Konoha, Root Base.
Masahiko left the Jonin standby room and came here immediately.
He glanced around.
Besides the usual people, there was someone who surprised him.
Hyūga Takashi, that twelve-year-old child from the main family.
He thought for a moment, then beckoned him over.
The boy's eyes immediately lit up. He stopped his training and ran over.
A moment later, he bowed slightly.
"Sir."
"Recently, Ninja from the Hidden Cloud Village have arrived. You must be especially careful in protecting Hinata."
Masahiko said.
Upon hearing this, Hyūga Takashi was slightly startled. "Lady Hinata—they still haven't given up?"
After all, he was just a child.
Masahiko shook his head. "Unclear. But we must prepare countermeasures to avoid being caught off guard if they take action."
"Yes, sir. We will be cautious."
Hyūga Takashi's voice was serious.
Masahiko gave a slight nod, paused briefly, and said, "Your Gentle Fist is good, but your development and application of Chakra is too poor. Focus on training and developing that aspect."
"Yes!"
Hyūga Takashi responded.
Afterwards, Masahiko turned and left, showing no particular attitude towards him, as if treating him like an ordinary branch family member.
He walked slowly, pondering the next steps of his plan.
Hinata, Hyūga Takashi, Hyuga—
Nighttime, Konoha's guest residence.
"Sir, we—"
"Shh!"
Shi suddenly raised a finger.
Samui immediately closed her mouth.
At the same time, Dodai's expression suddenly turned serious.
He also sensed something was off!
This feeling—
He looked out the window and carefully opened it.
On the windowsill, an owl perched on the edge, clutching a small scroll in its talons.
Once the window was open, it immediately took flight and flew away.
Dodai was somewhat surprised and bewildered. He picked up the scroll from the windowsill and looked at the other three in the room.
Then, he closed the window.
On the scroll were written the words, 'Both Hyūga Hinata and Hyuga Hanabi are candidates for succession.' Additionally, there was a line: 'Our target is the Jinchuriki. We can cooperate.'
The room fell silent for a moment.
This scroll had arrived out of nowhere, making its authenticity highly suspect. Moreover—
"Could they be deliberately feeding us this intelligence, having us deal with Hinata to draw attention, so they can prepare to seize the Tailed Beast Jinchuriki?"
Shi analyzed.
Dodai nodded. "Very possible. But there's another possibility—their target is also the Hyuga Clan. Or, this is bait Konoha actively threw out to lure us in."
"Uh—"
Everyone fell silent for a moment.
Entirely possible!
They were stumped.
Samui whispered, "Lord Dodai, should we take action?"
"Unless absolutely necessary, we won't act personally. First, we need to gather clear information on the Jinchuriki and Hyūga Hinata. Then, we can have them act."
Dodai said.
He paused slightly and continued, "Compared to infiltrating the Hyuga Clan to seize the second daughter, capturing Hyūga Hinata is easier. As for the Jinchuriki—"
He looked at everyone.
"We need to understand him first. Tomorrow, you go observe him openly. Don't give anyone a reason to criticize us."
"Yes!"
The owl flew on, guided by a vague consciousness and command in its mind, arriving at a certain forest on the outskirts of Konoha.
Then, it landed on a branch, not yet realizing what was happening—
A wave of dizziness washed over it.
The next second, it saw a Ninja dressed entirely in black robes.
The Black-Robed Man placed his hand on its head, forcibly extracting its memories using mental power.
Although his mental power was strong, and his control far surpassed ordinary people due to research on soul and spirit, Masahiko himself had not mastered memory extraction Ninjutsu.
Forcibly extracting and deciphering memories resulted in—
After a period of frenzy, the owl gradually stopped moving.
Having its memories forcibly extracted, it had entered a state of brain death.
But Masahiko, sensing the memory fragments, revealed a faint smile.
Success!
Flames emerged from his palm, incinerating the owl before burying it in the soil.
The next moment, his figure vanished from the forest.
The next morning.
Dodai and Shi once again came to Konoha's Hokage Building.
This time, they were received by Konoha's three high-ranking Hokage and two Advisors.
After exchanging greetings, both sides took their seats.
Then, Dodai's expression turned serious. "We have heard that a Ninja seemingly capable of using the Lightning Release Chakra Mode has appeared in the Land of Fire. This is our village's secret technique. The Raikage is extremely angry about this!"
"We understand your side's sentiments."
—
Hiruzen Sarutobi nodded, his expression calm. He looked at Dodai. "We have not received any related information. As for Kakashi, he is not familiar with the abilities of your Lightning Release Chakra Mode."
1
He thought for a moment and said, "There is one thing worth noting."
Dodai nodded politely. "Of course, we are willing to believe this is a misunderstanding. That's why we requested this visit, hoping to understand the details."
"During Danzo's rebellion, there was another very special enemy. He seemed to possess Lightning Release power."
Mitokado Homura replied.
Dodai raised an eyebrow, the smile fading from his face, replaced by displeasure. "Your meaning—this is Danzo's scheme?"
Shi's expression also turned to one of 'annoyance.'
Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head, his tone grave. "Of course not. This individual previously disrupted Danzo's operations and possesses the power of Shikotsumyaku. Therefore, he likely is not affiliated with Danzo."
"Our point is that behind Danzo's rebellion, there are third, even fourth parties involved. Additionally, we offer this piece of information—the Hidden Mist Village also has problems."
""
Konoha's response was beyond his expectations.
If they weren't lying, the probability of this person originating from Konoha was indeed very small.
After all, the Kaguya Clan came from the Hidden Mist Village, and those battle maniacs were wiped out by the Hidden Mist Village years ago.
It was more likely that the Hidden Mist Village had descendants.
Dodai's expression turned grave. "What do you mean, the Hidden Mist has problems?"
"After being attacked by Shikotsumyaku, we began monitoring the Hidden Mist Village. We discovered that the Mizukage's behavior is very strange—"
Hiruzen Sarutobi slowly relayed the intelligence.
Dodai sucked in a sharp breath.
A village's Kage could also have problems?
If all this were true, it would be absurd. But he controlled some of the Hidden Cloud's intelligence networks. After cross-referencing—
He found Konoha wasn't lying.
The Hidden Mist's Yagura Karatachi indeed displayed contradictory attitudes.
On one hand, he supported the blood mist policy; on the other, he encouraged Ninja to support each other. In recent years, some Ninja groups seemed unlike those from the Village of the Bloody Mist.
Moreover.
The Ninja Academy's graduation system had also been modified some years prior, no longer using 'mutual slaughter' as the graduation exam.
He frowned.
If this were true, the Hidden Cloud Village needed to value its alliance with Konoha and must reconsider this operation.
"By the way, if we're not mistaken, the Ninja you mentioned who 'stole the Lightning Release Chakra Mode' is likely also the person we are looking for. He also stole Konoha's Multi-Size Technique."
Hiruzen Sarutobi added again.
Hearing this, Dodai found it increasingly hard to believe. His face finally showed a look of astonishment. *Our Hidden Cloud's secret technique was really stolen?*