As the white smoke rose, the Hatake Shibu standing in front of him disappeared once again.
This time, they were much closer together, so Hatake Sakumo clearly saw Shibu disappear.
It was obviously a trap within a trap.
He had fallen for it!
“Damn it! I actually got played by my own son!”
Sakumo immediately hurried toward Shibu’s herbal tea stall.
At this point, Shibu had probably already accomplished what he wanted.
Sakumo’s earlier guess had been correct.
Shibu had created a Shadow Clone in the bathroom at home, then used the Transformation Technique in that corner earlier.
Everything had been carefully calculated.
The purpose was to lure Sakumo away by giving him a theory that he would naturally accept.
Before someone runs into a wall, they will always believe their own idea is flawless.
Even if there is a tiny flaw, their own brain will instinctively smooth it over.
That was why Sakumo had been successfully led all the way to the Uchiha compound.
After seeing this scene through his crystal ball, Hiruzen Sarutobi was stunned for a moment before bursting out laughing.
He never expected that even his Anbu commander would have a day when he got played by someone else.
He then adjusted the image in the crystal ball back to Shibu’s herbal tea stall.
Sure enough, Shibu was already standing in front of the stall, selling herbal tea.
And most of the people coming over had those unmistakable pale eyes.
They were members of the Hyuga Clan.
The Hyuga were much like the Uchiha.
They were one of Konoha’s major clans.
And powerful clans shared one common characteristic:
They were rich.
So instead of going to the Uchiha compound, going to the Hyuga compound worked just as well.
Although infiltrating the Hyuga compound was somewhat difficult, that was only if one followed the normal visiting procedures.
If one used unconventional methods, there was no problem at all.
For example, simply sneaking in.
That wasn’t difficult.
In fact, it was extremely easy.
The territory controlled by major clans was enormous.
As long as one found a weak point in their defenses, getting inside was a piece of cake.
After all, with such a huge area, it was impossible to maintain constant surveillance twenty-four hours a day.
And this was Konoha.
As the foremost of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, there weren’t many people bold enough to cause trouble here.
They had never imagined that someone would dare to provoke them right under their noses.
So, for Hatake Shibu, infiltrating the compound was child’s play.
Meanwhile, Uchiha Obito was busy collecting money and pouring herbal tea, running around so much that his feet practically had to meet his head.
“As expected, you’ve really got some skills.”
Shibu smiled brightly.
“Of course! It’s all thanks to Father’s excellent teaching!”
“Don’t! I haven’t really taught you anything.”
Sakumo answered with a depressed expression.
That was the truth.
Shibu had never liked swordsmanship since he was young.
As for theoretical knowledge, he could basically remember anything after seeing it once.
This had made Sakumo feel rather frustrated on more than one occasion.
After all, as a father, he hadn’t exactly played the role he was supposed to.
“Come on, Father. I won this round, didn’t I?”
Looking at the smug expression on Shibu’s face, Sakumo really wanted to let him experience the taste of bamboo shoot fried with meat.
But this wasn’t the time.
The two of them had already reached an unspoken agreement.
Until Sakumo obtained concrete evidence, he wasn’t allowed to use force against Shibu.
Otherwise, whoever made the first move would be considered the loser.
The reason Shibu was so smug was because he had decided that after today, he would never use this technique again.
That meant the matter could finally be buried.
No one would ever know that he had been responsible.
Sakumo looked at his smug son and ground his teeth in frustration.
But there was nothing he could do.
He could only think of another way later and see whether he could catch Shibu’s mistake.
Just as Shibu was happily imagining his future and Sakumo was nursing a headache, an Anbu shinobi approached from the distance.
Sakumo immediately perked up.
“Shibu, today I’ll show you what it means when an old ginger is spicier than a young one!”
He then reached out and took the videotape handed over by the Anbu.
He had already given up hope of finding evidence.
Fortunately, they had at least managed to record something.
Shibu stared somewhat nervously at the videotape in Sakumo’s hand.
What is this?
Why am I suddenly feeling nervous?
Could this contain evidence of my crimes?
That doesn’t make sense.
He had been extremely careful with his actions.
Someone shouldn’t have been able to discover him.
Maybe this old man is bluffing again.
“What do you mean, ‘old ginger is spicier’? What’s that thing? Don’t tell me it’s some kind of adult videotape?”
“You guessed correctly.”
“It really is an adult videotape.”
“What?!”
“Even though Mom has been gone for so long, you don’t need to buy that kind of thing! If you’re feeling lonely, you can just find someone else. Kakashi and I won’t mind!”
“Bang!”
The moment he heard this, Sakumo’s temper exploded.
Was his son perhaps a little too mature for his age?
To prevent himself from losing face in front of everyone, he hurriedly punched Shibu on the head.
“You little bastard! What are you even talking about?!”
“This is the videotape of your crime!”
Shibu clutched his head and stared at him in disbelief.
“Impossible! There is absolutely no way you could have recorded me. I carefully sensed my surroundings before making my move. There was definitely no one from your side anywhere near me!”
“Is that so?”
“Then why don’t you guess what I was doing last night?”
The previous night, Sakumo had personally visited both the Hyuga and Uchiha clans.
He had placed recording devices at their training grounds, as well as at the public training grounds.
To prevent Shibu from discovering them, the devices had been activated that morning, and no one had gone anywhere near those locations afterward.
That was why Shibu hadn’t sensed anyone else.
His perception had been completely accurate.
There really hadn’t been anyone around him.
“What?!”
“Could it be that you…?”
“Damn it!”
“You don’t play fair!”
“You used your subordinates, and now you’re using high technology too!”
“This isn’t fair!”
Shibu jumped up and down furiously, pointing at Sakumo and loudly protesting.
But those sharp complaints sounded strangely pleasant to Sakumo’s ears.
Was this the joy of teasing one’s own son?
Both of his sons had always been exceptionally well-behaved.
But that had also deprived him of much of the fun of being a father.
Now he finally had the chance to experience it again.
It really was a wonderful feeling.
“There’s never been such a thing as fairness in this world, has there?”
“Shibu, those were your own words!”
“Although I don’t know why you said something like that in the first place, it certainly applies perfectly to you right now.”
This time, it was Hatake Sakumo who spoke with a smug smile.