Chapter 280: Collusion and Apology

Chapter 280: Chapter 280: Collusion and Apology

Pushing his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, Kabuto Yakushi smiled faintly, a crafty glint flickering in his eyes. "Senpai, Lord Orochimaru asked me to pass along a message. You aren’t his only source of intelligence."

Hyuga Kagami thought it over for a moment before asking, "You’re Kabuto Yakushi, aren’t you?"

Kabuto looked slightly surprised, but quickly regained his composure. "I never expected Senpai to know who I am. I’m truly flattered!"

Ignoring Kabuto’s teasing tone, Kagami continued on his own, "The fact that you dare walk openly around the village means Orochimaru and Danzo have started working together again. In that case, Orochimaru’s other source of intelligence must be Danzo’s Root, right?"

This time, Kabuto lost his previous composure. With an awkward expression, he said, "As expected of Senpai..."

Kagami replied, "It’s not difficult to figure out."

Danzo knew of Kabuto’s existence. In fact, he had personally orchestrated an operation to eliminate Kabuto, an exceptionally talented spy. Therefore, there was only one explanation for why Kabuto could now openly show his face in Konoha—Orochimaru and Danzo had joined forces once again.

Otherwise, the moment Kabuto appeared in Konoha, he would inevitably be hunted down by Danzo’s Root.

Kagami could understand why Orochimaru had approached Danzo. After all, Orochimaru had already become utterly obsessed with the Sharingan.

What Kagami couldn’t understand was why Danzo—who had once ruthlessly purged Orochimaru’s subordinates—would choose to cooperate with Orochimaru again.

Of course, if Kagami had known about how Danzo had been humiliated at the Five Kage Summit, he might have been able to guess, at least to some extent, why Danzo had chosen to cooperate with Orochimaru again.

Kabuto composed himself and smiled. "It’s just as well that you know. As an ANBU, you should understand Root’s influence within Konoha even better than I do. With Root’s help, the Uchiha Clan has no secrets before Lord Orochimaru!"

"Is that so? Then we’ll just have to wait and see!"

Kagami was completely unfazed.

In the entire shinobi world, there wasn’t a second person besides him who knew the truth about "Uchiha En." So he wasn’t worried that Orochimaru would break off their arrangement.

Kabuto narrowed his eyes.

From Orochimaru, Kabuto already knew that Kagami wasn’t someone who could easily be manipulated. But after meeting him in person, he realized that Kagami was even more difficult to deal with than he had imagined.

After pondering for a moment, Kabuto suddenly smiled. "Oh, right. There’s something I forgot to tell you, Senpai. I’ve already sent Haku back to Lord Orochimaru."

Kagami’s gaze sharpened, and a faint trace of killing intent emanated from his body.

This news had indeed caught Kagami off guard.

However, when he remembered that the temporary residence where he had placed Haku was none other than the laboratory Orochimaru had left behind for him, it wasn’t particularly surprising that Kabuto had found Haku and taken him away.

Kagami cursed inwardly, "I was careless!"

He had been so preoccupied with his own experiments lately that he had neglected Haku. He had assumed that as long as Haku remained temporarily in his hands, there would be nothing to worry about.

He never expected Orochimaru to send Kabuto to inspect that old laboratory.

Putting aside his frustration, Kagami carefully recalled the process of learning Ice Release from Haku.

When he had been learning Ice Release from Haku, Kagami had never successfully performed Ice Release in front of him, so there was no need to worry too much about that for the time being.

However, Kagami had once used the Tenseigan secret technique, "Soul Descent," to temporarily descend into Haku’s body.

Logically speaking, given Haku’s age and limited experience, he probably hadn’t understood what exactly had happened at the time. Even so, it remained a potential loose end that Kagami couldn’t afford to ignore.

Kabuto seemed somewhat uncomfortable with the killing intent emanating from Kagami. Taking an inconspicuous step backward, he smiled. "If Senpai can uncover the information Lord Orochimaru needs, Lord Orochimaru wouldn’t mind exchanging his techniques for it. But I should remind you, Senpai—you’d better move quickly. If Lord Danzo gets there first, I’m afraid you won’t be able to obtain the techniques you want from Lord Orochimaru."

With that, Kabuto didn’t linger and disappeared into the shadows.

Compared to his composed arrival, however, his departure now seemed somewhat hurried.

Watching Kabuto leave, Kagami thought to himself, "Danzo and Orochimaru have actually joined forces again. Just what are those two bastards planning?"

Unable to come up with an answer, Kagami could only shake his head and head home.

As soon as Kagami returned, Rei came out to greet him. "Kagami, we have a guest."

"A guest?"

Rei lowered her voice. "Someone from the Uchiha Clan. His name is Uchiha Itachi. He arrived around dusk and has been waiting for you ever since."

Kagami nodded, then walked into the house.

In the living room, Itachi sat stiffly, his entire demeanor meticulous and proper.

Kagami greeted him warmly. "Itachi, this is your first time visiting my home, isn’t it?"

Seeing that Kagami had returned, Itachi hurriedly stood up and bowed. "Senpai, I heard about what happened today. Sasuke was far too rude. I came to apologize to you on his behalf!"

Kagami glanced at Itachi, momentarily speechless. "You came all the way to my house just for that?"

Itachi nodded. "Yes. If necessary, I can also go to the Hyuga Main House and apologize to Lady Hinata."

Kagami asked, "Did Shisui tell you?"

Shaking his head, Itachi explained, "Sasuke told me after he came home. I’ve already reprimanded him. I hope you can forgive his rudeness."

In Itachi’s eyes, Hinata was the eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan Head. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, there was a very real possibility that she would become the next head of the Hyuga Clan. Therefore, Sasuke’s arrogance and rudeness toward Hinata today could very well affect the relationship between the two clans.

With the Uchiha currently beset by troubles both inside and outside the clan, Itachi naturally didn’t want something like this to cause the Uchiha Clan to become enemies with the Hyuga Clan, another prestigious clan renowned for its dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai.

Kagami said, "Relax. Why would I care about something so trivial? You’re making far too big a deal out of it."

Itachi breathed a sigh of relief. "Then I’m relieved!"

After the two chatted for a while, Itachi spoke again. "Senpai, I received an invitation to join the ANBU. Do you think I should accept it?"

Kagami smiled. "Shouldn’t you be asking someone else that?"

Itachi answered earnestly, "I already asked Brother Shisui, but he told me to come and ask for your opinion, Senpai!"

Kagami seriously considered it for a moment before saying, "Personally, I wouldn’t recommend joining the ANBU. You’re the eldest son of the Uchiha Clan Head, so your position is even more sensitive than Shisui’s. The moment you join the ANBU, you’ll be dragged into the vortex between the village and the clan. When that happens, you’ll inevitably be caught between both sides. It’ll be an extremely difficult position to be in."

Itachi still had some doubts. "But Lord Hokage recruiting me into the ANBU shows that he trusts me. If I refuse Lord Hokage’s goodwill, wouldn’t that..."

Kagami interrupted him directly. "Whether it’s actually Lord Hokage who wants to recruit you, or Danzo who wants to recruit you, is still very hard to say!"