Naruto: I, Shikotsumyaku, Byakugan Princess

Chapter 200 The Land of Waves and Flower Fruit Mountain

Just as Haili was fusing with Wood Release chakra, in the east of Konoha Village, near the Daimyo's residence, at Training Ground No. 12.

A beautiful girl in a kimono leaned against a giant tree, holding a walkie-talkie and constantly providing intelligence to her teammates in the distance. Her captivating beauty even made the giant tree, which was so large that it would take more than a dozen people to encircle it, sway.

Perhaps... it's not because of her beauty.

Looking at the giant tree behind Hui Li, which was cracking and bending continuously, Kakashi grinned, unable to bear to look at it.

He could hardly imagine who could marry this elephant in human skin; that person must be the one he admired most in his life, without exception!

"The target is in the southeast direction, about... two kilometers away from you."

Unaware of Kakashi's intentions, Hairi held up the walkie-talkie and loudly provided Naruto and Sasuke with the target's location.

"Received!"*2
A rapid response came through the walkie-talkie, and two figures, one in white and blue and the other in black and orange, sped through the jungle, chasing after the direction Gray Glass had pointed.

My gaze followed the four-legged creature running in the distance.

The shadow clone, which evolved from 'Ninja School Gray' to 'Genin Gray', opened its nearly completely ashen white eyes, and the dazzling light of its eye technique could not be completely concealed even by Black Orb.

Gray Eyes' ability level is comparable to ultimate eye techniques such as the Tenseigan and Rinnegan. Even though it has not yet fully developed, its abilities should not be underestimated.

Don't feel that the period of fetal movement is too long.

The Tenseigan's embryonic development period is short because of the help of the giant Tenseigan during the transition. The Rinnegan, on the other hand, only evolved into a semi-finished product after Madara Uchiha died of old age. It was only later that it was fully formed thanks to Nagato's Sage Body nurturing it.

Her gray eyes were able to evolve to this extent in such a short time thanks to the assistance of the Reversal of the Eight Gates. Although the ultimate eye technique has not yet been revealed, the enhanced eye power makes her original abilities such as telescopic vision, X-ray vision, and chakra manipulation dozens of times stronger than the ordinary Byakugan.

Her most terrifying ability is her ability to see from the center of Konoha to the outermost perimeter of the village. With her Byakugan activated, the entire village, excluding areas within certain barriers, is within her field of vision.

Its range is no smaller than Pain's Rain Tiger Free Technique, and its precision far exceeds that of Hiruzen Sarutobi's Crystal Ball. If this ability were used by people with evil intentions like Jiraiya or Hiruzen Sarutobi, it would be a huge disaster for the women of Konoha.

Of course, the price Gray Glass paid to obtain this powerful ability was extremely high.

Since two years ago, Gray Eyes, who is in the middle of the fetal movement stage, has been absorbing a huge amount of chakra every day. Over the years, the energy supplied by the host body to consume it has become an astronomical figure.

If it weren't for the rapid evolution of the Immortal Body and the extremely abundant resources of the Death Forest, it would be impossible to support Gray Eyes, let alone this invincible bloodline limit.

The original body's chakra must first nourish the gray-eyed embryonic movement. The Sage Body needs to devour life to advance, and the Reverse Eight Gates and the pirated Kotoamatsukami require a large amount of Sharingan power.

The abnormal body enhanced by the Corpse Bone Vein also requires a large amount of energy to maintain its metabolism, and finally there are shadow clones that study various changes in properties, etc.

According to the law of conservation of energy, the stronger the ability, the greater the energy demand. None of these terrifying bloodline limits are easy to deal with. The one with the least chakra consumption is the pair of three-tomoe swords that can wear down two Kakashis.

Someone once raised an interesting question.

Since there are creatures like electric eels in the biological world, why haven't there been any animals that have evolved the ability to breathe fire?

The reason is simply that the energy consumed by fire-breathing is too much. The energy cost far exceeds the energy that can be obtained from capturing prey, and the cost cannot be balanced. Naturally, no one is willing to do such a foolish thing.

This is why Gray Glass has become increasingly lazy over the years.

If the gains from each action are less than the chakra she consumes, then she is at a complete loss.

"Sasuke, the target is at your 3 o'clock position, only 700 meters away! It has spotted you, hurry and give chase!"

The genin, Hai Ri, leaned against the giant tree, not wanting to move. She just held the walkie-talkie and urged Sasuke on. Her gray eyes were fixed on the agile figure in front of Sasuke. What made her so anxious was not some terrifying monster, nor a Kage-level or Super Kage-level expert who had infiltrated Konoha.

It was a fat, brownish-yellow cat!
Whoosh!
A petite black figure darted swiftly through the forest, as if flying close to the ground.

Sasuke, his legs crackling with lightning, followed closely behind, his hair flying backwards, his hands behind his back, his crimson Sharingan already locking onto the cat's movements, anticipating and blocking its path.

"Meow!!"

When the cat saw the boy amidst the lightning and thunder ahead, it was so frightened that its fur stood on end. It shoveled dust up with one of its front paws, spun 360 degrees in the air, and tried to turn around and escape.

"Naruto!"

"I'm here!"

With a soft shout from Sasuke, Naruto, who had been waiting in the tree for a long time, descended from the sky. He grabbed the collar of his orange jacket with both hands, like a human bird net, and in one swift motion, he pinned the cat that was trying to escape to the ground!
Watching the mischievous cat struggling inside the clothes, unable to escape, being lifted up by the scruff of its neck by Sasuke.

Two kilometers away, the genin Kairi stood up and gave Kakashi an OK sign. Without her saying a word, and with the sound of creaking trees, Kakashi lightly ticked a mark on the paper.

As one of the village's few elite Jonin, he had already received news of the upcoming joint Chunin Exams, but this matter was still top secret and could not be revealed casually.

The minimum requirement to participate in the Chunin Exams is to complete at least eight missions. Generally, C-rank missions require leaving the village, which takes one or two months to complete. This is too much for Hairi and her team to handle, so they must first make up the numbers with D-rank missions that can be completed quickly.

There are now exactly seven D-level missions. Once you complete one more D-level mission, you can start challenging C-level missions.

Although A-level missions are nothing special for this monster class, at least they don't have to spend all their time squatting here looking for cats and picking up trash.

……

"Meow meow!"

"Ah Hu~!"

A shrill scream came from the lobby of Naruto, where a fat aunt with a face full of scars hugged a terrified fat cat and rubbed it hard!

The four members of Class Seven counted their meager reward money, and then looked at the even more pitiful Ah Hu, feeling a chill in their hearts.

Rank D mission – Help Lady Osamu, wife of the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, find her lost cat, Tiger. The reward is as high as three thousand taels!
After deducting the village's cut, the four of them would each receive about 700 ryo, while a bowl of Ichiraku Ramen would cost exactly 70 ryo. Four kekkei jonin were dispatched to capture this pet cat, and the price for each jonin was a full ten bowls of ramen!
Prices in Konoha have collapsed!

Looking at the cat still struggling to survive, Sasuke spent a long time calculating and could only come to this conclusion.

"Is your sword still not fixed, Sasuke?"

Wearing that dusty orange jacket, Naruto looked extremely annoyed. His turbulent ninja career was far from what he had imagined. They had already captured this cat three times this month, and who knew how many more times they would have to capture it in the future.

The thought that his ninja career would be stuck in a cycle of picking up trash, planting rice, and catching cats made him lose interest in even practicing his boxing.

"It's fixed!"

Although he didn't say anything, Sasuke, who was already impatient, patted his arm wrapped in bandages. Hidden under the bandages were countless sealing runes, which sealed his chakra metal sword, steel wire, shuriken and other weapons for him to use at any time.

"Great! Kakashi-sensei, let's go find the Third Hokage right now, and we absolutely refuse to do any more of these boring missions!" Naruto leaped three feet into the air, grabbed Kakashi's arm, and ran upstairs.

Naruto, whose strength far surpasses that of the original story, had only endured this long to wait for Sasuke to repair his sword. Now that he heard the weapon was fixed, he naturally didn't want to take on any more trashy missions. "Hey, wait a minute, Naruto, it would be best if you did another D-rank mission..." Kakashi couldn't reveal the secret of the Chunin Exams, so he could only offer a tactful reminder.

But Sasuke couldn't take it anymore. He pushed Kakashi's butt from behind, and the two of them, Naruto and Sasuke, carried the struggling Kakashi up to the third floor.

Having already foreseen what would happen in the future, Gray followed behind the three while looking down at the restless old man in the straw hat in the mission waiting area.

The man was dressed like an ordinary farmer, but he wore glasses and looked somewhat refined. He must be the bridge-building master, Tazner!

Zabuza…Haku…

She pondered the situation of the mission in the Land of Waves, wondering if Zabuza and his companion, who had unexpectedly boarded the 'Hell Ship' six years ago, would still appear as promised.

After the staircase structure was completely solidified by Earth Release, Hui Li slowly arrived at the familiar Hokage's office.

"No—don't assign us a task like this! We need more important tasks, give us a different mission!"

Before she even entered the room, she could hear Naruto's loud voice.

I walked into the office.

The cracked floor and the large hole have been repaired, but the fresh paint on the wall looks rather odd.

Watching Naruto frantically shake his head with his hands crossed in front of his chest, Hui Li, encountering a familiar plot from the original work for the first time, suddenly felt like she was back on Earth watching an anime.

"You agree, right, Gray Glass!"

Seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi looked troubled, Naruto quickly ran to Hairi's side to ask for help.

While watching the cartoon, Hui Li was suddenly interacted with in real time by the characters. Bewildered, she could only nod.

"Sigh~ I really can't do anything with you guys. I've issued a new high-level mission today, so I'll assign it to your Class 7!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed helplessly. Seeing that Kairi supported Naruto's willful decision, he had no choice but to assign Team 7 a relatively nearby mission.

The joint Chunin Exams can showcase Konoha's strength to the outside world, which is very beneficial for stabilizing the international situation and increasing the number of missions. Naturally, this ultimate supermodel genin team should participate.

However, although the Chunin Exams were held in Konoha, the timing was not entirely up to Konoha.

The Sand Village led its people from the desert to Konoha. After a short rest, they began registering for the Chunin Exams. Because the journey was long and the registration time was inaccurate, he didn't want Team 7 to go too far.

This mission is quite unusual, though. He really couldn't find a suitable candidate besides Class 7. Since Hui Li requested it, he would leave it to them.

With her looking after things, nothing should go wrong.

"Go and invite Mr. Dazner up here."

Hiruzen Sarutobi handed the mission sheet to the ANBU member next to him, who then quickly disappeared into a puff of smoke. Naruto and Sasuke breathed a sigh of relief. Only Kakashi, seeing the Third Hokage change his attitude with a mere nod from Kairi, looked slightly helpless in his deadpan eyes.

While waiting for Tazuna, Kairi and Hiruzen Sarutobi started chatting.

"Is the Ape Demon's injury any better?"

"It's all right now, but he said he couldn't find an ape that matches your strength, so we can't sign a contract."

Hiruzen Sarutobi had a strange expression on his face when he spoke, but the thought of his old partner being knocked to sleep by a punch made him a little nervous.

Is it angry?

Hui Li truly covets the Monkey King's indestructible body. If she could master this technique, her taijutsu abilities would reach the pinnacle of the ninja world when she was at full power, and even the Eight Gates Might might not be her match.

"That's not there."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head:
"The ape demon is competitive by nature, and this defeat has been a big blow to it. It says it will train for a period of time at Flower Fruit Mountain before challenging your physical skills again."

"Flowers... Flower and Fruit Mountain?"

Upon hearing this incredibly familiar name, Hui Li's expression was quite interesting.

"It's the settlement of the ape clan; their clan has lived there for generations," Hiruzen Sarutobi explained casually.

Hui Li could only accept this helplessly. With the Ruyi Jingu Bang, the Vajra Body, and now Flower Fruit Mountain, the elements were truly complete. It was just a pity that the Water Curtain Cave and the name of Sun Wukong were occupied by the Four-Tailed Fox...

hiss!
and many more!

She suddenly felt that something was wrong.

Flower and Fruit Mountain, Water Curtain Cave, Ruyi Jingu Bang (the magic staff)... These resounding names flashed in her mind, connecting with each other, and a certain guess involuntarily surfaced in her heart.

Could the Water Curtain Cave where the Four-Tails lives be located in the Flower Fruit Mountain of the Monkey Clan? It seems that one of the Four-Tails' Lava Release ninjutsu techniques is called Flower Fruit Mountain!

The names are completely identical, and the elements are also extremely similar.

If these are all just coincidences, the chances are really slim; there is likely some kind of inexplicable connection between them.

What exactly is the connection?

Hui Li pinched her chin, the feeling seemed to be right on the tip of her tongue, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it, only feeling anxious.

Anxious... Samehada!
As if a bolt of lightning flashed through her mind, she instantly thought of the giant sword Samehada in the Yang Release clone's hand.

Samehada was a small fish that clung to the belly of the Three-Tails, specifically responsible for helping the Three-Tails digest food and providing it with pure chakra. Later, when the Three-Tails was sealed, Samehada was made into a ninja sword by the people of Kirigakure.

Could the relationship between this ape clan and the four-tailed Son Goku be similar to that between Samehada and the three-tailed Isobu?
The more Gray Glass made associations, the brighter her eyes became.

The Four-Tails is skilled in Lava Release, while the apes seem to be skilled in Fire Release. Could they be the Four-Tails' companion animals, with the special ability to transform into the Ruyi Jingu Bang (Monkey King's staff) to fight alongside it? After the Four-Tails was sealed away, the apes multiplied and thrived on Flower Fruit Mountain!

Samehada's existence is like a steel wire, stringing together countless chaotic pieces of information in my mind.

In the blink of an eye, based on Hiruzen Sarutobi's words and the connection between these names, she had already vaguely guessed the origins of this mysterious ape clan.

If that's the case, the ape clan and Flower Fruit Mountain are ancient enough that they might actually have a lineage of immortal arts!

Just as Hui Li was pondering to himself, the ANBU ninja behind him had already led the old man in the straw hat into the office:
"Third Generation Lord, Mr. Tazuna has arrived."

(End of this chapter)