Reborn into Naruto World with Tenseigan

by Little Merger

The trembling Hyuga Kuroto finally got the treasure that he dreamed of! How exactly will the world of Naruto be perceived with his glowing Royal Blue Tenseigan

3. 65

Reborn into Naruto World with Tenseigan #Chapter 65 - – 63 Trance And Rescue - Read Reborn into Naruto World with Tenseigan Chapter 65 - – 63 Trance And Rescue Online - All Page - NOVEL NEXT

"Damn you kid…!"

As the chest was already cut open and blood was spurting out, Cloud Village's Jonin ninja became weaker and weaker. Eventually, his body fell to the ground with no signs of life left.

Kuroto staggered a few steps, then sat on the ground, panting heavily.

The corpses of 16 Cloud Shinobi fell around him, the entire forest area was in a mess, clearly indicating the signs of a fierce battle that occurred not long ago.

After resting up a bit, Kuroto examined his body, and finally took a breath of relief.

Although he had many wounds, out of which only one was serious, the rest were only small pierces, cuts, and burns. The injury on his left shoulder was slightly serious, but that didn't hinder him from holding the sword in his right hand.

"I guess I am alive thanks to you huh?" Kuroto murmured as he sheathed the Kusanagi sword.

This time, Kuroto was able to wipe out the entire unit of 16 Cloud ninja at the cost of an injured left shoulder and only some cuts and burns, the credit definitely goes to the Kusanagi Sword and the Paralysis poison he compounded.

One of the enemy Jonin didn't know about his Kusanagi Sword and tried to block his slash with just a simple Kunai, obviously, the Kunai couldn't resist and was divided like butter under a hot knife by his Tenseigan Chakra infused Sword slash.

As a result, one Jonin ninja died without any resistance in the face of Kuroto's attack, this not only decreased the strength of the enemy side but also weakened their morale which helped Kuroto finish off the rest of the bunch.

After simply bandaging up the wound, Kuroto didn't dare to delay any longer and immediately rushed towards the retreat point. After all, they are still in the enemy territory, every second of stay here will only bring danger to them.

It didn't take long for him to arrive at the retreat point that Team-11 agreed upon.

Guy and Shisui who arrived earlier, saw Kuroto arrive and greeted him, "Finally here Kuroto! How did it go on your side?"

Kuroto said, "It took a little bit of effort to eliminate the enemies."

Shisui nodded, "Well, I noticed before, Kuroto-San drew most enemy ninja away from the warehouse."

Kuroto also glanced at Shisui and Guy, while asking casually, "How did it go on your end?"

Both Guy and Shisui talked about the situation they faced separately.

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Since Guy was discovered earlier so he could only lead away 8 enemy ninjas which were only Chunin and Genin class, so after a fierce battle Guy eliminated them all.

Among the 12 enemy ninjas that Shisui led away, although there was 1 Jonin, he was under Shisui's genjutsu from the very beginning. So, by the time he successfully broke through the effect of the genjutsu, the other ninjas were already lying in the pool of their own blood, which is to say Shisui had already killed them, and without any support from his teammates, the Jonin was obviously not Shisui's opponent, therefore not long after he fell under Shisui's blade.

After hearing the description from both Guy and Shisui, Kuroto frowned, "So, if we combine the total number of ninjas we eliminated, it only reaches up to 80 people?"

More importantly, among them, only 3 of them were Jonin class, while the vast majority were Chunin class or cannon fodder class that are only useful for consuming enemy chakra.

Listening to Kuroto's deductions, Guy was more worried about Kakashi, "Yes, so I am worried about Kakashi, how will he be able to deal against more than 100 enemy ninjas?"

Shisui also stood silent.

The current situation is very clear, even if Kakashi is very strong, but there is absolutely no way he could survive against more than a hundred cloud ninjas. Even if he somehow manages to destroy the warehouse, retreat would be impossible for him.

Guy looked in the direction of the warehouse and said firmly, "We have to go and help him!"

Shisui also wanted to say something but he didn't know what to say.

Currently, all three members of Team-11 are not only injured but they also don't have much chakra volume after a series of battles. They can't even be sure to safely escape to the Land of Fire from Cloud Village's follow-up pursuit.

In such a situation going back to the warehouse is simply a death wish.

Seeing the worry in Guy and Shisui's eyes, Kuroto also looked towards the valley with slight hesitation…

'I made a promise to him, I can't let it end here!' – was the only thought going on in his mind.

At the Valley.

Taking a glance at the burning warehouse beside him, Kakashi squatted halfway in a pool of blood, with a relieved smile on his face.

"Finally completed the task."

"No other companion will have to die for me."

...…. whoosh…. whoosh…. whoosh...…

At this time, more and more cloud shinobi rushed towards the burning warehouse with the body flicker technique, surrounding Kakashi from all sides.

The head ninja of Cloud village spoke with a murderous look on his face, "Konoha ninja, speak your name!"

Although the head ninja was very angered and wanted nothing more than to crush the brat under his feet, he still had to admire the kid's determination, so, to show his respect to the kid he asked the kid's name before Killing him.

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Kakashi tried raising his head to look at the person, but because of the excessive blood loss, his vision was getting blurry, he could only vaguely perceive the swaying firelight and the shadowy figure of the ninjas around him.

At this moment he suddenly fell into a daze, this was a familiar feeling!

"I seem to have felt this before…"

"Yeah, now I remember, it was during the battle of the Kannabi Bridge, back then also I was surrounded by so many enemy ninjas…

"Unfortunately, Minato-Sensei is no longer alive. No one will come to rescue me this time…"

"I am sorry Father!"

"I am sorry Minato-Sensei, I couldn't protect your son…"

"Obito…! Rin…! We are finally going to meet again."

"Hehe, it seems to be a good ending…"

Slowly but steadily Kakashi felt the strength in his body fading away bit by bit, his thoughts drifted further and further, as if he was already past the shackles of the body.

Seeing the tranced and lifeless look of the Kid, the head ninja shook his head while sighing, then regaining the same cold look in his eyes he signaled the chunin beside him to behead the Kid.

The cloud Chunin immediately drew a kunai and walked towards the kid's direction.

But after walking in front of the kid, this cloud chunin didn't make the killing move for a while.

The head ninja urged impatiently, "What's the hold-up? Finish him quickly, we have to also chase after the rest of his teammates!"

The secret warehouse has already been destroyed. If he doesn't chase after and successfully kill the Konoha ninjas responsible for this, then even if he is a qualified head ninja of the cloud village, he wouldn't escape Raikage-sama's anger!

The cloud chunin stared at the weird-shaped eye in Kakashi's left eye socket and said while stumbling, "B-but, his eye…"

However, before anyone could understand the Chunin's words, a figure wearing an eagle-faced mask suddenly flashed by, instantly beheading the chunin who was standing in front of Kakashi, and then two more figures appeared on Kakashi's side, one with a dog-faced and the other with a cat-faced mask.

Waving the sword to get the blood off of it, Eagle who was now standing in front of the kid said lightly, "Dog, carry Kitsune on your back and leave!"

Dog hesitated but seeing that the Kitsune's consciousness was already blurry and he couldn't retreat alone, so, he carried the Kitsune on his back and said to Eagle and Cat, "After dropping Kitsune to a safe place, I will come back soon!"

Cat smiles and shook his head, "No, you make sure to take him back to the village, I and Eagle-San can handle it here."

"But…" – Dog wanted to interject.

However, Eagle shouted with annoyance, "Get the hell out of here already before I change my mind!"

...

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Obviously, the Eagle, Cat, and Dog are none other than Kuroto, Shisui, and Guy.

With Kakashi being in a state of Coma, Kuroto had temporarily taken over the position of captain of Team-11, so Guy didn't argue anymore, and immediately retreated while carrying the unconscious Kakashi on his back.

How could the cloud ninjas present here allow the retreat?

So, several teams immediately separated from the crowd here and chased after Guy.

Neither Kuroto nor Shisui stopped this group, rather they couldn't.

The head ninja of the Cloud village took a look at Kuroto and Shisui standing guard and said with a smile, "I have to admire your group of outstanding youngsters!"

Kuroto said coldly, "Thanks for the compliment but it was unnecessary."

"My name is Fuji; I am the commander of this Garrison." After a short pause, Fuji continued, "I really do admire you bunch of young ninjas of Konoha and your determination, but it's a pity that you all are going to die here, of course including the two brats who escaped."

Kuroto did not bother to reply but glanced around him to analyze the situation they were in.

Excluding the 4 squads that went after Guy, there are still more than a hundred Cloud Ninjas surrounding him and Shisui, out of which at least a dozen of them have Jonin class chakra volume.

Moreover, the emergency signal has already been fired by the enemy. So, the reinforcements would already be rushing here from all directions, considering the importance of this place.

Fuji noticed that the two kid still didn't give up hope in such a desperate situation, his admiration for them increased more and said with a wicked smile, "I think Raikage-sama will definitely forgive me for being unable to guard this warehouse if I kill such excellent youngsters of Konoha."

However, without losing his calm because of Fuji's words, Kuroto still stood silently waiting for a suitable opportunity.

With the steady improvement in his strength, the effective range of Rein Wheel interaction has increased to about 22 meters. If Kuroto decided to over exhaust his chakra without caring for the consequences, then give or take; 25 meters should be possible.

Currently, Fuji is standing about 21 meters away from him, so he is within the effective range of Rein Wheel Interaction.

But considering that the opponent is an elite Jonin of the Cloud Village, his strength is definitely not weak, so 21 meters is not a safe distance, Kuroto has to get at least at a distance of 15 meters to make sure that the attack works properly.

While silently calculating his options, Kuroto took out a bottle of poison from his waist pouch.

In the series of battles up to now, the poison he has applied on the blade of his sword has already been consumed, so he needs to re-poison the blade.

Previously, he forgot to do it because of the eagerness of rushing here. So, at this moment, he has no choice but to do it in a hurry while in the presence of so many enemies.

Seeing Kuroto silently applying poison on the short sword, the cloud ninjas glanced at each other feeling awkward.

With frowned brows, Fuji asked the subordinate standing next to him, "Why hasn't Kurapa arrived yet?"

The reason why the cloud ninjas haven't attacked them yet is that they are waiting for the torture ninja Kurapa to arrive. In Fuji's eyes, the two kids are already dead, so all their actions are meaningless.

However, he would like to make good use of the two of them, at the very least they can extract some information from their heads through torture.

Cloud Village doesn't have a secret technique that allows them to extract information from the brains of corpses, so they have to wait for the torture ninja Kurapa to arrive before doing anything. By then even if the two kids are limbless or close to death, with Kurapa here, he would have enough time to conduct the interrogation.

This abnormal behavior of Cloud ninja didn't escape Shisui's eyes, he whispered to Kuroto, "Eagle-San there seems to be something wrong with them, what are they waiting for?"

Obviously, Kuroto has also noticed this abnormality and knew that they couldn't wait any longer, so he said, "Cat, when we attack, directly start with the Susanoo!"

Shisui didn't ask why but nodded seriously.

After instructing Shisui, Kuroto lightly walked towards Fuji.

Seeing one of the kids walking forward, Fuji suddenly had a bad feeling, he immediately shouted towards the Cloud ninjas, "Don't wait, do it!"

However, before he could finish his words, he suddenly felt huge unspeakable traction that pulled him towards the kid. In fact, not only him but with Kuroto as a center, everyone within 21 meters of the surrounding area, including Shisui, everything was pulled towards Kuroto by this huge force.

At this moment, Kuroto shouted while holding the Kusanagi sword in his right hand,

"Eight-Trigram: Heavenly Blade Rotation!"

'Heavenly Blade Rotation!' is a crooked move he came up with after getting Kusanagi Sword.

According to his imagination, he would pull all the enemies around him using the 'Rein Wheel Pull', and then he would use Kusanagi Sword to perform 'Revolving Heaven'.

To achieve both the offense and defense, with 'Revolving Heaven' as defense and 'Blade Rotation' as the offense.

The only problem is that he hasn't practiced this move before, so in this desperate situation, he can only try to create it out of scratch.

The huge force of Rein Pull attracted so many ninjas, let alone the enemy side even Shisui was shocked.

Although he has seen Kuroto-San use this move before against Moryo, it's the first time he has experienced personally just how it feels being under its effect.

Fortunately for him, Kuroto-San has already instructed him, so without panicking, he directly opened Mangekyou and used the Susanoo.

Slash… Slash… Slash… Slash…

The sound of the blade slashing through the air brought everyone out of the daze.

Those that came into the range of Rein Pull: Heavenly Blade Rotation were injured by the Kusanagi Blade at varying degrees. Except for Shisui under Susanoo's protection, everyone else took the attack by the Kusanagi sword without exception.

After stopping 'Heavenly Blade Rotation' Kuroto panted heavily due to chakra overdraft and observed the result.

The use of such large-scale attacks consumes too much chakra, and now he is in an exhausted state, so he had to make sure that at the very least Fuji, their commander has to be dead from his attack.

But contrary to what he expected, among the cloud ninjas who were cut by the Kusanagi Sword, all of the ninjas with Jonin class Chakra turned into lightning.

"Lightning Style Shadow Clone?" Kuroto's heart was shaken.

Dojutsu's are unable to differentiate or identify Shadow Clones, even Kakashi used a 'Lightning Style Shadow Clone' to deceive Pain, and it worked even against the Rinnegan.

And now that this technique was used against him, not to mention in such a desperate situation, Kuroto is obviously not very pleased about it!

Kuroto has never seen a 'Lightning Style Shadow Clone' before, so he couldn't judge that all the cloud Jonin in front of him including the commander Fuji, were just some clones.

While Kuroto was in a panicked state, Fuji and the other Cloud who lost the Lightning Clone came out of the Shadows.

Fuji observed Shisui's Susanoo with interest, and smiled, "Oh, it appears I was looking down on you two. Sure enough, if Konoha can send such young kids for suicide missions into the hinterland of the enemy territory, they would have to have some unusual means huh?"

...

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Kuroto observed Fuji who walked out of the shadows with a solemn expression.

It was his first time using "Heavenly Blade Rotation!". To ensure the smoothness of Rotation and to balance out the inconsistencies between the sword and the palm, Kuroto consumed a lot of his chakra.

Adding the chakra, he consumed in Rein Wheel Pull and all the battles up to now, he has very little chakra left currently.

As long as he could have Killed or even injured Fuji and the other Cloud Jonin ninja it would have been worth it, after all, without Jonin support whether he and Shisui, fight or retreat would be up to them.

But now that the surprise attack failed to work, their situation is not good.

Kuroto glanced at Shisui from the corner of his eyes, it looks as if Shisui inside the Susanoo is already out of breath, obviously, the previous battles consumed a lot of his Chakra, and coupled with the burden; Mangekyou has on his young self, his situation isn't very good.

While Kuroto was storming out his brain to think of something, Fuji shouted: "Do it!"

Following Fuji's call, the surrounding ninjas immediately launched attacks.

Kuroto quickly shot a few shurikens, to kill the already injured Chunin and Genin then leaped back to retreat into the armor of Susanoo.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

As soon as Kuroto retreated, the attacks from Cloud shinobi caused a series of violent explosions.

After the smoke cleared, the skeletal figure of Susanoo remained unaffected, leaving Shisui and Kuroto inside unharmed.

Fuji was extremely surprised by this!

The Susanoo of the Uchiha Clan hasn't appeared in the Shinobi world for many years, so even the elites like Fuji do not know what the Green Phantom figure is!

But this does not stop him from making his judgment about this.

As far as Fuji thinks, whether it was the strange technique used by the kid with the Eagle Mask or this Green Phantom type Jutsu, they are very powerful and strange Jutsu, which is definitely not something ordinary ninjas can master.

Considering that both the kids are too young, these Jutsu have to be some kind of Kekkai Genkai.

And the body of a ninja with a Kekkai Genkai is an information library, so although very shocked and surprised, he is even more anxious to take down the two kids.

"Trap them with Earth release, and Attack with Fire and Wind release! And do not stop, keep attacking!"

While giving several orders, he backed away slightly.

"Earth Style Barrier: Earth Dome Release Technique!"

"Earth Style: Great Mud Wall Technique!"

"Fire Style: Fire Dragon Bullet Technique!"

"Wind Style: Great Breakthrough Technique!"

Following Fuji's order, the Cloud ninjas immediately surrounded the Susanoo structure from the four sides and launched Jutsu one after another.

Instantly a series of Earth Wall rose from the ground cutting off any possible escape route.

A combination of Fire Release and Wind Release covered the entire sky in flames, and like a sea of fire, rushed towards Susanoo.

At the same time, Shisui gritted his teeth and used his Susanoo secret technique,

"Susanoo: Tsukumo!"

With Shisui's shout, the Susanoo opened its ribcage to expose its chest launching a barrage of large, green-colored chakra needles at an incredible speed.

And how could Kuroto silently watch?

So, while still being inside Susanoo's defense he fired several Kunai wrapped in detonation charm, shurikens, senbons, etc.

Boom… Boom… Boom…

The resulting violent explosion due to the collision of Jutsu shook the whole area.

Countless ninjutsu, throwing tools, detonation charm, chakra needles turned the entire valley into a fiery ground.

The smoke gradually dissipated, and the scene of the battlefield was revealed.

The Earth Wall and Dungen created by the Cloud ninjas was completely damaged, dozens of Cloud ninjas in the range of 'Susanoo Tsukumo's' barrage suffered heavy casualties.

But the Susanoo that shielded Kuroto and Shisui from all the attacks although fading slightly, still remained unscathed!

It's just that Shisui was already kneeling on the ground at this moment, coughing up violently, it looks impossible for him to keep the Susanoo active for much longer.

Fuji who was hidden in the distance carefully observed the Susanoo, and Shisui within it as he secretly said, 'Such terrifying ninjutsu? Although this is the first time, I have seen such a technique; the chakra consumption has to be severe, from the looks of it the kid can't bear it any longer!'

From standing unharmed against the attacks of Cloud ninjas just now, Susanoo has proved its unparalleled defense. If an ordinary ninja encounters such a powerful enemy, then it wouldn't be strange if his/her nerves will freeze from the chakra pressure alone.

Even Fuji is the same in its presence, but his desire to redeem himself is letting him bear the pressure.

Moreover, he knows that this is the territory of Lightning Country and the reinforcements from the surroundings will be coming at any moment. So, no matter how strong the enemy might be, it will never be possible for these two brats to leave here alive.

No matter how strong the defense, no matter how strong the offense, even the 3rd Raikage-sama died in the face of countless enemy ninja, and these two are just some brats.

'It can block attacks from all directions? From the looks of it, this chakra phantom can't be broken from the outside, is there no other method? As if suddenly thinking of something, 'If it's not possible to attack from the above, will it possible to break through it from the ground?'

Thinking so, Fuji printed several hand seals and then pressed his hands on the ground.

…

Inside Susanoo's Armor.

While coughing violently, Shisui weakly said, "Kuroto-San, I can't hold it any longer, please, you have to retreat, I will make sure there is no follow up pursuit from here!"

Kuroto was also catching his breath, shook his head, "It's not yet time to give up Shisui!"

Although they are in a dire situation, it is still not worse enough to feel despair. Kuroto still has 'The Secret Technique of Physical Regeneration' at his arsenal that he got from Orochimaru.

As long as he doesn't hesitate to overdraft his life, he can recover from his injuries, and chakra can also be extracted from the newly formed cells.

Once that's done, they can just escape using the flying ability of the Kazekage puppet.

As for the matter of being exposed?

They are already in such a dire situation, so he can't care much. If he dies here, what good will keeping the Kazekage puppet a secret does?

Just as Kuroto stretched his hand into the ninja bag to take out the Kazekage puppet scroll, he suddenly felt a slight vibration under his feet.

Even before he could check for the source, a small crack appeared just below his feet; out of which a lightning snake shot out, rushing straight towards him…

...

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"What…?"

Kuroto was already in an exhausted state; coupled with several injuries, he couldn't react fast enough to dodge, and the same was Shisui's situation as both of them were attacked by lightning snakes.

Instantly they were paralyzed due to being shocked, as a result of which Shisui's Susanoo that was already fading now completely disappeared.

"Hahaha… Finally got rid of that troublesome Jutsu!"

Seeing that the attack succeeds, Fuji who was hiding in the distance couldn't stop himself from laughing.

whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…

At the same time, one-after-another, figures of more than a hundred cloud ninjas as reinforcements appeared at the valley.

Upon seeing the chaos in the valley, the secret warehouse being submerged in the blazing fire, as well as the corpses of cloud ninjas lying all over the place. These cloud ninjas who came to support couldn't help but be shocked!

The leader of command Kurapa directly questioned Fuji who was responsible for guarding the secret warehouse: "Fuji, what the hell is going on here? Why didn't you protect the secret warehouse?"

Fuji could only helplessly reply, "We were attacked by Konoha's elite troops!"

"Elite troops!?" Kurapa curled his lips in anger and spoke while pointing his finger towards the injured and paralyzed Kuroto and Shisui, "Just two brats? You dare call them Konoha's Elite Troops!? Have you become so incompetent, that you can't even deal with two little devils!?"

Fuji snorted at Kurapa's words, "Just two Little Devils? Humph, take a good look around you, these two little devils killed more than two-hundred of us!"

Upon hearing Fuji's words, Kurapa and other cloud ninjas looked around and found that only the corpses of cloud ninjas were lying all around, in the entire valley; aside from the paralyzed Kuroto and Shisui, there was no sign of any other Konoha shinobi whether dead or alive.

With this alone Kurapa realized that for these two brats to have done such serious damage on their side, they are indeed not so simple as you would expect considering their young age, so, he immediately stated, "I will torture out all the information in their heads, while the rest watch out for the reinforcement from the enemy sides!"

Fuji only shrugged, "Do as you please, two more of the brats have escaped, I am going to pursue them now!"

Kuroto who was injured due to the lightning snake couldn't even use the slightest of his strength. Seeing the arrival of enemy reinforcements, even if he tried to force it, his heart couldn't stay calm!

As Kurapa was walking towards him, Kuroto felt more and more danger.

He tried thinking of whatever he could use, but there was no solution he could arrive at.

'Is this really it? I made a promise to him… I can't let it end here…!'

This was the only thought going into his mind, but unfortunately, there were no signs of hope.

'Something… anything…!'

As if hearing Kuroto's plea, he suddenly felt an unfamiliar force surging.

'This is…!?'

The power seemed to be hidden far away in the sky, yet it seemed especially close to him.

What surprised him more was the kindness it directed towards him along with the huge amount of energy.

Yes, it was the kindness, kindness of a father? A Grandfather? Their Forefather or maybe a Distant Ancestor?

This energy that seemed within his reach yet out of his control attracted all his attention, it re-ignited his desire to survive, reminded him of the thought of surviving from death and accomplish what he dreams of.

With this reignited hope, Kuroto tried to raise his hand with all the strength he could muster.

Kurapa who was walking towards him sneered as he saw Kuroto struggling to move, "Don't struggle brat, after getting what I want, I will let you die without pain!"

Shisui on the side also looked at struggling Kuroto, he believes that Kuroto-Kun wouldn't do any meaningless action, so he was ready to sacrifice a Mangekyou by using Kotoamatsukami to control Kurapa.

Because of the lack of chakra, it is obviously impossible for Shisui to use Kotoamatsukami normally, so the only option he has left is to use it forcibly by sacrificing one eye.

But as long as Kurapa is controlled, he and Kuroto-Kun will be able to escape from here, so it is undoubtedly worth it.

He had already started accumulating Pupil Power in his left eye.

However, before he could fully launch the strongest genjutsu, Kuroto, who finally managed to raise his hand, grabbed the non-existent space.

Seeing Kuroto's action Kurapa raised the corner of one eye while thinking to himself, 'Is consciousness so blurred? That's good, it would be much easier to extract information from --!'

However, before he could finish the thought, something happened that left him stunned.

Not only Kurapa but all the surrounding Cloud ninjas, even Fuji who was about to leave to follow-up after Guy and Kakashi, as well as Shisui who was gathering pupil power in his left eye to cast Kotoamatsukami were stunned.

In everyone's perception as soon as Kuroto's grabbed into the void, a huge Chakra reaction erupted from his body shining like a pillar of blue light illuminating the night sky.

The chakra reaction was so great that both Kurapa and Fuji who had seen a tailed beast were shaken.

As soon as the chakra erupted, his body started floating up and visible to the naked eye all the injuries and numbness on his body disappeared instantly and was replaced by a feeling of overwhelming and endless power.

"This… what the hell is going on?" Honestly, Kuroto was no less shocked than the others.

Although he felt the kindness and acceptance from this force, he was certain it wasn't the power of his Tenseigan.

Before he could make any judgments, some images started to appear in his mind.

'It's hand seal printing!?' – Kuroto did not know what this hand seal printing method is used for, just out of the instinctual trust he felt towards the source, he performed the seals one-by-one according to the images he saw.

Ram – Tiger – Boar – Tiger

...…. Whooooshh!!!...

As soon as he completed the hand seal printing, Kuroto gained a cyan-colored Chakra shroud with six magatamas marking on his collar, dark markings over his eyebrows, and lower eyelids.

The shroud constantly radiated flickering flames of Chakra, and his clothing and hair continuously billowed upwards as if caught in an upward breeze as he floated in mid-air akin to a God!

And that's not it, immediately afterward several orbs of black malleable chakra flashed from the center of his eyebrows, and floated around him.

"T-tenseigan Chakra Mode!? The printing method just now was to turn on the Tenseigan Chakra Mode!!?" – Kuroto was out of his wits as he discovered the state, he was in.

It was only now that he understood the source of the energy that is helping him, he still couldn't help but think as to why did it help him out right now?

But it was obviously not the time for him to entangle himself in these things.

Suppressing all the mixed thoughts in his heart, and directing all his attention towards the only objective in front of him, Kuroto made sure that he must eliminate all the Cloud ninja here, not only to ensure his and Shisui's safety but also to make sure there are no witnesses left to remember the events that took place here to ensure that his Tenseigan doesn't get exposed!

After making up his mind, Kuroto pointed his hand towards Shisui and dragged him along with the ground he was sitting on into the air, all while his other hand was slowly raised and aimed in the direction of the valley.

The nine Truth-Seeking Balls floating around him immediately merged, as he focused his chakra through them, and muttered in an emotionless tone, "Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

Following Kuroto's call the chakra he focused on the Truth-Seeking Balls created a powerful silvery typhoon, and the target of this gust was the entire valley along with all the cloud shinobi.

…

On the Moon.

In the Otsutsuki Family Hall.

A grey-haired, old man suddenly opened his cloudy white eyes, and muttered in a surprised tone, "Who is using the power of the giant Tenseigan!?"

Without any hesitation, he immediately got up and rushed towards the temple.

At the same time, two more elders also rushed towards the temple just like him.

"What is happening, who is drawing chakra from the Tensiagn?"

"Only three of us can control the Tenseigan, then how come…?"

The oldest of the three said at this time: "No matter who is it, firstly put a seal on the Tenseigan and cut off any external chakra output!"

"Yes!"

Having decided the course, the three of them made several hand seals, then spoke in a unison, "Fuin Kekkai!"

With the combined seal from the three elders, the twinkling of the giant Tenseigan dimmed slightly…

...

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Boom…

The huge storm made by the 'Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion' instantly swept the entire valley!

In such a fierce storm, whether they were elites like Fuji, Kurapa, other Jonin, or the chunin and genin, everyone was like rootless duckweed.

Nothing more than TINY LITTLE ANTS!

Not only the Cloud ninjas but countless big trees were also uprooted, huge rocks were turned into dust, buildings and sentry posts and many other things all disintegrated into debris at the first contact with the storm.

The entire valley was like a drawing on a piece of paper that was wiped clean by the eraser named 'Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion', and nothing but a blank was left.

'Not enough! Still not enough!'

Kuroto still doesn't have any plans to stop!

Although the entire valley has been razed to the ground by him, there were still many chakra reactions he could perceive with the Tenseigan, this only meant that there were still many survivors left.

'These survivors must not stay alive! If even a single one of them manages to escape, Cloud Village will come to know of my Tenseigan.'

Cloud village has done a lot of shameless actions to steal the secrets of the other villages, attempted to kidnap Uzumaki Kushina, and even Hyuga Hinata for studying Byakugan, who knows what they will plot against him.

So, nobody can be allowed to stay alive!

Shisui, who was sitting on a piece of floating rock beside Kuroto, was in a daze at the scene in front of him. It has been several minutes, and this expression hasn't changed.

'Is this Kuroto-San's true strength!?'

No matter how humble he may be, Shisui still has deep pride within him. But now that he saw such a largescale and powerful technique used by Kuroto, he suddenly lost confidence in his Mangekyou.

'Can Susanoo be comparable to something like that?'

This was the only question being repeated in his mind again and again.

This was the moment his pride was completely torn apart and his reverence towards Kuroto-Kun increased exponentially!

Kuroto who was still busy killing every cloud shinobi didn't notice the change in Shisui's mentality.

But suddenly, the endless source of chakra was cut off…

The power and Chakra that was overflowing in his body seemed to be hollowed out all of a sudden, this happened so quickly that he couldn't even react to it.

He has long since realized that the source of this Chakra must be the giant Tenseigan on the moon, such kindness could only be felt from Hamura.

Precisely because he realized the source of the chakra, so he did his best to transfer as much as he can in Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion because he knows that the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon wouldn't allow the Hamura's chakra to be used by anyone but their own, so this was most likely a once in a lifetime chance.

However, the members of the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon reacted too quickly. From the time when the resonance between his Tenseigan with the Giant Tenseigan began only a few minutes have passed and they already cut off the chakra supply!

However, he can't stop now, there are still some life sources left.

'Can't stop now!'

Before killing every cloud ninja, he could not let the Tenseigan Chakra Mode fade away, even if he has to overdraw his vitality!

Gritting his teeth, he insisted on using 'the secret technique of physical regeneration'.

According to the rough estimation, it would take only about 13 more seconds to completely flatten the valley.

Not to mention the humans, even the rats, and ants hiding in the ground must not be left alive!

But without the support of the giant Tenseigan on the Moon, Kuroto was already overwhelmed by the fatigue, and his consciousness started getting blurry.

'Have to stay awake!'

"Seven… six… five… four… "

With the heavy eyelids he couldn't keep open, Kuroto somehow managed to sense the remaining Chakra reaction in the valley.

"Three…"

"Two…"

"And the last one…!"

With the disappearance of the chakra source of the last enemy ninja. Kuroto forced himself to stay awake to confirm no more people were left alive in the valley.

Now, he finally couldn't hold up anymore and fell to the ground long with Shisui while coughing out blood.

Even before he could lift off the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, it automatically wore off, and with it, the Tenseigan in his eye socket also turned into Byakygan.

Shisui somehow managed to get up and quickly checked up on Kuroto's condition, "Kuroto-Kun how are you doing!?"

"Heh… Don't worry, I am only tired, and injured. Just leave this place before any more enemy forces arrive!" – Kuroto said as he lost consciousness.

Shisui nodded, and while carrying unconscious Kuroto on his back, fled towards the border of the Land of Frost.

…

Not long after Kuroto and Shisui left,

Several more groups of Cloud ninjas rushed to the valley from all directions.

Of course, this place couldn't be considered a valley anymore. Because wherever the eyes could see, it was all a straight plane, it almost felt like a giant ploughed the land with a shovel!

The arriving Cloud ninjas were confused looking at the situation around.

"We didn't come to the wrong place, did we? Didn't the map stated that it should be valley around?"

"No, you idiot, how could we come wrong, this is the place where the emergency signal came from!"

"Then where is anyone? Where is the secret warehouse!?"

One-by-one Cloud ninjas were confused by such a development.

At this time, a Jonin stood up and shouted, "Assholes, what are you all doing standing around in a daze, hurry up and find any survivors, I want to know what in the God's name happened here!?"

The ninjas came out of their stupor and reacted immediately as they dispersed one after another, trying to find any source of information that could be useful.

But over and over again, no matter how much they explored or dug the muddy ground, they found nothing but mutilated corpses, and without exception, each of them belonged to the shinobi of Cloud Village.

"What, not even a single enemy corpse was found!!?" Hearing such a report, the Jonin leader was more panicked.

While pointing at the rows and rows of corpses that had been gathered in front of him, he said tremblingly, "Impossible… how could so many of our die and not even any sign of any enemy around? Search everywhere, I want four-man squads to search in every direction and find any trace that the enemy might have left!"

"Yes!"

'Just what in the hell did they fought against!?' – was the only question in his mind.

…

On the Moon.

After cutting off the chakra supply of the giant Tenseigan, the three elders now discussed the possible cause for such a thing to happen.

Elder 1 said, "This time giant Tenseigan acted too strange, I suspect it has something to do with the person who stole the Gedo Statue before!"

Elder 2 was shocked and angry, "He dares to try to steal the treasure of Otsutsuki's?

Elder 3 who was the eldest of all remained slightly calm and said after some thinking, "It would be better to use the giant Tenseigan to see. The change now was indeed quite unusual, maybe something happened in the Ninja World."

Elder 1 and Elder 2 nodded at Elder 3's words and immediately made some hand seals: "Enlighten!"

The now dim Tenseigan once again bloomed in the brilliant light, and as per Elder's sealing, spread a light curtain into the Earth.

…

On the Earth.

Kuroto who was resting on Shisui's back as they both fled towards the Land of Frost, suddenly felt the familiar chakra of the giant Tensaign swept over him, and this brought him out of his sleep making him highly alert.

However, since his Tenseigan faded and turned into Byakugan because of the depletion of Chakra, the Chakra curtain of the Giant Tenseigan did not stay on him for longer than an instant and went past him as if it didn't recognize him at all.

'Wheh…'

...

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A few days later.

Land of Hot Water.

Kakashi and Guy who were unconscious lay side by side on the ground inside a small cave, while Kuroto sat on the side and Shisui was sitting at the campfire busy cooking.

Stirring the small pot on the fire Shisui whispered, "Kuroto-San, the soup is just about ready!"

Kuroto nodded eagerly, he was really hungry right now.

Although he still has Military Ration Pills left with him, their taste is just too awful.

Now, it's not that Kuroto hates eating it but like most other Shinobi he would also prefer eating something delicious like fish soup over the tasteless Military Ration Pills.

Without much delay, Shisui brought a bowl of fresh steaming fish soup for Kuroto.

While drinking the soup, Kuroto looked over towards Kakashi and Guy who were lying unconscious.

It's funny to think that Guy who retreated first with Kakashi on Kuroto's orders, was more injured than him and Shisui.

But it's not that strange if you think about it, even if Kuroto and Shisui tried their best, they were unable to stop any follow-up chase after Guy, as a result, he was intercepted by cloud ninjas and had no choice other than to use Hachimon Tonkou.

Hachimon Tonkou is a forbidden Jutsu that damages the enemy 1000 points and injures oneself by 800 points, so although Guy successfully managed to repel the enemy shinobi, he was also injured severely.

On the other hand, Kakashi's situation is even more complicated.

Although Kakashi has serious injuries and excessive blood loss, the reason for him being in a coma is something else.

As for what that reason might be?

Kuroto has no idea for the time being.

He doesn't even have much time to worry about Kakashi right now as his own troubles have not been solved yet.

...…. crack...

For some reason, Kuroto suddenly wrinkled his eyebrows, and the bowl in his hand fell to the ground, breaking into several fragments which alerted Shisui.

Shisui suddenly asked, "Kuroto-San, are you alright, did something happen? Is there anyone approaching here?"

Kuroto only shook his head negatively with a sullen face, "Huh… Nothing happened."

After reassuring Shisui one more time, Kuroto turned to look outside the cave.

The night sky outside was very charming, bright stars like diamonds filled the night sky, bright and soft moonlight only enhanced this beauty, making it all feel surreal.

Looking at such a charming night, Kuroto can only sigh as he was worried about something else, "Huh… did that small incident shocked them so much?"

Kuroto thinks so only because just a few moments ago the search curtain of Tenseigan Chakra again went past them. He wouldn't have even noticed this if not for the fact that he is now familiar with Hamura's chakra.

Shisui, sitting beside him didn't react all.

This just goes to show how secretive the chakra search of the giant Tenseigan is. Even Shisui with the Mangekyou can't perceive it at all.

'This has already been the seventh time today! Why haven't they given up yet? Wasn't it just some tiny amount of Chakra? Why can't they let go of this for once?' – Kuroto thought.

He is very annoyed by this, but he knows that the last members of the Otsutsuki Clan on the Moon are all pure radicals.

Obviously, they misunderstood Hamura, thinking that the Shinobi World created by the Sage of the Six Path is nothing more than a failure, and took it upon themselves to destroy and recreate the world.

If they come to know about his existence, Kuroto can't even to begin thinking of what might be the consequences!

Moreover, now he, who has borrowed the chakra from the Giant Tenseigan knows better than anyone, just how powerful giant Tenseigan is!

It wouldn't be wrong to say that it is undoubtedly a supreme treasure that belongs to the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon!

Even Kuroto with the Tenseigan only barely managed to resonate with its Chakra in a near-death state, while those Otsutsuki descendants can freely use it as per their wish.

From just this alone it can be seen, that the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon has a much higher authority than the Hyuga Clan.

And if they come after him, what Kuroto would have to face will be the onslaught from the Giant Tenseigan which is thousands of times superior to him in terms of both the quality as well as quantity of chakra.

The result isn't that hard to figure out!

Honestly, Kuroto even thinks that he is quite lucky.

Fortunately, his Tenseigan went into temporary dormancy due to Chakra exhaustion bringing back the Byakugan. Otherwise, he would have had no method to avoid giant Tenseigan's search.

…

On the Moon.

"… Cough…!"

After a short cough Elder 1 resealed the giant Tenseigan and shook his head negatively.

When Elder 2 saw this, his brows tightened, "Still nothing?"

Elder 1 calmed down his coughs, then said slowly, "Apart from the Forbidden Spots, there is no other abnormality in the Shinobi World!"

The last descendants of Otsutsuki have desired to destroy the Shinobi world long since.

It's just that, using Giant Tenseigan's regular explorations of the Shinobi World, they have found several places where the light of the Tenseigan is unable to reach, therefore the Otsutsuki have close to no information about these places, and termed them collectively as 'Forbidden Spots'!

Some of these 'Forbidden Spots' are densely filled by Natural Energy., some are occupied by weird extraterritorial forces, while the others have been contaminated with evil energy.

Due to these reasons, the Otsutsuki's have hesitated to make a move up to now.

Now there aren't many people left on the moon, except for the 3 elders, there is only a 3-year-old child named Toneri and his father left.

Their current power is not enough to smoothly destroy the entire Shinobi World, so no matter how radical they may be, the elders can only endure and choose to wait for the right opportunity, or wait for Toneri to grow up and fulfil Hamura's wish.

Elder 3 asked at this moment, "What about the Gedo Statue? Is there any finding of it?"

Elder 3 asked this because they did manage to briefly sense the 'Gedo Statue' a few years ago, but before they could use the Tenseigan to search, the induction disappeared, so the Elders could only stay disappointed for not being able to find its exact location.

Elder 1 again shook his head at Elder 3's question.

Elder 2, who is the most radical of all stood up from the futon: "Are we just going to watch and do nothing?"

Elder 3 calmly said, "We have grown too old and don't have enough strength to fulfil Hamura's last wish. Let Toneri take this important task. He is the most gifted child the Otsutsuki has ever witnessed, if it is him, he would definitely be able to fulfil it!"

Elder 1 tentatively suggested, "We may be able to seek help from the Hyuga Clan, after all, they also have the same blood as us!"

Elder 2 snorted coldly, "Hyuga? No! They are fallen people, they are unworthy, and their fate will be the same as the rest of the Shinobi world, they are part of the failed world created by the Sage of the Six Paths, so they too have to perish along with it!"

Elder 3 thought of suggesting that if all of the people were exterminated, then the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon which is already close to extinction wouldn't escape this fate as well, but seeing the decisive look of Elder 2, he chooses to sigh and let go.

In the final analysis, all three of them share the same thought that the Hyuga Clan is really unworthy of being compared to the Otsutsuki Clan on the Moon…

...

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At the border of Land of Earth and Land of Grass.

Sandaime Tsuchikage, Onoki looked at the information on the piece of paper in his hands and said: "So, the commander from Konoha facing us is Shimura Danzo?"

The Jonin commander standing by Tsuchikage-Sama's side replied, "Yes Tsuchikage-Sama, according to the information collected by the intelligence team Shimura Danzo is commanding the Konoha front!"

Rock Village suddenly assembled its army at the Border of Land of Grass, so Konoha had to take some countermeasures.

Shimura Danzo of the Konoha Council was assigned by Sandaime Hokage to guard the front line against the Rock Village.

Utatane Koharu was responsible to go to Sand Village in person to discuss alliance matters.

While Mitokado Homura had to go to the coastline on the east of the Land of Fire to prevent raids from the Mist Village.

Such pieces of information are difficult to conceal, so the Rock Village intelligence department easily intercepted them.

After pondering a little, Tsuchikage asked, "What about the Hokage himself?"

Jonin leader shook his head, "There is no accurate information yet, but most likely opinion states that he is still sitting in the Konoha Village."

"Heh… Hokage is really calm about the situation!" Tsuchikage smiled mockingly, then as if he suddenly remembered something, and asked: "By the way, is there any news about the shinobi responsible for killing Iwamoto and his team?"

As the captain of one of the remaining few Beheading Units in the Rock Village, Iwamoto was an elite Jonin of the Rock Village. So, his death undoubtedly made Tsuchikage very angry and annoyed.

"According to the intelligence sent by the spies planted within the Land of Demons, it was Team-11 of the Konoha Anbu Black Ops, that killed Iwamoto and his team."

Tsuchikage frowned hearing this, "Konoha's Anbu?"

No matter which village, the identity of the Anbu is highly confidential and in some cases only known to the Kage himself, so finding out more detailed information about this Team-11 wouldn't be an easy task, even for Rock Village.

"Did this Team-11 make an appearance on any of the battlefield yet?" – Tsuchikage asked while holding his chin.

The Jonin browsed through all the documents and pieces of intelligence at his hands and replied: "No Tsuchkage-Sama!"

The battle between the Konoha and Cloud Village naturally attracted the attention of all the Shinobi Villages, and among them, Rock village undoubtedly placed special attention on that front to have all the first-hand information.

Therefore, at the beginning when the intelligence about the sudden raids from the Cloud Village was known Rock Village dispatched a large number of ninjas proficient in sneaking and information gathering into the Land of Fire, to receive the intelligence on any changes in the war situation on that front at the latest.

In the battle of intelligence gathering, Konoha undoubtedly suffered a big loss this time.

Several lines of defense at the border was so easily breached by the secret raid of the Cloud Shinobi, again leading to the loss of both material and personnel.

Tsuchikage-Sama is of course very happy seeing Konoha suffer: "If Cloud keeps up with this speed, they should be able to attack Konoha Village within a few weeks."

This battle completely exposed Konoha's current state, every village was able to see that Konoha Village is no longer the invincible existence that overwhelms the entire ninja world singlehandedly.

However, the Jonin leader on the side wasn't as optimistic as Tsuchikage-Sama, he shook his head negatively and said, "I am afraid it wouldn't be that easy Tsuchikage-Sama! After the Toad Sanin Jiraiya arrived at the Cloud Front, Konoha's situation is much better, making Cloud Village's offensive temporarily contained."

So, far no one has any idea as to why Jiraiya arrived at the battlefield a whole week late than expected, but his arrival did slow down Cloud's offensive.

Tsuchikage pondered a little, and said, "Konoha's reaction is a bit strange this time. Hokage should know that the combat power on the battlefield is insufficient, but there are no signs of the Uchiha Clan participating like in the 3rd Shinobi War.

Then there is no trace of this seemingly strong Team-11 of the Anbu Black Ops.

Moreover, Jiraiya arrived later at the War.

Hokage himself is still sitting in the village.

I have a feeling that there is something more to it than meets the eye, arrange some ninjas to check this out, I want to know why is this the case!"

"Yes Tsuchikage-Sama, I will arrange it!"

…

Land of Fire, Cloud Camp.

After receiving the news from the rear, Yugito Nii and Cloud Head Ninja looked at each other in confusion.

The content of the message only has few words: 'Pause the Attack!'

Killer bee raised his head and asked the two who were looking at each other in confusion: "Well, why did brother A send such an order?"

The Head ninja shook his head in confusion, "This is simply incomprehensible, we have already destroyed Konoha's frontal defense. If we stop now then the previous efforts would all be in vain!"

Yugito Nii suggested, "Could it be that something happened at the village?"

Both Killer Bee and Head ninja agreed to Yugito Nii's suggestion, otherwise, there is no reason for Raikage-Sama to send such absurd orders.

Well what choice do they have, Raikage-Sama ordered, they have to follow through!

So, the offensive from the Clou Village's end temporarily stopped.

…

Land of Fire, Konoha Camp facing Cloud Offense.

Nara Shikaku walked into the head tent and quickly said: "The opposite side seems to have stopped attacking!"

Standing on the side, Hyuga Hizashi frowned at Nara Shikaku's words and asked, "They are obviously on the dominating side, why did they suddenly stop?"

Jiraiya who was sitting at the center knew the most possible reason, so he said at this time: "Most likely old man's strategy worked."

Having said that he briefly explained, that Hokage-sama gave orders to the Anbu Black Ops to destroy the secret warehouse of the Cloud Village at the border of the Land of Lightning to slow down the Cloud offensive.

Everyone who heard about this information, couldn't help but sigh.

This kind of mission of sneaking into the enemy's territory involves too much risk even if it is some small Shinobi village, not to mention Cloud Village being one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

For someone to have completed this task is way beyond expectations, but everybody was extremely grateful to them.

At least now the Konoha side has a temporary breathing period.

…

Land of Hot Water.

Kuroto who was freshening up by the lake; untied the black-goggle that Yue gave him.

The clear water in the lake reflected the Byakugan in his eye sockets

Looking at his reflection in the lake intently, Kuroto found that his Dojutsus were indeed Byakugan, although their purity has increased slightly, they are the Byakugan no doubt about that.

After repeated confirmation, Kuroto closed his eyes and injected Chakra into them, after doing this for a few seconds, he reopened them.

This time his eyes flashed with the royal blue light; the floral pattern formed by the white irises looked like a beautiful star in the night sky.

As soon as he opened them, Kuroto's field of vision became clearer, he could even perceive the linings on the bark of a small tree far away.

"Thank goodness, the Tenseigan was only dormant, not lost!"

Kuroto chuckled and breathed a sigh of relief.

He finally learned the method to be able to activate and deactivate the Tenseigan. After several more attempts to check for any signs of abnormality, Kuroto was sure that his Tenseigan can be closed just like the Uchiha.

In the normal state, he can use the Byakugan similar to Sharingan, and at a further stage, he can activate the Tenseigan similar to Mangekyou.

But that wasn't it, Kuroto checked several times and was surprised to find that as soon as he deactivates the Tenseigan, the Curse seal on his forehead activates.

This discovery really made him interested in the 'Cage Bird'. This curse seal is obviously not simple as it may seem, the secrets hidden within it are much deeper than one would expect.

Suddenly, Kuroto found that this Curse seal seems to be of great research value…

...

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Since he can now freely activate and deactivate the Tenseigan, so there was obviously no need to wear the dark goggles anymore.

After all, wearing the goggles also has a considerable impact on his field of vision, especially at night, the dark color of the lens interferes with his insight.

So, after putting the goggles in the ninja bag around his waist, Kuroto got up and returned to the small cave where the Team-11 was hiding.

As soon as Guy saw Kuroto walking in, he smiled and said, "Hahaha, I couldn't even recognize you for a second, looks quite strange without the goggles!"

Kuroto didn't mind Guy and observed him while asking, "how is your condition?"

Guy immediately gave his 'Nice Guy' pose: 'a thumbs up, wink, and a winning smile showing his front teeth – complete with the proverbial 'ping',' and while laughing enthusiastically said, "Don't worry, I am Konoha's Sublime Blue Beast of Prey! Such small injuries will not stop me from brimming with the 'Power of Youth!'."

And Kuroto has no doubt about Guy's words.

Undoubtedly, Guy's resilience is far extraordinary than one might think. If ordinary people push themselves as hard as he does in his training, they will not only be physically overwhelmed but even mentally collapse.

This time the injuries he suffered were not minor but only a few days of rest and he can already jump around.

So he only shook his head helplessly at Guy's enthusiasm and walked forward.

Going further inside the cave, Kuroto found Shisui chatting with Kakashi in low voice.

Seeing both of them a little serious, Kuroto asked casually, "What are talking about with such serious looks?"

Shisui glanced at Kakashi and seeing that the other party nodded, he said to Kuroto in a weird tone: "Kuroto-San, Captain Kakashi has awakened Mangekyou Sharingan."

Kuroto looked at Kakashi, "Did you awaken at the Valley?"

Kakashi who was still in weakness shook his head negatively, "I don't know much!"

Obviously, Kuroto isn't surprised about Kakashi awakening the Mangekyou, because as far as he remembers, Kakashi did have it in the original series.

It was about the same time when Obito awakened his Mangekyou, probably because of the resonance between the two and the intense emotional fluctuation that the two experienced due to Rin's death.

It's just that Kakashi might have not realized this fact until now, but his battle at the valley in the Land of Lightning probably allowed him to learn of this fact.

Seeing that Kakashi was still in pretty bad condition, Kuroto didn't ask for any more information.

Besides, he didn't want to show his interest or familiarity with the information on the Mangekyou, as it would bring a lot of unnecessary trouble and suspicion.

After all, for a Hyuga to have such knowledge on the Sharingan of the Uchiha clan is indeed suspicious.

There are already other people who have a deep interest in the Sharingan as well as Mangekyou, Shimura Danzo in the Village, and Orochimaru outside the village are a few of the examples.

There is also Obito being hidden in the dark, who plans to destroy the Uchiha Clan as well as weaken Konoha, and not to mention the freak Zetsu, who Kuroto can't even begin to think about.

Kuroto doesn't want to become the target of their focus, as it would only bring way too much trouble upon him.

Seeing Kuroto-Kun not very interested in Kakashi-San's Mangekyou, Shisui didn't say much.

It's just that he was already in a dumbfounded state, never in his life would he have thought that a non-Uchiha member who transplanted the Sharingan could awaken the Legendary Mangekyou revered by the Uchiha.

In his opinion, the very existence of Captain Kakashi's Mangekyou is the biggest mockery of Uchiha's pride.

Countless Uchihas who have been hailed as geniuses failed to awaken the Mangekyou, even now as far he knows, he is the only Uchiha to have awakened the Mangekyou.

And the power of Mangekyou even terrifies him, he fears that this Mangekyou would only bring ominousness to both the Village and the Uchiha.

This is also the reason why he guards this power that represents the Uchiha's pride so carefully, and here he is now witnessing Captain Kakashi who is not even an Uchiha to have awakened it inexplicably.

This is way beyond hilarious, Shisui doesn't know whether to laugh or cry.

Fortunately, Shisui's inner pride has already been torn to shreds by Kuroto-San not long ago. In his belief, the proud Uchiha have obviously been defeated by the Hyuga Clan.

At least in his thinking, the power of Mangekyou cannot rival Kuroto-San's power he witnessed at the valley.

Therefore, this time it was much easier for him to accept the loss of Uchiha. 'After all, Captain Kakashi is also the son of White Fang, it should be acceptable, shouldn't it?' – this was his question to himself.

Shisui's complicated mental activities were unknown to Kuroto and Kakashi.

One was immersed in his own spiritual world.

While Kuroto was pondering over the events that took place in the past few days.

This battle at the valley again taught him a lesson, even if has a lot of hole cards in his hand, he must remain cautious, otherwise, he may lose his life in just a split second and wouldn't even get the chance to use those hole cards.

And this thing almost happened this time. Although he had the Kazekage puppet with him, and he could have easily escaped using it, but just one small negligence almost made him lose his life.

It must never be forgotten that this is the Shinobi World, the very same Shinobi World where even the Jubi Jinchuriki Madara was left helpless in the face of Black Zetsu's sneak attack, and even Kaguya was sealed twice.

Even a bit of carelessness isn't an option, you have to be vigilant even when you are as strong as the Sage of the Six Paths or the Chakra Ancestor!

…

The biggest gain is undoubtedly the information he obtained from the giant Tenseigan about the method to enter 'Tenseigan Chakra Mode' as well as using the other techniques like 'Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion' and 'Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion' using the Truth-Seeking Orbs.

In fact, now Kuroto can even understand Kaguya, Madara, Nagato, and Toneri's God complex. The moment he entered the 'Tenseigan Chakra Mode', Kuroto himself felt like he was a God, and all the enemies were just some tiny little ants he could crush with just a wave of his hand.

This feeling of course made him very happy, unlike those that might feel disgusted about it.

But it's a pity that those Otsutsuki descendants on the moon reacted way too quickly and sealed the chakra flow of the Giant Tenseigan, so he didn't have enough time to familiarize himself with the 'Tenseigan Chakra Mode'.

But Kuroto is not too much worried about it.

After that incident, there are traces of Hamura's chakra left on him, and with enough rest and recuperation, his original chakra has also almost recovered.

Although with his Chakra Volume, using 'Tenseigan Chakra Mode' for too long wouldn't be ideal, familiarizing himself with it should be possible.

However, Kuroto wasn't in any hurry, such things should be taken steadily one at a time, moreover, those Otsutsuki descendants on the moon are also searching the Shinobi world quite a lot so laying low for a while is the best course of option for him for now at least.

After returning to the Land of Fire, he would test the Tenseigan Chakra Mode…

...

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The short resting period allowed the Team-11 to recover a little bit, and now what to do next became an urgent issue before them.

The four members of the Team-11 sat on the ground spreading a map to discuss their further course of action.

While pointing at the map Shisui was the first to speak: "Cloud Village has too many spies infiltrated within the Land of Hot Water, so us staying in this territory for too long is definitely not a wise choice. I suggest we choose to leave immediately using the Unison route."

The 'Unison route' referred to by Shisui goes along the easternmost coastline of Land of Hot Water back to the Land of Fire.

Judging from the map, this route seems to be the most unsafe; as it lies in the combined area of control of Konoha Village, Cloud Village, and Mist Village. But for this very reason, this 'Unison Route' can, in fact, be considered the safest, because no village has absolute control over it.

For this reason, Unison Route has become a unique zone with many wandering and retired ninjas hiding here.

Guy immediately nodded at Shisui's proposal, "Well, I think it will a good choice."

With the current combat power of Team-11, as long as they don't get too unlucky and directly encounter the main combat force of Cloud Village or any supposed Ninjas Village, they should be able to cross any territory without much difficulty.

However, the captain of Team-11, Kakashi hasn't spoken his opinion yet, he seems to be considering something.

Kuroto guessed that Kakashi has some other plans, so he asked, "Kakashi, if you have something in mind, just say it directly. After all, we are a team, who have already experienced life and death battles, I think you should be comfortable in expressing your thoughts by now."

What Kuroto said isn't wrong, even if Kakashi concealed the details of the previous mission and led Team-11 into such a dangerous situation that almost got them killed, but nobody could blame him.

The mission was personally issued by Hokage-Sama and as the member of Anbu Black Ops, they must complete his orders, Kakashi doesn't have any right to reject or question Hokage-Sama's orders, not to mention he took the most dangerous part of the task upon himself and almost got himself killed, therefore nobody blamed him.

Listening to Kuroto's words, Kakashi sighed.

Pointing at the current location of Team-11 on the map, he slowly said, "As Shisui said, we have already completed our mission and should retreat to the Land of Fire as quickly as possible. However, everyone, think about where are we currently?

From one perspective, we are stuck between the Cloud Raid troops at the front while the Cloud Village at the rear, but from another perspective, our position is too critical!"

Kuroto understood what Kakashi is trying to say, "Well, you are right about that, indeed our current position is extremely dangerous for us, but at the same time our stay in the Land of Hot Water is like a knife at the enemy's throat that can strike any time. I am afraid that the Cloud troops wouldn't be rest assured until they eliminate us."

Not only Team-11 destroyed the secret warehouse but also eliminated more than 300 ninjas, so no matter how conceited Cloud Village maybe, they wouldn't dare to ignore such an existence hidden behind the rear of Cloud Raid Forces.

As soon as the Cloud Village discovers that Team-11 is hidden within the territory of Land of Hot Water, their frontal offensive will obviously weaken and some of it might even be directed towards chase and hunt of Team-11.

Shisui also thought a little and said, "Yes, Cloud Ninjas don't know about our injuries, they may estimate us to be a little weakened to exhausted but we can utilize this ignorance to our advantage. As long as we hide well enough and occasionally choose to strike to scare them critically, they wouldn't be able to concentrate entirely on the Konoha Front."

'Well, indeed, Team-11 is not entirely in a battle-ready state.

Kakashi has still not recovered completely.

Although Guy is fit enough to jump around, his fighting power is still not restored entirely due to several fractures.

Shisui is in a better state than two of them but he is still not at his 100% combat effectiveness. Due to using Susanoo for too long he also suffered from Chakra Overdraft; so, he is also in a weakened state, so, at most he can play at around 50% to 60% of his full combat potential.

At least, my situation is better than the others, I have already recovered about 80% of my Chakra, and there are close to no injuries as they were already healed from the Chakar of giant Tenseigan as well as because of using 'The Secret Technique of Physical Regeneration' so my combat effectiveness is almost close to 100% as my Chakra recovered' – thought Kuroto.

After some more discussion, Team-11 reached a consensus and decided to extend their stay within Land of Hot Water to harass the raid troops of Cloud Village.

Kuroto agreed because he knows that Cloud Village has no intention to expand the conflict to full-scale war. Once the situation reaches a stalemate or disadvantageous, Cloud Village should propose peace talks.

And if Team-11 is the one that caused Cloud Konoha to sit on the negotiation table, then it would be considered a great honor. Not to mention their authority in the Anbu will also skyrocket.

Take Namikaze Minato as an example, nothing could build reputation and authority faster than the Meritorious Services in War Period.

So, this course of action is natural the best suited in Kuroto's opinion.

Land of Fire, Cloud Raid Camp.

Through active communication with the village, several commanders of Cloud Village including Killer B, Cloud Head Ninja, and the young, Nibi's Jinchuriki Yugito Nii, finally learned why Raikage-Sama issued the absurd order of pausing the attack against Konoha forces.

Holding the piece of paper in his hand, even Killer B's always cheerful face was gloomy.

The news from Raikage-sama mentioned that the four secret warehouses of the Cloud Village spread around different parts of the Land of Lightning were all attacked by the Anbu Black Ops of Konoha Village within a short period of 2 days.

But that wasn't it, at the location of one of the warehouses, more than 300 Cloud ninjas were found dead, with no signs of the enemy around whether injured, dead, or alive.

This new surprised all the 3 sitting around.

The youngest Yugito Nii folded her hands around the chest and said coldly: "Huh… Konoha also knows some tricks!"

Cloud Head ninja was more worried: "Konoha was able to get intelligence about the location of the secret warehouses, this isn't too surprising, because of the transportation of goods, it is indeed difficult to cover up all the tracks, but they were able to wipe out more than 300 hundred of our men, this is not something to be taken lightly."

Although Yugito Nii is a proud Kunoichi, she also knows that it is not an easy task for just some random Anbu squad to kill more than 300 shinobi, so thinking a little she asked, "Among Konoha's high-level combat personnel who hasn't made an appearance on any battlefront yet?"

The Jonin secretary on the side immediately replied: "According to the information we have gathered, so far only the Patriarch of the Uchiha, and the Hyuga, as well as the Hokage-sama himself, hasn't made an appearance on any battlefront!"

Cloud Head Ninja also gave his analysis: "The main family of the Hyuga Clan rarely shows up on the battlefield and that too when the situation is too dire, this was the case even in the 3rd Shinobi War and going so deep into the enemy territory isn't something the Hyuga Clan could afford so they can be ruled out.

There was something weird with the Uchiha this time, there is no news of any Uchiha being on any battlefield, this wasn't the case in the 3rd Shinobi war, so in my opinion, the warehouse where our 300 men died should have been attacked by the Uchiha!"

At this time Yugito Nii suggested, "It has to be the Uchiha Clan and their Patriarch, and if not them then it can only be the Sandaime Hokage himself!"

Both Killer B and the Cloud Head ninja nodded at her conclusion, they also agree that no one else in Konoha has this kind of power…

...

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As one of the great Shinobi Village, Cloud Village has enough intelligence network to know of the people that might be responsible for this attack.

In Yugito Nii's view, if there is someone who could lead a shinobi team and complete such a difficult secret raid behind the enemy lines, except for the now defected Snake Sannin and the deceased Yellow Flash, there is only 'Wicked Eye' Fugaku of the Uchiha Clan and Hokage-Sama himself, so naturally, those two became the target of her suspicion.

However, before they could proceed with further countermeasure a Cloud ninja hurriedly walked into the head camp and said, "I am extremely sorry for the intrusion but an emergency transmission has been sent from the village!"

Receiving the news, Killer B, Yugito Nii, and Head Shinobi were again surprised.

According to the latest piece of news, although 3 of the 4 secret warehouses did suffer some damage, the attacking Anbu were captured alive.

After the torture, Cloud was able to extract information out of them.

And the name of Konoha Anbu Team-11 has appeared in the vision of Cloud senior officials.

However, this information is even more shocking than previously, "A four-person Anbu squad wiped away not only entire warehouse but also more than 300 hundred of our ninjas?" Yugito Nii muttered in surprise, and after a short pause she continued, "Could it be that Raikage-sama made some mistake?"

B and Head ninja were equally surprised by this information.

Even in the Cloud Village's side only Yugito Nii and Killer B have such ability because of being the Human Column Pillar of the Tailed Beast.

Being able to flatten a whole valley is not a joke, the chakra requirement to achieve something of this level is not possessed by just some 'Anbu ninjas.'

In other words, ordinary ninjas cannot do something of this degree in just one night.

So, if Team-11 could cause such damage to Cloud Village side, then there was only one thought in the minds of the senior Cloud officials.

"Konoha Anbu Team-11 must be eliminated at all cost!"

This idea took root in the hearts of everyone.

The three present here glanced at each other, and finally, Yugito Nii stood up and said, "I'll kill them!"

…

Land of Hot Water.

"Enemy Attack!"

"Be careful everyone, he is behind…"

"Hurry up and send a signal for help!"

In the chaotic atmosphere, Kuroto holding his Kusanagi Sword rushed amidst the Cloud Transport Unit.

The leader of the team, a Cloud Chunin, immediately raised his Kunai to block the enemy's incoming sword strike.

"Heh… Idiot!" Upon seeing this action Kuroto raised the corner of his mouth.

He couldn't remember how many ninjas have already tried to block his strike with an ordinary Kunai and without exception all of them…

Ding…

With a crisp metal collision sound, the chunin leader together with the Kunai in his hand was cut in half by the Kusanagi sword!

Without the lead of Chunin leader, the remaining Genin hardly pose a resistance and were one-by-one killed by him.

The last left Genin who knew he wasn't going to survive, resolutely activated the detonation symbol hidden in the transporter, making it all explode, as a result destroying it entirely.

Kuroto, who has already seen this scene happen more than a few times even during the third shinobi war wasn't surprised by the genin's actions and easily avoided the resulting explosion.

His purpose is obviously not the materials, so why take such unnecessary risks!

After taking a quick round around the battlefield and checking that all of the enemy ninjas were dead for sure, he picked up all the kunai cut in half and put it in a storage scroll.

If the Cloud ninjas, that will come to check here found out the broken Kunai remaining on the battlefield, the Cloud Village will come to know that one of the Shinobi on the enemy side is using a high-grade sword based on the smooth cut.

Once this information is known, they will naturally take countermeasures, and how can Kuroto allow himself to let go of such an advantage?

After finally confirming that there were no more traces left, Kuroto didn't stay here any longer and immediately left the site.

Not long after Kuroto left, Cloud Village's Nibi Jinchuriki led a group of Cloud ninjas and rushed here because of the help signal.

Seeing an already messy site, bloody corpses and the blown-up transporter, the faces of Cloud ninjas were ridden with anger, Yugito Nii herself couldn't hold back any longer as her pupils turned into Tailed Beast's.

At this time a Cloud Jonin came over.

Shaking his head, he reported, "No survivors!"

Although Yugito Nii was burning with anger she suppressed herself and asked, "Any signs that indicate their identity?"

Jonin again shook his head, "I am afraid no, all we know is that the enemy uses a sword damped with some kind of unknown poison; based on the method of killing, as for which sword and which poison, what is the proficiency, identity, and retreat, there are no signs!"

Gritting her teeth in frustration, she snarled viciously, "Send four-man squads in all possible routes, and find any trace, the enemy must not have gone too far!"

"Yes!"

…...Whoosh…...Whoosh…...Whoosh...

Following her order, the cloud ninjas one-after-another disappeared using the Body Flicker Technique.

While running along, Kuroto perceived a shinobi squad coming in his direction, he smiled slightly and immediately used the Shadow Clone Jutsu.

The main body and the clone nodded at each other and separated into two different directions.

After using the Shadow Clone to escape the chase of the enemy squad, Kuroto came to a crevice on a high cliff, which was not only well hidden but also provided him with a good field of vision. With Kuroto's insight and perception of the Tenseigan, this was the best hiding place.

While Chewing a Military Ration Pill, Kuroto re-applied the Poison on his sword and thought about his next move.

In the past week alone, Kuroto successfully attacked and destroyed three transportation units. Although no materials were obtained, neither was it too big damage for the Cloud Village compared to those more than 300 men that died, but it did bring their attention in this area.

The small movements made by the Team-11 have become a headache for the Cloud Village.

The frontline is unstable because of Jiraiya's presence, while the rear is unable to solve Team-11, as such all the momentum of Cloud Village has dropped.

Such abnormal behavior immediately attracted not only Konoha's but also other village's attention, that are watching this conflict very closely.

And everyone unanimously cast their sights on the Land of Hot Water, which is locked between the Land of Lightning and Land of Fire, as if the activities going on here will be the key to determining the direction of the conflict.

Team-11 has now become the number 1 target of the Cloud village, as a result of which more and more combat force is deployed for the siege of Team-11.

It all started with just a single Jonin squad.

And now not only the Jinchuriki was called from the front lines but even 20 Jonin squads are searching for the traces of Team-11 in the Land of Hot Water.

This level of deployment is obviously done against Kage-Class combat powers.

Suddenly Kuroto was brought of his thoughts.

Just now he sensed that his Shadow Clone disappeared, of course, this wasn't the issue.

The purpose of the Shadow Clone was to act as a decoy in his stead, but what surprised Kuroto was that it disappeared abruptly, and there was no sign of the identity of the enemy in the memory returned.

This only means that whoever was responsible, insta-killed his Shadow Clone.

Now, this is interesting.

Although, Kuroto isn't 100% proficient in the Shadow Clone Jutsu yet, and he needs to improve it, he still has some degree of confidence, not to mention the clone also had about 50% of his combat power and dojutsu insight.

And still, he couldn't find the trace of who was responsible!

This is surprising!

Leaning against the mountain wall, Kuroto looked in the direction where the Shadow Clone disappeared and smiled leisurely: "Who could be such a strong guy?"

...

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Of course, many strong people can defeat Kuroto in the current Shinobi World, but very few of them are capable enough that his Shadow Clone couldn't even perceive him/her.

And specifically, to the Cloud Village, there is only one such person.

"Could it really be Yondaime Raikage-Sama?" – guessed Kuroto as he put his Kusanagi into the scabbard.

Judging from the Cloud's reaction so far, Team-11's plan has undoubtedly been a success.

If, as Kuroto guessed, Raikage-Sama has also come out personally, it just proves that Cloud Village cannot ignore their movements anymore.

"If Raikage-Sama has also joined the siege, it would be best to stop disturbing Cloud's transportation line." – thought Kuroto.

Yondaime Raikage is not just some ordinary ninja, in terms of speed, he is unparalleled in the current Shinobi world.

Even Yondaime Hokage-Sama might have been inferior to Raikage Sama if not for the 'Flying Thunder God Technique'.

Facing someone like him is undoubtedly looking for death, which is something Kuroto doesn't want to experience.

And since Team-11's plan was to harass the transportation lines at the rear of the Cloud Assault Troops, so Kuroto will obviously not choose to continue if Raikage-sama himself has come after them.

In the face of powerhouses like the Raikage-Sama, as long as he lives, it would be his victory.

So, without further ado, Kuroto gathered all his equipment and retreated to the small cave where Team-11 was hiding.

…

Land of Hot Water, Team-11's Retreat Point.

Shisui, who returned not long ago, saw Kuroto-San's arrival, asked, "Kuroto-San, how did it go on your end?"

Kuroto smiled: "I managed to eliminate 3 teams this week, how about you?"

Shisui replied, "As expected of Kuroto-San, even when I searched for the whole week, I only managed to eliminate 1 team!"

Shisui doesn't have long-range detection ability like Kuroto, so his searching efficiency is naturally inferior to Kuroto. Not to mention he hasn't even recovered all his combat power, so he has to be very cautious in choosing the right target, therefore, less effective.

Guy, who stayed at the cave to recover and train, whispered at this time, "Next time I will also come with you!"

Because of their injuries, Guy and Kakashi weren't responsible for carrying out the harassment work, so they have been training and recovering for the past few days.

It's just that with Guy's energetic temperament, it is difficult to stay silent listening to Kuroto and Shisui discuss the results of the attack on Cloud, it makes him feel kind of itchy.

"You better stay here!" Kuroto shook his head, and immediately mentioned how his Shadow Clone disappeared inexplicably: "I suspect that Raikage-Sama himself has arrived at the Land of Hot Water to eliminate us."

Shisui said in a surprised tone, "Kuroto-San, what did you do to Raikage-Sama?"

Shisui is now really worried about what Kuroto-San might have done to Raikage-Sama. In his opinion, the strength that Kuroto-San showed back at the valley, was definitely more than enough to not only fight but also suppress Raikage-Sama.

And if something happened to Raikage-Sama, the conflict between Konoha and Cloud will escalate to an all-out war.

However, Shisui's reaction left both Guy and Kakashi dumbfounded.

After a silence when nobody spoke, Kakashi asked weakly, "Uh… If Kuroto met Raikage-sama, we should be worried about him, not about the Raikage-Sama, isn't that the case?"

Guy also nodded in agreement, "Obviously, Raikage-Sama is not something he can handle yet!"

Kuroto also helplessly glanced at Shisui, and secretly thought, "Shisui, do you have some sort of misunderstanding about my strength?"

Unlike the Raikage-Sama who was somewhat arrogant and reckless in the original series, the current Yondaime Raikage who was totally overwhelmed by 'Yellow Flash' in the third Shinobi War should be quite cautious.

And fighting against a speed-type ninja, not to mention the cautious one, it would be extremely difficult for Kuroto to do something.

If he had the support of the giant Tenseigan on the moon, Kuroto wouldn't have been that worried, but without it, by simply relying on his own chakra, just being able to survive is more than enough of an achievement.

What's more, there would definitely a large number of Cloud Elites around Raikage-Sama. So, anyone with the idea of seeking trouble with the other party would most likely be an idiot in Kuroto's books.

After weighing the situation, a little, Kuroto said to the members of the Team-11, "By now we have already over fulfilled the task, the Raikage-Sama himself is here, the risk of continuing of stay in the Land of the Hot Water is much greater, so I propose to retreat to the Land of Fire immediately."

Shisui also said, "I agree!"

After a little bit of consideration, Kakashi also nodded.

…

Land of Hot Water, on a high mountain crevice.

Yugito Nii was standing at a high cliff with an extremely eager expression.

Not long after, a Cloud Jonin ninja came out of the crevice and said, "This should have been the hiding spot of the Konoha ninja who attacked the Transportation Unit."

Yugito Nii quickly asked, "So, were there any clues left behind?"

Jonin nodded, "Although no direct clue is left, there are traces of a smell, but that should be more than enough!"

As he said that, the Jonin walked to the edge of the cliff and whistled.

Upon the whistle, a small skylark covered in unique silver feathers flew out from a distant tree, and after covering a few laps in the air, it firmly landed on the Jonin's shoulder.

The Jonin commanded the skylark to smell the scent in the crevice, after which he threw the skylark high in the air, the skylark took the opportunity to fly and after circling around the crevice a few times, it flew in a direction.

The Jonin said to Yugito Nii, "It found the trace, in that direction."

There was only one word from Yugito Nii, "CHASE!"

Instantly, a dozen ninjas turned into afterimages following the skylark.

…

Land of Hot Water, Outside the small Cave where Team-11's retreat point.

A dozen ninjas arrived outside the cave one-after-another.

One of them, with the best perception skills, activated his sensor Jutsu and said to the other ninjas around him: "There are 4 people inside the cave, all of them are above Chunin Class, they should be the Konoha Anbu Black Ops Team-11."

Yugito Nii stared at the entrance and asked, "Are there any traps placed?"

After, sensing a little, the ninja shook his head, "There seems to be no trap outside the cave, but many weak Chakra reactions are coming from inside the cave, it is difficult to determine what exactly they are."

An older ninja frowned, "It's most likely a trap?"

Yugito Nii said bitterly, "They have been playing around with us for quite long, now that we finally have some traces of the enemy, I will break through it even if it is some trap!"

Thinking about the fact that these Anbu were responsible for undermining all of Cloud Villages' efforts and plans, the anger in heart boils just like burning lava, and it is about time for it to finally erupt.

So, under the leadership of Jinchuriki, the group of ninjas broke into the cave.

As soon as they entered, they noticed 4 people from the Team-11, hurriedly packing up, seeing their actions Yugito Nii grinned viciously as she said, "Huh… I finally caught your group of mice hiding in this hole!"

As the Nibi's Jinchuriki, she likes the closed and narrow environment. Here, she can not only display the agile and dextrous characteristics of her tailed beast form but also cut off the enemy's escape route. So, finding Team-11 hidden here was more than what she could have asked for…

...

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The four members of Team-11 were not too alarmed or panicked by the arrival of the enemy forces, each took out their weapons and took a defensive stance.

At this time, Yugito Nii's gaze swept on Kuroto's face, and her brows frowned slightly as if she suddenly remembered him, "You? You are a member of the Hyuga Clan?"

Yugito Nii suddenly remembered the last time when she encountered Kuroto during the task of recovering the scroll of forbidden Jutsu stolen by Shinno. That is the first and only mission she failed to complete, and it was because of that ninja she encountered, so he left an impression upon her.

And now because Kuroto isn't wearing his goggles, she managed to recognize that he is of the Hyuga Clan.

As she swept her gaze past Kuroto, she also noticed another kid with the Sharingan and muttered, "One Byakugan, one Sharingan, no wonder it is so difficult to deal with your group. It turns out that both of the Dojutsu of Konoha were here!" then checking over to Kakashi and Guy, her eyes narrowed again on Kakashi, but she didn't say anything to them just hummed softly, "Just right, new account and old account, all will be calculated this time!"

Ignoring Yugito Nii's words Kuroto looked towards Shisui and Kakashi and said regretfully, "It's Nibi's Jinchuriki, a pity!"

Shisui also shook his head in disappointment, "Yes, so Kuroto-San are you going to do it?"

Kuroto nodded.

Listening to the conversation between Kuroto and Shisui, Yugito Nii suddenly had a bad feeling and immediately shouted: "Everyone Retreat NOW!"

Boom… Boom… Boom…

However, before her voice could reach the other ninjas, a series of explosions sounded in the cave. The impact was loud enough for the sound to reach miles away!

In the explosion, the entire cave collapsed, and the small mountain range where the cave was located, collapsed and along with it, a dozen cloud ninjas that were inside.

As the smoke and dust cleared, the huge figure of a two-tailed cat engulfed in blue-flames jumped out of the collapsed mountain range.

The ninjas that followed her here all managed to barely survive thanks to Nibi covering them within her.

Whoosh… Whoosh… Whoosh…

Attracted by the impact of the explosion, a group of figures arrived here one-after-another, and their leader wasn't someone else but the Yondaime Raikage-Sama himself.

Raikage-Sama glanced at the injured figure of Yugito Nii along with a dozen ninja and asked with annoyance, "Where is the enemy!?"

Yugito Nii, who already released her tail beast cloak coughed violently, and said, "Cough-cough… This was just a trap. I am afraid they have escaped long ago Raikage-Sama!"

Listening to Yugito Nii's words, Raikage-Sama fell into deep thought, he seems to be considering something as he cast his gaze into the distance; after a little of thinking he finally said with some emotions; "It seems that Konoha Village isn't as weak as I expected. Maybe it's time to end this conflict."

Yugito Nii was surprised by Raikage-Sama's words and quickly said, "Raikage-Sama, please give me some more time, I swear I will definitely kill them!"

However, A shook his head, "I am afraid the situation isn't as simple, I have received the news from the frontline, Hokage himself led troops and conducted a series of surprise attacks on our camp. With you here, B couldn't resist and had already begun to retreat. Not only that but the intentions of Rock Village are also unclear. With Tsuchkage's character, he would definitely bite if the situation allowed, we are falling into a disadvantage."

Forces of the rock Village have already been gathered at the border of the Land of Grass. Tsuchikage-Sama is sitting quietly while watching Konoha and Cloud fight each other, if Cloud reveals even a small flaw, Onoki wouldn't hesitate to strike.

Yugito Nii was taken aback by the sudden turn of events and murmured, "Does that mean all the efforts were in vain?"

Raikage patted Yugito Nii's shoulder: "Don't be discouraged, there will be plenty of opportunities in the future, as long we increase our strength, Konoha will have to fall!"

Yugito Nii still grumbled and cursed Team-11 while gritting her teeth in frustration, "Damn it, Konoha Team-11 bastards!"

…

Eastern Coastline of the Land of Hot Water

The four people of Team-11 were galloping along the coast in the direction of Konoha.

Suddenly, Kakashi, Kuroto, and Shisui stopped and looked at each other with signs of regret in their eyes.

Shisui sighed in disappointment, "Sigh… I didn't expect her to arrive in the cave, such a shame."

However, Kakashi wondered, "Her reaction was too extreme, right? They just came to deal with the four Anbu members, why to bring such heavy forces? And how come Nibi's Jinchuriki wasn't at the assault force? Raikage-Sama being in the Land of Hot Water is already too strange, not to mention the Nibi's Jinchuriki too? Doesn't it appear to be too weird?"

Obviously, Kakashi didn't know of the havoc Kuroto caused in the Tenseigan Chakra Mode. Not only he killed every being alive in the valley but even flattened it entirely, so, him being puzzled by the extreme reaction of the Cloud Village is natural.

Listening to Captain Kakashi's words Shisui glanced at Kuroto-San from the side and thought silently, 'When facing someone like Kuroto-San, Cloud Village has no chance of winning even with the Nibi Jinchuriki, so having a Raikage is necessary for them to survive!'

Kuroto only coughed, feeling a little embarrassed, but this embarrassment wasn't noticed by Kakashi and Guy as they were still wondering about Cloud Village's strange reaction.

In fact, Kuroto was more regretful that the Detonation Charm they used in setting up the trap went to waste, so it made him quite sad.

After deciding to withdraw from the Land of Hot Water, Team-11 set up a large-scale trap, to give Cloud Village goodbye greetings.

After setting up the detonation charms around the cave, Kuroto, and Shisui, each left their shadow clone while Kakashi left two Shadow Clones, one his and another Guy's to complete the trap.

Team-11 expected some squad led by Jonin or Chunin to find that cave, so no matter how they escaped, there would have been some damage on the enemy side.

However, contrary to their expectations, it was Nibi's Jinchuriki that showed up.

Once the Jinchuriki enters the tailed beast state, it is difficult to cause fatal damage.

What's more, Yugito Nii is a perfect Jinchuriki, so her cooperation with Nibi will make most of the traps against her useless, not to mention the hastily prepared trap by the Team-11.

Even if the trap failed to cause any fatal damage to the Cloud's side, the members of Team-11 were not too disappointed. Or even if there were some regrets, they can't afford to be depressed over it.

As Cloud Village deployed more and more forces in the Land of the Hot Water, this country became more and more dangerous therefore, they didn't have any other option but to retreat.

So, after digesting the information from the shadow Clone, they continued to travel towards the Land of Fire.

Perhaps because of the conflict between the two great shinobi villages, the wandering ninjas in the Land of Hot Water have long since escaped. So, the Team-11 didn't have to get involved in useless battles, and after continuously moving along the coastline for a few days, except for the short breaks they took, they finally returned to the territory of the Land of Fire.

In their own territory, Team-11 quickly met with a Konoha ninja team who was responsible for patrol and investigation. Through these Konoha ninjas, they learned about some general situations of the frontline.

As per Kuroto's expectations, Cloud's raid was just some temptation.

This entire conflict with the Cloud Village can even be considered the follow-up effects of the Kyuubi's Rebellion, a chain reaction of Orochimaru's defection, and the death of Yondaime Hokage-Sama and his wife Uzumaki Kushina.

Cloud Village would obviously not want to escalate it into full-scale war as long as there is no benefit, and Konoha's current situation doesn't allow it to push the stalemate any further.

Since the situation turned unfavorable for the Cloud's side, they showed their willingness to negotiate and Hokage-Sama readily accepted this offer.

Although Hokage-Sama doesn't know the exact situation that was caused by the Team-11 and how much troubled Cloud Village was because of them, he would have chosen to negotiate nonetheless, because Konoha simply couldn't afford a war given their current lack of power and personnel.

Now Konoha and Cloud have entered a cease-fire agreement and Cloud Village has withdrawn all their troops from the border of the Land of Fire a few days ago…

...

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Inside a damp cave in the Land of Rain.

Drip…

The echo of water dripping within the silent cave gave a gloomy atmosphere to it.

At this moment a Venus Flytrap-like extension slowly rose from the ground and a strange face that was half white and half black with green hair and yellow eyes appeared within those green flytrap-like leaves.

The swirled masked man sitting upon a rock glanced slightly at the strange existence without batting an eye and asked casually, "How is the situation?"

The strange half-black-half-white person who appears to be more of a plant and less of a human, while still being partially submerged underground replied to the masked man's question, "The conflict between Cloud Village and Konoha Village is almost over, both parties seem to have agreed for the peace talks, which is completely different from what you expected."

The masked man was silent for a while listening to the person named Zetsu, and asked another question, "Why did Cloud Village Slow down their offensive, they were at a complete advantage?"

At the beginning of the raid Cloud Village's movements seemed unstoppable, completely breaking through the frontal defense of Land of Fire. Including the masked man, everyone believed that this time Cloud Forces would be able to reach the Konoha Village without much problem.

No one expected that not only Cloud Village couldn't reach the Konoha Village, but in fact, had to completely terminate their attack.

Zetsu Shook his head, "I don't know"

Keeping track of the complete battlefield within the territory of the Land of the Fire already tired out Zetsu, so he was unable to place his attention on the events outside the Land of Fire, and most likely something that happened in the Land of Lightning, Land of Frost, or Land of Hot Water prompted Cloud Village to put forward the idea of peace talks.

But what exactly?

Zetsu isn't clear yet.

The masked man was a little annoyed: "Heh… Cloud Village wasted such a good opportunity!"

Zetsu recalled a little of what he heard and based on the information he had, "There is something that happened at the rear of Cloud's frontal assault units. Before their forces withdrew from the territory of the Land of Fire, the deployment of their forces was quite weird. Even Nibi's Jinchuriki left the assault troops all of a sudden and hurried back to the rear. Whatever happened there is the ke-…"

However, before Zetsu could continue any further, the masked man waved his hand, "Forget it!"

He is not interested too much in this. As far as he thinks, whether Konoha or Cloud, they are all just some pieces on his chessboard. Since the best they are useful is for being played around, there is no point in having many expectations off of them.

So, the masked man doesn't care too much about them.

Since the masked man displayed his disinterest, Zetsu didn't continue the topic and asked, "What are you going to do now?"

The masked man smiled, "From the conflict against Cloud, Konoha's complete distrust of the Uchiha is revealed. We should start with the Uchiha to further weaken the Village's strength."

"What do I need to do?"

"Find an Uchiha Clansmen for me." After a short pause, he continued but this time his tone became gloomier by the second: "I need someone useful enough to stimulate the relationship between the Uchiha and the Village…"

…

Konoha Village, Uchiha Clan.

Knock… Knock… Knock…

A rapid knock on the door sounded from the outside of the courtyard of a house.

Uchiha Shisui, who had just returned home after a long mission, had to drag his tired body to open the courtyard door, and as soon as he opened the door, the young figure of Itachi appeared before his eyes.

The young Itachi noticed Shisui open the door, and he said with clear joy in his voice "Shisui-San, you are finally back!"

The Uchiha Clansmen were obviously aware that Shisui went on some secret mission by the orders of the Hokage-Sama.

So, for the past more than a month, when there was no news from Shisui, nor was there information about his presence on any of the battlefield, all the Uchiha clansmen thought that this is Sandaime-Sama's handiwork. Deliberately sending their most genius ninja to some mission to get rid of him.

Although Itachi didn't believe in it, he was worried about Shisui nonetheless, now finally confirming that Shisui returned safely, Itachi was greatly relieved.

Shisui seemed to notice Itachi's worry, so, with a smile, he led Itachi into the house.

After being seated, Shisui briefly mentioned the details [to the extent that Hokage-sama allowed Team-11] to Itachi and reassured him with a helpless smile, "Don't worry, there is Kuroto-San in our team, so obviously there won't be a danger!"

Hearing some brief explanation from Shisui, and noticing from the gist that Team-11 caused some big troubles in and around the territory of the Land of Hot Water, Itachi looked more curious, "So, Shisui-San, that is to say, Cloud Village slowed down and terminated their offensive towards Konoha because of your team?"

Cloud's strange behavior has left all the villages that aren't aware of the exact situation in strange doubt. There were various speculations even among the discussion of the Konoha Villagers until the final doubt of something being wrong at their rear was pointed out, as soon as Hokage-Sama realized this, he personally led the troops to launch an attack on Cloud's assault troops.

As a result, the assault troop had no choice but to retreat under the offensive.

Shisui smiled and nodded at Itachi's question.

Even now when Shisui recalls the surprised look of Hokage-Sama when he listened to the complete report of the actions taken by Team-11, his mood becomes extremely cheerful.

When the Team-11 returned to Konoha Village, all the doubts were finally cleared.

Precisely because of the surprise attack that Team-11 conducted on the secret warehouse and the regular harassment of the Cloud transport line, the cloud assault troops slowed down their offensive giving enough respite period for Konoha.

From this alone, Team-11 played the most critical role.

After chatting for a while, Itachi suddenly said seriously, "Shisui-San look!"

As he said, Itachi's eyes suddenly turned blood red with two black tomoe revolving around them.

Shisui asked in surprise, "Did you awaken the Sharingan!?"

Itachi nodded, "It happened on the battlefield a few weeks ago."

"Battlefield? What were you doing there?" – again Shisui asked in great surprise.

Itachi said, "I have graduated ea-…."

However, before Itachi could finish, a figure appeared into the courtyard of Shisui's house and said, "Shisui, Patriarch is holding a clan meeting, you are to attend it now!"

Shisui's face suddenly solidified.

He nodded to the Uchiha ninja, and after nodding to Itachi he left his house.

When he arrived at the mansion, Shisui looked at the faces of people present here.

In the room, other than the Patriarch Uchiha Fugaku who sat silently at the center, there were only elites of the Uchiha Police. A dozen of them and without a doubt all of them elite Jonin Class.

Seeing such a group Shisui felt a little depressed.

Even the Special Jonin weren't eligible to participate in this meeting. He can already guess what will be the topic of discussion this time.

"Patriarch!"

After a polite greeting to the Patriarch, he sat at the corner silently.

Fugaku glanced slightly and nodded.

With Shisui's arrival, the Uchiha Clan's meeting officially began.

An elite of the Uchiha Police Force, Uchiha Denki, said, "Patriarch, I have received accurate news that this time the Village lost more than 30 ninjas of the Special Jonin to Elite Jonin Class from the Hyuga, Sarutobi, Nara, Akimichi, Yamanaka, Aburame, and Inuzuka. Some of the high-level ninjas also died in the battles, not to mention countless Chunin and genin.

As he continued talking, this Uchiha elite stood up and said with a fanatical expression, "After suffering such a big loss, Sandaime actually agreed to the peace talks. Many of the clans and villagers are dissatisfied with his actions. This is the best opportunity for Uchiha!"

Another Uchiha elite also stood up as he expressed his views, "There are also rumors that the Hokage also lost some of the strong Anbu elites, so their strength is more weakened."

As soon as the news of the Anbu was discussed all faces turned towards Shisui.

Currently, only Shisui is a member of the Anbu so Uchiha's source of obtaining Anbu intelligence is only him.

Shisui who was bored until a moment ago was now the center of everyone's attention, but unfortunately, he could only say, "I don't have much information, because of being away for the mission, but probably three Anbu squads died!"

Hearing Shisui's words, all the Uchiha had fire ignited in their eyes as they were excited one-by-one. One of them stood up and said to Uchiha Fugaku, "Patriarch, it's the best opportunity, this time the position of Hokage can definitely be the Uchiha's!"

"Yes, Patriarch, please do it!"

"Please give your orders patriarch!"

The atmosphere was getting heated up, as more and more Uchiha's got excited at the opportunity.

The patriarch was still sitting silently.

Finally, after sighing, his gaze fell upon Shisui as he asked, "What is your opinion Shisui?"

...

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Looking at the fanatical and crazy faces of the people around him; Shisui felt terrified for a second. If such craziness were to spread within every one of the clansmen, then no doubt only destruction is waiting for the Uchiha clan!

Making up his mind, Shisui stood up and said, "Fugaku-Sama, I believe force is not the only solution to every problem, moreover the Uchiha Clan isn't strong enough to face the entire Village on its own. If the Uchiha Clan really fought against the village; then only destruction awaits us."

"Shisui, what are you talking about?"

"Are you being afraid?"

"Everyone knows that Uchiha is the most powerful, as long as we get rid of Sandaime, the position of Hokage will belong to the Uchiha Clan and the whole village will have to recognize us!"

The room was getting noisier by the second.

"Cough!"

Uchiha Fugaku finally couldn't sit silently and 'Coughed' lightly to stop the mess the Uchiha were making.

Shisui decided to not give in this time, "Blind actions will only lead Uchiha Clan to destruction!"

Uchiha Fugaku took a deep look at Shisui, then waved his hand, "Okay that'll be it for today, disperse!"

With Uchiha Fugaku's order, everyone suppressed their urge to continue and one-by-one got up and left.

Walking alone towards his home, Shisui covered his eyes with his hand and thought silently, "Maybe I awakened the Mangekyou to be able to save the Clan, but can Koto Amatsukami really change the fate of the Uchiha?"

…

Hyuga Clan, Kuroto's home.

Looking at the scroll of Four-Symbols Seal in his hands, Kuroto was thoughtful.

The difficulty of learning The Four-Symbols seal is much higher than his expectations, it not only involves Shape Transformation of Chakra but this technique highly revolves around nature transformation of chakra.

In fact, it isn't strange either, considering that many powerful forbidden techniques were actually developed using Four-Symbols Seal as the basis.

While Kuroto was pondering Yue walked inside carrying the fragrant dishes.

Smelling the rich fragrance, Kuroto was brought out of his thoughts and said to her with a smile, "Heh… it smells good, what's so special today?"

However, Kuroto didn't get the answer he expected.

After putting the dish on the table, Yue sat beside him silently with her head down,

A long silence... she didn't speak anything... he didn't speak anything either. Finally, Kuroto couldn't take it anymore, so after a sigh, he brought her closer for a hug.

In his embrace, Yue finally couldn't hold it, and tears started to come out.

"There was no news from you Kuroto-Kun, even Hizashi-Sama also said he has no information about you, I thought you had an accident, I-…"

Kuroto didn't speak anything, just let her vent, to ease her; he rubbed the back of her head softly.

After a few minutes, Yue finally calmed down, and then Kuroto whispered, "Didn't I tell you already, don't worry too much, or you'll get Grandma wrinkles, and if that happens…"

Listening to Kuroto making fun of her, Yue hmphed, as she started to get up and take the dish back.

Now Kuroto was in a panic, "Okay-okay, sorry. I was just trying to ease you a bit."

"One more time, and I won't forgive you!"

"Alright-alright… no more teasing. But Yue, haven't I told you already, to not worry, in fact, this mission wasn't that dangerous, we just needed to… a… hide… yeah that's right… just hide… and do some work… plus I get to be the hero of the village, although most of the villagers will never know of this, that's beside the point, but anyway, shouldn't you… you know… be prouder or something?"

Yue looked at Kuroto-Kun trying to reassure her and said with a pout, "You always do this… always lie to me about the dangerous things and talk as if they were nothing!"

"Well, what can I say… I am just that strong… dangerous things are just some time pass for me." Kuroto said with a fake arrogant snort.

That brought a chuckle out of Yue "Hehehe… alright fine… but you have to promise to be careful Kuroto-Kun!"

"Of course, I will!" Kuroto said with a smile.

"Anyway, what is the situation of Clan because of all this fiasco?" Kuroto asked quickly changing the subject.

Yue sighed in a depressed mood at Kuroto-Kun's question, "Including Aina-chan's father, more than a dozen members died in the conflict this time."

Hyuga Aina is Yue's neighbour only a few years younger than her. Aina's father Hyuga Takashi was one of the elites among the Hyuga Clan.

With Hyuga Takashi's death, the number of elites can already be counted with 10 fingers.

That is to say, the Hyuga Clan lost many ninjas in the Third Shinobi War, as well as now.

When Kuroto thinks of all the orphans left within the clan, he feels really sad about them.

Unfortunately, Kuroto is unable to do anything for them, which makes him more depressed.

"Kuroto-Kun, Hiashi-Sama said that when you are free, go to see him. Patriarch wants to have a talk with you." Yue's words again brought Kuroto out of his thoughts.

Kuroto nodded. Now he can activate and deactivate his Tenseigan freely, there is no need to hide away from the clansmen.

After having the meal with Yue, Kuroto walked towards the center of the Hyuga Clan.

Although the Hyuga didn't isolate themselves like the Uchiha, most of the Clansmen still lived around the Patriarch's house, so the Hyuga Clan land is also like a smaller village within Konoha.

When Kuroto arrived at Patriarch's house, he didn't even have to knock, a servant opened the door.

The servant greeted Kuroto politely, "Kuroto-sama, Patriarch is waiting for you inside!"

Kuroto was in a trance upon hearing the servant.

This is the first time he was referred to by 'Lord', and the servant who called as such was a chunin, such a thing was impossible in the past.

Coming out of his dazed state, Kuroto calmly walked into Patriarch's house, and after walking in through a corridor, Kuroto finally saw the Head of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi.

"Patriarch!" Kuroto greeted Hiashi-Sama with a polite bow.

Hyuga Hiashi who was seated calmly on a Zabuton nodded calmly, "Sit down."

As he got seated on a Zabuton opposite Hyuga Hiashi, Kuroto asked, "Hiashi-Sama wanted to see me?"

After a moment of silence, he asked, "Uchiha Shisui is your teammate in the Anbu department, right?"

"Yes, Hiashi-Sama."

"And I am sure you are aware of the Uchiha's situation in the village, right Kuroto-Kun?"

Kuroto frowned slightly at Hiashi's question, "What, do you mean Hiashi-Sama?"

Seeing the confused face of Kuroto, Hiashi decided to be a little blunt, "The conflict between Konoha and Cloud exposed Hokage faction's complete distrust and suspicion on the Uchiha. Therefore, I am a little concerned over what the Elder Council might be planning against the Uchiha."

As the patriarch of one of the major clans of the Konoha village, Hyuga Hiashi fully understands the importance of balance. Whether the village eradicates the Uchiha Clan or the Uchiha Clan takes control of the Village, both the situations are unacceptable for the Hyuga Clan.

When the Uchiha and the Hokage Faction are in balance, only then the Hyuga Clan will not become the target of either side and will be able to preserve itself.

But this balance that has been maintained for many decades has now collapsed and the weight is turning against the Uchiha Clan, in the eyes of discerning people, a fierce conflict is brewing, and this conflict is something that most would not want to see or be part of.

Hiashi continued, "With the near disappearance of the Senju Clan and the Uzumaki Clan, the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga clan are the only few of the Major Noble Shinobi Clans left. If the destruction of the Uchiha is allowed, the prestige of the Hyuga Clan will also fall. Whereas if the Uchiha take control of the Konoha village through unacceptable means, we will inevitably be susceptible and weakened more than we already have become. Therefore, I hope that you can do somethings to prevent either of this situation from happening using your identity as an Anbu."

How Shisui is the only Anbu within the Uchiha Clan, Kuroto is also a similar case. So, the Hyuga Clan now greatly values Kuroto. Therefore, asking Kuroto for doing such a thing is a natural course of action.

Kuroto also didn't deny and immediately agreed, "I understand Hiashi-Sama."

When it comes to the matter of dealing with the Uchiha, Kuroto's opinion aligns with that of the intentions of the Clan, that is, the Uchiha cannot be allowed to disappear.

Why is the reputation of the Hyuga so high?

Isn't it because the Hyuga is valued as an equal to the Uchiha Clan?

But if the Uchiha Clan were to disappear, the Hyuga Clan will become the next target.

After all, the Dojutsu Kekkei Genkai surpasses all other types of Kekkei Genkai and this is the very reason why they have a lot of enemies.

After discussing a little more about the situation about the Uchiha, Hiashi then took out a Bingo Book and handed them to Kuroto while saying, "You better be careful from now on!"

Kuroto was a little confused why would Hiashi-Sama say something like this?

But when he took the papers from Hiashi-Sama's hands, there was a single page that caught his attention. On that page, he saw a picture of his along with some description about him, and a bounty underneath with too many zeros. Upon counting the number of zeros, he finally exclaimed, "Twenty Million Ryo!?"

However, without waiting for Kuroto to be out of shock, Hiashi leisurely handed another paper to him while saying, "Here, this is a second one."

Kuroto quickly took the second reward list, and this reward list also had his picture with the same number of zeros, but the amount exceeded the previous one.

"Tw-twenty-five million Ryo? Wh-why such a high reward?"

Hiashi-Sama didn't care too much about his outburst or shock and said leisurely, "I am afraid you have offended some big shots. Such high rewards are too rare and will most likely attract some bounty ninjas. So, be careful and not leave the village casually!"

...

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After some detailed inquiry, Kuroto was surprised to find that all the four members of Team-11 had a bounty of twenty million Ryo on their heads.

'These bounties should be Cloud Village's handiwork, right?' – this was Kuroto's thought.

If the Team-11 of Anbu Black Ops has hatred against anyone, then no doubt it is the Cloud Village and the Rock Village.

Compared to Rock Village, Kuroto feels that Cloud Village is more likely to have issued these bounties.

'But there is one thing I don't understand, how come Cloud Village has the specific information on the four of us? I get that Yugito Nii saw our faces when we used the Shadow Clone Jutsu, but just from knowing our faces Cloud Village shouldn't have such specific information about Team-11. Could it be that their spies have infiltrated into the Anbu?"

This sudden thought made Kuroto a little panicked.

The Anbu directly under Hokage-Sama are personally selected by Hokage, and the members could be anyone from the common civilian ninja to the son of the Patriarch of the most prominent Clan.

If there are spies that have infiltrated the village for a long time, then it could only mean that they have not shown any flaw to reveal their identity as of yet and somehow been selected within the Anbu!

'I have to be more careful now if what I think is really true!'

Immediately afterward, Kuroto thought of the second bounty.

The second bounty is five million Ryo higher than the first bounty, reaching a terrifying amount of twenty-five-million Ryo. Such bounties are only offered to the most elite ninjas of a Shinobi Village.

But the strange thing is that only Kuroto has this second bounty, that is to say, other than him no one of the Team-11 has been issued this bounty.

This undoubtedly implies that the person who issued this bounty has personal vengeance against him, and it has nothing to do with the rest of the Team-11.

'It can only be him, right?' thought Kuroto.

"Kuroto-Kun?"

Seeing Kuroto's look, Hiashi thought that Kuroto was a little worried about the bounties, so he explained, "Don't worry too much Kuroto-Kun. For a shinobi the bounty in the black market is also a manifestation of his/her merit, after all, only powerful shinobi are awarded bounties."

Kuroto nodded at Patriarch's explanation.

It's not that he was scared, but just a little concerned is all about the person who offered a bounty for his head.

Taking a light sip of tea, Hiashi continues, "Do you know what is the bounty on my head in the black market?"

"How much?"

Hiashi said lightly, "One hundred million Ryo!"

Kuroto smiled nervously at such an amount: "Hahaha, the patriarch deserves it."

In fact, Kuroto also understands that the 'One hundred million Ryo' isn't a bounty on the patriarch just as an individual, but a reward for the treasure of the Hyuga Clan: 'The Byakugan!'.

The Byakugan can only be stolen from the main family of the Hyuga Clan, and the number of people in the main family is very less.

So, as long as Hyuga Hiashi is killed, it is possible to not only obtain the Byakugan but also cause damage to the Hyuga Clan!

So, this reward of 'One Hundred Million Ryo' is quite right.

After some more casual discussions with the Patriarch, Kuroto bid goodbye and left.

Walking slowly towards his house, as Kuroto walked by a narrow alley, a figure suddenly walked out of the shadow blocking his way.

Kuroto was a little stunned, and immediately took out the Kusanagi Sword at his waist as well activated the Byakugan, along with taking a defensive stance.

A frail-looking old man walked out of the shadow with the support of a cane. He had a cold face, black, shaggy hair, with the right eye bandaged and an x-shaped scar on his chin. The man wore a white shirt, with a blackish robe over the top of it covering from his feet, to just over his shoulder.

Looking at the defensive stance of Kuroto, the old man spoke coldly, "Special Jonin Hyuga Kuroto, you should be aware of just who I am, right?"

Kuroto immediately deactivated the Byakugan and nodded, "Yes, Danzo-Sama."

It was none other than Shimura Danzo who blocked Kuroto's path.

Shimura Danzo, the 'Shadow of Hokage', founder and leader of the 'Root', notorious as the 'The Darkness of the Shinobi', at the same time one of the Four advisor of the Konoha Council.

Taking a deep look at Hyuga Kuroto, Shimura Danzo stated, "Hyuga Kuroto, you have talent. There is no future for you in the Anbu under Hokage. Join 'Root', there you will have everything needed for you to grow into a loyal Konoha Shinobi."

Danzo's tone was cold, it didn't seem like he was trying to entice Kuroto at all, there was great confidence in his approach, which implied that the conditions he offered were something that Hyuga Kuroto could not refuse.

However, Kuroto replied without even a second of hesitation, "I am sorry Danzo-Sama. As a member of Anbu directly under Hokage-Sama, all transfer must follow his arrangements."

Danzo's eye narrowed at Kuroto's answer and he spoke with a cold tone, "If the old man remembers correctly, this is the second time you have refused to join the Root!?"

Back when Kuroto was briefly detained after Orochimaru's defection, at that time also Kuroto refused solicitation from the Root.

But back then he was merely a wartime Chunin, a disposable cannon fodder level character, so Shimura Danzo didn't care at all, after all, Hyuga Kuroto would have eventually died in the cleansing anyway. So, why bother?

Unfortunately, not only did he not die, but seem to have changed completely, and within a few months, his strength not only reached high enough to become a Special Jonin but also defeated three Uchiha with Jonin Class combat power. And not long ago he was recruited by the Hokage in the Anbu and completed the secret mission under Hokage's orders.

A young man who is in full swing.

Obviously, Danzo will personally come to recruit such an individual into his 'Root'.

However, Kuroto's refusal without a moment of hesitation left Danzo Dissatisfied.

Facing Shimura Danzo's double meaning question, Kuroto completely turned a deaf ear to it, "Please forgive me Danzo-Sama, I am not interested in joining the Root."

"Young man, every decision must be made carefully, otherwise, you may regret it in the future." Leaving this sentence Danzo walked away in the darkness.

Looking at Danzo's figure walking away with complete confidence upon himself, as if everything was under his control, Kuroto only had a condescending smirk.

Danzo didn't realize this, but Kuroto had discovered the bastard hidden in the shadows the moment he turned towards this alley.

All that panic and drawing out his Kusanagi sword was just an act to cover up activating the Byakugan and check Danzo's current state.

Obviously, his performance wasn't in vain and he was able to discover that the current Danzo had already transplanted Hashirama Cells and Sharingan in his entire arm that was hidden inside the dark robe.

"It makes sense that he has almost stopped making any public appearance for some time."

Although he can only sigh, Kuroto has to also think of some countermeasures against Danzo.

He has naturally not forgotten the fact that the village had planned to dispose of him in the Cleansing, after several investigations and based on the information provided by Orochimaru, Shimura Danzo is the person who took charge of that task, in fact, it was Shimura Danzo who emphasized on the cleansing.

Therefore, it doesn't matter whether Shimura Danzo tries to recruit him or not, Kuroto will not let off the old bastard so easily.

However, the information he obtained this time did surprise him slightly. 'Obviously, Orochimaru and Danzo's relationship should have fallen apart, but Danzo was still able to obtain Uchiha Shin's hand?

Or, did he transplant that hand from some other source?

No, that can't be!

Or, did he again started cooperating with Orochimaru?

Otherwise, him being able to get Hashirama Cells with Sharingan transplanted, shouldn't be that easy!'

Now, it's not that Danzo doesn't have a study and research of Hashirama Cells, in fact, in this field he might even surpass Orochimaru, although the last part sounds ridiculous, but you never know.

But, recreating an entire hand is not a joke!

Anyway, the fact that he already has that hand shows that he has been collecting the Sharingan of deceased Uchiha for a long time, otherwise, he couldn't have obtained so many Sharingan before Uchiha's extermination by Itachi.

Because there is no Curse Seal in the Uchiha Clan like that of 'Cage Bird', so obtaining Sharingan is relatively easy, at least for Danzo who has the entire 'Root' as his personal force.

'I am afraid that even if the Uchiha Clan didn't have any intention of a Coup d'état, Danzo wouldn't have allowed them to live peacefully, after all, if he did? How would he have obtained so many Sharingan?' - Kuroto thought while walking towards his house quietly.

"Huh… it's really troublesome. Danzo's obsession with the Sharingan is even deeper than Orochimaru's!"

Being a disciple of Senju Tobirama, a friend and rival of Sandaime-Sama, and a long-term advisor of the Konoha Council, even without that hand, Danzo's strength should be close to Kage-Class, otherwise, how could he be so obsessed with the position of Hokage?

And now that he has transplanted Hashirama Cells along with many Sharingan, his strength may have even surpassed Sandaime-Sama to a certain extent…

...

Read up to Chapter - 174 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : /Milta_translations

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One can't be too careful when it comes to problems that involve the Uchiha and Sharingan.

This is because the Sharingan has too many mysteries surrounding it, aside from the many forbidden techniques that a Sharingan is capable of; the likes of the Izanagi and the Izanami; against which you can't even defend if you don't know the details from beforehand, each Sharingan also has the potential to at least evolve into a Mangekyou, that in itself is completely mysterious.

Now that Danzo has transplanted Hashirama Cells and a large number of Sharingan that are embedded in that arm of his, it is very likely that he mastered some of these Forbidden Jutsu.

Kuroto has taken a lesson from Orochimaru's example.

Even though Orochimaru has Kage-Level strength, he lost very easily against Itachi; both the times he fought, Itachi easily defeated Orochimaru.

So, Kuroto obviously takes these lessons to heart.

Therefore, at this point in time, fighting against Danzo in head-on combat is a great risk.

I will have to look for some method if I want to solve Danzo!

With this thought in his mind, Kuroto returned home.

Right now, improving his strength is the most important. All of his plans are for this purpose only. Kuroto has always distinguished what's of primary importance and what's of secondary.

Mastering the Four-Symbols seal is the most important currently.

Because Kuroto believes that as long as he masters the Four-Symbols seal, it will become possible for him to understand as well as master other Uzumaki Fuinjutsu techniques.

Once he becomes proficient in Uzumaki Fuinjutsu, he should be able to break the seal used by Yondaime-Sama on the Dragon Vein, thus completing the next important step in his artificial tailed beast plan.

So, condensing all his thoughts, Kuroto focused on learning the Four-Symbols seal.

...…

After a while of studying, Kuroto recorded his experience in its practice one by one.

After he finished writing, Kuroto thought, "This time Team-11 did quite a good job, even slowed down the offensive of Cloud Village, it shouldn't be a problem to change the mission points for another sealing technique."

In Kuroto's prediction, it would take him around a week at most to completely master the Four-Symbols seal.

After mastering the Four-Symbols Seal, if he can learn one or two more of the Uzumaki Fuinjutsu technique, then he will be able to have a deeper understanding of it through his Tenseigan.

With the credit points of Team-11, changing another Fuinjutsu technique shouldn't be that big of a deal, right?

…

Early Next Morning, Kuroto went out.

Along the way, he picked up signs of dissatisfaction and small disputes among the villagers regarding the peace talks between the Konoha and the Cloud.

Without a doubt, many villagers are dissatisfied and angry about the sudden attack by the Cloud Village. After all, hundreds of ninjas died in this small conflict, every major clan except for the Uchiha also lost someone. So, the fact that Hokage-Sama easily accepted Cloud Village's peace talks left many of the villager's dissatisfied.

Even if the villagers understand the difficulties of Hokage-Sama and the lack of combat power within Konoha, but this can't bring back their loved ones can it?

The attitude of Cloud Village this time was like 'first slapping Konoha right in the face and then shaking hand for peaceful negotiation', as the ninja of the greatest shinobi village people can't easily swallow such insult.

However, Kuroto doesn't have any opinion in this regard.

He is more than clear that the current Konoha is no longer the Konoha of Shodaime-Sama or Nidaime-sama's era. When the Hokage was able to overpower and dominate the entire Shinobi World with their individual strength.

No matter how great the humiliation, you can only bear it if strength is insufficient.

Moreover, this is just the beginning, the troubles that Konoha will be facing in the future are no small either.

While thinking these things, Kuroto silently arrived at the agreed meeting place.

Not long after his arrival, Shisui's figure appeared in front of Kuroto.

As soon as he arrived, he spoke in an apologetic tone, "Kuroto-San, I am sorry to have kept you waiting!"

"It's alright, it's only been a while." After a short pause, Kuroto continued, "I have a very important thing to tell you this time."

"What is it?" – Shisui asked curiously.

However, before starting, Kuroto activated his Byakugan and confirmed that no one was spying on them, then whispered: "Yesterday, I encountered Danzo-sama, and discovered a really disturbing thing about him!"

Shisui was shocked, "What, did you also meet Danzo-Sama yesterday?"

When Kuroto heard Shisui, he frowned a little. A bad premonition surged in his heart, and to confirm this he asked Shisui, "Did you also meet him yesterday?"

Shisui replied, "Well, Danzo-Sama invited me to join Root, but I refused. Did he invite you too Kuroto-San?"

Ignoring Shisui's question Kuroto hurriedly asked, "Don't tell me you confessed about awakening the Mangekyou to him?"

Shisui nodded, "We did talk about the contradiction and isolation of the Uchiha and the village. To reassure Danzo-Sama and the Advisors of the Konoha Council. I confessed about my Mangekyou to Sandaime-Sama and Danzo-Sama. They promised to me that if necessary, I am allowed to stop Uchiha Clan's extreme intentions."

However, Kuroto wasn't too happy about this, as his face sank.

He bonked Shisui's head in frustration, "Stupid!"

While rubbing his head, Shisui asked in confusion, "What's wrong Kuroto-San?"

"In regards to this issue, I called you here in the first place!" After a short pause, Kuroto continued: "Yesterday, I was able to discover through the Byakugan that Shimura Danzo has transplanted Hashirama cells and a large number of Sharingan. He has already used the forbidden art of Body Transformation to beyond recognition!"

"What!?" Shisui froze as soon as he heard Kuroto.

However, Kuroto only glanced slightly at Shisui and said with a sigh, "That old coot has coveted the power of the Sharingan more than anyone in the world and you just told him about having awakened the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan, isn't this simply delivering the sheep to the Lion's Den?"

The best countermeasure that Kuroto thought of yesterday was to inform Shisui about Danzo's obsessiveness for the Sharingan and then induce Shisui to use Koto Amatsukami on Danzo, to solve the problem 'Danzo' once and for all.

But he never thought that Danzo acted so fast, on the very same day, he not only solicited him but also enticed Shisui to join the 'Root'.

What worries him more is that Shisui actually confessed about his Mangekyou to Danzo and Sandaime-Sama.

Of course, Kuroto doesn't know of the stimulus Shisui received at the Uchiha Clan meeting yesterday. Some of the Uchiha completely expressed their intentions of a Coup d'état, although the Patriarch didn't express his opinion, most of the opinions were united, therefore Shisui opted to confess to Hokage-Sama.

After worrying for a while, Shisui murmured, "Kuroto-San, I did something stupid, didn't I?"

"Damn right you did an extremely stupid thing!" - Looking at Shisui's depressed state, Kuroto sighed and asked again, "In addition to Susanoo, the Mangekyou should have more abilities, right?"

Without hesitation, Shisui immediately replied, "Yes, my Mangekyou grants me access to Koto Amatsukami in each eye, a unique genjutsu of the highest calibre, that allows me to cast a powerful yet subtle mind-controlling genjutsu on the target."

"Did you talk about this to Danzo and Sandaime-Sama!?"

Shisui nodded nervously, "Well, I am planning to use this genjutsu to change the intention of the Uchiha Clan, and stop the Coup. So, to convince Hokage-Sama of my ability to be able to do this, I didn't conceal about it either!"

"You really are naïve Shisui. True, you can stop the Uchiha from launching the Coup, but what will you do about Danzo's intention against the Uchiha? Now, the elders of the Konoha Council will no longer trust you completely, moreover, there is a hundred percent guarantee that Danzo will do everything in and beyond his power to get his hands on your Mangekyou."

Shisui seemed really tensed now

"Remember, if Danzo asks to meet you in private, there is only one intention, he will be after your Mangekyou. So, be careful, because if you aren't, then who knows what sort of trouble he might cause for the Uchiha as well as for the rest of the village if he does manage to obtain your Mangekyou Sharingan…"

...

Read up to Chapter - 175 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : /Milta_translations

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Shisui didn't expect the matter to become so serious, now he was sort of panicked.

He always felt that he was doing the right thing, and those crazy people are the wrong ones; but after listening to Kuroto-San's words, he is starting to realize that by confessing about his Mangekyou to Sandaime-Sama and Danzo, he actually dragged the Uchiha one step closer to their doom.

Shisui bowed towards Kuroto and said sincerely, "Kuroto-San, please trust me, I would never use Kotoamatsukami on my companions, please believe me!"

Kuroto shook his head, "Shisui, it has nothing to do with whether I believe you or not. In the face of someone was who has the ability to modify other's will at any time, no matter who the person may be, they will feel an instinctual fear and suspicious of you, even if it is me!"

Shisui was a little lost now, "But I…"

"Regardless of whether you are loyal to the village, whether you are an upright and kind person, as long you have that ability, you will be considered a threat by others." Taking a short pause to let Shisui digest his words, Kuroto continued, "In the end, it is the technique Kotoamatsukami that makes others too uncomfortable to accept it so easily."

By now Shisui realizes the crux of the matter, so he hurriedly asked, "Kuroto-San, then… is there some way for me to help the Uchiha?"

Listening to Shisui's question, Kuroto put one hand on his chin, in a thinking posture, and after a little consideration, he said, "For the time being, I have no good method to help you out, but you better not do anything unnecessary. Let the peace talks between Konoha and Cloud get completed, which will take some time, and the village won't risk doing something to the Uchiha in this period. As for the future, give me some time to think about an effective way to help out with the Uchiha problem."

Shisui's personal problem isn't that big of an issue, Kotoamatsukami is indeed worrisome, that is the reason it will be difficult for him to be trusted by the advisors of the Konoha Council, but he will have to make do with that.

After all, who told him to just go out there and confess about his Mangekyou and its abilities to Danzo and Sandaime-sama so brazenly.

Following Kuroto's assurance, Shisui nodded silently.

Kuroto thought a little about Obito hidden behind the scenes and doesn't have very good intentions against the village, so he decided to warn Shisui about it a little, "One more thing Shisui, remember to pay close attention to any suspicious people near your clan."

"What do you mean by suspicious people, Kuroto-San?"

"During the Kyuubi's rebellion, although I wasn't in the village, the information I have collected so far indicates that the Kyuubi was indeed controlled by the Sharingan!"

Shisui's face suddenly sank, "Kuroto-San, do you really suspect that the Uchiha planned Kyuubi's Rebellion?"

"It's not about whether I suspect or not, The Kyuubi was controlled by the Sharingan, so the suspicion inevitably falls upon the Uchiha." Glancing at Shisui, who seems to be getting more and more depressed, Kuroto nodded to himself and continued to induce, "Besides, it doesn't necessarily have to be an Uchiha from the village, you get what I mean!?"

Shisui suddenly lifted his head in shock.

He has heard about some of the Uchiha that went missing or left Konoha for no reason. Among them, the name of Uchiha Madara, who founded Konoha together with Shodaime-Sama, was the loudest one.

If the descendants of these 'Missing' Uchiha have been left outside the village, then it would make sense if they have a Sharingan.

"Does that mean there is an outsider with Uchiha's blood, who planned the Kyuubi's rebellion?" – Shisui asked.

"It could be, I am not too sure either, but it wouldn't hurt to be cautious, right?" Kuroto said.

Shisui nodded, he has always felt that Kuroto-San is trustworthy and what he said makes logical sense too.

After the two chatted for a while longer, Shisui left.

Looking at Shisui's figure walking away, Kuroto shook his head in melancholy.

As the most gifted ninja within the Uchiha, Shisui is simply impeccable in every aspect, it's just that he is too immature at understanding and figuring out people's hearts.

His kindness, undying loyalty, and habit of naively trusting others became the cause of his death.

Shaking his head in sadness, Kuroto walked away.

Hokage Building, Council Meeting Room.

Sandaime-Sama was discussing the matters of the peace talks with the Cloud Village with other advisors of the Council, mentioning the secret mission of Anbu Team-11, he lightly tapped his desk.

Hatake Kakashi, who was waiting outside the meeting room, walked inside upon hearing the tapping sound and explained the details of exactly what he knew, about the entire process and events in completing their task, from the time of leaving Konoha to the time of returning to Konoha.

After Hayate Kakashi was finished with the explanation, Sandaime-Sama said indifferently: "Alright that would be enough, withdraw!"

Kakashi nodded respectfully and left the meeting room.

Utatane Koharu said after Kakashi left, "So, that was really the case huh? Team-11 harassing Cloud's transportation line slowed down their offensive as well as forced the Nibi's Jinchuriki to retreat at the rear? Team-11 has done a great job, they are heroes of Konoha!"

Mitokade Homura also said in praise, "Well, they should be promoted and rewarded appropriately for their work."

However, Shimura Danzo had other thoughts as he suddenly said, "You received this report? The news I received from the information network of Root tells the other story!"

Not only Mitakade Homura and Utatane Koharu; but even Sarutobi Hiruzen looked at Danzo, waiting for his explanation.

Being the center of attention, Danzo said coldly, "Cloud Village slowed down their offensive less because the Team-11 harassed their transportation line but more because of the heavy losses they suffered at the rear. According to the secret intelligence, more than three hundred Cloud ninjas, including several elite Jonin, died overnight, which prompted even the Raikage to leave the village in search of the enemy responsible.

As far as my sources indicate, the Team-11's name came for being responsible for this work!"

"What…!?"

Advisor Koharu and Homura looked at each other in shock.

When Sandaime heard of this, he suddenly remembered that Uchiha Shisui took the initiative to confess to him about awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan, and his face suddenly sank, the tobacco pipe fell and he was left speechless.

However, without waiting for Hiruzen to recover, Danzo stood up and asked, "Why didn't your Team-11 report of this? What made them hide such a glorious feat that is worthy of high rewards?"

Utatane Koharu asked Hiruzen seriously, "Team-11 has that kind of combat power?"

For the four members of Team-11 to be able to wipe out more than three hundred cloud ninjas overnight, they must have at least one person with Kage-Class combat power.

Sandaime was left with no choice and stated, "Uchiha Shisui awakened the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan!"

As soon as she heard this, Koharu was surprised: "That power? Did Kagami's grandchild actually awaken it?"

Homura whispered to himself, "Wouldn't he become another Uchiha Madara?"

However, Danzo didn't stop, "Hiruzen, you seem to be hiding something!"

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced murderously at Danzo.

However, Danzo wasn't afraid, and said, "Uchiha Shisui's Mangekyou allows him to cast the highest level of genjutsu called 'Kotoamatsukami', which can modify the will of others subtly without making them realize! In other words, he can make anyone into his puppet without even letting the puppet know of it!"

"What!!?" If until now they were shocked, now they were panicked.

Danzo smiled coldly as he said, "Letting an Uchiha have such a dangerous technique in his possession is too harmful, I propose to take immediate coercive measures against Uchiha Shisui!"

In the brief shock and panic, Homura immediately said, "Agreed!"

Sandaime-Sama shook his head in denial, "Uchiha Shisui is the bridge between the village and the Uchiha. If we take any coercive measures against him, it will only stimulate the Uchiha Clan. Now the peace talks with the Cloud village are in progress, so at this critical moment if any turmoil breaks out, the consequences will be unimaginable."

There was no reply from Utatane Koharu, she remained silent the entire time as if she was mulling over something.

However, Danzo ignored her, and since he expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to say this, so he didn't force it and said, "Then put Uchiha Shisui on the monitoring list, and the 'Root' will be responsible for this task!"

After pondering for a while, Sarutobi finally nodded.

Danzo was very satisfied by Hokage's concession, and he suddenly remembered the scene where Special Jonin Hyuga Kuroto refused his solicitation by refusing to join the 'Root', so he said again, "That's not enough Hiruzen, Team-11 concealed information, their loyalty is questionable, I propose to list all the members of Team-11 under monitoring…"

...

Read up to Chapter - 177 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : /Milta_translations

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Mitokade didn't wait for Sarutobi to speak and said while adjusting his glasses, "There is no question about Hatake Kakashi's loyalty, he is the disciple of Minato!

As the son of Konoha's White Fang, the disciple of Yellow Flash, and one of the hero's of the Third Great Shinobi War, Hatake Kakashi has too much honor upon him. If even Kakashi can't be trusted, then no one within the village can be trusted either!"

Sandaime also nodded, "I will conduct personal inquiries with the Team-11, there is no need to monitor all of them. They are all trustworthy Konoha Shinobi."

"Trustworthy?" Danzo said with a cold smirk, "Hyuga Kuroto is the disciple of Orochimaru, who's to say that he isn't a spy Orochimaru left in Konoha? Allowing this kind of person to stay in the Anbu, Hiruzen, you are being too careless!"

Hiruzen really disliked that Danzo touched on the matter of Orochimaru, and said in a deep voice, "Danzo, there is no need to mention it!"

However, how can Danzo become silent so easily?

He insisted, "Even if you don't talk about his student-teacher relationship with Orochimaru, he was also part of the cleansing operation, but somehow got lucky enough to survive, such a person should never be allowed to stay in the Anbu. But if you are insisting on letting him stay in Anbu, then at least let me appoint some Root ninja to monitor his action!"

Sandaime-Sama was silent now.

The matter of Hyuga Kuroto being part of the cleansing operation has been a thorn in Sandaime-Sama's heart, which makes him unable to completely trust the kid. Because no matter how loyal a shinobi might have been to his village, once abandoned by the village, his loyalty would undoubtedly be compromised.

Danzo saw the silent expression of Hiruzen and stopped saying anything as he left Hokage Building.

Shimura Danzo has known Sarutobi Hiruzen for decades now, and that silent expression indicates Hiruzen's acquiescence, to his proposal!

…

On Kuroto's side.

After separating from Shisui, Kuroto came to the Forest of Death.

Not long after entering the Forest of Death, the little wild Boar on whom Kuroto conducted live poison test, suddenly sprang out of the dense bushes and circled around him as it sniffed his trousers.

Kuroto was surprised seeing the little guy, not because the other party found him so easily, but because of something else…

"Hey, how come you grew up so big!?" Kuroto looked in pure confusion at the little wild boar that was not so little anymore.

It has only been about 2 months ago, the little wild boar that was so small the last time Kuroto saw, now reached up to his waist.

Kuroto took a closer look to see that this guy had many injuries on the body, there were scars everywhere, and even hairs were quite sparse. Seems like it often got involved in fights with the other wild animals inside the forest.

"So many injuries? Still as ignorant as ever, looks like only the body grew in size, the brain is the same as before, really like an idiot pig!"

With a sigh, Kuroto activated his Byakugan.

After carefully taking a look around him, and repeatedly confirming that no one was around or spying on him, or there were no signs of abnormal chakra reaction, Kuroto shut his eyes.

When he opened them again, his eyes glowed in a Royal blue color with a white floral pattern shining within them.

Printing the hand seals, Kuroto muttered in a low voice, "Tenseigan Chakra Mode!"

Whooooosh...

Kuroto's entire body was instantly covered in a Cyan-Blue chakra cloak and lifted him up in the air.

The grass plates beneath his feet were blown away by the high wind pressure.

The entire forest around him swayed by the Chakra pressure, but none of the creatures felt any danger from this sudden change, because the chakra pressure was quite gentle and serene.

The little wild boar on the side didn't panic much by the sudden change and slowly approached Kuroto who was hovering at 2 feet above the ground.

After approaching close, the little boar sniffed around, and upon finding that there was no change in the scent it again circled around him without a care in the world and seem to be asking Kuroto to feed him something.

Kuroto smiled slightly at the boar's antics and ignoring the little devil, Kuroto focused on the 'Chakra Mode.'

Although he used the 'Tenseigan Chakra Mode' once before at the Land of Lightning and even used 'Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion' by merging his chakra with the Truth-Seeking Ball, after all, it was on the battlefield, and the time of usage was also very short, so, Kuroto didn't manage to get familiar with the 'Chakra Mode'.

This time he is in a ghostly area of the Forest of Death, so getting familiar with the Chakra Made without being disturbed or spotted by others is the best opportunity to test his current limits and chakra consumption.

Slowly coming back to the ground, Kuroto touched the ground with one hand and injected the Tenseigan Chakra into it.

As a result of this, with him as the center, all the Chakra reactions in a radius of a dozen miles were now under his perception.

'Hmm… Chakra perception has increased dozens of times!'

Kuroto was overjoyed by this and poured more Chakra into his Tenseigan and looked around attentively.

At this moment, even the patterns on the wings of a moth hundreds of meters away appeared as if it was right in front of him.

With all these conclusions, Kuroto glanced at the little boar dangling by his side and noticed that the chakra inside its body has grown quite a lot during this time, but the chakra meridians inside its body were not completely connected.

Frowning a little he raised his hand.

Instantly, the little boar flew towards Kuroto, no matter how hard it struggled, it couldn't get rid of the restraint of the traction force of Rein Wheel Pull.

Bringing the Boar closer, Kuroto ignored all its struggle, pressed his hand gently on its abdomen, and injected Tenseigan Chakra inside it little by little.

With the sudden rush of the Tenseigan Chakra, the Chakra Volume inside the Boar's body instantly grew several times, and the meridians that weren't connected completely were penetrated as it formed a perfect network around its body due to continuous flow on chakra under Kuroto's guidance.

"Here, it's your reward for helping me with testing the Poison!"

Kuroto now smiled faintly in a good mood.

The little boar whose chakra pathway was now connected groaned, swayed, and walked wobbly as if it was in a drunken state.

Now leaving the boar to its own antics, Kuroto again focused on himself.

With a little understanding, he was able to find that unlike the last time when he had Nine Truth-Seeking Balls circling around him, this time, without the Chakra support of the giant Tenseigan, even if he used all his Chakra, at most, he was able to bring out only One Truth-Seeking Ball.

And he can also faintly guess that once he does activate this One Orb, all his Chakra will be empty.

Playing with the Truth-Seeking Ball in his hand like a squishy ball, he thought: 'If it is the question of maintaining the 'Tenseigan Chakra Mode, I should be able to last about 10 minutes but if use Truth-Seeking Ball for techniques like 'Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!' or 'Silver Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!', I will be hollowed out instantly.'

Kuroto has long since faced the issue of low Chakra Volume. But he isn't that worried about this issue now.

From the time at Ninja Academy to The Third Great Shinobi War, he has always been the transparent kid, always staying in the background.

But what about that?

He still reached up to this point, didn't he?

How many people are capable of using Truth-Seeking Balls in the entire Shinobi World?

Countless geniuses and Strong Ninjas have already been left behind by him!

Taking a deep look at the far sky, Kuroto muttered to himself, 'Isn't it just the lack of talent? The issue of Chakra Volume? The problems to which the solutions can be found are not at all problems in my eyes…"

...

Read up to Chapter - 179 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : p /Milta_translations

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The essence of Truth-Seeking Balls is the condensation of high-density Chakra into the form of black orbs.

Truth-Seeking Balls encompass the power of all five basic natures as well as yin – yang chakra nature. As such it surpasses any single chakra nature, Kekkai Genkai, as well as Kekkai Tota.

Being able to condense Truth-Seeking Balls is more of a qualitative awakening.

For this reason, a thought suddenly flashed in Kuroto's mind.

'What if I use Truth-Seeking Balls to break through the Seal applied by Yondaime-Sama to seal the Dragon Vein?'

But after a little consideration, Kuroto gave up the idea.

Fuinjutsu is one of the most mysterious and powerful branches of Jutsu, and it can be both weird and unpredictable at times.

There is close to nothing that can't be sealed using Fuinjutsu, whether those big monsters or tailed beasts or the 'Impure World Reincarnations' which are in a half-life and half-death state and the illusionary things like the soul of a person!

Even the Chakra Ancestor 'Otsutsuki Kaguya' isn't immune to Fuinjutsu!

So, what might happen to the seal or the Dragon Vein Chakra setup once it comes into contact with the Truth-Seeking Ball is sort of unpredictable.

Moreover, currently, Kuroto can only summon one Orb, and if he uses this to break through the seal, all his chakra would be empty.

Once the seal breaks and all his chakra empties, Kuroto can only watch the huge Chakra of Dragon vein rush out uncontrollably.

And by then even if he had mastered all the techniques necessary for the artificial tailed beast plan, he wouldn't be able to do anything because of the lack of Chakra.

It would be impossible for him to suppress the Dragon Vein's overflowing Chakra.

Not to mention, if he doesn't successfully steal away the Dragon Vein Chakra in the least amount of time possible, its signature reaction will be picked up by the other ninja villages.

Especially the Sand Shinobi Village that's closest to the Roran!

In this series of events, Kuroto will become a helpless little fish.

And that too when there wouldn't be a time accident because of Dragon Vein, who's to say that it wouldn't send him to a different timeline?

So, using Truth-Seeking Ball will be a big NO-NO!

He can only increase his Fuinjutsu proficiency to break through the seal used by Yondaime-Sama.

While Kuroto reached this conclusion, he suddenly sensed a ninja rushing towards his direction in the forest of Death.

As soon as he sensed this Kuroto released the 'Tenseigan Chakra Mode' and deactivated the Tenseigan.

After a while of waiting, a ninja dressed in an Anbu uniform appeared on a tree branch before Kuroto, and said, "Hokage-Sama has summoned you!"

Kuroto nodded at the Anbu's news and followed him out of the death forest all the way to the Hokage Building.

As soon as he entered the main room of the Hokage Office, he discovered that Sandaime-Sama has summoned all the members of Anbu Team-11; since Kakashi, Guy, and Shisui were already there even before him.

With Kuroto's arrival, Sandaime-Sama put down the tobacco pipe on the side and glanced at the four people of Team-11 with a sharp eye, as he asked, "Did your Team-11 conceal any details about the secret mission in the report handed over?"

Kakashi's expression shrank as soon as he heard Hokage-Sama's words.

His mind was only thinking that Hokage-Sama was most likely referring to the matter of him awakening the Mangekyou, with a feeling of guilt he felt quite nervous and traces of sweat beads started coming off his forehead.

Guy also lowered his head directly, not daring to meet the eye of Hokage-Sama in fear that his expression might reveal something, he also thought that Hokage-Sama was referring to Kakashi's Mangekyou Sharingan.

The four members of Team-11 have already reached an agreement to not reveal the existence of Kakashi's Mangekyou.

This is because no one can predict what sort of reaction the Uchiha or the Konoha Council might have upon learning that a non-Uchiha awakened Mangekyou, so everyone and that's including Shisui, decided to conceal it. Lest the Uchiha Clan might end up doing something extreme that could intensify the already brewing conflict within the Village after getting such shocking news.

Kuroto was calmer and only brought out a confused look as if the matter was completely unrelated to him.

Shisui was feeling a little awkward but he was calm nonetheless.

The reason for Kuroto and Shisui's calmness was naturally because they knew that Hokage-Sama was most likely referring to those more than three hundred Cloud ninjas that Kuroto wiped out!

Sarutobi Hiruzen glanced at the four totally silent people, without saying any word, so after shaking his head a little he directly brought out the papers describing the details about this incident that Shimura Danzo passed him, and threw it towards the four people, and said solemnly, "Look at it yourself!"

When Kakashi and Guy read the details of the information, they were taken aback, and immediately looked towards Kuroto and Shisui with clear surprise on their faces.

By the end of the battle, Kuroto and Shisui were the only two people that stayed behind to secure Guy and Kakashi's retreat, so this information must be somehow related to either of them, but neither of them mentioned having killed more than three hundred ninjas in the details when they talked about the battle later.

Now that both Kakashi and Guy are learning of things like 'The entire Valley being razed to a flat ground!', 'Hundreds of Ninja buried six feet under the mud and rocks' the shock on their faces can be clearly imagined.

Their reaction also prompted Sarutobi to turn towards the Hyuga and the Uchiha kid.

Kuroto was still calmly flipping through the pages; with an expression that said, 'Don't look at me, it has nothing to do with me!'

Sandaime-Sama was still silent, Kakashi didn't know what to say.

At this time Shisui took a step forward and said, "Hokage-Sama, it was me. To not reveal the existence of having awakened the Mangekyou Sharingan, I didn't mention it in the mission report!"

Without waiting for anyone to speak, Shisui continued, "Kuroto-San was unconscious when all that happened, Captain Kakashi was in Coma and Guy-San was severely injured by the time I retreated while carrying unconscious Kuroto-San so the rest of the Team-11 didn't know of this."

Listening to Shisui's explanation Sandaime-Sama nodded.

From Sarutobi Hiruzen's perspective and based on the details of the report he has, if anyone in Team-11 might have the strength to slaughter hundreds of ninjas including several elite Jonin in an overnight, then it can only be Uchiha Shisui who has awakened the legendary Mangekyou Sharingan.

As for Hatake Kakashi, Might Guy, or Hyuga Kuroto?

All three of them are strong and talented for their age, and no doubt they might even be able to do such things in the possible near future, but at this stage, they don't have enough strength to achieve feats that require Kage-Class combat power.

"Since Cat has come forward to clarify this fact, and the matter was indeed a little hard to express, so it will be overlooked this time but make sure to not conceal anything related to the mission details from the next time, is that clear?"

"Yes!" All the four nodded.

"Well moving past that, Team-11 did great this time, the news of your achievements can't be made public because of your identities as the Anbu ninja, but the Council has consensus on rewarding the four of you. An opportunity to learn advanced Jutsu Don't be hasty in making the decision right away, take your time, and come back any time after consideration!"

"Thank you for your kindness Hokage-Sama!" All four responded and left the Hokage Office one-after-another.

After walking out of the Hokage Building, Guy hurriedly asked, "Shisui, did you really kill hundreds of Cloud ninjas alone!?"

Shisui awkwardly glanced at Kuroto from the corner of his eyes while nodded towards Guy.

"Ah… yes Guy-San!"

Without waiting for Guy to continue Kakashi whispered, "Thank you, Shisui!"

Kakashi was also shocked by the information of Shisui awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan, but this made him more grateful towards Shisui for keeping his Mangekyou a secret, and he sort of understands why Shisui didn't reveal about that incident.

Shisui humbly shook his head, "It's for the peace of both the Uchiha and Konoha."

Obviously, Shisui is also a little unacceptable of Kakashi awakening the Mangekyou Sharingan, even if his pride has been crushed, it is still a little difficult to accept a non-Uchiha awakening the legendary eyes. This is exactly why he understands the possible impact that it could cause once the news of Kakashi's Mangekyou leaks out.

If the Uchiha Clan learns of this news, it is hard to imagine what they might end up doing.

After some more chats, Guy and Kakashi left for training, while Kuroto and Shisui walked towards a secluded place.

Glancing thoughtfully behind him, Kuroto whispered, "Thanks Shisui!"

Shisui sighed lightly, "well… whatever, I don't care anymore..."

...

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Looking at Shisui's tired face, Kuroto faintly said, "Don't worry, things will definitely turn for the better in the future."

Shisui nodded, "I hope so Kuroto-San."

The reason why the village is suppressing the Uchiha is also because of their own weakness.

And the initiator of most of the trouble that Konoha faces is Obito hidden in the dark.

Even the condition of Sandaime-Sama can be said to have been exhausted. His strength is rapidly declining because of aging. If the successor he had carefully chosen as the Yondaime Hokage hadn't died accidentally, all these problems wouldn't be there.

But unfortunately, the young and powerful Yondaime-Sama died, and now everything is completely different.

The trouble Konoha is currently facing, including the raid from the Cloud Village from the outside and the Uchiha's dissatisfaction inside the village, are all just the follow-up effects of the death of Yondaime-Sama.

If Yondaime-Sama and Uzumaki Kushina were still alive, Cloud Village wouldn't dare to make a move on Konoha, nor would the Uchiha Clan get restless.

Yondaime-Sama dies, and Konoha was entirely messed up, and the person Obito responsible for the Death of Yondaime-Sama really made the most effective blow on Konoha at the right opportunity and completely broke Konoha's backbone.

Kuroto can only sigh at just how much of a Devil Obito has become.

Taking a light glance behind him, Kuroto said in a low voice, "We are being followed."

Shisui nodded, "Hm, I realized it some time ago."

After pondering a little, Kuroto said, "The person following us should be a Root ninja."

Both Shisui and Kuroto are Anbu ninjas under Hokage. It's the job of Anbu to track and monitor others, no one will dare to target and monitor them, this is because if Hokage-Sama doesn't trust his Anbu ninjas, then those Anbu ninjas will directly be suspended instead of being monitored.

Therefore, only Root ninjas can have the audacity to monitor Anbu ninjas under Shimura Danzo's orders.

Shisui didn't care that they were being monitored, and said calmly, "I am loyal to Konoha and will never do something to harm the interest of the village, so I am not afraid of being under surveillance."

Kuroto shook his head as he said in a little disappointment, "If only it was that simple!"

Shisui asked in confusion, "What do you mean, Kuroto-San?"

"Being under surveillance is a signal of Shimura Danzo's distrust of us, which is not rare, but it also indicates that he isn't afraid to make a move against us!" after a pause Kuroto said with a dark tone, "He can distrust us all he wants, I don't care, but he has to understand that making a move against us isn't a wise choice!"

When Shisui heard Kuroto-San say this he immediately became a little worried. And Shisui's worry wasn't without a reason.

Since the incident at the valley in the Land of Lightning, Shisui has started to believe that the strength Kuroto showed there is his true strength, therefore, in Shisui's view, Kuroto-San is undoubtedly the strongest ninjas in Konoha, even Hokage-Sama or the Sannin Jiraiya wouldn't be able to match Kuroto-San.

"Kuroto-San are you really going to do something to Danzo-Sama?"

Looking at Shisui's look of trepidation, Kuroto sighed, and said, "You don't need to worry too much about it, just make sure to keep whatever I talk with you a secret, can you do that for me?"

Although Shisui was still not satisfied, he nodded nonetheless.

Kuroto is no longer afraid of Danzo and the senior management of Konoha. Basically, only those ninjas who are purely dedicated to the village may be afraid of Danzo, those that have an option of 'Defection,' which Kuroto now does, Danzo's existence only irks him a bit and nothing more.

…

In the Dense Forest outside of Konoha Village.

"Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!"

After releasing the Fireball Jutsu, Uchiha Shinichi knelt on the ground panting heavily, but without wasting any time he immediately stood up again and launched Shuriken at the distant target.

Since early morning he has been training arduously, even when soaked with sweat and exhausted completely, he didn't stop and continued to put more effort.

Shinichi has become a laughing stock of the Uchiha Clan ever since he lost to that damn Hyuga Kuroto and had to be carried back by Shisui. Everyone only ridicules him and looks down upon him, even the elders of the Uchiha have started to question his strength.

Because of losing the challenge, Shinichi even lost the recommendation from the Uchiha Clan for the Jonin assessment, as such he lost the opportunity to become a Jonin.

All this has made Shinichi crazy and hateful!

From that day on, he decided to train more and more, push himself harder than anyone and regain his lost reputation, which is why whenever he is free, he would always come to this area to practice and train heavily.

…

On a large tree not far away.

A strange man with a black cloak and swirl mask sat cross-legged on a branch of the tree as he observed Uchiha Shinichi.

After some time of observation, he asked, "So he is the one you found?"

On the side of the trunk, Zetsu whose only half body was exposed nodded, "I can feel the hatred in his heart."

However, the masked-man was not satisfied, "Such low hatred isn't enough!"

Zetsu said helplessly, "He is the only person that best meets your requirement currently.

Most of the ninjas of the Uchiha Clan serve in the Konoha Police Force, so generally, it is very rare for them to leave Konoha.

However, Uchiha Shinichi has been an exception for some time!

In addition to having 3 tomoe Sharingan, his strength is also Jonin class, moreover, he has hatred in his heart, so I immediately informed you about him."

The masked-man nodded after a little consideration, "Zetsu, you wait here, I will see if he can be useful!"

After leaving these words, his body twisted and disappeared inside a whirling spiral.

On the other side, the masked-man appeared behind Shinichi, and spoke in a deep hoarse voice, "Look at you, such a pathetic site you are in!"

Shinichi was shocked by the sudden voice that came from behind him, in reaction he immediately jumped back and turned around only to see a masked individual who looks completely suspicious no matter from where you look at him.

Drawing out his sword, Shinichi asked cautiously, "Who are you !?"

The masked-man laughed mockingly as he said, "It doesn't matter who I am, but I can give you what you want most!"

Shinichi was furious by the roundabout reply of the masked-man and asked in anger, "What do you want?"

Masked-man still said with a grin, "Heh… I don't want anything… I was just passing by…and I saw such a genius kid of the Uchiha Clan training so arduously… this piqued my interest… and after some observation I found you to be quite interesting… so here I am!"

"Well too bad coz' I am not into men!" Shinichi replied in irritation.

"Hahahaha…" Masked-man laughed at Shinichi's joke.

However, this reaction irritated Shinichi.

"You wanna hide behind the mask? Fine! I'll figure out who you are after I kill you!"

"You can try all you want! But you are not capable enough!" The Masked-Man said as he spread his arms open.

Shinichi felt insulted, the masked-man was treating him like he was nothing and this reminded him of that damn Hyuga!

Drawing his sword in anger, Shinichi rushed towards the masked-man!

Seeing that the masked was still stupidly standing with arms open, without making any attempt to dodge the incoming attack, Shinichi had a condescending smirk on his face.

"Go to hell you masked freak!"

But strangely as Shinichi's sword neared the masked-man, it directly passed through his body without any resistance, it was as if the person standing before him was just an elusive figure, not the real body.

"What…?"

Shinichi was both confused and horrified.

Without waiting for Shinichi to recover, the masked-man punched him in the stomach that flew him crashing on a nearby tree.

Getting up from the ground, Shinichi coughed violently,

'That punch hurt like hell, just how much strength he has?' Thought Shinichi as he tried to figure out just what the hell was going on!

Shinichi was now completely alert; he was also confused.

'Why did my attack pass through him?

Is he just an illusion?

No! That can't be it!

If he was just an illusion how did he hit me?

Or is it that it was also a genjutsu?'

Shinichi thought probably that was the case, so he immediately activated his Sharingan and looked around.

At this time, the Masked-man spoke, "Is that the best you have? Heh… I guess I was hasty… looks like I wasted my time!"

Shinichi gritted his teeth and shouted at the insult, "Shut up bastard! I have cracked through your genjutsu attack!"

After saying that, he formed several seals, "Fire Style: Great Fireball Jutsu!"

Instantly a huge fireball engulfed the figure of the masked man.

Boom…

The great fireball didn't stop and burned many trees down to charcoal!

Shinichi observed carefully, seeing no movements from the other side, he thought silently, "Is he dead?"

However, contrary to what he thought, the masked-man suddenly appeared behind him and instantly pressed his shoulder with one hand, dragging him into the spiraling whirl.

Leaving no trace of either of their presence in the surroundings other than the burning trees and a sword…

...

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A few minutes later the spiral whirl appeared again.

Uchiha Shinichi who was severely wounded was thrown out of the spiral and fell on the ground with a loud bang, half of his face was buried in the mud.

Following Shinichi, the masked man emerged from the spiral whirl and walked around comically, as he spoke in a flat tone, "Can't stand already?"

Although Shinichi's condition was pretty bad, he somehow managed to lift his head and looked at mask man with stubbornness and hatred.

The masked-man nodded in appreciation when he saw that stubbornness and hatred and said a smile, "Very good eyes!"

Shinichi asked weakly, "You… just who in the… hell are you? What kind of Jutsu did you use just now?"

"Haven't I already said it doesn't matter who I am.", after a short pause, he continued with an enticing voice, "What's important is that I can give you what you desire the most!"

Shinichi was confused a little, "What I… desire the… most…?"

Masked-Man noticed Shinichi's confusion and decided to guide him a little, squatting on the ground he asked, "What have you been doing here for the past two months?

What is the purpose of you pushing yourself so rigorously every day?

Why… just why?"

With masked man's every question, Shinichi remembered the one person he hates the most, "T-to defeat that bastard Hyu-Hyuga Kuroto!"

Masked-man was a little taken aback, "Hyuga Kuroto!? Is this guy so strong?"

Although embarrassed to admit it, Shinichi nodded helplessly.

"Hahahahaha… hahaha… An Uchiha unexpectedly lo-lost… hahaha… an Uchiha lost to the Hyuga hahaha!" The masked-man couldn't hold his laughter for a while… after calming down a little he spoke, "Heh… The almighty Uchiha Clan has become so pathetic that it loses to the Hyuga?"

Shinichi was also embarrassed about it, but it really irked him that the masked-man openly mocked him and the Uchiha Clan.

Controlling his laughter, the masked-man said with a bewitching voice, "With your talent, and my guidance it wouldn't be difficult to defeat some weak Hyuga kid!"

Although a little hesitant, Shinichi stared at the masked-man vigilantly, indeed he really wants to defeat Hyuga Kuroto, but he isn't foolish enough to believe that this masked-man would help him out for no reason.

Not to mention, the other party didn't even mention his identity, anyone can understand that this person is dangerous… Shinichi obviously didn't trust the other party's words… but that strange Jutsu he uses…

'If I have a powerful Jutsu like that…" this thought echoed in his mind for a second but before it could take root Shinichi shook his head, and said, "Thanks… but no thanks!"

The masked-man noticed Shinichi's vigilance and decided not to push him at once, spreading his hands he said, "Heh… no need to rush… you can always find me here if you have a change of mind."

Leaving these words, the masked-man disappeared in the spiral whirl.

A few minutes after the disappearance of the masked-man, Shinichi stood-up with some difficulty, and took a look around with caution, seeing that no one was around him, he dragged his wounded body and staggered towards the village.

If not for his beaten-up state and the injuries all over his body, Shinichi would have thought that it was all just some dream.

…

Not long after Shinichi went back towards his home, the masked-man appeared on the same tree as before.

Zetsu's half body appeared out of the bark and looked in the direction of Uchiha Shinichi's departure.

After thinking a little Zetsu asked, "Was that necessary to do? What happens if he informs the Uchiha Clan? Or probably other Konoha ninjas?"

However, the masked-man shook his head negatively, "He won't!"

"What makes you so sure?" Zetsu asked in confusion.

"Heh… because he is a fool just like everyone… he is a fool who desire power!" While dangling his legs, the masked-man continued, "Good job Zetsu! He is more qualified than I expected him to be, with the right stimulation he may awaken those eyes…"

"Can he?" Zetsu asked.

"We will see that… however what makes me more curious is the person he hates… Hyuga Kuroto, since when did you come into the picture…?"

…

Kuroto's home.

Kuroto who was studying at hone suddenly 'sneezed' and felt a chill on his back.

'Who's talking about me!?' though Kuroto.

It was as if someone was talking about him and not in a good way.

After thinking a little, he shook his head and got back to what he was doing.

After his talk with Shisui, Kuroto returned home and directed all his focus in the careful study of the Four-Symbols Seal again.

Perhaps because he personally studied the Truth-Seeking Ball with the help of his Tenseigan. Kuroto now has a deeper understanding of Chakra Transformation. So, when he started to study the Four-Symbols Seal this time, all the doubts that he initially had were now cleared up.

Similar to most of the advanced Jutsu, the Transformation of Chakra is also the core of the Four-Symbols Seal.

After studying for a while, Kuroto pondered while taking a sip of warm tea, 'If I keep up this speed then it should take only about 3 more days to completely master the Four-Symbols Seal.'

And Sandaime-Sama has again promised Team-11 to allow them to learn an advanced Jutsu, so asking for another advanced Fuinjutsu should be possible for him.

While thinking of these things, Kuroto suddenly perceived something outside.

He was able to perceive a chakra reaction hidden behind the large tree outside the courtyard of his house. Judging from the amount of Chakra, the other person was probably a Special Jonin Class shinobi.

Obviously, it has to be the Root ninja responsible for monitoring him, and the other party obviously knows that Kuroto has Byakugan, so instead of trying hard to hide which is completely impossible; courtesy to the Byakugan, he started to observe openly, without any intention of hiding his presence.

'Since I am part of the Anbu unit, so without Hokage-Sama's acquiescence, Danzo shouldn't take drastic measures against me…' thought Kuroto.

So, after making up his mind Kuroto didn't even leave his house unless absolutely necessary and dedicated all his time to studying and mastering the Four-Symbols Seal.

3 days passed by in a flash.

As per Kuroto's expectations, because of having a solid base because of Miko-Sama's teaching he quickly understood the Four-Symbols Seal. There are still a few parts that he isn't completely clear about, but that would require practice, so anxiousness is not an option.

With the scroll of the Four-Symbols Seal, Kuroto came to the Hokage Office.

After returning the scroll, he once again expressed his desire to learn another advanced Uzumaki Fuinjutsu technique.

Sandaime-Sama obviously had some doubts about his request but after thinking it over he approved of it.

From Sandaime-Sama's perspective, it is better for Hyuga Kuroto to master a sealing technique over some forbidden Jutsu. After all, Fuinjutsu is mainly used for defense, so even if Kuroto masters Uzumaki Fuinjutsu, he doesn't pose too much threat to the village.

What's more, mastering most of the techniques of Uzumaki Clan requires the user to be their blood descendant, so even if Hyuga Kuroto wants, he can't master all of the Uzumaki Fuinjutsu.

So, after a little consideration, Sandaime-Sama handed over the scroll of 'Contract Seal' from the confidential database and issued the same order to return it over within 1 month.

Obtaining the 'Contract Seal' Kuroto returned home and continued his study.

In comparison to the Four-Symbols Seal, the scope of 'Contract Seal' is obviously narrower. The main purpose of the Contract Seal is to sever the direct control the summoner has on the summon.

But this doesn't imply that the Contract Seal is any inferior to the Four-Symbols Seal, in fact, Kuroto has a feeling that even the seal applied by Yondaime-Sama to seal away the Dragoon Vein Chakra must-have elements of Contract Seal in it.

This is because of the isolation ability of the Contract Seal.

Since the Royal Family of Roran has some inexplicable relationship with the Dragon Vein which allows them to control the Dragon vein Chakra, and in all likely hood, it has to be some sort of contractual relationship.

Therefore, Yondaime-Sama should have definitely used the elements of Contract Seal while sealing away the Dragon Vein, so that in the future if anyone covets the power of the Dragon Vein, he/she must go through the Queen of Roran first to break the seal successfully.

...

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The difficulty of learning Contract Seal is not any less than that of Four-Symbols Seal. This is because the contracts are of many types including weapons, Summons, Souls, Bloodlines, demons, even life death, and other illusionary things that are difficult to explain and comprehend.

However, Kuroto is also no longer the rookie he was until a few months ago.

After the careful guidance of the Miko of the Land of Demons and his personal study and research of the Four-Symbols Seal, his current knowledge of Fuinjutsu is no longer that of a novice.

This is especially the case in regards to the Uzumaki Fuinjutsu, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he has at least surpassed the beginner stage.

After half a day of study and research, Kuroto estimated that it would take about a week for him to master the Contract Seal.

Fortunately for him, the Village is in the period of peace talks with the Cloud Village, and since Team-11 was given a vacation, so he had the time to master it.

On the fourth day, Kakashi, Guy, and Shisui suddenly came to Kuroto's house.

Glancing at the three members of Team-11, Kuroto asked with a smile, "So, what brings the three of you to my home, not to mention at the same time?"

"Kuroto, didn't you hear about the rumor that's been going on for the past week?" – Guy asked impatiently.

"What rumor?" – Kuroto asked in confusion.

Over the past few days, Kuroto stayed at home and only practiced the Contract Seal, his only source of information is Yue, and since she didn't mention any rumor so he has no idea what Guy was talking about.

Kakashi calmly said, "About the ongoing peace negotiations with the Cloud Village."

"What about it?"

"Kuroto-San, it's said that the peace talks with the Cloud Village broke down!"- Shisui finally said.

"What?" – Kuroto exclaimed in surprise.

It shouldn't be the case, according to Kuroto's memory, the peace agreement was signed between Konoha and Cloud, otherwise how come the Cloud head ninja attempted to kidnap Hyuga Hinata?

If the talks were to break down midway then such a thing wouldn't have happened. So, it is unlikely for the peace agreement to break down.

As the Captain of Team-11, Kakashi obviously had more information, so he explained the ins and outs of the matter in detail.

"There have been rumors that the shinobis of Cloud Village are also dissatisfied with the peace talks, just like the case in Konoha, they believe that as long as they persist and apply enough pressure, it shouldn't be a too difficult task to win against Konoha." – Kakashi

"Is that the reason?" – Kuroto muttered while thinking.

Since both sides are unable to accept the conclusion, then it wouldn't be strange if the negotiations do fall apart.

However, after thinking a little, Kuroto shook his head negatively, "I don't think that's the case, the Village can't afford another war, Sandaime-Sama should be clear of this more than anyone. Even the Cloud Village wouldn't stupidly escalate this conflict any longer."

"How come you are so sure about this?" – Guy asked curiously.

"Think about it a little, the raid not long ago should just be a temptation from the Cloud side to judge the strength of Konoha, now that Raikage-Sama had his answer, he wouldn't send his shinobi to die needlessly, even if he is hot-blooded and reckless, he is still the Kage of Cloud Village after all.

Moreover, there aren't just two shinobi village, although the situations of Mist Village is a mystery the Rock Village is still there, and considering the enmity, Cloud Village has with Rock Village…"

Whether according to the original story or based on the information he has of the current status of the five great shinobi villages, Kuroto can be sure of his conclusion.

If Konoha really didn't have any strength to fight back, Raikage would have definitely pressured Konoha.

But since Konoha proved that although incredibly weak, it is still not weak enough to bow down to Cloud Village.

So, cloud village also wouldn't waste their ninjas needlessly.

After, Kuroto's assurance and some more light discussion in regards to each other's progress in strength, Kakashi, Guy, and Shisui went back to their house.

Closing the door of his house, Kuroto thought to himself, "It seems that the peace talks between the village and Cloud will take a long period."

Although it is known that the two sides will eventually sign a peace treaty, how long will it take is unknown.

But this also beneficial for him.

As long as the peace negotiations aren't successfully concluded, Council advisors wouldn't risk civilian unrest, so this period will also serve as a shield for the Uchiha Clan.

With this thought, Kuroto continued his practice.

With meticulous study and research, he successfully mastered the Contract Seal, although it took him five extra days than predicted but doesn't matter much.

The main reason for the delay was again the lack of opportunity to practice his hands on. While studying Four-Symbols Seal he could still practice it at home without much worry but that's not the case with Contract Seal, as you have to have individuals with Summons to sever the Contract and all.

Thankfully, there were some extremely detailed notes in the scroll handed to him by Sandaime-Sama, so somehow, he was able to theoretically understand them.

After the complete mastery of the Contract Seal, when Kuroto returned the Scroll, Sandaime-Sama was extremely surprised.

Sarutobi Hiruzen initially thought that it would take at least one whole month for Hyuga Kuroto to master the Contract Seal, but unexpectedly the kid completed it in just 13 days. At this moment he was reminded of Namikaze Minato who took fifteen days to master this Fuinjutsu technique.

At this moment he couldn't help but look at Hyuga Kuroto with a different light, a thought that 'Hyuga Kuroto might just be a rare Fuinjutsu master!' took root in his mind.

After returning the scroll back Kuroto also expressed his request for traveling outside of Konoha for a short period.

Sandaime-Sama narrowed his eyes at Kuroto's request and asked with slight confusion, "Travel? Why such a request?"

Kuroto has long thought of a suitable excuse for this question, so without any hesitation, he spoke politely, "I want to find a suitable Psychic Beast."

Obviously, it is not uncommon for ninjas to travel, especially in Konoha, one of the three Sannin Jiraiya is a typical example because unless there is an emergency, he wouldn't be in Konoha.

But going out for travel requires approval from the village. Even Jiraiya isn't an exception to this rule, otherwise, the ninja will be listed as a missing-nin, and then an endless onslaught of hunter-nin will come after you!

Of course, if the backing and strength are strong enough, like that of Tsunade Hime, then they wouldn't be treated as 'missing-nin' but 'run away'.

Being an Anbu Shinobi, it is reasonable to say that Kuroto isn't eligible to apply for this request, especially during the sensitive period of peace negotiations with the Cloud Village.

Therefore, he had to come up with a suitable excuse, so that Sandaime-Sama wouldn't refuse.

A 'Psychic Beast' is related to the combat power of a shinobi, so searching for a suitable 'Psychic Beast' is the most legitimate reason for Kuroto to travel.

Sandaime-Sama pondered over Kuroto's request and reason, and finally agreed, "I can only give you two months."

Kuroto readily accepted this, and after expressing his gratefulness for the approval, he hurriedly returned home.

Completing all the preparation, he would need for his trip, he walked towards the main gate of the village.

The purpose of Kuroto's trip is obviously not to look for a 'Psychic Beast' but to check out the seal applied by Yondaime-Sama to seal the Dragon Vein, and see if he can break it with his current knowledge or does he need more study.

As long as Kuroto can break through Yondaime-Sama's seal, the artificial tailed beast plan could finally proceed to the final stage.

After registering at the main village gate, Kuroto left Konoha.

Since Kuroto left Konoha so suddenly, the Root ninja responsible for monitoring him had no choice but to follow closely.

Kuroto also noticed the follow-up and thought to himself, 'I have to somehow get rid of him!'

However, before he could even take any measures, a metal chain suddenly appeared from the side of the tree, tying him firmly and restricting all his movements.

With Kuroto tied-up and restricted, two figures appeared from the bushes, one on the left and the other on the right, carrying ninja swords in their hands and pierced through Kuroto's heart and throat.

All this happened so suddenly, Kuroto couldn't even react.

As soon as the blade pierced the target's heart, one of the attackers grinned, "Twenty-five million Ryo are secured!"

...

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One of the attackers smiled greedily, upon seeing that the attack succeeded, "Heh… such a pathetic brat, twenty-five million Ryo bounty and such weak strength."

Bang…

However, before the two could celebrate, Kuroto's body exploded into a cloud of smoke upon being pierced through by the sword.

Both the attackers were taken aback by this and shouted in surprise, "What, a Shadow Clone!?"

At this time, Kuroto's figure jumped down from a tree, and directly stepped on the heads of the two, burying both of them to the ground.

Squatting down, using the heads of the two bounty hunters as a foothold, questioned the two, "Hey, did you two come here for the bounty on my head? But seeing your pathetic state and useless attempt, it feels like you are looking down on me, is that the case?"

"You bastard!"

"How could it have been a Shadow Clone?"

The two bounty ninjas obviously couldn't move because of being trapped.

Seeing the two struggles, Kuroto thought to himself, 'Does the name of Hyuga Clan already has no deterrent power that the likes of no-name bounty hunters are coming after me? That too without any background check?"

In Kuroto's opinion, the bounty ninjas that will be coming after him should at least know of the Byakugan that he has, simply based on his portrait and name.

But it didn't seem that these two attackers took any countermeasures against his Byakugan.

In terms of skill and strength, they are obviously not weak, both of them seem to have the strength of a high -class Chunin, and even then, they didn't take countermeasures for the Byakugan?

Now Kuroto is a little uncertain, he isn't sure whether these two bounty hunters were just too ignorant for their own good or that the Hyuga name has already faded to such an extent.

Tying up the two bounty ninjas, Kuroto returned to the village.

Kuroto has already confirmed that these two bounty ninjas have defected from the Mist Village. According to the general trend, if a shinobi defects from his village then a bounty is placed on his/her head, and based on their crimes this bounty keeps increasing. Therefore, these two bounty hunters also carried bounties on their heads.

When Kuroto delivered the two, at the mission center of the village, he received 3 million Ryo for the combined bounty.

Kuroto also learned that the Mist Village is in a state of civil strife.

One of the major shinobi Clan in the Country of Water, Kaguya Clan directly initiated a rebellion, the situation of the Mist Village has become a mess, as a result, a large number of ninjas on the mist side have defected recently, some became wandering ninjas while the other chooses to become bounty hunters.

Shaking his head at the disparity of the Mist Village again left the Village without any delay.

Jumping from tree to tree, Kuroto didn't seem too happy at the recent profit he just received, on the contrary, he had a murderous expression on his face.

During the attack that he encountered not long ago, Kuroto hid himself a little because he was worried about the follow-up attacks from the two bounty hunters and observe his surroundings carefully, although those two bounty ninjas disappointed him, he was able to notice that the Root ninja hiding in in the shadows didn't even move an inch to help him.

Even if the other party is responsible for monitoring him, but in the face of a life and death situation, shouldn't the other party come forward at least help him out?

After all, both are the shinobi of the same village!

But the other party didn't seem to care.

This obviously means that the other party not only doesn't care about him but has already regarded Kuroto as an enemy.

Since the other party thinks in this manner then how could Kuroto tolerate this?

Initially, Kuroto decided to ignore him, as he considered that the ninja was only doing his job and nothing more, so Kuroto only thought to escape his chase, but now that's no longer the case

If the other party has such thinking, then he can only die!

…

At night Kuroto chose a flat terrain to set up a campsite, after lighting up the bonfire, he sat on a broken tree bark while the rabbit meat he caught was being roasted by the fire.

Not far away from Kuroto, the Root ninja responsible for monitoring him sat on a tree branch observing Kuroto closely.

"Huh… lighting a bonfire? The vigilance is too pathetic! How did someone like him even get into Anbu Black Ops?" slandered the Root ninja while chewing the dry food he carried along.

The code name of this Root ninja is 'Kuroshimasu' and he is very apt in these sorts of tasks.

Surveillance and Assassination are his specialties.

According to 'Kuroshimasu,' surveillance and assassination are two steps of the same task because the target he generally monitors end up becoming a target of an assassination by the orders of Danzo-Sama!

Therefore, 'Kuroshimasu' never considers his targets as anything but an enemy, even if they are from the same village!

Suddenly, 'Kuroshimasu' felt strong killing intent directed towards him, with his years of experience, 'Kuroshimasu' clearly felt that someone was watching him and definitely not with good intentions!

"Ninpou: Super Beast Imitating Drawing!"

Almost subconsciously, Kuroshimasu soared into the air and drew an ink bird on the paper.

Swish…

Unfortunately, before he could even land on the ink bird, two iron spears pierced through the ink bird, splashing it all over the air.

Falling on the ground, Kuroshimasu discovered that the attacker is some unknown ninja covered from head to toe in bandages.

But what shocked him more was the iron sand floating around the mysterious ninja.

At a glance, Kuroshimasu realized that means.

"Magnet Release!?"

As a member of Root, Kuroshimasu has an understanding of some of the weirdest and most known Kekkei Genkai, therefore he instantly realized the unique Kekkei Genkai of the Kazekage Clan, exclusive to the Sand Village.

And if the identity of the enemy to be able to master Magnet Release can't be ordinary, as a result, Kuroshimasu was a little tense, and asked nervously, "Who are you!?"

Even in the sand village, there are very few ninjas to have mastered Magnet Release, currently, there are only Yondaime Kazekage and the missing Sandaime Kazekage, whose alive or dead status is unknown.

Kuroshimasu doesn't believe either of those two monsters would sneak into the Land of Fire specially to attack him. Sand Village will also not send ninja to assassinate him because of their alliance.

So, in his opinion, this mysterious ninja has to be some missing-nin.

But this still confused him, as to why would he be attacked, the reason for believing this is because Kuroshimasu is quite sure that neither does he have the intelligence nor some important items that would prompt the other party to attack him.

So, unless the other party has specific hatred towards him, there is no reason for the missing-nin to assassinate him.

Therefore, it could only mean one thing, 'He target isn't me but Hyuga Kuroto!'

Considering the huge bounty on Hyuga Kuroto's head, this was the most logical explanation Kuroshimasu could reach.

'He must be thinking that I am getting in his way, so he wants to get rid of me first, and then go after Hyuga Kuroto!' thinking this, Kuroshimasu suddenly had an idea.

If Hyuga Kuroto is the target, then as long as he leads the enemy ninja towards Hyuga Kuroto, the opponent will naturally ignore him and attack the target instead.

Once this thought appeared, Kuroshimasu was a little relaxed.

After all, Kuroshimasu knows that he isn't capable of defeating the other party, as long as he survives, it would be fine, as for the Hyuga Kuroto?

'He can die for all I care.'

"Ninpou: Super Beast Imitating Drawing!"

Quickly drawing two ink lions to act as small divergence, Kuroshimasu immediately fled towards the campfire using the Body Flicker Jutsu

While traveling at high speed, he noticed that Hyuga Kuroto was still sitting by the bonfire, and leisurely chomping down the rabbit meat, and said with disdain, "What a fool, didn't even notice a fight at such a close distance even though he is a Hyuga…"

...

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Using two Ink Lions to stall some time, Kuroshimasu immediately fled towards the campfire.

Glancing at Hyuga Kuroto still sitting by the campfire and casually savoring the roasted rabbit meat, the corner of his lips curved in viciousness, and he thought in his heart, 'You should die here idiot, an unworthy bastard, dare to refuse Danzo-Sama's order!'

After solving the two ink lions with ease the mysterious ninja quickly followed behind Kuroshimasu. While he was still running the iron sand around him turned into countless needles and shot at Kuroshimasu like raindrops.

Kuroshimasu was both shocked and panicked, and immediately thought, 'Why is he attacking me now? Could it be that his goal isn't Hyuga Kuroto, but me…!?'

Obviously, Kuroshimasu couldn't protect himself from the rain of Iron needles, so matter how hard he tried to dodge and deflect the incoming iron sand needles, there were still a few dozens of them that got through his body.

Compared to Shuriken and Kunai, Needle's power is undoubtedly inferior, so although Kuroshimasu's body was ridden with needles, he would still stay alive for a while.

Kuroshimasu collapsed on the nearby tree with staggering steps and pointed at Hyuga Kuroto who still didn't bother to look this side, "You… you are allied with him, aren't you!?"

How can Kuroshimasu not understand such a thing at this point, he is dying just 10 meters away from Hyuga Kuroto, how could the other party not even notice?

But even if he understands this, he still can't figure out how did an elite ninja who mastered Magnet Release ally with pathetic brats like Hyuga Kuroto?

Kuroto noticed the eyes of the Root ninja that were going blank, so he got up and walked towards him and asked calmly: "What order did Danzo give you?"

Cough… Cough…

Kuroshimasu coughed out blood because of the injuries in his body, and snorted coldly, "You traitor, you dare ally yourself with an enemy ninja, someone like you will never be able to escape, you're going to di-…"

Kuroto didn't bother listening to the other party's cursing and muttered thoughtfully, "'Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal' wouldn't let him speak either about Danzo or Root."

All the Root ninja have the 'Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal,' to prevent them from revealing any information about the Root and Danzo.

Shaking his head in disappointment, Kuroto returned back to the bonfire and again started eating the rabbit meat and let Kuroshimasu die at the hands of Kazekage puppet as if both of them had nothing to do with him.

Kuroshimasu was again confused by Hyuga Kuroto's behavior.

As far as he can see, both Hyuga Kuroto and the mysterious ninja are indifferent to each other, but no matter what; he has to pass the information about Hyuga Kuroto's betrayal to Danzo-sama.

Mustering up the last of his strength, Kuroshimasu spread the scroll he was carrying to cast a Jutsu using the last of his chakra.

"Ninpou: Multiple Super Imitating Beast Drawing!"

Whoosh… whoosh… whoosh…

With a series of noises, hundreds of small ink birds flew out from the scroll spread by Kuroshimasu and spread in all four directions in the blink of an eye.

Looking at the ink birds going away, Kuroshimasu who was almost on the verge of losing consciousness had a gratified smile, however, his smile suddenly froze and turned into horror because he just realized that all the ink birds had suddenly stopped midway in their flight and were all attracted towards Hyuga Kuroto by some inexplicable traction force.

Before Kuroshimasu could even do anything, an iron spear pierced right through his head.

On Kuroto's end, after filling up his stomach, and sealing away the Kazekage puppet, he rushed towards the nearest Konoha guard post carrying the Root Ninja's corpse.

Arriving at the outpost, he said to the ninja responsible for the post, "I was attacked by a bounty ninja, during the battle, unfortunately, this Anbu ninja died, send the body back to the village for autopsy and report the situation to Hokage-Sama."

The ninja responsible nodded at Kuroto's instruction and sent a ninja to complete the task.

With Kuroto's status of being Anbu ninja, issuing such tasks is a piece of cake.

After a brief explanation, Kuroto left the post.

It was better for him to send Kuroshimasu's corpse back to the village then to dispose of it by himself to avoid unnecessary trouble.

Hokage-Sama must be aware that Hyuga Kuroto carries a large bounty on his head, so such attacks wouldn't be too rare, and even if he suspects that it might have been Kuroto himself who killed the Root ninja, there is no proof of it.

So, him pushing the Root ninja's death on the Bounty Hunter-nin is the best course of action.

With this, he also indirectly expressed his attitude towards Shimura Danzo.

As for what would be Danzo's reaction to this?

Kuroto couldn't care less about it.

Shimura Danzo isn't someone who will let you off just because of your softness and loyalty to the village. Shisui is the best example of this. Even when he dedicated himself to the village, Danzo still stole the Mangekyou, which prompted Shisui to commit suicide in silence to not let his death escalate the conflict between the Uchiha and the Village.

So, even if Kuroto shows acceptance towards Danzo, even if he agrees to Shimura Danzo's offer to join the Root Unit. With Danzo's nature, he wouldn't be satisfied unless he engraves several curse seals on him. Shimura Danzo doesn't trust anyone, not even his loyal followers.

Therefore, Kuroto had to make his stand clear.

After this small episode, Kuroto rushed to the forest.

Activating the Byakugan to check for any pursuit or any nearby presence.

After confirming that no one was following him, he activated the Tenseigan.

Kuroto only has about 2 months, and he can't waste most of the time traveling.

So, after checking the route he has already planned, he resummoned the Kazekage puppet and flew all the way to the Land of Wind with the help of Magnet Release.

In just about 3 days, he crossed the border of Land of Fire, passed over the Land of Rivers, and finally arrived back to the Land of Wind.

The ancient of Roran lies in the vast sea of sand of the Land of Wind. Even with the map pointing to its accurate location, it would have been extremely difficult for anyone to reach it if not for the deep knowledge of the terrain around the area.

Fortunately, Kuroto has means of flight so it took him only about 10 days to find the ruins of Roran city which was much less compared to the ordinary ninjas.

Kuroto was a little mesmerized looking at the towering buildings of the ancient Roran City, if not for these buildings, I am not even sure I would've been able to find the location of the Dragon Vein."

Even when he is so close to the actual site, he couldn't perceive the slightest trace of chakra leaking from the Dragon Vein, which just goes to show how strong the seal implied by Yondaime-Sama is.

But this fact was within his consideration, because if the seal was so easy to break, then the Sand Village wouldn't have let the dragon Vein rest here peacefully as if completely ignoring its existence.

Since he has finally found it, Kuroto cautiously ventured into the ruins of the ancient Roran City…

...

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As soon as he walked into the ancient city of Roran, Kuroto felt a sense of oppression.

The oppression was not from the Chakra, but from the presence of sentience, he felt similar to how an ordinary human would feel in the presence of a beast.

…Byakugan…

Activating the Byakugan, Kuroto observed everything around him, and while carefully walking towards the central tower he paid special attention to any movements in the surroundings.

In his Byakugan's perception, the entire city was in a solitary state, with no signs of activity at all, and no chakra in his perception either.

"It's kind of weird!"

Witnessing such a scene, Kuroto had doubts in his heart.

No matter how uninhabited the place maybe there have to creatures like a snake, rats, ants, spiders, and other insects in here, but strangely Kuroto couldn't perceive any signs of life.

This bothered him a little.

Shaking his head in disappointment, Kuroto decided to just let go of such a strange thing, after all, he didn't have any fear.

No matter how bad the situation may get, it wouldn't be bad enough for him to freak about it, with his current strength, at the very least Kuroto has confidence in being able to retreat safely.

And that absolute certainty lies even if the Dragon Vein Chakra runs amok.

So, without caring too much, Kuroto came to the place where Yondaime-Sama sealed the Dragon Vein.

Observing the applied seal for a short while, Kuroto muttered thoughtfully, 'Sure enough, it's a compound seal.'

Kuroto was able to distinguish multiple types of sealing techniques Yondaime-Sama used to design a compound seal for sealing the Dragon Vein.

Approaching a little closer, Kuroto studied the techniques carefully.

While analyzing, Kuroto muttered thoughtfully, "The principal seal is Four-Symbols Seal, but there are also 2 other types of seals, one is the Contract Seal while the other technique…"

After a rough analysis, Kuroto can conclude that this dragon vein is sealed by a combination of three different seals, two of which are Uzumaki Seals, but the third one is unknown.

Apart from the two seals being the Four Symbols Seal, and the Contract Seal, Kuroto doesn't have the faintest Clue on what the third type of seal is, at least it's not an Uzumaki seal for sure.

'At the time of his mission at the Roran City, Yondaime-Sama definitely didn't inherit the position of Hokage, so there are only two sources for him to learn seal techniques.

The first source was his lover Uzumaki Kushina, to teach him the Uzumaki Fuinjutsu techniques, and the other was his teacher, the Sannin Jiraiya who could teach him the sealing techniques of one of the holy places, Mount Myoboku.

So, the third seal technique used would definitely belong to Mount Myoboku.

With this theory, Kuroto pondered whether he can successfully break through the seal applied by Yondaime-Sama.

After a little bit of brainstorming, Kuroto felt that he should be able to successfully break through the seal.

After all, the entire seal is designed with Four-Symbols Seal as the foundation, and Kuroto has confidence in his ability to break through it, after all, breaking is always easier than creating, so once the seal is forcibly cracked, the rushing Dragon Vein Chakra should break through the rest of the seal on its own.

Now the only problem is that Yondaime-Sama also used Contract Seal in the seal applied, this implies the Dragon Vein definitely has a contractual relationship with the Royal Bloodline of the Roran City.

Therefore, if he wants to be a hundred percent certain for the safety while suppressing the Dragon Vein Chakra, it would be best to bring the descendants of the Royal Blood Line of the Roran City while breaking the seal.

"But where to find the descendants of Queen of Roran?" – muttered Kuroto helplessly.

…

Konoha Village, Root Base.

Whoosh…

A ninja suddenly appeared with the Body Flicker Technique and reported to Shimura Danzo who was waiting impatiently for the report, "Danzo-Sama, the autopsy of the Kuroshimasu has been completed."

Tapping his crutch impatiently, Danzo asked with clear anger in his voice, "Report!"

The kneeling Root ninja immediately replied, "Death due to Fatal piercing on the forehead, additionally, there are 37 piercing wounds on Kuroshimasu's body, there is also serious blood loss, due to having so many injuries."

"What about memory information?" – Danzo asked.

"Unfortunately, we can't extract any information from the brain, because the brain tissues are heavily damaged." – replied the Root ninja.

The Root ninja giving the report was sweating in fear, he could sense, the more information he gave on the autopsy report the more intense bloodlust oozing off of Danzo-Sama.

By the end of the whole report, Danzo's face was way past gloomier.

Was that anger for the death of Kuroshimasu?

No! There is no way Shimura Danzo would grieve for the death of a ninja, for him they are all just pieces to be used and then disposed of.

Therefore, Danzo wasn't angry about that.

When he first heard that Kuroshimasu died, his first reaction was that it must have been done by Hyuga Kuroto.

But after thinking about it he wasn't sure anymore.

Because Shimura Danzo knows if it had been Hyuga Kuroto, then he would have already received a message by now, Danzo knows that Kuroshimasu would have used the last of his life to send him a report about Hyuga Kuroto's action.

But he didn't receive any such report.

This implies that Kuroshimasu died even before he could send a report. Danzo doesn't believe Hyuga Kuroto to be strong enough to do this!

Danzo is angry because Kuroshimasu died so inexplicably!

This is not acceptable to him!

Seeing Danzo's silence, the Root ninja continued with the Autopsy report.

"While conducting the autopsy, we found traces of iron sand in his wounds, not in just one or two, but in all of them.

Danzo had a strange expression upon hearing this, "Iron Sand!?"

"yes, Danzo-Sama, the iron sand particles are very fine, almost uniform in size, and they are highly chakra conductive in nature. The iron sand appears to be washed with concentrated chakra for a long time… ju-just like…"

The Root ninja wanted to speak his inference, but he, himself felt absurd thinking of such a possibility.

However, even if the Root ninja didn't speak, Danzo has more than enough knowledge and experience to know what the root ninja's inference was.

As a result, only two words escaped his mouth, "Sand Village!"

And the thought of the involvement of Sand Village, in this case, appeared in his mind, but after thinking a little he questioned again, "Did you check the background and identity of the ninja that brought over Kuroshimasu's corpse!?"

Root ninja immediately replied, "Yes, there is no problem in his resume, neither does he has any sort of connection with Hyuga Kuroto nor with the rest of the Hyuga Clan."

However, Danzo wasn't satisfied and said sternly, "That isn't enough, search his memory, I want to know everything!

"Yes!" The Root ninja immediately nodded and quickly retreated to follow the new order.

Not long after that, the same Root ninja appeared again, and reported to Danzo, "Danzo-Sama, we have confirmed through torture and memory search, the chunin doesn't have any connection with Hyuga Kuroto!"

Thinking a little Danzo again questioned, "What about Hyuga Kuroto's state when he delivered Kuroshimasu's corpse at the guard post, were there any signs of injuries?"

Root ninja shook his head negatively, "No in the memory of his meeting Hyuga Kuroto, there were no visible signs of any type of injury on his body!"

Danzo then questioned, "By the way, where has Hyuga Kuroto gone?"

"Neither of them knows, in fact, from a rough perspective nobody other than Hokage-Sama knows about where Hyuga Kuroto has gone!"

With all the information at his hands, Danzo was still not sure and muttered in confusion, "Was it Hyuga Kuroto who somehow managed to kill Kuroshimasu, or was it the bounty ninja that came after Hyuga Kuroto?"

"By the way, Danzo-Sama, what to do with the chunin who brought over the corpse, after going through the torture and forced brain search, his chakra pathway is damaged, he can't be a ninja anymore."

To this Danzo only waved his hands dismissively.

This action only meant, 'Just deal with him as usual!'

The Root ninja naturally understood what Danzo-Sama meant with this and he nodded respectfully, "Yes!"

...

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Grass Village, Task Center.

A middle-aged woman sat at the reception and asked with a polite smile, "Sir, what task do you want to entrust us?"

Kuroto replied politely, "I want to find someone, the problem is I don't know her whereabouts, so I am here to entrust a ninja of your village to help me find where she is."

"Finding someone? No problem, please fill in the information of the person here." the middle-aged woman said as she passed him a paper.

Receiving the paper, Kuroto glanced briefly at the requirements.

The information to be filled in is only the information about the person he is looking for and the amount he is willing to pay. There is no need to fill in any information about him.

Seeing these, Kuroto nodded in approval.

Grass Village is not one of the Five Great Shinobi Village. If they want to compete with other shinobi villages for task entrustment, they have to relax the task requirements. This is one of the reasons he chose Grass Village.

After filling in the information he knew about the descendants of the Queen of Roran, Kuroto pondered a little and wrote 1 million Ryo as the amount for the completion of Task.

When Kuroto passed back the paper, the middle-aged lady was taken aback by the huge amount, "One-million Ryo? Such an amount is used for A-level tasks and above, will the task involve fighting with ninjas of other shinobi villages?"

Kuroto kept his smile and said, "The person I am looking for is most likely to be in the territory of Land of Wind, so I am willing to pay such amount just in case that ninjas here may encounter shinobi of the Sand Village. I hope you can assign an excellent ninja to accept the task!"

After reading the complete details and listening to Kuroto's reasoning, the middle-aged lady understood that most likely the task wouldn't involve fighting, realizing that such a task is a good business opportunity for their village so said with the most pleasant smile, "I understand, please don't worry sir, the Grass Village is the strongest besides the five great shinobi villages, we have many strong and capable ninjas, and we guarantee to find the person you are looking for in the least amount of time possible."

Kuroto nodded slightly in appreciation.

Among the small shinobi villages, although Grass Village is not weak, it isn't strong enough to be called the strongest.

In Kuroto's understanding, the strongest would definitely be the Rain Village, if not for the location of Rain Village that lies in the Land of Rain that borders the territory of Konoha, Sand, and Rock Village, it would have already been considered the sixth great shinobi village even in the era of Hanzo.

Not to mention now with the presence of Pain, Rain Village may in fact be the strongest of all shinobi Villages!

Kuroto didn't have to wait too long, as just about an hour later four ninjas with Grass Village's forehead protector came to him.

One of them analyzed Kuroto and then said, "My name is Yamada, I am a Jonin of Grass Village. I and my team will be responsible for your task."

Kuroto smiled and nodded, "You all can call me 'Mr. Mu', and I am grateful for the four of you for accepting the task at such short notice, and I hope you can help me find the person I am looking for."

Kuroto was satisfied with the four ninjas in front of him.

Just from the Chakra Level, he can guess that Yamada is really a Jonin Class ninja, and his physique is also quite impressive, indicating his good strength.

Although the other three are mid-level chunin, they didn't seem too mediocre either.

Nodding in satisfaction, the five of them left the Grass Village.

While traveling, one of the Chunin said to Kuroto, "Don't worry Mr. Mu, Yamada-San is one of the best ninjas of our village, completing the task under his leadership will be a breeze."

Kuroto nodded, "It seems I was lucky to be able to hire you all!"

"Of course, I don't want to scare you or anything, but our Yamada-San has a bounty of ten million Ryo in the Black market! Even if we meet the ninja of the Sand Village, you don't have to worry about being in danger."

Hearing the Chunin ninja's word, Kuroto took a closer look at Yamada, who was at the front of the team. Kuroto didn't expect that a Grass Village Jonin will have a bounty of ten million Ryo, this amount although not very big but is also not small either.

'Should I take his head for the bounty after the task completion?' – thought Kuroto silently.

But after thinking a little, he decided to let go, it's just ten million Ryo, it would be pointless trouble.

This time Kuroto was really helpless, as he didn't have any other choice but to go to Grass Village to entrust the task.

After the Roran city was abandoned, the people of Roran lived a nomadic life chasing after oasis, as such they didn't have any permanent homes. It would be nearly impossible for him to find them in just one-and-a-half months in the vast deserts of the Land of Wind.

Therefore, he came up with the idea of entrusting this task to some shinobi village.

Konoha Village and Sand Village were obviously eliminated by him for this purpose.

As for the remaining, Rock, Cloud, and Mist village was also excluded by him one after another.

Rock Village has strong enmity with the Sand Village.

Mist Village is too far.

And Kuroto just can't begin to trust Cloud Village.

Then for the small villages around the Land of Wind, there are only Rain Village and Grass Village.

Rain Village is currently the base of operation of the Akatsuki. It is a tiger den's, Kuroto doesn't want any sort of trouble by contacting them, so he chose the only other option he was left with.

After disguising himself, Kuroto came to the Grass Village.

By hiring Grass ninja, he will have access to the information network of the Grass Village, as such finding the descendants of the Roran would be much easier.

…

Land of Water

Sasori of the Red Sand sat on a small rock.

Taking out a small water kettle, he took a light sip of water as he looked at the battlefield in front of him.

At this moment, countless bone spears burst out of the ground, making a bone forest covering hundreds of square meters of area, sort of like the bamboo bone forest.

In the middle of the bone forest was the corpse of the person responsible for creating such a forest.

The corpse was also covered with sharp bone spurs, giving it a monstrous look, but Sasori wasn't scared by this scene. NO! he wasn't scared at all… rather he was happy… as he slowly walked towards the side of the corps, and carefully sealed it in a scroll.

By the time he was done another person appeared at his side.

Sasori turned his head and said coldly, "Orochimaru, you are late!"

Orochimaru said with an overcast smile ignoring Sasori's previous words, "The patriarch of the Kaguya Clan seems to be nothing too special!"

Although Orochimaru said this, in fact, he was quite surprised that Sasori easily managed to kill the patriarch of the fierce and powerful Kaguya Clan.

Putting away the scroll, Sasori stated, "Hm… the people of Kaguya Clan are all lunatics, in my opinion, their strength is also not too bad, if not for the poison, they wouldn't be so easy to kill!"

Looking at the bone forest around him, Orochimaru said with interest, "You seem to have collected a lot of high-quality puppet materials using the turmoil in the Mist Village."

Sasori glanced at Orochimaru condescendingly as he stated, "Aren't you the same? You took away the brat in the Dungeon!"

"Hou… I thought I managed to hide it from you!" Orochimaru smiled indifferently and continued, "It's about time we leave, the situation of the Mist Village seems to be calming down!"

Sasori shook his head, "Let's stay a few more days, such a chance to hunt the ninjas with strong Kekkei Genkai is too rare, I need more puppet materials."

Groaning a little Orochimaru nodded, "Alright fine, just stay for a few more days!"

Orochimaru has found an orphan of the Kaguya Clan, so he no longer has any interest in staying in the Land of Water, however, he and Sasori are partners in the Akatsuki, since, Sasori insists on staying, he also has to stay for a few more days.

As for the reason why Sasori insists on staying in the Land of Water?

Obviously to make up for the loss of Sandaime Kazekage puppet. If he still had that puppet, he wouldn't be so interested in staying in the Land of Water anymore…

...

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Wearing his everyday Kimono, Orochimaru wandered through the major towns of the Land of Water, in search of anything that might interest him.

Because of Sasori, he can't leave the Land of Water as per their original plan, and because there is close to no enemy in the Land of Water that would require both him and Sasori to act at the same time to deal with, therefore he obviously didn't stay with Sasori.

The turmoil in the Mist Village has been going for quite a while now, and this turmoil has exhausted most of the vitality of the Mist Village.

Several of the Shinobi Clans with strong and famous Kekkei Genkai like Kaguya Clan is destroyed, Yuki Clan too is near destruction with the rest of the members alive living in fear and suppressing their Kekkei Genkai, even Hozuki Clan has very few of the shinobi left.

Most of the ninjas of the Mist Village defects because of the turmoil which has even led the Mist Village to create a special Hunter-nin unit in its Anbu department.

The 'Village of the Bloody Mist' has been too harmful to this shinobi Village.

The only good thing for the Land of water is that they are in an isolated state, surrounded by water, and neighboring Konoha Village and Cloud Village have their own issues to deal with in the peace talks so they simply don't have enough energy to turn towards the Mist Village, otherwise, even the survival of Mist village would become difficult.

As Orochimaru was passing through a street, a burly man carrying a sharp sword, stepped in his way and said with a crazy expression, "Hand over all the money you have!"

Seeing the person in front of him, Orochimaru stretched out his tongue and licked his lips playfully, as he said in a mocking tone, "An idiot who doesn't even realize what's good for him! It's really sad."

The burly man was furious at being mocked and raised his sword high to show Orochimaru who's the Boss!

… Ding…

However, before he can even strike at the person in front of him, the Sword in his hand fell on the ground, following which he also fell on the ground with foam coming off his mouth.

At this moment all he could see was a small green snake, thinner than a finger had bitten on his throat.

The snake crawled through his body and went back to Orochimaru who neither glanced at him nor did he take out his hands from the pockets of his Kimono from the beginning to the end and walked past him.

The burly man was already dead.

Orochimaru naturally didn't care.

Orochimaru continued to stroll around the Land of Water, in his travel, there were very few people who dare to make trouble with him because even the most incompetent ninjas could feel Orochimaru's Cold and vicious aura.

Only some of the most ignorant civilians would dare to step forward in front of him looking for death.

Passing through a corner, Orochimaru suddenly stopped and his gaze was directed towards a garbage pile on the corner of the street.

At the side of the garbage dump, a young child wearing dirty torn rags was breaking the mouldy piece of bread into small crumbs and distributing them to a few skinny street cats that sat around him and affectionately nudged him or licked his cheeks.

Orochimaru was a little interested as he noticed that although the child was very young and extremely skinny, he has a good chakra, really good for his age.

Licking his lips, Orochimaru walked slowly towards the garbage dump.

The sudden arrival of Orochimaru terrified the child. He curled up in fear and wanted to run away from the dangerous aura he felt from the person, but thinking of the small cats that were trembling in panic, the child gritted his teeth and opened his arm in their protection.

Orochimaru curiously looked at the child's action, as he noticed the few pieces of bread crumbs lying on the side of skinny cats.

After a little stare competition, Orochimaru asked, "What is your name?"

Although fearful, the child replied meekly, "H-Haku!"

Orochimaru was a little thoughtful, he glanced at Haku's eyes, only to notice innocence and kindness within them, shaking his head in disappointment, he turned and started walking away.

Orochimaru can clearly see that the child is suffering from hunger and malnutrition, but he is still giving away all the food he has to the street cats.

Even if he has good chakra, that kindness in those eyes makes the kid unsuitable to be a ninja, that have to be heartless, so he left the kid to his own devices this is Orochimaru's twisted kindness for the innocent child.

But after taking just a few steps, he suddenly stopped and thought of the child named Jugo whom he took under his wing not very long ago.

Jogo is a child that can absorb Natural Energy, as such he is helpful for Orochimaru's research of the Cursed Seal.

Looking at Haku, Orochimaru murmured, "Such a pure child might be able to carry the power of Cursed Seal, he might even be able to harness Natural Energy for the Sage Mode."

While Orochimaru was considering this, Sasori appeared at his side.

Sasori slightly glanced at Haku, who was more horrified by the presence of both Orochimaru and Sasori, but Sasori didn't care about the other party's vigilance and directly turned towards Orochimaru as he stated, "Let's go, the target I am looking for has finally appeared!"

Orochimaru smiled slightly breaking through his thoughts and asked, "Are you certain you are looking for a person, not a corpse?"

Gritting his teeth, Sasori stated, "I will turn him into a corpse myself!"

Orochimaru rarely sees Sasori so annoyed, so he asked casually, "Who are you looking for anyway? I don't have time to run around with you."

"It's a ninja of your Konoha Village!"

…

Land of Wind

With Yamada's assistance, Kuroto finally found the traces of the descendants of the Roran citizens after a whole month of search.

Turning over to a sand dune, Yamada pointed at the oasis at the far end, and said to Kuroto, "The survivor of Roran that you are Looking for is there Mr. Mu."

As Kuroto looked over, he saw a circle of caravans parked around the small oasis. Some people were coming and going around it doing various tasks, like fetching water, looking after camels and sheep, some were involved in the cooking job, and etc., etc.

Kuroto frowned when he saw them and asked in a confused manner, "Why are there so few people in their tribe?"

The entire population of the tribe was three hundred people roughly, which is too less compared to his expectations.

Although there weren't many survivors left, they shouldn't be so few.

A local guide that a grass ninja found during their search hurriedly explained to Kuroto, "Ever since they abandoned the Roran City, the people of Roran have lost their livelihood, and most of their people died in their travels. These are the only ones left!"

Kuroto asked the guide, "Even if these people didn't settle in any town or another permanent settlement, were their lives so miserable?"

The guide shook his head, he was going to explain something, but suddenly something caught his attention and he pointed in that direction, "Look there Mr. Mu, and you'll understand the cause."

Kuroto and other Grass ninja looked in the direction where the guide pointed only to see two Sand ninjas came to the camp around the Oasis and started some sort of negotiations with the people.

The two sides naturally appeared to be discontent with this, and after a short quarrel, the two ninjas of the Sand village left the camp and gradually disappeared.

Kuroto asked, "So, why did the Sand ninjas appear here?"

The guide said with some pity in his words, "All I have heard is that the Sand Village is imposing taxes on the Roran Survivors. The two Sand ninjas should have been here for collecting the taxes."

After a little bit of thinking, Kuroto understood Sand Village's intentions.

How much tax amount could Sand Village obtain from a small nomadic tribe that has its own troubles in survival?

Tax collection is just an excuse to monitor the remnants of the Roran Survivors. Additionally, the Kazekage would have probably hoped that by succumbing to the economic pressure the people of Roran would move to the Sand Village.

If this happens, Sand Village can legally claim the Dragon Vein.

Kuroto shook his head with a sigh, he doesn't care about the small movements from the side of Sand Village.

It is natural for Kazekage to do such things for the sake of Sand Village, not to mention he would also be worried about the presence of such huge amounts of Chakra.

In fact, it would be too abnormal if he didn't do such things.

When Kuroto broke out of his thoughts, the Grass Jonin Yamada asked, "Mr. Mu, do I need to go over and check for the specific person you are searching for?"

Kuroto shook hid dismissively, "No need, just locating them is enough."

Yamada asked, "In that case, what about the task?"

Kuroto nodded, and directly handed over the leftover amount along with the seal of approval of the successful completion…

...

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Yamada accepted the balance amount along with the seal of approval for the completion of the task and left along with the guide they hired.

During the whole process, in fact, for the entire month, Yamada didn't try to snoop around Kuroto too much.

Being a Jonin, Yamada has long since discovered that 'Mr. Mu' is also a ninja, after all, one can't continue running around the desert for a month, even if the body is strong, the spirit will be exhausted, but 'Mr. Mu' didn't show the slightest sign of fatigue, indicating that he is also a shinobi.

As an experienced ninja from a small shinobi village, Yamada has performed all sorts of missions, that could even be considered too weird if anything, there have even been cases where the task was issued by a ninja of a great shinobi village to assassinate a ninja of the same village.

All this experience has taught him one thing, i.e., the less he knows things unrelated to him, the safer he will be and the longer he will live. Therefore, he didn't bother asking anything from 'Mr. Mu' about his purpose and all.

Kuroto was also very satisfied with Yamada's awareness.

If Yamada had asked about anything or showed any signs of snooping around in search for Kuroto's purpose of finding the Roran survivors, Kuroto would have no choice but to take that ten million bounty reward on his head.

But since Yamada didn't care, Kuroto naturally didn't bother either.

After the grass ninja and the guide left, Kuroto concealed himself behind the sand dunes and observed the Roran survivors.

Not long after, his eyes fell upon a woman with red hair.

The woman appeared to be around 20 years old, holding a baby in her arms with a melancholy expression.

Kuroto was a little uncertain and muttered to himself, "Is she the one?"

In his impression, the last queen of Roran, Sara, was probably four to five years older than Kakashi who was traveling with Minato-Sama at the time. Since Kuroto and Kakashi are of the same age, so Sara should be four to five years older than him. This means her current age should be about twenty years old.

And the age of the woman with red hair holding the baby in her hand appears to be the same. Among all the survivors present here, only she meets the condition, so Kuroto finally concluded that she has to be Sara.

"Finally found her!" – muttered Kuroto.

'With this, another problem for the artificial tail beast project has been solved.' – Kuroto thought with emotion.

Since this task is done, he summoned the Kazekage puppet out of the scroll.

The purpose of Kuroto's trip has been completed.

Of course, he wouldn't be getting in touch with her this time. This is because if something strange happened to the Dragon Vein while he is out of the Village, then there are chances that the suspicion would fall upon him, which is something he doesn't want to deal with just yet.

Kuroto had two objectives in this two-month trip.

The first was to check out the seal technique used by Yondaime-Sama to seal the Dragon Vein.

The second was to confirm the whereabouts of the last Queen of Roran.

Now that both of the objectives have been completed, he only needs to leave the Kazekage puppet behind to keep track of Roran survivors. While he can return back to Konoha and then find an opportunity to secretly sneak out of the village to steal the Dragon Vein silently.

Puff…

Before Kuroto can even do something, the lazy figure of the one-eyed viper appeared on his shoulder.

Kuroto was taken aback by the sudden appearance of the one-eyed viper.

Calming down his heart, he took out the scroll from its mouth to read the psychic communication sent by Orochimaru.

After reading the content of the scroll, he couldn't help but sigh.

"That guy is so persistent!" The information in the scroll is a warning sent by Orochimaru to inform him that Sasori has been able to track his movements in the Land of Wind, and now they will be coming here.

In the search for the whereabouts of the remnants of the Roran Survivors, Kuroto traveled to many places and interacted with all sorts of people. Since Sasori was able to track his movements this could only mean that someone might have been able to see through his disguise and informed Sasori.

But it doesn't matter anymore, he has already completed his objectives so there is no need to stay in the Land of Wind any longer.

Thinking about the warning Orochimaru sent him, Kuroto also took out a scroll and handed it to the One-Eyed Viper.

The content of the scroll records the detailed information of the Anbu members Kuroto collected up to now, this even details about the Anbu ninja that died in the war against the Cloud village.

This was one of the conditions Orochimaru presented to him in exchange for the information of artificial Tailed.

After so long, Kuroto has to obviously give his teacher some information.

Not to mention, Orochimaru's warning this time also saved him from big trouble named Sasori, so Kuroto had to repay the favor.

…

Konoha Village, Hokage Office.

Sandaime-Sama stood by the window to observe the hustle and bustle of the village, Danzo silently sat on the side while tapping his crutches in impatience.

The three members of the Team-11 nervously stood in front of the Hokage's desk; each one's heart beating more vigorously then the other because of the sound of the crutch tapping the ground.

After waiting for little, while the three members read the information they were given, Sandaime turned around and questioned the three members of Team-11, "Have you finished reading the details?"

Kakashi and the other two nodded.

"So, what are your opinions on the matter, would Hyuga Kuroto do such a thing?" – Sandaime questioned.

Guy was the first to answer, "Hokage-Sama, I believe that Kuroto would never kill a ninja of the same village!"

Putting back the report in his hand Kakashi also said, "I also have faith in Kuroto."

In Kakashi's opinion, Kuroto even led back the team to help him, not to mention he opted to stay behind and secure a retreat for him and Guy in the face of hundreds of Cloud Ninja, and he even did so much damage to the cloud village, all for the sake of Konoha.

How can someone so dedicated to Konoha betray the village?

Even if the Root ninja in the report did die in Kuroto's hands, the first attack must have been initiated by the Root ninja, Kuroto himself wouldn't choose to take the initiative.

Different from Guy and Kakashi, Shisui was a little more nervous, because different from the two he has already seen and knows of the Kazekage puppet, therefore he realized that it must have been Kuroto-San who killed the root ninja, and coupled with the tension between Danzo-Sama and Kuroto-San just makes it all the more clear.

But even if Shisui knew of this, he couldn't bring himself to tell this to Hokage-Sama because of the promise he made to Kuroto-San.

So, even if he felt guilty for hiding this, Shisui gritted his teeth and gave the same answer as Kakashi and Guy.

"Humph!" – Danzo snorted coldly, clearly dissatisfied with the three.

Sandaime sighed and said, "Even if Hyuga Kuroto didn't kill Kuroshimasu himself, he does bear some responsibility for his death, as such he will be suspended from the Anbu Black Ops!"

"Hokage-Sama, Hyuga Kuroto is a member of my Team-11, if he is responsible, I too am responsible as the captain of the team!" – Kakashi said calmly.

"Your Team-11 concealed a part of the truth last time, this time a member of your team is suspected of assassinating a ninja of the same village. I suggest all the members of the Team-11 be suspended from their positions in the Anbu!" – Danzo said coldly.

Sandaime sighed and stated, "Very well, Team-11 is suspended from their position in the Anbu department."

In Hiruzen's opinion, this suspension will only be for a short while, he didn't want to bother too much with this trivial matter in arguing with Danzo, so in order to appease Danzo who lost a ninja in his Root unit, Sandaime chooses to temporarily suspend Team-11.

...

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After the three members of Team-11 left the Hokage office, Danzo stood up and slowly walked towards the Hokage's desk with grim eyes and stated, "Hiruzen, it's time to decide!"

Sandaime shook his head, "The matter has not reached such a point yet!"

"Have you not considered how severe the losses of Konoha would be if they take the initiative?" after a short pause, Danzo urged, "Leave the matter in my hands, and I will make sure the damage is kept minimal."

Taking a puff of smoke, Sandaime stated, "Have you not learned anything from the turmoil of the Mist Village? I will handle the matter of the Uchiha Clan in the future, you don't need to interfere in this anymore."

Even Danzo was left speechless when Sandaime mentioned the turmoil of the Mist Village.

It wouldn't be wrong to say that the Mist Village has completely lost its strength to be considered one of the five great Shinobi Village.

Therefore, no matter how desperate the situation gets, Konoha can't afford to have a tragedy like that with its current troubles.

With a slight hesitation, Danzo said again, "Hiruzen, you can't let Uchiha Shisui stay in the Anbu. His strength has already surpassed what you or I can suppress; if he chooses to side with the Uchiha Clan; you will be in danger."

Sandaime nodded this time.

The reason why Sandaime readily agreed to Danzo's proposal of suspending the entire Team-11 was also because of the fear of Uchiha Shisui's strength.

Because of the story pulled off by Kuroto and Shisui, the Konoha Council now believes that the tragedy of the Valley at the Land of Lightning was Uchiha Shisui's doing and Hyuga Kuroto didn't have any part in that at all.

Therefore, the members of the Konoha Council are more vigilant of Uchiha Shisui. Coupled with his ability, Kotoamatsukami has raised the threat level of Uchiha Shisui even higher in their eyes.

In their beliefs, whether it is Sandaime himself or Danzo, there is no possibility of suppressing Uchiha Shisui in one-to-one combat.

And since the Anbu members under Hokage have the authority to directly enter and exit the Hokage building freely. Therefore, if Uchiha Shisui chooses to side with the Uchiha Clan, then one fatal attack is all it will take to kill Sandaime.

Although Hiruzen believes Shisui wouldn't betray the village, as the Hokage, he can't afford to take such risks.

This is why he had no choice but to suspend the entire Team-11.

…

A week later, before the end of the two months, Kuroto returned to the village.

Upon returning he got to know of the suspension of Team-11 which didn't surprise him much, as the position of Anbu was no longer so important for him.

From the very beginning, Kuroto's purpose of joining the Anbu was to learn some advanced Jutsu, after that he would have naturally resigned from the Anbu department even if Sandaime didn't suspend him.

Now that he has already learned the entire layout of the Hokage Building, the details of security, and most of the information of all the Anbu members, he is confident in sneaking around if necessary.

Even the fact that he served in the Anbu department has been added to his resume. So, continuing any further in the Anbu would only be a restriction for him, which is not something Kuroto wants to be put under.

Although Anbu ninjas have all sorts of privileges, they are also subject to many restrictions.

For example, ordinary ninjas can leave the village after receiving a task at the task center without any restrictions, unless of course, there is some sort of mandatory task assigned by officials.

This is not the case with the Anbu ninja, all the tasks are given under Hokage-Sama's directive, their every movement is under the directive of Hokage-Sama. They must also report anything and everything to Hokage-Sama otherwise the consequences would be similar to that of now. In short, Anbu ninjas are too bound to the village.

And such a thing may not be a problem for ordinary Konoha Shinobi, but it is very troublesome for Kuroto, so the identity of being an Anbu ninja does more harm to him than good.

Therefore, he didn't care about the suspension.

But what confused him a little was why was the entire Team-11 suspended?

Thinking a little, Kuroto guessed that it was probably because of the fear the Konoha Council has because of Shisui's abilities and strength.

Since he guessed the possible cause, Kuroto threw aside this matter altogether.

Konoha will not make any move against the Uchiha Clan until the peace talks with Cloud Village are finished.

So, in this period Kuroto has to focus on the tailed beast project that will help him improve his strength by solving the low Chakra problem.

After all, strength is the most important factor in the shinobi world, if you are as strong as Madara, then no matter what anyone thinks or intends to do, you can single-handedly solve all the issues.

For the next few days, Kuroto spent some normal days along with the rest of the Team-11 in training and sparring sessions, interacted with some of the clansmen of the Hyuga Clan, and also spent private time with Yui, the purpose of this was to let everyone in the village know that he has returned.

Danzo didn't send anyone else to monitor him these days, and Kuroto didn't bother to investigate the possible reasons.

After Kuroto was done with all this, he isolated himself at his house to finally commence the Artificial Tailed Beast Plan.

Now he needs to create the shell or better yet the core of the tailed beast.

The material used for this is Purple Clay, as described in the Scroll given to him by Orochimaru.

Kuroto has already done several experiments previously and the result did indicate that the Purple Clay indeed has a very strong ability to isolate Chakra. It is the perfect material for making the core of the artificial tailed beast.

… Byakugan…

After scanning around his house to confirm that no one was spying on him, Kuroto took out the scroll that stored the Purple Clay, given to him by the Miko-Sama.

Looking at the pile spread in front of him, Kuroto opted to shape the core into a simple circular shell.

Choosing a simple round shape is to make the structure as simpler as possible for better stability.

After all, the artificial tailed beast is nothing more than a chakra battery for him, if he opts to make a fancy appearance like that of Ichibi or Kyuubi, there is a probability that the stability of the structure would decrease.

With this in his mind, Kuroto started to mold the Purple Clay as per the procedure recorded in the scroll.

One thing to note is that the molding has to be completed without a break, i.e., Kuroto has to complete it overnight, neither can he pause midway nor are any mistakes allowed.

Even the slightest of flaws will affect the stability of the structure, which might directly burst the core while filling in the chakra of the Dragon Vein in it.

For this reason, Kuroto directly activated the Tenseigan, and using the insight of the Tenseigan, he continued with the task.

He has to control the chakra extremely meticulously to avoid any after issues.

…

'It's accurate to say that when you do something with full dedication and focus, the passage of time only become faster'

By the time he was finished molding the shell, there was already dawn outside.

With a slight yawn, Kuroto looked at the time, as he deactivated the Tenseigan.

Spending the whole night in the molding process, and because of continuous Chakra consumption, Kuroto was really tired now.

After sealing the core of the artificial tailed beast that he molded in a scroll, Kuroto got up and stretched his waist to refresh himself while looking at the rising sun of the morning sky…

...

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It took two days of continuous rest for Kuroto to fully recover from the after-effects, from this alone the difficulty of the Molding process can be judged.

Now that the core of the artificial tailed beast is ready, the next thing Kuroto has to worry about is how to sneak out of the village quietly.

If the problem was to only sneak out of the village, then it wouldn't be such a big deal for Kuroto who stayed in the Anbu for a while, but the crux of the matter is that he will not be returning in just two or three days. After all, the distance between Konoha and Roran is thousands of miles so the journey alone would take a lot of time, therefore Kuroto has to leave behind a Shadow Clone at home to deal with any issues that may arise in his absence.

Now, this is where the main problem starts, half of his chakra is already being used to keep the Kazekage puppet activated all time and if he divides the remaining half to leave a Shadow Clone behind, then Kuroto isn't even sure whether he will have enough Chakra left to successfully break the seal applied by Yondaime-Sama on the Dragon Vein.

So, after thinking a little, Kuroto invited Shisui to his home.

Shisui asked curiously, "Kuroto-San, what did you call me here for?"

"There is indeed something I need your help with, but before that, I have to ask another thing," Kuroto said after a little thinking.

"What's up?" – asked Shisui.

"Do you remember how I mentioned that during the Kyuubi's rebellion it was being controlled by Sharingan?" after a short pause, Kuroto thought of the best words he could use, and then asked, "Have you noticed any strange person appearing around the Uchiha Clan grounds? Or anything strange at all?"

After a little thinking, Shisui shook his head negatively.

Kuroto again asked, "No abnormalities?"

Shisui said with a helpless smile, "Except for the Anbu ninja and Root ninja who are monitoring the Uchiha Clan, there wasn't any other strange individual around."

Uchiha Clan was originally at the center of the village but after the Kyuubi's rebellion, they have been moved to the edge of Konoha, which has resulted in their alienation, coupled with their reputation ordinary villagers dare not go to the Uchiha Clan grounds.

While Shisui was pondering, he suddenly thought of something that was kind of weird.

Kuroto didn't miss that and asked, "So, what did you remember?"

Although a little uncertain, Shisui still said, "There was indeed something strange if you consider it."

"What?" – Kuroto asked inquisitively.

"You should remember Shinichi, right?" after pausing a little, "He has been acting a little weird for some time, and the thing is that he has been going somewhere to train every day."

"What's strange about that?" – Kuroto asked while holding his chin thoughtfully.

Kuroto doesn't have a very deep impression of Uchiha Shinichi, since he defeated the guy by tricking him, the process was so fast that it didn't leave any deep impression on him.

So, Kuroto isn't quite sure how that's strange.

At this moment Shisui said with a worried look, "The strange thing is that the Root ninja who has been monitoring him disappeared for no reason. This has also escalated a headache for Patriarch with Danzo-Sama, if not for Hokage-Sama coming forward to act as a mediator, this could have resulted in a serious conflict."

"No wonder Danzo didn't send anyone to bother me these days…" – Kuroto muttered silently.

Kuroto felt quite strange in the past few days, as to why didn't Danzo sent anyone to continue monitoring him, now listening to Shisui's words, it seems Root ninjas had some trouble with the Uchiha keeping them occupied.

But one thing to notice is that Danzo didn't take any actions against Uchiha Shinichi, it could only mean that the disappearance of the Root ninja has nothing to do with Shinichi or that there is no evidence that it was Shinichi's handiwork.

Of course, Kuroto can't analyze the whole matter whether it was really Shinichi or not, but he has noted this matter to heart as it would require some investigation.

After learning the current situation of the Uchiha Clan, Kuroto turned the topic over to why he has called Shisui here today, "Shisui, I have a request, I hope you can help me with it."

Shisui hurriedly nodded, "Kuroto-San, you are being too polite, don't hesitate to tell me, and I'll try my best to help you!"

With a serious face, Kuroto stated, "I need to sneak out of the village to do something, and I don't want anybody to know of my absence, I hope you can help me with this by creating a Shadow Clone that can act as my cover until I return."

The reason why he asked Shisui is that with the Mangekyou, Shisui could apply an illusion over the Shadow Clone that would be difficult to be seen through even by the likes of Sandaime-Sama, unless of course, the clone itself gives away the cover.

So, Shisui is the best person to cover for him.

"Kuroto-San, what do you want to do?" – Shisui asked a little surprised and sorta panicked.

'Nothing Kuroto-San does secretly has anything good!' this was Shisui's thought.

Kuroto immediately waved his hand to calm down the guy, "Don't worry too much, my objective this time has nothing to do with the affairs of the village, it's just a personal matter."

Kuroto also knows about Shisui's character, so he explained it clearly.

The kid is so loyal to Konoha that he would rather commit suicide than choose the option of defection, even if betrayed by the highest authorities of the village, so if Kuroto didn't explain it clearly, Shisui might not help him even if they have a rather good interpersonal friendship.

After hesitating a little, Shisui finally nodded in agreement, "If that's so, then all right!"

Kuroto smiled, "I am afraid you'll have to work hard this time because I won't be able to come back in a short while."

As soon as he heard this, Shisui asked cautiously, "Kuroto-San, h-how many days will it take for you to come back to the village?"

After thinking a little, Kuroto said, "If everything goes well, then I should be able to return in about 15 days, but I can't be sure if there is some accident."

"What!?? 15 days!" – Shisui stood up in shock.

Maintaining a Shadow Clone and an illusion over it for half a month is not a joke, even for Shisui!

What's more, there are chances that Hokage-Sama might summon them anytime and Shisui really has no guts to deceive Hokage-Sama.

Kuroto patted Shisui's shoulder making him sit again, and said with a wicked smile, "You just agreed to help me a few seconds ago, now you can't go back on your words Shisui."

"B-but, Kuroto-San I- …"

Kuroto hurriedly interrupted Shisui's complaint, "Don't worry, you continue helping me, and I will most definitely resolve the issue between the Uchiha and the Village, we are friends, aren't we? And FRIENDS are supposed to help each other, aren't they?"

Although, Shisui was still very hesitant, listening to Kuroto's sweet-talk and emotional black-mailing; he finally nodded after pondering over it, "Okay, Kuroto-San, I'll try my best, but 20 days is the most I will be able to keep cover, if it goes any longer, I can't guarantee anything!"

Kuroto nodded, "20 days should be good enough!"

Although Kuroto has used the Kazekage puppet to keep track of Roran survivors, he can still fly using the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, and his flying speed will be extremely faster in the Tenseigan Chakra Mode compared to the flying speed of the Kazekage puppet.

So, after the two of them discussed some details that Shisui has to be especially careful about, Shisui left an almost identical Shadow Clone at Kuroto's house.

With a cover arranged, Kuroto didn't delay any longer and directly sneaked out of the village.

He had already selected the route he has to follow, so as soon as he sneaked out of the village, Kuroto immediately entered the Tenseigan Chakra Mode and flew in the direction of the Land of the Wind.

Kuroto also made sure to keep his flying height at an appropriate distance from the ground to avoid being accidentally discovered.

With the cyan light of Tenseigan Chakra Mode, the flashing figure appeared like firelight in the night as it rushed towards the Land of Wind.

...

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Land of Wind.

Walking on the winding sand dunes, the young face of Sasori had a gloomy expression under the cloak.

Looking towards the distant sky, he muttered in frustration, "Nothing here either?"

For the past 10 days, he has been searching in the major towns, black markets, and even several Oasis on the commercial route connecting most of the towns in the Land of Wind, but he found nothing at all. It was as if the trail of Hyuga Kuroto disappeared out of thin air.

Ever since he managed to learn of Hyuga Kuroto's true identity, Sasori has been making plans to exact his revenge on the bastard!

The only hurdle is that he is unable to track the kid.

Hyuga Kuroto is a member of the Konoha's Anbu Black Ops, so his whereabouts are only known to the Hokage and the fellow teammates.

Once he leaves the village, the kid has to perform secret missions under Hokage's directives, so his position can't be tracked at all.

This time, Sasori finally got some tip from the informant in the Black market, and he thought finally he could hunt down the kid so Sasori rushed from the Land of Water all the way to the Land of Wind only to find nothing!

It's like the kid has already left the Land of Wind long ago.

"Stay alive while you still can, coz' lady luck won't always help you!" – after uttering these words with a cold snort, Sasori wrapped his cloak tightly and walked in the direction of the Land of Rain…

…

Land of Fire, inside a dense forest…

Kuroto landed on a tree branch from the flight and gasped for breath as the Tenseigan Chakra Mode faded away.

Because Kuroto can't afford to use all of his Chakra so as to keep the Kazekage puppet active in the Land of Wind, he has access to only half of his total Chakra Volume. Due to this, he can keep the Tenseigan Chakra Mode active only for five-six minutes.

Therefore, he has to continuously rest and recover chakra to continue his flight.

Fortunately, Kuroto's flying speed is extremely fast while in the Tenseigan Chakra Mode, so even if he is traveling in short bursts, it is much faster than his normal running speed.

While chewing the Military Ration Pill, Kuroto spread the map on the ground and carefully looked at the route he has been following.

It has already been two full days since he sneaked out of the village, and according to the plan, he should be able to cross the territory of the Land of Fire and enter the territory of the Land of River soon.

The main reason why it took him so long was that Kuroto chose a route that's too remote for human travel.

During the entire journey, he has only seen the endless forest in sight, including the occasional mountains he crossed, with some small cliffs, rivers, swamps, and valleys.

In fact, Kuroto was also helpless, so he had to choose this route.

The Tenseigan Chakra mode is too eye-catching, and if he doesn't take such a remote route, he will most certainly be perceived by the perceptual ninjas present in the Konoha Guard posts spread throughout the Land of Fire.

So, even if it is troublesome, Kuroto has to use this method.

A few days later he finally crossed the border of the Land of River and enter the territory of the Land of Wind.

After entering the desert, Kuroto didn't rush headfirst and sensed the position of the Kazekage puppet.

While sensing the position, he suddenly opened his eyes in surprise, "So far away!"

The reason for his surprise was that the Kazekage puppet that was keeping track of Roran survivors was about 200 miles away from his current position.

Opening the map, he drew some dots with a pen.

The initial point was the location where he left the Kazekage puppet before heading back to the Land of Fire. Using that point as the center of a circle, he scanned the map and finally locked his gaze on an Oasis named 'Manto'.

Drawing a circle in the specific Oasis, Kuroto muttered silently, "This should be their next stop!"

The 'Manto' is a semi-popular Oasis in the Land of Wind, and the important detail to notice is that it lies along the major Trade Route, and based on the trajectory the Caravans of the Roran survivors were following, this 'Manto' has to be their next stop.

After figuring this out, Kuroto immediately put away the map and headed towards 'Manto' at the fastest speed possible.

It took another 2 days to reach 'Manto' after the high-speed flight.

In these 2 days, the Roran Survivors also arrived at Manto.

After arriving at Manto, Kuroto didn't rush to meet the Queen of Roran but choose to put back the Kazekage puppet and restore his peak state.

Wrapping a black cloak over his body along with a mask with a demonic look that he bought in a market, Kuroto made sure to keep his identity as hidden as possible.

He didn't want to leave any trail that could lead someone to him for stealing the Dragon Vein.

After doing all the preparation, Kuroto waited for nightfall.

With the setting of the Sun, the moon appeared high in the sky.

Right now, there were many bonfires lit with groups of two or three people sitting around it while carrying out various activities, like chatting, dancing, playing games, cooking, etc., in short enjoying the rare leisure time of the day when they forget all their troubles.

Queen Sara didn't sit around with the others but was taking care of her young child alone while humming a lullaby in her private tent.

Under the cover of night, Kuroto sneaked into the Queen's tent without alerting anyone, and whispered in low voice to draw Queen Sara's attention who was distracted in sadness, "What are you thinking?"

Sara was shocked as she suddenly heard the sound, quickly holding the baby in her arms, she drew a dagger while retreating towards the corner and looked at the person wearing a black cloak and a red demonic mask alertly, and asked, "W-who are you!?"

Kuroto looked at the Dagger as he thought to himself, 'That should be the Konoha Chakra Blade Naruto left behind!'

But to him, this thing didn't matter as he said lightly, "Don't be too nervous, I am only here to make a deal with you."

Queen Sara muttered in confusion, "Make a deal?"

In their tribe there is nothing of value except for some animals, so she can't think of anything that might interest anyone, therefore she didn't relax her vigilance because of the masked person's words.

At the same time, she was smart enough to not call for help, because she understood that for someone to sneak in here without even alerting anyone outside could only mean that the person is a ninja.

And if that's the case, then calling for help will only put her people into danger, the fact that this person is here and didn't harm anyone outside means that he isn't here with the intentions of killing their entire tribe, so negotiations are still a possibility, as long as the other party is satisfied, he shouldn't take some drastic action.

But the question is, what is he after?

Kuroto nodded, "Yes, make a deal!"

Queen Sara wanted to say something, but because of nervousness and panic, she coughed, and the coughing didn't stop at all, it appeared that she was even having difficulty in breathing.

Seeing her condition, Kuroto activated his Tenseigan and scanned her body, he was surprised to find that many of her blood vessels had clotting; affecting the blood flow, then there was also a blockage in her lungs, from the looks of it she was seriously ill.

Kuroto frowned upon noticing this, "You are sick!"

While trying to catch her breath, Sara said weakly, "I… I know!"

Looking around at her tent that didn't have a very hygienic atmosphere, Kuroto said deeply, "You need immediate medical treatment, if not your condition will continue worsening and you won't be able to survive even a few more years."

Looking strangely at the masked person, Queen Sara asked with a serious expression, "Just who on Earth are you? What do want from me? And why do you care about my well-being??"

"Didn't I say it already, I am here to make a deal with you!"

However, Sara shook her head, "I can't think of anything that I can sell!"

"Actually, you do! You have a priceless treasure in your hands." After a short pause, Kuroto continued with a mocking smile, "It's just that this priceless treasure is actually useless for you and your people!"

When the masked person said this, Queen Sara realized what the stranger meant as she muttered with a horrifying expression, "Y-you are after the Dragon Vein!!"

...

Read up to Chapter - 206 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n : /Milta_translations

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Kuroto didn't deny Sara's guess and spoke in a cold voice, "Yes, the deal I am talking about has a lot to do with the Dragon Vein."

"No, Never!" Sara shook her head in refusal without even thinking.

"Hahaha…" Kuroto chuckled at her response, he didn't ask any stupid questions like 'Why not?', but simply stated, "I am afraid you don't understand your position, you don't have any right to refuse the deal!"

Queen Sara understood the threat in those words, but she wasn't afraid, instead, she tried to persuade the person, "You don't understand how dangerous the power of Dragon vein is. It's not something that you or I can control, please give up the thoughts of obtaining the Dragon Vein!"

However, how can Kuroto be persuaded so easily?

He shook his head and said, "You still haven't understood your situation, as I have said, you-don't-have-any-right-to-refuse. Would you rather want me to slaughter everyone here and then take you forcibly? or how about killing you along with the rest of your tribe then raise your daughter as a puppet for the same purpose? Or I could just torture everyone here right before your very eyes unless you agree?

As I stated before, you don't have a choice Dragon maiden, it's either you agree or I make you agree!"

Sara was horrified at every word Kuroto said, she couldn't even look straight at him, turning her head to the side she still tried to come up with some method to persuade the person in front of her. Unknowingly she clutched the dagger in her hand more tightly as if it was her support.

She was about to say something, but Kuroto didn't give her the chance and interrupted midway, "When I listen to the voices of the people outside living in such difficult condition like nomads, just so that they can follow you, I feel real pity for them." With a short pause, Kuroto's voice became indifferent, "And here we have the Queen for whom they left their city, their houses, their livelihood, but you…, you have the heart to watch your people die one after another right in front of you?

Such a cruel person you are, aren't you?

Just to keep something to yourself that doesn't even have any value for you, you are willing to watch all your people be tortured to death right in front of you?

I have to say, I haven't seen anyone greedier than you!

And I can't believe you are willing to watch your daughter grow up to be nothing more than a puppet!

It really makes me so sad for the child to have such an emotionless and cruel mother!"

Kuroto was using the best method of emotional blackmailing, coupled with the black cloak that covered all his body, and a red demonic mask gave Kuroto's words more heaviness.

Sara looked really pale upon hearing the masked man's words, slight tears started to come out of her eyes, she tried to retort his words but nothing she could say would be convincing enough.

As she was thinking about what to do, a woman's voice came from outside the tent, "Sara-Sama, the soup is warm enough, do you want me to bring it in for you?"

That voice broke Sara out of her guilt trip, but before she could reply, her eyes fell upon the masked person, who has unknowingly taken out a Kunai and seem to be cleaning the slight dust on it with his finger and checking the fineness of the material it was made of.

Without any need for Kuroto to speak anything, Sara understood the silent warning from that action.

Gulping down, she quickly said, "No, I am not hungry!"

The woman still tried to say, "But, Sara-Sama your health will be-..."

"I SAID, I AM NOT HUNGRY RIGHT NOW!" Sara interrupted her midsentence in annoyance.

"Very well, please call me when you are hungry Sara-Sama!" with a courteous greeting the woman left.

Queen Sara let out a long sigh of relief as she heard the footsteps of the woman going away.

"Your people really care about you, don't they? I wonder what they will think when they come to know that you would rather watch them die than make some deal with a stranger!" Kuroto said wickedly.

Viciously glaring at the masked person, Sara finally sighed.

Seeing this action Kuroto asked quickly, "So, have you finally considered it?"

The Queen said after a little thinking, "The Dragon Vein has been sealed, and I can't crack it so there is no use forcing me to do it." This was her last hope, as long as the person realizes that she can't break the seal, hopefully, he will leave her, and her people.

Unfortunately for her, she has to be disappointed.

"You don't need to worry about the seal, all you have to do is to control the Dragon Vein Chakra as it rushes out of control." After a pause, Kuroto continued, "Don't worry, I'll be paying you with a large sum of money if the ordeal completes successfully. With that money, you and your people can live a better life, compared to the Dragon vein that's nothing more than a burden for your people, money is what's more important for you all!

After all, you can't feed Dragon vein to your growing daughter, can you?"

Listening to the masked person's words, Sara nodded, and after gently laying her sleeping daughter on the baby cradle, she put the dagger on the table at the side.

When she was done with all this, Sara finally stated, "I'll go with you, but you have to promise not to hurt my people!"

Sara of course didn't believe in the rhetorical words of the masked person, the promise of paying a huge sum of money?

That's just empty words.

The most likely thing to happen once this person gets his hand on the Dragon Vein would be to kill her, after all, that's what any ninja would do!

But it's not like she has any other choice.

To protect her daughter and the people of Roran, even if she has to sacrifice herself, then that's what she would do. Besides, she is already ill and doesn't have much time to live anyway.

As long as her death is meaningful for her people, then death is what she would choose.

Kuroto neither nodded nor denied, directly left the convoy while carrying her, and disappeared in the night.

None of the people even noticed that their Queen was already missing.

The Manto Oasis was not very far from the city of Roran, so after several hours of traveling, Kuroto brought Queen Sara to the ancient city.

Sara who returned to the Roran city again, silently shed tears remembering her past and the time she spent here. This is the place where she grew up and also the home she and her people abandoned.

Kuroto didn't disturb her and quietly stood on the side watching her.

At this point, he can also somewhat understand her, even he would feel similar if he suddenly travels back to his previous world.

After Sara managed to recover, the two of them came to the place where Yondaime-Sama sealed the Dragon Vein.

Pointing at the seal on the ground, Sara stated, "The seal here was personally applied by the Yondaime Hokage of Konoha Village, if you can't unlock the seal, I can't do anything about it."

Kuroto ignored her words and walked silently to the center of the Dragon vein Seal, where the Flying Thunder Kunai was embedded.

After printing several hand signs, he shouted, "Kai!"

With Kuroto's shout, the sealing technique imposed on the Dragon Vein started disappearing.

Sara muttered in shock, "I… I can feel the Dragon vein!"

"What are you so surprised about? Of course, you can feel it, I have lifted off the Contract Seal applied by Yellow Flash, so the connection between you and the Dragon Vein has been restored." Kuroto explained with an indifferent expression.

"Tell me the situation of the Dragon Vein?"

Sara replied after sensing for a while, "I-it seems it be very irritated."

Kuroto glanced at Sara thoughtfully, "Irritated state is it?"

At this point, Sara hurriedly spoke, "Please, there is still time to turn back, the power of Dragon Vein is not something that humans can use, if the seal is lifted completely, I am afraid something bad might happen."

Kuroto smiled playfully at her words, "We have already reached this point, do you think I will stop?"

Sara shook her head while exclaiming, "You don't understand how terrifying the power of Dragon Vein is, it will corrupt you!"

"Hahaha… you're a real jokester, your highness, aren't you? … Indeed, the power of the Dragon Vein might corrupt me, but so be it… Kai!" – with an indifferent expression, Kuroto unsealed the next seal.

This time he unsealed the Four-Symbols Seal, as the core seal was lifted off the entire Dragon Vein Chakra rushed out of the earth.

Whiiiish… Whiiiish…

The intense chakra pressure caused a storm in the area as the howling wind blew everything around.

Looking at the Purple tower of the Dragon Vein Chakra, Kuroto laughed maniacally.

The reason why he was so sure to unlock the seal applied by the Yondaime-Sama because he didn't need to break the entire seal, just make a small hole and the rush of Chakra will automatically corrode the entire seal.

Stopping his laughter, Kuroto immediately brought out the core of the artificial tailed beast that he prepared and placed it at the center of the rushing chakra.

As the initial eruption disappeared, the inflating Purple Clay appeared in Kuroto and Sara's view.

Queen Sara looked at the inflating object on the ground and asked, "What is this?"

Kuroto activated his Tenseigan and said calmly, "You don't need to bother what that is, all you need to do is to make sure that the dragon vein Chakra doesn't get out of control, and help me transferring it in that Purple Core."

By now Sara has realized that the person she is dealing with is no ordinary ninja, the fact that he was able to break through the seal applied by Yondaime Hokage of Konoha Village itself proves that, because even the entire Sand Village couldn't accomplish such a thing.

Since she realized this, she also understood that no matter what she said, it wouldn't make any difference, so she nodded, at least she can make sure that no tragedy happens.

Kuroto analyzed the Dragon Vein Chakra with his Tenseigan and noticed that it was gradually getting out of control.

To be honest, Kuroto isn't very sure as to how did the Dragon Vein come into existence in the first place, because it is sort of impossible for the birth of such a high Volume of Chakra source without any good reason.

The Dragon Vein Chakra could even rival some of the higher tiers Tailed Beast.

In Kuroto's View, such existences can only be created either by the ancestor of Chakra; Otsutsuki Kaguya, who has been sealed for millennia already, or probably her two sons, Hagoromo and Hamura. Else maybe, by some unknown evil god that unknowingly appeared in the Shinobi World.

In short, Dragon vein is by no means a natural product of the Shinobi World, and as a researcher, Kuroto has a deep interest in trying to figure out the possible cause for the birth of such dense chakra that can even distort Time and Space!

...

Read up to Chapter - 208 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. : /Milta_translations

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