Naruto: Cultivating to Immortality

Chapter 87 Refining the Heart in the Mortal World

Hyuga Kanan stopped paying attention to these people and strode away, preparing to leave.

Seeing that Hyuga Kanan still showed no sign of stopping, Hiruzen Sarutobi finally couldn't hold back any longer. He raised his hand and waved it, and the ANBU squad at the door immediately set off.

Hiruzen Sarutobi watched the Anbu guards move, but his mind was elsewhere.

He had regained his composure, so he couldn't let Hyuga Kanan leave like that. At the same time, he also wanted these ANBU squads to take action and test Hyuga Kanan's strength.

Although Orochimaru and the others reported that Hyuga Kanan could fight against Jonin seven years ago, Hiruzen Sarutobi didn't take a mere Jonin seriously. He wanted to confirm how much this genius-like Hyuga Kanan had grown in the past seven years.

If they haven't broken through to the Kage level yet, I'll just take them down directly, then I won't have to care so much about them.

After all, if he hasn't made any breakthroughs in seven years, he won't pose such a huge threat to Konoha. I can easily control him, and I won't give him a chance to grow stronger.

A person who has no respect for himself as Hokage must have no feelings for Konoha either. Konoha cannot allow such a person to continue to grow, otherwise he may become a threat to Konoha in the future.

Then there's no need to give the opponent a chance to grow stronger. Konoha can afford to suffer such a loss as a mere Jonin.

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind, if you don't respect yourself, then you have no feelings for Konoha. He has now equated himself with Konoha; he is Konoha.

However, if Hyuga Kanan's strength exceeds his expectations, then he can simply step in, reprimand his ANBU guards, and attribute their actions to their spontaneous efforts to uphold the Hokage's reputation. This way, he won't immediately break ties with them, and there will still be a chance for further communication, instead of a direct confrontation.

A Kage-level powerhouse and a Jonin are not the same thing. Although they are only one level apart, their destructive power to Konoha and the threat they pose to themselves are completely different.

Even if a fight breaks out, I'm not that afraid and I'm confident I can take down the opponent directly. Besides, this is Konoha Village, but if Kage-level experts really start fighting, it will still cause huge losses to Konoha.

Furthermore, without any information about Hyuga Kanan's strength, engaging in combat would be extremely dangerous, and it would be disastrous if something unexpected happened.

The best option is to have your own bodyguards probe the enemy first. Regardless of the enemy's strength, there's always room for maneuver, and you won't have to take any risks.

In fact, even Hiruzen Sarutobi himself didn't realize that he had completely become a politician. Whenever something happened, his first thought was to get his subordinates to fight to the death.

A complete four-person ANBU squad, using several Body Flicker Techniques, directly surrounded Hyuga Kanan, who was about to leave, forcing him to stop.

After glancing at the ANBU squad that had formed a ring around him, Hyuga Kanan glanced at Sarutobi Hiruzen not far away and realized that the Hokage's magnanimity was not as high as he had imagined.

Hyuga Kanan didn't feel threatened, just troubled. It seemed that returning to Konoha openly was his biggest mistake. He had originally thought he could make a deal with the Hyuga clan to help him collect the remaining materials, but Hyuga Kanan never expected that the Hyuga clan had changed its head, and now the Hokage of Konoha was getting involved with him for some reason.

In his mind, he was just an ordinary citizen, not a serving ninja of Konoha, and had no interest in communicating with Konoha's high-ranking officials, so he probably wouldn't have any interaction with Konoha.

Hyuga Kanan knew all too well that any interaction with the Konoha leadership meant trouble and a waste of time. But given the current situation, it was impossible to avoid contact with them, even though he had already tried his best to avoid them.

Hinata Kanan never considered that his indifferent personality was the root cause of his current predicament.

His long period of seclusion and cultivation had made his emotions very detached. In his eyes, there were only two kinds of people: ordinary strangers and relatives. He was completely indifferent to strangers. After all, in his mind, he was not familiar with the other party and had no relationship with them, so there was no need to waste time communicating with them.

This idea isn't necessarily wrong, but it has a very important premise: that the other party is truly just an ordinary stranger with no other identity.

However, the other party is the supreme ruler of Konoha, who has absolute control over Konoha and holds a very high position.

Although he was a stranger to Hinata Kanan and she had no interest in communicating with him.

But in the eyes of others, it takes on a different meaning. Their status brings them power, making them believe that they are no longer ordinary people, but representatives of Konoha's authority.

Hyuga Kanan's behavior was not simply a matter of refusing to communicate with a stranger; it represented his disregard for Konoha's authority and the other person's status.

The two sides were not thinking on the same wavelength at all.

In Hyuga Kanan's eyes, he was merely refusing to interact with strangers and wasting time. But in the eyes of Sarutobi Hiruzen and the others, his actions were tantamount to disrespecting Konoha and the meaning of the Hokage's title.

Hyuga Kanan was genuinely agitated; the unhappiness he had suppressed was now beginning to surface, which surprised him slightly.

He believed that he had now achieved a state of mind where he was neither elated by external gains nor saddened by personal losses, and that nothing in the outside world would affect him anymore. However, it seemed that his self-cultivation was still insufficient.

No wonder all cultivators, after reaching a certain level of cultivation, will leave the world to wander among humans, instead of staying in the mountains in seclusion to cultivate and improve their realm.

Indeed, the mortal world is a crucible for tempering the heart. Countless people and events in the world refine one's thoughts and will, allowing one to truly detach oneself from the mundane world. This makes it easier to connect with the rules of heaven and earth and integrate into the universe.

However, Hyuga Kanan has not yet reached the point where nothing can affect her mindset, and even the scene in front of her makes her feel irritable.

Hyuga Kanan has truly attained enlightenment. His relentless pursuit of higher realms and greater strength will only slow down his cultivation progress. He now needs to properly understand the various emotions of the world so that he can better improve and refine his state of mind.

Thinking of this, Hyuga Kanan looked at the ANBU squad surrounding him again and calmed down his previous agitation. He now knew that these things could also help him build a better future and temper his mind.

So it seems I don't need to leave Konoha directly now. The various things in Konoha can constantly hone my skills and help me collect the materials I need, which seems pretty good.

Seeing Hyuga Kanan standing there in a daze, the Anbu guards didn't think much of it and simply took action. They were acting on orders from Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi, so they just needed to carry out their mission.

Hyuga Kanan seemed oblivious to the ANBU squad's actions, remaining standing there blankly, her thoughts wandering.

He only regained consciousness after a member of the secret service touched his body. His body was sent flying by the secret service squad and crashed into the courtyard wall.

With a loud crash, Hyuga Kanan's body smashed through the wall, kicking up clouds of dust that obscured the view of those around him.

Hyuga Kanan lay directly amidst the rubble, unharmed by the attack; his clothes remained undamaged.

Hyuga Kanan could have dodged the attack, but he gave up in the end. The opponent's attack had no killing intent and was not very powerful; it seemed to only want to injure him and make him unable to move.

Hyuga Kanan also realized that with his current defensive capabilities, there was no need for him to dodge.

The result was similar to when Hyuga Kanan faced an attack led by the leader of an ANBU squad, and was completely caught off guard by the opponent's rapid attack, and was directly knocked away.

This situation was witnessed by everyone present.

Hiashi Hyuga was worried that the Anbu ninjas would show no mercy and directly kill his younger brother, Kanan Hyuga, so he wanted to take action to stop them from taking further action.

Danzo watched with utter disdain as Hyuga Kanan was sent flying. In his eyes, Hyuga Kanan was nothing more than a lucky genin. If it weren't for the fact that he was able to break the Caged Bird Seal and Hiruzen Sarutobi's attention, he wouldn't have even given a second glance to such a lowly genin.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was somewhat surprised. He knew Orochimaru and the others weren't people who joked around, so the information they sent back must be accurate. However, the current situation made him wonder if Orochimaru and the others had gathered the wrong information. The leading ANBU ninja, while strong, was only a special Jonin. He could only delay the actions of ordinary Jonin; he couldn't possibly defeat one.

In Hiruzen Sarutobi's mind, even if Hyuga Kanan's strength hadn't improved, he should still be able to suppress this ANBU ninja, but the current situation was somewhat incomprehensible to him.

"Could it be that Orochimaru and the others mistook someone for someone else, which is why they passed on this information? Or perhaps the Iwa ninja who fought against Hyuga Kanan was either a weakling or seriously injured, causing Orochimaru and the others to misjudge Hyuga Kanan's strength?"

Hiruzen Sarutobi pondered this inwardly, yet remained uncertain. If only Orochimaru had relayed the information, it might be a case of misjudgment. But with Tsunade and Jiraiya also reporting the same information, there shouldn't be any error. However, the current situation seemed vastly different from the intelligence, making Hiruzen hesitant to make a judgment.