An opportunity!
A heaven-sent opportunity!
The Cloud Ninja Leader could not help but feel excited.
He had not forgotten the Kumogakure High Command's instructions:
During the peace talks, they were to find a suitable opportunity to recreate the events of the past and, like Kirigakure, seize the Hyuga Main Family's Kekkei Genkai—the Byakugan.
And at this very moment, Hinata Hyuga of the Hyuga Main Family had been abducted by an outsider? Wasn't this the Cloud Ninja's chance to obtain the Byakugan?
Having thought this far, the Cloud Ninja Leader immediately ordered his men to search for Hinata of the Hyuga Main Family. He instructed them to find the Hinata abducted by that Konoha civilian before the Hyuga Clan did, then gouge out her pair of Byakugan...
"Yes."
Kumogakure's ninjas swiftly went into action, disguising themselves with the Transformation Jutsu as they searched all across Konoha for Hinata.
All of this was quickly noticed by Konoha's Anbu. After watching for a while, the Anbu ninjas realized that Kumogakure had set its sights on the Byakugan.
Yet for that very reason, the Anbu ninjas could not help laughing.
The reason was simple. Based on the intelligence they had gathered—
Hinata Hyuga, the missing daughter of the Hyuga Clan's head, had been found again after being missing for just one day.
That meant Kumogakure's information about Hinata was outdated.
Those Kumogakure ninjas were truly idiots!
Whoosh, whoosh.
Kakashi, masked and standing nearby, did not mock the Kumogakure ninjas alongside his Anbu comrades. Instead, he dutifully recorded the details of the surveillance mission:
Kumogakure had ostensibly come to sign the Peace Treaty.
But in secret, they had already set their sights on the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan!
They were now searching the entire village for Hinata of the Hyuga Clan, intending to obtain her Byakugan!
However, according to intelligence, Hinata had already...
Kakashi had only just written this much when his pen suddenly stopped. The reason was simple: he had spotted Hinata Hyuga's small figure on the street, along with Roman, the Konoha civilian beside her.
Watching this scene, Kakashi's brow furrowed slightly as he thought to himself:
Hinata left the Hyuga Estate. From the looks of them, they had no intention of concealing their whereabouts at all.
The Cloud Ninja would definitely notice them.
Things had become a little troublesome.
If the Anbu stepped in and stopped the Kumogakure ninjas, a battle might break out between the Anbu and Kumogakure's peace-talk envoys.
That would definitely be detrimental to tomorrow's Kumo-Konoha Peace Talks...
It seemed necessary to urgently report the current situation to the Third Hokage and let him deal with it.
After signaling Uzuki Yanxi, who was carrying out the Anbu mission beside him, "Keep watching them. I'll report the situation to Hokage-sama," Kakashi swiftly used the Body Flicker Technique and vanished from the spot.
At that moment, Uzuki Yanxi and the other Anbu teammates also turned serious:
Hinata Hyuga had gone out!
Kumogakure was searching for Hinata Hyuga again... If the two sides truly met, they would definitely attempt an abduction.
If the Anbu did not intervene, Hinata's Byakugan—and even Hinata herself—would be taken by Kumogakure.
But if the Anbu stepped in to stop Kumogakure, the peace talks might fall apart.
In short, the current situation was extremely troublesome. Only the Third Hokage could handle it now!
That Anbu ninja earlier—Kakashi—had made the right judgment.
More than ten minutes later, in the Hokage's Office.
Kakashi reported everything he had observed to the Third Hokage.
The previously genial Third Hokage instantly became serious. Setting his pipe on the desk, he asked Kakashi, "Kakashi, where is Hinata approximately right now?"
Kakashi replied, "On the street near the Forest of Death."
The Third Hokage immediately used the Telescope Jutsu to investigate. Before long, through the crystal ball, he spotted Hinata and Roman at the edge of the Forest of Death.
The two were in the Forest of Death.
Of course, that was not the most critical point... What truly mattered was that the Third Hokage saw people tailing them. Those people were Kumogakure ninjas.
"Hmph. Kumogakure came for these peace talks with no sincerity at all. They actually covet Konoha's Kekkei Genkai—the Byakugan." The Third Hokage snorted and asked Kakashi whether the other Anbu were still monitoring them.
Kakashi nodded.
Seeing that, the Third Hokage immediately adjusted the crystal ball's viewpoint. He then saw another group of Anbu silently following behind those Kumogakure ninjas.
The Third Hokage inwardly breathed a sigh of relief, then fell into thought...
Only after several dozen seconds did he say, "Konoha's Anbu are not suited to openly clashing with Kumogakure. If the Anbu gets involved, it will disrupt the peace talks. Have the Hyuga Clan rescue Hinata Hyuga!
"Kakashi, you—no... your mastery of the Body Flicker Technique isn't high enough.
"Mitarashi Shishio, Anbu Captain, you will notify Hyuga Hiashi and have him act immediately."
"Yes!"
A response quickly rang out from within the Hokage Office, and a black shadow immediately vanished without a trace.
Mitarashi Shishio, the Anbu Captain, was taking action.
Kumogakure's peace-talk delegation was taking action, and Uzuki Yanxi and the other Konoha Anbu were taking action as well.
All three sides moved around Hinata.
Meanwhile, Hinata and Roman had already entered the Forest of Death. Hinata had activated her Byakugan, using its three-hundred-and-sixty-degree vision without blind spots to discover the tails behind them.
There were two groups in total.
Moreover, both groups had already noticed each other and were warily watching one another.
They were only several hundred meters away.
After observing those two groups, both Roman and Hinata understood that their trip into the Forest of Death this time—
Had truly drawn out Kumogakure, which had designs on the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan Kekkei Genkai!
Furthermore, it had drawn another group as well. They just did not know whether they were Anbu...
Or Root?!
In any case, trouble had come knocking.
Roman quickly came up with a solution. He turned to Hinata and said:
"The Kumogakure ninjas are confronting the Anbu or Root right now. They haven't come before us yet!
"We can try using a large-scale, high-powered ninjutsu to bombard the direction they're in... Those people will definitely be frightened away, and they won't discover that we were the ones who attacked."
Hinata thought of something. "For example, Vacuum Attack?"
Roman nodded slightly. He raised his palm, curling his five fingers slightly, then pushed it toward the rear—where the Anbu and Root were.
Boom!
Behind them, the air exploded!
The forest! Exploded apart!
Countless trees and roots were uprooted.
Countless clumps of damp underground soil were thrown into the air!
Vacuum!
Attack!
Before you continue