Waiting for Someone Worthy of His Hand

The office doors slowly closed.

The footsteps of Kakashi, Might Guy, Kurenai Yuhi, and Hinata Yota gradually faded away. The two Root squads had also already headed outside the village to assemble.

Hiruzen Sarutobi did not look away.

He stared at the tightly shut doors, the pipe in his hand remaining unlit for a long while.

"Danzo."

"Do you think they can bring Lie Yang back?"

Danzo stood on the other side of the desk, leaning on his cane.

"You already decided to raise the mission to the highest S-rank. Isn't it rather late to ask that now?"

"What I'm asking is whether they can come back alive."

Hiruzen Sarutobi's voice was somewhat heavy.

Danzo fell silent for a moment.

Just then, an ANBU suddenly appeared outside the window.

"Lord Hokage, urgent intelligence."

"Come in."

The ANBU entered the office, dropped to one knee, and presented a bloodstained scroll with both hands.

"The fourth group of trackers has been confirmed lost."

"Of the eight dispatched, seven died. The last one returned to the outpost severely wounded and brought back partial combat intelligence."

Hiruzen Sarutobi accepted the scroll.

There was very little written on it.

When the tracking team found Lie Yang, he had not fled. Instead, he had deliberately waited in place.

Once the battle began, several Shadow Clones attacked from different directions, using Lightning Body Flicker and ninjutsu of all five elements to throw their formation into disarray.

Before the pursuers could even identify the original body, they died one after another.

The last Root ninja had only escaped by sheer luck, relying on a prearranged evacuation route.

Hiruzen Sarutobi continued reading.

Before withdrawing, that Root ninja had briefly spoken with Lie Yang.

"What exactly are you trying to do?"

"Wait for someone."

"Wait for whom?"

"Someone Konoha sends who is worth my time."

Only three sentences.

Beyond that, there was nothing else of value.

Hiruzen Sarutobi set down the scroll, his expression turning increasingly grim.

"He knows we'll keep sending people."

"He also knows the force pursuing him will only grow stronger."

"Yet he has remained in the Land of Fire."

Danzo picked up the report and read through it.

"That only proves he has become arrogant to the extreme."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head.

"Not arrogance."

"At least, not entirely."

"Judging by his actions since defecting, every time he faces pursuers, he reveals new abilities."

"At first, it was five chakra natures. Then came one-handed seals, Lightning Body Flicker, and swordsmanship. Now, even his Shadow Clones can independently wipe out an entire tracking team."

Hiruzen Sarutobi looked at Danzo.

"To this day, we still haven't uncovered the full extent of his true abilities."

Danzo tightened his grip on his cane.

He could not refute that.

Konoha had already paid an extremely heavy price.

Yet the intelligence on Uchiha Lieyang was still limited to the portions he had willingly revealed.

Gene Lock, Hyperintuition, and the Mangekyō Sharingan had never truly been exposed.

Konoha's upper ranks were even still formulating tactics around the Three-Tomoe Sharingan.

"Kakashi's team composition is already sufficiently comprehensive."

Danzo said in a deep voice, "The Sharingan can track movements, the Byakugan can identify the original body, Kurenai Yuhi will handle genjutsu suppression, and Might Guy will be responsible for close-range pressure."

"As long as they clash, we'll obtain more intelligence."

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned.

"You mean that even if they fail, they can leave behind intelligence with their deaths?"

Danzo did not deny it.

"Ninja accept the risk of death when carrying out missions."

"Uchiha Lieyang has already killed too many people. If he is not dealt with soon, he will only become an even greater threat to Konoha."

Hiruzen Sarutobi picked up his pipe, then slowly set it down again.

"There is actually one more person."

The eye exposed beyond Danzo's bandages narrowed slightly.

"Shisui Uchiha."

Neither of them spoke any further.

Body Flicker Shisui.

One of the most outstanding geniuses of this generation of the Uchiha Clan.

He possessed the Mangekyō Sharingan, and his Body Flicker Technique was renowned throughout the shinobi world.

When it came to tracking Lightning Body Flicker and confronting high-speed swordsmanship head-on, Shisui was clearly more suitable than Kakashi.

Yet neither of them suggested sending Shisui to join the pursuit.

The reason was simple.

Shisui was Uchiha, after all.

News of Lieyang's defection was still being tightly sealed by the upper ranks. If Shisui left Konoha to carry out this mission, he would inevitably learn the whole truth.

More importantly, no one could guarantee what choice Shisui would make when facing a fellow clansman.

Two Uchiha with Mangekyō Sharingan leaving the village.

If either one harbored disloyal intentions, the consequences would be beyond control.

"Shisui cannot leave the village."

Danzo spoke first.

"His Mangekyō is too dangerous."

"Lieyang has already slipped beyond our control. We cannot allow a second Uchiha to leave our sight."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was silent for a long time.

"I understand."

"But the enemy Kakashi and the others are facing is very likely far stronger than our current intelligence indicates."

Danzo said coldly, "Hiruzen, don't forget Might Guy."

"The Eight Gates?"

"Correct."

Danzo tapped the floor with his cane.

"Might Guy's normal strength may be inferior to Kakashi's, but the Eight Gates can release power far beyond his limits for a short time."

"No matter how fast Lieyang's Lightning Body Flicker is, it cannot be without limits."

"If it truly reaches a point where they cannot cope, Might Guy will become the team's final trump card."

Hiruzen Sarutobi recalled Might Duy's achievements during the Third Shinobi World War.

A perpetual genin who had been looked down upon for years had opened the Eight Gates and faced the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist head-on.

That battle had struck fear even into the elite of Kirigakure.

Might Guy had trained in the Eight Gates for many years. Though he could not open the final Gate of Death, opening several of the earlier gates in succession would produce astonishing increases in speed and strength.

"I hope it doesn't come to that."

Hiruzen Sarutobi finally lit his pipe.

"Konoha can no longer afford any more losses."

Danzo turned around.

"As long as Uchiha Lieyang can be killed, those sacrifices will have value."

Uchiha Clan Compound.

Fugaku Uchiha stood in the archives room of the Konoha Police Force, several recent records laid out before him.

In peacetime, Konoha ninja mission deployments were usually very stable.

But over the past seven days, the number of ninja leaving the village had noticeably increased.

Some of their mission records were exceedingly vague, listing only the time they departed and neither specific mission details nor return registrations.

The files of others had been directly classified.

Most abnormal of all, personnel replenishment transfers within the village were becoming increasingly frequent.

Fugaku raised his head.

"Shisui."

"Fugaku."

Shisui stood before the desk, his expression calm.

"What missions has the village been carrying out recently?"

Shisui shook his head.

"ANBU has received no clear orders."

"Several teams directly under the Hokage have also been ordered to remain on standby. Only Root has been mobilizing frequently."

Fugaku pushed the records toward him.

"Seven days."

"At least four groups of ninja have left Konoha and never returned."

"The village has not entered a state of war, and there have been no reports of large-scale clashes at the borders."

"Where did so many ninja go?"

Shisui flipped through several records, his brow gradually furrowing.

"I haven't heard anything."

"Even you don't know, which means this matter has been classified at the highest level."

Fugaku said in a deep voice, "And the upper ranks are deliberately avoiding the Uchiha."