Chapter 175: The Figure Beneath the Moonlight

Chapter 175: Chapter 175: The Figure Beneath the Moonlight

In the shinobi world, there was never any shortage of people who, after gaining the slightest bit of power, could no longer restrain themselves and eagerly jumped out to try and unify the entire shinobi world.

Examples included Seimei, the founder of the Land of Artisans; Hiruko, who had fused multiple Kekkei Genkai into himself; and Yomi, the leader of the Yomi Cult who worshipped a demon from another realm.

Yet without exception, every last one of them had ultimately become little more than a clown.

The shinobi world had never been as simple as it appeared on the surface!

After the First Hokage’s death, Uchiha Madara was practically invincible. Yet despite his naturally arrogant disposition, he still chose to lie dormant in a dark cave for decades. Until the day he died, he never showed himself in the shinobi world again.

Instead, he entrusted his hopes to Black Zetsu and Obito, waiting for the day when he could descend upon the shinobi world once more in his prime.

Nagato had fully awakened the Rinnegan many years ago, and the Six Paths of Pain were likewise nearly invincible.

Yet he still confined himself to the small corner of the world that was Amegakure. In the original timeline, it wasn’t until more than a decade later that he finally chose to personally attack Konoha.

On the moon, the descendants of the Otsutsuki possessed a terrifying weapon like the Giant Tenseigan. With its power, they could practically slaughter anyone who stood in their way, whether man or god.

Yet even they obediently remained on the moon, silently watching the shinobi world from afar.

Each of the Three Great Sage Regions possessed strength no weaker than one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

And yet all three remained secluded within their respective sacred lands, rarely setting foot in the shinobi world.

Even the Evil God who had granted Hidan his immortality was no ordinary existence. Through sacrificial curses alone, it could easily curse to death even the Two-Tails’ jinchuriki, who possessed an enormous amount of chakra.

Yet despite possessing such terrifying power, it still merely spread its faith quietly throughout the shinobi world.

So why had so many powerful beings chosen to remain hidden, patiently waiting for the right opportunity?

That was because they all understood one thing—their strength had not yet reached the point where they could sweep aside everything in their path.

Once they made their move, the consequences would be impossible to predict. So until they possessed absolute confidence in victory, lying low was the safest choice.

Hyuga Kagami was in exactly the same situation.

Putting aside the Sage of Six Paths, who still existed in the shinobi world in spiritual form, and not even counting the Otsutsuki descendants watching covetously from the moon, Nagato alone was someone Kagami had no absolute confidence in defeating.

One had to remember that after summoning the two Great Toad Sages and entering Sage Mode, Jiraiya’s strength had already surpassed that of an ordinary Kage-level shinobi.

Yet even so, he had been easily killed by the Six Paths of Pain.

That’s right.

Judging purely by the outcome, Jiraiya had been easily killed!

Jiraiya hadn’t known the secrets behind the Six Paths of Pain, but Nagato likewise hadn’t known how powerful Jiraiya would become in Sage Mode. In terms of intelligence, neither side had possessed an advantage over the other.

And the result?

Jiraiya died in battle, while the Six Paths of Pain suffered only minor losses.

If Nagato had opened the battle by immediately using a powerful sealing technique like Chibaku Tensei, the very technique that had once been used to create the moon, or simply summoned the Gedo Statue, Jiraiya wouldn’t even have had the opportunity to enter Sage Mode.

Kagami knew that even he couldn’t say with absolute confidence that he could break free from a Chibaku Tensei unleashed by Nagato at full power.

During the battle in Konoha, the reason the rampaging Naruto had managed to break free from Chibaku Tensei wasn’t merely because of his own incomparably vast reserves of chakra.

To a large extent, it was also because Nagato had already expended an enormous amount of chakra after single-handedly taking on Konoha.

And even if Kagami could break free from Nagato’s Chibaku Tensei, by then he would inevitably have consumed a tremendous amount of chakra himself.

If Obito and Zetsu were to ambush him afterward, Kagami would undoubtedly be the one to lose.

In the shinobi world, you could never afford to be the one who stuck his neck out first.

The result of being the first one to stick your neck out was simple—you’d be studied, analyzed, and specifically countered!

Pulling his thoughts back to the present, Hyuga Kagami said to Shisui, "Leave the rest to me."

Shisui hurriedly replied, "Senpai, I know Kumo is up to no good. So no matter what you do with this corpse, I won’t tell anyone!"

Shaking his head, Kagami explained, "It’s not that I don’t trust you. The two of us are the ANBU assigned to tonight’s mission. We can’t both disappear at the same time, so you need to return to the Kumo delegation’s residence and cover for me!"

Realizing that Kagami was right, Shisui immediately performed the Shadow Clone Technique.

His shadow clone then used the Transformation Technique, taking on Kagami’s appearance.

Kagami patted Shisui on the shoulder. "Go. You don’t need to worry about me."

"Senpai, please be careful!"

Shisui nodded, then hurried back toward the Kumo delegation’s residence with the shadow clone disguised as Kagami.

After sending Shisui away, Kagami pondered for a moment before an idea came to him.

......

The Kumo jonin was currently leading the members of his delegation, along with Konoha’s ANBU, as they raced toward the outskirts of the village.

The ANBU captain asked suspiciously, "Are you sure we’re heading in the right direction?"

The Kumo jonin said nothing. With a grim expression, he simply nodded.

The current situation had completely deviated from their original plan, catching him somewhat off guard.

Fortunately, a sensory formula had been engraved onto Gloya’s body, so there was no need to worry about losing track of him.

The ANBU captain frowned. "There’s a training ground up ahead, and beyond it is the village’s outer wall. If the direction you’re sensing is correct, then whoever abducted Gloya-san is probably trying to escape the village."

The Kumo jonin snorted coldly. "Hmph! The chief of our delegation was attacked inside your Konoha. Konoha cannot escape responsibility for this!"

The ANBU captain didn’t argue. Instead, he signaled to his comrades to immediately report the situation to the Third Hokage.

Judging from the situation so far, he could already conclude that someone had indeed attacked the Kumo chief envoy. However, as for who the attacker was or what their objective might be, there was no way to tell for the moment.

At the ANBU captain’s signal, two ANBU immediately broke away from the group and sped toward the Hokage Building.

Before long, the group arrived at the secluded training ground near the outskirts of the village.

The training ground was nestled within a small forest and surrounded by dense vegetation. It wasn’t until everyone passed through the trees around its perimeter that they noticed a solitary figure standing silently in the middle of the training ground.

The figure’s entire body was concealed beneath a black cloak trimmed with gold, while a mask patterned with rippling water covered his face.

Bathed in the cold moonlight, the figure appeared incomparably mysterious.

And lying at the mysterious figure’s feet was a corpse dressed entirely in black.

The group immediately came to a halt, subtly spreading out to surround the suspicious figure standing at the center of the training ground.

The Kumo jonin took a closer look.

The moment he recognized the corpse lying at the mysterious figure’s feet as the missing Gloya, his heart sank.

Meanwhile, the ANBU captain carefully sized up the mysterious figure while discreetly signaling to his subordinates, silently arranging a strategy to surround and attack him.

At that moment, the mysterious figure took out a scroll.

Right in front of everyone, he sealed Gloya’s corpse into the scroll, then chuckled softly.

"Heh. A guy with a fifty-million-ryō bounty... I didn’t expect him to be this weak."

As the chief of the Kumo delegation, Gloya indeed had a bounty on the black market—and it was an enormous bounty of fifty million ryō.

There was hardly any need to guess who had posted it.

It was undoubtedly Iwagakure.

After all, the party least willing to see Konoha and Kumo sign a peace agreement was Iwa, which was hoping to sit back and watch the two sides tear each other apart.

If a mere fifty million ryō could buy the head of the Kumo delegation’s chief and sabotage the peace agreement between Konoha and Kumo, then for Iwagakure, this deal would undoubtedly be an absolute bargain...