Chapter 79: Kakashi, Do You Know How to Break a Curse Mark?
The Hokage Building.
This place has been preserved quite well.
Everyone was gathered in the Hokage's office, carrying out the final round of discussions.
Kurotsuchi and Terumi Mei did not raise any demands of their own. They simply sat to the side, openly backing Shiromo.
What Shiromo wanted, the Flying Thunder Formation, was, at its core, meant to connect transportation between various countries and make travel more convenient. This, in itself, would bring enormous benefits to their villages and nations as well.
Secondly, they were genuinely grateful to Shiromo.
As the saying goes, you don't know how expensive rice is until you run the household yourself.
Likewise, before actually being in charge, Terumi Mei and Kurotsuchi had never realized just how wealthy their countries truly were, or how abundant their supplies could be.
Admittedly, their nations' resources could not compare to the Land of Fire in terms of sheer variety and richness. Even so, without changing anything else, without further development, simply doubling or even tripling the number of ninja in their villages would not be a problem at all.
And it was only after meeting Shiromo that they finally realized that the long-instilled notion, that the daimyō "supported" the ninja villages, simply did not hold up.
The fixed, minimal subsistence allowance distributed in the daimyō's name was practically incapable of sustaining a ninja's normal life. A ninja's main source of income had always come from taking on various missions.
Under these circumstances, ninja were essentially laborers, different from purely non-productive armies or bureaucrats.
Moreover, after Shiromo gave them a crash course in history, they learned that when the earliest ninja, during the founding of Ninshū, had first appeared, various techniques were originally used to assist production.
With this new way of thinking, even low- and mid-level ninja gained new sources of mission income.
Those skilled in Water Release could irrigate fields; those proficient in Earth Release could till the soil…
Under these reforms, mission danger levels dropped significantly, while both the income base and the number of income sources increased considerably.
Ninjas were practically being turned into Palworld creatures.
Yet even so, the ninja from the villages that joined the alliance were, instead, extremely supportive of the new policies.
I could have tolerated the faint glow of fireflies, had I never seen a flashlight.
Ah, I will enslave you all, make you work six hours a day, allow only two hours of lunch break, let you drink milk only at breakfast, and give you rest days only on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!
In short, although the Hokage's office was nominally a place for group discussion, in reality, only Shiromo and Sarutobi Hiruzen were truly talking.
"Very well, then. It's settled."
Sarutobi Hiruzen signed his name on the scroll, fulfilling his earlier promise.
What puzzled Hiruzen was that Danzo, that fellow, had not come out to cause trouble.
Could it be that someone from Root had informed Danzo that Amegakure Village contained one of his sworn enemies?
The items being requested were as follows,
First, various forms of foundational knowledge regarding ninjutsu.
This was the greatest difference between major and minor ninja villages, and between Konoha and the other great villages.
Orochimaru could probably organize this kind of material as well, but making him compile something akin to elementary-school textbooks would be a terrible waste of talent.
It was better to ask Konoha directly.
After all, compared to the items that followed, this was practically nothing.
Next were the training methods for the Flying Thunder God Technique and the Flying Thunder Formation Technique, as well as having the three currently living users of the Flying Thunder Formation explain key points in its training and application.
Lastly, Hyūga Hanabi of the Hyūga clan was to go to Amegakure Village to assist with work for five years.
To Sarutobi Hiruzen, none of these three conditions were particularly problematic.
The first went without saying. As for the third, that was a separate matter, unrelated to assisting in Orochimaru's invasion of Konoha.
At its core, the real issue was only the Flying Thunder God Technique.
Hiruzen understood that what was truly rare about space-time ninjutsu was not the technique itself, but the talent required to use it.
He could tell that the true target of Amegakure Village, Iwagakure Village, and Kirigakure Village was actually the latter, the Flying Thunder Formation Technique.
As for the Flying Thunder God itself, Hiruzen simply attributed their interest to the overwhelming fame of the Yellow Flash back in the day, and to the lingering obsession other villages had with it.
The Flying Thunder Formation could not be used in normal combat anyway; it functioned only as a teleportation tool.
Under such circumstances, even if someone on their side truly managed to learn it, it would pose no real threat to Konoha.
Moreover, if things truly turned out as Shiromo and Orochimaru suggested, if some common enemy were to appear in the future, then what he was doing now would not be aiding an enemy, but supporting allies.
Hiruzen summoned Genma Shiranui, Raido Namiashi, and Iwashi Tatami, the former guards of the Fourth Hokage, and ordered them to convey the essentials of the Flying Thunder Formation accurately to Shiromo.
"Hokage-sama, this…"
The three of them looked quite unhappy upon hearing the order.
The Flying Thunder Formation was their pride as the Fourth Hokage's guards, and a means of protecting the village. And now they were supposed to hand it over to an outsider?
"This is an order. And Amegakure Village will be our ally in the future. This is for the convenience of communication between allies."
Hiruzen's tone grew heavier as he tapped the desk with his pipe.
The "ally" he referred to was not about Konoha joining the current development alliance among the villages, it was merely a pretext.
After all, he was about to step down soon. When the new Hokage took office, whether they chose to use this name to pursue their ambitions, or simply deny the ally relationship altogether, either option would be perfectly reasonable.
"…Very well. Understood, Third Hokage-sama."
With no other choice, the three followed Shiromo into a small adjacent room and began explaining the core principles of the Flying Thunder Formation.
They were quite straightforward and did not conceal anything.
In fact, there was no need to hide anything.
The theoretical principles of the Flying Thunder Formation were extremely simple, so simple that they were comparable to training in Sage Mode.
But actually accomplishing it was extraordinarily difficult.
The key to using the Flying Thunder Formation was this: one person marks the formula, another locates the space, and the last supplies and links the chakra.
It was similar to how Jiraiya entered Sage Mode by summoning Shima and Fukasaku.
Shiromo recorded the essentials and put them away.
The Flying Thunder Formation had clearly been specially developed by Namikaze Minato for these guards, which was why Shiromo had specifically requested that these three explain it.
Otherwise…
Why not just have Orochimaru use Impure World Reincarnation on Senju Tobirama and let him teach the class directly?
After returning to the Hokage's office, Shiromo found that the Sunagakure Village side had also finished their talks with Hiruzen.
Temari and the others had used exactly the method Shiromo had suggested, mixing nine truths with one lie, pinning everything on Orochimaru for killing their father, the Fourth Kazekage, and cleanly distancing themselves from the incident.
As an old fox, Hiruzen could naturally tell that their story was not entirely true. However, Konoha was indeed in no position to start another war right now, let alone one with the impoverished Sunagakure Village next door.
Even if he demanded reparations, they probably wouldn't be able to pay much.
Push them too far, and the Land of Wind daimyō might even abandon these prisoners altogether and establish a new village elsewhere.
Thus, Hiruzen chose to sign an alliance agreement with Sunagakure Village and let the matter rest.
—
The next day, at the gates of Konoha.
Everyone was preparing to depart.
Kakashi, who had already awakened, arrived at the gate with the members of Team 7.
In addition, several members of the Hyūga clan were present.
Hyūga Hiashi walked up to Shiromo. Behind him followed Hyūga Hanabi, her head lowered, the Caged Bird seal freshly carved onto her forehead.
Neji Hyūga stood farther back, watching the scene with a sorrowful expression, as if reminded of his own father.
"You're really heartless, Clan Head Hiashi. Hanabi, did it hurt when the Caged Bird was engraved?"
Shiromo lifted Hanabi's bangs and gently touched the green curse mark.
"Mmm."
Hanabi shook her head.
"Here."
Hyūga Hiashi handed a scroll to Shiromo.
"This is?"
"These are the essential training notes for the Gentle Fist. Outsiders without the Byakugan can't practice it anyway. Make sure Hanabi studies it, don't let her waste her time."
Clearly, Hiashi did not believe Shiromo's earlier claim that Hanabi could progress faster and achieve more outside the Hyūga clan than she would by staying within it.
"Taking Hinata's little sister away and getting her branded with the Caged Bird… is this really for her own good?"
Sakura whispered quietly to Naruto and Sasuke beside her.
At this point, information about the Caged Bird seal, and Shiromo's plan to train Hanabi, was no longer a secret.
Shiromo neither responded to Hiashi nor paid any attention to Sakura's hushed concern for her teammate that doubled as criticism of him.
Instead, he looked directly at Kakashi.
"Kakashi, do you know? There's a very simple way to break a curse mark. Watch carefully."
"…Huh?"
Kakashi frowned, puzzled by the timing of these words.
A curse mark? What did that have to do with him?
Was he referring to the mark Orochimaru had left on Sasuke's neck?
Wait.
He said to watch carefully?
Did he mean… the Hyūga clan's Caged Bird?!
Bang!
Kakashi had just lifted his forehead protector and opened his Sharingan when, relying on its enhanced perception, he witnessed a horrifying scene.
"Huh?"
Hanabi scratched her head and looked up at Shiromo in confusion.
Just now, it felt like her head had suddenly gotten a bit itchy.
"It's fine now."
Shiromo rubbed Hanabi's small head.
"Clan Head Hiashi, would you like to go carve it again?"
He relaxed the other hand he had been holding in a fist. The Caged Bird curse mark he had been gripping fell to the ground and slowly dissipated.
Hyūga Hiashi had naturally seen what had just happened.
At the instant his youngest daughter was "killed" by Shiromo, Hiashi felt confusion and fury, but in the very next moment, those emotions turned into shock and bewilderment.
At first, Hiashi thought that upon seeing the Caged Bird seal and realizing he could never obtain the Byakugan, Shiromo had dropped all pretense and, in a fit of rage, decided to kill Hanabi.
But the result was…
On the other side, after witnessing this scene, Kakashi suddenly thought of Rin.
Rin, whose heart he had pierced with his Chidori.
Could it be that back then… Rin had also been implanted with some kind of curse mark?
(End of this chapter)