Chapter Forty: The Double Agent! The Battlefield Unfolds!

The rear mountain?

Hankuang froze.

Could it be that the village thought Orochimaru had blown up the rear mountain?

That couldn't be, could it?

Had he already run away?

"This is complicated. You don't need to know about it."

Minato Namikaze spoke again.

"Also, the village has just issued a new order. Every ninja's information must be entered again."

"Re-enter the ninjas' information?"

"That's right. So for now, none of the village's ninjas are allowed to leave."

What?!

Hankuang was speechless.

The border had already been breached, yet the village higher-ups wanted to record information at a time like this?

Wasn't this ridiculous?

Of course, this sort of thing had nothing to do with a mere Genin like him.

The only thing Hankuang couldn't understand was whether the explosion at the rear mountain could really make Orochimaru defect.

The two things had nothing to do with each other!

Minato Namikaze left.

Team 9 gathered together and began discussing the matter.

"What did you find when you went to investigate the rear mountain last night?" Hankuang asked Kakashi and Obito.

"A huge crater—the entire mountaintop was blown apart!" Obito said exaggeratedly.

"There was also a passage guarded by the Anbu, but we couldn't get close," Kakashi said.

"A passage? Where was it?" Hankuang's expression shifted.

"On the shady side. The area around it was covered in rubble."

The shady side? A passage?

Hankuang stroked his chin, deep in thought.

He remembered encountering Danzo the last time he had gone to the shady side of the rear mountain.

Considering that Orochimaru had suddenly fled from the front line, it wasn't hard to guess—

That passage most likely led to Orochimaru's secret laboratory.

If it had been an ordinary laboratory, Orochimaru wouldn't have needed to run.

"There must have been a lot of forbidden things in that laboratory!"

"For example, the corpses of ninjas from the various clans?"

Hankuang guessed that this was the only possibility that could make Orochimaru abandon even his position as commander and flee first thing in the morning.

Because he had offended the entire village!

"So this happened because of me?"

Hankuang looked up at the sky, a faint sadness flashing through his heart.

He didn't think he could be blamed for this.

If anyone was to blame, it was Orochimaru!

After all, he had merely exposed Orochimaru's crimes by accident! He should have been a hero.

Meanwhile, as the commander of the front line, Orochimaru had fled without even saying a word, causing the entire front line to collapse.

Orochimaru was the greatest sinner!

In the afternoon.

Team 9 was summoned to the Hokage's Office, where their identities were entered again.

To Hankuang's surprise, the person overseeing the process wasn't the Hokage, but Danzo.

After Team 9 had finished registering, Hankuang, who was walking at the back, was called over.

"Hankuang, wait a moment!"

Danzo spoke in a deep voice and gestured to him.

"Uh? Lord Danzou, is something wrong?" Hankuang asked, looking puzzled.

"Are you willing to join Root and become an undercover agent?" Danzo's voice was low.

"Join Root? Become an undercover agent?"

Hankuang froze.

"You want me to become an undercover agent? Danzo, aren't you afraid I'll infiltrate you and kill you?"

Scratching his head, Hankuang thought it over seriously.

"Then where am I supposed to infiltrate?"

"Stay in Team 9 and monitor Minato Namikaze!"

Chapter Forty: The Double Agent! The Battlefield Unfolds!

After leaving the Hokage's Office, Hankuang looked somewhat solemn.

"Hey, Lord Danzou, what did you talk to him about? Was it a mission?"

Obito came over, looking like an inquisitive child.

"Nothing."

Hankuang was in low spirits and left on his own.

"Huh? Something's wrong with him," Rin said.

Hankuang had always acted as though he couldn't be bothered with anyone, but just now, he had seemed a little dejected.

"Maybe he was reprimanded," Kakashi guessed.

In the courtyard.

After returning home, Hankuang lay on a wooden chair, looking troubled.

Half an hour later.

His expression shifted, and he looked in a certain direction.

"Damn, making me pretend for so long."

At that moment, Hankuang looked nothing like someone who was dejected.

"I can't go find Teacher Minato yet, because I'm still not sure whether Danzo sent any other watchers."

With that thought, he returned to the house, took out paper and a brush, and began recording the properties of the Gravity Sphere.

"First, this technique requires an extremely vast amount of Chakra."

"Second, once the Gravity Sphere is thrown out, it immediately releases terrifying gravity, attracting and dragging in all matter around it."

"Third, I myself won't be affected by this gravity, and I can even transmit Chakra across the air."

"Fourth, once I stop transmitting Chakra, the Gravity Sphere will immediately explode."

"Fifth, the exploding Gravity Sphere doesn't distinguish friend from foe. Even I, the caster, have to flee the blast radius."

Hankuang stopped writing and read it over once more.

Then he crumpled the paper into a ball and burned it.

He had already memorized the properties of this technique. There was no need to leave behind evidence.

At noon.

Hankuang walked down the street with his hands in his pockets.

After buying several skewers of dango, he wandered toward the residential district.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

He knocked on Senior Kushina's door, but no one answered.

"Right, Senior Kushina should be at the baths."

Happy Hot Springs!

When Hankuang walked into the establishment, the sight nearly blinded him.