Chapter 332: A New Mission

Chapter 332: Chapter 332: A New Mission

As soon as Team 11’s half-month vacation ended, the Third Hokage assigned them a new mission: investigate Hiruko’s whereabouts.

In private, the Third also dropped a few hints to Captain Kakashi, instructing him to look into the forbidden technique Hiruko had developed—the technique capable of stealing the Kekkei Genkai of other shinobi.

Clearly, the village was also very interested in Hiruko’s Chimera Technique.

In fact, it wasn’t just Konoha.

According to secret intelligence sent back by spies planted in the other major shinobi villages, aside from Kirigakure, which had shown little movement, Kumogakure, Iwagakure, Sunagakure, and even weaker minor villages such as Kusagakure and Takigakure had all launched investigations into Hiruko’s Chimera Technique.

Hyuga Kagami even suspected that many shinobi villages had already begun making contact with the Akatsuki behind the scenes.

After all, the reason the great shinobi clans of the ninja world were called great clans, and why they enjoyed privileges ordinary civilians could never hope to attain, was precisely because of the Kekkei Genkai rooted in their bloodlines.

And now, a forbidden technique had appeared in the ninja world that could steal another person’s Kekkei Genkai—and not merely one, but multiple Kekkei Genkai at once. Worse still, its creator, Hiruko, had personally proven that the technique was real and effective.

The impact of this revelation on the ninja world was nothing short of a bombshell.

No one could remain indifferent to it, not even the great shinobi clans that possessed Kekkei Genkai of their own.

Take the Hyuga Clan, for example.

Despite the enormous crisis they had just suffered—the murder of a Main Family elder, the theft of his Byakugan, and an intruder breaking into the secret vault within the clan’s forbidden grounds—the Hyuga Clan had still convened several clan meetings specifically to discuss the impact the Chimera Technique could have on the Hyuga Clan, as well as how the clan should respond to the potential threat it posed.

Because no one could say for certain whether the Caged Bird Curse Seal could withstand the devouring power of the Chimera Technique and protect the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai of the Hyuga Clan from being stolen.

After all, Hiruko had already used the Chimera Technique to steal the Sharingan, another dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai.

As for the investigation into the intruder who had murdered the Main Family elder and broken into the secret vault within the forbidden grounds, the Hyuga Clan had reached a complete dead end. An entire month had passed without the slightest bit of progress.

According to the Main Family’s investigation, every Hyuga clansman who had been within the clan compound at the time either lacked a motive, lacked the strength to assassinate a Main Family elder, or had an alibi.

In short, after an entire month of investigation, the Main Family had not even managed to identify a single suspect.

They had absolutely no leads.

The only clues they did have all pointed toward Orochimaru, who had long since defected from the village.

But when it came to Orochimaru—one of the legendary Sannin, whose strength had long since reached Kage-level—the Main Family had no way to investigate him even if they wanted to.

Because, to their dismay, the Main Family discovered that even Hiashi, the head of the Hyuga Clan, was no match for Orochimaru.

Despite being one of Konoha’s foremost great shinobi clans, the Hyuga Clan could not produce a single clansman strong enough to hunt down Orochimaru.

And just as Hizashi had predicted, although some members of the Main Family proposed conducting a thorough investigation into Hyuga Kagami due to his connection with Orochimaru, Hiashi rejected the proposal on the grounds that Kagami was an ANBU directly under the Hokage.

Faced with Hiashi’s rejection, the Main Family surprisingly did not insist.

Because after conducting a preliminary investigation into Hyuga Kagami’s personal connections, the Main Family discovered that not only was he an ANBU directly under the Hokage, but he was also extremely close friends with Uchiha Shisui—the only publicly known Mangekyō Sharingan wielder remaining within the Uchiha Clan.

(Uchiha Shinichi had defected, while Fugaku and Itachi had not publicly revealed their Mangekyō Sharingan.)

He was also on very good terms with Uchiha Itachi, the eldest son of the Uchiha Clan Head.

It could be said that among the entire Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Kagami was the Hyuga clansman with the closest relationship to the Uchiha Clan, effectively serving as a bridge of communication between the Hyuga and Uchiha clans.

In addition, Hatake Kakashi—the student of the Fourth Hokage and a renowned genius—was also close to Hyuga Kagami, while Might Guy, who had recently begun making a name for himself in the village, was another one of Kagami’s good friends.

On top of that, the orphaned daughter of the Priestess of the Land of Demons was currently staying at Hyuga Kagami’s home.

Just the connections Hyuga Kagami had out in the open were already enough to make the Main Family wary of acting against him.

So after secretly making preparations for quite some time, Kagami discovered that the Main Family had backed down all on its own, making all his preparations a complete waste of effort.

One day, while Hyuga Kagami happened to be resting at home, Shisui hurriedly came to see him.

After inviting Shisui inside, Kagami asked, "What happened?"

Shisui hesitated for a moment before saying, "Senpai, I’ve thought about it for a long time, and I still think we should report the intelligence we have on the Akatsuki to the village."

Shisui had also participated in the attack on Shinno, so not only did he know that Hyuga Kagami had already obtained the Chimera Technique—the very forbidden technique the village was secretly trying to acquire—from Shinno, but he had also learned a great deal of important intelligence about the Akatsuki from Shinno himself.

For example, the fact that the Akatsuki’s main base was located in the Land of Rain.

Hyuga Kagami did not pay it much mind, because ever since Team 11 had been assigned to investigate Hiruko, Shisui had already discussed this matter with him several times.

Shisui continued, "Senpai, I think that as long as we reveal that the Akatsuki’s main base is in the Land of Rain, then contact the other major shinobi villages and launch a surprise attack on the Land of Rain together, there’s still a very good chance we could wipe out the Akatsuki."

Hyuga Kagami nodded.

If the Five Great Shinobi Villages gathered all of their top-tier combat forces and launched a surprise attack on the Land of Rain, then destroying the Akatsuki was indeed possible.

But it was only possible.

Seeing Hyuga Kagami nod, Shisui said excitedly, "Senpai, you think my plan could work too?"

"If the goal is simply to destroy the Akatsuki, then your idea does have room to work." After a brief pause, Kagami continued, "But if you want to wipe out the Akatsuki completely, it’s still difficult to say what our chances of success would be."

The true core of the Akatsuki consisted of Pain on the surface, and Obito and Zetsu behind the scenes.

Pain possessed the Rain Tiger at Will Technique, while Zetsu had countless clones scattered throughout the area. So even if the Five Great Shinobi Villages managed to put aside their differences and work together, the Akatsuki would inevitably detect them in advance the moment they invaded the Land of Rain.

As long as the Akatsuki chose to avoid a direct confrontation, it wouldn’t matter how many powerful shinobi the Five Great Shinobi Villages sent.

There would be little they could do to the Akatsuki itself.

At most, they would only be able to destroy the foundation the Akatsuki had established within the Land of Rain.

And from what Hyuga Kagami remembered, Nagato, who controlled the Six Paths of Pain, held a special attachment toward the Land of Rain. He seemingly had no intention of dragging the country into war.

From beginning to end, it had always been only those few members of the Akatsuki who went out to carry out their operations.

So even if the Five Great Shinobi Villages destroyed the Akatsuki’s base of operations in the Land of Rain, it would not deal much of a blow to the Akatsuki itself.

More importantly, there was simply no way the Five Great Shinobi Villages could sincerely work together at the moment!

For the Five Great Shinobi Villages to truly unite, they would have to wait until the Akatsuki began capturing the Tailed Beasts and managed to offend every single one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages.

Only then would the Five Great Shinobi Villages finally have a chance of banding together against the Akatsuki.