Chapter 370: The Fat Sheep

Chapter 370: Chapter 370: The Fat Sheep

After carefully going through the intelligence on Kirigakure that the Third Hokage had given him, Hyuga Kagami’s expression gradually darkened.

There was no doubt about it. At this point, Kirigakure was no different from a powder keg. No matter who it was, all they had to do was toss in the slightest spark, and the entire village would immediately erupt into a raging inferno.

Kagami considered the situation for a moment.

With his current strength, infiltrating Kirigakure to gather intelligence wouldn’t be particularly difficult. But if he had to bring the newly formed Team 7 along with him, that was another matter entirely.

Kurenai, Hayate, and Yugao might all be among the finest of Konoha’s new generation, but at the end of the day, they were only Special Jonin.

If their whereabouts were exposed inside Kirigakure, with their current strength, it would be extremely difficult for them to break free from an encirclement of Kiri shinobi.

"The Third really gave me a troublesome assignment this time..."

With a quiet sigh, Kagami put away the document dossier.

Early the next morning, the newly formed Team 7 assembled at one of Konoha’s training grounds.

Kagami’s gaze swept over Kurenai, Hayate, and Yugao one by one before he said, "Lord Hokage has assigned Team 7 a mission. However, this mission is extremely difficult, so before we carry it out, I need to put the three of you through an assessment."

Kurenai immediately asked, "What mission?"

Hayate and Yugao, meanwhile, spoke almost in unison.

"What assessment?"

"We’ll talk about the mission later. Today, we’ll focus on the assessment first." After a brief pause, Hyuga Kagami slowly continued, "The assessment is simple. The three of you will fight me together. I want to see what you’re truly capable of!"

Kurenai snorted softly. "Hmph. You might be stronger than me, but there’s no way you can take all three of us at once, right?"

"Cough, cough..." After coughing lightly twice, Hayate added, "Captain, a match like this is unfair to you!"

Yugao rested a hand on the hilt of the sword at her waist. "Aren’t you underestimating us a little too much? All three of us are fully qualified ANBU shinobi!"

Kagami glanced at them and said indifferently, "You know nothing about true power. It seems I really do need to wake you up."

Among the major shinobi villages, young ninja from prestigious clans or secret-technique families often possessed a certain inexplicable confidence.

In the original timeline, Kurenai clearly knew that the Uchiha clan specialized in genjutsu, and that Itachi was an S-rank wanted criminal who had wiped out his entire clan, yet she still chose to challenge him in a battle of genjutsu.

Hayate was even worse. After discovering the conspiracy between Sunagakure and Orochimaru, instead of immediately retreating and delivering the intelligence, he chose to confront an elite Suna Jonin head-on after being discovered.

As a result, he lost his life inside his own village.

The line between confidence and arrogance was razor-thin.

If Kagami wanted these three to follow orders more carefully during future missions, he first needed to teach them one simple truth:

There was always a higher sky, and there was always someone stronger.

Seeing that Kagami had no intention of changing his mind and was determined to fight all three of them at once, Kurenai, Hayate, and Yugao said nothing more.

They immediately spread out in a fan formation, each seizing advantageous terrain as they vaguely surrounded Kagami in the center.

At this moment, all three wore eager expressions, clearly itching to begin.

Kurenai’s beautiful eyes were locked firmly onto Kagami.

Her previous defeat had been gnawing at her ever since. She even dreamed of defeating Kagami just once and restoring the prestige of the Yuhi clan’s inherited genjutsu.

Hayate and Yugao, meanwhile, each drew their swords and assumed the opening stance of Konoha-Style Kenjutsu.

Both of them were exceptionally talented in kenjutsu and had already mastered numerous advanced sword techniques despite their young age. Moreover, the two had been childhood friends and had trained together since they were little, giving them extraordinary coordination.

When they fought together, their combined strength was far greater than the simple sum of their individual abilities.

"When you attack, do it with the resolve to kill me. Don’t hesitate for even a moment. I don’t have time to play around with you!"

Hyuga Kagami stood quietly where he was, his expression composed and his tone indifferent.

Hearing this, the three exchanged glances, traces of anger appearing on each of their faces.

Kurenai, in particular, snapped angrily, "Fine! Lady Tsunade is in the village anyway. Even if we injure you, you probably won’t die that easily!"

The corner of Kagami’s mouth curled upward into a faint grin.

"If you can actually injure me, I’ll give you the position of captain."

Provoked by Kagami’s words, Kurenai immediately answered, "Deal!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she charged toward Kagami while simultaneously pulling several kunai from the pouch at her waist and hurling them at him.

At the same time, Hayate and Yugao leaped high into the air and shouted in unison,

"Dance of the Crescent Moon!"

In an instant, several afterimages trailed behind them. As though they had used Shadow Clones, each of them split into three figures.

Together, the two transformed into six figures that slashed toward Kagami from different directions and at different angles.

With just a single glance, Kagami saw through the Konoha-Style Kenjutsu being used by Hayate and Yugao.

It was a form of nintaijutsu that incorporated ninjutsu into swordsmanship. There was no distinction between real and fake among the six figures—being struck by any one of them would result in a genuine injury.

However, their swordsmanship still hadn’t transcended the fundamental nature of a sword strike. It could still be blocked by something sufficiently hard.

In the original timeline, Sunagakure’s elite Jonin Baki had simply endured one of Hayate’s sword strikes head-on before effortlessly counterattacking and killing him.

Whoosh—!

Naturally, Kagami had no intention of taking the attack head-on.

He immediately used the Body Flicker Technique, and with a sharp whoosh of displaced air, his entire figure vanished from the spot.

Kurenai’s eyes widened. "This..."

"So fast!"

Hayate and Yugao, whose attacks had struck nothing but empty air, landed on the ground equally astonished.

But at that very moment, Kagami’s figure flickered again.

In an instant, he appeared behind Hayate, holding a short blade in a reverse grip as he swung the blunt edge toward the back of Hayate’s neck.

Yugao, standing nearby, was shocked. Without time to think, she hurriedly swung her sword at Kagami in an attempt to save Hayate.

Poof!

The blade flashed through Kagami’s body, only for his entire figure to suddenly explode into a cloud of white smoke.

"A Shadow Clone!? Damn it..."

The thought had barely surfaced in Yugao’s mind when her vision abruptly went black.

Someone had struck her unconscious from behind.

Only then did Kurenai and Hayate react, hastily retreating in a somewhat disheveled state.

Their original plan had been to use Kurenai as bait to lure Kagami into making a move, after which Hayate and Yugao would combine their Konoha-Style Kenjutsu to defeat him in a single decisive attack.

But they never imagined that Kagami wouldn’t fall for it at all.

Instead, he had deliberately pretended to ambush Hayate, baiting Yugao into exposing an opening. Then, right in front of the other two, he had effortlessly subdued Yugao, whose strength was by no means weak.

With a grave expression, Kurenai warned Hayate beside her, "Be careful. His Body Flicker is extremely fast!"

Whoosh—!

Before the words had even left her mouth, Kurenai suddenly felt her vision darken as a figure abruptly appeared directly in front of her.

As a qualified Special Jonin, Kurenai instinctively tried to retreat.

But before her body could even react, several palm strikes had already landed on her.

Chakra surged into her body and sealed her chakra network, instantly robbing her of the ability to mold or use chakra.

At that moment, a longsword came slashing toward the figure who had ambushed Kurenai.

The swordsman was naturally Hayate.

The angle of his slash was extremely tricky, and the attack itself was lightning-fast. If Kagami hesitated for even the slightest instant, he would inevitably be struck by the blade.

Yet faced with the sudden sword strike, Kagami merely shifted half a step backward.

It was almost as if he had seen the attack coming.

The blade narrowly swept past him, missing by the smallest of margins. Kagami immediately spun around and delivered a kick that sent Hayate flying.

Dusting off his hands, Kagami said emotionlessly, "You failed the assessment. I’m very disappointed with your performance. We’ll continue tomorrow. I hope that by then, you can at least put on a somewhat respectable show."

With that, Kagami’s figure flickered and disappeared from the training ground.

Kurenai and Hayate, both injured and lying on the ground, exchanged glances.

In each other’s eyes, they saw the same shock and humiliation.

There was no doubt that Kurenai, Hayate, and Yugao hadn’t managed to display the full extent of their abilities.

Kurenai in particular had barely been able to show anything at all. Because her clan’s inherited genjutsu was countered by Kagami, she had been effortlessly defeated before she could truly demonstrate her strength.

Bang!

Kurenai slammed her fist heavily into the ground and said through gritted teeth, unwilling to accept the result,

"Damn it! Why hasn’t the gap between him and me gotten any smaller? Why is it getting bigger instead?!"

Hayate slowly climbed back to his feet.

"Cough, cough... Captain is even stronger than we imagined. Looks like we’ll have to seriously work out a strategy. Otherwise, tomorrow’s assessment..."

...

After leaving the training ground, Kagami didn’t stop to rest.

Using the Body Flicker Technique at full speed, he rushed straight toward an izakaya in the village.

Arriving at a private room on the second floor, Hyuga Kagami smiled.

"You got here pretty early. I’m not late, am I?"

Inside the private room, a female ninja with short black hair stood up and said, "Why did you ask me to come out? I’m telling you, I still have a mountain of things to take care of!"

This short-haired kunoichi was none other than Shizune, one of Kagami’s classmates from the same generation and the disciple of Tsunade, one of the Legendary Sannin.

Kagami had practically no connection with Tsunade whatsoever, so his only option was to invite her disciple Shizune out first. Through Shizune, he could probe Tsunade’s attitude and see whether she might be willing to accept Rei as her disciple.

After taking a seat, Kagami immediately said, "Come on, we were classmates! Do I really need a reason to invite you out for a little get-together?"

Shizune stared suspiciously at Kagami.

"You barely bothered talking to anyone back at the Ninja Academy. Why are you suddenly acting so friendly? Out with it. There’s definitely something you want from me."

Kagami laughed. "As expected of Lady Tsunade’s disciple. You’re right, there actually is something I’d like to ask you for."

"What is it?"

Kagami said, "Rei wants to become Lady Tsunade’s disciple and learn medical ninjutsu from her. But I don’t know whether Lady Tsunade has any intention of taking on a disciple right now, so I wanted to ask you to find out for me."

"Rei..." Shizune pondered for a moment before saying, "I’m afraid Rei is going to be disappointed. Lady Tsunade has no intention of taking on a disciple. Even though she’s returned to the village, she doesn’t want anything to do with the village’s affairs."

Kagami’s expression sank.

"Is there really no way?"

Shizune shook her head. "If Lady Tsunade doesn’t want to do something, no one can force her."

Kagami said unconcernedly, "Even Lady Tsunade must have something she wants... or something she wants to do but can’t accomplish on her own, right?"

Shizune laughed. "If even Lady Tsunade can’t do it, what makes you think you can?"

Kagami raised a finger and waved it in front of Shizune.

"Just because Lady Tsunade can’t do something doesn’t mean the Hyuga clan can’t. And I’ve heard that Lady Tsunade has racked up quite a lot of debt outside the village..."

Shizune immediately waved her hands frantically.

"Y-You... you shouldn’t make things up! How could Lady Tsunade possibly be in debt?!"

Seeing Shizune’s reaction, Kagami’s face darkened.

"Hey... Don’t tell me Lady Tsunade actually came back to the village this time to hide from her creditors?"

"Hahaha..." Shizune laughed awkwardly before saying, "You’ve really gotten better at joking lately! Lady Tsunade is one of the Legendary Sannin, famous throughout the shinobi world. Hiding from creditors? Impossible!"

Kagami rubbed his chin thoughtfully and muttered,

"Could the legend of the Legendary Sucker really be true...?"

Shizune sighed helplessly. "All right, all right. I’ll ask her for you. But medical ninjutsu isn’t that easy to learn. I’ve followed Lady Tsunade for so many years, and even I’ve only managed to learn a fraction of her skills."

Everything Shizune said was true.

In terms of learning difficulty, medical ninjutsu stood on the same level as sealing techniques, above ordinary ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu.

More importantly, medical ninjutsu imposed extremely demanding requirements on a shinobi’s fine chakra control. At the very least, one needed chakra control on the level of a Jonin just to cross the threshold and begin learning it properly.

Although Shizune was Tsunade’s first disciple, compared to Sakura Haruno, whose chakra control was far superior, Shizune had learned considerably less from Tsunade.

For example, Tsunade’s signature techniques such as the Strength of a Hundred Seal and her monstrous strength were things Shizune had never managed to master.

Sakura, despite becoming Tsunade’s disciple much later, eventually mastered all of them.

While personality played some part in this, the greater reason was that Shizune’s chakra control was clearly inferior to Sakura’s.

Kagami certainly didn’t want Rei to learn nothing more than the basics from Tsunade.

So, lightly tapping a finger against the tabletop, he lowered his voice and said,

"Name your price."

Shizune looked puzzled.

"What?"

Kagami said, "Rei possesses the Byakugan Kekkei Genkai. Her natural talent might not be exceptional, but she can see the chakra pathway system inside the human body, which means she can constantly identify and correct her mistakes when controlling chakra. So I believe that as long as she’s willing to work hard, talent shouldn’t be much of an obstacle."

He paused before continuing, "But I don’t want her to stay by Lady Tsunade’s side only to learn some superficial medical ninjutsu that she could just as easily learn from Konoha’s Medical Corps. So—name your price!"

Shizune asked curiously, "Is the Hyuga clan really that rich?"

Kagami leaned back against the sofa.

"Is the Hyuga clan rich?! I can’t believe you’d ask such a stupid question. Go outside and ask around yourself—find out how much a single Byakugan is worth on the black market!"

Naturally, Kagami was just spouting nonsense off the top of his head, but it was also true that the Byakugan was practically priceless on the black market.

Shizune quietly pulled out a small notebook. Turning her back toward Kagami, she began scribbling and calculating something inside it.

Kagami glanced at the notebook in Shizune’s hands and thought,

"Could that be a ledger for keeping track of debts? Just how much money does Tsunade owe out there that she needs a notebook that thick to keep track of it all?"

Judging from Shizune’s behavior, Kagami was now thoroughly convinced that avoiding her creditors was probably at least part of the reason Tsunade had returned to the village this time.

And according to what he had heard, Jiraiya had been the one who persuaded Tsunade to return.

That made Kagami suspect that whatever method Jiraiya had used to convince her might have involved money as well.

Kagami secretly rejoiced.

"Looks like as long as I offer the right bait, getting Rei accepted as Tsunade’s disciple won’t be nearly as difficult as I imagined..."