UK:GSW Chapter 433 – Hyuga Neji's Chance for Revenge, an Opportunity That Didn't Exist in the Original Story
"What!? The Hidden Leaf actually dares to confront us!? Where did they get the courage?"
Inside the Raikage's office in the Hidden Cloud Village, the Fourth Raikage, A, exploded in fury upon hearing the report, his voice brimming with the frustration of having his pride trampled.
However, being someone who was rough on the outside but meticulous on the inside, part of that fury was an act. Even as he raged, the Fourth Raikage was already thinking about why the Hidden Leaf would dare to go head-to-head with the Hidden Cloud. Could it be… that they had actually brought out the Reanimation Jutsu?
The more he thought about it, the more the Fourth Raikage felt his guess was correct: the Akatsuki had already been eliminated by the Hidden Leaf, and the Hidden Leaf had inherited the Akatsuki's assets.
Thus, the Fourth Raikage immediately asked who was leading the team. Upon hearing the name Hatake Kakashi, his eyes narrowed.
"Hatake Kakashi? The fallen son of the White Fang?"
The Fourth Raikage was well aware of Hatake Kakashi — one of the most outstanding of the Hidden Leaf's younger generation, the Copy Ninja, a wielder of the Sharingan, and a versatile shinobi who had copied a thousand jutsu.
Of course, in the Fourth Raikage's eyes, such intelligence only amounted to small fry fighting each other. Even if Kakashi possessed talent and skill on par with Hiruzen Sarutobi, he had failed to fully realize that potential. "The fallen son of the White Fang" was his evaluation of Kakashi.
The Raikage held such disdain for Kakashi that, if they met on the battlefield, he was confident he could kill him in a single exchange.
But here was the problem — the Hidden Leaf leadership should know this as well. Yet instead of sending Jiraiya to lead, they sent Kakashi. That was… interesting.
Very quickly, the Fourth Raikage thought of another possibility — that perhaps the Reanimation Jutsu was in Kakashi's hands.
After all, among the Hidden Leaf's top-tier fighters, both Jiraiya and Tsunade's personalities made them unlikely to control such a technique. In contrast, the slightly lower-ranked Kakashi was an all-around genius with the talent and chakra attributes to master it.
If Kakashi really had control over the Reanimation Jutsu, then sending him to lead made sense. In a critical moment, he could use it to make the Hidden Cloud suffer a massive loss.
At that thought, cold light flashed in the Fourth Raikage's eyes. He decided to personally head to the confrontation at the frontlines — in secret, without public announcement.
This was not to oversee the situation, but to see if he could seize the opportunity to eliminate Kakashi during the standoff. The Raikage could not tolerate the existence of someone in the Hidden Leaf who could pose such a great threat to the Hidden Cloud.
After all, if his guess was correct, Kakashi could even summon the man he feared and respected most — the Fourth Hokage, Minato Namikaze. If that happened, it would be a catastrophe for the Hidden Cloud. After all, during the Fourth Great Ninja War, Minato had been a veritable king of mook-clearing, using the Flying Raijin Jutsu to turn himself into a strategic weapon.
A fighter who could wipe out entire groups of Jonin in an instant was every village's nightmare in a conventional ninja war. The Third Great Ninja War had practically turned into Minato's personal showcase. While that level of power wasn't the ultimate threat to top-tier ninja, for entire villages, it was like divine intervention descending onto the battlefield.
No one wanted to meet Minato on the battlefield again — not even the Fourth Raikage.
Thus, the Fourth Raikage decided to use underhanded methods to cut off that possibility!
Of course, the Fourth Raikage had no idea about the details of the Reaper Death Seal, nor did he know that the four Hokage and half of the Nine-Tails were still sealed inside the Shinigami's stomach, unable to be summoned by the Reanimation Jutsu.
Some secrets, if you're not a specialist, are simply unknowable.
At least in the Hidden Cloud, they truly didn't understand.
Right now, the Raikage's thoughts were simple — Kakashi was a massive threat, so he intended to cheat.
He believed that once the Hidden Cloud and the Hidden Leaf clashed, he would find an opening to "righteously" ambush Kakashi and end him for good.
It was despicable, and he knew he'd be cursed for it, but the Raikage didn't care. His reputation in the ninja world wasn't great anyway, and he didn't value having a good name.
After the failure of the Five Kage Summit, he had already become a laughingstock. Since he was already a joke, he didn't mind making his name even worse.
Everything was for the Hidden Cloud!
And so, the Fourth Raikage set out in secrecy. Only a handful in the entire village knew, and he was certain the Hidden Leaf wouldn't find out.
Indeed, normally speaking, when a Kage moved in such a way, it was almost impossible to detect — and Konoha No 2 did not notice.
But just because No 2 of the Hidden Leaf didn't know, didn't mean no one else did.
With Black Zetsu already captured, both worlds' White Zetsu were now under Uchiha Kei's control — and these White Zetsu scattered across the ninja world were the perfect spies.
As such, the news quickly reached Uchiha Kei, who immediately informed the main world's Hidden Leaf leadership so they could pass the information on to No 2.
When No 2 received the news, they weren't surprised — they already knew about the White Zetsu and their information-gathering capabilities.
They expressed thanks to the main world's Hidden Leaf and relayed the intelligence to Hatake Kakashi at the frontlines.
Upon hearing this, Kakashi's eyes narrowed, a flash of killing intent in his gaze. He quickly realized this was also an opportunity — a chance to kill the Fourth Raikage outright.
He had no intention of letting the Raikage go, nor did he care about the diplomatic fallout. Both versions of the Hidden Leaf had already resolved to destroy the Hidden Cloud.
The reason was simple — in No 2's world, the Hidden Cloud was far too extreme and dangerous, not only aggressive and militant in style, but secretly building a chakra cannon — a weapon of mass destruction.
Yes, they were literally manufacturing WMDs!
Even though the chakra cannon had strict usage requirements, it still posed a massive threat to the Hidden Leaf.
For such a dangerous force, if an opportunity arose, it had to be utterly destroyed — at the very least, its ability to produce such weapons had to be eliminated.
This was a major difference from the original story.
In the original, because of the alliance formed during the Fourth Great Ninja War, even if other villages knew about the Hidden Cloud's chakra cannon, they had little reason to stop it.
But now, without that war or an Allied Shinobi Forces, the Hidden Leaf and the Hidden Cloud were still mortal enemies — and would treat each other as such.
Both Hidden Leafs believed that a destroyed Hidden Cloud was a good Hidden Cloud.
And so, at the Fire Country border standoff, in the Hidden Leaf's camp, Kakashi — having received the intel — narrowed his eyes and called over the Hyuga Branch Family prodigy who had been dispatched alongside him, Hyuga Neji.
The Hyuga genius respectfully greeted him: "Lord Kakashi."
He did not use the familiar "Kakashi-sensei," because both he and Kakashi's student shared Gai as their teacher, and thus normally addressed each other's teacher as "sensei."
However, after Kakashi's unbelievable feat of "returning from Warhammer 40K" and becoming the Hokage's aide, his prestige had grown immensely. For the rank-conscious Branch Family genius, and in the current battlefield setting where Kakashi was the commander, "Lord" was the proper title.
Kakashi didn't correct him, accepting the title without issue.
For a Kakashi who had returned from Warhammer 40K, authority and prestige were as essential as strength — a necessity for any excellent leader.
That world had no concept of equality — only rigid hierarchy.
Especially now, with Kakashi convinced — thanks to Uchiha Kei's maneuvering — that the forces of Chaos would eventually invade the ninja world, what he needed was efficiency and decisiveness.
Thus, Kakashi got straight to the point: "I've received word that the Fourth Raikage is secretly heading here. His plan is to ambush me when our sides clash, and kill me here."
Neji's Byakugan widened in shock, his brows furrowing. "The Fourth Raikage… that despicable?"
Kakashi countered calmly: "After experiencing the incident where they tried to kidnap Hinata Hyuga and then shifted the blame onto you, do you still think the Hidden Cloud are an honorable bunch?"
At those words, Neji immediately thought of his father's death, pain and fury flashing in his eyes before he forced them down. "Lord Kakashi, what do you need me to do?"
He didn't ask how they would respond — his attitude was that if Kakashi needed it, he would directly face the Raikage.
Kakashi replied evenly: "When the time comes, I'll restrain the Raikage and create an opening for you. All you need to do is use your strongest attack to break through his Lightning Release Armor."
A glint of resolve flashed in Neji's eyes as he immediately agreed.
This was the Hyuga Clan's specialty — the Byakugan and Gentle Fist naturally countered the Cloud's taijutsu-heavy style. Kakashi's plan played directly to Neji's strengths.
The tragedy years ago had happened because the Hidden Cloud coveted the Byakugan, which countered them. Now, it was only fitting that a Hyuga — and a victim of that incident — help bring this feud to a pause.
He didn't need to personally kill the Raikage. Just being part of the operation would be enough for Neji.
Even if it was dangerous and likely to get him killed, the lure of revenge was too strong.
Kakashi, however, added: "Don't go in expecting to die. I have no intention of letting you. I'll give you some support so you can draw out far more power than you currently have."
"Then you'll be able to break the Raikage's Lightning Release Armor or even seriously wound him — and still walk away."
Neji was startled, unsure what gave Kakashi such confidence. He wondered what exactly this "support" was.
Because of his connection to Gai, his first thought was the Eight Inner Gates — that simple yet powerful "cheat skill" Gai had mastered and passed down to his students.
But aside from Rock Lee, the rest of Gai's students hadn't mastered it well.
Neji himself knew the Eight Gates but was far less skilled than Lee, and nowhere near Gai's level.
If Kakashi wanted him to use the Eight Gates, he would need more training.
Fortunately, Kakashi didn't leave him wondering long. He gave Neji directions to a location.
There, Neji would find a strange white creature — and simply had to accept what it offered him.
Though Neji had many questions, he didn't press further. He thanked Kakashi sincerely and immediately departed.
In a dense forest devoid of Hidden Leaf ninja, Neji encountered a White Zetsu.
And not an ordinary one — but a top-tier "super" White Zetsu blessed by Uchiha Kei.
Standing over 2.3 meters tall with rippling muscles, the creature's presence put immense psychological pressure on the relatively slender Neji.
In fact, facing this White Zetsu's Space Marine-like physique, Neji felt an overwhelming weight, as if a mountain were about to collapse on him.
He was right to feel that way — these Kei-blessed White Zetsu were far beyond normal, their power exceeding most Jonin and rivaling Kage-level strength.
Only the limits of Kei's psychic network prevented him from mass-producing such beings.
White Zetsu were already elite Chunin by default; with Kei's unique blessing, their growth was astonishing.
After all, they originated from humans transformed directly by the God Tree, their roots tied to the Otsutsuki Clan — to whom ordinary Kage-level fighters were hardly more than ants.
Of course, this White Zetsu wasn't here to fight Neji, but to "power him up."
Grinning wildly — a grin that would haunt even the current darkened Obito's nightmares — the White Zetsu made Neji's whole body tense, cold sweat breaking out as he instinctively stepped back.
The sheer terror made him wonder if Kakashi had some grudge and had lured him here to face this bizarre white muscle giant.
Fortunately, the White Zetsu soon produced what it had prepared for Neji — a "fatty combo meal" from the System.
Neji blinked in surprise as the scent of fried chicken and burgers reached him, awakening his appetite but also leaving him confused.
"These are…?"
Muscle White Zetsu: "Something good for you, Hyuga boy. Remember — this is a gift from Lord Kei. Be sure to remember his favor!"
Neji was stunned, wondering who "Lord Kei" was — before recalling the name.
A member of the envoy from another ninja world — Uchiha Kei.
As the future head of the Hyuga Branch Family, one of the Konoha 12, and someone close to Naruto, Neji was authorized to know about the existence of World 2.
Though his knowledge was limited, he knew of the other world's envoy and the names and roles of its key members.
Uchiha Kei — an important Uchiha from that world, close to that world's Tsunade and Hokage's aide Minato Namikaze — a figure worthy of respect.
So, this white creature was his subordinate, and these gifts were from him?
Realizing this, Neji accepted the combo meal respectfully, thanking the White Zetsu and asking him to convey his gratitude to Lord Kei.
The White Zetsu grinned again and promised to deliver the message — then added that the meal wasn't the only thing for Neji.
He produced a strange, white, spiral-faced being.
Made of the same material as a White Zetsu but looking entirely different, it was explained to be "White Zetsu Tobi" — a special White Zetsu capable of fusing with others to greatly enhance their abilities.
It would be entrusted to Neji temporarily. All he had to do was get used to being possessed by it before the Raikage arrived, using both it and the combo meal to boost his strength.
With that power, he would have the might to leave his mark on the Fourth Raikage.
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