Chapter 74 Departure! New Beginning

Renjiro’s Home

Bang!

Meri slammed her fist on the table: “Why should you be the one to leave? Danzo started all of this!”

She was furious after hearing the whole story from Renjiro. More than anything, she hated that he hadn’t called her to fight by his side.

“I’ll go straight to the Third Hokage and make him take back this nonsense!” She shouted furiously, jumping to her feet.

“Sit down.” Renjiro grabbed her arm and held her still: “The truth is, the village already went easy on me. Killing comrades during war is a serious crime. Losing my status for a while is actually a light punishment.”

“But—!”

Meri swallowed her protest. Deep down, she knew he was right. Still, she couldn’t stand the thought of him leaving.

“Enough. Please, just sit.”

With her eyes lowered, Meri sat down again, though her heart still refused to accept it.

Across the table, Tsugami leaned forward: “So, Renjiro… where will you go?”

Meri’s worried eyes also fixed on him.

Renjiro paused for a moment, then said: “I don’t have a set destination. I’ll travel for a while… and I want to find Lord Jiraiya. There are questions about my last Jutsu maybe he can answer.”

“Jiraiya-sama…” Tsugami muttered, frowning: “Even our clan has no idea where he is.”

Renjiro gave a small nod, as if he expected that. If Jiraiya wanted to disappear, even the Hokage might not know his location.

He then smiled faintly and added: “While I’m gone, you both need to stay alert. But after what happened, the Hokage promised you won’t be sent to the frontlines for now. And as for Danzo… he’s been warned. He won’t dare lay a hand on you again.”

“In short, protect yourselves well.”

“…Do you really have to go?” Meri whispered, in a trembling voice.

“Yes.” Renjiro nodded firmly.

She bit her lip, trying to hold back her sorrow, then blurted out: “Then maybe I should—”

“Meri.” Renjiro’s tone turned sharp as he cut her off: “You and Tsugami staying here is just as important as me leaving. That’s your mission.”

He couldn’t let them follow. His path was covered in shadows and blood, and he would never drag them into it. Whatever Danzo’s schemes, Konoha was still safer than the chaos beyond its borders.

“This all happened because I was too weak… and too low in rank.” Renjiro said flatly: “If I had real power and status, would Danzo have dared target us?”

His eyes hardened, as he continued: “So I’ll go. You’ll stay. You’ll keep training, keep rising. And one day… this village will belong to us.”

---

The Next Morning – Konoha’s Gate

Renjiro stood at the village gates, with Meri and Tsugami beside him to see him off.

“Well then… I’ll be going.”

Almost no one else knew the truth of yesterday’s events. The whole matter had been kept classified, and so his quiet departure passed unnoticed by the village.

“Take care of yourself.” Tsugami said softly. The lightheartedness he usually carried was gone, replaced by a rare seriousness and sadness.

Renjiro turned to Meri, who hadn’t spoken a word. He gave her a gentle smile: “Nothing to say to me?”

Her head rose slowly, eyes glistening. Then, without a word of warning, she stepped forward, pressed a quick kiss to his lips, and whispered with her face flushed red: “Go without worry. I’ll take care of everything here.”

“…I know.” Renjiro froze for a heartbeat, caught off guard—then smiled warmly.

“Alright. I’m off.”

Partings were never easy, but Renjiro refused to linger. With one final glance toward the hidden Anbu in the trees, he turned his back to the village… and walked away.

After Renjiro left, Meri and Tsugami stayed at the gates for a long time, unwilling to turn back.

"Takane Renjiro..."

Only when they finally walked away did the Third Hokage step out from the shadows of a nearby tree.

Hiruzen looked toward the path Renjiro had taken, his eyes filled with expectation. He hoped this journey would teach the young man the true meaning of the Will of Fire.

Then, slowly, his gaze lifted to the Hokage Monument. His eyes moved across the carved faces of the First and Second Hokage, then his own, and at last rested on Minato’s.

“Minato.” He whispered in a gentle voice: “Though you gave your life, I will carry your will forward. I swear this village will never fall into chaos.”

His love for Konoha filled him with a strength that could not be shaken.

---

Whoosh!

Renjiro raced through the forest at blinding speed. In less than two hours, he had already crossed Konoha’s borders and entered the Land of Fire.

Stopping at the boundary, a strange emptiness washed over him. He had left the village so suddenly… and now, he wasn’t sure what to do next.

“Calm down. Think this through.” He muttered in his heart.

He found a quiet creek and sat by the water’s edge. Closing his eyes, he listened to the gentle trickle of the stream until his thoughts began to settle.

Slowly, his mind sharpened.

“First, I need a base of operations.” He said in a serious voice.

There were too many experiments and projects he had to pursue—and none of them could be done without a proper foundation.

“Better yet… I need an organization that follows my will.”

Even with Arkain’s calculations, many experiments required real-world practice. Practice demanded people, resources… and above all, money.

The truth was, even after plundering Danzo’s secret vaults, Renjiro’s wealth wouldn’t last forever. Once the money was gone, he would be back to having nothing.

“Maybe… I should take a page from those who came before me.”

His mind drifted to Orochimaru, who had built his own hidden village, supplying him with everything he needed—resources, manpower, and secrecy. It was far too convenient to ignore.

And not just Orochimaru. Even Obito and Pain’s Akatsuki had the support of a hidden village, whether directly or from the shadows.

“Konoha may be powerful.” Renjiro thought: “But under its system, one man can’t control everything. If that’s the case… then it’s better to create, or take an organization that answers only to me.”

The more Renjiro thought, the clearer it became. Konoha was shackled by too many powers, the Daimyo, the clans, the advisors, the elders.

Without overwhelming strength to crush them all, true unity could never exist. The system itself made it impossible for the village to follow a single will.

“What I need is a force that exists for one purpose alone, to carry out my will. Not one that would abandon its leader the moment danger looms.”

His decision was set: he would create a power of his own power.

“But how should I obtain it?”

He sank into deep thought. Should he build something entirely new, or take control of an existing group, as Obito and Madara once did?

A faint smile tugged at his lips: “The answer is obvious. And the target… already chosen.”

Starting a new power from scratch would be far too tedious. Renjiro had neither the time nor the patience for that.

“No.” He shook his head: “The better path is to seize an existing village. And the target is…”

He snapped his fingers, and said inwardly: “Arkain, display the map of the Shinobi World.”

[Beep! Mission established... Displaying map.]

In an instant, a vivid three-dimensional map unfolded before him, the lands and hidden villages glowing in detail.

Renjiro’s eyes swept across it—until they stopped on a small country. His gaze sharpened.

“The Land of Bears… Hoshigakure, the Village Hidden Among the Stars. You’re the one.”

He had long coveted their mysterious Star. Now, if he could claim both the artifact and the village itself, it would be perfect.

After all, Hoshigakure’s current leader was nothing more than a stand-in Hoshikage, a petty criminal with no future.

“This is heaven’s gift… the perfect chance to take control.”

With conditions so favorable, Renjiro had no intention of letting the opportunity slip through his fingers.

---

Three days later, he arrived at the borders of the Land of Bears.

The country’s terrain was unlike any other—its lands sealed off by an immense ring of natural cliffs, the valleys below choked with poisonous mists.

Because of this deadly environment, outside invasions were almost unheard of. Shinobi were far less essential here than in other nations, which explained why the Village Hidden Among the Stars had always remained obscure—and weak.

“But my arrival will change everything.”

To Renjiro, cliffs and poison gas were nothing more than minor inconveniences. He slipped past them with ease and entered the Land of Bears.

Along the way, he gathered bits of information from the locals until he finally pinpointed the location of the Hidden Star Village.

When he arrived, he could only shake his head. Even the people of the Land of Bears barely knew where their own shinobi village was. To have fallen into such obscurity, it was almost impressive in its own way.

Renjiro did not strike immediately. He made no move to seize power or claim the Star.

Instead, under the cover of night, he infiltrated the village and slipped into the dormitory where young children were undergoing the so-called “Star Training.”

Moving like a shadow, he collected blood samples from each child before disappearing as silently as he had come.

By dawn, Renjiro had already left Hoshigakure. In a nearby settlement, he purchased a modest house. For now, it would serve as the foundation of his new base.

The house he bought resembled Tazuna the bridge builder’s residence, a modest two-story home.

Renjiro wasted no time converting the deepest room on the first floor into a laboratory. Thanks to the equipment he had taken from Danzo’s secret base, the place was soon fully outfitted for his work.

Now, he stood before a glass vessel containing a single crimson drop of blood—collected from the children of the Hidden Star Village.

“Arkain.” He ordered inwardly: “Initiate task: eliminate the side effects of the Star Training. Record my research, run calculations, and correct any errors in real time.”

Yes, this would be his first step toward seizing the village: curing its greatest weakness. Without strong, healthy shinobi, no organization could ever flourish.

Hoshigakure’s “Star Training” left its children frail, their bodies rotting from within. That was not the kind of power Renjiro wanted.