Chapter 457: The Guinea Pig

Chapter 457: Chapter 457: The Guinea Pig

The Hyuga Clan’s hair colors were predominantly dark. Most clan members had black hair, such as Kagami and Rei. There were also some with dark blue, dark brown, or even dark green hair, but white hair was the one color they simply didn’t have.

"Hmph, is she trying to investigate this privately? Or has she already started suspecting me, which is why she didn’t report it to me?"

After thinking to himself, Kagami fell into contemplation.

Only after a moment did he slowly answer, "There’s no one with white hair in the Main family."

"None!?"

Kurenai immediately froze.

She had thought that with so few members in the Hyuga Main family, it should have been easy to uncover Furin’s true identity. Yet unexpectedly, Kagami had given her a negative answer.

Kagami’s gaze sharpened. "Why are you asking?"

Kurenai waved her hand hurriedly. "N-Nothing. I was just asking casually."

Kagami narrowed his eyes and thought, "Looks like I underestimated her. I didn’t expect her to be this calculating. She actually wants to use my Type-A Wind Release clone as a breakthrough point to uncover clues about Kamigami!"

Kurenai, meanwhile, turned her head away and thought, "Furin was able to hold off the First Hokage, Second Hokage, and Orochimaru—three top-tier powerhouses—all by himself. He’s the strongest shinobi I’ve ever seen. How could Kagami possibly not know a clansman like that? Could Furin have left the Hyuga Clan a long time ago? Mm, that must be it!"

But then Kurenai found herself troubled again.

"But if that’s the case, I can’t even find him. When am I ever going to repay the favor I owe him? He suffered such serious injuries saving me... I wonder if he’s gotten any better."

At that thought, Kurenai’s gaze unconsciously shifted toward Kagami.

At the same moment, Kagami looked toward Kurenai as well.

Their eyes met—

each of them harboring thoughts of their own.

"Looks like I can only rely on Kagami. They’re from the same clan, so he should know something about Furin." That was what Kurenai was thinking.

"Trying to secretly investigate Kamigami? Hmph, you’re still too green!" That was what Kagami was thinking.

The two of them, whose thoughts were on completely different wavelengths, each gave the other a friendly smile.

After the gathering ended, Asuma finally worked up the courage to invite Kurenai to go to the hot springs with him. Unfortunately, the preoccupied Kurenai politely turned him down.

Perhaps because Hayate had already given him some advice beforehand, Asuma had mentally prepared himself, so he wasn’t too devastated by the rejection.

Kakashi, on the other hand, looked utterly dejected. Holding Icha Icha Paradise in his hands, he muttered to himself, "How could this happen? This was supposed to be the ultimate move! Why did it fail!?"

......

For the next two days, Kagami repeatedly tried to contact Shisui and Itachi, but there was no response whatsoever.

"Even the ninja crows can’t get a message through. Don’t tell me something happened to those two?"

Although Kagami had great confidence in Shisui and Itachi’s abilities, both of them had disappeared at the same time, and they had already been missing for several days. He couldn’t help but consider the worst-case scenario.

"Who could possibly subdue Shisui and Itachi without even giving them a chance to send out a warning crow?"

After carefully thinking it over for a long while, Kagami realized that even Nagato or Obito would have a difficult time accomplishing something like that.

In the end, he could only think, "I’ll wait a little longer and see."

Afterward, Kagami switched into his Type-A Wind Release clone and headed toward Danzo’s new Root base.

Thanks to their previous transaction, the Root shinobi patrolling the perimeter immediately recognized Kagami’s Furin disguise from Kamigami and courteously escorted him into the base.

Before long, Kagami met Danzo inside.

But to his surprise, there was someone else standing beside Danzo.

And that person was none other than someone Kagami had fought before—

Orochimaru.

Danzo immediately introduced him. "I specifically invited Orochimaru here to assist me in completing the Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual of the Chimera Technique."

Despite their previous transaction, Danzo did not trust Kamigami.

At the same time, he did not trust Orochimaru either.

Therefore, he hoped to have Orochimaru and Kamigami keep each other in check while making use of both sides for his own purposes.

After Danzo’s introduction, Orochimaru gave Kagami a slight nod.

There was a trace of wariness hidden in his expression, yet he did not mention a single word about their previous battle at the Uchiha ruins, acting as though he had never fought Kagami at all.

Kagami tacitly played along and returned the greeting, thinking, "Tch, don’t tell me this guy has the exact same idea as I do?"

At that moment, Danzo led the two of them into the base’s laboratory.

The underground laboratory was enormous and exceptionally well-equipped. There were even several pieces of equipment that Kagami had never seen before, seemingly newly developed instruments.

Stopping before a culture dish, Danzo said, "My subordinates have already analyzed the characteristics of this Chimera Bud. Controlling it is more difficult than I originally anticipated."

Kagami took out the data he had brought with him and said, "This is the data our organization seized from Shinno. I believe it will be useful to you."

After receiving the data, Danzo briefly flipped through it before handing it to Orochimaru beside him.

Orochimaru examined it far more carefully.

Only after studying it for quite some time did he speak in his characteristic hoarse voice. "All of this data is very useful."

Kagami asked, "Tell me about your plan for restraining the Chimera Bud."

Kagami did not particularly care about the Kekkei Genkai Fusion Ritual itself.

After all, Hiruko had already successfully completed it once. As long as they followed his procedure, there was an extremely high probability of successfully reproducing the ritual.

What Kagami truly cared about was finding an effective method of restraining the Chimera Bud.

That was also the key reason he had chosen to cooperate with Danzo in the first place.

Clap, clap...

Danzo clapped his hands, and before long, a researcher wearing a white lab coat arrived before them.

The researcher pushed up the glasses on the bridge of his nose and said, "Our plan is to inscribe sealing formulas onto the Chimera Bud itself and use fuinjutsu to control it."

"As expected, fuinjutsu!" Kagami thought.

Using fuinjutsu to control the Chimera Bud had been the very first solution Kagami had considered.

However, the nature of the Chimera Bud was extremely unusual. It practically had no fixed normal form, so ordinary sealing formulas inscribed onto it would likely shatter and lose their effectiveness whenever its shape twisted and transformed.

After pondering for a moment, Kagami held nothing back and voiced his concerns.

Further improving the Chimera Technique was a crucial step toward Kagami achieving the Kekkei Mora. Therefore, although he regarded Danzo as nothing more than a guinea pig, at this moment, he was genuinely putting his heart into helping Danzo devise a solution.

Orochimaru, who had been deep in thought, suddenly spoke up. "As far as I know, among the Uzumaki Clan’s fuinjutsu, there are quite a few whose forms can change as well. The Adamantine Sealing Chains, for example."

Without a doubt, when it came to improving the Chimera Technique, Orochimaru wasn’t holding anything back either...