained the situation to you, right?"
Kyūsei nodded.
"Yeah. Dawn claims I blew up the Sand Village."
Hiruzen leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, his tone calm.
"That's complete nonsense."
"Even if you really did it, what could they do to us?"
"At worst, we fight another war."
At this point, Hiruzen effectively commanded half of the ninja world's military strength.
Power shaped temperament. Power shaped authority.
Although he hadn't restored Konoha to its former peak, his attitude toward the outside world had changed drastically.
Especially after fully realizing Kyūsei's strength, he felt his previous strategies had been far too conservative.
One man who could face five tailed beasts and win—
That meant Kyūsei alone could form an army.
With Kaoru 's Flying Thunder God, they could roam across the entire ninja world.
Strike wherever they pleased.
However, although he wanted to start another war, the previous one had ended not long ago.
The people had just begun to recover, and anti-war sentiment was still strong.
Moreover, during the last decisive battle, Hiruzen had cut off his own arm to save the body, abandoning internal defense and sneaking into the Cloud Village with Jiraiya to force the Raikage back.
As a result, Iwa and Kumo troops rampaged through the Land of Fire, nearly reaching the capital.
The daimyo was extremely dissatisfied.
Now was not the time to start another war.
"Exactly, exactly. Those guys are way too naive."
Hearing Hiruzen defend Kyūsei so firmly, Kaoru immediately perked up and spoke in support.
"Still," Orochimaru said calmly,
"that mysterious person really did level the Sand Village alone."
"And he's now wandering inside our territory. That's not good for us."
"We absolutely can't let him run free in the Land of Fire,"
Hiruzen added quietly.
"Such a dangerous existence… and an unknown jinchūriki."
His cloudy eyes flickered, clearly thinking of something.
Kyūsei stared at him, eyes narrowing slightly.
"All known jinchūriki already appeared in the last battle," Kyūsei said.
"Except for One-Tail of Sand, Six-Tails of Mist, and the Three-Tails that's waiting to revive, everyone participated."
"So where did this guy come from?"
Hiruzen looked at him and smiled faintly.
"Just as I thought. You came to the same conclusion."
Kaoru and Sakumo exchanged glances and smiled as well.
They had clearly reached the same idea.
Only Orochimaru looked confused.
He felt completely left out.
"So everyone's thinking the same thing,"
Hiruzen said as he took out his pipe.
With a spark, the tobacco began to burn softly.
The elderly Hokage took a deep breath and slowly exhaled pale smoke.
"Dragon Vein."
"This man also came to our world through the Dragon Vein."
"Minato and Kushina before, and later Kakashi and Naruko—all arrived through it."
"But compared to them, this one is clearly dangerous."
Hiruzen explained his reasoning.
Kyūsei listened silently, already forming his own judgment.
Based on how Kakashi had appeared beside Sakumo through the Dragon Vein, Uzumaki Menma should logically have arrived near him or Kaoru .
But instead, he appeared in the Land of Wind.
The Dragon Vein in Rōran was located there.
Which meant…
This man had already mastered how to travel through the Dragon Vein.
"Old man, is that guy Hyōsō still in prison?" Kyūsei asked.
After capturing that future-traveling Hyōsō last time, they had ignored him.
Then the war broke out, and everyone forgot about him entirely.
"Uh… yeah, he's still there,"
Hiruzen replied, rubbing his tired temples.
He had been overwhelmed lately—war compensation, border redeployment—leaving the old man exhausted.
"Alright,"
Hiruzen tapped the table.
"We can't ignore that man inside our borders."
"Kyūsei, you and Kaoru will form a special task unit."
"I'll have all ninja forces monitor his movements. If he's spotted, pursue immediately."
"I'll interrogate Hyōsō for everything about the Dragon Vein."
"Sakumo, Orochimaru—you two handle Dawn's people."
"Drive them out."
With that, Hiruzen waved his hand, signaling the meeting's end.
After everyone left, the room returned to silence.
Hiruzen stared at the ninja world map on the table, lost in thought.
A parallel world's Konoha… was still Konoha, wasn't it?
—
After leaving Hiruzen, Kyūsei learned that Uzumaki Menma was now a ticking time bomb.
He had no choice but to suspend his Sage Mode training.
It would take at least a day or two to get reliable information on Menma.
But just in case—
If he was training and suddenly got news of Menma, he'd have to interrupt anyway.
All of Hashirama's efforts would be wasted.
So Sage training had to be postponed.
At least until that guy was caught.
For now, Kyūsei and Kaoru 's top priority was to rest and recover, returning themselves to peak condition.
Uzumaki Menma was no weakling.
He was extremely powerful.
No one knew how he crossed through the Dragon Vein or what his true purpose was.
But one thing was certain.
He was a thoroughly dangerous individual.
The more pure and passionate Naruto was…
The more extreme and twisted this man was.
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