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Three years passed in a blink of an eye.
Although Shin mostly stayed in the Land of Whirlpools, hidden on the overseas island far from the mainland Shinobi world, he kept himself well-informed about events across the continent.
Thanks to his Third Raikage puppet acting as his eyes and ears, along with intel from White Zetsu, Shin had a decent grasp of major and minor happenings.
Today, however, Shin had to leave the Land of Whirlpools. The System had finally issued a mission after years of silence.
And this mission required him to head to Konoha.
It’s worth mentioning that over these three years, the System had granted Shin three more Replication Cards—all of them Common.
In total, Shin now held ten Common Replication Cards, four Advanced Replication Cards, and one Divine Replication Card.
Shin decided to Synthesize them.
Ten Common cards fused into two Advanced cards. Then, using five Advanced cards (his existing four plus one newly fused one), he created another Divine card.
So now, Shin possessed two Divine Replication Cards and one remaining Advanced Replication Card.
He’d fused them because Common cards were practically useless to him now. Advanced cards still had some utility, but the Divine Replication Cards, capable of copying anything, were the most valuable.
However, Shin currently had no immediate target for his powerful cards, so he held onto them.
His plan was to eventually find the Sage of Six Paths, Hagoromo Ōtsutsuki, and copy his power.
Or, wait until Kaguya Ōtsutsuki was revived and copy all her abilities.
Copying their powers would definitely push his strength beyond the standard Six Paths level, though to what extent, he couldn’t be sure without trying.
——
With his incredible speed, Shin arrived in Konoha shortly after leaving the Land of Whirlpools. He quickly gathered intel—Kumogakure’s envoys hadn’t arrived yet.
Indeed, the System’s mission involved Kumo. The objective: intercept Kumogakure’s envoys and snatch Hinata Hyūga from them—a classic case of stealing from thieves.
The conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure had recently subsided. A, the Fourth Raikage, had initially planned to exploit Konoha’s weakened state after the Nine-Tails Incident.
However, even weakened, Konoha wasn’t an easy target. Kumogakure failed to gain any significant advantage and couldn’t afford a prolonged war.
Thus, they sent envoys to negotiate peace.
Of course, this was just a pretext. Their real goal was the Hyūga Clan’s Byakugan.
The Kumo envoy delegation planned to use the peace talks as a cover to kidnap a member of the Hyūga main family.
In the original timeline, their target was Hinata Hyūga.
However, they failed, being stopped by Hiashi Hyūga, who killed the lead Kumo envoy in the process.
Despite Kumo being clearly in the wrong, they shamelessly demanded Konoha hand over the “murderer.”
Hiruzen Sarutobi, wanting to avoid further conflict, made the humiliating decision to sacrifice Hizashi Hyūga, Hiashi’s twin brother, in his place.
Hizashi died for his brother, fueling his son Neji Hyūga’s deep-seated hatred for the main family.
But now, Shin planned to interfere. He wondered how his actions would alter the course of events this time.
——
“Kakashi, you’re finally back! I challenge you to a duel!”
A loud, energetic shout drew Shin’s attention.
He saw a figure resembling a kappa—bowl haircut, green jumpsuit. Shin couldn’t appreciate the fashion sense, but he recognized the man instantly.
Besides Might Guy, who else in Konoha dressed like that? Rock Lee was still a child. It had to be Might Guy, Kakashi’s other “Best friend.”
Kakashi turned, looking weary. Running into Guy right after returning from a mission… was his luck really this bad?
He gave Guy a cold glance and walked away without a word.
Kakashi was still grappling with the trauma of Obito and Rin’s deaths; his personality was far from cheerful.
Shin observed Might Guy. He was somewhat interested in Guy’s [Eight Inner Gates] technique.
Opening all eight gates allowed Guy to use [Night Guy], a technique powerful enough to nearly kill Six Paths Madara—almost ending the entire series prematurely.
“I wonder if my body could handle opening all eight gates without injury,” Shin mused softly.
He didn’t know the specifics of the [Eight Inner Gates] and couldn’t be certain.
“Hey, who are you? I don’t think I’ve seen you around Konoha before?”
Might Guy approached Shin, looking at him curiously.
“Oh? Do you know everyone in Konoha?” Shin asked, looking back at Guy.
Guy shook his head. Konoha was large; he couldn’t possibly know everyone.
But Shin’s red hair was conspicuous. Redheads were rare in Konoha. If Shin were a local, Guy felt he should have heard of him.
“Actually, I’m not from Konoha.”
Shin patted Guy’s shoulder, then vanished.
Guy blinked, startled.
“Not from our village? A ninja from another village?”
The man had vanished instantly—clearly not an ordinary person. It had to be a ninja.
“Wait! I need to report this to the Hokage!”
Guy’s expression turned serious. Though often goofy, he was a reliable Shinobi when it mattered.
Sometimes—the goofiest people were the most dependable in a crisis.
Shin was unaware that Guy was reporting him to Hiruzen. Even if he knew, he wouldn’t care.
He hadn’t bothered hiding his arrival, strolling openly into the village.
With his current strength, why would he need to sneak around?
He doubted Hiruzen would dare confront him. And if he did, Shin wouldn’t mind giving him a slap to wake him up.
“I wonder if Kushina and the others will be angry that I left without them this time.”
Shin thought of Kushina and sighed. Well, if she was angry, he’d just have to “comfort” her properly when he got back.
He strolled through Konoha’s streets. It had been years since his last visit. The village seemed even more prosperous than before.
Konoha, situated in the most fertile region, had advantages other villages lacked.
The Nine-Tails Incident three years ago had caused significant damage, but Konoha had recovered remarkably quickly and seemed to be thriving even more.
Shin had to admit he was impressed. Of course, the Land of Fire Daimyo’s financial support must have played a significant role. Without it, Konoha’s recovery wouldn’t have been so swift.
Being established in a wealthy nation was certainly beneficial—unlike Sunagakure, which was practically living hand-to-mouth.
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