The moment the Kumogakure shinobi entered the room, they immediately began observing how many Konoha ninja were monitoring them from outside.
The surveillance by the Police Force was done openly, under the pretext of protecting the diplomatic envoy, so it was easy to spot.
Obvious enemies are the easiest to deal with, as countermeasures can be prepared in advance to disrupt their operations.
The troublesome ones are those watching from the shadows.
"There are currently six Konoha ninja hiding in the dark that I can sense."
The Kumogakure shinobi named Samda identified the approximate locations of several individuals after focusing his sensory abilities.
"Then we'll proceed with the original plan. You all distract the Konoha ninja to buy me time to act."
The leader of the envoy, Darum, remained calm. They had already anticipated surveillance before leaving the village and had prepared contingency plans accordingly.
"If I succeed, I'll escape along the prearranged route to the border; if I fail, I'll die within the Hyūga clan compound, just as we planned."
Even knowing that this plan would likely cost him his life, Darum showed no hesitation. Instead, he turned to Samda with a firm gaze.
"Samda, if I die, the task of rallying Kumogakure against Konoha falls to you."
"I understand."
Samda nodded and extended his hand.
Their two rough hands clasped tightly—words no longer needed.
That very night, the Kumogakure envoy successfully created a disturbance.
"Takeshi-senpai, the Police Force just sent word. The envoy had a conflict with the inn staff, and the situation is starting to spiral out of control."
The Yamanaka ninja assigned to assist Takeshi by Fugaku received a message from the clan and reported it immediately.
"So they're finally making a move. Dōtora, have you noticed anything unusual?"
"Not at the moment. The distance is too great."
Dōtora shook his head, still diligently scanning for any Kumogakure shinobi.
To avoid detection, Takeshi and his team had stationed themselves at a considerable distance from the inn. Combined with the darkness of night, even Hyūga ninja would struggle to quickly identify targets actively hiding their presence.
"What about the six nearby ANBU who were assigned to close surveillance? Have they found anything?"
Kuroya asked the Yamanaka ninja in a low voice.
While Kuroya, Suzume, and Dōtora were gradually analyzing the enemy's objectives based on experience, Takeshi had already vanished from the spot.
"Where did Takeshi go?"
The four present looked bewildered. Why had their captain disappeared without a word?
At that moment, Darum had already infiltrated the Hyūga clan compound.
Just as Suzume had sensed, Darum was not one of Kumogakure's top-tier combatants—his specialty was infiltration. This was precisely why he was able to evade the attention of the Hyūga branch house guards and head straight into Hinata's room.
Of course, this also stemmed from years of groundwork laid by Kumogakure's spies.
Silently sliding open the door, Darum confirmed the target and then drugged Hinata with anesthetic before retreating along the same route he had used to enter.
"Who's there?!"
Standing in the courtyard, Hyūga Hiashi, troubled and alone because of Hinata's behavior, sharply sensed something amiss and rushed over immediately.
"Damn, I've been discovered?"
Darum threw a smoke bomb to the ground, intending to use the cover to escape.
But just before the smoke bomb touched the ground, a senbon shot from an unknown direction struck it precisely, pinning it into a nearby wooden post.
Before Darum could react, Hiashi's Gentle Fist struck, directly hitting his chakra point and killing him with a single blow.
"That's all it took?"
With a Flying Thunder God kunai embedded in the ground, Takeshi's figure appeared in front of Hiashi.
He bent down and pulled away the black cloth covering the intruder's face, revealing Darum's wide-eyed corpse.
"So he really came here."
Takeshi muttered to himself.
Just then, members of the Hyūga clan—alerted by the commotion—arrived belatedly. Their chaotic footsteps drowned out Takeshi's words.
Hiashi's full attention was on Hinata.
No matter how disappointed he was with her personality, she was still his daughter.
Wearing a grim expression, Hiashi handed Hinata over to a servant and instructed the clan members to report the incident to the Fourth Hokage.
Soon, Minato arrived at the Hyūga compound with several ANBU.
...
"The facts are clear. Kumogakure used the excuse of peace talks to spy on Konoha's Byakugan. The so-called negotiation was just a pretext to gain entry into the village."
In a conference room in the Hokage Tower, Sakumo sat at the head of the table, his expression serious. After a night's investigation, Kumogakure's motives were laid bare.
"What's surprising is that they even knew the detailed layout of the Hyūga clan compound."
Yamanaka Inoichi, in charge of intelligence, had read the corpse's memories as soon as possible. However, Kumogakure had clearly anticipated the Yamanaka clan's techniques and used some unknown secret method to obscure the full memory. Inoichi could only extract a few scattered fragments.
"This was a failure on the Police Force's part. We didn't apprehend the spy hiding in the village in time."
Fugaku's expression was grim. Even though Takeshi had warned him in advance, the envoy had used clever tricks to deceive the personnel he'd stationed, allowing Darum to slip away undetected.
"Indeed, the Police Force's counterintelligence work was extremely poor."
Danzō added coldly, sneering at their incompetence.
If Root were still active, there would've been no chance for such a large intelligence leak in Konoha.
"Danzō, now's not the time to argue about that. The focus needs to remain on Kumogakure."
Hiruzen sternly cut Danzō off and redirected the discussion.
"Exactly. Kumogakure's actions clearly show they had no intention of sincere negotiation. I suggest we immediately send a formal letter demanding an explanation and detain the envoy to pressure the Raikage into an apology."
Nara Shikaku, after carefully comparing both sides' military strengths, gave his recommendation.
"I agree."
Danzō was the first to voice his support.
Hmm, I didn't expect this Shikaku fellow to be aligned with my stance. I'll need to keep an eye on him.
Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado, long-time companions of the Third Hokage, seemed uncomfortable with Konoha's uncharacteristically aggressive stance and instinctively turned their gaze to Hiruzen.
In the conference room, Sakumo was seated on the left side of the table, accompanied by Nara Shikaku, Yamanaka Inoichi, Uchiha Fugaku, and Hyūga Hiashi—the key figure in the incident.
On the right side sat Sarutobi Hiruzen, Utatane Koharu, Mitokado Homura, and Shimura Danzō—the remnants of the previous generation.
Right now, Konoha was brimming with vitality.
Hiruzen rubbed the bridge of his nose. From Shikaku and the others, he saw reflections of his younger self.
"I agree as well."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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