After watching Itachi finish setting up the warning traps, Hyuga Kagami casually picked out a clean patch of grass, leaned his back against a tree trunk, and closed his eyes for a light nap.
Because their client, Shinnō, was traveling with them, they had been making the entire journey on foot.
For a ninja like Hyuga Kagami, this was hardly a burden at all.
Even after walking for an entire day, he wasn’t the least bit tired.
As he rested with his eyes closed, Hyuga Kagami turned his thoughts to his own situation.
At present, aside from his lack of any inheritance concerning the Tenseigan, the greatest factor restricting the growth of his strength was his chakra reserves.
Now that the Tenseigan had entered its stabilization period, the growth of his chakra reserves had also begun to level off.
Although they were still increasing every day, the effect was nowhere near as dramatic as it had been during the adaptation period.
In terms of chakra reserves alone, he was already among the very best of his generation, but that wasn’t enough to satisfy him.
He knew very well that, as he was now, he still couldn’t shine as brilliantly as the Fourth Hokage!
In truth, it wasn’t as though there were no ways to solve this problem.
Tailed Beasts were excellent sources of chakra.
Nearly every jinchūriki possessed what seemed like an inexhaustible supply of chakra.
The only real difference between them was whether or not they could control the Tailed Beast sealed within their bodies.
However, all nine Tailed Beasts were under the control of the Five Great Shinobi Villages, and they would eventually become targets of the Akatsuki as well.
Trying to seize one of them would be no different from snatching food from a tiger’s jaws.
One careless move, and he could easily end up getting himself burned.
The Zero-Tails, however, was different.
It was an artificial Tailed Beast.
Although both its strength and stability were far inferior to those of the orthodox Nine Tailed Beasts, if he only intended to use it as a “battery,” then perhaps it really could solve Hyuga Kagami’s current problem.
At this thought, Hyuga Kagami casually glanced at Shinnō, who was resting not far away, and mused to himself, “By the time the Zero-Tails appeared, Naruto was already pretty grown up.
If I have to wait more than ten years, it’ll be far too late.”
Early the next morning.
After packing up their belongings, the three of them set out once more.
Not long after entering the Land of Rice Fields, however, they quickly attracted the attention of a group of wandering ninja.
Wandering ninja were generally made up of rogue ninja from the major shinobi villages, along with ninja from smaller villages that had fallen apart.
These ninja were usually not particularly strong, so most of them gathered in small countries like the Land of Rice Fields that had no shinobi village to protect them, where they robbed, pillaged, and did whatever they pleased.
Glancing at the several wandering ninja trailing them from a distance, Itachi asked, “Captain, what should we do?”
Hyuga Kagami swept his gaze over their surroundings and replied calmly, “Three are lying in ambush ahead, and three are following us from behind.
I’ll handle the ones in front.
You take the ones behind.
Finish it quickly!”
Whoosh… This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
Whoosh…
The moment Hyuga Kagami gave the order, he and Itachi turned into two blurs, one rushing forward and the other backward as they charged toward the wandering ninja who had set their sights on them.
On Hyuga Kagami’s side, he didn’t use Wheel of Will.
Relying solely on the Tenseigan’s astonishing powers of perception, he dispatched the three wandering ninja in front of him with just a few strikes of the Gentle Fist.
By the time Hyuga Kagami turned around to check, Itachi had already finished his battle as well.
His exquisite kunai throwing, combined with taijutsu that contained not a single unnecessary movement, made Itachi’s fighting style equally swift and decisive.
He was not the slightest bit inferior to Hyuga Kagami.
The entire battle seemed to be nothing more than an insignificant interlude.
None of the three paid it much attention, and they simply continued on their way.
After traveling for another half a day, Hyuga Kagami suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Itachi and Shinnō both looked puzzled, but when they saw Hyuga Kagami staring into the distance with an extremely grave expression, neither asked any questions.
Instead, they instinctively went on guard.
A few moments later, Hyuga Kagami said solemnly, “I’m afraid we’ve got trouble!”
Itachi asked, “Kumogakure?”
Hyuga Kagami nodded.
The four figures rapidly approaching them all possessed considerable amounts of chakra.
The one leading them in particular had such enormous chakra reserves that they surpassed anyone Hyuga Kagami had ever seen before—
Even the Third Hokage!
Moreover, the four made absolutely no attempt to conceal their movements.
They were charging straight toward them in the open, as though they were completely certain Hyuga Kagami’s group was already at their mercy.
Hyuga Kagami wasn’t an idiot.
By this point, he had already realized that whatever Shinnō had stolen from Kumogakure had to be something extremely important.
Otherwise, Kumogakure would never have gone to such lengths and dispatched an elite squad of this caliber to retrieve it.
A dozen or so moments later, four figures landed separately on the surrounding trees, looking down from above as they scrutinized Hyuga Kagami and the others.
While they were sizing him up, Hyuga Kagami was doing the same to them.
There were four of them in total.
Their leader was a female ninja around Hyuga Kagami’s age.
Based on his memories from his previous life, Hyuga Kagami vaguely remembered her.
He could no longer recall her name, but she seemed to be the jinchūriki of the Two-Tails.
Aside from the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki, the other three also appeared to be around the level of Special Jōnin.
They were most likely a guard squad specifically assigned by Kumogakure to protect the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki.
After a brief standoff, the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki said coldly, “Hey, Konoha brats, get lost!
Go back and tell your village that you ran into Yugito of Kumogakure.
Your village won’t blame you for abandoning the mission.”
Despite being around the same age, Hyuga Kagami had just been called a brat. This chapter was copied from g.com without permission.
One could easily imagine what kind of mood that put him in.
Kumogakure’s Two-Tails jinchūriki was extremely confident in her own strength and clearly didn’t take Hyuga Kagami or Itachi seriously at all.
In Hyuga Kagami’s vague memories, this woman would later suffer precisely because of that excessive confidence.
She had insisted on taking on Akatsuki’s immortal duo by herself, only for things to go horribly wrong.
In the end, she lost not only her Tailed Beast, but her life as well.
Shinnō’s expression was constantly shifting at this point.
Having traveled through many different countries, he was quite knowledgeable.
In his eyes, Hyuga Kagami and Itachi were certainly excellent ninja, but compared to Yugito, Kumogakure’s Two-Tails jinchūriki, they were obviously outmatched.
Itachi was exceptionally perceptive.
The moment he saw the lineup Kumogakure had sent after them, he realized that Shinnō, their client, must have been hiding something from them.
Seeing that the silent Hyuga Kagami and Itachi seemed unmoved, Yugito spoke again.
“This man called Shinnō stole important secrets from Kumogakure.
He’s a complete fraud.
Is throwing away your lives for a liar like him really worth it?”
Shinnō immediately defended himself.
“I’ve never even entered your village!
How could I possibly have stolen your secrets?
For Kumogakure to treat a physician like this is disgraceful!”
Yugito sneered.
“There’s no point trying to talk your way out of it.
Whether it was you or not, we’ll naturally find out once we’ve interrogated you.”
Hyuga Kagami was genuinely conflicted now.
He had taken missions precisely to build up his reputation.
If he sold out his client without even putting up a fight, forget gaining any reputation—he would probably be punished by the village instead.
But the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki was no ordinary opponent.
Once they started fighting, it would be extremely difficult to control how far the battle escalated.
Boom…!
Just as Hyuga Kagami was weighing the pros and cons, the sound of an explosion suddenly rang out in the distance.
For a moment, both sides turned their attention toward it.
Hyuga Kagami narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction of the explosion.
He discovered that two people were fighting there—and he knew both of them.
They were Orochimaru and Jiraiya of Konoha’s Legendary Sannin.
At that moment, from the corner of his eye, Hyuga Kagami suddenly noticed an almost imperceptible flash of delight cross Shinnō’s face…