With a single remark, Miki Yūya crushed everyone's spirits. No one wasted any more time at the oasis. They packed up and headed back to Konoha with Obito in custody.
The journey back was fairly long. Along the way, Naruto occasionally sidled up to Miki Yūya for a chat, asking how to train his Haki one moment and pondering how to control the power within him the next.
Hinata mostly followed quietly along the side of the group. Occasionally, she answered Naruto's questions about bloodline inheritance, sharing what Urashiki had told her.
Meanwhile, in Konoha, a thousand miles away.
Inside the Inuzuka Clan compound.
Shibi Aburame came to visit alone, without bringing anyone else from his clan. In his hand, he clutched a scroll that had been stored away for many years, its edges already yellowed.
Tsume Inuzuka's heart skipped a beat when she saw Shibi Aburame at her door.
The two clans did have dealings with each other, but a secret visit like this, with him coming alone, was rare.
"Shibi, why have you suddenly come here alone? Has something happened?"
Tsume Inuzuka asked.
Shibi Aburame wasted no time. He spread the scroll out on the wooden table before them.
"This is a secret order Minato left behind back then. I've kept it for over a decade without being able to act on it."
Tsume Inuzuka lowered her eyes to the scroll and immediately recognized the Fourth Hokage's personal seal. There was no mistaking it.
Her fingers lightly brushed the surface of the scroll, and shock rippled through her.
"A secret order Minato left behind? Over a decade ago? Lord Fourth Hokage was still alive then.
But why are you only bringing this secret order out now?"
Shibi Aburame let out a heavy breath and lowered his voice.
"Because