Konoha Anbu

Soon, several masked shinobi arrived at the battlefield. At their head was Konoha's elite jonin, Hatake Kakashi.

Kakashi and his team had just completed a mission in the Land of Tea and were preparing to return to Konoha when they spotted a battle taking place not far away. They had come to investigate.

"Be careful."

Kakashi warned his teammates, then went to the middle of the battlefield and carefully examined the traces left by the fight. The more he looked, the graver his expression became.

Just then, Kakashi's other two teammates approached Kakuzu. Seeing him sprawled on the ground, one of the Anbu members said:

"This should be the rogue ninja Kakuzu from Takigakure. I heard he was incredibly powerful. I can't believe he died here. Who killed him?"

As he spoke, the two teammates moved closer to Kakuzu, preparing to retrieve his body and take it back to Konoha for examination.

"Careful, he's not dead yet!"

The shorter of the two teammates suddenly shouted. Before he could finish, Kakuzu, who had been lying on the ground, sprang up and reached for the shorter Anbu member's heart.

The shorter Anbu member quickly drew his short sword and blocked Kakuzu's attack. At the same time, the other Anbu reacted and kicked Kakuzu away.

Seeing his teammate attacked, Kakashi abandoned his investigation of the battlefield and rushed to his side. He crouched slightly, keeping his eyes fixed on Kakuzu, ready to attack at any moment.

Taking advantage of the attack, Kakuzu put some distance between himself and the three Konoha Anbu. Seeing them prepare to strike, he quickly raised both hands and spoke:

"Anbu of Konoha, do you want to know who did this to me? It was someone from the Hyuga Clan, but he didn't have a Caged Bird Seal on his forehead. He used a false identity at the Bounty Exchange for two years. That means he's neither from the Main Branch nor the Branch House. Do you know what that means?"

After speaking, Kakuzu pointed to a spot on the battlefield where Hyuuga Nen had left traces of using Rotation. As he talked, he kept backing away.

Kakuzu had nearly died here today. Of the five hearts he had taken using Earth Grudge Fear, four had already been destroyed, leaving him much weaker.

When his ambush failed, he immediately revealed what he knew about Hyuuga Nen, hoping to distract the Konoha Anbu and give himself a chance to escape.

Hearing this, one of the Anbu members immediately went to the spot Kakuzu had pointed to and examined it. "These are definitely traces left by the Hyuga Clan's Rotation!"

After reaching this conclusion, he hurried back to Kakashi and reported what he had found.

But Kakashi and the shorter Anbu member didn't move. They simply kept their eyes on Kakuzu, because they had already noticed the traces of Rotation when they first arrived at the battlefield.

"How about it? I wasn't lying, was I? He only just left. You can still catch him if you go after him now." After saying this, Kakuzu fled.

"Don't pursue him."

Kakashi stopped one of his teammates from chasing Kakuzu, then turned to the shorter teammate. "Notify Lord Hokage about the situation here immediately."

Watching Kakuzu flee, Kakashi hesitated for only a moment before letting him go. Though he still doubted Kakuzu's claims, he trusted his own judgment: someone from the Hyuga Clan whose identity was unknown had indeed left traces on the battlefield.

Realizing how serious the situation was, Kakashi's expression beneath his mask grew grave.

Kakashi went to a corner of the battlefield and picked up a fragment of white clothing. From a distance, he had seen that the person fighting Kakuzu had been wearing white.

Once he had the clothing fragment, Kakashi formed Hand Seals and said, "Summoning Jutsu!"

As the smoke cleared, eight Ninja Dogs wearing blue vests appeared on the ground.

"Please, Pakkun."

Kakashi crouched and held the clothing fragment in front of the nose of a small dog sitting on the head of a large Ninja Dog.

The little dog named Pakkun sniffed the fragment carefully, then looked at Kakashi and asked, "Kakashi, who's the target this time?"

"Someone suspected to be from the Hyuga Clan."

Kakashi answered Pakkun's question. At his reply, Pakkun's eyes widened, and his dog face showed unmistakable surprise.

Meanwhile, the shorter Anbu member also used Summoning Jutsu. He summoned a Ninja Crow, tied a written message to its leg, then sent it flying into the sky.

"Go!"

Seeing this, Kakashi wasted no time. He and his teammates followed Pakkun and the other Ninja Dogs in pursuit of Hyuuga Nen.

As they ran, one of the Anbu glanced back at Kakashi. "Captain, if what Kakuzu said is true, what should we do?"

Kakashi fell silent for a moment before replying, "If what Kakuzu said is true, then the Hyuga bloodline may have already spread beyond Konoha. You all know how important the Byakugan is to the village. This is a serious situation for Konoha."

Hearing Kakashi's words, both teammates recognized how serious the matter was. A tense, oppressive atmosphere settled over the three of them, and for a while, they all fell silent.

"This couldn't have been done by the Hyuga Clan's Main Branch. It could only have been someone from the Branch Family," the shorter Anbu member concluded.

He continued, "Given the Hyuga Clan's system, it's highly unlikely that something like this could have happened by accident. That means a member of the Hyuga Branch deliberately left his bloodline outside Konoha. That's an act of betrayal against Konoha!"

"Betrayal?" Kakashi silently repeated to himself, but he didn't respond to his teammate's claim. Instead, he continued:

"The Byakugan has tremendous strategic value on the battlefield. What would happen if it fell into the hands of another shinobi village, especially one of the other Five Great Shinobi Nations? You all know the answer."

"Then should we capture him, or just..." another Anbu asked Kakashi, making a throat-slitting gesture as he spoke.

Kakashi shook his head. "For now, we only need to track him and make sure he doesn't get away. We'll wait for Lord Hokage to issue orders before taking further action."

"Besides, the fact that this Hyuga shinobi was able to defeat Kakuzu means he's extremely powerful. We should avoid confronting him directly and wait for reinforcements from the village."

Seeing the shorter teammate shake his head, Kakashi asked him, "Do you disagree with me, Itachi?"

At Kakashi's words, the boy named Itachi nodded. "Captain Kakashi, I think we should capture the unidentified Hyuga shinobi now, before anything unexpected happens."

"I know you're worried about Konoha, but I'm the captain. You should follow my orders," Kakashi replied flatly.

Hearing Kakashi's words, the two teammates could only nod. In silence, they continued pursuing Hyuuga Nen.