These two items—
Hyūga Akira preferred to think of them as a Dungeon Quest Scroll and a Boss Summon Card.
"So… did these drop because I got lucky," he muttered, "or because Shōzō was a leader?"
That question left him conflicted.
If it came down to pure luck, then honestly speaking—his luck was pretty average.
But if it was tied to leader-class drops, then things became a lot more controllable.
Dungeon scrolls were notoriously rare even in closed beta.
Most players insisted they were purely random drops.
But Shōzō's identity as the leader of Amegakure made Akira suspicious.
In the game, enemies with clear identities usually had drops closely tied to who they were and what they could do.
And a "leader" tag might very well come with fixed or semi-fixed rewards.
"If that's the case…"
Akira's eyes narrowed.
"Then I'll just have to find a chance to farm Hanzō."
That debt—being played like a fool—he remembered very clearly.
If he didn't get revenge, he'd write his name backward.
If leader-class enemies really did drop dungeon scrolls, then the room for manipulation was enormous.
Amegakure corresponded to the Hunter world.
Kirigakure to One Piece.
Iwagakure to Fairy Tail.
The Land of Demons to Bleach.
Kumogakure to… some kind of muscle world, which honestly sounded useless.
What about Sunagakure?
And what about Konoha itself?
Would the Hokage drop a Naruto-server dungeon scroll?
That thought alone was dangerous.
"So… should I use them now?"
Akira looked at the scroll in one hand and the card in the other.
If he entered Yorknew City, what could he farm?
The Ten Dons' mafia members—low individual EXP, but massive numbers.
The Shadow Beasts—probably around chūnin-level, but again, plenty of targets.
And then there was the real danger:
The Phantom Troupe.
They had multiple members with jōnin-tier combat power.
At his current strength, farming them head-on wasn't realistic.
But Akira did know them.
And for a shinobi, knowing your enemy's intelligence could drastically reduce the threat they posed.
If he coordinated specifically with Kurapika, it was theoretically possible to wipe out the entire Phantom Troupe.
Akira fell into deep thought.
As for the Boss Summon Card, he had no intention of using it right now.
Despite being labeled "random," plenty of players in beta had tested similar cards.
Most of what got summoned were hostile, top-tier existences.
In the Hunter server especially, the chance of summoning a dangerous non-human entity was far higher than summoning a friendly NPC.
He could very well end up calling forth something Kage-tier or higher—
and have it kill him on the spot.
No thanks.
That card could sit in his inventory and collect dust.
The Hunter server itself, though?
That was different.
If he could strengthen himself further there, returning to Konoha would be much easier.
Because Konoha itself… was a landmine waiting to explode.
The Hyūga main house.
That problem hadn't gone away.
Now that the Caged Bird Seal was ineffective, their reaction was almost guaranteed.
Once he returned, they would attempt to punish him with the seal.
And when they discovered it no longer worked—
That was when things would truly spiral out of control.
The Hyūga main house might imprison him, torture him for the method of removing the seal,
and then find an excuse to kill him outright—rules of Konoha be damned.
The Caged Bird was their absolute bottom line.
If that system collapsed, the consequences would be catastrophic.
The main house might end up sacrificing flesh and blood to appease the village—
losing their foundation, but still better than losing control.
Because once the Caged Bird failed completely…
The hatred between main and branch families would erupt.
The main house would be torn apart.
On the surface, the Hyūga main house treated branch members decently—
jobs,待遇,福利, holiday gifts.
As long as you bowed your head, life was comfortable.
That was true for ordinary branch members.
But for talented Hyūga shinobi?
The main house was a cage.
People said the Uchiha produced geniuses—but the Hyūga were no less capable.
The difference was this:
Uchiha geniuses were nurtured by their clan.
As long as they survived the political suppression from Konoha's higher-ups, they could soar freely.
Hyūga geniuses?
The main house only wanted to clip their wings—
to turn them into obedient birds trapped in a gilded cage.
A genius with broken wings was no longer a genius.
Just like in the future, when Hyūga Hizashi would feel killing intent toward Hinata—
knowing his own talented son would one day be crippled and bound forever.
How could a father accept that?
Right now, Hizashi hadn't reached that point yet.
As for Akira—
Being assigned as Hyūga Hiashi's disposable assassin was already proof.
The main house intended to break him early.
They had underestimated just how radical he was.
Now, with the Caged Bird no longer controlling him,
the conflict between Akira and the Hyūga main house was bound to sharpen—
or explode outright.
To survive that future, he needed power.
Better yet, a backer.
Someone who could shield him from the wrath of the Hyūga main house.
Hiruzen Sarutobi was out of the question.
He'd much rather see the Hyūga bleed than protect Akira.
Tsunade was impossible as well.
Her care for Akira came solely from her affection for Nawaki—
protection by association, nothing more.
In the end, Akira really only had one choice.
"The Hunter server can wait," he muttered.
Stretching, he stepped out of his tent—
only for smoke to puff up in front of him as a shinobi blocked his path.
"Please return to your tent," the ninja said flatly.
"During this period, do not move around freely."
Akira smiled politely.
"I want to see Danzō-sama. I have important intelligence to report."
The ninja hesitated.
He really wanted to ask why Akira hadn't mentioned this earlier—
why now, of all times.
But he couldn't be sure Akira was lying.
After all, this man had just returned from Amegakure.
Who knew what kind of critical information he might be holding?
"I'll notify Danzō-sama. Please wait here."
"Alright." Akira nodded.
No need to make things difficult.
Workers shouldn't make life harder for other workers.
He returned to his tent obediently.
After waiting a while, the curtain was lifted.
A man in ANBU combat gear, wearing a mask, stepped inside.
"Danzō-sama will see you. Come with me."
Akira flipped up from the bed in one smooth motion and followed him.
They entered a slightly larger tent to the left.
The masked ninja knelt on one knee.
"Danzō-sama, the person has arrived."
The figure standing with his back turned slowly looked over.
Danzō raised a hand, dismissing the ANBU.
Then his gaze settled on the kneeling Akira.
"I heard you have important intelligence to report," Danzō said coldly.
"I do," Akira replied calmly.
"And I also have another important matter to discuss with you, Danzō-sama."
"Speak."
Akira lifted his head.
"I want to join Root."
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