"Sensei, will we meet again someday?" Naruto asked, eyes filled with reluctance.
"Maybe we will."
Hyūga Shigeo smiled faintly, then said farewell to the three of them and followed Kakashi toward the northern outpost.
The mountains were lush and green.
The Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, had already been waiting there for two days. When he saw the two figures approach in the distance, his eyes grew heavier, a hint of calculation behind their calm surface.
As soon as Shigeo saw him, he used Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique) to appear directly before him.
"Say it—what do you want?"
There was no ambush nearby; through his mirror perception technique, Shigeo had already confirmed it.
Not that he was worried—seven years ago, he had easily turned Hiruzen's own traps against him. Now, he was far beyond that.
"Hyūga Shigeo," said the Third Hokage, his tone deep but direct, "I've come personally to invite you to return to Konoha. What do you say?"
Shigeo's dark-blue eyes flickered slightly.
He had to admit, Konoha still held a strange place in his heart—part nostalgia, part scar.
"No."
His rejection was clean, sharp, without hesitation.
The Third Hokage's expression shifted subtly.
The boy before him had grown into a man—tall, calm, and powerful. The Hyūga clan's proud bloodline radiated from him in every detail, but his presence had long transcended it.
"Think carefully," the Hokage warned, "if you don't return to Konoha, you'll forever be its enemy."
Shigeo's lips curved into a smile.
"Haven't I already been your enemy for years?"
"You're wasting my time. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving.
I do recall I still owe you one mission—if that's why you called me here, just say the word, and I'll do it."
When Kakashi first told him the Hokage wanted to meet, Shigeo thought it would be about that old promise.
He hadn't expected this pointless invitation.
The Third Hokage shook his head slowly.
"No… but if you come back to Konoha, we'll no longer be enemies. Of all the missing-nin who've left the village, you're the only one I'd still consider accepting."
His tone carried both weight and threat.
Shigeo chuckled softly, turned his back, and the air around him began to distort as Kamui activated.
"You really do forget easily, old man. Forgotten what you did to me? I haven't.
This isn't about whether Konoha wants me back—it's about me never wanting Konoha again.
Think about that final mission you owe me, and then contact me."
As his body faded into the swirling void, something flew toward him.
A scroll.
When Shigeo reappeared, he was already standing at the outer barrier of the Minamo Nation.
He looked down at the scroll in his hand and slowly unrolled it.
Black inked characters filled the page:
"Hyūga Shigeo—
The Five Great Shinobi Villages formally declare a joint extermination campaign against you.
If you surrender, we shall show leniency.
If not, in two days the Allied Shinobi Forces will annihilate Minamo to uphold justice.
—Signed: Konohagakure of the Land of Fire, Kumogakure of the Land of Lightning, Iwagakure of the Land of Earth, Sunagakure of the Land of Wind, Kirigakure of the Land of Water."
No wonder the Hokage wanted to meet him.
He wasn't here to talk—he was here to deliver a declaration of war.
Even before announcing it, Hiruzen had tried one last time to coax him back.
Had Shigeo accepted, what then?
He could already imagine it.
They'd "take him back to Konoha," hide his existence, then join the alliance to destroy Minamo anyway—
Konoha winning favor with the other nations while ensuring Shigeo couldn't retaliate.
A threefold scheme—
but he wasn't foolish enough to fall for it.
"What a pity, old man," Shigeo murmured, rolling the scroll shut. "You never learn."
At that same moment, within the southern seas near Minamo, a few dark figures emerged behind coral reefs—the nation's hidden ANBU.
"Lord Shigeo," one of them reported, kneeling, "many foreign ANBU operatives have been scouting the area lately.
Even White Zetsu has been sighted several times."
Shigeo's gaze sharpened.
"Sound the alarm. Prepare for total war.
The great nations have declared it—we'll meet them head-on."
Unlike Akatsuki's ambushes, the Five Great Villages fought openly.
But what fairness was there in five nations uniting against one small country of less than two hundred thousand souls?
Fair or not, they would stand and fight.
Two days, huh?
At that distance, even from Kumogakure, it would normally take more than ten.
That could only mean one thing—
they had already been preparing long before this declaration.
His journey to the Land of Snow had given them the perfect window to mobilize.
Within hours, three defensive barriers shimmered across Minamo's coast.
All fully functional, all reinforced.
Shigeo's multiple Wood Clones now guarded each sector outside the second layer of the barrier.
The nation mobilized completely—
every able-bodied man took up arms, lining the city walls in grim silence.
Meanwhile, deep in the Akatsuki base, dim light flickered against the grinning face of White Zetsu, who was laughing so hard he almost doubled over.
"Hahaha! Who would've thought? Hyūga Shigeo really brought this upon himself!
Two months ago he crippled the Fourth Raikage, and now the Raikage's gathered all five villages for revenge!
They'll attack Minamo in two days! Hahaha!
Our revenge? We don't even have to lift a finger—they'll do it for us!"
Beside him, Pain (Tendō) frowned slightly.
Three years of rebuilding had restored Amegakure and strengthened the Akatsuki.
Now, perhaps, opportunity had come knocking.
Behind him, Uchiha Obito, wearing his swirling orange mask, spoke coldly:
"Perhaps this chaos will serve us.
If the Great Nations fall into war, the Moon's Eye Plan can begin ahead of schedule."
Soon, the seas surrounding Minamo were filled with ships.
The Five Great Villages and countless smaller nations had joined the alliance.
From the Land of Tea to the west, the Land of Bears to the northwest, and the Land of Rivers to the north—
even minor island states had sent troops.
Hundreds of warships now lined the ocean,
their decks packed with shinobi carrying banners and weapons,
rows upon rows of steel gleaming under the misty sky.
They surrounded Minamo from every direction.
Only the command signal remained before the full-scale assault would begin.
And there, standing upon the jagged coral at the mouth of the barrier,
Hyūga Shigeo faced them all—
golden chakra flaring around him like a blazing sun, his expression calm, eyes cold.
At his side stood only two figures: Wu Mang and Jinshi.
Three men against tens of thousands.
The image was breathtakingly defiant.
From the deck of the lead ship, the Third Hokage's voice thundered over the waves:
"Hyūga Shigeo—do you admit your guilt?"
Before Shigeo could reply, Jinshi stepped forward, his voice clear and sharp:
"Our lord has committed no crime!"
(End of Chapter)
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