As one of the Kage leading a Great Ninja Village, the Tsuchikage, Ōnoki, possessed incredible personal strength. But even a man of his stature had things he feared—beings he would never dare to fight.
Among them were legends who had once shaken the Shinobi World to its core, like the First Hokage, Senju Hashirama, and the man known as the Ghost of the Uchiha, Madara Uchiha. However, if someone were to ask who he feared the most, the one person he would never face under any circumstances, the answer would be that terrifying, untouchable figure.
Shénrén Yueyan.
He was a man with no equal in the history of the Shinobi World. Ōnoki remembered how Yueyan had effortlessly crushed an ambush led by both Senju Hashirama and other top shinobi. All of their strongest techniques—Hashirama's Wood Release, the Uchiha's Mangekyo Sharingan, even Tailed Beast Bombs—had been completely useless against him. They were no match for him.
Thinking back on that record, Ōnoki was certain that no one could ever compare to Shénrén Yueyan. If he hadn't suddenly vanished at the height of his power, the world wouldn't be divided into the Five Great Nations today. A man like Yueyan would have only one goal: to forge a single, centralized empire. In that empire, all the existing nations and ninja villages would be nothing more than territories under his rule.
Ōnoki had long believed that such a figure had disappeared from history forever, but he never imagined he would reappear now. And while Yueyan himself hadn't appeared, the arrival of his Twelve Divine Moons was essentially the same thing. Truly powerful leaders rarely handled everything themselves; having powerful subordinates was only natural.
In that bygone era, countless shinobi dreamed of becoming one of the Twelve Divine Moons. It meant gaining virtual immortality and an unimaginable boost in power—a temptation that almost no one could resist.
"But... based on the reports, this is supposed to be a time of intense conflict between Hiruzen Sarutobi and the Uchiha clan in Konoha," Ōnoki muttered to himself. An incredibly bold and terrifying idea suddenly formed in his mind. "Could it be? Did the Uchiha somehow bring Shénrén Yueyan back!?"
…
Meanwhile, in the Land of Lightning, Kumogakure
Inside the Raikage's office, the Fourth Raikage, A, who normally saw himself as invincible, wore a grim expression. Others might not understand the gravity of the situation, but as an experienced Kage, he knew better than anyone just how terrifying Shénrén Yueyan truly was. The Raikage's own abilities were top-class, even among his fellow Kage. But that meant little when the man in question had killed countless Kage-level experts in his time.
Even figures like Hashirama and Madara, who were considered the pinnacle of power, were nothing in front of him. On the surface, Yueyan's return seemed to be triggered by the actions of Konoha's Third Hokage. But leaders like Raikage A knew that when a person like Yueyan made a move, it would cause a cataclysm that would shake the entire world. His reappearance would surely bring drastic changes to the Shinobi World.
More importantly, the strongest of the Tailed Beasts, the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox, was currently sealed within Konoha. If Yueyan's deeper goal was to collect the Nine-Tails, then the other Tailed Beasts wouldn't be safe either. The Eight-Tails was fused with his younger brother, Killer Bee. This meant that their village, Kumogakure, would likely have to face Shénrén Yueyan soon.
It was the worst possible scenario. If it were anyone else, even the Hokage himself, Raikage A wouldn't have hesitated. But why did it have to be Shénrén Yueyan?
The only small piece of good news was that Yueyan had declared he would only act against Sarutobi in three days. But that wasn't good news at all; it was terrible news. No one knew what a being like that would do in those three days, or who he might target next. The Raikage was almost certain that Kumogakure's Jinchuriki, his brother Killer Bee, was on Yueyan's list.
So, what was he supposed to do? What stance could Kumogakure possibly take? Did they really have the courage to stand against Shénrén Yueyan?
…
At the same time, Anbu ninja dispatched from the Hokage's Office in Konoha were trying to contact the Legendary Sannin. The Sannin were three powerful shinobi, all students of the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi. They were Jiraiya, Orochimaru, and Tsunade.
While Jiraiya and Orochimaru came from common backgrounds, Tsunade was a descendant of the legendary Senju clan. But all three had one thing in common: they had long since left Konoha, each for their own reasons. Tsunade left because she grew disgusted with the darkness she saw in Hiruzen's leadership. Orochimaru's departure was officially because of his forbidden human experiments, but the real reason was that his ambition threatened the rise of the next Hokage candidate, Minato Namikaze. Naturally, such an ugly political matter couldn't be pinned on a hero like Minato, so Hiruzen and Danzo played their parts to force him out. Jiraiya left simply because he realized the Konoha he was in was no longer the village he once knew.
"He made his own mess, so he can clean it up himself."
The Konoha Anbu delivered his message. Tsunade, sitting with a cup of sake in a noisy tavern, just scoffed. "He's the Hokage, after all."
It was clear that the life or death of her former teacher meant nothing to her anymore.
However, when the Anbu mentioned the incredibly familiar name—Shénrén Yueyan—a strange feeling stirred in Tsunade's heart. Every woman was young once, and in her youth, every girl has a dream lover. And as it happened, Tsunade's dream lover from her younger days was none other than Shénrén Yueyan.
------------------------
For Advance chapters visit : patreon.com/Mythic_Muse