Chapter 460: Formidable Rival

Chapter 460: Chapter 460: Formidable Rival

A Konoha patrol squad was making its rounds along the outskirts of the village.

Caw, caw...

Accompanied by a burst of cawing, several glossy-feathered crows suddenly shot out from the forest.

Watching the crows gradually disappear into the distance until they were nothing more than tiny black specks on the horizon, one of the Konoha shinobi in the patrol muttered, "Hey, haven’t you guys noticed there’ve been a lot more crows around here these past few days?"

Another Konoha shinobi on the team chimed in, "Now that you mention it, there really have been."

In truth, this patrol squad wasn’t the only one to notice.

However, since Konoha was surrounded by forests teeming with birds and wildlife, although quite a few people had taken note of the increase in crows, no one paid it much mind.

As for those crows, there was naturally no need to guess.

They were all ninja crows Hyuga Kagami had dispatched.

His continued inability to contact Shisui and Itachi had left Kagami deeply uneasy. But with no clues to follow, his only option was to scatter all of his ninja crows throughout the surrounding area and conduct a thorough, carpet-style search.

Aside from ordering the ninja crows to search for Shisui and Itachi, over the past few days Kagami had also been keeping an eye on the secretly convened Five Kage Summit while simultaneously working with Orochimaru to improve the Chimera Technique.

He had to admit that Orochimaru possessed unparalleled talent when it came to developing forbidden techniques.

And with the Tenseigan at his disposal, Kagami’s own research into the Chimera Technique was no less profound than that of its original creator, Hiruko.

With two people like them working together, coupled with Danzo’s abundant manpower and immense financial resources, many of the difficult problems that had previously stood in their way were suddenly solved one after another with remarkable ease.

The speed at which the improvements progressed caught even Kagami somewhat off guard.

On this particular day, Kagami, controlling his Type-A Wind Release clone, was testing the properties of newly acquired gelatinous materials inside Danzo’s Root base.

Once again, Danzo demonstrated both his immense wealth and the extent of his influence within Konoha.

In just two short days, Root—an organization that had already been officially disbanded by the Third Hokage—had managed to gather more than seventy different kinds of new gelatinous materials from across the shinobi world. Some of them were so obscure that not only had Kagami never seen them before, even Orochimaru was unfamiliar with them.

However, testing the properties of new materials was, when all was said and done, essentially a lottery.

If they struck gold and discovered a gelatinous material with exceptional properties, many of the problems troubling Kagami could potentially be solved in an instant.

But if luck wasn’t on their side, they could spend an enormous amount of time and effort only to come away empty-handed.

After eliminating the ninth gelatinous material, Kagami shook his head and thought, "Hiruko must have tested the properties of these materials before choosing the one he ultimately used. If we could get our hands on his original experimental data, it should cut down our workload considerably."

At that thought, Kagami glanced toward Orochimaru not far away.

Like him, Orochimaru was also testing the properties of the new gelatinous materials.

Unlike his usual sinister and cunning demeanor, Orochimaru was completely absorbed whenever he entered his experimental state. His expression was meticulous and focused, without the slightest unnecessary emotion showing on his face.

It had been a very long time, as far as Kagami could remember, since the two of them had worked together on experiments in the same laboratory like this.

Withdrawing his gaze, Kagami frowned.

For some reason, he had felt vaguely uneasy all day, as though something bad was about to happen.

He didn’t dismiss the feeling in the slightest.

After all, in the shinobi world, once a person’s spiritual body reached a certain level of strength, they would more or less begin to exhibit certain mysterious abilities.

The Priestess lineage’s ability to glimpse into the future through its ’Death Prophecy’ was one such example.

"Could Akatsuki’s attack be happening today?"

...

Konoha.

The streets were especially crowded and lively today, packed shoulder to shoulder with people.

That was because today marked the enrollment day for the Ninja Academy’s newest class, and parents from across the village were accompanying their children to the Academy.

Among the crowd, Hizashi, dressed in casual clothes, was walking toward the Ninja Academy with Neji beside him.

When they arrived at the Academy gates, Neji didn’t laugh and play around like the other children.

Instead, he wore a serious expression as he carefully observed the other students entering alongside him.

His scrutinizing gaze swept over one classmate after another before he lightly shook his head.

Hizashi, who had been quietly observing Neji, asked, "What’s wrong?"

Neji replied with some disappointment, "Father, it seems there isn’t a single formidable rival among the students in my class."

Hizashi smiled.

Among the Hyuga of his generation, Neji was unquestionably the clan’s number one genius. As such, there were only a handful of children in the entire village whom he could truly regard as formidable rivals.

The enrollment ceremony lasted for quite some time, and it wasn’t until evening that it finally came to an end.

After walking out through the Ninja Academy gates, Hizashi noticed that Neji seemed somewhat dispirited, as though something was weighing on his mind.

He asked, "What are you thinking about?"

Neji hesitated for a moment before looking up at Hizashi.

"Father, isn’t the Lord Hokage supposed to personally preside over the enrollment ceremony for every new class? Why didn’t Lord Hokage come today? Is it because our class isn’t important enough to warrant his attention?"

Looking at Neji, who appeared calm and composed on the surface but was incredibly sensitive deep down, Hizashi gently rubbed his head.

"Silly child. Lady Tsunade attended the enrollment ceremony, didn’t she? The Lord Hokage must have had other matters to deal with and simply couldn’t get away. It has nothing to do with whether your class is considered important."

Neji lowered his head and murmured, "Is that so...?"

Ever since witnessing his uncle from the Main family punish his father, Hizashi, with the Caged Bird seal, Neji had become exceptionally sensitive.

Even fellow clansmen pointing and whispering about him from a distance was enough to make him take it deeply to heart.

At that moment, Neji’s gaze shifted toward a large tree in the distance.

Two swings hung beneath the tree. A blond-haired boy and a black-haired boy were sitting on them, swinging back and forth while watching the Ninja Academy’s enrollment ceremony from afar.

Neji’s gaze quickly locked onto the black-haired boy.

He said solemnly, "Uchiha Sasuke!"

Hizashi followed his gaze and casually remarked, "That child from the Uchiha clan is a year younger than you. He probably won’t enroll until next year."

Neji said with complete seriousness, "Father, he is my formidable rival. It’s a shame we aren’t in the same class. Otherwise, I could compete with him and see which of us is stronger!"

Under the tree in the distance.

Naruto, who was swinging beside Sasuke, pointed toward Neji, who was staring at them.

"Sasuke, look! That white-eyed guy keeps staring at you!"

Sasuke snorted lightly. "Are you an idiot? With him staring this obviously, how could I, an Uchiha, possibly not notice?"

Naruto looked puzzled. "Then why does he keep staring at you?"

Sasuke gave a proud smile and replied calmly, "He must have realized that out of everyone here, I’m the only one who’s truly strong!"

Awooo...

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the distance, resembling both a roar and a mournful wail.

The sound came in overlapping layers, as though it were distorting space itself. One moment, it seemed to come from somewhere beyond the distant horizon, and the next, it sounded as though it were right beside their ears.

It made their skin crawl, filling them with an intensely uncomfortable feeling.

Naruto stopped his swinging and turned toward Sasuke beside him. "Did you hear that?"

Sasuke nodded with a serious expression and gazed into the distance.

In an instant, his originally pitch-black eyes turned scarlet...