Chapter 81: Taking the Blame

Chapter 81: Chapter 81: Taking the Blame

Pulling his thoughts back, Hyuga Kagami turned his gaze toward the Truth-Seeking Ball he was idly playing with in his hand.

At its core, a Truth-Seeking Ball should be an extremely condensed sphere of chakra, containing Yin Release, Yang Release, as well as chakra from all five basic nature transformations.

In theory, a Truth-Seeking Ball possessed the ability to transform all matter.

Because of this, its fundamental nature surpassed ninjutsu based on a single chakra nature, Kekkei Genkai formed from the combination of two chakra natures, and even Kekkei Tōta formed from three.

It was a difference in quality.

Aside from a handful of exceptional circumstances, Truth-Seeking Balls were practically impossible to counter.

Precisely because of this, after mastering Tenseigan Chakra Mode, an idea had once crossed Kagami’s mind.

If he ultimately failed to properly master the Uzumaki Clan’s sealing techniques, then he could simply enter Tenseigan Chakra Mode and use a Truth-Seeking Ball to forcibly break through the seal the Fourth Hokage had placed on the Dragon Vein.

However, after today’s experiments, he abandoned that idea.

First of all, sealing techniques in the shinobi world were simply far too bizarre and unpredictable.

Virtually anything known to exist could be sealed.

Whether it was powerful Tailed Beasts and demons, the beings suspended somewhere between life and death after being resurrected through the Impure World Reincarnation, or even something as intangible and ethereal as a soul—none were exceptions.

Even Otsutsuki Kaguya, the Progenitor of Chakra, was unable to escape the power of sealing techniques.

Therefore, Kagami couldn’t say with certainty whether his Truth-Seeking Balls would actually be capable of breaking through the seal the Fourth Hokage had placed on the Dragon Vein.

Secondly, judging from the chakra consumption required to manipulate a Truth-Seeking Ball, even if Kagami’s Truth-Seeking Ball really could break the Fourth Hokage’s seal on the Dragon Vein, he would inevitably exhaust all of his chakra in the process.

And the moment the Fourth Hokage’s seal failed, the Dragon Vein’s enormous reserves of chakra would come surging out.

At that point, even if Kagami had mastered every sealing formula recorded in the artificial Tailed Beast scroll, without any chakra left of his own, all he could do was stand there and watch helplessly.

In that condition, subduing the massive amount of Dragon Vein chakra that had broken free would be absolutely impossible.

But if he couldn’t steal the Dragon Vein’s chakra within an extremely short period of time, then the chakra fluctuations from the now-unsealed Dragon Vein would inevitably attract the attention of the surrounding major shinobi villages.

Especially Sunagakure, which was practically right next door!

If that happened, Kagami really would have failed to catch the fish and ended up stinking of it instead.

Just as Kagami was silently contemplating all of this, he suddenly sensed a chakra signature rapidly approaching.

He immediately deactivated Tenseigan Chakra Mode.

Not long afterward, an ANBU ninja landed in front of Kagami and said, "Lord Hokage summons you!"

Kagami nodded and followed the ANBU out of the Forest of Death, heading straight for the Hokage Building.

Upon entering the Hokage’s office, he discovered that the Third hadn’t summoned only him. The other three members of ANBU Team 11 were already there as well.

Once everyone had arrived, the Third set down his pipe and swept his sharp gaze across the four members of Team 11.

"Did Team 11 conceal anything in your report regarding the secret mission?"

Kakashi’s expression immediately tightened.

He assumed the Third was referring to the fact that he had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, so he couldn’t help feeling somewhat guilty.

In fact, Team 11 had already reached a consensus regarding the matter—they would keep it secret for the time being.

After all, no one knew what the Uchiha Clan might do if they learned that an outsider possessed a Mangekyo Sharingan.

Because of this, everyone in Team 11, including Shisui, who was himself an Uchiha, was willing to conceal Kakashi’s Mangekyo Sharingan. They wanted to prevent the Uchiha Clan from doing anything drastic after learning the truth and further intensifying the conflict between the clan and the village.

Guy immediately lowered his head, not daring to meet the Third’s gaze.

He, too, thought the Third was talking about Kakashi’s Mangekyo Sharingan.

Kagami and Shisui, on the other hand, remained relatively calm.

The two of them knew that the Third was most likely referring to the incident where Kagami had erased an entire valley with a single attack, slaughtering hundreds of Kumogakure shinobi in the process.

Seeing all four members of Team 11 remain silent, the Third directly tossed the intelligence report he had received from Danzo in front of them and said sternly,

"Take a look for yourselves!"

After reading the report, Kakashi and Guy both froze.

Then, with faces full of astonishment, they turned toward Kagami and Shisui.

Back during the battle in the valley, Kagami and Shisui had been the ones who stayed behind to cover the retreat. Afterward, neither of them had ever told Kakashi or Guy the details of what had actually happened there.

So when the two of them saw phrases in the intelligence report such as ’the entire valley was razed to the ground’ and ’hundreds of shinobi were annihilated without even leaving corpses behind,’ one could easily imagine just how shocked they were.

Kagami casually flipped through the report and thought to himself,

"So it really is about that."

Suddenly, Shisui stepped forward.

"Lord Hokage, I was the one who did it. I left it out of the mission report because I wanted to conceal my Mangekyo Sharingan."

The Third said nothing. Instead, he turned an examining gaze toward Kakashi, the captain of Team 11.

Shisui hurriedly explained,

"Captain Kakashi was already unconscious at the time, so he knew nothing about it."

Only then did the Third nod. He picked up his pipe and took a puff.

From the Third’s perspective, if there really was someone in Team 11 capable of slaughtering hundreds of Kumogakure shinobi in a single night, then the only possible candidate was Shisui, who had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan.

As for Kakashi, Kagami, and Guy...

The Third acknowledged that all three were outstanding shinobi.

But he did not believe any of them possessed Kage-level strength.

"Since the matter has been cleared up, don’t bring it up again."

Having settled the matter, the Third continued,

"Team 11 performed exceptionally well this time and rendered a great service to the village. As an additional reward, the village has decided to give each of you another opportunity to learn a high-level ninjutsu. You don’t need to decide immediately. Once you’ve made your choice, you can come to me at any time."

The four members of Team 11 answered in unison before leaving the Hokage’s office one after another.

As soon as they walked out of the Hokage Building, Guy hurriedly asked,

"Shisui, did you really take out hundreds of Kumogakure shinobi all by yourself?!"

Shisui glanced at Kagami, then nodded to Guy.

At that moment, Kakashi quietly said,

"Thanks."

Although he was shocked by Shisui’s strength, Kakashi was even more grateful that Shisui had helped keep his Mangekyo Sharingan a secret.

Shisui shook his head.

"I only did it for the sake of the Uchiha Clan."

When Shisui first learned that Kakashi had awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan, even he had experienced intense negative emotions.

One could only imagine what would happen if the news leaked and reached the ears of the Uchiha Clan.

The consequences were almost unthinkable.

The four chatted for a little while longer before Guy dragged Kakashi away for a spar, while Kagami and Shisui headed toward a secluded area.

Kagami thoughtfully glanced behind them before lowering his voice.

"Thanks."

Shisui let out a soft sigh.

"They’re already wary of me anyway. One more thing hardly makes a difference..."