Chapter 80 — The Professional, Hinata Hyūga

And so the question arises.

Was this Third Raikage really the Third Raikage of history?

You could say yes, and you could say no.

Wang Xu had dragged the Third A's soul back from the Shinigami, but his methods had been rather crude, and he had accidentally wiped every last memory in the man's mind blank.

Unwilling to admit his experiment had failed, Wang Xu obtained the Fourth Raikage's DNA and copied the man's memories.

Shed hair, flakes of skin cast off in the skin's natural metabolism...

Obtaining fragments of someone's genetic material was no difficulty at all for Yanqiu.

After that, he spent a few reward points to exchange for some building blocks of flesh and blood, directly manipulated them at the particle level to reshape the flesh, and then, based on the Fourth A's impressions and thoughts, constructed a set of false memories.

And thus, an A as the Fourth Raikage pictured him was born.

Now the Fourth A took one punch and recognized his own old father on the spot.

"Father... you've been revived?" He blinked, his face full of bewilderment.

He had no idea why the old man's strength had weakened somewhat, but that violent temper and the feeling of shared blood could not be mistaken!

Wang Xu watched the two converse with a faint, unreadable smile, and did not cut in.

Cells are the most basic units that make up life; all living activity is carried out by cells. The renewal cycle of human cells is generally 120 to 200 days, and roughly every six or seven years they are all replaced with new cells.

Was the self of seven years later the same person as the self of seven years before?

That was a philosophical question.

As things stood, the Fourth Raikage had accepted this father.

"Let me introduce you. This is Lord Wang Xu of the Ninja World Peace Council! Thanks to him, I was able to be revived!"

The Third Raikage did not think of himself as some artificial construct; having been fed false memories, he was utterly convinced that Wang Xu was his savior.

His identity now was that of an ordinary member of the Council.

After all, in his revived state his strength was considerably weaker than at his peak, and he had no specialty besides combat. That he had not been made a "die-tier" member reserved purely as experimental material was already quite good.

Hearing his old father say this, the muscles in the Fourth Raikage's face twitched slightly.

After a long while, he finally made up his mind and bowed deeply to Wang Xu: "Thank you!"

Any thought of fighting or sparring was now out of the question forever.

"You're welcome," Wang Huai'an said, with a trace of amusement in his tone.

For the time being, he had no intention of making the two of them reincarnators.

But once the Reincarnation Space was built in the future, reincarnators alone would not be enough.

A society with a homogeneous population and rigid class stratification could not be maintained for long.

And this meeting—including even the earlier guidance of Hinata Hyūga's fate—was all part of Wang Huai'an's experiments and groundwork, preparations for the social composition of the Reincarnation Space.

......

Konoha, the Hyūga residence.

Hyūga Neji held a manga volume in his hands, recalling the unpublished manuscript he had seen back then, his face full of weary experience.

"Even if I die, even if I gouge out these Byakugan, I will never look at anything she draws again!"

He shut his eyes and tried hard to cleanse himself of the mental contamination he had just suffered.

A moment later, several veins spread from the corners of his tightly shut eyes.

"It's Lady Hinata's work, after all. I still have to go through it. If I don't understand her work, how can I know what she's thinking?"

*Wind Rises in the Land of Fire*, Volume Two: The Genderbent World.

"Hiss... incredible. Besides males, even shuriken and tachi can turn into girls?"

Having accepted the premise of sword-girls and blade-girls, Neji found it strangely compelling, and before he knew it he had flipped through the entire second volume.

"This book... is really good."

Neji could not put it down, and decided to start over, carefully savoring the contents of Volume Two once more.

Light, hurried footsteps sounded.

He opened his eyes and saw a red-haired girl come to stand before him.

"Brother Neji, Father sent me to call you to the reception room. There are important guests."

The red-haired girl wore glasses, and her appearance was delicate, though now and then a tomboyish streak would inadvertently show through.

Her name was Karin Uzumaki.

No...

Now, she ought to be called Karin Hyūga.

"All right."

Neji smiled gently and hurried to the reception room with Karin.

After seeing the so-called "honored guest," the smile on Neji's face gradually stiffened.

The large gourd on his back, the blood-red, flame-like shaggy hair, the character for "love" on his forehead...

Who else could it be but Gaara?

After the greatest Chūnin Exams in history, the name of Red Hair of the Akatsuki had spread far and wide.

Hinata, Hanabi, and even Karin had all become die-hard fans of "Red Hair."

As a terminal siscon, Hyūga Neji had ten thousand curses to unleash.

At that moment, however, Hiashi Hyūga spoke up: "Neji, this is Mr. Red Hair of the Akatsuki. You two are close in age—it's always good to learn a thing or two from him."

Neji narrowed his eyes at Gaara's face full of fake smiles, more disgusted than words could say.

A gloomy youth and "other people's children" were natural-born incompatibilities.

But he also knew his uncle was only looking out for him, so despite his displeasure, he could only pinch his nose and accept it.

"Hello," Gaara said amiably.

Neji brushed him off with a blank face: "Hello to you too."

Then he suddenly recalled something else.

Originally, Hinata had shipped Haku and Neji together in her manga, and only under Neji's vehement protests had she changed her choice.

After secretly reading the outline for Volume Three of Hinata's work, a stampede of alpacas had roared in his mind.

Why did she have to force him together with that psychopathic killer Gaara!

Better not to have changed it at all!

True, in the manga, the genderbent Gaara really was quite pretty, but...

"No buts! I can't keep thinking about this dangerous question!"

Soon after, Hinata and Hanabi hurried into the reception room.

The first thing they did was ask "Red Hair" for autographs.

"I see."

Feeling Neji's envious, jealous glare, Gaara assumed he understood the source of the other's hostility.

He gave Neji a look that said, "No need to explain. I understand."

A siscon? That was nothing.

Uchiha Itachi, that twisted brocon, was his comrade-in-arms!

But it was obvious that Hyūga Neji had misread Gaara's meaning.

Swept by Gaara's ambiguous look, he immediately felt a chill shoot up from the soles of his feet straight to his skull, and broke out in goosebumps all over.

"I'm not feeling well. I'll go back and rest first."

Neji made a random excuse and withdrew.

With the troublesome one gone, Gaara quickly explained the purpose of his visit.

After hearing Gaara's question, everyone present fell silent.

Hanabi, a little girl with no life experience, was naturally of no use; Hiashi, though clan head, had no experience of the sort either; and Karin had spent her past life existing merely as a walking blood bag, so she could not help either.

But Hinata puffed out her cheeks, pressed a small fist under her chin, and struck the pose of The Thinker.

"An art exhibition..."

After a moment.

She clapped her hands, excitement lighting up her face: "If it's an art exhibition, how could it be complete without cosplay!"

Gaara felt that there seemed to be something dangerous lurking in the eyes of this little Byakugan girl across from him.

Suppressing the urge to punch her, he asked patiently: "What?"