Chapter 135: Locked On

Chapter 135: Chapter 135: Locked On

Hyuga Kagami wasn’t surprised that Obito had mobilized the Akatsuki’s resources to search for him.

During their previous clash at the Root base, both sides had exercised considerable restraint. But that very restraint only made it clearer just how wary they truly were of each other.

To Obito, the existence of a mysterious figure like Hyuga Kagami was undoubtedly an enormous variable.

Naturally, he couldn’t allow such a variable to continue existing and interfering with his plans. However, even with the Akatsuki’s resources at his disposal, finding Hyuga Kagami would be no easy task.

And now that Kagami had received Uchiha Shinichi’s warning, he would naturally be even more cautious.

"Heh. Shinichi can be surprisingly sharp sometimes. He figured out almost immediately that the person Obito was looking for was me."

Hyuga Kagami chuckled softly as he put away the scroll.

The shinobi world had been anything but peaceful these past few months.

Because of Uchiha Shinichi’s defection, the peace negotiations between Konoha and Kumogakure had immediately fallen into a deadlock.

Konoha accused Kumogakure of harboring a Konoha rogue ninja and plotting against them!

And Kumogakure, naturally, denied the accusation outright, claiming that they had never even seen Uchiha Shinichi, much less intended to take him in.

However, since Kumogakure had previously dispatched a shinobi force into the Land of Fire to assist Uchiha Shinichi’s defection, their denials sounded utterly hollow. Konoha wasn’t the only one that refused to believe them—even the other major villages, including Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and Kirigakure, didn’t buy their explanation.

This time, Kumogakure had truly gotten itself into a situation where mud had fallen into its pants—even if it wasn’t shit, everyone would think it was.

There were even rumors that the Uchiha clan had secretly sent people to Kumogakure in an attempt to make contact with Uchiha Shinichi after his supposed defection to the village.

As for what happened afterward, no one knew.

Against such a backdrop, the theft of the Dragon Vein within the Land of Wind caused relatively little stir.

The Third Hokage was indeed very concerned about the Dragon Vein being stolen, but trouble within the village kept coming one after another. He simply didn’t have the time or energy to deal with the Dragon Vein matter.

And so, the entire affair was shelved.

When Konoha’s attitude toward the stolen Dragon Vein was relayed back to Sunagakure, the village’s higher-ups immediately became suspicious.

Some among Sunagakure’s leadership even began to suspect that Konoha itself had stolen the Dragon Vein, and that this was precisely why Konoha seemed so indifferent to the matter.

Although the shinobi world had been filled with undercurrents and shifting schemes lately, none of it had much effect on Hyuga Kagami.

He continued running around, steadily working toward his own plans.

...

At the Mishima family estate.

The head of the Mishima family, Mishima Yutaro, respectfully addressed a burly man dressed like a wandering samurai, a bamboo skewer dangling from his mouth.

"Mr. Yagami, the equipment you requested has arrived."

The samurai known as Yagami smiled.

"Then bring it in."

The samurai using the alias "Yagami" was none other than Hyuga Kagami, disguised with the Transformation Technique.

Inspired by the rogue ninja who had previously kidnapped a wealthy merchant’s concubine, Kagami had also turned his attention toward the wealthy merchant families.

After conducting a thorough investigation, he discovered that the Mishima family, which monopolized the textile trade in the Land of Iron, was not only extremely wealthy, but also wasn’t backed by any of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

And so, Kagami set his sights on the Mishima family.

Originally, he had planned to kidnap one or two concubines and exchange them for ransom. But just as he was preparing to make his move, he unexpectedly discovered that one of the Mishima family head’s concubines was actually having an affair with a samurai employed by the family.

Even worse, the adulterous pair were plotting to poison the head of the Mishima family and seize the family fortune for themselves.

After learning this, Kagami immediately changed his plans. Assuming the identity of the wandering samurai "Yagami," he approached the Mishima family head, Mishima Yutaro.

He then exposed the affair and their conspiracy. Right in front of Mishima Yutaro, Kagami effortlessly dealt with the samurai whom Yutaro had hired at great expense.

Having saved his life while also displaying extraordinary strength, Kagami immediately became an honored guest of Mishima Yutaro.

Although the power backing Mishima Yutaro wasn’t one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, his business dealings with the Five Great Nations were extensive. Over the years, he had accumulated a considerable network of connections throughout the various nations.

And so, Kagami began using Mishima Yutaro’s connections to purchase the various pieces of experimental equipment he needed.

If Kagami were to purchase these instruments under his real identity, it wouldn’t take long for interested parties to notice.

The village higher-ups weren’t blind, after all.

They would inevitably begin investigating him.

If he purchased them through the black market instead, the prices would be forty to fifty percent higher than normal. Moreover, a bulk purchase of this scale would easily attract unwanted attention—and perhaps even the greed of others.

Therefore, by using the Mishima family’s connections to purchase the equipment in separate batches and smaller quantities across the various Great Nations, Kagami could not only conceal his tracks, but also reduce the overall cost.

Once the Mishima family’s servants had carefully carried the instruments into the courtyard one by one, Kagami immediately walked over to inspect them.

Mishima Yutaro followed beside him and introduced them with a smile.

"Mr. Yagami, take a look. This filtration centrifuge is Kumogakure’s latest equipment. I had to call in quite a few favors to get my hands on this one!"

"Not bad, not bad!"

Kagami nodded repeatedly at first, but then suddenly frowned.

"Hm? This isn’t brand-new, is it?"

Mishima Yutaro smiled. "Don’t worry. Although it isn’t completely new, I’d say it’s still at least eighty percent as good as new!"

Kagami understood that completely new equipment was extremely difficult for ordinary merchants to obtain, even if they pulled strings through their connections, so he didn’t blame Mishima Yutaro.

After inspecting the rest of the equipment one by one, Kagami said to him with satisfaction,

"I really have to thank you for going through all this trouble for me."

With that, Kagami handed Mishima Yutaro the more than ninety million ryō he had earned recently.

Kagami estimated that the total value of this batch of equipment was at least one hundred million ryō.

If he had tried to purchase all of it through the black market, he wouldn’t even have needed to think about it without at least one hundred and thirty million ryō.

So getting this entire batch of equipment for just over ninety million meant Kagami had gotten an absolute steal.

After dismissing everyone from the courtyard, Kagami carefully sealed each piece of equipment into storage scrolls one by one.

Poof...

Just as Hyuga Kagami finished sealing away all the instruments and equipment, Shozaimaru emerged from a cloud of white smoke.

Shozaimaru stretched out a front paw toward Kagami.

"Meow. One thousand ryō, please!"

Kagami stared at him speechlessly.

"Can’t you just charge Shinichi?"

"Meow. He already paid!"

Kagami froze.

"You charge both sides?"

He had always assumed that only he had to pay. It wasn’t until he asked this time that he discovered Uchiha Shinichi, that idiot, actually had to pay money just to use his own summoning beast.

The orange cat, Shozaimaru, nodded with complete seriousness.

"Meow. That’s how it works."

After handing Shozaimaru another thousand ryō, Kagami took the scroll.

He opened it and read:

"The search for the mysterious man has produced results. The organization has narrowed it down to two individuals."

"Juzo Biwa and I have been assigned to investigate a man named Shinno. Apparently, he’s been acting suspiciously, and he also has ties to a shinobi village."

"Orochimaru and Sasori’s team has been assigned to investigate another man named Hiruko. Apparently, he’s another extremely mysterious individual."