"Hah! Are you messing with me?" Hiruko scoffed at Haruki's words, his expression full of doubt. "The Hyuga clan's main family members never leave the village, and there aren't that many of them to begin with."
"As for the branch family, they're all controlled by that damn Caged Bird Seal. How the hell am I supposed to get my hands on a Byakugan?"
"Normally, it'd be impossible," Haruki admitted with a smirk. "But Danzo-sama has already taken care of everything."
Hiruko narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean?"
Haruki's smirk widened. "Just follow the plan, and you'll get exactly what you want."
Hiruko hesitated, but the temptation was too strong. The more powerful the kekkei genkai he absorbed, the stronger he'd become.
In the movie, he had to settle for some mid-tier abilities. It wasn't like he could just walk up and steal a Sharingan or a Byakugan with his strength.
"What plan?" he asked, his voice laced with urgency.
"Because of those two Jonin from the Hidden Cloud, Sakumo is moving the Hyuga clan's squad to this area. That's about forty people," Haruki explained.
Hiruko frowned. "But they're all branch members. What good does that do me?"
"Would you just let me finish?" Haruki shot him a look. "The plan is simple. We disguise ourselves as Sand or Cloud ninja, snatch up those forty guys, and leak the news back to the Hyuga clan. That'll force them to trade one of their precious main family members to get them back."
"Are you fucking serious?" Hiruko's voice was low and sharp. "Even if we could snatch forty Hyuga clan members, there's no way they'd trade a main family member for them."
"Why wouldn't they?" Haruki leaned back, shaking his head. "Those forty are the cream of the branch family crop. If they're gone, the branch family will be in complete disarray."
"The branch family is nothing more than caged birds," Hiruko scoffed. "You know as well as I do that the main family only has a handful of members."
"True," Haruki admitted. "But losing forty trained Hyuga would still be a massive blow. It's not just about numbers, it's about morale. If Danzo-sama puts the right pressure on them, it'll shake the Hyuga clan to its core."
Hiruko's expression shifted as realization dawned. "...So that's what Danzo-sama is after."
The Hyuga clan had always been loyal to Hiruzen, one of the strongest and most politically influential families in the village.
"If the Hyuga clan takes a hit it can't recover from, then getting your hands on the Byakugan won't be a problem, will it?" Haruki added.
Hiruko fell silent, considering the implications. Either way, this plan worked in his favor.
"But how the hell are we suppose to capture forty Byakugan users, including several Jonin?" he asked, frowning.
Haruki didn't answer right away. Instead, he calmly reached into his cloak, pulled out a small wooden plank, and held it up.
Hiruko's eyes widened. "Wood Release!? Lord Danzo actually pulled it off?"
Of course not. Danzo had implanted Hashirama's cells into himself, but without Orochimaru's help, success was far from guaranteed.
Haruki simply nodded. "Wood Release can restrain the Nine-Tails itself. You think forty Hyuga are more trouble than that?"
Hiruko let out a slow breath, then smirked. "Not at all. If you've got Wood Release on our side, this just got a whole lot easier. Whatever you need from me, just say the word."
"It's simple," Haruki said, pulling out a map. "The Hyuga were relocated here to track down those Cloud Ninjas. So, we pretend to be Cloud Ninjas and lure them into our trap."
He pointed at a valley marked on the map. "This place is perfect. With Wood Release, it'll be like catcing a bunch of fishes in a net,"
Hiruko stared at the map for a moment, then chuckled. "You know what? Let's do it."
His whole attitude did a complete 180 the moment he saw the Wood Release in action. Haruki naturally noticed Hiruko's dissatisfaction before. It wasn't surprising, given the circumstances.
Hiruko had once been a shinobi of the same generation as the Legendary Sannin and a close friend of Orochimaru.
But unlike them, his strength had always been mediocre. Watching the Sannin rise to fame while he remained in the shadows fueled his resentment, eventually driving him to experiment on himself in pursuit of kekkei genkai.
Haruki had no doubt that Hiruko coveted his Wood Release, but he didn't care.
After leaving, Haruki turned his attention to his real work, healing.
Despite his altered appearance, he moved freely under the name Haruki, treating the wounded as they were brought in one after another.
Sakumo had already rushed to the battlefield.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, Haruki returned to his tent for some rest.
Sitting down, he formed a one-handed seal, linking his vision to his summon, a slug.
Since he obtained Tsunade's medical ninjutsu, he had also gained access to her summoning contract. The only regret was that he hadn't managed to learn Sage Mode in Shikkotsu Forest.
A moment later, a dense forest came into view. He could hear voices.
"Mikoto, Kushina and I will hold off the Sand Ninja squad. Mikoto, you use genjutsu to lock them down," Minato instructed, his sharp eyes fixed on the three Chunin in front of them.
A shuriken sliced through the air, whistling toward the enemy. The Sand Ninjas immediately reacted, their leader forming a hand seal before exhaling a violent gust of wind.
The incoming shuriken was blown away, while the same gust ripped through nearby trees like a razor-sharp blade.
Minato suddenly appeared.
"It's a leaf ninja!" One of the Sand Ninjas spotted his Leaf headband and immediately alerted his comrades. "Stay sharp! there could be more!"
Without hesitation, he launched several shurikens before slamming his hands together.
"Wind Release: Gale Palm!" A surge of wind erupted from his palms, accelerating the shurikens into deadly arcs through the air.
Minato was swallowed by the attack, only for a log to drop in his place, revealing a successful substitution.
The Sand Ninja's eyes darted around. Before he could react, golden chains shot out and coiled around his two teammates.
'What the hell kind of jutsu is this?!' His mind raced as he reached for his own weapons. Infusing them with wind chakra, his shurikens took on a lethal sharpness.
But before he could throw them, a massive fireball crashed down from above, slamming into his weapons with pinpoint accuracy.
Instinctively, he looked up, only to lock eyes with a pair of crimson eyes.
His body froze.
Minato reappeared in a flash, swiftly dispatching the remaining Sand Ninjas before grabbing their genjutsu-ensnared leader and disappearing into the forest.
Seeing the fight play out, Haruki nodded in satisfaction and ended his observation.
As expected, Minato, Kushina, and Mikoto had already surpassed the level of ordinary Chunin.
He waited until Sakumo returned and headed to his tent.
"Those two Cloud Ninja bastards are damn good at hiding," Sakumo muttered as he entered.
As a commander, he wouldn't normally voice such frustrations in front of his subordinates. But Haruki wasn't just any subordinate.
He was in a similar position to him.
"If you want to track them down, you'll have to rely on the Hyuga clan," Haruki said casually.
"I've already sent word. They'll arrive tomorrow," Sakumo responded.
"How do you plan to organize them?" Haruki asked.
"We'll assign one to each team," Sakumo replied without hesitation.
Haruki's expression suddenly turned serious. "Sakumo, have you ever thought about how those Cloud Ninjas knew your exact location before?"
Sakumo stiffened slightly. The thought had crossed his mind, but he had pushed it aside. He didn't want to believe there was a spy.
"If someone fed them your whereabouts, then the Hyuga clan's movements could also be leaked," Haruki continued.
He kept his tone calm as he laid out his reasoning. "If I were a Cloud Ninja, the first thing I'd do is take out the Hyuga scouts before they even got the chance to track me."
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