"Shut up!" Ao raised his kunai and pressed it against the other man's neck. With his other hand, he pulled out a large wad of cash. "This money's for you. Help me with a minor operation..."
Nine figures landed in the town under cover of night.
"Ah Xiao, how is it? Is this the place?"
Hyuga Takashi, his expression resolute and his forehead bare, sensed the area, then slowly nodded.
"No problem. That guy's hiding somewhere in this town!"
"Search! Turn this whole place upside down if you have to, but find him!"
On the outskirts of town, Hyuga Takashi and eight branch-family shinobi silently split up.
The town was small, with only a few dozen households, but its terrain was complicated and its alleys crisscrossed one another. Finding a hiding place in a short time wouldn't be easy.
"Search separately," he said quietly. "Remember, our goal is to reclaim the Byakugan and eliminate everyone who has seen it. If necessary, the entire town can..."
He left the sentence unfinished, but everyone understood what he meant.
The Hyuga Clan never allowed the Byakugan to fall into outsiders' hands. It was an ironclad rule, and the news that the Byakugan had been stolen was being tightly controlled. No one was allowed to know about it...
The nine figures silently scattered, like nine leopards slipping into the night.
Meanwhile, inside a shabby clinic.
Ao pressed a hand to his freshly bandaged right eye socket. The intense pain had brought a cold sweat to his brow.
The operation had been crude, but at least the Byakugan had been transplanted. He just needed some time to recover before he could start unraveling its secrets.
"You... you can go now," the town doctor stammered from the corner. "I won't... won't tell anyone what happened."
Ao glanced at him without a word.
Let him go?
Impossible.
He slowly stood and reached for the kunai at his waist.
Just then, he realized that the warning traps he'd set around the town had been triggered.
Ao froze.
"Damn it..."
With no time to tie up loose ends, he vaulted through the back window and vanished into the night.
It wasn't long before the clinic door was kicked open.
Hyuga Takashi rushed inside, his Byakugan active as he scanned the room.
The doctor collapsed to the floor in terror, his lips trembling too much for him to speak.
"Where is he?"
"He... he ran out the back..."
Hyuga Takashi gritted his teeth and waved to his companions. "After him!"
Before leaving, Hyuga Takashi casually killed the doctor cowering in the corner...
In the dense forest, Ao fled for his life. The agony in his right eye socket blurred his vision, but his instinct to survive drove him to grit his teeth and keep going.
If he could make it east to the coast, he could evade their pursuit and get away with ease!
Meanwhile, Hyuga Akira, Sarutobi Shinnosuke, and Shisui had joined forces and successfully breached Kirigakure's defenses. What surprised them, however, was that Karatachi Yagura, commander of the Kirigakure army, was nowhere to be found. And the Kirigakure forces were astonishingly weak; the attack had gone smoothly, and they had faced almost no resistance...
"This is bad!" Shisui realized. "They must have gone after Naoki and the others!"
"That crazy?" Sarutobi Shinnosuke said in surprise. "He even abandoned his own troops?"
"Maybe Naoki and the others really did kill someone important... I can't just sit by anymore. Now that the Kirigakure army's been scattered, you can lead everyone in hunting down the remnants. I have to go save Naoki and the others!"
"Wait." Sarutobi Shinnosuke stopped Shisui. "If you charge off blindly, do you even know where to go?"
"Do you have a suggestion?"
"I'm telling you, take your men and head east! They don't know we've already won a major victory against Kirigakure. Right now, the east is the only direction they can flee."
"Thanks." Shisui nodded firmly, then turned and left.
On a hill in the east, Karatachi Yagura stood with his arms crossed, gazing toward the sea.
A Kirigakure jonin hurried up the hill.
"Lord Yagura, the army on the front line has been defeated."
"Just as planned. Get the troops we've prepared across the sea and back home in secret as quickly as possible."
"Yes."
The subordinate nodded and turned to leave. Suddenly, he turned back to look at Karatachi Yagura.
With his back still turned, Karatachi Yagura asked, "What is it, Mujuku?"
Kazama Mujuku was silent for a moment before speaking.
"Forgive my impertinence, Lord Yagura, but when we return home in defeat, won't the Mizukage arrest you for losing the war?"
"Mujuku, how many years have you been with me?"
"Seven. I was already in your service before the Third Shinobi World War began."
"We've weathered a lot together over these seven years. You're one of my trusted men, so I'll be frank with you.
"The Mizukage is nearly finished. As long as I bring back the elite troops stationed in the Land of Fire, I'll be the next Mizukage!
"Then who would dare put me on trial?"
Kazama Mujuku understood and nodded.
"Now that you know, go do your job. I won't forget your loyalty when we return to Kirigakure."
Kazama Mujuku was overjoyed.
After his subordinate left, Karatachi Yagura began reviewing his plans one by one, considering whether he had overlooked anything.
From the moment he learned that Hozuki and Meido had been killed and the transport unit burned to the ground, he knew the war in the Land of Fire was already lost. Anything he did afterward would only delay the inevitable. Since he'd always aspired to become Mizukage, he couldn't afford to waste time in the Land of Fire. So that night, half sincere and half feigning anger, he'd ordered his subordinates to capture all the culprits.
Why had he done that?
The reason was simple. Although Konoha had already scattered the Kirigakure army once, plenty of elite troops remained. To bring them home, he had to put on a show. After all, the Kirigakure army he'd rebuilt was a motley crew, and every faction could have planted spies among them. If he showed any intent to retreat, Konoha would press its advantage and leave him with nowhere to turn.
Under the pretext of hunting down the Uchiha, he'd steadily pulled the elite troops off the front line and sent them to the rear, preparing to transport them home.
Konoha's sudden all-out attack had been unexpected, but his plan was already complete. The army Konoha had defeated was nothing but a bunch of old and weak soldiers.
Once he returned home, the elite force he'd personally gathered and brought across the sea would be his greatest asset in claiming the Mizukage's seat!
Thinking of this, Karatachi Yagura was reminded of the people back in the village, squabbling among themselves while leaving thousands of troops in the Land of Fire to fend for themselves.
"How can you govern a country well when you're surrounded by such vermin?" Karatachi Yagura clenched his fists and said coldly. "Once I become Mizukage, I'll sweep out every one of those useless parasites!"
The fighting with Konoha was about to come to an end, but before he left, Karatachi Yagura still had one more thing to do... He would use Naoki and the others' heads to honor his two trusted men!
Before you continue