Escape from Konoha.

The Hyuga Fire Formation was a sealing technique set up in the brain nerves of a member of the main family. It was not as extremely secure as the Caged Bird Seal and could be broken.

If the Hyuga's Byakugan were to fall into enemy hands, it would be bad news for the Hyuga clan and the entire Hidden Leaf Village.

The strategic role of the "white eye" is simply too great.

This matter also came to the attention of Konoha's higher-ups.

Within a few days, they had held more than ten meetings in a row to deal with this matter.

Hyuga Kagami disappeared on the sea between the Land of Rainbow and the Land of Fire. Before his disappearance, according to many eyewitness accounts, he fought against ninjas who used Water Release techniques.

"This might be a conspiracy by Kirigakure, we must be on guard."

Danzo, as the leader of Root, also embodies the dark side of Konoha, and naturally assumes the worst of others.

If you put yourself in their shoes, if you were a high-ranking member of Kirigakure and were lucky enough to accidentally discover traces of a Hyuga clan ninja in the neighboring Land of Rainbows, you would naturally do everything in your power to capture that ninja and obtain his precious bloodline limit for research.

"Witnesses on the cruise ship said that the ninjas using water-style techniques were not dressed in Kirigakure attire. Although their identities cannot be confirmed, it is most likely that they were Kirigakure ninjas in disguise."

This ninja village, largely isolated from the rest of the continent, is a manifestation of the military power of the Land of Water, one of the Five Great Nations.

Their strength should never be underestimated.

Since the First Shinobi World War, when Kirigakure clashed with Iwagakure of the Land of Earth, Kirigakure had been conserving its strength and had not taken any action during the Second Shinobi World War, just like Kumogakure of the Land of Lightning.

They have been secretly accumulating strength and training excellent ninjas.

Like the other ninja villages, it harbors hostility towards Konoha.

"As early as when the elders of the Hyuga main family came to me, I had already dispatched the Anbu to negotiate with the higher-ups of Kirigakure."

Hiruzen then spoke.

"How does Kirigakure intend to explain this?"

"They were completely unaware of this, which proves that there were no Hidden Mist ninjas on a mission in the sea between the Land of Rainbows and the Land of Fire at the time. They expressed their condolences for this incident."

"Cat's tears are just a charade. They're targeting the Hyuga main clan's ninjas; next time, they'll pose a threat to the Land of Fire and Konoha. Hiruzen, teach Kirigakure a lesson!"

Danzo said firmly.

"Konoha suffered heavy losses in the last Shinobi World War, so it is not advisable to launch a major attack now."

Despite the fact that Konoha's strength is rapidly recovering within a few years thanks to funding provided by the Daimyo of the Land of Fire, coupled with the emergence of a new generation of geniuses, Konoha's current strength can be said to surpass that of the Second Shinobi World War.

However, the strength of Kirigakure remains unknown. Since the First Shinobi World War, Kirigakure has not appeared on the stage of the Shinobi World War, but that does not mean that the strength of this ninja village is weak.

“Hiruzen is right. We don’t have any conclusive evidence. We can only rely on speculation. Even morally, we are not in the right. This could easily ignite a war.”

Konoha has always valued its reputation, and because of this good reputation and the outstanding quality of its ninjas, many big businessmen are willing to establish cooperative relationships with Konoha and hire Konoha ninjas to complete missions.

If a conflict were to break out with Kirigakure for such a baseless reason, Kirigakure would instead turn the tables and accuse them of wrongdoing.

"We can think of reasons later. You all understand the importance of the white eye without me having to explain it. We cannot let the white eye fall into the hands of the enemy. Otherwise, in the near future, the enemy will use the white eye to deal with us. We must prevent this from happening."

Danzo remained steadfast in his commitment to the village's future.

"I'll think about it some more."

Hiruzen frowned. Danzo's words made sense; this kind of thing was very likely to happen.

In past wars, the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan caused headaches for the other ninja villages.

If the enemy uses the same methods against them, they will be the ones with the headache.

However, with the sudden falling out with Kirigakure... Konoha might end up in an awkward situation of isolation and helplessness.

Upon hearing Hiruzen's words, Danzo and his two advisors realized that he would try to smooth things over by making things up.

However, this is also a relatively appropriate way to handle it.

There's no evidence, and we don't know who did it. What if this was a trap set by someone to deliberately sow discord between Konoha and Kirigakure...?

This situation should also be taken into account.

Compared to Danzo's suggestion, the two advisors preferred Hiruzen's method of handling the situation.

The village has mobilized such a large number of people for the Hyuga clan to search for the missing ninja of the main branch, but due to lack of evidence and doubts about the enemy's identity, they can only stop here without crucial evidence.

Even the elders and head of the Hyuga clan had nothing to say.

It's not that they don't want to stand up for the Hyuga clan, but they need sufficient evidence and to confirm the identity of the enemy who kidnapped Hyuga Kagura before they can stand up for the Hyuga clan.

◎

"Has the Hokage given up?"

In the Hyuga clan's meeting room, the current clan head and all the elders were gathered together.

They were well aware of what the disappearance of the Hyuga Fire Formation meant for the Hyuga clan.

The loss of the white eye was a very heavy blow.

"The secret service couldn't find any information. The results were the same as those obtained by the branch members we sent out to investigate. The enemy's identity was a mystery, and there was a lack of valid evidence, so we had to stop here."

One of the elders spoke more rationally.

"Last time, Shingo Hyuga also suddenly disappeared. This time, the fire formation, along with the two branch family members who accompanied him... I feel something is a bit suspicious."

Another elder crossed his hands, a thoughtful expression on his face.

Are the two missing persons cases related?

"The time interval is only a few days, it seems very suspicious no matter how you look at it, right?"

"That's true, but since we can't even determine the enemy's identity, we can only stop here."

Although the elders deeply resented the enemies who attacked the Hyuga clan, they could not find any clues as to why they had done these two things, and they didn't know who to vent their anger on.

This kind of thing cannot be blamed on the Hokage or other high-ranking officials.

"I heard that Elder Danzo wants to stand up for our Hyuga clan..."

Hiashi's father, who was also the current head of the Hyuga clan, immediately frowned upon hearing an elder say such a thing and asked:

"Who told you that?"

That's what everyone outside is saying.

The elder said with his head bowed.

"From now on, we should avoid getting involved with the Root people. Also, let the higher-ups handle their own affairs; we, the Hyuga clan, don't need to get involved in such matters."

The Hyuga clan leader glanced at the elders, his tone grave.

That old bastard Danzo actually spread such rumors.

Is it for the position of the next Hokage?

The Third Hokage is almost fifty years old, and it's indeed time to elect the next Hokage candidate.

The Hyuga clan has come a long way to where they are today; they don't need to participate in political struggles, and simply living a life of peace and tranquility is enough.

Because no matter which generation of Hokage it is, they will never give up the Byakugan of the Hyuga clan.

As long as there are ninjas and a market for war, the Hyuga clan will be firmly protected by Konoha.

The premise is that nothing sensitive should be involved.

Especially the Naruto rivalry.

"If anyone gets involved in power struggles between high-ranking officials, don't blame me for being ruthless. Don't pick up the bad habits of the Uchiha clan."

"Yes!"

Two or three elders lowered their heads guiltily, while the rest responded loudly.

"Continue investigating the fire formation. No matter what, we need to give the people an explanation. Rizu, I'm leaving this matter to you. As before, I won't interfere. Handle it according to your plan."

The Hyuga clan head looked at his eldest son, Hyuga Hiashi, the future heir of the Hyuga clan, and spoke in a gentle tone.

Over the years, he has not interfered too much in the affairs of his eldest son, Hiashi. What he wants is a qualified Hyuga clan leader, not a puppet in his hands.

He will grow old one day, and the future of Hyuga will depend on these young people.

In any case, a qualified clan leader must have his own judgment of the situation, rather than just talking on paper.

Upon seeing this, the elders understood that the day when Hiashi would succeed the Hyuga clan leader was not far off.

"Yes, Father, I will handle this matter."

Niji nodded solemnly, knowing that delaying this matter would be detrimental to his family and that it needed to be resolved as soon as possible.

◎

Looking at the information passed on by Ayane, Shiraishi was conducting research on Sage Mode.

"It seems they don't intend to pursue the matter of Hyuga Kajin's disappearance. That's good, it saves me a lot of effort."

Even if we investigate further, the time and manpower required would be a considerable amount.

Moreover, no evidence was left at the scene.

Those ninjas who used water-style techniques conveniently became the targets of suspicion for Konoha and Hyuga, replacing Shiraishi.

Although curious about the identities of those water-style ninjas, Shiraishi did not intend to delve into it further.

There was no need to concern himself with such trivial matters. All he wanted was to untie the caged bird. Their identities were of no use to Shiraishi.

Whether they are from Kirigakure or other ninja villages, there's no need to take it to heart.

He burned the intelligence over an alcohol lamp and began to concentrate on studying immortal techniques.

Chapter 85 Rumors are a fearsome thing

July, Konoha Year 41.

Almost a full year has passed since the original Sakumo squad disbanded.

Shiraishi has grown another year older.

There's not much to say about organizational matters; things are developing steadily and methodically. Because we're in the initial accumulation phase, we're proceeding with extreme caution in everything we do.

The locations of the operations are mostly small countries, and they rarely involve the five major powers.

Because of the personal instruction and teachings of their leader, Shiraishi, everyone in the organization is well-versed in this art, and in terms of concealment, they can be said to have surpassed their master.