Giving Up the Mission?

"Alright, then. I'll go keep an eye on the Sunagakure ninja."

Just as Hyuga Kazuya was about to get up and leave, Minato Namikaze stopped him again.

"Take this. The moment I sense a battle, I'll immediately use the Flying Thunder God Technique to get to your side."

As he spoke, Minato Namikaze took a kunai from his ninja tool pouch. The words 'Sword of Shinobi's Love' were engraved on it.

Catching the kunai Minato Namikaze handed over, Hyuga Kazuya said with an easy expression, "Don't worry. With the range of my Byakugan's vision, Sunagakure won't be able to spot me."

This was Hyuga Kazuya's confidence. There was no particular reason for it—he was simply confident. Among crowds, aside from the Hyuga Clan, few other ninja could precisely pinpoint another ninja's location.

So even if he was discovered, all he had to do was hide among the crowd, and Sunagakure would be left clueless—unless they killed everyone.

But would they dare? This was the Capital of the Land of Artisans. If they really did that, the Daimyo of the Land of Artisans would not even need to say a word; the Daimyo of the Land of Wind himself would deal with them.

If they dared to slaughter people in another nation's Capital today, would they start slaughtering people in the Capital of the Land of Wind tomorrow?

Therefore, no Noble in this world would allow such a thing to happen.

After bidding farewell to Minato Namikaze and Kakashi,

Hyuga Kazuya followed his memory and began gradually approaching the Sunagakure ninja from earlier.

To locate those Sunagakure ninja more accurately, Hyuga Kazuya could only put on the sunglasses and hood he had prepared beforehand.

Walking down the street, Hyuga Kazuya wore sunglasses and a hood to conceal the bulging veins around his eyes when he activated his Byakugan.

The moment he activated his Byakugan and discreetly swept his gaze around, he found his targets again. Then, hundreds of meters away from the Sunagakure ninja, he unexpectedly spotted three humanoid figures with astonishingly dense chakra.

Which village were those ninja from? Why were they so close to Sunagakure? Hyuga Kazuya was baffled.

He then observed them more carefully and, from the forehead protectors on their heads, discovered that they were Sunagakure ninja as well!

From the moment he had first discovered the Sunagakure ninja, Hyuga Kazuya had deliberately kept his distance from them. As a result, he had not initially noticed the second group of Sunagakure ninja trailing behind the first.

But now, after changing his position and angle, coupled with the Sunagakure ninja entering the city and Hyuga Kazuya's scouting range surpassing that of an ordinary Byakugan, he suddenly discovered that there were two groups of Sunagakure ninja—one in the open and one in the shadows.

"Sunagakure sent such a powerful force to the Land of Artisans."

How could this be? There were actually two groups of Sunagakure ninja. What were they planning?

Although Hyuga Kazuya could not immediately figure out why, something abnormal was clearly afoot. His first thought was that there was a conspiracy.

Rather than continue pondering Sunagakure's intentions, Hyuga Kazuya did not hurriedly go looking for Minato Namikaze to report the situation like last time.

Instead, he carefully observed every Sunagakure ninja, trying his best to memorize each of their appearances and compare them against the people in his memories.

After paying particular attention to the appearances of the Sunagakure ninja hiding in the shadows, Hyuga Kazuya found that none of them matched any ninja from his memories.

He then turned his attention to the Sunagakure ninja in the open.

There were thirteen Sunagakure ninja in the open in total. Three were women, while the rest were men.

He began by comparing those with the greatest amount of chakra and found that the three Jonin-level ninja among them did not match anyone he knew.

Then Hyuga Kazuya focused his gaze on the last female ninja whose chakra had reached Jonin level.

That female ninja wore ordinary ninja attire, but her graceful figure and beautiful face still made her stand out among the crowd.

His gaze moved upward, and when he saw her green bun and orange bangs, Hyuga Kazuya instantly understood who she was.

"Was that Pakura, the Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai ninja from Sunagakure?"

Since characters in anime basically wore the same outfit from beginning to end, and she had changed clothes now, Hyuga Kazuya did not dare be completely certain that he had identified her correctly.

In the anime, Pakura wore a sexy backless outfit, and the slit in her cheongsam went above her waist. If she had not worn pants resembling leggings underneath, she could never have appeared on screen. She was extremely seductive.

But the female ninja in his Byakugan's vision, who resembled the Scorch Release ninja Pakura, was not dressed like that. She wore ordinary ninja attire instead.

Still, this was reality. Who would wear the same outfit forever? Though he was not absolutely certain that this female ninja was Pakura, mere suspicion was enough.

It was always better to overestimate an enemy's strength than underestimate it.

After confirming the Sunagakure personnel once more, he determined that aside from the ninja who might be Pakura, he had not spotted any other ninja he "recognized."

Yet Hyuga Kazuya did not dare let down his guard. They were ninja from a major village, after all. Even if a ninja stronger than Pakura suddenly emerged among these Sunagakure ninja, he would not be surprised.

After watching the Sunagakure ninja in the open enter an inn, he saw that the hidden Sunagakure ninja had not entered the city. Instead, they took up lodging at an inn near the western city gate, the two groups separated by roughly a thousand meters.

"Good thing my Byakugan's scouting range is different from ordinary people's. Otherwise, this mission would really have gone terribly wrong."

Hyuga Kazuya deactivated his Byakugan and returned to the small inn where he had exchanged intelligence with Minato Namikaze earlier.

The two waiting for intelligence at the inn were surprised to see Hyuga Kazuya return so quickly. When they noticed his grave expression, both of them furrowed their brows.

"What happened? Why are you back so soon?"

"Sensei, the strength of the Sunagakure ninja has been concealed." Hyuga Kazuya's tone was serious, though it carried a trace of relief.

"There are two groups of Sunagakure ninja. Thirteen are in the open, including four Jonin. One of them is suspected to be Pakura, Sunagakure's elite Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai ninja."

When he heard there were four Jonin, Minato Namikaze merely frowned slightly. But when he heard that Pakura, a Scorch Release Kekkei Genkai ninja, was among them, his frown deepened considerably.

Even Kakashi's expression turned solemn. Though he did not know Pakura, he knew that no Kekkei Genkai was simple, much less a Kekkei Genkai ninja whose chakra had reached Jonin level.

"There are also three Sunagakure ninja in hiding." After a brief silence, Hyuga Kazuya added in an especially grave tone, "They're all Jonin."

At this, even Minato Namikaze, who had always been confident in his own strength, changed expression slightly. Kakashi went without saying.

"Pakura is in the open, so the personnel receiving them in secret naturally include ninja no weaker than Pakura." Though Minato Namikaze had been somewhat shaken after hearing about the Sunagakure ninja's strength, his excellent mental fortitude and extensive experience allowed him to immediately deduce more from it.

Kakashi and Hyuga Kazuya said nothing. They simply stared fixedly at Minato Namikaze, awaiting his next order.

Even if they continued this mission, Hyuga Kazuya and Kakashi could only grit their teeth and force themselves onward.

Otherwise, leaving aside Minato Namikaze, they would not be able to answer to the village either.

Therefore, if the mission was to be abandoned, Minato Namikaze had to be the one to say it.

At that moment, Minato Namikaze was also conflicted. He had never abandoned a mission before. Would this be his first time?

Even if they continued the mission, he was somewhat confident that he could retreat unscathed, but what about Kazuya and Kakashi?

The village had entrusted such talented ninja to him. How could he send them to their deaths when he knew the situation was hopeless?

And why had Sunagakure dispatched such a powerful force? What were they doing? With everything still a mystery, should they continue?

Though so many thoughts ran through his mind, they had taken no more than an instant. Minato Namikaze had already made his decision.