The Kumogakure ninja's expression changed. With an angry snort, he turned and ran.
He had no intention of letting the man before him hold him up and cost him his chance to escape Konoha.
As long as he escaped Konoha, the series of plans his village had prepared would all be set in motion.
"Trying to run? Not so fast!" Uchiha Sora's Shadow Clone immediately gave chase.
Although he was only a Shadow Clone, his chakra, speed, and other abilities were by no means weak.
This Kumogakure ninja was a Jonin at best. Who knew where he had found the confidence to come abduct Hinata?
Sora's Shadow Clone stayed close on his heels, a blue ball of chakra rapidly forming in his right palm.
Rasengan!
The Rasengan's intense chakra fluctuations instantly made the fleeing Kumogakure ninja break into a cold sweat.
"I absolutely can't let that technique hit me!" He had no choice but to stop running, turn around, and use Ninjutsu to defend himself.
If he simply kept running, he would definitely get hit!
"Earth Release: Earth Wall Technique!"
As the Kumogakure ninja formed hand seals, a thick earthen wall rapidly rose before Uchiha Sora. The Rasengan slammed into it with a thunderous crash.
Boom!
Dirt and rocks flew everywhere as a huge hole was blasted through the wall! It collapsed with a roar!
Uchiha Sora broke through the earthen wall, closed in on the Kumogakure ninja, and immediately unleashed a barrage of Taijutsu attacks.
"Damn it! How is it so powerful?!" The Kumogakure ninja had never expected his Earth Release Ninjutsu to fail to stop his opponent. With Hinata tucked under one arm while he fended off the Taijutsu assault, he lost any chance of escaping.
Just then, several presences rapidly approached from nearby.
Knowing he could no longer escape, the Kumogakure ninja flew into a humiliated rage and attacked the Shadow Clone like a madman.
A Shadow Clone was still only a Shadow Clone. Earlier, the Kumogakure ninja had been focused on escaping and had not devoted much strength to fighting him. Now that he was going all out, he quickly forced the Shadow Clone back.
"Die!" The Kumogakure ninja slashed off the Shadow Clone's head, his face twisted with malice.
But the next second, his expression froze.
The decapitated Shadow Clone vanished in a puff of white smoke.
"What?! It was a Shadow Clone?!" The Kumogakure ninja seethed with fury!
To think the man who had relentlessly pursued him had been nothing but a clone all along!
He was so furious he nearly spat blood.
At that moment, the rapidly approaching presences finally caught up.
With several sharp whooshes, the Kumogakure ninja found himself surrounded by several Hyuga ninja.
Leading them was Hyuga Hiashi, his expression grim...
Meanwhile, near the Third Hokage's home, the real Uchiha Sora received the information sent back by his Shadow Clone and realized it was time to act!
Barring any surprises, Hyuga Hiashi would kill the Kumogakure ninja and report it to the Third Hokage. Once the Kumogakure envoys learned of it, they would immediately turn the accusation around and demand that Konoha hand over Hiashi's corpse.
That chain of events would leave the Konoha High Command scrambling.
Uchiha Sora chuckled inwardly and began clearing out the sentries near the Third Hokage's home.
The ANBU assigned to guard duty were not particularly strong. Most were only at the level of elite Chunin.
With Uchiha Sora's current strength, he was confident he could take down even a Jonin, let alone a Chunin.
A few Genjutsu later, the ANBU sentries all fell unconscious.
Then Uchiha Sora strolled brazenly into the Third Hokage's home, headed to the study, and began searching.
Before long, he found the Scroll of Seals.
He unrolled it, and excitement stirred within him as he read through the forbidden techniques recorded inside.
I can only use this window to secretly copy a few more forbidden techniques to take home. If I take the Scroll of Seals itself, the Third Hokage will mobilize all of Konoha to search for it.
With that thought, Uchiha Sora took out a blank scroll he had prepared beforehand, picked up a pen, and began copying.
The Ninjutsu in the Scroll of Seals were extremely complex. Copying all of them in such a short time was clearly impossible.
He could only choose a few to copy.
The first was the Flying Thunder God Technique. This Space-Time Ninjutsu was the most important objective of his operation. With Flying Thunder God, he would have a trump card that let him face Obito head-on.
Aside from that, the other technique he had to copy was Impure World Reincarnation.
There were other forbidden techniques, such as the Spirit Transformation Technique and Reaper Death Seal, but their descriptions were lengthy, and he feared he would not have enough time.
In the end, Uchiha Sora also chose to copy Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags.
All three forbidden techniques had been developed by the Second Hokage.
By the time he finished copying them, several hours had passed.
The Shadow Clone stationed near the Hokage Building also vanished, sending back word that the Third Hokage had left the building.
Uchiha Sora dared not linger. He put the Scroll of Seals back exactly as he had found it, then slipped away in a flash.
Only then did the ANBU whom Uchiha Sora's Genjutsu had knocked unconscious begin waking up.
They immediately contacted one another. Once they established that someone had knocked all of them unconscious without being detected, they realized this could be serious and hurriedly sent someone to report to the Third Hokage.
At that moment, the beleaguered Third Hokage was leaving the Hokage Building, accompanying Hyuga Hiashi back to the Hyuga Clan compound while trying to talk him around.
They had not gone far when the Third Hokage received the bad news that something had happened at his home.
The Third Hokage immediately suspected that someone had broken into his study.
After all, the most important materials in his home were the confidential documents and forbidden technique scrolls kept there.
Whether the intruder had come for classified information or forbidden techniques, either would spell serious trouble for Konoha!
Connecting this to the incident involving the Hyuga Clan, the Third Hokage realized that all of it was likely part of a plan Kumogakure had been plotting for a long time.
By then, Uchiha Sora had already returned home.
He had not expected Kumogakure to take the blame for his operation.
Unable to wait, he took out the Ninjutsu notes he had just copied and began studying them.
Of the three Ninjutsu techniques, Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags was A-rank, while the other two were S-rank.
With Uchiha Sora's own talent, he might not even have been able to understand them, let alone learn them.
But he had the automatic training system. With its help, no matter how difficult these three Ninjutsu techniques were, they would not pose much of a problem.
After Uchiha Sora carefully studied them several times, the system successfully issued its notifications:
"Through repeated study, your Mutually Multiplying Explosive Tags has successfully entered automatic training mode!" "Through repeated study, your Impure World Reincarnation Jutsu has successfully entered automatic training mode!" "Through repeated study, your Flying Thunder God Technique has successfully entered automatic training mode!"
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