Chapter 308: Cover-Up

Chapter 308: Chapter 308: Cover-Up

Since his soul was returning to his original body, his instincts naturally guided him. Combined with the fact that he no longer needed to constantly determine his direction, his speed was even faster than before.

By the time dawn was just beginning to break, Hyuga Kagami’s spirit had already raced all the way back to the Land of Demons and returned to his Yin Release original body.

"Ah..."

Crawling out of the hollow tree, Kagami stretched lazily.

The sealing formulas surrounding the tree hollow were completely intact. This meant that during the time Kagami’s spirit had been away, neither people nor animals had approached the tree.

Seeing this, Kagami breathed a sigh of relief.

Just then, the giant wild boar trotted over and began circling Kagami ingratiatingly.

Kagami jumped onto the boar’s back, patted it on the head, and laughed. "Not bad. You’ve earned yourself some credit this time!"

Although this wild boar hadn’t been with Kagami for very long, it always managed to come in handy at critical moments.

After releasing the Summoning Technique and sending the giant wild boar back, Kagami wasted no time. He immediately entered Tenseigan Chakra Mode and flew toward Konoha.

Several days later, Kagami returned to the village.

Since he had no idea what exactly had happened to Team 11, nor whether the Shadow Clone Shisui had used to cover for him had been exposed, Kagami didn’t openly stroll back into the village.

Instead, he quietly slipped back into his home first.

The courtyard gate at home, which Shinno had previously kicked clean off its hinges, had already been repaired. Rei, Shion, and Ashiho were sitting together around the table, eating lunch.

Seeing Kagami return, Rei hurried over to greet him.

"Kagami, you’re finally back!"

Shion also rushed over, looking at Kagami with anticipation written all over her face.

Kagami removed the gourd artifact from his waist and handed it to Shion, then had her and Ashiho take it upstairs to one of the rooms.

The Priestess’s spirit was currently residing within the gourd artifact, but there was no telling how long she would be able to remain there.

Because of that, Kagami didn’t waste any time. He wanted to give mother and daughter as much time as possible for their final meeting, so they could say everything they still wanted to say—everything they had never gotten the chance to say before.

After Shion and Ashiho went upstairs, Kagami finally turned to Rei and asked, "What exactly happened in the village these past few days? Tell me everything, from beginning to end, and don’t leave out any details!"

Rei quickly nodded and recounted everything that had happened over the past several days.

After the night of chaos, the village mobilized more than a thousand shinobi and searched every surrounding area, yet they still couldn’t find Naruto.

Just when the Third Hokage had begun to believe that Naruto had gone missing, everyone discovered that Naruto had somehow returned home without anyone noticing. He was lying in bed, sleeping soundly as though absolutely nothing had happened.

Then, yesterday, Team 11—who had been trying to evade the encirclement of Danzo’s Root forces and make their way back to the village—finally encountered Danzo.

A fierce battle erupted between the two sides. Outnumbered, Kakashi and Guy were overwhelmed, and both suffered fairly serious injuries. Fortunately, Council Elder Homura Mitokado, who had been dispatched to reinforce Team 11, arrived in time and rescued Kakashi and the others from Danzo.

Because of this incident, the Uchiha nearly had a complete falling-out with Danzo, and even the Third Hokage gave Danzo a severe reprimand.

"Danzo really couldn’t hold himself back from making a move after all!"

Kagami sighed softly. Then his expression suddenly changed as a thought flashed through his mind.

"Wait, this is bad! Shisui was attacked. Wouldn’t that mean the cover story he created for me has been exposed?"

His thoughts racing, Kagami immediately asked Rei, "Has anyone come asking you about my whereabouts?"

Rei shook her head.

"No."

Kagami continued, "Then did the village send anyone out to search for me?"

"I don’t think so."

Only then did Kagami finally relax.

"That’s good!"

The three members of Team 11 had encountered Danzo yesterday and were subsequently rescued by Council Elder Homura Mitokado. In other words, during the several days before that, aside from the other three members of Team 11, no one actually knew whether Kagami had been with the team or not.

And judging by the current situation, his teammates apparently hadn’t told anyone that Kagami had been absent.

That meant as long as Kagami came up with a plausible excuse, he could openly enter and leave the village without raising suspicion.

Of course, Rei was only a chūnin, so the information available to her was limited. To make absolutely sure, Kagami contacted Shisui through a ninja crow.

From Shisui, he confirmed that Team 11 hadn’t exposed Kagami’s absence. Instead, they had reported to the Third Hokage that Kagami had become separated from them during the chaos.

When operating as a four-man squad, it was common for part of the team to split off to scout and gather intelligence. As a result, whenever an emergency occurred, team members becoming separated was hardly unusual.

"These guys..."

Kagami smiled faintly.

Being covered for by his comrades like this... really did warm his heart.

After getting a general grasp of the situation, Kagami deliberately slipped out of the village and made a wide detour. Then, after making himself look thoroughly travel-worn, he returned through the main gate.

As soon as he entered, he was immediately summoned to the Hokage’s Office.

As usual, the Third Hokage asked him a few questions. However, Kagami could tell that the Third was somewhat distracted.

Clearly, everything that had happened over the past few days had piled so much pressure onto him that he could barely catch his breath.

After leaving the Hokage Building, Kagami sighed inwardly.

"Being Hokage really isn’t easy!"

Afterward, Kagami headed to the Uchiha clan compound, where he met Shisui, who was still recovering from his injuries.

The moment Shisui saw Kagami, he said, "Senpai, just as you predicted, Lord Danzo really was after my Mangekyō Sharingan. I let my guard down..."

Kagami replied, "Fortunately, Kakashi and Guy were there with you at the time!"

Shisui nodded. "Yeah. If it hadn’t been for those two senpais, Lord Danzo probably would’ve succeeded!"

...

Meanwhile, inside the Uchiha main residence.

"Clan Head, can’t you even trust us? Why didn’t you tell us that the Police Force had a secret squad?"

"Exactly! The secret force you’ve been cultivating in private is still made up of members of our Uchiha clan, isn’t it? Why keep it hidden from us?"

"Just who is that squad captain? Even now, are you still planning to keep it a secret from us?"

One after another, the Uchiha elites voiced their complaints.

The feeling of being distrusted irritated them immensely.

Fugaku stood with his arms crossed over his chest, his expression dark as he remained completely silent.

He had originally intended to investigate the matter privately, but far too many Konoha shinobi had witnessed Shinno in his fully transformed Tailed Beast state that night.

Naturally, everyone had become extremely curious about the mysterious Uchiha clansman who had defeated Shinno one-on-one.

As the story spread from person to person, no one knew exactly how, but it somehow evolved into a rumor that the Uchiha had secretly maintained an elite squad whose existence even the Third Hokage knew nothing about—and that the squad captain was none other than the Uchiha who had defeated Shinno one-on-one.

Even many of Konoha’s jōnin came to believe the rumor was true.

Naturally, the entire Uchiha clan erupted into an uproar.

After finally managing to send the gathered clansmen away, Fugaku spotted Itachi walking past along the corridor and called out to him.

For some reason, Fugaku couldn’t shake the feeling that Itachi had changed ever since that night, when Sasuke had been abducted by members of the Akatsuki and Itachi had brought him back.

It was a change in his entire bearing—something subtle and intangible that Fugaku couldn’t quite put into words...