Chapter 121: One-on-One

Chapter 121: Chapter 121: One-on-One

Once they realized that a mysterious third party might have intervened, everyone in Team Eleven—except Hyuga Kagami—was filled with worry.

They were concerned both about the mysterious faction’s motives and about whether Shinichi had fallen into their hands.

After all, the value of a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan was almost impossible to estimate. And when it came to transplanting the Mangekyō Sharingan, there wasn’t much of a technical barrier either.

Kakashi himself was the perfect example.

Considering the possibility that a pair of Mangekyō Sharingan might end up outside Konoha, Shisui hurriedly asked Pakkun, "Can you keep tracking him?"

Pakkun circled the tree hollow once before answering, "Hard to say. Almost all of his scent is concentrated inside the hollow. The traces left outside are extremely faint."

Kakashi urged him, "Give it a try!"

Pakkun could only nod.

In an instant, the eight ninja hounds spread out in every direction with the tree hollow at the center, searching for any scent Uchiha Shinichi might have left behind.

Before long, one of the ninja hounds raised a front paw.

"Found it."

Pakkun hurried over and carefully sniffed the area before nodding.

"Mm. It’s his scent."

Having picked up Uchiha Shinichi’s trail once again, Team Eleven wasted no time and immediately gave chase.

They stopped and started along the way, following the faint trail, and before they knew it, an entire day had passed.

At the campsite, the four members of Team Eleven sat together, carefully studying a map.

Tracing a line across the map with his finger, Kakashi said, "Judging from Shinichi’s escape route, it looks like he’s heading toward the area around the Land of Hot Water, the Land of the Moon, and the Land of Lightning."

The other three members of Team Eleven stared at the map and fell silent.

For Team Eleven, who had experienced the battle in the valley, this region was all too familiar.

And because of that, they knew exactly what this direction implied.

If Uchiha Shinichi was merely planning to hide somewhere in the two small nations—the Land of Hot Water or the Land of the Moon—then things would still be manageable.

But if Uchiha Shinichi had defected to Kumogakure, then they would have a serious problem on their hands.

As a Special Jōnin, Uchiha Shinichi knew many of the village’s secrets. On top of that, as a member of the Uchiha clan, he was well aware of the tensions between the Uchiha and the village.

In other words, even setting aside the value of Shinichi himself as a Mangekyō Sharingan wielder, the mere possibility of the intelligence he possessed being leaked was already a massive problem for the village.

After pondering for a long while, Shisui said, "We have to intercept him before he leaves the Land of Fire!"

Guy nodded in agreement. "Yeah. We can’t let him keep going down the wrong path."

Kakashi said, "I’ll send a message to Lord Jiraiya at the border right away and have them prepare to intercept him."

Hyuga Kagami, meanwhile, remained silent, pondering inwardly.

"He’s planning to defect to Kumogakure?

"Would Kumogakure even take him in?

"Would they dare take him in?"

If Kumogakure accepted Uchiha Shinichi, then the peace negotiations currently underway would immediately become meaningless.

It would mean that Konoha and Kumogakure would once again enter a state of war.

And this time, Konoha had nowhere left to retreat. They would have no choice but to grit their teeth and fight to the bitter end.

However, considering just how shameless Kumogakure could be, they might very well take Uchiha Shinichi in secretly while publicly claiming to know absolutely nothing about it.

After all, this was the same hidden village that had sent people to Konoha twice to abduct children.

Maybe other villages wouldn’t be capable of pulling something like this—

but Kumogakure absolutely was.

Before dawn the next day, Team Eleven set out once again.

Originally, they had thought this would be nothing more than a simple mission to hunt down a rogue ninja.

But now, with the possibility that a mysterious third party had become involved—and with Shinichi potentially fleeing toward Kumogakure—

the situation had become far more complicated.

All four members of Team Eleven came to the same realization.

If they couldn’t capture Uchiha Shinichi quickly, there was a very real possibility that the situation could escalate to the point of triggering another Great Ninja War.

After tracking him for another half a day, Hyuga Kagami frowned.

"This is way too abnormal."

Guy said, "Yeah. If Shinichi really is seriously injured, how can he still be moving this fast? It doesn’t make any sense!"

Shisui said, "We can’t worry about that right now. Let’s keep chasing him."

Indeed, this wasn’t the time to dwell on the question.

Once they caught up with Uchiha Shinichi, everything would naturally become clear.

By evening, the setting sun had gradually disappeared beneath the horizon, leaving only a faint glow of twilight hanging in the distant sky.

At that moment, Pakkun, who had been tracking the scent for the entire day, suddenly said, "The scent is getting stronger and stronger. He’s not far ahead!"

Hearing this, everyone in Team Eleven immediately raised their guard.

Although they were relieved to have intercepted Uchiha Shinichi before he could leave the Land of Fire, catching up to him also meant that a major battle was now almost unavoidable.

And considering the possibility that a third party might still be lurking nearby, none of the four members of Team Eleven showed any sign of joy.

Suddenly, Hyuga Kagami shouted,

"Everyone, watch out!"

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Before Kagami’s warning had even finished leaving his mouth, a chain of explosions erupted all around them!

Kagami immediately leapt back and landed on the trunk of a large tree.

Activating his Byakugan, he focused his gaze and swept the surrounding area.

The explosions just now had been caused by explosive tags.

Those explosive tags had clearly undergone some kind of special treatment, making the chakra fluctuations they emitted extremely faint. Because of that, Hyuga Kagami hadn’t noticed them until Team Eleven had already gotten close.

"They know I have the Byakugan.

"This ambush was specifically designed with me in mind!"

In only an instant, Kagami grasped the situation before him.

The only thing he couldn’t determine was exactly who these people were.

Were they here to help Uchiha Shinichi defect?

Or were they the mysterious third-party force that had attacked Uchiha Shinichi earlier?

At this moment, the dust and smoke kicked up by the exploding tags had yet to disperse.

And because the four members of Team Eleven had scattered in different directions to avoid the explosions, although they weren’t particularly far from one another, their squad formation—which allowed them to cover each other—had completely fallen apart.

Within Kagami’s Byakugan vision, a large number of chakra signatures were rapidly closing in from every direction.

And judging by the amount of chakra each of them possessed—

every single one was a Jōnin-level expert.

Kagami’s expression immediately turned grave.

He hurriedly shouted toward the scattered members of Team Eleven,

"Everyone, be careful! There are a lot of them, and they’re all highly skilled!"

No sooner had Kagami finished warning his teammates than a series of sharp sounds tore through the air beside him.

From the sound alone, he could tell that they were kunai flying toward him.

And they weren’t ordinary kunai either.

They were almost certainly—

kunai wrapped with explosive tags.

With a flicker of his body, Hyuga Kagami easily dodged the incoming kunai.

Amid a deafening series of explosions, he rapidly retreated toward a relatively open clearing.

Just then, a figure appeared and blocked his path.

It was none other than the man Team Eleven had been desperately pursuing—

Uchiha Shinichi.

Kagami curled his lips.

"You came out here alone to face me... Don’t tell me you’re planning to challenge me one-on-one?"

Uchiha Shinichi slowly drew the short blade at his waist and replied contemptuously,

"That’s right.

"But don’t worry. After I defeat you, I’ll at least leave you with your miserable little life..."