Year 51 of the Hidden Leaf Village.
Late night. A cutting wind.
Within Konoha's cemetery, a lone silhouette appeared stealthily among the gravestones.
He precisely avoided the patrol routes of the Anbu and the village's Police Force, advancing without making a single sound until he stopped in front of a specific grave.
Carved into the cold stone was a name:
Hyūga Keisuke.
In present-day Konoha, almost no one still remembered that name.
A former head of the Hyūga clan, two generations prior, the grandfather of Hyūga Hiashi, and the man who had personally led the Hyūga clan into the founding of the Hidden Leaf Village.
He had passed away from natural causes even before the outbreak of the First Great Ninja War.
"I never thought there would come a day when I'd be digging up graves…" Yuzuru muttered, gazing at the tombstone with a distant look.
After activating his Byakugan and confirming that no one was nearby, he began to act.
Digging.
Opening the coffin.
A surprisingly well-preserved body appeared before him.
Due to the residual chakra within them, the bodies of ninjas took an extremely long time to decompose.
Hyūga Keisuke lay quietly inside the coffin, yet where the Byakugan once resided, there were now only empty hollows.
To prevent the Byakugan from falling into the wrong hands, members of the main family had their eyes removed before burial.
Yuzuru knelt down and carefully extracted a small portion of tissue from the corpse.
That alone contained more than enough genetic information.
The Edo Tensei truly was a bizarre, almost grotesque, technique.
With nothing but genetic material, it could forcibly establish a summoning contract and drag a soul back from the Pure Land.
"Speaking of which… the Sage of Six Paths governs the Pure Land, doesn't he?" Yuzuru thought. "When Edo Tensei is used, does he notice?"
After that brief tangent, Yuzuru restored the grave exactly as it had been and vanished silently into the night.
Root " Underground Base
"It seems you haven't been devoting much time to Edo Tensei lately."
The cold voice echoed through the laboratory.
A short man, radiating an oppressive aura, had entered without announcement.
He wore a dark kimono. Bandages wrapped around his head and covered his right eye. A cross-shaped scar marked his chin.
Shimura Danzō.
Leader of Root.
The darkness of the ninja world.
"My time is limited, Danzō-sama," Orochimaru replied without turning around. "Researching the First Hokage's cells alone already consumes all my energy."
"Edo Tensei is important as well," Danzō said, frowning.
He was dissatisfied.
Orochimaru had repeatedly claimed interest in the technique, only to neglect it after obtaining it.
Danzō had long coveted Edo Tensei, but he knew his own talent was insufficient to perfect it.
"Since you value Edo Tensei so highly…" Orochimaru turned around, extending his long tongue as a serpentine smile spread across his face. "I can devote more effort to it. But I have a condition."
"More funding?" Danzō asked coldly.
"Not just money." Orochimaru's eyes gleamed. "I need people. Living people. Living ninjas."
Danzō frowned deeply.
"The intensity of war has declined. The villages are moving toward peace. This is not a good time to capture ninjas."
"That's your problem," Orochimaru replied casually. "You always find a way, don't you?"
Danzō clenched his teeth.
He knew Orochimaru was asking too much, especially now that the Hokage was no longer Hiruzen, but Minato Namikaze.
Root was already facing increasing political and financial restrictions. And it would only get worse.
I'm like a frog being boiled alive, Danzō thought.
Minato was too strong. Too just. Too perfect.
If he did nothing, he would be discarded.
"Very well," Danzō said at last. "I'll deliver people to you. But I want results."
"Naturally," Orochimaru replied with a cold smile.
Hyūga Clan Grounds
On a training field, Yuzuru was sparring with a jōnin of the branch family using Gentle Fist.
Both had their Byakugan activated.
Within the monochrome world of the Byakugan, the flow of blue chakra was perfectly visible.
Before the attack even came, Yuzuru already knew what it would be.
"Eight Trigrams: Thirty-Two Palms!"
The strikes sealed Yuzuru's chakra points, instantly disrupting the flow of his chakra.
The Gentle Fist could capture…
Or kill.
Years later, this very principle would allow Hiashi to kill a Cloud jōnin with a single blow.
After the match ended, the jōnin extended a hand and helped Yuzuru up.
"You're fast, Yuzuru. Your future wife probably won't be happy about that."
"Come on, Daisuke-senpai," Yuzuru smiled. "I'm only fourteen."
"That's already old enough to start thinking about it," Daisuke laughed.
"Then… what about Natsu?"
Daisuke burst into laughter.
"The competition for her is fierce."
"That's a shame…" Yuzuru sighed dramatically.
Daisuke smiled mysteriously.
"Don't give up. You'll get your chance."
As Daisuke walked away, the gentle smile on Yuzuru's face never faded.
"Sss…"
A small white snake silently emerged and dropped a scroll at his feet.
Yuzuru bent down and picked it up.
His pale eyes reflected calm and serenity.
But deep within, the storm had already begun.
/------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Read more chapters on my Patreon: https://patreon.com/SailorTranslations?utm_medium=unknown&utm_source=join_link&utm_campaign=creatorshare_creator&utm_content=copyLink