Chapter 84: Travels

Chapter 84: Chapter 84: Travels

Anything involving contracts inevitably touched upon things like the soul, bloodlines, and other intangible, almost ethereal concepts that were difficult to put into words. Because of that, learning the Contract Seal was no easier than learning the Four Symbols Seal.

However, the current Hyuga Kagami was no longer the complete novice who knew next to nothing about sealing techniques.

After receiving guidance from the Priestess of the Land of Demons, coupled with his own thorough and painstaking study of the Four Symbols Seal, his mastery of sealing techniques could now barely be considered to have reached a respectable level.

When it came specifically to the sealing techniques of the Uzumaki lineage, calling him half an expert wouldn’t be much of an exaggeration.

After spending half a day carefully studying the technique, he estimated that it would take him at least seven days to fully master the Contract Seal.

Fortunately, the village was currently negotiating peace with Kumogakure, so Team 11 didn’t have any missions at the moment. Seven days was neither too long nor too short for him—it was just right.

Another four days passed when, all of a sudden, every member of Team 11 showed up at Kagami’s house together.

Glancing at Kakashi, Shisui, and Guy, Kagami smiled. "What brings all three of you here together?"

Guy was impatient by nature and immediately blurted out, "Kagami, have you heard?"

Kagami casually replied, "Heard what?"

For the past few days, he had been holed up at home, completely absorbed in studying the Contract Seal. He had practically shut himself off from everything happening outside.

Guy hurriedly said, "The negotiations between the village and Kumogakure!"

Shisui chimed in as well. "Senpai, the peace talks between the village and Kumogakure have broken down!"

Kagami was somewhat surprised. "What?"

In his memories from his previous life, there had indeed been an incident during the signing of the peace agreement between Konoha and Kumogakure, when Kumogakure’s chief negotiator attempted to kidnap the young heiress of the Hyuga Main Family.

But by that point, the peace agreement between the two villages had already essentially been finalized.

Yet now, the negotiations hadn’t even concluded and the peace talks had already collapsed. That genuinely puzzled Kagami.

Kakashi, as the captain of Team 11, quickly gave him a detailed account of what had happened.

As it turned out, it wasn’t only Konoha that had people dissatisfied with the peace talks. There were plenty of people in Kumogakure who opposed them as well. They believed that if they held out just a little longer, they could drag Konoha down from its position as the number one shinobi village in the ninja world.

With resentment brewing on both sides, it was only natural that the peace talks couldn’t continue.

Kagami carefully considered what he’d heard, then smiled. "You don’t need to worry too much. The truth is, neither we nor Kumogakure can afford to keep fighting. Both the Third Hokage and the Raikage understand that, so the peace talks will definitely resume."

Guy asked curiously, "Why are you so sure?"

Kagami smiled. "Kumogakure and Konoha aren’t the only two shinobi villages in the ninja world. If we fight each other until both sides are crippled, the only ones who’ll benefit are the other villages."

Whether it was the hazy memories of his previous life or the intelligence he’d gathered from various sources in this one, Kagami was certain of one thing.

Kumogakure’s surprise attack on Konoha had only been a probe.

If Konoha had proven incapable of putting up much resistance, Kumogakure would undoubtedly have launched an all-out offensive.

But once Konoha proved that it wasn’t a lamb waiting to be slaughtered, Kumogakure had gotten the answer it wanted from this probing attack. There was no reason for them to keep taking risks and fight a war that would only allow the other shinobi villages to reap the benefits.

After seeing the other members of Team 11 off, Kagami sighed. "Looks like these peace negotiations between the village and Kumogakure are going to drag on for a very long time."

Although he knew that the two sides would eventually sign a peace agreement, until the resentment on both sides subsided, the negotiations would likely remain trapped in a prolonged stalemate and endless back-and-forth.

But for Kagami, that was all benefit and no harm.

As long as negotiations with Kumogakure were still ongoing, the village couldn’t possibly risk internal unrest by making a move against the Uchiha. That meant the Uchiha could continue serving as his shield for the time being.

Kagami finally mastered the Contract Seal a full five days later than he’d originally expected.

The main reason for the delay was that he had no opportunity to practice it.

When he’d been studying the Four Symbols Seal, he could use practically anything in his house as a target to practice his sealing techniques on.

The Contract Seal, however, was different. It required something genuinely bound by a contractual relationship to serve as the target of the seal.

And with Kagami holed up at home by himself, there was simply no way for him to find a suitable practice target.

Fortunately, the scroll the Third Hokage had given him explained every crucial point of the Contract Seal in painstaking detail. So even without any actual practice, Kagami was still able to more or less master the technique by following the instructions step by step.

When Kagami returned the Contract Seal scroll to the Third Hokage, the latter was taken aback.

The Third Hokage had originally expected Kagami to need at least a month to master the Contract Seal. He hadn’t expected Kagami to return the scroll after a mere thirteen days.

As he recalled, even the Fourth Hokage had taken nearly fifteen days to master this technique.

Because of this, the Third Hokage couldn’t help but think even more highly of Kagami, regarding him as a rare genius when it came to sealing techniques.

After returning the scroll, Kagami followed up by requesting permission to leave the village and travel for a while.

The Third Hokage’s gaze sharpened. "Why did you suddenly get such an idea?"

Kagami had already prepared an excuse. "I want to find a suitable summoning beast."

In Konoha, it wasn’t particularly unusual for shinobi to leave the village and travel. Jiraiya, one of the Three Sannin, was the most obvious example, as he spent practically the entire year away from the village.

However, traveling outside the village still required official approval. Even Jiraiya was no exception to that rule. Otherwise, the village would regard it as desertion!

Of course, if your background was powerful enough and you were strong enough—like Princess Tsunade—then it wasn’t called "desertion."

It was called "leaving the village."

As a member of the ANBU directly under the Hokage, Kagami technically wasn’t even qualified to request an extended leave to travel, especially at such a critical time when the village was still negotiating peace with Kumogakure.

Therefore, Kagami had no choice but to bring out a reason that would be difficult for the Third Hokage to refuse.

Since a summoning beast could have a major impact on a shinobi’s combat strength, searching for a suitable one naturally became a perfectly legitimate reason for most Konoha shinobi to travel outside the village.

The Third Hokage pondered for a long while before finally relenting. "I can only give you two months of leave."

After thanking the Third Hokage, Kagami hurried back home, picked up the luggage he had prepared in advance, and headed toward the village gates alone.

His main purpose for leaving the village this time was none other than to personally examine exactly what kind of sealing technique the Fourth Hokage had placed on the Dragon Vein—and to see if he could find a way to break it.

As long as he could confirm that he was capable of undoing the Fourth Hokage’s seal on the Dragon Vein, his Artificial Tailed Beast Project could immediately begin.

After registering his departure at the village gates, Kagami left without looking back.

The Root operative assigned to keep him under surveillance had no choice but to grit his teeth and follow.

"I’ll have to find a way to shake him off!"

Sensing the tail following behind him, Kagami quietly began thinking of a way to lose him.

Suddenly, a chain shot out from beneath the ground and tightly bound Kagami as he walked!

Almost simultaneously, two figures burst from the bushes on either side of him. One from the left and one from the right, they drove their longswords straight into Kagami’s ribs!

Only then did one of them grin viciously.

"Twenty-five million ryō—we’ll be taking it!"