Chapter 202: Uchiha Hideki

Chapter 202: Chapter 202: Uchiha Hideki

Gazing at the mountain before him, Hyuga Kagami fell into thought.

Konoha was far more prosperous than any of the other Great Ninja Villages. As a result, the surrounding region was dotted with villages, marketplaces, and all kinds of trade routes. Finding a secluded location outside Konoha was by no means an easy task.

Kagami had searched through many places before finally stopping in front of this mountain.

The mountain was called Mount Haruki. It lay southwest of Konoha, roughly sixty miles from the village. At the traveling speed of Kagami’s Yin Release true body, making a round trip would only take a short while.

"Setting the prison here should be perfect. Not too close, not too far."

Kagami murmured softly to himself.

This prison would serve not only as a place to confine the Uchiha radicals, but also as Kagami’s laboratory for conducting experiments on living Uchiha clansmen. Naturally, it had to be extremely well hidden.

And since it was a laboratory, anything could happen.

Considering the possibility that one of the imprisoned Uchiha might awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, the prison couldn’t be located too close to the village.

Otherwise, if a Susanoo suddenly erupted from within the prison and caught the attention of Konoha’s shinobi, the entire facility would be exposed immediately.

After pondering for a moment, Kagami slowly formed a series of hand seals and entered Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Flying into the air, he followed the contours of Mount Haruki, activating his Tenseigan as he carefully surveyed the mountain. Eventually, on one side of the mountain’s interior, he discovered a natural cavern.

Landing on the ground, Kagami gently ran a hand across the rock wall while using his brilliant, star-like Tenseigan to examine the cavern hidden within.

After a meticulous inspection, he confirmed that the cavern had formed naturally and lay deep inside the mountain. Aside from connecting to the underground rock strata, there were no other passages leading to the outside world.

In other words, if Kagami wanted to make use of this natural cavern, he would first have to break through the rock wall and manually excavate a passage leading into it.

Originally, Kagami had planned to hollow out a large chamber inside the mountain himself. Now that he had discovered this naturally formed cavern, it saved him quite a bit of trouble.

Without hesitation, he condensed a Truth-Seeking Orb. Clenching his right hand, he shouted, "Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion!"

In an instant, a golden blade of light appeared in his right hand.

Before the unstoppable power of the Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion, even solid rock was as soft as tofu, easily sliced apart.

Swinging the golden blade again and again, Kagami steadily carved his way deeper into the mountain amid clouds of dust and shattered stone.

Before long, he had forcibly created a passage roughly two meters high and over twenty meters long.

Entering the natural cavern, Kagami briefly walked around inside before beginning to plan the layout of the prison in his mind...

...

A few days later, Shisui arrived at Kagami’s home.

After inviting Shisui inside, Kagami asked, "How did the investigation go?"

Shisui hurriedly replied, "I’ve already figured out Hideki’s movements. He’s going to leave the village tomorrow. It’ll be a good opportunity—we can ambush him along the way."

Kagami took out a map and spread it across the table.

"Why is he leaving the village? Which route will he take?"

Shisui quickly pointed out a route on the map.

"This one!"

Following the route Shisui had indicated, Kagami’s gaze soon landed on a set of ruins marked on the map.

"He’s going to the Land of Cats?"

The Land of Cats was a settlement inhabited by a group of ninja cats, located among the ruins of an abandoned town.

These ninja cats specialized in forging ninja tools and crafting all sorts of strange and unusual weapons. Their products were highly favored by the Uchiha clan, which was why ninja cats were also among the most common summons used by the Uchiha.

Uchiha Shinichi’s summon, the orange cat Shozaimaru, was one of the ninja cats from the Land of Cats.

Shisui nodded. "Yeah. I haven’t found out exactly what he’s going there for, but I’m guessing he’s probably ordering shuriken, kunai, and other ninja tools from Granny Cat."

Kagami asked, "What about a witness?"

As far as Kagami was concerned, it didn’t really matter where they made their move.

But since they intended to pin the blame firmly on the Kamigami, they needed to choose a suitable witness at the scene of the attack.

Shisui pointed to another location on the map.

"This is one of our Uchiha clan’s ninja-tool throwing training grounds. It’s right beside the village’s outer wall. I don’t think Hideki will leave through the main gate, and this entire area falls under the jurisdiction of the Uchiha Police Force. So there’s a very good chance he’ll simply cross the wall and leave the village from here."

Kagami asked for confirmation, "So your plan is for us to ambush him near this training ground, then use the Uchiha clansmen training there as witnesses to the incident?"

Shisui nodded.

Kagami stared at the map and mentally went through the entire plan once more. Finding no obvious flaws, he said, "All right. We’ll do it that way!"

The following evening.

Kagami and Shisui had both changed into their Kamigami attire and were lying in wait in the woods near the Uchiha training ground.

Looking at the demon-faced mask Kagami was wearing, Shisui asked curiously, "Senpai, why did you change your mask this time?"

"Ahem..." Kagami coughed lightly twice before smiling. "Remember, right now I’m ’Yama,’ the leader of the Kamigami. I’m not ’Kawa’ anymore."

Shisui was still somewhat puzzled. "Why do you need to play different roles?"

Kagami casually brushed him off. "Since it’s supposed to be an organization, it can’t exactly have only one member, can it? So I have no choice but to take on several roles and pretend to be different people!"

Shisui nodded in understanding. "So that’s how it is."

If an organization always had only a single member appearing in public, sooner or later people would inevitably grow suspicious.

Time slowly passed, and the sun gradually sank toward the horizon.

Seeing the sky growing darker and darker, Kagami turned to Shisui beside him and asked, "Are you sure he’s leaving the village today?"

Even Shisui was beginning to lose confidence.

"According to the information I gathered, he should’ve set out by now. I’m not sure why he still hasn’t appeared."

Kagami glanced around before asking again, "Don’t tell me he left the village from somewhere else?"

Shisui shook his head. "Probably not."

Just as Shisui was about to explain why he was so certain Uchiha Hideki would leave the village from this area, a furtive figure suddenly entered their field of vision.

"He’s here!"

Shisui gave a slight nod.

The figure that had suddenly appeared before them was none other than the target of Kagami and Shisui’s operation—Uchiha Hideki.

At the moment, Uchiha Hideki wasn’t wearing the uniform of the Uchiha Police Force. Instead, he was draped in a gray cloak without a single clan crest or identifying mark.

And judging by the way he was sneaking around, anyone who saw him would immediately think something was suspicious...