A secret technique capable of catching the interest of someone as powerful as Orochimaru—Hyuga Kagami would only be deceiving himself if he claimed he wasn’t interested.
So he asked frankly, “Then what do you need me to do for you?”
Orochimaru seemingly answered an entirely different question.
“What do you think of Uchiha Itachi?”
Without hesitation, Kagami replied, “Unlike many so-called geniuses, he’s a true genius!
Give him another three to five years, and he may reach a level others can only look up to.”
Orochimaru pulled a scroll from inside his robes and tossed it to Kagami.
“Keep a closer eye on him for me.
I’m very interested in this Uchiha.”
With that, Orochimaru’s figure vanished into the shadows as though he had never appeared at all.
Holding the secret technique scroll Orochimaru had thrown him, Kagami wondered inwardly, “What exactly is Orochimaru after—the Sharingan of Itachi, or Itachi’s body itself?”
There was no questioning Itachi’s exceptional talent.
Even the Third Hokage had publicly praised him before.
What Kagami couldn’t quite figure out was what Orochimaru really meant by “keep a closer eye on him.”
When he returned to the campsite, Kagami found Itachi once again writing and sketching in the little notebook he always carried with him.
He casually asked, “What are you writing?”
Itachi answered seriously, “I’m keeping a mission log.”
According to the village’s regulations, every ninja who went out on a mission was required to keep a mission log.
When they returned to the village to turn in the mission, the log would be kept as an official record and sealed away in the Mission Center’s archives.
But regulations were one thing.
In reality, very few ninja were willing to painstakingly record every detail of their missions.
Most ninja, Hyuga Kagami included, simply gave a brief verbal account of what had happened when turning in their missions.
A staff member at the Mission Center would record their account on the spot before filing it away in the archives.
Kagami sighed in admiration.
“Itachi, you’re the most meticulous and conscientious ninja I’ve ever met.
You may be young, but no matter what you do, you take it seriously and never cut corners.”
Closing his notebook, Itachi replied, “I simply want to learn as much as I can from you, Senpai.”
Kagami smiled and shook his head, saying nothing more.
Their return journey went smoothly.
Unlike the leisurely pace they had taken on the way there, Kagami and Itachi traveled at full speed in true ninja fashion.
It took them only a week to return to the village.
After they submitted the mission log at the Mission Center, the difficulty rating of their mission was immediately raised from B-rank to A-rank!
The reason was simple.
The mission had involved Kumogakure, one of the Five Great Shinobi Villages alongside Konoha.
Moreover, the other side had even deployed Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki, along with her escort squad.
They were one of the pillars supporting their village.
Therefore, if a team encountered such a troublesome opponent during a mission and still managed to successfully complete their commission, the Mission Center would, as was customary, raise the mission’s evaluation by one rank at its discretion.
Of course, the reward paid to Hyuga Kagami and Itachi was still based on the standard for a B-rank mission.
The only difference was that both of their records now included the completion of an A-rank mission.
Completing even a single A-rank mission was a rare achievement for a chunin, let alone for Itachi, who had yet to even graduate from the Academy.
So when Itachi walked out of the Mission Center, he was in an exceptionally good mood.
Looking at the smile on Itachi’s face, Kagami sighed with emotion.
“Only at times like this do you actually look like a kid.”
At that moment, Itachi bowed deeply to Kagami and said sincerely, “Senpai, thank you for your guidance.
I learned a great deal during this mission.
You’re a true Konoha ninja!”
Kagami smiled.
“I don’t remember teaching you anything.”
Itachi replied, “It’s true that you’re not much of a talker, but you taught me many things through your actions.
Especially when we encountered the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki—you showed me the kind of conviction a Konoha ninja should have!”
Kagami froze for a moment upon hearing this, then asked, “You didn’t think I looked pretty pathetic back then?”
Itachi shook his head.
The corner of Kagami’s mouth curled upward.
“Then do you know why I was able to remain calm when those Kumo ninja were humiliating us?”
Itachi thought about it seriously for a while before answering tentatively, “Because anger interferes with one’s judgment, so a ninja shouldn’t allow himself to become angry?”
“No…” Kagami waved his hand and smiled mysteriously.
“It’s because the moment I remembered that Uchiha Itachi was getting humiliated right alongside me, I suddenly felt a whole lot better!”
Itachi simply assumed Kagami was joking with him.
After chatting for a little while longer, he said his goodbyes and left.
Watching Itachi’s departing figure, Kagami let out a soft sigh.
He had to admit that the Uchiha clan truly was an unusual bunch.
They were far too prone to going to extremes.
Someone as narrow-minded as Obito was willing to destroy the entire world over a girl he had a crush on.
Yet someone as compassionate as Itachi, in order to prevent countless lives from being lost, was capable of killing his own parents and clansmen with his own hands.
If their extreme way of thinking were the only problem, it wouldn’t be such a big deal.
There were plenty of people like that in the world.
But the Uchiha were different.
The more extreme their emotions became, the stronger their ocular power grew.
And once their Sharingan evolved into the Mangekyo Sharingan, these people possessed both the motivation to put their extreme beliefs into action and the power to actually make them a reality.
Just thinking about it sent a chill down Kagami’s spine.
Inside the Hokage’s office.
Suddenly, the Third Hokage turned to the Hokage’s assistant beside him and asked, “That Uchiha boy just completed an A-rank mission?”
With the village currently keeping the entire Uchiha clan under comprehensive surveillance, the report had reached the Hokage’s office almost immediately after Itachi completed the mission.
The assistant replied, “Yes.
It was originally a B-rank commission, but Kumogakure became involved during the mission, and they even deployed Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails’ jinchūriki.
Because of that, the Mission Center raised the mission’s evaluation from B-rank to A-rank.”
Flipping through the mission records, the Third Hokage asked, “This Hyuga Kagami has ties to Orochimaru?”
The assistant replied, “Yes.
During the war, Orochimaru used his connections to have him transferred from the front lines to a field hospital, where he served as a hospital guard for some time.
He can’t use medical ninjutsu, but he’s highly proficient in treating and bandaging wounds.
He had a fairly good reputation among the medical corps.
Aside from being too closely associated with Orochimaru, there are no other blemishes on his record.”
The Third Hokage pulled out Hyuga Kagami’s personal file and glanced through it.
A moment later, his brows furrowed.
“He’s already been subjected to a purge?”
The assistant answered, “Yes.
Root carried out a purge against him once, but the operation failed after they encountered a wandering ninja of unknown identity.
Mitsui Chuichi, the Root ninja assigned to accompany and monitor him, was killed.”
The Third Hokage’s frown deepened.
“A wandering ninja of unknown identity?
Can that be confirmed?”
The assistant replied, “We received word from Sunagakure as well.
The assassination squad they sent to carry out their purge was also completely wiped out.
However, the information they passed on was rather vague.
They seem to know who the killer was, but they don’t want to tell us.
Based on the Intelligence Division’s analysis, this so-called wandering ninja was most likely a rogue ninja from Sunagakure.”
Only then did the Third Hokage’s furrowed brows relax.
“Since we can confirm that Hyuga Kagami wasn’t responsible, observe him for a while longer.
If nothing unusual turns up, remove him from the purge list.”
With Orochimaru’s defection, followed shortly afterward by the Nine-Tails’ attack, the village had suffered one devastating loss after another.
Orochimaru, the Fourth Hokage, and the Nine-Tails’ jinchūriki—three Kage-level combatants—were all gone, along with a large number of ninja.
Konoha’s strength had been severely weakened.
And according to reports sent back by spies embedded within the other Great Shinobi Villages, after learning of Konoha’s successive disasters, those villages seemed to be secretly plotting something together.
Every one of them was beginning to stir.
On top of that, there was the problem of the Uchiha clan within the village itself.
Beset by troubles both within and without, the Third Hokage was already growing exhausted from trying to keep everything under control.
As a result, the purge operation proposed by Danzo had been suspended indefinitely.