Chapter 303

In Konoha, within the Senju Clan's domain, there was a certain place that was the most concealed and the safest.

A beam of light shone.

It was a space unknown and undetectable to outsiders.

Within this space, there was only a single bed.

On the bed lay a person.

He appeared to be a young man of about twenty-two or twenty-three years old.

He had an extremely handsome face, and his body radiated faint glimmers of life force!

These lights were visible to the naked eye, condensing into a tangible form.

In the current Ninja World, there was only one person capable of manipulating life force like this. Hui.

This was the first month of his deep slumber. His body had already been encased in a layer of life energy, undergoing a massive transformation.

At a certain moment, someone entered the space.

It was a beautiful woman about twenty-three years old, Tsunade.

She walked to Hui's side and watched him in his deep sleep, lost in thought.

After a long while, Tsunade finally left.

Although she knew that Hui's slumber would last at least a year, she still could not help but come see him every day.

During this one month, Konoha did not experience any major changes.

But smaller, subtle shifts never ceased.

Konoha continued to develop, gradually widening the gap between itself and other villages in the Ninja World, and that gap kept growing.

Over the course of a month, people in Konoha began to notice that Hui had been absent for a long time.

After learning that Hui had left the village and would need at least a year before returning, everyone felt at ease.

No one worried about Hui's safety—not because they did not care, but because they trusted him and his strength completely.

In everyone's eyes, there was no one in the Ninja World who could harm him.

Time passed, and three more months quickly went by.

It was now the fourth month of Hui's slumber. His body had been completely enshrouded by the power of life. A milky-white glow spread and blossomed, making it impossible even for Tsunade to see Hui's form clearly.

During these four months, Konoha was still developing, and so was the rest of the Ninja World.

However, the difference in development speed between the two sides grew ever greater.

If things continued like this, in a few more years, even without Hui, Konoha's strength alone would be enough to take on all four of the major Hidden Villages.

In the blink of an eye, another three months passed.

It was now the seventh month of Hui's slumber, and the timeline of the Ninja World had reached the thirty-fourth year of Konoha.

The life force around his body had grown even denser, fully enveloping him and forming a milky-white ball of cocoon.

At the same time, dramatic changes took place inside Hui.

His life form was evolving to a higher level.

In the midst of these earth-shattering changes, a certain divine aura emerged in Hui's body.

Faint divine markings began to form, spreading out and engraving themselves. This was the nurturing of a new ability, an entirely new Divine Power!

During the seventh month of slumber, a new body began to take shape within Hui, forming steadily.

Thus, another month went by.

It was now the eighth month of Hui's slumber, and snow had started to fall outside. The world entered a season of deep winter.

All of Konoha was blanketed in white, and the entire world seemed to have become pristine.

Yet in some corner of the Ninja World, a man and a woman clung to each other, each one supporting the other's life.

Four more months passed, making it a full year that Hui had been in deep slumber.

Tsunade looked at that now fully materialized shell of life force, which had become an ordinary milky-white eggshell. She knew that the moment of Hui's slumber had arrived at a critical juncture.

She awaited Hui's awakening. She knew he would not need much longer to wake up.

A year had passed, and the world transitioned back into spring's warmth, with flowers blooming everywhere. Konoha remained bustling and lively; its people relished the peace, brimming with joy.

But while enjoying that beautiful peace, images of a single individual inevitably surfaced in everyone's hearts.

When that figure arose in their minds, they could not help but glance up toward the Hokage Rock, looking at that handsome carved face.

That was the village's Hokage—the Third Hokage, Mochizuki Hui. He had only been away for a year now, and they had already started to miss him.

After four more months, a man and a woman secretly returned from outside the village, the woman was showing signs of pregnancy.

This caused a major stir among the higher-ups in Konoha, as well as within one of the village's ninja clans.

But in the end, the incident subsided.

And so, another two months passed.

In the space where Hui slept, not the slightest hint of life force could be sensed anymore.

All that vitality had already converged, condensing thoroughly into a milky-white "egg," with Hui inside.

As time went on, the shell that encased Hui gradually turned transparent.

Two months later, that "egg" had become crystalline and translucent, like glass or crystal.

Through that crystal sphere, Hui's figure was now perfectly clear.

Tsunade discovered that Hui looked even younger. 

His former appearance of twenty-three now seemed to be nineteen or twenty, with not a trace left that suggested he was actually twenty-four.

Additionally, Tsunade noticed that Hui's skin had turned as fair as jade. His entire being seemed to radiate a special aura that was both mysterious and powerfully magnetic.

This sight left Tsunade spellbound.

She simply abandoned her work and stayed by Hui's side every day.

Tsunade sensed that Hui was about to awaken, and she wanted to be there the moment he opened his eyes.

She wished that the first thing Hui saw upon waking would be herself.

That day came in the ninth month of the thirty-fourth year in Konoha's calendar.

Inside that hidden space of the Senju Clan, the transparent crystal enclosing Hui gradually began to shrink, as if it were being absorbed into Hui's body.

Noticing this phenomenon, Tsunade grew extremely excited. She knew that Hui was about to awaken.

The crystal grew smaller and smaller. A few minutes later, it had been completely absorbed into Hui's body and vanished without a trace.

With that, the glow that had surrounded Hui also disappeared, merging into his body.

Even that divine aura he exuded had now drawn inward.

He looked, on the surface, like an ordinary person.

But at the same time, he was not the same at all.

An essential gap existed between Hui and a normal human being. Though it was internal, it also impacted his outward appearance, lending him a unique aura.

This aura immediately signalled to everyone that he was different.

His long, thick eyelashes trembled slightly, and this person, who had slept for sixteen months, was about to awaken.

Hui opened his eyes, which were now entirely different from the ordinary. Mysterious and beautiful markings floated within them, with waves of brilliance surging.

Those eyes sparkled like starlight, shining as bright as a galaxy.

Anyone who laid eyes on them would be amazed, possibly even enthralled.

The instant Hui opened his eyes, his gaze penetrated the obstacles above him. He saw the white clouds and the blue sky.

His pupils contracted and then returned to normal. The white clouds and blue sky vanished from his sight, replaced by a stone ceiling bearing a sealing barrier.

After this round of bodily metamorphosis, Hui's Celestial Eye had gained the ability to see through objects.

A gentle voice rang out.

"Welcome back, Hui."

The moment he heard this voice, the smile on Hui's lips grew.

At the sound of her voice, Hui momentarily forgot about probing the changes in his body, discovering his new abilities, or exploring his newly awakened divine art.

His entire consciousness was filled with the presence of the voice's owner.

He sat up and gently gathered Tsunade into his arms.

Hui spoke softly, "I've kept you waiting."

In that moment, the two of them embraced, and the entire world seemed to consist only of each other.