Chapter 372: Coup d’État and Puppet

Chapter 372: Chapter 372: Coup d’état and Puppet

After settling on the amount of the apprenticeship gift, Hyuga Kagami instructed, "Please don’t let Rei know about the money."

If Rei found out that Hyuga Kagami had spent a full 70 million ryō just to secure her apprenticeship, he was worried she would feel pressured. More importantly, he feared she would feel uncomfortable whenever she was around Tsunade.

Shizune nodded repeatedly. "Mm-hmm."

She already felt deeply embarrassed about making a deal like this in the first place, so naturally, she had no intention of spreading word of it around.

After pondering for a moment, Hyuga Kagami continued, "The amount isn’t small, so I’ll need some time to gather the money. But don’t worry. Within a month at the latest, I’ll hand the full amount over to Lady Tsunade."

Shizune awkwardly waved her hands. "There’s no rush. Really, there’s no rush..."

Hyuga Kagami nodded, then turned and headed downstairs.

"Kagami!"

Shizune suddenly called out to him.

Hyuga Kagami looked back. "Something else?"

Shizune sighed with emotion. "I really never expected someone like you to have such a gentle side. For a moment or two there, I actually found myself a little jealous of Rei!"

With that, having successfully concluded their private transaction, she finally breathed a sigh of relief, a relaxed smile appearing on her face.

Hyuga Kagami smiled and shook his head without saying anything more, then turned and left the izakaya.

After bidding Shizune farewell and returning home, Hyuga Kagami did not remain idle. He continued conducting cell-fusion experiments using Shisui’s cells and the White Zetsu clone.

During the period he had spent recuperating from his injuries, Hyuga Kagami had conducted more than a hundred cell-fusion experiments. After repeated testing, the experimental results confirmed his earlier speculation: the Uchiha bloodline could indeed significantly increase the success rate of transplanting First Hokage cells.

Specifically, with Shisui and the White Zetsu clone in his possession, thirty-nine of the more than one hundred cell-fusion experiments had succeeded, giving a success rate of roughly thirty percent.

Since these were only cell-fusion experiments, they involved nothing more than the strength of their chakra. During an actual transplant, Shisui’s Mangekyō Sharingan and its ability to counterbalance the First Hokage’s cells would also have to be taken into consideration.

If the effect of Shisui’s Mangekyō Sharingan was factored in as well, the success rate of the transplant could probably increase by another ten to fifteen percent.

In other words, Hyuga Kagami estimated that Shisui’s chances of successfully transplanting the First Hokage’s cells were, even by a conservative estimate, above forty percent.

Although the success rate was still below fifty percent, in reality, it was already extremely promising.

In the field of biological experimentation, there was no such thing as an experiment that was one hundred percent safe. Even the most basic transplantation or cellular fusion could result in an unknown mutation or an unexpectedly violent rejection response, causing the experiment to fail. Therefore, a forty-percent success rate was already high enough to be worth taking the gamble.

After all, the village’s previous First Hokage cell-transplantation experiments had maintained a success rate of zero percent, yet there had still been plenty of volunteers who resolutely chose to gamble on that elusive sliver of luck.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the next day arrived.

As usual, Hyuga Kagami arrived at the training ground. However, he did not see any of Team Seven’s members there.

"Huh... Don’t tell me those guys gave up?"

Suddenly, Hyuga Kagami sensed a faint trace of killing intent. His brows furrowed, and he instinctively twisted his body aside.

Shhk...

At the exact moment Hyuga Kagami dodged, a sharp blade swept past, nearly grazing the forehead protector on his brow and leaving a shallow scratch across it!

"Byakugan!"

Hyuga Kagami showed not the slightest hint of panic. As he retreated, he activated his Byakugan, and in an instant, a hazy chakra silhouette appeared within his field of vision!

Hyuga Kagami’s eyes narrowed thoughtfully. "Transparent Release, huh..."

The Transparent Release Kekkei Genkai mastered by Hayate Gekkō was also inherited through blood. However, even within his own clan, only a handful of people were capable of awakening this Kekkei Genkai. In the current generation, Hayate was the only one. Thus, in Konoha, where clans possessing Kekkei Genkai and secret techniques were everywhere, his clan had never gained much fame.

But that did not mean the Transparent Release Kekkei Genkai could be underestimated.

Transparent Release could not only render its user invisible, but could also completely erase their presence, making it an exceptionally deadly tool for infiltration and assassination. Just moments ago, even Hyuga Kagami had nearly fallen victim to Hayate’s ambush.

Hissss...

Before Hyuga Kagami could launch a counterattack, the sound of numerous explosive tags igniting came from beneath his feet.

BOOM!

A moment later, the thunderous explosion reverberated throughout the entire training ground. A massive cloud of dust and a violent shockwave swept across the surrounding forest, causing even the thick trees to sway violently back and forth.

Hyuga Kagami, who had escaped with the Body Flicker Technique an instant before the explosion, landed steadily on the ground some distance away. The corner of his mouth curled upward.

"Heh. You even predicted where I’d dodge? Looks like you guys actually put some effort into this!"

Clearly, the three of them had already anticipated that Hayate’s surprise attack would fail.

Because of that, they had predicted the area Hyuga Kagami would most likely dodge toward and had prepared a trap there in advance.

But with Hyuga Kagami’s Byakugan activated, the three of them were completely exposed, leaving them with nowhere to hide.

After all, the Byakugan was the natural enemy of all forms of stealth.

At that moment, Kurenai leaped down from the large tree where she had been hiding. Her hands rapidly formed seals as she shouted,

"Genjutsu: Dance of the Cherry Blossoms!"

Rustle... rustle...

The instant Kurenai’s genjutsu activated, a gentle breeze swept across the training ground.

As the breeze passed through, the grass and leaves rustled softly, creating an atmosphere of peace and tranquility that seemed to seep directly into the heart.

At the same time, Kurenai’s body seemed to scatter with the breeze, transforming into clusters of pink cherry blossom petals. The petals gathered and dispersed repeatedly, yet vaguely maintained the outline of a human figure.

"Genjutsu!?"

Hyuga Kagami’s gaze sharpened at first, but his furrowed brows quickly relaxed.

"Those clusters of cherry blossom petals that keep gathering and scattering while vaguely maintaining a human shape are actually Kurenai’s body. Her genjutsu is simply interfering with my vision... No, that’s not all. I can smell the fragrance of cherry blossoms. My sense of smell is being interfered with too..."

He was well aware that he had not completely fallen under Kurenai’s genjutsu.

Or rather, Kurenai’s technique was not an ordinary genjutsu.

It differed from the Uchiha clan’s genjutsu. Compared to the Uchiha’s techniques, which completely dragged their targets into an illusion, Kurenai’s genjutsu leaned more toward deceiving the target’s vision and interfering with their sense of smell.

Therefore, as long as he treated those clusters of cherry blossom petals as Kurenai’s actual body and refused to be deceived by what his senses were telling him, he had essentially already broken most of the technique.

But Hyuga Kagami felt that things couldn’t possibly be that simple.

So instead of recklessly charging forward, he slowly drew Kusanagimaru from his waist and said calmly,

"If this is all you’ve got, then it won’t work on me."

Kurenai let out a sharp cry.

In an instant, the cherry blossom petals filling the air surged toward Hyuga Kagami!

Faced with this situation, Hyuga Kagami only needed to use Wheel of Will to repel everything around him and easily break through the technique.

However, he was somewhat curious about exactly what kind of tactics Kurenai and the others had come up with, so instead, he simply held Kusanagimaru horizontally in front of him.

Countless cherry blossom petals fluttered through the air, constantly interfering with Hyuga Kagami’s vision. Although he knew that the petals themselves were fake and that their main body was actually Kurenai herself, the visual interference caused chakra reactions to appear everywhere within his Byakugan’s field of vision, preventing him from clearly pinpointing Hayate and Yūgao’s exact positions.

Hyuga Kagami thought to himself,

"Kurenai’s genjutsu is actually pretty impressive. As expected of a secret-technique ninja clan specializing in genjutsu!"

At that moment, the cherry blossom petals filling the air were carried forward by the gentle breeze, sweeping toward Hyuga Kagami from all directions.

In an instant, they completely engulfed him.

Then, through a tiny gap between the petals, an inconspicuous sword silently thrust forward, aiming directly at the blind spot behind Hyuga Kagami’s Byakugan.

"They even took the Branch House Byakugan’s blind spot into account..."

A smile appeared on Hyuga Kagami’s face.

Gripping Kusanagimaru, he suddenly spun around and slashed!

CLANG!

With a crisp metallic ring, the sword stabbing toward Hyuga Kagami’s back collided with Kusanagimaru—

and instantly snapped in two!

"What...!?"

A startled female voice rang out from within the sea of cherry blossom petals.

Judging by the voice, it seemed to be Yūgao.

At that moment, Hyuga Kagami casually caught the broken half of the blade.

His gaze sharpened.

After confirming the direction the voice had come from, he flicked his finger and sent the broken blade shooting through the air!

"Ah!"

With a muffled cry, Yūgao was struck by the broken blade and knocked out from within the swirling mass of cherry blossom petals.

As the injured Yūgao fell out of the formation, the cherry blossom petals surrounding Hyuga Kagami also fell into slight disarray!

Hyuga Kagami did not let this opportunity slip by. He immediately unleashed the Gentle Fist secret technique, Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven.

In the span of a breath, the rapidly rotating sphere of chakra shredded every cherry blossom petal surrounding him.

And as the Revolving Heaven tore through the petals, Hyuga Kagami keenly detected the location of Kurenai’s true body. Through the secret technique, he drove his own chakra directly into her body.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A series of dull, heavy impacts rang out as Kurenai was violently sent flying.

"Ugh..."

After crashing to the ground, Kurenai suddenly spat out a mouthful of blood. Yet her expression remained resolute. Gritting her teeth, she refused to let out even a groan of pain.

At that moment, Hayate, who was standing some distance away, deactivated his Transparent Release and revealed himself. Shaking his head, he said,

"Captain, we lost again!"

Without Kurenai and Yūgao keeping Hyuga Kagami occupied, Hayate knew he had absolutely no chance of winning. Continuing the fight would only be asking for humiliation.

It wasn’t that Hayate lacked fighting spirit.

Rather, Hyuga Kagami’s Byakugan countered Transparent Release far too effectively. Without the cover provided by Kurenai’s genjutsu, Transparent Release was completely meaningless before the Byakugan.

Kurenai forced herself back to her feet and protested loudly,

"Kagami, you cheated! You actually used a famous blade against us!"

Hyuga Kagami sheathed Kusanagimaru and smiled.

"When you encounter an enemy, can you demand that they refrain from using powerful weapons? When planning an ambush, this is something you should’ve taken into account from the very beginning!"

Yūgao held her injured shoulder and nodded.

"I was careless just now."

In truth, the collapse of the three-person strategy had not begun when Yūgao’s sword was broken.

It had begun the moment she failed to suppress her surprise and accidentally gave away her position with her voice.

But Yūgao couldn’t really be blamed for that.

The sword in her hand was no ordinary weapon either. It had been forged from refined steel and could be considered a fine blade compared to ordinary ninja tools. So when she saw Kusanagimaru sever her sword with a single strike, she couldn’t help but let out a sound of surprise.

Hyuga Kagami glanced at Yūgao’s shoulder. "Is your injury alright?"

Yūgao shook her head, then said, "Thank you for holding back, Captain."

Hyuga Kagami swept his gaze across the three of them.

"You managed to force me to use Revolving Heaven today. That was a pretty good performance. Take tomorrow off. The day after tomorrow, Team Seven will officially begin carrying out missions."

Whoosh...

Just as Hyuga Kagami finished speaking, a figure landed in the training ground.

The newcomer was dressed in Konoha ANBU attire. Upon seeing Hyuga Kagami, he respectfully bowed.

"Lord Hokage has urgently summoned you. Please report to the Hokage Building immediately!"

Hyuga Kagami nodded, then turned toward the members of Team Seven.

"Dismissed!"

With that, he disappeared from the spot using the Body Flicker Technique.

Watching Hyuga Kagami vanish, Kurenai bit her lip and said unwillingly,

"Why does all our hard work seem so powerless in front of ninja with dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai!?"

Yūgao tried to comfort her. "Kurenai-senpai, Captain is exceptional even among the Hyuga clan. There’s really nothing embarrassing about losing to him."

"Cough, cough..."

Hayate coughed twice before chiming in, "Yeah. Didn’t Uchiha Shinichi of the Akatsuki also lose to Captain before? Besides, apart from a handful of rogue ninja, most dōjutsu Kekkei Genkai users are our comrades from the same village. You don’t have to worry too much about being countered by them on the battlefield!"

Kurenai glared at Yūgao and Hayate.

"You two are really singing the same tune, huh? What, are you planning to get married tomorrow or something?"

......

Inside the Hokage’s Office.

The Third Hokage handed Hyuga Kagami an intelligence report and said, "The Intelligence Division has uncovered another piece of information. It has now been confirmed that someone in Kirigakure is plotting a coup d’état!"

Hearing this, Hyuga Kagami almost laughed.

Even Konoha had managed to learn about the coup. If a coup this poorly concealed actually succeeded, that would be truly bizarre.

Previously, Hyuga Kagami had still been somewhat uncertain about who exactly would launch this possible coup—whether it would be the future Fifth Mizukage, Mei Terumī, or Zabuza.

But judging from the situation now, Zabuza seemed far more likely to be the one behind it.

The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe before continuing, "You don’t have any more time to prepare. You need to reach Kirigakure as soon as possible. I need to know exactly what’s going on with the Fourth Mizukage. If the Fourth Mizukage really is colluding with the Akatsuki, then this coup in Kirigakure will be an excellent opportunity to eliminate him."

Hyuga Kagami asked, "You mean...?"

The Third Hokage’s expression turned solemn.

"If the Fourth Mizukage is colluding with the Akatsuki, then Team Seven’s mission is to eliminate the Fourth Mizukage—by any means necessary!"

Hyuga Kagami nodded.

"Understood!"

After pondering for a moment, the Third Hokage added another warning.

"During this operation, you may encounter members of the Akatsuki. The village can’t spare any additional manpower right now, so you’ll have to rely on yourselves. Be careful."

Hyuga Kagami silently nodded.

The Third Hokage waved his hand. "Go make your preparations. You leave tomorrow!"

After leaving the Hokage Building, Hyuga Kagami thought to himself,

"If this coup really is being launched by Zabuza, then its failure is practically inevitable. The question is, what benefits can I get out of this situation?"

At that thought, an idea suddenly flashed through Hyuga Kagami’s mind.

"Could I turn Zabuza into my puppet... and put him on the Mizukage’s throne?"