Chapter 480: Setting a Trap for Orochimaru
The next day, Ishiro went to the Ninja Academy to observe the graduating classes.
After a day of observation, under the envious gazes of all the students, he announced the three members of his new Squad 7.
Afterward, Ishiro gave a speech to all the graduating students.
"Students, you are the first class to graduate after our village became the hegemon. Many ninja across the world are watching to see how you perform."
"So, do not slack off after you leave this academy. You must show the entire shinobi world that Iwagakure became the hegemon not just because of a victory in war, and not just because we have a powerful Tsuchikage."
"You must show them that as members of Iwagakure's genin corps, you also surpass the other villages."
"You must, through your hard work, show them that our village is worthy of the title of hegemon!"
"Our predecessors fought to establish the village's current status. Whether we can defend this legacy, whether we can achieve even greater things in the future, will depend on your efforts."
"Back then, I was just like you, graduating from the Ninja Academy and becoming an ordinary genin."
"At that time, I was proud of my village. As a ninja from Iwagakure, when I was on missions, ninja from the smaller villages would look at us with fear."
"Now, the village is proud of me. I have led the village to become the new hegemon of the shinobi world."
"Similarly, today, you will feel proud to be a member of Iwagakure. When you are on missions, even if you encounter ninja from the other great villages, they will look at you with envy."
"I believe that in the future, the village will also be proud of you. I look forward to seeing the heights our village can reach through your efforts."
After stirring up everyone's emotions, Ishiro concluded his visit to the academy.
Just as Squad 7 was being formed, the news that the Anbu squad sent to contact Orochimaru had returned empty-handed reached Ishiro.
In the foreign policy Ishiro had established, Iwagakure was to maintain a good relationship with Orochimaru.
So, the village had recently sent ninja to the Land of Whirlpools to contact him.
However, the ninja sent to foster relations never even saw Orochimaru's face. They couldn't even get through the gates of Snake Den Village, the new village Orochimaru had established.
Ishiro wasn't sure if Orochimaru had chosen to side with Konoha and was determined to oppose Iwa, or if he was simply too busy with his research projects to bother with them.
After some thought, Ishiro felt he should do something to make Orochimaru initiate contact with him.
Thus, Ishiro sent an order to the Iwa intelligence ninja embedded in Konoha.
A few days later, in Konoha Village, a person dressed as an ordinary villager arrived at the entrance to the Hyuga clan compound.
The Hyuga compound was not a place outsiders could enter freely, especially not a ninja disguised as a civilian.
A jutsu like the Transformation Technique was a complete joke in front of the Hyuga clan. Although the Byakugan couldn't see through the transformation to the user's original appearance, it had no problem distinguishing whether the Clone Technique was being used.
So, the person was stopped by several Hyuga branch family members with activated Byakugan.
The person had no intention of forcing his way in. He said calmly, "Do you all remember the day the Tsuchikage, the Kazekage, Orochimaru, and Kakuzu invaded your Konoha?"
"That day, under the cover of the others, Orochimaru kidnapped a member of the Hyuga branch family and faked the scene of their death."
"He is now researching how to break the Caged Bird Seal. Congratulations to you all. Perhaps it won't be long before you have the chance to break free from your cages and soar."
On the day Ishiro had coordinated the attack on Konoha, he didn't know what Orochimaru had done. The fact that Orochimaru had kidnapped a Hyuga was a complete guess.
But it was easy to verify the guess after the fact. Iwa's intelligence network could easily find out which branch family members had died in battle. Their names were inscribed on Konoha's Memorial Stone, and their deeds were not kept secret. When Ishiro learned that one of the Hyuga branch members had died "beaten beyond recognition," he knew what Orochimaru's objective in Konoha had been.
After speaking, the messenger vanished. It turned out he had not only used the Transformation Technique but was also just a shadow clone.
After he disappeared, the branch family members on the scene looked at each other, seeing an unusual meaning in each other's eyes.
The scene suddenly went quiet. For a time, no one spoke.
After a long while, an older jonin from the branch family sighed heavily. "The Caged Bird Seal is not so easily broken."
"And even if Orochimaru finds a way, he won't help us remove it for free."
"We cannot follow a missing-nin just to have the Caged Bird Seal removed."
The others remained silent, but the atmosphere grew heavy. The glimmer of hope that had just been ignited was extinguished.
One of the younger members said, "If only we had helped Orochimaru become the Fourth Hokage back then."
Hearing this, the others felt even more bitter.
The older jonin who had spoken first said, "Alright, let's go and report to the clan head."
No one replied, but they all silently followed him toward the main family's courtyard.
The group walked very slowly. Everyone, including the older jonin, was deliberately slowing their pace, as if doing so was not a betrayal of the main family, but a way to buy Orochimaru more time to break the seal.
When they reached the entrance to the main family's house, the group paused in unison for a few seconds.
Then, the older jonin took the first step.
A short time later, the same group left the courtyard, their faces ashen.
They had not only ruined the experiments of someone trying to break the Caged Bird Seal, but they had also indirectly killed a comrade who shared their fate.
Because just now, Hiashi Hyuga, in front of them, had activated the Caged Bird Seal, remotely killing the branch family member Orochimaru had taken.
Not many branch members had died that night. Hiashi had tested the seal on each of them and quickly sensed the one who was not dead.
Then, under the terrified and fearful gazes of the branch members, Hiashi activated the Caged Bird, using the connection between the curse marks to carry out a precise, long-distance execution.
From beginning to end, Hiashi remained dignified and stern, thoroughly displaying the unassailable majesty of the main family.
But only after the group had left did Hiashi Hyuga clench his fists.
Only he knew how powerless this so-called main family was against outsiders, their authority extending only to the branch members whose lives they controlled.
The Hyuga, who called themselves Konoha's strongest clan, knew that Iwagakure had taken one of their own, yet they dared not act rashly.
Hiashi still clearly remembered the day the Tsuchikage, the Kazekage, and Orochimaru had wreaked havoc in the village.
He didn't know the Tsuchikage's purpose for infiltrating the village. But before leaving, from high in the sky, the Tsuchikage had contemptuously fired a Dust Release at the main family house.
Hiashi had seen that scene clearly. That was why, even during the war between Konoha and Iwa, he didn't dare entertain any thoughts of killing Neji.
But now, Orochimaru had also set his sights on the branch family.
Combined with the fact that Orochimaru had previously snuck into their clan's archives and taken data on the Caged Bird Seal, it wasn't hard to guess that Orochimaru had been targeting the seal for a long time. It was just that he, being slow on the uptake, hadn't taken it seriously.
Thinking of this, a wave of fear washed over Hiashi. He didn't know how far Orochimaru's research had progressed. If someone hadn't tipped them off this time, Hiashi couldn't imagine how miserable his fate would be if the Caged Bird Seal were truly broken.
Hiashi thought for a moment, then took out the clan records and silently activated the Caged Bird Seal on all the branch members who had died previously.
After a long time, having confirmed that no other branch members had faked their deaths, Hiashi finally breathed a sigh of relief.
This was actually his father's fault for dying so quickly. Dehong Hyuga hadn't had time to explain many things to him. Otherwise, he would have known that every time a branch family member died, the main family would secretly activate the Caged Bird Seal as a "finishing blow."
Unfortunately, because of his father's sudden death, this common practice was never passed down.
This incident quickly spread throughout the Hyuga clan. All the branch members now knew that Orochimaru was researching how to break the Caged Bird Seal and that the unfortunate ninja had been remotely killed by the clan head.
The terror of the Caged Bird once again enveloped the entire branch family, making the already somber clan even more lifeless.
Hiashi did not stop the news from spreading. He was happy to see the branch family's fear.
Perhaps years ago, he had been passionate, had thought of changing the family system, of improving the relationship between the main and branch families. But he no longer had those thoughts. He had grown accustomed to the subservient way the branch members acted in front of him, accustomed to giving them orders rather than speaking to them with a tone of discussion.
At the same time Hiashi activated the Caged Bird Seal...
Far away in the Land of Whirlpools, Orochimaru watched as his Hyuga test subject died horribly.
The man had suddenly clutched his head, screaming in terror, "It's the Caged Bird! Lord Orochimaru, sa—"
He couldn't even finish his sentence before he died under the curse mark.
When this branch member had first been captured, he was terrified. But when he learned that Orochimaru was trying to break the Caged Bird Seal, his terror quickly vanished. He then became more worried that the Hyuga main family would find out he was still alive.
After the initial few days of fear, the Hyuga ninja became incredibly cooperative with Orochimaru's research. Not only did he cooperate with the research on the seal, he even participated in some of Orochimaru's other human experiments. The insight of the Byakugan was of great help to Orochimaru.
Orochimaru had even been considering, after breaking the seal, not taking this person's Byakugan, but capturing another branch member instead. After all, this man was just an ordinary jonin, his talent average, his Byakugan's purity not high. He wasn't a suitable vessel for Kimimaro.
Of course, now he didn't have to worry about that.
After witnessing the full activation process of the Caged Bird Seal, Orochimaru was silent for a moment, then suddenly grinned, a wicked smile spreading across his face.
His research on the seal had hit a bottleneck. But now, having seen the entire process, he had a new idea.
"I see!" Orochimaru felt that if he could get another Hyuga branch family test subject, he was now confident he could complete his analysis of the Caged Bird Seal.
But where could he find another test subject? After this, Hiashi would never give him another chance.
Go to Konoha and secretly cooperate with a branch family member? A good idea, worth a try, but the chances of success were low. It was too close to Konoha, too easy to be discovered. With Hiashi on high alert, Orochimaru felt it was pointless.
In that case, there was only one target left: the only branch member outside the village.
Neji Hyuga, in Iwagakure.
Thinking of this, Orochimaru's body shook.
"Hehehehe... Tsuchikage. So it was you!" Orochimaru laughed. "Interesting."
Orochimaru knew that Iwagakure's envoys had come to Snake Den Village. But he didn't want to deal with Ishiro. He knew Ishiro wanted the results of his Caged Bird research. But Orochimaru didn't need anything from him at the moment and didn't want to make a trade, so he had simply ignored them.
He just hadn't expected Ishiro to be so ruthless.
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