The Nara Clan was the first to deduce Tobirama Senju's intentions, but they kept their suspicions to themselves.
After all, Hui was only eleven years old, and the possibility of him becoming Hokage was still far off in the future—most likely after Hiruzen Sarutobi. To the Nara Clan, Hui was too young to become the Third Hokage, but he could very well be the Fourth.
So, they concluded that as long as they built a good relationship with Hui over time, it would benefit them in the future.
Other ninja clans, though not entirely sure of Tobirama's specific plans, recognized the value Tobirama placed on Hui. The information they had gathered painted a clear picture.
Hui had joined the Anbu at the age of six and by eleven, he had become the captain of Team Four in the First Division of the Anbu.
Out of his five years in the Anbu, over four of those years had been spent directly guarding the Hokage. He was allowed unrestricted access to the Senju Clan compound and had mastered several of Tobirama's signature jutsu.
All signs pointed to one thing: Hui was effectively Tobirama's "student."
Thus, in the minds of Konoha's many ninja clans, Hui was a person worth investing in.
The entire ninja world, and especially Konoha, became abuzz with talk about Hui.
However, the focus of all this attention—Hui—was currently unconscious, lying in a room in the Senju Clan's compound.
He had been asleep for a month, unable to wake up.
Kamizuru Ishigawa's self-detonation had inflicted severe injuries on Hui, and had it not been for the "Yuan Qi" within his body keeping him alive, he might have died alongside Ishigawa.
Even though Hui had survived, the damage to his body had been catastrophic, leaving him in a deep coma with no clear signs of recovery.
In the bright room, sunlight streamed through the windows, casting light on Hui as he lay in bed, his face pale but serene. Two figures stood by his bedside.
One was the current Second Hokage of Konoha, Tobirama Senju, and the other was Mito Uzumaki, wife of the First Hokage and the jinchuriki of the Nine-Tails.
Tobirama gazed at Hui's unconscious form with an air of curiosity. "I wonder just how much stronger this kid will become when he wakes up. His constitution is… remarkable."
From his tone, it was clear that Tobirama had no doubt that Hui would recover, even though he had been in a coma for a month.
Mito Uzumaki nodded in agreement. "Hui's body is extraordinary. If I didn't know better, if I hadn't watched him grow up, I'd almost suspect he wasn't human."
She, too, was astonished by what she had seen. The natural energy constantly flowing into Hui's body was simply unprecedented.
When Hui had first been brought back to Konoha, Mito had been shocked at the severity of his condition.
Given the state of his body, she initially thought that there was no hope for his survival. But after a few days, her fears eased. As weeks passed, she became less worried and more amazed.
Even the Nine-Tails, sealed within Mito, was taken aback by Hui's recovery.
"What kind of creature is this kid, really?" the Nine-Tails grumbled in Mito's mind.
It could feel the endless flow of natural energy being absorbed into Hui's body, fueling his recovery and growth.
The sheer absurdity of it all made the Nine-Tails wary.
The Nine-Tails had lived long enough to know many ancient secrets, including the existence of the Ten-Tails. The Ten-Tails was the origin of all chakra, a force of nature in itself.
And the way the Ten-Tails had grown—by absorbing energy from the world—was eerily similar to what was happening with Hui.
Sometimes, the Nine-Tails couldn't help but wonder: Could this child become a new "Divine Tree"? A new Ten-Tails?
"Ridiculous... but he's clearly human…or not. Ugh, whatever. I'll just wait and see what happens over the years. Damn it, I just wish I could break free from this cursed seal!" the Nine-Tails lamented.
But before it could continue its tirade, several chains manifested within its mental space, tightening around it.
The chains belonged to Mito Uzumaki's sealing jutsu, and the Nine-Tails was once again silenced, forced into submission.
"Ugh! Curse that woman!" it roared internally before resigning itself to sleep.
Meanwhile, Tobirama and Mito, after confirming that Hui's condition was stable, left the room.
They, too, were curious to see just how much stronger Hui would become when he finally awoke.
Little did Hui know that while he lay in a coma, he had become the focus of attention for much of the ninja world. Many had already begun to regard him as the next "God of Shinobi."
Inside his body, Hui's Yuan Qi had stopped coalescing into a single entity. Instead, it now permeated his entire form, constantly drawing in natural energy from the world around him.
Some of this energy was being assimilated like before, but most of it was being used to repair and rebuild his body.
It wasn't just healing—it was reshaping.
It was as if the Yuan Qi within Hui found his body too weak and was now reconstructing it to a new design. What Hui would become after this transformation was still uncertain, even to him.
Time passed. And another month went by.
The secretive wars between the ninja villages grew fiercer. In the span of that month, two or three more small countries were wiped out, disappearing from the world map.
It was a sad but inevitable reality. Small countries would ultimately be swallowed by the tides of history, leaving only a few as buffer zones between the great nations.
Escaping such a fate was nearly impossible—unless a god-like ninja emerged to forcibly change the course of history.
So far, no such figure had ever appeared. Even in the original timeline, the only significant outlier had been Amegakure. While it had produced strong figures like Hanzo the Salamander, and later Pain, neither had been able to elevate Amegakure to the level of a great nation.
Escaping that destiny was simply too difficult.
And so, the Cold War continued while the five great nations maintained an uneasy peace. Hui had not been seen for months, neither in Konoha nor on the battlefield.
Yet, no one had forgotten him. In fact, many believed that Tobirama had intentionally kept Hui out of sight to protect him, allowing him to grow stronger in secret.
This only made the other four great nations more determined to kill him.
But inside Konoha, Hui's long-awaited transformation had finally come to an end. On this day, Hui began to wake up.
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