Chapter 172 – Look Closely, Listen Carefully
"You're being too cautious, Captain."
As soon as the waiter, wearing a hint of unease, quickly left their table, Hyūga Ayaka glanced at Uchiha Kei with mild dissatisfaction.
Of course, her displeasure had absolutely no effect on Kei.
Ayaka had, by now, become Kei's partner of sorts—they had a working arrangement, and she had kept her word.
Months ago, Ayaka had quietly delivered Hyūga Hikaru into Kei's hands, something that had caught him entirely off guard.
She acted that quickly?
But Ayaka had a reassuring explanation: she had already mapped out the Hyūga Guard's patrol times, coverage areas, and even the Konoha Police Department's routes.
By exploiting a razor-thin time gap, she'd knocked Hikaru unconscious and spirited him away.
Ayaka had spent months preparing for that moment—and in the end, she succeeded flawlessly.
Still, Kei's interest in the Hyūga Byakugan was lukewarm; he wasn't like the shinobi from Kirigakure. So, he gave her one final test:
Return Hikaru's body to his home—and make it look like a suicide.
If she could do that without anyone discovering the truth, he would fully commit to helping her.
The demand made Ayaka's expression turn ice-cold—after all, if she were caught, she wouldn't even get a chance to explain before being executed on the spot.
But Ayaka knew the moment she approached Kei for cooperation, she had already stepped into a dead end.
And so, she carried out the order.
In front of Kei, she strangled Hikaru, sealed his body into a scroll, and left without a second thought.
By the next morning, word had spread through the Hyūga clan: Hyūga Hikaru had taken his own life at home.
The uproar was immediate.
But there was no decisive proof of foul play.
Ayaka's timing had been impeccable—Kei didn't even know how she had entered Hikaru's room unnoticed.
Her usual interactions with Hikaru also helped mask suspicion; she had always maintained the appearance of a friendly, even cordial relationship with him.
They sparred often, but she never held back—and Hikaru rarely, if ever, won. Even his father had once sighed, "I'm no match for Ayaka." The afternoon of his "suicide," they had sparred again. The outcome was, of course, the same.
The Hyūga elders ultimately wrote it off as Hikaru's personal decision.
Under normal circumstances, this kind of matter would be brought before the Police Department for investigation. But given the Hyūga's strained relations with the Uchiha—and their pride in their own dōjutsu—they refused.
Though some had considered bringing in outside experts to examine Hikaru's brain—and Ayaka's—they knew better than to let such an embarrassing scandal become public.
The elders buried the matter. Ayaka was punished—not for any proven crime, but by being placed under house arrest without explanation.
The injustice only hardened her resolve.
In the eyes of the Hyūga main family, she was nothing more than a tool to be used at will.
If that was the case, why not side with Kei?
After all, she had already made her choice. She had already acted. And at least with Kei, she could taste a sliver of freedom.
"A little caution never hurts. Do you know who really runs this tavern?" Kei shrugged casually. "I don't—but I'd rather be careful. I doubt Rin kept completely quiet about us."
"Rin's been gone for years. Let's not talk about her," Imai Kenta sighed, scratching his head. "I just never thought she'd be so decisive. Honestly, it was a bit surprising."
"Maybe that's what it means to be a true shinobi of Konoha," Ayaka replied with a light, dismissive smile. She had no desire to revisit the subject. "She was our teammate, yes—but it's not like she's coming back."
"That's not something I'd be so sure about," Kei said with a smirk, though he didn't elaborate.
Instead, he narrowed his eyes at Ayaka. "Speaking of which—you didn't call us here just for a boring little 'team dinner,' did you?"
Truth be told, Kei had no idea why she'd summoned them. Ayaka's motives could be hard to read, even for him.
Kenta wasn't smiling either. He rested his head on his hand, studying Ayaka intently. If not for her, he wouldn't even be sitting there now.
"Of course not. I just thought it'd be nice to catch up with old friends," Ayaka said with a faint smile, glancing around.
"Swap some intel, share a few interesting tidbits. For example—how far along is Kei-kun's little experiment? And when will you be needing my medical expertise?"
"Experiment?" Kenta blinked, then turned to Kei, his gaze sharpening.
He honestly had no idea what experiments Uchiha Kei was conducting. Even after joining Kei's Security Division, these details remained a mystery to him.
Lately, he had only been doing two things:
First, the official duties—leading training sessions and assigning missions as the vice captain of a subdivision in the Security Division.
Second, quietly carrying out certain covert propaganda maneuvers at Kei's request, steering public opinion in subtle ways. Beyond that, Kei had never revealed anything else.
"Ah, just some experiments," Kei said slowly, glancing briefly at Hyūga Ayaka before speaking again. "Small experiments."
"Small?" Ayaka tilted her head, her eyes narrowing with feigned innocence.
"That 'small experiment' involves a former war hero, you know. And not just anyone—a former squad captain, Kei-kun. In your eyes, does a squad captain rank no higher than a random passerby?"
Uchiha Yuu?
Imai Kenta almost instantly guessed who Ayaka was referring to. But… wasn't Uchiha Yuu the one Kei had framed as working with Orochimaru?
Having worked on Kei's propaganda campaign for so long, subtly shifting blame onto Orochimaru, Kenta had already begun suspecting something was off. No wonder Kei kept pinning everything on the Snake Sannin—after all, Yuu had vanished. At that point, it didn't matter who was actually responsible. The disappearance was a perfect excuse to smear both Orochimaru and the Third Hokage's faction.
But was any of this truly useful? And what exactly was Kei experimenting on?
Kei sighed, finally realizing what this woman was up to—Ayaka was retaliating.
Of course, to call it "retaliation" was giving it too much weight. This was more like staging an open, face-to-face conversation where everyone could walk away reassured.
Kei had kept far too many secrets. If anything about his more unsavory activities were suddenly exposed, they would all go down together—without a shred of preparation.
No matter how careful Kei was, no one could guarantee that such things would never leak. And Ayaka… well, it wasn't mere coincidence she had stumbled upon something she wasn't supposed to see.
"So… what exactly do you want to know?" Kei sighed again. "Just say it. But before that—"
"I already set up a barrier before you arrived," Ayaka interrupted with a smile. "Relax. This concerns my own life too—I'm not stupid.
We lowly pawns on the battlefield have to tread carefully. And with you, Kei-kun, I've already gambled my life twice.
As the saying goes, never a third time… at least for now, when the pressure isn't crushing me."
"Afraid I'll drag you down with me?" Kei looked at her with an amused smirk.
"And yet you still want to work with me? Don't waste time with such nonsense. On the battlefield, we're all grasshoppers tied to the same rope—now more than ever."
Hyūga Ayaka wasn't wrong—on the battlefield, they were among the lowest of the low.
Surviving this long was thanks only partly to their own strength; the rest was due to constant, meticulous caution, never making a fatal misstep.
Ayaka had been driven to her reckless, almost insane actions by threats to her life and crushing pressure from her clan.
And really, was Uchiha Kei any different?
The kidnapping and torture of Uchiha Yuu had left deep scars in Kei's memory, but for the sake of the future—and for survival—he, too, was gambling everything.
"Captain," Imai Kenta sighed, "tell us about your situation. I wasn't eager to ask, but now I can't avoid it. Just the basics, though. Your experiment—"
"I'm not the only one behind it," Kei replied, tilting his head.
"Relax. I couldn't run that experiment alone even if I wanted to. The current political climate is far too tense—how could I possibly acquire the necessary equipment?
"What you really want to know is whether you're asking me why I'm doing it… or what the real objective is."
"I don't care about that—it's your business," Kenta cut him off flatly. His gaze locked on Kei, his voice low. "Tell me about the situation in the village. I still don't know your true intentions.
"Since you've decided to come clean, you should at least tell your partners how to cooperate with you—how to cooperate with all of you."
"Oh? Kei-kun has an even grander scheme?" Ayaka smiled suddenly. "Come on, share it. We are partners, after all."
Partners?
Kei exhaled slowly. Yes, they were partners—but who said a partner couldn't be used?
That said, the time to play them hadn't come yet. For now, he couldn't afford to undermine them—and, in truth, it was time to give them at least a partial picture.
With a clear direction, they could work in ways that ultimately benefited him.
"My goal," Kei said quietly after glancing around the room, "is to put a Hokage in power who actually serves everyone's interests.
"Some of the Third Hokage's actions… don't exactly align with our own goals. Kenta, I'm sure you understand that even better than I do."
"Don't drag me into this," Kenta said quickly, shaking his head. But then he allowed a small smile.
"Still… a 'new environment' could be a good thing. But Kei-kun, who exactly do you have in mind? And do you really think Lord Orochimaru can win on propaganda alone?"
"The seed's already planted," Kei replied with a slight grin. "And it's growing nicely." He tipped his chin toward a man drinking nearby. "As for my candidate—watch closely. Listen carefully."
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