Only the Tenseigan possessed such extraordinary powers of perception.
No one else—not even Itachi, who had yet to awaken his Sharingan—noticed the fleeting flash of delight that crossed Shinnō’s face.
But Hyuga Kagami did.
And the moment he caught it, his thoughts began racing.
“Why would Shinnō be pleased to see Orochimaru and Jiraiya?”
“Everyone knows Orochimaru defected from Konoha.
With him and Jiraiya appearing at the same time, one cancels out the other.
Logically speaking, their presence shouldn’t actually help us out of our current predicament.
Unless…
unless Shinnō is certain that Orochimaru and Jiraiya will join forces to help us deal with the Kumogakure shinobi…”
“But what makes him so certain that Orochimaru, a rogue ninja, would help?”
“And if he knew Kumogakure was hunting him, why did he insist on coming to the Land of Rice Fields at a time like this?”
“He even openly hired Konoha shinobi as escorts.
Was he trying to provoke a conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure?
If so, what gave him the confidence that he’d be able to walk away unscathed?”
“Could it be…
Could running into Orochimaru here not be a coincidence at all?
Is Orochimaru, who’s hiding in the Land of Rice Fields, actually Shinnō’s trump card?”
“Is he one of Orochimaru’s men!?
No.
He’s a remnant of the Land of the Sky.
There’s no way he’s Orochimaru’s subordinate.
There must be some sort of cooperative relationship between the two of them!”
Combining what he had just observed with the hazy memories from his previous life, Hyuga Kagami quickly arrived at the answer.
No matter how he looked at it, the unexpected appearance of Orochimaru and Jiraiya presented Hyuga Kagami with an opportunity.
If Orochimaru really was cooperating with Shinnō, then there was no way he would simply stand by and let something happen to him.
And Jiraiya, for his part, would never watch Konoha shinobi get killed by Kumogakure ninja right in front of him.
His mind made up, Hyuga Kagami immediately placed a hand behind his back and flashed Itachi a signal.
Seeing the gesture, Itachi quickly pulled out a Konoha distress flare and tossed it high into the sky.
Bang!
Bang!
Bang!
With a series of explosions, the flare burst apart overhead, releasing three clusters of red smoke.
In truth, Itachi’s distress signal wasn’t even necessary.
At the same moment Hyuga Kagami’s group spotted Orochimaru and Jiraiya, the two Sannin had also noticed them.
As if by mutual understanding, they immediately stopped fighting and rushed over together.
Before long, two figures arrived one after the other, appearing before Hyuga Kagami and the others.
Orochimaru swept his gaze over the people before him and let out a sinister chuckle in his hoarse voice.
“To think I’d run into Kumogakure’s jinchūriki here.
It seems I won’t be leaving empty-handed today!”
Jiraiya hurriedly warned him, “Orochimaru, don’t do anything reckless!
You’ll start a war!”
His gaze shifted away from Yugito, Kumogakure’s jinchūriki, and swept across Hyuga Kagami’s group.
His eyes lingered briefly on Hyuga Kagami, then Itachi, before finally settling on Shinnō.
A knowing, intrigued smile crept across his face.
On Kumogakure’s side, the successive appearances of Orochimaru and Jiraiya had shattered Yugito’s earlier composure.
The three Kumogakure shinobi accompanying her were even more tense, looking as though they were facing their greatest enemy.
Unlike Hyuga Kagami, who had mostly kept his head down during the war, or Itachi, who was only just beginning his career as a shinobi, Orochimaru and Jiraiya had earned their fearsome reputations through battle after battle.
Even someone as proud as Yugito didn’t dare act arrogantly in front of these two.
“This isn’t over!”
Realizing that the situation had turned against her, Yugito threw out one final threat before decisively leading her team away.
Orochimaru had no intention of pursuing them.
He simply remained where he was, one hand resting on his hip, making it obvious that his earlier words had merely been meant to intimidate Yugito.
Seeing the Kumogakure shinobi withdraw of their own accord, Jiraiya let out a long sigh of relief.
Hyuga Kagami, meanwhile, shifted his vigilance away from the retreating Kumogakure shinobi and toward Orochimaru.
He tentatively asked, “Lord Jiraiya, do you need our help?”
Orochimaru was a rogue ninja of Konoha.
At least on the surface, Hyuga Kagami, as a Konoha shinobi, naturally had to make his position clear.
Jiraiya waved him off.
“Orochimaru isn’t someone you can handle.
There’s nothing for you to do here.
Go finish your own mission.”
Hyuga Kagami had only been putting on a show of taking a stand in the first place.
Hearing that, he said nothing more and immediately left with Itachi and Shinnō.
After this unexpected encounter, the three became even more cautious.
They avoided every town along the way and refrained from interacting with anyone.
Whenever they encountered flat, open terrain with nowhere to conceal themselves, they even changed their routine entirely—hiding during the day and traveling only at night.
With the three of them exercising such extreme caution, Hyuga Kagami’s group finally arrived safely at their destination a week later.
The village really was suffering from an epidemic.
Everywhere they looked, the place was desolate and lifeless.
There was also indeed a villager who claimed to have written the letter asking Shinnō to come to the village and treat the outbreak.
Hyuga Kagami already knew Shinnō’s true identity, but he pretended to know nothing.
Following the proper procedures, he formally completed the B-rank escort mission.
On the journey back, Itachi glanced over his shoulder at the village disappearing behind them and said quietly, “Captain, there’s something wrong with that Shinnō.”
“I know.
But it’s none of our business.”
Itachi hesitated for a moment before continuing, “I don’t know if it’s just my imagination, but I keep getting the feeling that he’s hostile toward Konoha.”
Hyuga Kagami looked at Itachi in mild surprise.
After a long moment, he finally replied,
“Maybe.”
The Land of the Sky had been destroyed by Konoha, so it was perfectly natural for Shinnō to harbor hostility toward the village.
Hyuga Kagami had only been able to determine Shinnō’s true identity because of the memories from his previous life.
That level of perception genuinely surprised Hyuga Kagami.
That evening, while they were making camp, Hyuga Kagami noticed a secret mark left by Orochimaru on a large tree nearby.
He immediately understood.
Orochimaru was summoning him.
Hyuga Kagami casually made up an excuse for Itachi, then quietly slipped away from the campsite and headed toward the designated meeting place.
He had only just arrived when Orochimaru’s figure slowly emerged from the shadows.
As always, Hyuga Kagami greeted him respectfully.
“Lord Orochimaru.”
Orochimaru studied Hyuga Kagami with great interest.
Only after a long while did he finally speak.
“Kagami-kun, you seem…
rather different from how you were before.”
Hyuga Kagami replied calmly, “Thanks to you, I nearly died at the village’s hands.
It’s only natural that I’d change a little after something like that.”
The corners of Orochimaru’s mouth curled upward.
“A blessing in disguise, perhaps?
In that case, you should properly thank Danzō.”
“You mean this purge was Danzō’s doing?”
“Mm.
I overestimated his tolerance and underestimated his methods.” Orochimaru spoke casually, as though discussing something that had absolutely nothing to do with him.
Hyuga Kagami probed, “It sounds like you must have taken something quite valuable from him.”
Orochimaru didn’t deny it.
Instead, he smiled.
“That’s right.
It was indeed quite a valuable treasure.”
With his suspicions confirmed, Hyuga Kagami didn’t probe any further.
Instead, he deliberately changed the subject and asked softly,
“That Shinnō…
he’s working with you, isn’t he?”
Orochimaru stared at Hyuga Kagami.
“So even that didn’t escape your notice.
You really are different from before.”
Hyuga Kagami modestly shook his head.
“He exposed too many flaws himself.
It wasn’t just me—even that Uchiha kid noticed something was off about him.”
Orochimaru gave a noncommittal smile.
“He stole some secret techniques related to physical regeneration from Kumogakure.
They’ll be quite useful for my current experiments.”
“I see.
No wonder Kumogakure sent such a powerful pursuit team after him!”
Seeing that Hyuga Kagami appeared interested, Orochimaru spoke in his hoarse voice, his words carrying a hint of temptation.
“Kagami, if you’re interested…
I could consider giving you a copy as well.”