XX-level Hokage

After a while, Mashiro stood up, beckoned to Naruto who had been observing her for a long time, and then walked out of the classroom. Naruto followed her out immediately. On the playground, Mashiro sat on a bench, while Naruto stood awkwardly to the side.

Mashiro patted the seat next to her, gesturing for Naruto to sit down. After hesitating for a moment, Naruto stiffly sat down.

"I heard Hinata say that Naruto once protected her when someone bullied her, so I thank Naruto on her behalf and on my own behalf," Mashiro said gently.

“It’s what I should do. Those bastards only know how to bully lone kids,” Naruto said.

"Also, I think I've seen Naruto before. When I saw him at school today, he looked very familiar," Mashiro said, looking into Naruto's eyes.

Naruto dodged Mashiro's gaze, his eyes darting around as he said, "Is that so? Maybe it's because I'm a bit of a teacher." "Perhaps, but Naruto-kun is indeed a teacher," Mashiro said casually.

Naruto's face flushed instantly as he met Mashiro's eyes. Mashiro's eyes were pure white, without a trace of impurity. Naruto's attention was constantly drawn to the pure white, and he became completely captivated.

At this moment, from Mashiro's chest, the tip of her Sharingan began to rotate.

Mashiro appeared in a dark, damp, and smoky place. Directly in front of her was a huge door, inside which was a massive, evil fox with fur that looked like it was on fire—the Nine-Tailed Fox.

Nine-Tails looked at the little girl who appeared in front of it and slowly moved its body.

"How did this brat from the Hyuga family end up here?" Kurama's blood-red eyes were fixed on Mashiro.

Looking at Kurama's appearance, Mashiro showed no fear and said softly, "We will meet again, Kurama."

Upon hearing Mashiro's address, Kurama instantly went berserk, its crimson chakra spreading through the cracks in the cage. "How do you know that name, brat?"

But Mashiro had already disappeared from the spot. "Naruto, Naruto."

Naruto snapped out of his daze at Mashiro's call, feeling a strange dizziness. "I'm fine," Naruto said, shaking his head.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. Naruto, you should go home early too." Mashiro said, getting up from the bench. Naruto didn't reply.

Mashiro pulled a bottle of milk from her pocket and waved it in front of Naruto. "Naruto, would you like some of my milk?"

"Huh? What are you saying?" Naruto said, blushing.

People in the Naruto world generally mature earlier.

After successfully teasing Naruto, Mashiro placed the milk on the bench. "Naruto, milk tastes better fresh."

Then Mashiro left, leaving Naruto staring blankly at the bottle of milk.

Meanwhile, the Third Hokage, monitoring Naruto in his office, observed their interaction and softly asked, "Hyuga?" (Naruto's favorability increased by 20; reward: Chakra Boost.)

When Hinata arrived at the school gate, the Hyuga family servants had been waiting for her for a long time.

"Sorry to keep you waiting, Hinata." "It's alright, Onee-sama." "Greetings, Young Lady."

Hinata Haruha, who was in charge of taking Hinata and Mashiro to school, greeted Mashiro.

Mashiro pulled Hinata's hand, while Haruha followed closely behind. They quickly returned to the Hyuga clan's territory. Mashiro lay on the bed, her mind replaying everything that had happened that day.

Naruto had always known Mashiro, but he knew Mashiro from the Li Mo era. The newly returned "Mashiro" naturally wanted to build a good relationship with the protagonist while completing the system's tasks. However, at that time, the Uchiha clan had not yet been wiped out, so "Mashiro" had very few opportunities to come into contact with Sasuke. Therefore, "Mashiro" cared a lot about Naruto.

The two had a good relationship. "Mashiro" was one of the few people who were willing to spend time with Naruto at that time. "Mashiro" would often bring Naruto some fresh milk. After "Mashiro" became withdrawn, the two never saw each other again. As a result, Naruto was threatened by some people in the Hyuga clan, who told him not to get close to their young lady.

Therefore, Mashiro specially prepared an extra bottle of milk for breakfast. "Chakra amplification, what a useful ability."

Chakra amplification is a unique talent of Naruto Uzumaki. In simple terms, it is an increase in the amount of chakra, which means that Mashiro of the Hyuga clan can also have the amount of chakra of the Uzumaki clan.

"Young Miss, the head of the family is looking for you."

Hearing the sound outside the door, Mashiro stood up. "Okay."

In the Hyuga clan's training room, Mashiro and Hinata were standing on opposite sides.

"Hmph, just say something happened so late at night." Mashiro sighed.

She went to Hiashi's courtyard and found Hinata there, and then she understood what Hiashi meant.

One is a legitimate young lady who has been withdrawn for more than two years, and the other is a temporary young lady who has been raised as such for two years. The two are bound to have a battle to determine who should be the focus of the Hyuga clan in the future.

"Let's begin."

With Hiashi's command, the match between Mashiro and Hinata began.

Hinata isn't actually stupid; it's just that her personality isn't really suited to learning physical combat.

For example, the Bagua Palm used by Hinata had the form, but it still lacked the most important element: offensiveness. Is Bagua Palm still Bagua Palm if it is used without the intention of attacking the opponent?

Mashiro used a substitution jutsu to appear beside Hinata, and then... "Eight Trigrams Palm"!

He struck Hinata in the chest with a palm strike, and Hinata instantly collapsed to the ground, incapacitated. Seeing Mashiro's clean and swift movements, Hiashi smiled, a rare occurrence for him.

"It seems your talent hasn't disappeared. You truly deserve to be called a genius of our clan."

Mashiro helped Hinata up, then said to Hiashi, "Father, I want to learn some ninjutsu."

Hiashi's face hardened again at Mashiro's words: "Only taijutsu is the foundation of our Hyuga clan." Then he turned and left.

After comforting Hinata for a while, Mashiro had a servant take Hinata back to her room.

"Master Sousuke, do you think Hinata will be subjected to the Caged Bird Jutsu?" Sousuke Hyuga, the Hyuga clan's trainer, remained silent.

“Main family, branch family… I really don’t know why our ancestors established such a cruel system,” Mashiro lamented. “Young lady, please be careful with your words,” Hyuga Sousuke said sternly.

"I was just thinking wildly. If the main family and the branch family hadn't separated, Master Sousuke wouldn't have remained just an elite Chunin. Alright, I'm going back to rest now." Mashiro said before leaving the training room.

Only Hyuga Sousuke remained, lost in thought.

In Mashiro's view, apart from the Senju clan, which had long since fallen, the Uchiha and Hyuga clans were both extremely dysfunctional.

The Uchiha clan is characterized by morbidity, neuroticism, susceptibility to stimulation, and highly emotional nature. The Hyuga clan is conservative, feudal, corrupt, and prone to sibling rivalry.

Mashiro had discovered this in her previous life. The main family of the Hyuga clan oppressed the branch family, and the members of the branch family had almost no status. Moreover, because of the Byakugan, they were obsessed with taijutsu and rarely learned other ninjutsu except for the family's jutsu and basic ninjutsu such as the Three Body Technique.

Extremely conservative. Even the Uchiha clan, obsessed with Fire Release and Genjutsu, possessed a vast collection of other types of ninjutsu, but the Hyuga...

The clan possesses no other ninjutsu techniques besides jutsu.

In her previous life, Mashiro divided the Hyuga main family and branch families, providing them with many ninjutsu to learn. As the branch families grew stronger, they could hardly tolerate the main family being able to kill them at any time through the Caged Bird Technique. Therefore, with Mashiro's instigation, the Hyuga clan civil war broke out. In the end, the main family, which possessed the Caged Bird Technique, won, but the Hyuga clan was also severely weakened as a result.

At that time, Mashiro used the pretext of the Hyuga civil war to arrest Hiashi on charges of treason and used Hiashi to successfully take over the village.

Back in her room, lying on her bed, Mashiro looked out at the moon. What a rare time of peace.

Then Mashiro's gaze deepened.

However, the more peaceful the times, the harder it is to get close to the core of the village.

In his previous life as Uchiha Zero, Mashiro lived during the unstable period following the Third Shinobi World War. Zero rose to prominence very early on through numerous missions.

As a special Jonin, he had a considerable reputation in the village. With his connection to the Uchiha clan, he easily entered the village's inner circle. Later, after using Kotoamatsukami to turn the Third Hokage into his subordinate, he became the Third Hokage's fourth disciple and successfully entered the village's core.

But things are different now. Let's not even talk about whether she has enough strength or not. Even if she does, there aren't that many high-level missions for her to do. Even if she uses the power of another god to control the third generation, it's still the same. Without the accumulation of strength and reputation, the third generation can't possibly carry her up on his own.

Therefore, she urgently needs a stepping stone, such as the identity of the head of the Hyuga family.

Chapter Four: The tree desires stillness, but the wind will not cease.

Mashiro had been paying attention to that strange dream all along. That dream made everyone dream of what Uchiha Zero had done to them in another world.

Mashiro guessed that the appearance of that dream was related to the system bringing her from another world to this world.

Mashiro asked Hinata and Iruka about the dream in detail, and their answers were basically the same: the dream only contained their experiences with Uchiha Zero, and there was no other information. Moreover, they had forgotten a lot of the content, and could only recall some important information.

For example, what Ida can remember now is Uchiha Zero's teasing of her, so she has always wondered why she would tolerate his coercion. And what Iruka can remember now is Uchiha Zero's promotion of him after becoming Hokage.

Seeing Naruto's reaction this morning, I understood that Naruto didn't know he was the Fourth Hokage's child. What he dreamed about was probably Uchiha Zero's care and betrayal.

So for the vast majority of people, this dream is just a dream, and they don't care about it at all, putting it out of their minds.

However, it's different for many vested interests. They all hope that what happens in dreams is real. For example, the Uchiha clan. In Mashiro's previous life, the massacre of the clan still occurred. However, at that time, the Third Hokage was already controlled by Kotoamatsukami, so Zero successfully saved a portion of the Uchiha clan, including one of Zero's most beloved women, Uchiha Izumi. This remaining Uchiha clan member was stripped of his power in the police department and then secretly transferred by Zero to the newly established living quarters department, responsible for handling the living problems of Konoha residents, in order to change the image of the Uchiha clan in the minds of Konoha residents.

Then, when Zero became the emperor of the Land of Fire, the Uchiha clan became royalty.

Therefore, if the Uchiha clan still existed, they would definitely become his loyal followers, but unfortunately, the Uchiha clan has now been completely wiped out by Itachi.

However, there were still some people, Mashiro believed, who couldn't resist coming to Konoha to investigate. Under the moonlight, Mashiro's shadow stretched long, revealing over a dozen pairs of scarlet eyes. In a cave near Konoha, Sasori seemed lost in thought.

But for some reason, the shadow cast by the moonlight in the cave was now almost completely black.

Sasori's aura sharpened, and a dark shadow enveloped him, from which a dozen or so figures suddenly emerged. Sasori looked at the strange ninjas surrounding him, and just as he was about to attack, a clear, female voice rang out. "Long time no see, Sasori."

Immediately afterwards, two shadowy ninjas appeared from the shadows, accompanied by Mashiro.

The white Hyuga family uniform, the pure white Byakugan, and the alabaster-white skin formed a stark contrast with the pitch-black night, the pitch-black shadows, and the pitch-black ninja.

Looking at this incredibly bizarre combination, Sasori, hidden in Ryuko, asked in a hoarse voice, "Heh, you know me, you brat from the Hyuga clan." Stepping on the dark shadows, Mashiro slowly walked forward.

“Let’s give Guitu a soul together, Sasori,” Mashiro said to Sasori. Sasori remained silent.

After a moment, he said, "You know Uchiha Zero, does that mean he really exists?"

In Mashiro's previous life, she used Orochimaru's research to successfully help Sasori achieve his life goal, giving him the soul of Gui, allowing his deceased parents to be reborn in Gui, and also granting Sasori the freedom of his soul.

Sasori desperately wanted Uchiha Zero to exist in the world, so after chasing a rogue ninja to the Land of Fire, he couldn't help but come to the place where he and Uchiha Zero were doing research together.

“Of course I know Uchiha Zero. You could say I am Uchiha Zero. Because of that dream, I was forced to hide. This body is the vessel I use to operate in Konoha. But no matter what, Sasori, I will help you fulfill that wish.” Mashiro said as she came into Sasori’s body.

“Why should I believe you?” Scorpion retorted.

"Because I am Uchiha Zero." Mashiro said in a drawn-out tone.

"What do you want me to do?" Sasori said after a moment of silence. Mashiro laughed and whispered in Sasori's ear... After Mashiro finished speaking, Sasori burst into laughter.

"I now completely believe you are Zero. Only that madman could come up with such a plan."

"Also, when you see Orochimaru, tell him for me that I know the answer he wants, and that he should come to Konoha to find me during the next Chunin Exams." After saying this, Mashiro disappeared into the shadows.

Immediately afterwards, all the shadowy ninjas transformed into pitch-black shadows and vanished from the spot. Shortly after, Sasori also left the cave.

Back in her room, Mashiro lay on the bed, looked at the moon in the sky, and slowly closed her eyes. Before falling asleep, Mashiro whispered, "Tenseigan..." and then drifted off to sleep.

The next day, after breakfast, Mashiro and Hinata arrived at school together, accompanied by Hyuga Haruha. Mashiro still brought an extra bottle of milk.

Mashiro listened with great interest to the theoretical lessons. In her previous life, she had never attended a ninja academy; she had trained in her clan for a few years before directly participating in the Chunin Exams and being sent out on missions.

Seeing Mashiro constantly taking notes, Sakura, already feeling competitive, also quickly started taking notes. When she saw that Mashiro hadn't taken as many notes as she had, Sakura secretly felt happy.

"Um, Mashiro, can I borrow your notebook to take a look?" Kiba said to Mashiro.

Yesterday when he got home, his mother told him that Mashiro had just recovered and that he should play with Mashiro a lot and get along well with her. "Okay, here you go, your tooth." Mashiro smiled and handed him the notebook.

"Kiba, why did you ask Mashiro for a loan instead of asking me? Do you like her?" Koro said. "Well, your notebook has too many words in it, I don't want to read it," Kiba said, shutting Sakura up.

Seeing Sakura, who was angry inside but still acted cleverly, Mashiro couldn't help but find it interesting. She hadn't done anything to Sakura in her past life, so perhaps she could try this time.

Thinking this, Mashiro looked at Sakura and smiled sweetly.