Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 255: You were put undercover, and now you're the boss?
Kurotan followed Orochimaru into the dark cave, looking back every few steps.

For the next period of time, Kurozumi will be temporarily offline and stay at Orochimaru's base.

Li Xia watched the figure of the black charcoal disappear, then put on his bamboo hat and turned to leave.

"Boss!"

A howling sound rang out in the team channel.

"Finally, I can send voice messages!"

Xiaolong was ranting about the team channel's functionality, which, within certain limits, allowed for very basic voice communication.

Once you're outside the designated area, you can only send text or pictures, and the worst part is, it's not free.

The longer the distance, the more expensive the fee will become.

Therefore, when Aowu sent a message to Li Xia in Konoha, he was very concise.

Is real-time communication a challenge for the Temple of Light?
No, He simply imposed restrictions on the apostles.

"Hmm, I'm underground in the Sound Village, the location is—never mind, let's meet at the main gate of the Sound Village."

The matter with Orochimaru is almost over.

We should meet again in Konoha Village, so there's no point in staying here.

The remaining 17 days may seem like plenty of time, but in reality, they are stretched thin.

Thinking of this, Li Xia spoke to Orochimaru, listening to the extremely impatient tone and perfunctory attempt to persuade him to stay.

He shook his head and left the base directly.

Not long after Li Xia arrived at the gate of the Sound Village, a dark figure pounced down from the tree.

"Boss!"

It flew around once with a whoosh, then darted confidently into the veil hanging from the straw hat, perched on the shoulder, and excitedly exclaimed:

"The Byakugan is here. They're almost at the border of the Land of Fire. The Byakugan's image search is really fast. I reckon they should be able to find traces in about half a day."

The traces he mentioned were from the area where Li Xia and Kimimaro had fought before.

Although most of Kimimaro's ninjutsu, developed based on his own bloodline limit, were useless in Li Xia's eyes.

But the scene was truly massive, and the environmental damage it caused was quite alarming.

Anyone who sees this will feel that a great battle once took place here.

"Should we go and wait nearby next?"

Li Xia nodded, and with Aowu in tow, he scrambled up the big tree. He had already made a detailed plan:

"We don't need to get too close. There's a cave on a small hill about two kilometers from the battlefield. We'll wait there."

Roll your eyes!

The blood vessels around my eyes bulged instantly, and the whole world turned black and white.

Hyuga Himon stood atop a tall tree trunk, channeling his chakra and straining to maximize his field of vision.

The black and white world kept magnifying and shrinking before his eyes. As a genius of the Hyuga clan who awakened the Byakugan at a young age, he was a Jonin of Konoha.

Hyuga Hido was already used to this unique visual experience.

The optimal search range for a single Byakugan is 1 kilometer, so the three-person team that came this time all split up.

Hmm. Nothing special about it.

Hinata Hido's bulging veins gradually subsided as he recalled the strange order his family had given him.

"Find the Hyuga clan's Byakugan and bring it back at all costs."

Has someone from the Hyuga clan encountered danger outside?
But Kaga knew everyone in the Hyuga clan, and he hadn't heard of anyone outside.

Then, thinking of his teammates who accompanied him on this trip, Hyuga Takashi and Hyuga Iroha.

They are all the most outstanding Jonin of the Hyuga clan. This force is already quite powerful, and even a normal S-rank mission does not require the deployment of three elite Jonin.

Something big is definitely going to happen!
Hyuga Himon felt a heavy weight in his heart. This action of bypassing the village and directly giving orders to the clan's ninja made the Jonin feel uneasy.

I hope there will be no conflict between the village and the family.
"Boom!"

A unique firework flew into the air with minimal noise.

Hinata Hinata's expression shifted, and he immediately activated his Byakugan. Sure enough, the flame became quite conspicuous in the Byakugan's special vision.

This is a secret signal firework of the Hyuga family, which is very expensive to make and is never used under normal circumstances.

What it emitted was not a regular firework, but chakra invisible to the naked eye, which could only be seen through the Byakugan.

Is this direction... Hyuga Iroha?
With a whoosh, the chakra within the Fire Gate body circulated, and the entire person vanished without a trace, leaving only the gently trembling branches indicating that someone had been there.

In just a few moments, Huomen arrived at the location where the fireworks were blooming.

He didn't even need to ask his teammates what they had discovered.

Because what we see before us says it all.

"This this…"

He stared in shock at the devastated forest before him.

The thick soil looked as if it had been completely turned over, and was covered with countless deep pits.

The trees within a radius of hundreds of meters were riddled with holes and lay sprawled on the ground.

"These are signs of a battle??"

Huomen swallowed hard.

There are ninjutsu techniques that can alter terrain, such as the Water Release: Great Waterfall Technique and Earth Release.

But the eyesight of a Jonin like Himekashi is exceptional.

He was certain that the scene before him had occurred in an instant.

What kind of destructive power is this?

"Fire Gate, Iroha, do you have any impression of ninjutsu capable of causing this kind of destruction instantly?"

"My teammate, Hinata Takashi, asked softly."

"No."

I knew it!
A bitter smile appeared on Hyuga Takashi's face. He was a Jonin in Hyuga who was good at using his brain in battle.

He had a bad feeling as early as when his family bypassed the village to issue him this 'strange and vague' order.

A typical mission will include a clear objective, relevant intelligence, and other detailed information.

But this task yielded nothing.

Aside from the phrase "at all costs," the meaning behind this sentence is chillingly cold.

That means that when necessary, all three of us can be sacrificed.

Seeing such a battlefield now, and the battle that could have caused it, I'm afraid even I wouldn't be able to escape unscathed.

Forcibly suppressing his unease, Hyuga Takashi made a few hand gestures.

A perimeter-style search!

The two teammates nodded.

"Disperse!"

"Boss, why fight Kimimaro? Wouldn't it be better to give Orochimaru a try?"

Because of the Hall of Light's ridiculous "long-distance text messaging charged per character".

As a result, Aowu and Li Xia would not contact each other or chat except when necessary.

After listening to Li Xia's brief account of what had happened, Aowu became completely engrossed, as if listening to a novel.

"Because Kimimaro's ninjutsu isn't very powerful, but it looks quite intimidating."

Li Xia smiled and poked at the fire with the branch in her hand.

Then he picked up a fish caught from a nearby stream. All the creatures in this world were influenced by chakra and were rich in trace amounts of life force.

Therefore, compared to foods in the real world that can only provide calories...

Food in the extraordinary world is considered 'spiritual food,' and it's much more effective at satisfying hunger than in the real world. The fish was gutted and its internal organs removed; it was given a simple preparation.

Li Xia then strung them together and placed them on the fire, slowly rotating them.

The orange firelight danced on his face, casting shadows of varying depths.

The air was filled with the dampness of the cave and the unique smell of burning charcoal.

There was a very peaceful atmosphere.

Aowu was already taking out seasoning packets, which included fermented bean paste, Sichuan peppercorn powder, five-spice powder, minced ginger, and minced garlic.

These things are quite hard to buy. I don't know why, but foreigners make up 90% of the staff at the Temple of Light. There are Asian faces, though, but very few.

However, since they're all in the infinite flow genre, these apostles don't care about nationality or anything like that, so there's no barrier between them.

These seasonings are skillfully mixed with soy sauce to create a sauce with a rich flavor.

The little paws held the brush and gently brushed a thin layer of sauce onto the fish, ensuring that every piece of fish was evenly coated with the rich flavor.

As the fish skin is roasted over charcoal, it gradually changes color, turning from silvery-white to golden-yellow, with fine oil bubbles rising to the surface and sizzling.

The sauce bubbled slightly on the fish, gradually seeping into the flesh and adding an enticing sheen.

Li Xia's eyesight was much better than before; he could clearly see the fish fibers trembling slightly under the combined effect of the flames and sauce, as if they were dancing a delicious dance.

Gradually, the fish skin becomes increasingly crispy, while the fish meat becomes more delicate and juicy.

Every now and then, a few drops of grease would slide onto the charcoal fire, igniting a small cluster of orange flames, which would then quickly go out, leaving black spots on the ground.

Finally, the skin of the grilled fish turned a deep amber color and emitted a mouthwatering aroma.

"coming?"

Li Xia casually took the freshly grilled fish from the tree branch and greeted him as if in casual conversation:

"come in."

Three figures appeared at the cave entrance.

They wore Konoha headbands on their foreheads and distinctive green vests.

Only the white pupils in both eyes are the representative feature.

The Hyuga clan—Byakugan!
"sit."

Li Xia placed the grilled fish on a plate made of leaves, while Aowu happily continued grilling.

Pushing the grilled fish over, Li Xia seized the initiative with just three short sentences.

This even led the three Hyuga ninjas to mistakenly believe that the other party had already discovered them.

Is it through eye roll?

Their gazes lingered on Li Xia's pure white hair and equally white pupils.

Filled with deep confusion and disbelief, I obediently picked up the grilled fish in front of me.

No, why should we obey his orders?

The thought involuntarily crossed the minds of the three ninjas, even though the grilled fish smelled incredibly delicious.
Before they could react, they heard Li Xia ask softly:

"You've come to pick me up?"

Yes, yes.

Just as they had been unable to refuse Li Xia's three brief and gentle commands before.

Faced with this question, all I can do is answer it.

This is momentum, a communication skill.

By continuously issuing demands that are difficult to refuse, an irrefutable momentum is created.

Li Xia often uses this tactic to argue with others online.

Of course, a big reason for their success was that the three Hyuga ninjas did not see themselves as enemies.

"it is good."

Li Xia picked up another grilled fish, then took out chopsticks from his spatial storage, picked up a piece of tender fish meat, blew on it as usual, and then put it in his mouth.

After savoring it for a moment, she continued:
"We'll set off after we finish eating."

At this moment, an extremely unreal feeling completely enveloped the Hinata trio.

Before this, they had already prepared to sacrifice themselves for their family, and had even imagined many extremely difficult situations.

They even discussed how to allocate the order of death.

Is that all?

No, the family's secret mission is already complete?
Even a lower-ranking ninja could easily accomplish this.

Holding the grilled fish in their hands, they felt as if their brains had turned into mush, and everything about them was eerie.

"Excuse me--"

The youngest of them all, Hyuga Iroha, finally couldn't contain her confusion and asked a question.

Hinata Takashi was startled, but it was too late to stop him.

The less you know about these things, the better. Why ask?

"you are?"

But the following question was eventually asked.

"Oh? I didn't tell you my identity?"

Li Xia paused for a moment, then shook his head after thinking for a while:
"Well, I can't say that knowing too much is not good for you."

Thank goodness, Hyuga Takashi breathed a sigh of relief and quickly pulled Iroha, stuffing his grilled fish into Iroha's mouth.

He then whispered, "Eat your fish and don't ask any more questions!"

Hyuga Himon, standing next to him, had already picked up a fish and was eating it in big mouthfuls, as if it were some kind of unparalleled delicacy.

Iroha glanced at her companion with a puzzled look, but gradually she came to her senses.

He glanced at Hinata Takashi with gratitude, then silently lowered his head and began to eat.

Hyuga Takashi took a deep breath, knelt respectfully, and adjusted the Konoha headband on his forehead.

I couldn't help but rub the cool headband with my fingertips, as if I could feel the burning 'Caged Bird' mark on my forehead even through it.

He lowered his eyes, recalling the details of his meeting with Li Xia.

The person in front of me doesn't have the 'caged bird' mark on their forehead.
Aowu, who had been watching the whole thing, was almost dumbfounded.

No, you guys don't even dare to raise three questions or anything like that?

Why do they act so respectful and submissive, as if they've been completely conquered?

It glanced again at the carefree and easygoing Li Xia.

If anyone says that their boss isn't a cunning and scheming type, it will definitely slap them twice across the face.

There were no complicated procedures; basically, all the arrangements were made over a hundred miles away.

But the entire Hyuga clan seemed to be possessed, and they actually took the bait exactly as planned.

Not only that, but they also sent three powerful guards to escort him home.

what is this?
The three-year period has come to an end. We respectfully welcome King Xia back to the Hyuga clan.

Aowu even doubted whether, given enough time, his boss could become the head of the Hyuga clan.

No, who knows, he might even become Hokage!
Infiltrating the enemy's leadership
Ok?
The little paws, whimpering, supported its chin.

The first generation of Transcendence Hall, an undercover agent in the Hall of Light. Second-tier Supreme.
Holy crap, this guy's a repeat offender!

Transcending the halls of power, possessing discerning eyes!
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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

Today's average daily value: 1616
I'm going to accompany my wife to her exam the day after tomorrow. We're bringing the whole family; it'll be a four-day trip.

Hmm, I guess I can only type on the high-speed train.

(End of this chapter)