Chapter 184: The Intruder

Chapter 184: Chapter 184: The Intruder

The sea of flames that suddenly erupted from outside the battlefield immediately threw the situation into chaos.

With the Third Hokage’s wealth of combat experience, there was naturally no way he would try to meet such ferocious flames head-on with ninjutsu. Instead, he lowered his body slightly and planted the Adamantine Staff against the ground.

Using the force to propel himself upward, he soared high into the air, narrowly avoiding the raging flames.

Hyuga Kagami, meanwhile, formed hand seals with both hands and poured a massive amount of chakra into his technique.

Facing the sea of fire sweeping across the battlefield, he unleashed—

"Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique!"

Hissssss—!

The sea of flames and the enormous torrent crashed violently into each other.

With a deafening roar of vaporization that seemed to shake heaven and earth, an endless cloud of steam erupted across the battlefield, instantly blanketing the entire area.

Hidden within the steam, the corner of Kagami’s mouth curled upward.

Thanks to the Byakugan, Kagami had already noticed Shisui the moment he approached the battlefield.

That was precisely why Kagami had been able to unleash his Water Release at just the right moment, using Shisui’s Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame to create this enormous curtain of steam.

The dense mist did nothing to obstruct Kagami’s vision.

With the Byakugan, he crossed the battlefield in just a few flickers and silently appeared beside Shisui.

He lowered his voice.

"Let’s go!"

Staring at the somewhat familiar figure before him, Shisui cautiously tested his suspicion.

"Senpai!?"

"Mm." Kagami nodded, then continued, "Don’t just stand there. If the old man catches us, forget the two of us—even the Hyuga and Uchiha clans will get dragged into this mess!"

Shisui understood the gravity of the situation as well. Without another word, he followed Kagami, and the two disappeared into the night...

At the center of the battlefield.

Surrounded by the thick steam that blanketed the entire area, the Third Hokage’s expression gradually turned grave.

It had already been the dead of night when the battle began, with visibility naturally poor. Now, the surroundings were covered in such dense steam that one couldn’t even see a hand held in front of their face.

Even the Third Hokage had no choice but to proceed cautiously in such an environment.

More importantly, the Fire Release ninjutsu that had suddenly appeared just now proved that the enemy had an accomplice providing support.

A ninja possessing the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai was already troublesome enough. If another enemy joined the battle, the Third knew that recklessly pressing the attack would leave him with no absolute guarantee of his own safety.

And as Konoha’s Hokage—especially at such a critical juncture—he could not allow anything to happen to himself.

Otherwise, internal conflict within the village would become unavoidable.

Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!

Seeing the sudden upheaval on the battlefield, the Konoha ANBU stationed around the perimeter rushed in one after another.

Unable to see through the steam that covered the entire battlefield, the Captain of the Hokage Guard could only shout,

"Lord Hokage! Where are you?"

The seasoned Third immediately called back,

"Everyone, stay exactly where you are! Don’t move around!"

The Konoha ANBU were no rookies either. They knew that recklessly moving around inside the dense steam at a time like this would make them easy targets for an ambush.

So after hearing the Third Hokage’s order, they all remained where they were and went on high alert.

At that moment, the Third cautiously surveyed his surroundings while slowly forming hand seals.

"Wind Style: Air Bullets!"

In an instant, a violent whirlwind erupted outward with the Third Hokage at its center.

Before long, the dense steam covering the battlefield had been scattered in every direction.

As the steam gradually thinned and visibility returned, the Konoha ANBU quickly spotted the Third Hokage and gathered around him.

The Third swept his gaze across the surroundings. Seeing that the enemies were already nowhere to be found, his brows furrowed slightly.

The coordination between the two enemies just now had been exceptionally seamless.

One had unleashed Fire Style: Majestic Destroyer Flame, while the other had followed at precisely the right moment with Water Style: Great Waterfall Technique.

When the Fire Release and Water Release collided, an enormous cloud of steam had instantly engulfed the battlefield, robbing everyone present of their vision.

With Konoha’s forces unwilling to act recklessly under those conditions, the enemies had used the opportunity to break free from the encirclement.

The Third asked in a grave voice,

"How did someone suddenly manage to break in?"

The two ANBU who had been caught in Shisui’s genjutsu had already been freed from it by their comrades.

Hearing the Third Hokage’s question, the two immediately stepped forward and reported,

"We were attacked by someone wearing an ANBU mask. He used genjutsu to take control of us."

"Genjutsu!?"

At those words, the Third Hokage’s brows furrowed even deeper.

Among the crowd, Kakashi also fell into thought.

Nearly every ANBU present here was an elite. Even the weakest among them was at least Special Jōnin level.

Yet the intruder had subdued two ANBU with genjutsu in an instant.

That made it impossible for Kakashi not to think of the Uchiha clan, renowned for their mastery of genjutsu.

The Captain of the Hokage Guard leaned close to the Third Hokage and whispered,

"Lord Hokage, perhaps it was an Uchiha!"

The Third snapped,

"Don’t make baseless assumptions without evidence!"

Right now, they didn’t even know whether the intruder truly belonged to the Uchiha clan.

And even if the intruder really was an Uchiha, this was absolutely not something they could openly point out in front of the Kumo jōnin.

The Captain of the Hokage Guard hurriedly replied,

"My apologies. I spoke out of turn."

The Third swept his gaze across everyone once more before his eyes landed on Kakashi.

Suppressing his anger, he asked,

"Where are Shisui and Kagami? Wasn’t Team 11 supposed to be protecting the Kumo delegation tonight?"

It was precisely because they hadn’t had a Hyuga’s Byakugan present that the enemy’s accomplice had been able to approach the battlefield so easily.

Because of that, the Third was somewhat furious with Team 11.

Kakashi could only bite the bullet and explain,

"Our team split into two groups. Kagami’s group may have been held up by something else."

The Third immediately ordered,

"Contact them at once. We need the Byakugan!"

Just then, an ANBU leaned toward the Third Hokage and whispered,

"Lord Hokage, the Uchiha Clan Head is approaching with the Military Police Force!"

The Third glanced in the direction of the village, then flicked his eyes toward the Kumo jōnin standing nearby.

His heart was filled with doubts.

Before long, Uchiha Fugaku arrived at the battlefield leading a fully armed contingent of the Konoha Military Police Force.

When the Uchiha elites saw that even with the Third Hokage personally taking action, Konoha had still failed to capture a mere bounty hunter, undisguised contempt appeared on their faces.

Fugaku approached the Third with a stern expression. After giving a respectful salute, he said,

"Lord Hokage, we heard that the Kumo delegation was attacked, so we came to provide support!"

The Third’s gaze swept across the Uchiha elites one by one before he smiled and said,

"Good!"

An ANBU stepped forward and briefly explained the situation regarding the enemies to Fugaku.

"One Ice Release Kekkei Genkai user... and one expert in genjutsu and Fire Release?"

When he heard about the Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, Fugaku showed none of the surprise that the other ninja had.

In the eyes of the Uchiha clan, even a ninja possessing Ice Release was still nothing more than an ordinary ninja, hardly someone worth taking too seriously.

But when the ANBU mentioned an expert in both genjutsu and Fire Release, Fugaku’s expression became somewhat unnatural.

Everyone knew that the Uchiha clan excelled above all else in genjutsu and Fire Release.

And recently, more and more rumors had begun circulating that Uchiha Shinichi had joined an organization of bounty hunters.

With all of that put together, Fugaku couldn’t help but wonder whether the ninja skilled in both genjutsu and Fire Release...

Could actually be Uchiha Shinichi—the very man he had been searching for all this time...