Summer arrived quietly, bringing waves of cicada song with it.
People throughout the shinobi world had changed into light summer clothing.
Konoha especially.
As the political center of the shinobi world, handsome men and beautiful women could be seen everywhere on the streets.
In a place like this, even doing nothing but sitting by the roadside and watching the scenery for an entire day was enough to put someone in a pleasant mood.
That night, inside a barbecue restaurant.
Kurenai Yuhi, Kakashi Hatake, Might Guy, Rin Nohara, Shizune, Hayate Gekko, Ebisu, Genma Shiranui, and the others sat around a table, chatting excitedly.
After a while, the door was pushed open from the outside.
Obito Uchiha walked in wearing the Hokage's ceremonial robes, holding the Hokage hat in his hands.
When everyone saw him, they hurriedly stood up.
"Lord Hokage!"
An innocent, slightly goofy smile appeared on Obito's face as he waved his hand.
"No need for all that. Everyone, sit down."
Seeing Obito like that, everyone could not help but smile.
None of them had expected that the usually careless and reckless Obito would actually become Hokage one day.
Genma called out, "Obito, we were just waiting for you. Let's eat something first."
Obito shook his head and said slowly, "No rush. There's still one more person who hasn't arrived."
"Who?"
"Big Brother Yuzuru."
"What? Lord Emperor is coming too?"
"Of course. Everything I have today is thanks to Big Brother Yuzuru. This is my celebration banquet for becoming Hokage. How could he be absent?"
After hearing Obito's words, everyone froze for a moment.
Genma, Ebisu, and the others in particular turned pale.
It was not that they had anything to hide. It was just that, with their status, even exchanging a few words with Lord Emperor was already extremely stressful, let alone eating together with him.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Rin smiled and said, "Yuzuru said he won't be coming today, so everyone can relax and eat."
At that, Obito said with some dissatisfaction, "Come on, Big Brother Yuzuru really isn't giving me any face."
Kakashi snorted softly.
"Obito, watch what you say."
"Even if Lord Yuzuru doesn't come, he can still know everything that happens tonight with perfect clarity."
As soon as those words came out, everyone immediately turned their gazes toward Rin, Shizune, and Kurenai.
For a moment, they all felt a complicated mix of envy, jealousy, and resentment.
The three publicly acknowledged beauties of their generation had all become Lord Yuzuru's women.
Lord Yuzuru…
He really was blessed when it came to women.
The entrance of the barbecue restaurant.
After saying goodbye to Sakura Haruno, Ino Yamanaka, Tenten, and the others, Hinata Hyuga walked alone toward the Hyuga clan grounds.
No…
Rather than calling it the Hyuga clan grounds, it would be more accurate to call it the old Hyuga residence.
After all, ever since Lord Emperor took power, he had split up all the shinobi clans in Konoha.
On top of that, because of the conflict between the Hyuga clan's main family and branch family, everyone rarely interacted anymore.
Thinking of Yuzuru Uchiha, Hinata's heart stirred slightly.
Back when she was very young, she had been afraid of being scolded by her father, so she had always hidden how much she could eat.
Later, thanks to Lord Yuzuru's reminder, she finally began living a life where she could eat her fill at every meal.
And that was not all. Because of the Hyuga clan's main family and branch family system, she had been destined from birth to become the head of the Hyuga clan's main family.
Because of that, her father had been extremely strict with her since she was little.
Due to her personality, she had grown up living under the shadow of constant criticism.
It was also Lord Yuzuru who helped the Hyuga clan abolish the main family and branch family system, allowing her to live the life she wanted…
Scenes from the past surfaced in Hinata's mind one after another, and a faint look of disappointment appeared on her face before she could stop it.
Even Sakura and Ino had already become Lord Yuzuru's wives, yet she had not seen Lord Yuzuru in a very long time.
As if led by some strange impulse, Hinata arrived at Ichiraku Ramen.
Hanging in the center of the ramen shop were photos of the past champions of the Big Eater contest.
And she held first place with a record of forty-six bowls of ramen.
Looking at her young and inexperienced self in the photo, Hinata could not help but order five large bowls of ramen.
Ever since Lord Yuzuru had taken her to participate in the Big Eater contest held by Ichiraku Ramen, she would come here to eat ramen whenever she was in a bad mood.
Hinata quickly finished all five large bowls of ramen.
After drinking every last drop of the soup, her mood improved a great deal.
Just as she was about to leave, the server handed her a flyer.
"The Big Eater contest will be held in one week. Come take a look if you're interested."
Looking at the flyer in her hand, Hinata's heart stirred.
Maybe she could invite Lord Yuzuru to participate in the Big Eater contest with her.
Thinking of that, a faint smile appeared on Hinata's face as she walked into a small alley with light steps.
Suddenly, Hinata stopped.
Under the moonlight, she saw a man blocking the path ahead.
"Byakugan Princess, I've been waiting for you for a long time."
The man's voice was cold and clear, as if it carried no emotion at all.
Hinata frowned and asked in confusion, "Who are you?"
A faint smile appeared on the man's face.
"I am your future husband."
"I ran into a pervert…"
Hinata muttered under her breath, then turned to leave in another direction. However, the man rushed forward and blocked her way again.
"Pure Byakugan Princess, I need your power."
"Marry me, and then let us create a new world that belongs to us."
Hearing that, Hinata said coldly, "A new world? What do you mean?"
The man patiently explained, "This world created by the Sage of Six Paths has already failed. It is filled with decay and ugliness."
"I will destroy this shinobi world, then establish a new order!"
"Madman."
After hearing the man's words, Hinata snorted coldly, and her Byakugan activated instantly.
The next second, Hinata froze.
From the perspective of her Byakugan, she could not see any chakra network inside the man's body.
"A puppet?"
"No, that's not right. There are no chakra threads controlling him…"
Hinata was momentarily bewildered.
From what she could see, the man was no different from a puppet. However, there were no chakra threads connected to him at all.
It was truly strange.
While Hinata was still thinking, the man could no longer restrain himself and chose to attack directly. The two of them instantly began fighting at close range.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
The unique force of the Gentle Fist struck the man's body, but it had no effect on him at all.
"Just as I thought, something is wrong with him!"
Hinata no longer treated the man as some simple pervert. Instead, she prepared to defeat him and hand him over to the village.
So she immediately circulated her chakra and punched the man in the face.
"Gentle Step: Twin Lion Fists!"
Boom!
Under that tremendous force, the man was knocked staggering backward.
When he climbed back to his feet, half of his face had already been smashed apart.
"A puppet!"
Hinata finally saw it clearly. The man before her truly was a puppet.
At that moment, the man seemed to sense something, and he immediately smiled as he spoke.
"Byakugan Princess, I will return for you in a while."
After saying that, he stepped directly onto a flying shuttle and vanished into the night in the blink of an eye.
Hinata immediately sprinted toward the Hokage Building without stopping for even a moment.
The mysterious man who had appeared tonight was definitely an extremely dangerous figure!