Chapter 167: Fate

Chapter 167: Chapter 167: Fate

Hyuga Kagami fully acknowledged Neji’s talent.

Neji was a genius in the truest sense of the word. Through his own training, he had managed to comprehend the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven, a secret Gentle Fist technique exclusive to the Hyuga Main Family. Moreover, despite lacking a suitable Sensei to guide him, his strength surpassed every one of his peers, and he had even completely overwhelmed Hyuga Hinata, the heir of the Main Family.

Having experienced mediocrity himself, Hyuga Kagami understood all too well just how difficult such an achievement was.

Take himself, for example. Even though he possessed the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai, he had barely managed to remain somewhere in the lower-middle ranks among his peers. Whenever he sparred with a genius like Kakashi, even if his Byakugan allowed him to see through Kakashi’s movements, his body simply couldn’t keep up.

More often than not, he would be defeated after only one or two exchanges.

Therefore, in Konoha, anyone capable of completely dominating their peers could practically be considered a genius!

Because of this, Kagami could understand, at least to some extent, the unwillingness in Hyuga Hizashi’s heart.

His own son possessed such extraordinary talent, yet simply because he had been born into the Branch Family, he was destined to have the Caged Bird seal engraved upon him and forever become a bird trapped within a cage.

No one could calmly accept such a fate.

Looking at Hizashi and Neji, Kagami said calmly,

"Fate has always been in your own hands."

Hizashi looked at Kagami in surprise. After a long silence, he finally said in a subdued voice, "As members of the Branch Family, we shouldn’t be discussing things like this. I’ve overstepped."

Kagami smiled faintly and shook his head.

Hizashi then asked, "By the way, you came to see me this time because you needed something, didn’t you?"

After pondering for a moment, Kagami said, "Kumogakure has always coveted Konoha’s Kekkei Genkai. Now that their delegation has entered the village, I think we should strengthen security around the clan compound."

Hizashi immediately laughed. "Kagami, you’re worrying too much. They’re a delegation here to sign a peace treaty. How could they possibly do something like that?"

Kagami knew that this excuse alone would hardly be enough to convince Hizashi, so he continued, "To tell you the truth, I have some doubts about Kumogakure’s sincerity this time. I looked into the members of their delegation. Out of the twelve people, only two are jonin. And the jonin leading the delegation is an obscure ninja named Gloya."

Hizashi also felt that there was something odd about the composition of Kumogakure’s delegation. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "All right. I’ll arrange an additional patrol team to strengthen security around the clan compound."

After chatting for a little while longer, Kagami got up and took his leave.

As he walked home, Kagami contemplated how he should deal with the kidnapping incident that might occur.

At this point, all the signs indicated that there really was something suspicious about this Kumogakure delegation. That meant the kidnapping incident that had occurred in the original timeline was very likely to happen in this timeline as well.

Even without considering the village’s interests, purely from his own standpoint, Kagami had no desire to see Konoha continue its war with Kumogakure.

Once Konoha and Kumogakure entered an all-out war, Kagami’s freedom of movement would be severely restricted. There was also a very real possibility that he would be sent to the front lines to fight Kumogakure’s shinobi.

If that happened, he would have no time to advance his experimental plans.

Moreover, if a full-scale war broke out between Konoha and Kumogakure, the escalating conflict would make the future course of the shinobi world even more unpredictable. If someone were to fan the flames from the shadows on top of that, it could very well trigger the Fourth Shinobi World War.

By then, with all Five Great Shinobi Villages severely weakened, they would be even less capable of dealing with Obito and Akatsuki lurking in the shadows.

"How should I deal with this kidnapping incident?"

Watching the villagers passing by around him, their faces filled with joy as they discussed the peace treaty, Kagami pondered silently.

In Kagami’s view, the kidnapping incident itself wasn’t actually that difficult to deal with. As long as he captured the Kumogakure ninja who tried to abduct Hinata alive, every problem would naturally resolve itself.

The only troublesome part was that he had no idea when Kumogakure would make their move.

......

Inside the residence where Kumogakure’s delegation was staying.

Gloya, the chief of the Kumogakure delegation, stood alone beside the courtyard pond. As he casually scattered food for the koi swimming below, he asked softly,

"Did you get it?"

A faint voice reached his ears.

"Contacting me like this is dangerous!"

Gloya stared at the koi fighting over the food and replied casually,

"Relax. Konoha wouldn’t dare provoke us right now. There won’t be anyone watching nearby."

The faint voice fell silent for a moment before slowly asking,

"You’ve made your decision?"

Gloya’s expression remained calm. "You don’t need to doubt my resolve."

"Then you should know the consequences." After a brief pause, the faint voice continued, "Whether the plan succeeds or fails, there’s no chance you’ll make it back alive."

Gloya replied indifferently, "Give me the item."

The surroundings fell silent for a while.

Then, a scroll quietly dropped into the courtyard.

Gloya stepped forward, picked up the scroll, and opened it to take a look.

At that moment, the faint voice came again.

"Destroy it immediately after you’ve finished reading it. Whatever you do, don’t let it fall into Konoha’s hands. Otherwise, my identity will very likely be exposed."

Gloya closed the scroll, his expression turning solemn. He sighed with emotion, "To think you were even able to obtain intelligence this confidential... I’m starting to wonder who you really are."

The faint voice remained silent for a long time before finally answering,

"I’m nothing more than a ghost that hasn’t completely died yet."

......

At the Uchiha compound.

Uchiha Fugaku stood silently beneath the veranda, gazing into the distance.

Suddenly, a figure landed in front of him and reported,

"Clan Head, all of our men have been stopped by the ANBU!"

Upon hearing this, Fugaku’s expression immediately darkened.

Ever since Kumogakure’s delegation entered Konoha, the Uchiha had been trying to make contact with them. However, responsibility for guarding the Kumogakure delegation had been assigned to the ANBU directly under the Hokage. As a result, every Uchiha clansman sent to secretly approach the delegation had, without exception, been stopped by the ANBU stationed around their residence.

The Uchiha Clan’s reason for contacting Kumogakure was actually quite simple.

They wanted to confirm Uchiha Shinichi’s whereabouts.

As one of the two publicly known wielders of the Mangekyo Sharingan within the Uchiha Clan, Shinichi’s whereabouts had always been one of the clan’s greatest concerns.

In the eyes of the overwhelming majority of Uchiha clansmen, if Shinichi, a wielder of the Mangekyo Sharingan, could return to the clan, then the Uchiha’s chances of seizing control of the village would increase dramatically.

After letting out a soft sigh, Fugaku asked, "Has there been any new information from the black market?"

The Uchiha clansman kneeling on one knee before Fugaku shook his head.

"Ever since we received word that Shinichi had joined an organization of bounty ninjas, there hasn’t been any new information from the black market."

Fugaku instructed, "Keep trying to establish contact with Kumogakure. It’s unlikely that Shinichi would join some bounty-ninja organization. This is very likely a false trail deliberately created by Kumogakure!"

The Uchiha clansman hurriedly replied,

"Yes!"