Ao's Surprise

By the time Uesugi Shinji and Kisame returned to the base, it was already evening.

There were quite a few more people here than usual. Besides the Assassination Squad shinobi originally led by Suikazan Fuguki, Terumi Mei had arrived with some of her subordinates.

The moment Uesugi Shinji and Kisame appeared, they caught Terumi Mei's attention.

Before coming here, she had committed to memory the records of all the shinobi under Suikazan Fuguki. The group she had paid the most attention to was naturally Uesugi Shinji's.

Uesugi Shinji's group had always kept a low profile, but when Terumi Mei went through their records, she discovered that they had a 100% mission completion rate—a truly staggering figure!

If they hadn't killed Shirokumo Hayama, a Konoha expert, this time, Terumi Mei wouldn't have paid them any attention.

As Terumi Mei watched Uesugi Shinji, he was also keeping an eye on her.

Unlike the elegant woman in a skirt who had appeared in Naruto, Terumi Mei was currently wearing Kirigakure's standard-issue flak jacket, with her dark red hair tied back in a ponytail. She looked both beautiful and heroic, and more than a few young male shinobi nearby gazed at her with undisguised admiration.

Uesugi Shinji noticed Terumi Mei's beauty, but what interested him more were the resources she represented.

The woman's standing in the village still couldn't compare to that of many veteran higher-ups, but her strength, authority, and reputation among the younger generation were extraordinary. It was easy to imagine that before long, she would become one of the village's most influential figures.

Compared to Terumi Mei, Uesugi Shinji's direct superior, Suikazan Fuguki, and the other Seven Ninja Swordsmen were far less impressive.

If Uesugi Shinji still wanted to make use of Kirigakure as a platform, he would inevitably have to deal with Terumi Mei in the future.

As Uesugi Shinji passed not far in front of Terumi Mei, their eyes met for an instant. Each realized from the other's gaze that they were being watched.

Shinobi didn't observe people the way ordinary people did, staring at their targets for a long time. In many cases, all it took was a passing glance.

So no one else present noticed this "silent exchange" between the two of them.

This is a proud, unruly man. It probably won't be easy to make him work for me, Terumi Mei thought, her expression unchanged.

Terumi Mei wasn't particularly ambitious for power, but she had great aspirations. She was determined to become Mizukage and lead Kirigakure to become the strongest village in the Shinobi World.

That ambition meant she had to build her own team, and talented shinobi of the younger generation were all potential recruits.

Terumi Mei then glanced at Suikazan Fuguki nearby and became certain that although Uesugi Shinji was technically Fuguki's subordinate, Fuguki had no ability to control him.

"Impossible!"

Just then, a shinobi behind Terumi Mei, with upright blue hair and a black eyepatch over his right eye, exclaimed in disbelief as he stared in Uesugi Shinji and Kisame's direction.

The shinobi was Ao, Terumi Mei's trusted aide. During the Second Shinobi World War, he had been lucky enough to obtain a Byakugan from the Konoha Hyuga Clan and transplant it in place of his right eye.

At that moment, the veins around Ao's right eye bulged. He was clearly activating his Byakugan and using its power to observe Uesugi Shinji and Kisame.

Though Ao's exclamation was quiet, it still drew the attention of every shinobi present. Uesugi Shinji and Kisame turned around and fixed Ao with hostile stares, making him feel a sudden surge of pressure.

Neither of them was among the very top jonin yet, but their presence already surpassed that of ordinary jonin. Uesugi Shinji's gaze was calm yet cold, making Ao feel as if he'd been plunged into an icy cellar.

Kisame wore a smile, but his eyes held a hint of murderous madness, as if a ferocious beast lay coiled within him, ready to devour anyone in its path.

Under normal circumstances, Ao, an elite jonin, wouldn't have been so easily intimidated by their presence. But he had just used his Byakugan to see something about the two of them that he found unbelievable. Still in shock, he was briefly stunned by their aura.

But an elite jonin was an elite jonin. Ao quickly composed himself, took a quiet breath, and deactivated his Byakugan to show that he had stopped observing them.

It wasn't a secret to Kirigakure's shinobi that Ao possessed the Byakugan. Uesugi Shinji and Kisame knew that he must have noticed the abnormalities in their chakra.

But they were fellow shinobi from the same village, so there wasn't much they could say. They turned and continued toward Rin, who had returned to the base ahead of them. Kisame even gave an unhappy snort.

The other Kirigakure shinobi were curious about Ao's surprise, but no one asked him what he'd seen. They knew that even if they did, Ao wouldn't tell them.

Using his Byakugan to observe Uesugi Shinji and Kisame outside of combat or an interrogation was already taboo. Ao wasn't about to push his luck by exposing their secret and making enemies of them.

Of course, if Ao had discovered that their secret posed a threat to the village, that would have been another matter.