Byakuya remembered Sunagakure as the weakest of the Five Great Nations' ninja villages.
The first to come to mind was definitely the Hidden Leaf Village. After all, every major event in the Shinobi World seemed to involve Konoha.
Even Uchiha Madara, who thought he was quietly plotting the Eye of the Moon Plan behind the scenes, had been one of Konoha's co-founders.
After hastily assigning the Sunagakure Ninja their mission in the Land of Rivers, Pakura returned to Sunagakure with her student Maki and two other kunoichi.
Byakuya knew about the mission she had assigned. Without her permission, the Sunagakure Ninja stationed in the Land of Rivers were not to make any moves.
The next day.
The sky was clear and the air was crisp, yet the chill felt increasingly sharp. The autumn wind carried the dampness of the primeval forest, making it especially uncomfortable against his skin.
Byakuya had bought clothes for autumn and winter in Konoha. They were black, too, and he had put them in the Storage Scroll.
After changing, he realized they were a little too small. They had fit quite well when he tried them on in Konoha.
Children in the Shinobi World really did grow faster than children in his other world—and matured much earlier, too.
Holding his mask, Byakuya stood on a small hill and marveled once more: the people of the Shinobi World seemed like an entirely different species.
After Pakura returned to Sunagakure and reported Shimura Danzō's show of goodwill, the village elders would make a decision. That would take a while, so Byakuya decided to rest until his strength had fully recovered before setting off for Scorpion Town.
The town's name gave him a bad feeling.
After thinking it over, Byakuya figured the word "scorpion" had probably struck a nerve.