Chapter 145: The Rampaging Ninja Boar

Chapter 145: Chapter 145: The Rampaging Ninja Boar

Hyuga Kagami walked leisurely through the forest, a small and skinny tagalong trailing behind him.

Haku’s bright eyes would occasionally drift toward Kagami’s back. Several times, he looked as though he wanted to say something but stopped himself. Finally mustering up his courage, he asked quietly, "Lord Kagami, where are you taking me?"

At the moment, Kagami’s mind was completely occupied with planning the next stage of his experiments, so he casually replied, "Konoha."

Haku lowered his head and murmured, "Konoha..."

Haku had absolutely no concept of what Konoha was like. He couldn’t even begin to imagine what kind of place it might be, so he couldn’t help feeling somewhat uneasy.

Noticing Haku’s anxiety, Kagami smiled. "Don’t be afraid. You won’t be in any danger."

Haku timidly asked, "I... will I still be able to see Jugo and the others again?"

Although they hadn’t known each other for very long, Haku had already become friends with Jugo and Kimimaro, who were around his age. Being suddenly separated from the friends he had grown familiar with left him feeling lost and unsure of himself.

Kagami gently rubbed Haku’s head, then turned his gaze toward the distance. Slightly lost in thought, he said, "If everything goes smoothly, perhaps you’ll be able to see them again in a few months."

Kagami didn’t waste much time on the road before bringing Haku back to the village. However, instead of taking Haku home, he settled him in the secret laboratory Orochimaru had previously left to him.

The equipment in that secret laboratory had already been transferred to Kagami’s own laboratory, so with a few minor modifications, the place was easily converted into an underground residence.

As a shinobi village, Konoha conducted extremely strict checks on outsiders entering the village.

Even children were no exception.

And Haku wasn’t an ordinary child—he possessed the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai. If Kagami simply brought him home and someone discovered him, it would inevitably cause trouble.

After settling Haku in, Kagami first returned home and dispelled the shadow clone he had left behind.

Through the memories transmitted back by the shadow clone, Kagami learned that nothing major had happened in the village during his absence. However, there were rumors that the peace negotiations with Kumogakure, which had been deadlocked for more than half a year, had recently begun to show signs of progress.

In addition, the Uchiha Clan seemed to be secretly searching for Uchiha Shinichi’s whereabouts. As for exactly what they intended to accomplish by finding him, there was currently no clear answer among the rumors circulating through the village.

Poof...

At that moment, a cloud of white smoke suddenly erupted inside the room.

As the smoke dispersed, the orange-furred Shozaimaru appeared before Kagami.

Shozaimaru leisurely licked one of his paws and said, "Meow. One thousand ryō, please!"

Kagami immediately paid the fee and took the scroll.

For some reason, Uchiha Shinichi hadn’t sent him any messages lately, which had left Kagami vaguely uneasy. Now that a message had finally arrived, he breathed a small sigh of relief.

Opening the scroll, line after line of writing entered his view.

"That guy Shinno sure knows how to hide. It took me more than a whole month just to track him down!"

"Do you know what his true identity is? Heh, you probably won’t believe me even if I tell you. That guy is actually the leader of the remnants of the Land of Sky! Bet you didn’t see that coming!"

"I interrogated him with genjutsu and dug out a secret. That bastard actually wants to create an artificial tailed beast and then launch a counterattack against Konoha!"

"Hahaha, what a joke! Who the hell would go out of their way to make an artificial tailed beast?!"

As Kagami rolled up the scroll, he drew in a slow breath and silently told himself, "Don’t get angry. Don’t get angry. This guy’s a lunatic. There’s no point stooping to his level!"

Every message Uchiha Shinichi sent made him sound like an absolute chatterbox, but Shinichi wasn’t actually like that in person.

The reason he rambled on about all sorts of nonsense whenever he sent Kagami a message wasn’t merely to pass along information about the Akatsuki. It was also his way of venting all the emotions he had been forced to suppress.

Within the Akatsuki, Shinichi had to maintain his disguise at every moment. He couldn’t speak honestly with anyone.

Because of that, sending messages to Kagami had ironically become the only outlet where he could freely say whatever was on his mind.

After taking care of these miscellaneous matters, Kagami headed to his secret laboratory.

The moment he stepped inside, the Third Kazekage human puppet came forward to greet him.

"Master!"

Ever since the laboratory had been completed, Kagami had kept the Third Kazekage human puppet stationed there, guarding the place twenty-four hours a day.

As a result, even when Kagami wasn’t in the village, the laboratory’s security was still guaranteed.

......

Outside the Forest of Death.

Konoha jonin Minazuki addressed the three people beside him, "Listen carefully, you three. This mission isn’t as simple as it sounds. If you’re careless, you could actually lose your lives."

Tenma rested both hands behind his head, a blade of grass dangling from his mouth as he muttered, "What’s the big deal? We’re just driving away some wild boar."

Beside him, Shinko, whose hair was tied into two braids, chimed in, "Minazuki-sensei, aren’t you looking down on us a little too much? It’s just one wild boar. What, is it actually going to kill us?"

Itachi said nothing. Instead, he carefully studied the map of the Forest of Death.

Minazuki pressed a hand to his forehead and said with a headache, "Haven’t I already told you? That thing isn’t an ordinary wild boar. It’s a ninja boar! A ninja boar!"

When Minazuki had first read the mission briefing, he hadn’t paid much attention to it either.

He had assumed it was merely a simple mission meant to improve the teamwork between his squad members. But after asking around for more information, he discovered that the mission was anything but simple.

No one knew exactly when it had appeared, but an extraordinarily powerful wild boar had taken up residence within the Forest of Death.

It had quickly become one of the forest’s undisputed overlords, severely disrupting the ecological balance within the Forest of Death.

The Forest of Death was no ordinary forest. It was a specially maintained training ground that Konoha had designed to simulate the ecology and dangers of the wilderness.

If that wild boar was allowed to continue rampaging unchecked, it wouldn’t be long before the Forest of Death was no longer suitable as a practical combat training ground for genin.

Seeing that Tenma and Shinko still didn’t seem to take the matter seriously, Minazuki helplessly shook his head.

"Move out!"

In his opinion, while this mission might be somewhat troublesome, he was still a jonin. No matter how formidable that ninja boar might be, nothing serious should happen to his squad.

Not to mention, the team also had an outstanding young ninja like Itachi.

......

Inside the secret laboratory.

Kagami stared intently at the two large nutrient tanks before silently letting out a sigh.

Inside each of the two tanks floated a deformed clone submerged in nutrient solution.

These two clones were the result of an experiment Kagami had attempted before leaving to meet Orochimaru.

However, just from their twisted and malformed appearances, it was obvious that both clones had been complete failures.

Kagami quickly composed himself and took out his experimental records, carefully going through them line by line.

Failure itself wasn’t frightening.

What was truly frightening was failing to learn anything from it.

Therefore, Kagami had to figure out exactly where this attempt had gone wrong.

Just then, the laboratory trembled slightly.

Although the vibration was extremely faint, Kagami still noticed it immediately.

His brows furrowed as he turned toward the source of the disturbance and activated his Byakugan...