Chapter 337: Sandstorm

Chapter 337: Chapter 337: Sandstorm

The howling gale swept up yellow sand that filled the sky, casting the entire world into a murky gloom. Against the endless dunes, the two travelers appeared incomparably small, like two insignificant specks on a vast, ochre-colored canvas.

The two travelers making their way through the wind and sand were none other than Hyuga Kagami and Shisui of Konoha’s ANBU Team 11.

There had been no need to explain to the Third Hokage just how dangerous the Akatsuki was. Simply informing him of the death of the "Demigod" Hanzo had been enough.

With the Third’s wealth of experience, he naturally understood that if they wanted to launch an effective assault against the Akatsuki, then the element of surprise would be the key to the entire operation’s success or failure.

Therefore, they absolutely had to ensure that word of the plan did not leak out.

For that reason, the Third did not assign any other ANBU to contact Kumogakure and Sunagakure. Instead, he entrusted this important task directly to Team 11, who had just delivered the intelligence on the Akatsuki, avoiding any further expansion of the circle of people who knew about the operation.

Since they needed to contact two villages at the same time, Team 11 had to split into two groups.

As usual, Kakashi and Guy formed one team and were responsible for contacting Kumogakure, while Hyuga Kagami and Shisui formed the other and were responsible for contacting Sunagakure.

The yellow sand whipping through the air made it nearly impossible to keep their eyes open.

Squinting against the storm, Shisui surveyed their surroundings before shouting to Hyuga Kagami, "Senpai, we’re still heading in the right direction, aren’t we?"

Because this was a secret mission, Hyuga Kagami and Shisui avoided the heavily traveled trade routes and instead chose a remote path rarely used by anyone, where sandstorms were frequent.

"Byakugan!"

Hyuga Kagami activated his Byakugan and carefully surveyed their surroundings.

However, they happened to be standing in a depression between the dunes, with raised hills of sand blocking them on all sides. Visibility was extremely poor, and even with his Byakugan activated, Kagami’s effective field of vision was severely limited, making it impossible to determine their exact direction.

Hyuga Kagami slowly closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, the white eyes within his sockets had transformed into a brilliant sky-blue, as though countless stars were contained within them.

After activating the Tenseigan, his hands rapidly formed seals.

In an instant, a gentle layer of sky-blue Tenseigan chakra enveloped his body, bringing him into Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Once in Tenseigan Chakra Mode, Hyuga Kagami casually waved a hand.

With the activation of Wheel of Will, the raging winds around them abruptly stalled. Under the influence of the tremendous repulsive force, a sizable windless zone formed around him.

Then, his figure flashed.

Transforming into a streak of blue light, he shot into the sky and surveyed the surrounding landscape from above.

Before long, Hyuga Kagami descended back to the ground and exited Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

"We’re heading in the right direction, but this sandstorm covers a pretty large area. Looks like we’ll have to eat sand for a while longer."

Shisui looked apologetic. "Senpai, I’m holding you back!"

What had just happened might have been nothing more than a casual act for Hyuga Kagami, but to Shisui, it was astonishing.

To effortlessly create a windless zone in the middle of a raging sandstorm, then freely soar through the sky as though the storm posed no obstacle at all—the sheer extent of Hyuga Kagami’s strength left him deeply shaken.

Hyuga Kagami waved it off.

To an ordinary person, this sandstorm was a deadly wasteland where the slightest mistake could leave them buried beneath the endless sea of sand.

But to Hyuga Kagami, it was merely a minor inconvenience.

And occasionally trudging slowly through a sandstorm like this could even be considered a rare experience.

Unable to suppress his curiosity, Shisui asked, "Senpai, Shinno said that the leader of the Akatsuki possesses the legendary Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths. Not only can he nullify all ninjutsu, he can even control the cycle of life and death. Compared to his Rinnegan, which is stronger—your Tenseigan or his?"

Hyuga Kagami froze for a moment, not expecting Shisui to suddenly ask such a question.

After thinking for a while, Hyuga Kagami replied, "We’ve never fought, so it’s difficult to say which is stronger. But in terms of abilities, his Rinnegan and my Tenseigan should each have their own strengths. In the end, it still comes down to the strength of the user!"

To a certain extent, a dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai could also be regarded as a weapon, and the strength of a weapon was inseparably tied to the person wielding it.

Nagato was limited by the fact that those Rinnegan were not originally his own. Therefore, when using them, there were inevitably certain incompatibilities and imperfections in their synchronization with him.

From what Hyuga Kagami remembered, when Nagato’s Rinnegan were still in the possession of their original owner, Uchiha Madara, they could unleash a terrifying dōjutsu known as Limbo: Border Jail.

Yet Nagato had never once used that dōjutsu.

From this alone, it was clear that Nagato was incapable of bringing out the full power of those Rinnegan.

In this regard, Hyuga Kagami possessed a considerable advantage.

His Tenseigan belonged entirely to him. They were perfectly compatible with both his body and spirit, without the slightest issue of synchronization or compatibility.

However, Hyuga Kagami had problems of his own.

Recently, he had discovered that his development of the Tenseigan had completely stagnated.

What troubled him even more was that he had absolutely no idea why he had suddenly encountered this inexplicable bottleneck.

It was almost as though something unseen was restricting his Tenseigan.

Or, to put it more precisely...

It was as though something was restricting the entire Hyuga Clan.

Hyuga Kagami had only begun sensing this vague, intangible restriction recently, almost exactly when the growth of his Tenseigan had entered its period of stagnation.

Because of this, he suspected that perhaps he had developed his Tenseigan to the absolute limit of a certain stage, and only then had he barely gained the ability to perceive the existence of this mysterious restriction.

Shisui, on the other hand, had complete confidence in Hyuga Kagami.

"I believe you’ll never lose, Senpai!"

Hyuga Kagami smiled and shook his head.

At his absolute limit, Nagato’s Shinra Tensei was powerful enough to flatten the entirety of Konoha in a single attack. And even after single-handedly taking on Konoha, then fighting successive battles against Naruto in Sage Mode and Naruto in his berserk state, he still had enough chakra remaining to resurrect the thousands upon thousands who had died across the entire battlefield in one go.

It was a perfect demonstration of the immense chakra reserves granted by the Uzumaki Clan’s powerful life force.

Hyuga Kagami did not consider himself inferior to Nagato, but if the two of them truly fought a life-and-death battle, even he could not guarantee that he would be the one left standing at the end.

Shisui said hopefully, "I hope this surprise attack can eliminate the Akatsuki once and for all."

Hyuga Kagami glanced at Shisui and said calmly, "Don’t get your hopes too high. Whether this operation succeeds or fails actually depends more on how the Akatsuki responds. As long as they don’t make any mistakes, it’ll be extremely difficult for us to wipe them all out in one fell swoop."

The two continued chatting as they traveled.

An hour later, they finally emerged from the sandstorm.

Just then, a patrol squad of Sunagakure shinobi intercepted them.

"Who are you? Why are you here?"

Hyuga Kagami and Shisui simultaneously pulled back the cloaks they had been using to shield themselves from the wind and sand, revealing the Konoha shinobi uniforms underneath.

"We’re shinobi from Konoha. We’ve come to Sunagakure under orders from the Hokage."

Since this was a liaison mission, Hyuga Kagami and Shisui were dressed as ordinary Konoha shinobi rather than wearing their ANBU uniforms.

After looking the two of them over, the captain of the Sunagakure patrol squad said, "Please, follow me."

At present, Sunagakure and Konoha were allied nations bound by a formal agreement. Communication between the two villages was frequent, and shinobi regularly traveled back and forth between them.

Therefore, the captain of the Sunagakure patrol squad was not particularly surprised by Hyuga Kagami and Shisui’s arrival...