"Lord Third..."
A masked figure appeared in the Hokage's office.
"How is the investigation going?"
Hiruzen Sarutobi stood before the window, a long pipe in his hand.
"The Hyuga Clan head has indeed been acting strangely lately!" the masked ANBU replied slowly. "The two girls you previously ordered me to investigate have both disappeared without a trace."
Hiruzen Sarutobi took a deep drag on his pipe, feeling a little more convinced by Hyuga Feng's explanation.
Could his reasons all be genuine?
Now he was the one feeling puzzled.
Still, this intelligence alone proved nothing. He would have to send more ANBU to verify it.
"Hmm... you may go!" Hiruzen Sarutobi said.
The masked ANBU bowed.
With a whoosh, the figure vanished from the Hokage's office.
After a long while, Hiruzen Sarutobi took a few more puffs, then put out his pipe.
This matter required careful consideration. The Hyuga Clan possessed the Byakugan, making them anything but easy to spy on.
Besides, the Hyuga Clan showed little resistance to Konoha's Will of Fire. As long as they did nothing too excessive, he could afford to tolerate them to a degree.
"Taji..." Hiruzen Sarutobi called toward the ceiling.
As his voice faded, a man dressed in black appeared inside the office.
"Taji, keep an eye on Hyuga Feng's movements over the next few days," Hiruzen Sarutobi told the man before him. "Be careful. Don't let him discover you."
"Yes."
Having accepted the assignment, the man named Taji vanished on the spot.
"Time to go home..." Glancing at the clock, Hiruzen Sarutobi murmured, "Otherwise, the woman at home will start nagging again."
"Ah..." He sighed, then walked out of the Hokage's office.
The Hyuga Branch Family.
Yui stared unblinkingly at the wall before her.
She had finally figured out how the food was being delivered.
Over the past few days, food would often appear directly on the floor whenever she wasn't paying attention.
This time, she had resolved to get to the bottom of it.
She had simply stayed awake, staring fixedly at the doorway.
Yet once she learned the answer, she couldn't help feeling a moment of disappointment.
The food was actually being summoned inside.
And Ikuko Hyuga was probably the one summoning it.
Still, it hadn't been a complete waste. She had discovered that this seal did not block spatial transportation.
But a new problem now lay before her.
She didn't know any Space-Time Ninjutsu, not even the most basic Summoning Technique.
If she knew the Summoning Technique, she could at least try reverse summoning.
That method was rather dangerous, though.
"Hmm?"
Just as she was thinking, she sensed a familiar figure approaching outside.
It was her Shadow Clone...
Yui almost cried with excitement.
After all these days, had she finally noticed something was wrong with her original?
Yui's Shadow Clone stared blankly at the sealed room before her.
"This..."
She was at a loss. She finally understood why her original had stayed in one place without moving.
"It's Sealing Jutsu, Sealing Jutsu..."
Little White Mouse, perched on her shoulder, whispered into Yui's ear.
Yui was a little surprised to hear that.
"You know what this is?"
"Heh heh... of course I do!" Little White Mouse said calmly. "This is a Sealing Jutsu that absorbs chakra."
"This kind of Sealing Jutsu generally has a primary point and a secondary point."
"If you attack it with any form of energy, it absorbs that energy to strengthen its own seal."
"If the energy it absorbs exceeds its limit, it transfers the energy to the secondary point to expend it."
"How do you know all this?" Yui asked, puzzled.
"Ahem, Master, my awakened memories are full of knowledge about these things."
Yui was taken aback.
She hadn't expected this little white mouse to be an expert in Sealing Jutsu. She felt as though she had stumbled upon a treasure.
Her spirits lifted instantly.
Little White Mouse continued.
"Of course, the one before us is only an intermediate-level Sealing Jutsu."
"If I were strong enough, I could undo it in a second."
Yui was stunned.
"You're really that amazing?"
"Of course I am!" Little White Mouse declared confidently.
Yui paced back and forth by the door.
"With your current strength, can you undo this seal?"
Little White Mouse's ears visibly drooped at her question.
"I'm sorry, Master. I'm not strong enough right now," Little White Mouse said dejectedly.
Seeing that expression, Yui didn't blame it.
"Mm, it's all right..." Yui comforted it softly. "As long as you can undo it eventually. Even if you can't now, you will in the future."
Hearing this, Little White Mouse perked up immediately.
"Yes, yes... I'll work hard, Master."
Master's words are so warm.
"Although I can't open the seal directly, I can let you communicate with your original inside."
Little White Mouse whispered into Yui's ear.
Yui was pleasantly surprised.
"Is that really true?"
Little White Mouse nodded.
"Then hurry, hurry..." Yui urged anxiously.
She really was anxious now, not just about her original, but about Nai Hyuga as well.
She had previously assumed her original had been with Nai Hyuga these past few days.
When she saw the seal, she began to panic.
Nai Hyuga might already have discovered the sealed original over the past few days.
She only hoped Nai hadn't done anything foolish.
Presumably, her original had been sealed because of that whole mess with the branch family.
That thought made her even more eager to speak with her original.
Little White Mouse leaped off her shoulder onto the ground.
"Master, watch closely..." It turned to look toward Yui as it spoke.
Yui shifted her gaze to Little White Mouse on the ground.
Suddenly, brilliant golden light burst from Little White Mouse's body.
Golden patterns spread across its pure white fur.
It looked utterly sacred, and even its jet-black eyes shone with radiant golden light.
"Master, I... can't keep this up for long. At most... fifteen minutes," Little White Mouse said in a trembling voice.
Yui nodded.
Before long, the sealing inscriptions on the wall began to drift slowly across its surface, forming a vortex that left the center of the wall clear.
Yui's sense of her original became more tangible now, as though the other was standing right before her.
"Original, original, are you there?" Yui leaned toward the center of the vortex and called softly.
She didn't dare raise her voice, afraid someone else might hear.
Inside the room, Yui had actually sensed her Shadow Clone standing outside the wall long ago.
She had been praying inside the room that the clone wouldn't dispel herself.
But no memories from the Shadow Clone had reached her mind. At that realization, Yui finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Then the sudden voice startled her.
What was that?
Was her Shadow Clone speaking to her?
Yui was a little stunned.
But as soon as she realized what was happening, she immediately came back to her senses.
"How did you manage to talk to me?"
Before you continue