Masters of Kirigakure

Whoosh~

In the hidden forest, beneath the grass, an eye suddenly emerged without causing the slightest disturbance to its surroundings.

The eyeball shifted.

"Byakugan."

Ao molded chakra and activated the Byakugan once more. His vision rapidly spread outward in every direction—one hundred meters, one thousand meters...

Only after confirming that there was no one from Konoha did Ao step out of the grass, his expression grave and exceedingly unpleasant.

"Uchiha..."

Thinking back to what he had just witnessed, Ao could not calm the fear in his heart.

That azure chakra, and that blazing red chakra, haunted his mind like a nightmare.

Powerful long-range Genjutsu, the Body Flicker Technique, swordsmanship...

Devastating Fire Release, the Body Flicker Technique, Taijutsu...

Both Uchiha were terrifyingly strong.

And people like them both belonged to the Uchiha. Even the Byakugan in Ao's right eye no longer seemed so appealing. He wanted to get himself a whole pile of Uchiha Sharingan.

"No, I need to bring this intelligence back to the Mizukage-sama immediately. Otherwise, the village may make tactical mistakes."

As a Jonin of Kirigakure and a high-ranking official with real authority, Ao naturally could not overlook such intelligence. His thoughts immediately turned to numerous matters related to the war.

Whoosh—!

Keeping his Byakugan active, he left the area and hurried toward Kirigakure.

Not long after he left, five figures appeared where he had been standing.

They crouched down and examined the tracks on the ground.

"Judging from the traces around here, the enemy has probably already gone far. What a pity!" Goenji analyzed.

Shisui Uchiha completely agreed. "It can't be helped. Though they are both powerful Konoha ocular techniques, the Sharingan is still no match for the Byakugan when it comes to reconnaissance!"

"Yeah. If we had more people, we could have surrounded this whole area. Then we might have helped the Hyūga retrieve the Byakugan. That ability being in an enemy village is truly bad for Konoha," Goenji said.

For the Hyūga's Byakugan to fall into the hands of an enemy village was indeed a major loss for Konoha.

The Byakugan's reconnaissance capabilities were no joke.

Just like this time—if Ao had not possessed the Byakugan, he definitely would not have escaped the search by Goenji, Shisui, and the others.

Goenji did not care whether it would affect the plot of the original story. As long as they were enemies, he would kill them. That would earn him more merit and more contributions.

Then he could exchange them for more ninjutsu knowledge.

"Since the enemy has already left, let's head back too. Goenji, tell me about what you've been through lately. You must have had some wonderful experiences, right?" Shisui Uchiha said with a gentle smile.

Goenji was briefly stunned by his smile, then said, "Hahaha, sure. Let's both tell each other. Ever since the war broke out, we haven't seen each other in a long time. This is a good chance to catch up."

Shisui Uchiha's smile really was gentle.

Just like that Uchiha from the original story. Now that he was still with the Uchiha, Goenji would not allow such a rare gentle and talented Uchiha to die.

With himself, Itachi Uchiha, and Shisui Uchiha—so many powerful people—he refused to believe anyone would still dare to massacre the clan.

Or rather, as long as the three of them held authority within the clan, no one in the Uchiha would be able to defy them, intensify the conflict, and confront Konoha.

Then the clan massacre would not happen.

That was why he needed to get along better with the Uchiha members who were less likely to intensify the conflict, understand them more deeply, and be ready to persuade them if the situation changed.

Whoosh, whoosh—!

Along the way, Goenji and Shisui chatted happily. Aside from certain secrets, they could discuss anything, such as combat experience and their experiences developing and using ninjutsu.

"Wow, so you became a Chunin at ten and are already a Jonin now? Amazing, Shisui. You've got half my style, hahaha..."

After hearing some of the information, Goenji burst into laughter.

Aburame Fuzei lightly stepped off a tree branch and leaped beside Goenji. "Captain, you became a Jonin a year later than Shisui did. He's stronger than you."

"No, no. There are still many things I need to learn from Goenji. Like Goenji said, compared to people like Minato-senpai, we are still far behind," Shisui said with a chuckle, speaking modestly.

"Hahaha..."

They laughed together. Even while traveling at speed, their laughter never stopped.

During their conversation, Goenji also learned about the situation on this front.

In truth, the battle situation on the Kirigakure front was similar to that of Sunagakure. There had been no large-scale offensive.

However, compared with Sunagakure, which had suffered grievous losses, Kirigakure was somewhat more aggressive.

The main Uchiha force, together with support from Konoha's other ninja, had already held back most of Kirigakure's combat strength. Only a few ninja had breached the defensive line and entered the Land of Fire to gather intelligence.

According to Shisui's assessment, Kirigakure's intentions were the same as Sunagakure's: wait until Kumogakure and Iwagakure launched fierce offensives and Konoha was overwhelmed, then take advantage of the chaos.

Rather than launching a direct, fierce assault like Kumogakure and Iwagakure.

They preferred to make use of a ninja's strengths and act in the shadows.

That little old man Karatachi Yagura was the Fourth Mizukage, and he was quite capable. Though he had a baby face, intelligence indicated that he was from the same generation of ninja as Hiruzen Sarutobi.

Goenji recalled one of the few scenes from the original story involving the Third Shinobi World War: the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist appearing near Konoha and having four of their number beaten to death by Might Duy.

It seemed that even in flashbacks, they had barely appeared in any scenes involving the Third Shinobi World War.

Even the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist's deployment seemed to have happened only in the later stages of the war, when Konoha's fighting strength had been badly depleted.

There was simply too little information about Kirigakure.

Goenji could only make a few guesses about Kirigakure's actions based on the intelligence available in reality.

In short, compared with the Kumogakure and Iwagakure battlefields, the fighting here was not yet too intense.

Before long, they returned to Konoha's encampment without encountering any obstacles.

They swiftly reported their intelligence.

Amid the surging sea.

A small boat rocked swiftly through the waves, advancing in the sea wind as its sail fluttered.

It soon rounded the ruins of the Land of Whirlpools, passed through the waters between the Land of Hot Water and the Land of Whirlpools, and returned to Kirigakure's territory.

Ao did not hesitate in the slightest. After returning to the Land of Water, he rushed toward the village at top speed.

"Ao, what happened? Why are you in such a hurry?"

Karatachi Yagura's small, youthful figure looked up at Ao's ragged breathing as he asked in surprise.

"Mizukage-sama..."

Ao recounted the entire mission, reporting every detail of the intelligence in language as concise and clear as an exam answer, allowing Yagura to quickly grasp the key points.

"Shisui Uchiha... and another Uchiha..."

Hearing the information Ao provided about the two Uchiha, Yagura furrowed his brow.

The Uchiha clan truly was formidable.

He had not expected just a few people to wipe out the small unit Ao had led. It was simply unbelievable.

"Yes. What should we do about those two? They're far too talented. We need to eliminate them early, or they'll become figures like the Three Sannin, the White Fang, or the Yellow Flash..." Ao said through gritted teeth.

Konoha's talent pool was truly enough to make others jealous.

"Mm... Pass down the order. Bring Hozuki Longyue, Hoshi Kaguya, Fubuki Shiro, and Munashi Jinpachi here. I have a mission to assign..."