84: Aftermath

Hyuga Huozhen is missing.

The two guards accompanying him also disappeared.

In the eyes of the Hyuga clan, this is definitely not something that can be revealed in one go.

This incident finally made the elders of the Hyuga clan suspicious.

But unfortunately, no matter how they investigated, looking for witnesses who survived on the cruise that day, there was only one answer—

Three suspected ninjas from the Hyuga clan were on a cruise ship from the Land of Rainbows to the port of the Land of Fire, and were attacked by ninjas using water release on the way.

The whereabouts are unknown and there is no news.

Life or death, no one knows.

That's the worst part.

The death of the two branch guards was not a particularly important matter. Just like Shingo Hyuga before, even if they disappeared, the enemy would not be able to get the white eyes.

There is only one way to free the caged bird - and that is death.

But after death, the caged bird will destroy the brain nerves and eyes of the branch ninja, so that the enemy can't get anything useful.

Their disappearance is at best a pity, and they don't feel that things have reached the point of no return.

But the disappearance of the ninja of the clan family is not a trivial matter.

Hyuga Huozhen is a member of the clan, and the sealing technique set in his brain is not as extreme as the caged bird, and can be cracked.

Once Hyuga's white eyes are acquired by the enemy, it is not good news for Hyuga and the entire Konoha.

The role of white eyes at the strategic level is really too great.

This matter was also informed to the senior officials of Konoha.

Within a few days, they had held more than ten consecutive meetings to deal with this matter.

Hyuga Huozhen was lost in the sea between the Rainbow Country and the Fire Country. Before disappearing, according to many witnesses, he fought ninjas who used water release.

"This matter may be a conspiracy of Hidden Mist, and we have to guard against it."

Danzo, the leader of the root, is also the reflection of the dark side of Konoha, and naturally speculates on others with the greatest malice.

Because if you think about it from another point of view, if you are a high-level executive of Hidden Mist Village, and you are lucky enough to accidentally discover the traces of the Hyuga clan ninja in the neighboring country of Rainbows, you will naturally be desperate to capture this clan ninja and get the precious bloodline limit in order to research it.

"Witnesses on the cruise ship said that those ninjas who used water release did not wear the costumes of Hidden Mist Village. Although the identity of the other party could not be determined, it is most likely that the Hidden Mist ninjas were disguised."

This ninja village, which is basically isolated from other countries in the mainland, is the embodiment of the military power of one of the five major countries, the Land of Water.

At no time should their strength be underestimated.

Since the first Ninja World War, when the Hidden Mist Village fought against Hidden Stone Village of the Land of Earth, the Village of Hidden Mist has been recharged over the years. The previous Second Ninja World War they were the same as the Hidden Cloud Village of the Land of Thunder, they didn't make any moves.

They have been secretly accumulating strength and training excellent ninjas.

Like the rest of the ninja villages, they are hostile to Konoha.

"As early as when the elders of the Hyuga Sect were looking for me, I had already dispatched Anbu to negotiate with the senior officials of Hidden Mist Village."

Hiruzen opened his mouth at this time.

"How do they plan to explain it in Hidden Mist Village?"

"They didn't know about it, and they also proved that there were no Hidden Mist ninjas at that time performing tasks in the waters between the Rainbow Country and the Fire Country. They expressed a moment of silence for this matter."

"The cat is crying and the mouse is fake. They are targeting the ninjas of the Hyuga clan, and they will threaten the land of fire and Konoha next time. Hiruzen, we need to give Hidden Mist Village some pressure to prevent similar things from happening in the future."(T/N - never heard this phrase before, not really sure what it means but it sounds cool.)

Danzo said loudly.

"In the last Ninja World War, Konoha lost a lot of manpower, and it is not appropriate to fight now."

Although relying on the funds provided by the fire country daimyo, Konoha's strength has recovered rapidly in the past few years, coupled with the endless emergence of young talents, Konoha's current strength can be said to exceed the second Ninja World War period.

However, the power of Hidden Mist Village is still unknown. Since the First Ninja World War, Hidden Mist Village has never been on the stage of the Ninja World, but it does not mean that the strength of this Ninja Village will be weak.

"Hiruzen is right. We don't have absolute evidence. We can only rely on guesswork. Even morally, we don't have the right to take action. It's easy to detonate a war."

Konoha has always paid attention to its reputation. Because of this good reputation and the outstanding quality of ninjas, many big businessmen are willing to establish cooperative relations with Konoha and hire Konoha's ninjas to complete tasks.

If there is a conflict with Hidden Mist Village for such unsure reasons, it will be beaten morally by Hidden Mist Village instead.

"The reason can be thought of after the fact. I don't need to tell you the importance of white eyes. You can't let white eyes fall into the hands of the enemy. Otherwise, in the near future, the enemy will use white eyes to deal with us, and we must prevent this from happening."

Danzo looks unwavering, thinking about the future of the village.

"I'll think about it again."

Hiruzen's brows furrowed, Danzo's statement also makes sense, and this kind of thing is likely to happen.

In the past wars, it was because of Hyuga's white eyes that the rest of the Shinobi villages had a headache.

If the enemy uses the same method to deal with them, it will be them who will suffer.

However, having a bad relationship with Hidden Mist Village... Konoha may end up in an embarrassing situation of isolation and helplessness.

Hearing Hiruzen say this, Danzo and the two advisors understood that this matter would disappear like this.

However, this is also a better way to deal with it.

I can't find the evidence, and I don't know who did it. In case this is a trap set by someone else who deliberately made Konoha and Hidden Mist fight...

Also take this into account.

Compared to Danzo's suggestion, the two advisors preferred Hiruzen's approach.

The village used such a huge amount of manpower for the Hyuga clan to find the missing ninjas of the clan, but due to the evidence and doubts about the identity of the enemy, if there is no key evidence, it can only stop there.

Even the elders and patriarchs of the Hyuga clan had nothing to say.

It's not that they don't want to stand up for the Hyuga clan, but only if they have sufficient evidence and determine the identity of the enemy who kidnapped the Hyuga Huozhen.

◎

"Did Hokage-sama give up?"

In the conference room of the Hyuga clan, the contemporary patriarch and all the elders gathered here.

They knew very well what the disappearance of the Hyuga Huozhen meant for the Hyuga family.

The loss of white eyes is a very heavy blow.

"The Anbu couldn't find any information. Just like the results obtained by the branch staff we sent to investigate, the identity of the enemy is a doubtful point, and there is no valid evidence, so we can only stop here."

An elder said more rationally.

"Last time, Shingo Hyuga also disappeared suddenly. This time, Huozhen, and the two branch ninjas accompanying him... I always feel a little suspicious."

Another elder crossed his hands, showing the color of thinking.

"Is there any connection between the two disappearance cases?"

"It's less than a few days apart in time, so it looks suspicious no matter what?"

"That's true, but even the identity of the enemy can't be determined, so we can only stop here."

Although the elders hated the enemies who attacked the Hyuga clan very much, they couldn't find any clues about who's doing these two things, and they didn't know who to vent to if they wanted to vent.

This kind of thing can't be blamed on the top leaders such as Hokage.

"I heard that Elder Danzo wants to stand up for our Hyuga clan..."

Hiashi's father, who is also the contemporary patriarch of the Hyuga clan, heard such words from an elder, his face sank immediately, and he asked:

"Who did you listen to?"

"It's rumored by people outside."

The elder lowered his head and said.

"In the future, you won't have anything to do with the people at the root, and let them handle the affairs of the high-level. We don't need to get involved in this kind of thing."

Patriarch Hyuga glanced at the elders with a solemn tone.

That old guy from Danzo went so far as to go for a walk.

Is it for the next Hokage position?

The third Hokage is almost fifty years old, and it is indeed almost time to elect the next Hokage candidate.

It's not easy for the Hyuga clan to get to where they are today, they don't need to participate in any political struggle, they just need to stay out of the turmoil.

Because no matter which generation of Hokage, they will never give up the white eyes of the Hyuga clan.

As long as there are ninjas and wars, the Hyuga clan will be firmly maintained by Konoha.

The premise is that nothing sensitive is involved.

Especially the fight over Hokage.

"Don't blame me for being ruthless if someone is involved in a game between high-level officials. Don't get caught up in the bad habits of the Uchiha clan."

"Yes!"

Two or three elders bowed their heads in guilt, and the rest of the elders shouted.

"Continue to investigate the matter of Huozhen. No matter what, I will give an account to the clansmen. Hiashi, I will leave this matter to you. As before, I will not interfere. Deal with it as you want."

The patriarch Hyuga looked at his eldest son, Hyuga Hiashi, next to him, the future heir of the Hyuga clan, and said in a relaxed tone.

Over the years, he has not interfered too much with the eldest son, Hiashi. What he wants is a qualified Hyuga Clan Chief, not a puppet in his hand.

He will eventually grow old one day, and the future of Hyuga will depend on these young people to maintain.

In any case, a qualified patriarch must have his own judgment of the situation, not just repeat what others think.

When the elders saw this, they also understood that the day when Hiashi took over as the head of the Hyuga clan was not far away.

"Yes, Father, I'll take care of this."

Hiashi nodded solemnly, and knew that the delay of this matter would be a bit unfavorable for the family, and it must be revealed as soon as possible.

◎

Looking at the information passed by Ayane in his hand, Shiraishi was doing research on immortality.

"It seems that they don't intend to pursue the disappearance of Hyuga Huozhen. It's okay, it saves me a lot of effort."

If the investigation goes on, the time and manpower spent is a relatively huge number.

Moreover, there was no evidence left at the scene at that time.

Those ninjas who use the water escape are also just the right people to replace Shiraishi to become the suspects of Konoha and Hyuga.

Although he was curious about the identities of those water ninjas, Shiraishi did not intend to investigate further.

There is no need to pay attention to such trivial matters. All he wants is to untie the caged birds. Their identities are of no use to Shiraishi.

It doesn't matter whether it's a person from Hidden Mist or the rest of the Shinobi Villages, there's no need to worry about it.

Putting this information on the alcohol lamp and burning it, Shiraishi began to concentrate on studying sage arts.