After returning to the village, Zou Hyuga and Oto did not immediately begin working on the Leyline. Instead, they took on quite a few D-Rank Missions at the Mission Center, reminiscing about the past while searching for a place to turn her into the Leyline's jinchūriki.
Thanks to Zou Hyuga's peculiar luck, a few more C-Rank Missions ended up on their mission records.
But for them as they were now, C-Rank Missions were as effortless as sightseeing.
It would not have been much of an exaggeration to say they were using the missions as an excuse to go on dates.
After spending so many days together, Zou Hyuga did not feel that their relationship had grown any closer. Perhaps they simply knew each other too well. There were no little thrills of uncovering secrets, and they already knew all of each other's embarrassing stories.
Whenever they ran into their former classmates, however, those singles would invariably sigh and make teasing noises. Worse still was Yamato's slightly lecherous gaze, which always left Zou Hyuga feeling unnerved.
After escorting Oto to the Uchiha Clan Compound, Zou Hyuga returned to his own small courtyard under the moonlight.
Once he had made sure there were no bystanders or ANBU watching, Zou Hyuga gradually focused his mind and began communicating with the Ley Line Consciousness.
During their journey, the Ley Line Consciousness had been utterly listless.
It had done nothing other than absorb his chakra.
After reaching the village, however, Zou Hyuga suddenly discovered that the Ley Line Consciousness had become active. After investigating, he found that the closer he came to a certain location, the more active it became.
That location was none other than the Valley of the End.
Zou Hyuga immediately thought of the earth vein node. He and Oto had once