Chapter 285: Return
"First, there are millions of people… then millions of soldiers…"
Iroha's eyes gleamed with undisguised ambition.
"With such a dense population, this massive nation has stood for over a thousand years without any internal strife that truly threatens its foundation."
"Most civil unrest stems from systemic flaws, but that doesn't mean their method of governance is wrong. If the Hyuga clan had such a population—tens of millions at our command—we could send out legions of ninja with a single order."
"If ten thousand ninja combined their chakra into a single technique, they could rival the power of a Tailed Beast. If one hundred thousand combined their chakra—perhaps even Senju Hashirama and Uchiha Madara could be suppressed."
"But what about a million? Or tens of millions? Even with Uchiha Madara's so-called immortality that Ryosuke-sama once described, if we condensed the chakra of tens of millions of shinobi into one strike…"
The captains gathered in the military tent fell silent.
None of them had ever witnessed such numbers in their lifetime. They couldn't even imagine the sheer spectacle of a million shinobi unleashing a combined jutsu. Could it... destroy a planet?
The energy would be astronomical—perhaps even planetary cores couldn't withstand it.
Even Armin, who hailed from the world of giants, had never seen such a population density.
In Armin's world, the very idea of population was fragile—constantly threatened by titans outside the wall. By his estimate, the entire population within the Walls might even be less than that of the Ninja World.
"This intel alone has made this trip worth it."
Hyuga Souji exhaled, his voice low.
"We've hesitated about unifying the Ninja World for years—because we lacked a model for post-war governance."
"Now, we may have found our answer. If we implement a similar structure, we might finally bring true peace—under a single banner."
These insights into statecraft were the most valuable outcome of the expedition. Technologies, martial arts, and strengthening methods were all secondary.
"According to the original one-month plan, we still have around nine days remaining."
Hinata Iroha's gaze swept across the captains.
"But based on the Empire's map, we may not even make it out of this snowfield in nine days, let alone reach the heart of the Empire where the population thrives."
"So for the rest of our time, we'll remain here and await the return portal."
"As the first pioneering team, we've captured foreign soldiers, obtained valuable intel, and secured foundational knowledge. That's more than enough."
It was true—they never reached the central cities or encountered the culture and history of this world in person.
But their landing point at the very edge of the Empire had been a fortunate one. If they hadn't encountered the garrison, they might have wandered for a month in the frozen wilderness, wasting precious supplies and returning empty-handed.
At best, they would've returned exhausted. At worst, they would've lost people.
None of the other captains raised objections.
And so, the first interdimensional pioneering mission came to an end—not a failure, but an incomplete success.
---
Back in the Ninja World, Ryosuke had spent the past month immersed in intense mental training.
The eternal rain of the Land of Rain had—for once—cleared. Not by chance, but through his own will.
Under the sun's rare rays, he sat atop the city wall, gazing down at the people passing below. His presence unsettled them.
No one dared to look directly at him. His eyes, which occasionally shifted between the Tenseigan and the Byakugan, made the air grow cold.
They had committed no crimes, yet his gaze alone froze them in place, as if a predator was watching from above.
If not for the occasional shift in his eyes, one might have mistaken Ryosuke for a sculpture—immobile, eternal.
He no longer needed food or rest.
He could now survive on wind and dew alone—absorbing pure natural energy directly from the environment to sustain himself.
And under his silent "watch," crime near the city gate had reached record lows. No one dared stir trouble where he could see.
But Ryosuke didn't sit here out of impatience, waiting for the first pioneering team to return.
The time was set. The space-time gate was under his absolute control. There was no rush—no anxiety. He knew when it would open.
No, Ryosuke sat atop the wall for one reason: training.
Hinata and the elders handled the Hyuga clan's affairs.
The events of the world—great or small—no longer concerned him.
Even Uchiha Madara, now possessed by Kaguya Otsutsuki and Black Zetsu, had visited him recently in the Land of Rain to remind him of their one-year promise… before vanishing once again.
Currently, Madara was no longer alone. His body was shared by two minds—Kaguya and Black Zetsu.
They certainly had the power to steal full control. But Ryosuke had promised to help revive Kaguya's true form. For now, she seemed content to observe through Madara's eyes, occasionally surfacing to explore.
From the outside, it appeared Ryosuke had endless responsibilities.
But in truth, there was little he could do right now.
And so, he trained—focusing all his will on one goal:
Control over fate.
What Ryosuke once called "precognition" had long since surpassed that term. Threads of fate—glimmering, silver, and translucent—now hung above every person he saw.
It was no longer foresight. It was causal perception.
That was why he spent his days watching the people come and go beneath the city gates.
Merchants. Farmers. Miners. Officials. Ninja.
Each with different destinies.
The silver threads above their heads told him everything.
He could see when they were born, when they would fall ill, reach their lowest point, rise again... even the moment they would die.
Of course, this ability came at a price.
It consumed immense amounts of ocular power. The more tangled and complex someone's fate was, the greater the strain.
He could even see his own thread.
But therein lay the problem.
He couldn't control it.
No matter how long he watched—whether it was his fate or Hinata's—it constantly shifted. Every glimpse revealed a slightly different outcome.
Sometimes it shortened.
Sometimes it forked.
Sometimes… it vanished.
He could see fate. But fate itself was unstable—unfixed.
The closer someone is to you, the more complex their changes become.
But those with no causal connection—like the merchant who had just entered the city—were different. He wasn't from the Land of Rain, but from a remote, obscure nation somewhere in the Ninja World. He came here solely for trade and would stay for only a few days.
Ryosuke observed him for three days, conducting four separate readings. With no thread of fate linking them, he could see both the merchant's future and past with perfect clarity.
But the moment Ryosuke even thought of initiating contact, the thread of causality inexplicably bound them together—and that fate, once so transparent, would become as unpredictable as those of the people around him.
And if that fate involved another world? It would become even more obscure, even more entangled.
Just like the destiny he once saw in himself—one that didn't include the progress bar in his mind.
Before the bar advanced, he'd perceived one kind of future.
After it changed—when his strength and physical abilities improved—he saw another.
Even if the progress bar was hidden when reading his own fate, the effects it brought still distorted what he saw.
It was complicated...
But Ryosuke was utterly fascinated.
He had to understand it.
"Ryosuke-sama."
A figure appeared silently on the city wall beside him.
"The head of the family asked me to remind you—it's time to return and prepare for the first group's arrival."
"I know."
Ryosuke nodded slightly and withdrew his gaze from one of the passing civilians below.
Then, he stood up.
Crunch. Crunch. Crunch.
His bones shifted with the grinding sound of metal scraping metal, followed by the deep surge of something akin to the sea roaring from within his body.
The Hyuga ninja beside him involuntarily took a step back.
He felt it.
An overwhelming, primal sense of danger.
As Ryosuke's long-dormant organs fully reactivated, waves of heat began to radiate from his body.
Natural energy from all directions surged toward him.
The wind howled suddenly, causing pedestrians below to raise their heads in confusion.
There, atop the city wall—light bloomed around Ryosuke.
Whoosh—
He closed his eyes and exhaled slowly. Then inhaled.
The light itself seemed to be sucked into his lungs, merging seamlessly into his body.
When he opened his eyes again, the whites of his eyes were crystal clear, glowing faintly.
He was fully synchronized.
His brain instantly calculated the precise state of both body and soul.
His nervous system, once slightly sluggish from the moon's effects, now responded with total clarity.
No more lag.
No more misalignment.
Before the first group returned from the other world—he had finally eliminated the last hidden danger within himself.
He took a step forward.
The void twisted.
"Let's go."
A calm voice echoed through the air as Ryosuke and the massive Tenseigan eye beside him stepped into the spiraling distortion.
Behind him, the stunned Hyuga ninja blinked, then shouted, "Y-Yes!"
And quickly followed.
...
The environment welcoming the first group home was the same as when they departed a month prior.
The same training ground.
Only now, the atmosphere was heavier.
At the center of the field stood a dull, inconspicuous stone gate—no ornate carvings, no inscriptions—its front and back panels flush, symmetrical.
Half of the Hyuga's forces had assembled near the grounds.
Shanks, Eren, Sakata Gintoki, and others from different worlds were interspersed throughout the perimeter, ready to react at a moment's notice.
Everyone was on edge.
Ryosuke stood on the temporary platform with the core members of the clan—Hinata, Hanabi, Hyuga Hiashi, Hizashi, Hoshicai, and the elders.
Their eyes were locked onto the stone gate.
Not a word was spoken.
No guesses.
No speculation.
They simply waited.
The gate lit up again.
When the moment arrived—when the progress of the time-space gate, now under Ryosuke's control, reached 100%—a brilliant white light burst forth from the center.
Like something long dead had come to life again.
The door creaked open.
Inside, stars twinkled—dazzling, radiant—like a fragment of the Milky Way had been sealed within.
"I'm here."
Ryosuke's voice rang in everyone's minds.
Then he gave the command—accept the signal from the other world, and open the path.
Moments later, the first figure stepped through the starlit gate.
Gradually, under the light, his features became clear.
It was Hyuga Souji.
Dressed in a thick cotton coat, he emerged calmly, stepping into the open and silently awaiting the others.
A wave of collective relief passed through the crowd.
But Souji remained alert—his gaze never wavering.
One... ten... twenty...
They emerged in small teams, reforming their pre-departure formations with practiced precision.
Clothed in uniform, posture proud—each one seemed untouched by conflict.
It looked like the mission had gone without a hitch.
But just as nearly half had returned and the tension seemed to fade—
Hyuga Souji stepped forward.
"Master, we have captured more than a thousand alien soldiers. May we bring them back?"
As he spoke, he looked past the alert guards toward the platform—toward Hinata.
...?
The tension snapped back like a drawn bowstring.
Murmurs rippled across the field.
Hinata remained composed, but stepped forward and shouted,
"How did one hundred of you capture a thousand soldiers without any casualties?"
Even though he trusted Souji, this was too much to take lightly.
There was no guarantee that beings from another world couldn't possess others.
Even someone like Uchiha Madara had been turned into a puppet.
"My teammates can all testify."
Souji replied firmly.
"Or..."
He bowed deeply to Ryosuke.
"Please use a memory-searching technique. Then you'll understand the situation completely."
<><><><><>
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Bonus Chapter]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]