After shaking off Kakashi and the others, Hyuuga Nen headed northwest. When he reached the border of the Land of Tea, he crossed the sea and made for his target, the Land of Rivers.
Hyuuga Nen had considered summoning Kuromaru and having him reverse-summon him into the Land of Fire. That way, he could enter the Land of Fire directly, giving him many more places to go.
After thinking it over, though, Hyuuga Nen gave up on the idea. Sneaking into the Land of Fire might let him hide in plain sight, but if he were discovered, the consequences would be more than he could bear.
If Hyuuga Nen were discovered in the Land of Fire, not only would he be in danger, he would also put Kuromaru and his father at risk. In the end, he abandoned the idea and changed his destination to the Land of Rivers.
However, the Land of Rivers wasn't his final destination. He planned to head west from there, reach the Land of Wind, and search for the Dragon Vein, hoping to obtain its power.
Hyuuga Nen hadn't planned to enter any of the Five Great Shinobi Nations before, but circumstances had changed, and he didn't know what might happen next. He urgently needed greater power to face whatever uncertainties lay ahead.
He had spent a long time thinking about how to gain great power in a short time, but the Dragon Vein was the only option he could come up with. So Hyuuga Nen decided to risk entering the Land of Wind.
As he made his way toward the Land of Rivers, Hyuuga Nen began studying how to make Sealing Technique scrolls. He had already figured out how ninjutsu scrolls worked, so the process came fairly easily to him.
While studying Sealing Techniques, Hyuuga Nen had set aside some leftover materials, which were just enough for him to experiment with.
After several days, Hyuuga Nen had mastered the process of making ninjutsu scrolls. He also made a few during that time.
After putting the scrolls away, Hyuuga Nen stood up and began forming Hand Seals. As smoke billowed around him, he transformed into a samurai, then left the little reef.
By now, Hyuuga Nen was close to the Land of Rivers. He could clearly see its coastline even without using the Byakugan.
"Now that the ninjutsu scrolls are ready, I should get moving." Hyuuga Nen spoke softly, then continued running toward the Land of Rivers.
Before long, Hyuuga Nen crossed into the Land of Rivers. Since the country had no hidden village, he encountered no difficulty sneaking in.
Once inside the Land of Rivers, Hyuuga Nen grew wary. He stayed on high alert, keeping a close eye on the people and things around him to make sure nothing seemed amiss.
"Should I go to the Black Market in the Land of Rivers to gather information?" Hyuuga Nen wondered.
The Land of Rain lay just north of the Land of Rivers, so this area could well be within the Akatsuki's sphere of activity. After thinking it over, Hyuuga Nen decided against visiting the Black Market. He didn't want to linger in the Land of Rivers.
After walking along the road for a while, Hyuuga Nen noticed something was wrong. The people of the Land of Rivers looked worried and afraid, and he overheard them whispering among themselves.
"These shinobi from other countries have been here for days. What are they planning? When will they leave? Are they going to start another war?"
Though Hyuuga Nen showed no reaction, the people's words astonished him and weighed heavily on his mind.
"What's going on? From the looks of it, they must be after me. Did my information leak this quickly? Did Konoha hand it over? That can't be right."
"If it wasn't Konoha, then who?" At that moment, Hyuuga Nen thought of Kakuzu.
"Could it be Kakuzu? But why would he do that?"
From the residents' conversation, Hyuuga Nen got a rough idea of where the shinobi were stationed.
Hyuuga Nen headed toward their location. Far from them, he found a secluded spot and secretly used the Byakugan. He spotted two teams of shinobi facing off.
From the Forehead Protectors worn by the two teams, Hyuuga Nen recognized them as shinobi from the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth.
He also noticed the signal flares they carried and deduced that they had teammates nearby.
"This is troublesome. It looks like the Land of Wind and the Land of Earth have sent quite a few shinobi here." After all, both countries were close to the Land of Rivers.
Hyuuga Nen wasn't surprised that shinobi from those two countries had come to the Land of Rivers. If his information had leaked, even a simple analysis would be enough to guess his destination.
As for the Land of Lightning and the Land of Water, they were much farther away. Hyuuga Nen guessed they had probably sent shinobi to the Land of Sea or nearby countries.
Hyuuga Nen took a deep breath and calmed himself. "It seems Konoha's shinobi may already be here, too. Even if they aren't, they'll arrive soon. I need to leave at once."
With that, Hyuuga Nen set his course and headed west.
Hyuuga Nen had no way of knowing how many shinobi had come to the Land of Rivers, so he couldn't pick up his pace. That might make other shinobi suspicious.
Hyuuga Nen found a caravan headed for the Land of Wind and joined it as a guard, then slowly made his way out of the Land of Rivers.
Some time after Hyuuga Nen left, Kakashi and the others entered the Land of Rivers. In addition to Kakashi and the six members of Shisui Uchiha's team, nine more shinobi followed behind them, bringing their total to fifteen.
Kakashi and the others made no attempt to hide their movements as they entered the Land of Rivers, so shinobi from the other two great nations spotted them almost immediately.
Naturally, the two sides faced off.
After the shinobi from the Land of Earth stopped Kakashi and his group, one of them stepped forward. He wore a yellow-brown vest over a red shirt, and his tall, muscular frame carried an imposing presence.
"Hatake Kakashi, Shisui Uchiha—and even members of the Hyuga Clan. It seems Konoha takes this matter very seriously, judging by how many people it sent." Even through Kakashi's mask, he recognized him and Shisui.
"You're Kitsuchi of Iwagakure?" Kakashi recognized the man before him. He was the son of the Third Tsuchikage, Ōnoki of Both Scales, and an elite jonin of Iwagakure.
As Kakashi and the others faced off against Kitsuchi, shinobi from Sunagakure in the Land of Wind arrived as well. At that moment, each group gathered there numbered more than a dozen.
The three groups watched each other warily, but none of them made a move.
Looking at the shinobi from the Land of Earth and the Land of Wind, Kakashi warned them, "Everyone, this is Konoha's business. It has nothing to do with you! Leave at once."
"But according to the information we received, he isn't one of your people. And this is the Land of Rivers, not Konoha. You have no right to order us to leave."
The leader of the Sunagakure shinobi spoke up. She was a woman with an enormous iron fan strapped to her back.
Before setting out, the shinobi from all three countries had received orders to avoid conflict whenever possible. So none of them fought. After negotiations failed, they exchanged a few threats and went their separate ways.
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