Sunagakure

He could not think of any business that could be monopolized at the moment.

Hyuga Kazuya could only finish the food in his hands, then take Kakashi around the Capital of the Land of Artisans.

Of course, they were not merely sightseeing. With Hyuga Kazuya's Byakugan, all he had to do was activate it and sweep his gaze around to easily determine whether there were any ninja nearby.

So Hyuga Kazuya was quite confident that he could find Sunagakure's ninja.

As long as Sunagakure's ninja were in the Capital, Hyuga Kazuya would surely find them after searching the entire city.

Even if they had set up a temporary barrier to block the Byakugan.

Hyuga Kazuya felt that Sunagakure's ninja would definitely not be inside the Daimyo's Mansion of the Land of Artisans.

The Shinobi World's respect for Daimyo would make ninja consciously avoid them.

As long as they were not in the Daimyo's Mansion, setting up a barrier to block the Byakugan anywhere else in the Capital would be practically announcing to Hyuga Kazuya that something was wrong there.

After a long while, the sun tilted westward, and dusk had arrived.

Hyuga Kazuya and Kakashi circled the Capital several times, yet Hyuga Kazuya found no trace of Sunagakure ninja.

Had Sunagakure's ninja not arrived yet?

He clutched his somewhat aching head and rubbed his temples. After several continuous hours of intermittently activating his Byakugan, Hyuga Kazuya had still suffered considerable side effects.

With his eyes hurting and his head swelling, Hyuga Kazuya could only stop searching for the day.

Besides, it was getting late. It was time to head to the meeting place Minato Namikaze had mentioned.

"Senior, are you all right?"

Kakashi, who had practically done nothing all day aside from eating plenty of Land of Artisans delicacies, looked at Hyuga Kazuya rubbing his temples and asked with concern.

Hyuga Kazuya waved a hand, indicating that he was fine.

"I'll be all right after resting for a few hours. It's nothing."

Seeing that Hyuga Kazuya claimed to be fine while still rubbing the pressure points around his temples and eyes, Kakashi could only say worriedly, "Let's go to the inn Teacher Minato mentioned and meet up with him."

Hyuga Kazuya nodded. That was what he had intended to do as well.

The two quickly arrived at the designated inn. After renting a room, they entered the inn to rest.

Minato Namikaze had not said which room at the inn they would meet in, but none of the three team members worried about that.

As long as Minato Namikaze came to stay at this inn,

the convenience of the Byakugan would make it easy to find him.

It had to be said that in ordinary times, the Byakugan was truly an extremely convenient pair of eyes.

Although it could not let one pilot a Gundam like the Sharingan, no matter how weakly the manga portrayed the Byakugan, to ordinary ninja of the Shinobi World, it remained an exceptionally precious treasure.

Before long, Hyuga Kazuya spotted Minato Namikaze's arrival through his Byakugan. Once he saw Minato Namikaze rent a room in the inn,

Hyuga Kazuya took Kakashi to Minato Namikaze's room.

After entering, neither of them spoke. They waited for Minato Namikaze to set up a simple soundproofing barrier.

"Teacher Minato, how did your investigation go?"

Kakashi sat cross-legged on the floor and asked Minato Namikaze somewhat anxiously. He and Hyuga Kazuya had failed to find any Sunagakure ninja that day. If Teacher Minato had run into trouble as well, it would mean they had gained nothing at all.

"Mm, I've confirmed the location where the ninja tools are stored. I've also secretly left behind a Flying Thunder God Kunai. We only need to wait until the latter half of the night, then use the Flying Thunder God Technique to slip in unnoticed."

After explaining what he had gained that day, Minato Namikaze turned an inquiring gaze toward Hyuga Kazuya.

"What about you two?"

Facing Minato Namikaze's question, Hyuga Kazuya answered somewhat uncertainly, "Teacher Minato, we didn't find any Sunagakure ninja."

He did not explain why they had failed to find them. Not finding them simply meant they had not found them.

"Have they not arrived yet?" Hyuga Kazuya did not state the reason, but Minato Namikaze came to that conclusion himself.

"Probably."

"That's fine too. It isn't necessarily a bad thing," Minato Namikaze said optimistically.

"It just looks like we'll have to stay in the Capital of the Land of Artisans for a while."

Since they did not know how long they would remain in the Land of Artisans, the three then discussed its customs and matters requiring attention, so they could better conceal their identities.

Not long afterward, the three parted ways. Minato Namikaze still had to infiltrate and investigate later that night, so letting him rest now would give him more energy for the operation.

A thousand li away from the Land of Artisans, a cruise ship slowly sailed across the ocean toward it.

Inside one of the ship's cabins was a beautiful woman with green hair tied in two buns and orange bangs. Even her ridiculous hairstyle could not hide her beauty. Judging by the forehead protector on her headband, she was a Sunagakure ninja.

A male ninja beside her wore a respectful expression, though his face was full of confusion. "Lady Pakura, we're only going to receive the ninja tools the village ordered. Why have we brought so much manpower?"

Pakura had originally found it strange as well. Why would such a simple retrieval mission require so many Jonin? But just before she left the village, the Third Kazekage had quietly summoned her and explained the real reason.

Although Pakura now knew the true reason, secrecy was required. With two days still remaining before they reached the Land of Artisans, she could not reveal it and could only brush him off.

"The village naturally has its own considerations. Besides, Sunagakure's funds are already stretched thin. Sending so many people is also to guard against unforeseen circumstances."

The male Sunagakure ninja thought of the village's financial situation. He could only sigh and nod in understanding.

"More than ten ninja from the village are all carrying out this simple mission together just because they have no missions."

Clearly, this Sunagakure ninja had misunderstood, but that was indeed Sunagakure's actual situation.

Pakura then had him go outside to stand guard.

After seeing her subordinate leave, Pakura murmured softly, "Will the village's plan succeed this time? I wonder how many Konoha and Kirigakure ninja it will lure here."

As for Kumogakure and Iwagakure, Pakura naturally ignored them, because the ambush site was simply too far from both villages.

Pakura knew that, on the surface, there were only three teams aboard the ship: four Jonin, with the rest being Chunin.

But in truth, two Jonin led by Rasa, the Third Kazekage's disciple, were hidden in secret. In other words, including Rasa's team, there were a total of seven Jonin and nine Chunin.

Their strength could not be underestimated.

Receiving the ninja tools was a pretense. The real purpose was to seize the opportunity to deplete the forces of other ninja villages.

Of course, to make the ruse convincing, the funds for purchasing the Land of Artisans' goods were genuine. If they could receive the ninja tools as well, that would be even better.

The main purpose was fishing. No matter what kind of fish they hooked, as long as they caught fish, Sunagakure could not consider this mission a failure.

After all, as that Sunagakure ninja had just said, most Sunagakure ninja were truly unemployed and without missions.

Walking to the window, Pakura gazed out at the boundless sea and prayed that everything would go smoothly with this mission.