Becoming the Tsuchikage in the Naruto World

Chapter 313: Arrangements

Seeing Tsunade's appearance, Hiruzen also sighed and said, "Alright, Tsunade, you are the Hokage now. You need to be more careful in your actions in the future."

"Orochimaru has obtained a lot of information from the Hyuga clan. Hiashi has seen it; it's all related to the Caged Bird Seal. Orochimaru very likely wants to break the Caged Bird," Hiruzen said, just briefly comforting Tsunade before changing the subject.

Homura Mitokado said, "But why? How could Orochimaru take an interest in the Byakugan?"

Homura's confusion was also Hiruzen's and Tsunade's confusion, and also Danzō's previous confusion.

After a moment of hesitation, Hiruzen said, "Not long ago, Danzō visited the Hyuga clan. He told Hiashi that Orochimaru was coveting the Byakugan."

"At that time, Danzō had inspected the Hyuga clan's secret documents." As he spoke, Hiruzen took out a scroll. "This sentence, and this one. Danzō saw something was wrong from these."

"'Distant relatives came to visit, their ninjutsu is strange?'" Tsunade softly read out the two sentences Hiruzen had marked.

Koharu Utatane said, "So, the Byakugan might have some abilities we don't know about?"

Hiruzen shook his head and said, "There's no need to overthink the Byakugan's abilities. And there's no need to question the Hyuga clan's sense of belonging to the village."

"I speculate that the Byakugan, like the Sharingan, might be able to evolve."

Tsunade was shocked and subconsciously sat up straight, "Teacher, are you talking about the Mangekyō Sharingan?"

Tsunade was very clear about the existence of the Mangekyō Sharingan. After all, her granduncle, Tobirama Senju, had killed a Mangekyō Uchiha. Her own grandfather, Hashirama Senju, had been entangled with a Mangekyō Uchiha his entire life.

There was even a speculation in the documents left by Tobirama that the Mangekyō Sharingan might not be the end point; the eyes Madara Uchiha revealed at the end should have been a Sharingan that surpassed the Mangekyō level.

"That's right. Every pair of Mangekyō Sharingan has a special ability. Perhaps the Byakugan can also evolve, and the evolved Byakugan would likely possess incredible power just like the Mangekyō Sharingan," Hiruzen said.

"So, Orochimaru must have gotten news from somewhere that the Byakugan can evolve, which is why he took an interest in it?" Homura asked.

Tsunade gently shook her head and said, "I'm afraid it's more than just that. If he only knew the Byakugan could evolve, Orochimaru might not have been so dedicated."

"After all, the evolution of the Byakugan is just a legend. In all these years, no one has ever seen it. Even Hiashi doesn't know."

"But the Sharingan produced a Madara Uchiha. Logically, Orochimaru should be more interested in the Sharingan."

"Now, Orochimaru is seeking something far away while ignoring what's near, giving up the more easily obtainable Sharingan and choosing the Byakugan, which is protected by the Caged Bird Seal. I speculate that he has very likely obtained the method for the Byakugan's evolution."

Hiss~

Everyone gasped.

"We cannot let Orochimaru obtain the Byakugan, otherwise Konoha will have another rogue ninja like Madara," Koharu immediately said.

Konoha no longer had a second Hashirama Senju. Who would suppress Orochimaru then?

Hiruzen rubbed the spot between his eyebrows and said, "We have no way to deal with Orochimaru's matter right now. And, even if he obtains the method for evolving the Byakugan, breaking the Caged Bird Seal is not so easy."

"The most important thing now is still the Cloud and Iwagakure."

"Sigh!" More than one person sighed in the Hokage's office.

...

On the other side, Ishiro and Ōnoki encountered the Iwa delegation on their way back.

Flying in mid-air, looking at the delegation below being tightly guarded by Konoha ninjas and slowly heading towards Konoha, Ishiro suddenly had an idea.

After handing the base for the Heavenly Transfer Technique to Ōnoki, Ishiro quickly descended to the ground. Then, Ishiro created a Shadow Clone and had it put on the attire of an Iwa Anbu.

Not long after, the Konoha Jonin, Tai Inuzuka, who was protecting the Iwa delegation in name but actually escorting them, suddenly looked to his side and shouted loudly, "Who's there?"

As soon as his voice fell, all the Konoha ninjas became vigilant, but most of them were on guard against the Iwa delegation.

News had already come from Konoha Village that the Cloud delegation had used a near-suicidal method to put the Hyuga clan in a very awkward position.

After this news reached the ears of the Konoha ninjas here, they immediately raised their guard against Iwa.

And the Iwa delegation was also very nervous. They were very sure that the purpose of their trip was simple: to meet up with their Tsuchikage who loved to stir up trouble everywhere.

But for some unknown reason, the Konoha ninjas, who had been getting along fine, had started looking at them very unfriendlyly not long ago.

Could something have happened to their Lord Tsuchikage? Or had Lord Tsuchikage tricked Konoha again?

This jumpiness from the Konoha ninjas filled the Iwa delegation with unease.

After a short while, a figure in an Iwa Anbu uniform slowly walked out of the woods.

Seeing that the newcomer was an Iwa Anbu, Tai Inuzuka couldn't help but frown. He said, "An Iwa ninja? How did you get in?"

This was the heartland of the Land of Fire, not far from Konoha. How did this Iwa Anbu infiltrate here?

"Hehe," Ishiro let out a light, flippant laugh, and then said, "How I got in is not important. Lord Tsuchikage is very dissatisfied that our delegation has not yet arrived at Konoha Village, so he sent me to deliver an order."

Tai Inuzuka's face was full of disbelief. This place was so far from Iwagakure; how could the Fourth Tsuchikage have received the news in time and dispatched an Anbu?

Tai Inuzuka guessed that this person had probably been tailing them all along. "But, to be able to dodge my reconnaissance, damn it."

However, Tai did not expose him. It was indeed Konoha that was in the wrong in this matter. A delegation sent for a friendly visit was delayed on the road for two days by them; it certainly lacked the magnanimity of a great nation.

Ishiro said, "I need to deliver Lord Tsuchikage's order to them. Would the members of Konoha please step aside?"

Naturally, Tai would not agree to this request. But he also knew it was impossible to have Ishiro deliver the order in front of them.

So Tai said, "Our mission is to protect the delegation. If you, sir, truly have an order from the Tsuchikage, you can speak to the head of the delegation alone."

Ishiro nodded; he had long anticipated this result. He then made a series of hand signs to the head of the Iwa delegation, Jun'ichi Hirabe.

A glint flashed in Jun'ichi's eyes. "My god, isn't this the hand sign that Lord Tsuchikage uses when he personally contacts them?" Suppressing his emotions, he followed Ishiro out of the delegation's procession.

After the two came to a place out of everyone's line of sight, Ishiro carefully instructed Jun'ichi for a good while.

When Jun'ichi returned to the delegation, he was still a bit dazed. Ishiro hadn't told him what had happened in Konoha these past few days, only instructing him on how to respond to the changes in Konoha later.

He was currently listening in a fog. "Could this be Lord Tsuchikage's wicked sense of humor? Why not just tell me the whole story directly?"

After the instructions were given, Ishiro directly dispelled the Shadow Clone in front of the Konoha ninjas. And Jun'ichi, after returning to the team, said nothing but continued to lead the team towards Konoha.

After the Shadow Clone was dispelled, Ishiro, having received the memory, was very satisfied. He then flew into the sky again and flew towards Iwagakure with Ōnoki.

On the way, Ōnoki asked Ishiro, "Is this thing the base for the Cloud's Heavenly Transfer Technique?"

Ōnoki was referring to the small mound-like thing Ishiro had handed him earlier. He hadn't seen this thing before, only having read some ambiguous descriptions in intelligence reports.

"Yes. The Cloud delegation wanted to obtain the Byakugan and then planned to use this thing to transmit the Byakugan back to the Cloud Village. But because I stole this thing in advance, they didn't succeed."

Ōnoki nodded and asked no more. Anyway, after returning to the village, Ishiro would have to give them a detailed account of his trip to Konoha.

A day later, Ishiro and Ōnoki returned to Iwagakure. Ishiro immediately convened a high-level meeting.

Upon seeing Ikura, Ishiro asked, "Is Danzō still at the border?"

Ikura nodded and said, "That's right. Danzō may have already discovered the identity of my double, but he has neither taken any action nor withdrawn his troops. He seems to be in no hurry."

Ishiro thought for a moment but couldn't understand Danzō's thoughts either. So he said, "Send more people to monitor Danzō's movements."

"What about the army we secretly mobilized?" Ishiro asked again about the ninja army that was mobilized to confuse Konoha.

Ikura smiled and said, "It was disbanded long ago. After the news was sent out by Konoha's intelligence ninja, I disbanded the army."

Ishiro asked curiously, "Did we find out the identity of the Konoha intelligence ninja?"

Saka smiled and chimed in, "Rest assured, we've already caught him. This should be a big fish. Among all the intelligence ninjas Konoha has planted in our village, his status is probably second to none. Following his line, we also rooted out seven or eight more of Konoha's intelligence ninjas."

Ishiro nodded. This was also an unexpected bonus.

"Alright, now let me talk about what happened on this trip to Konoha."

"The leader of the Cloud delegation infiltrated the Hyuga clan's territory on the night of the birthday of the Hyuga clan's young lady, Hinata. He successfully abducted her."

"The Hyuga clan then pursued and killed almost the entire Cloud delegation."

"The last few remaining Cloud ninjas, at the cost of sudden self-destruction, broke through Konoha's interception and successfully brought Hinata to their residence."

"Originally, the Cloud delegation planned to transmit the Byakugan back to the Cloud Village through the Heavenly Transfer Technique. But unfortunately, I stole this thing a step ahead," Ishiro said, pointing to the Heavenly Transfer base on the table.

"Afterward, the S-rank rogue-nin from Konoha, Orochimaru, infiltrated the Hyuga clan's secret room, but he was subsequently blocked by Hiruzen. This master and disciple had a friendly spar."

"And at this time, the Hyuga clan was ambushed by Sasori of the Red Sand."

"As for me, I was not very lucky. I was press-ganged by the Fifth Hokage, Tsunade, to participate in the attack on Sasori. Later, Sasori left behind a pile of puppets and ran away. I saw that no one cared about Sasori's puppets, so I collected the things."

After speaking, Ishiro took out another large pile of spoils he had obtained from Sasori. A considerable number of puppets, most of them broken, but also a dozen or so that were intact.

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