Chapter 103: The Akatsuki Duo

Facing Kakashi's inquiry.

"Share a field of vision? Could you be more specific?" Dan pretended not to understand.

Kakashi was silent for a few seconds.

Eventually, he revealed his recent encounter with the masked man with the Sharingan in the village.

He suspected that the man might be a rogue ninja from Iwagakure, who had obtained Obito's other Sharingan from his body on the battlefield.

Upon hearing this, Uchiha immediately knew that the man Kakashi had encountered was not some rogue ninja, but Obito himself.

However, he didn't expose this, instead nodding: "The situation you encountered is quite unique, but not impossible. I'll ask around the Uchiha clan for you. The clan head and the elders should know more."

"Thank you."

Upon hearing this, Kakashi nodded in gratitude to Dan.

Having said that, he stood up, ready to leave.

However, after taking a few steps, Kakashi's expression changed, and he suddenly turned back to tell Dan something:

"I overheard the masked man talking to his companion. He was after the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki, seemingly planning to use the power of the Sharingan to recreate the Nine-Tails incident from years ago, and then frame the Uchiha clan."

"Is that so?" Dan seemed quite surprised.

"But don't worry, the Leaf's Anbu has seen through their plot and has taken strict measures to protect the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki," Kakashi added.

Upon hearing this, Dan also stood up and thanked Kakashi:

"Thank you for the information. We Uchiha will also be on guard."

From Kakashi's words, he understood Obito's plan—

To instigate conflict between the Uchiha and the Leaf, leading to a destructive conflict.

Coincidentally, this was also what Dan had been planning to do. He and Obito were on the same page.

Therefore, Dan didn't plan to share this information with Fugaku, Shisui, or any other Uchiha.

He would introduce Obito's power at the right time, according to his own pace, to prompt a complete fallout between the Uchiha and the Leaf's higher-ups, leading to a coup.

By then, the Uchiha and the Leaf could face off directly, truly determining who was superior.

It was something to look forward to.

After bidding farewell to Dan Kakashi left the Uchiha compound.

He frowned, replaying his conversation with Uchiha in his mind, while reaching up to touch his left eye again.

Suddenly, Kakashi felt a subtle chakra fall upon him, locking onto him.

Someone was watching him.

He looked up to see a Hyuga ninja from the police force on a nearby rooftop, monitoring the street with his Byakugan.

Kakashi didn't react, keeping his gaze steady.

He was Anbu, not subject to the jurisdiction of the police force. It had always been this way, and it still was.

But it seemed the police force didn't see it that way.

Kakashi hadn't gone far when a squad of police officers approached him.

The leader of the group was none other than the recently prominent head of the police force—Hyuga Hizashi.

As Hizashi and his men passed, the villagers stepped aside, their faces filled with awe.

The two parties met in the middle of the street, stopping three meters apart.

Several Hyuga police officers stared at Kakashi with unfriendly eyes, whispering something into Hizashi's ear.

Hizashi frowned slightly, addressing Kakashi in a stern voice: "Kakashi, you just entered the Uchiha compound and met with Uchiha Dan, didn't you?"

"Is there a problem?" Kakashi asked calmly in response.

Hearing this, Hizashi's frown deepened, and he warned Kakashi in a more serious tone: "The Uchiha are dangerous and extreme in their thinking. You'd best be careful not to be influenced by them, and don't stand against the entire Leaf Village just because of a single Sharingan. I don't want to see you follow in your father's footsteps..."

"Please stop." Kakashi abruptly cut Hizashi off, brushing past the group and leaving without looking back.

Yes, compared to the Hyuga clan, the Uchiha's reputation in the village was much worse.

But Kakashi's best friend had been an Uchiha, who had given him a Sharingan as a gift for his promotion to Jonin.

The Uchiha knew about this and didn't take Kakashi's eye back. They even helped him with another eye surgery to better adapt to the power of the Sharingan.

This was the magnanimity Kakashi saw in the Uchiha. And the Hyuga?

This clan not only refused to give their Byakugan to outsiders, but they also placed a Caged Bird Seal on their own clan members, ostensibly to prevent the Byakugan from being taken, but in reality, it was lifelong enslavement and oppression.

Such a distorted family now considered themselves superior to the Uchiha, claiming to be the first noble family of the Leaf.

Kakashi could only feel contempt for this.

Watching his retreating figure.

"Kakashi has fallen," the police officers murmured among themselves.

The Sharingan-wielding Kakashi.

For someone so entangled with the Uchiha, it was hard for the Hyuga to feel any goodwill.

Hizashi shook his head, ignoring the stubborn Kakashi, and ordered his men:

"Continue patrolling, especially around the Uchiha compound, and be on guard for any potential criminal activities."

...

Another night passed.

In the early morning, a thick fog filled the air, reducing visibility.

At the west gate of the Leaf, a night-shift guard was dozing off, leaning against the gate.

Suddenly.

Two figures slowly emerged from the fog in the distance.

They wore straw hats and Akatsuki cloaks, looking mysterious as they chatted while walking.

"Do you think that guy who claims to be Uchiha Madara is telling the truth?"

"Under normal circumstances, I wouldn't believe it. But after seeing Pain, who possesses the Rinnegan of the Sage of Six Paths, the idea of Madara still being alive doesn't seem so surprising."

"Heh, it seems you're still obsessed with the leader's Rinnegan. Have you already forgotten the humiliation of being beaten down by Shinra Tensei and begging for mercy?"

"Isn't it because you, as a top member of the Akatsuki, are so weak that I thought the leader of the Akatsuki wouldn't be much stronger, so I attacked him."

"You..."

Orochimaru and Sasori bickered, unknowingly arriving in front of the gate.

"Halt!"

The Leaf guard woke up, finding their attire suspicious.

He immediately questioned their names and identities.

Whoosh!

A poisonous snake suddenly shot out from Orochimaru's sleeve, its fangs sinking into the guard's neck, causing him to fall to the ground.

Seeing this, Sasori reproached Orochimaru in a displeased tone: "Orochimaru, you're killing people as soon as you return to the Leaf. Have you forgotten Madara's orders? Acting rashly and alerting the Leaf isn't a good idea."

As the two Akatsuki members, Orochimaru and Sasori, entered the village, the day was just beginning, and their mission was about to unfold.

Orochimaru licked his lips, passing the blame onto Sasori: "It's because you look so suspicious that the guard became wary, forcing me to act. But don't worry, I didn't kill him. I just used snake venom to knock him out temporarily."

Indeed, the appearance of Sasori's puppet, Hiruko, was quite eye-catching.

Sasori refused to admit it, immediately retorting in his raspy, low voice:

"You're the one who's more suspicious. You, an S-rank rogue ninja, were once a famous figure in the Leaf Village. Who here wouldn't recognize your face?"

At this, Orochimaru chuckled.

He didn't argue with Sasori any further. Instead, he reached up and peeled off his entire face, much like a snake shedding its skin.

After "shedding his skin," Orochimaru transformed into a beautiful woman with fair skin and a high forehead.

This wasn't a transformation technique.

Ever since Orochimaru developed the Reincarnation of the Impure World, he would change bodies every few years. His original body had long been discarded.

In fact.

The appearance Orochimaru usually presented was the result of a transformation technique.

"Now I won't be recognized."

Orochimaru said, tossing aside the slimy skin. After transforming into a woman, his demeanor instantly became more charming.

"Disgusting," was Sasori's comment.

Entering the Leaf Village.

Many breakfast shops along the street were open, and the aroma of hot food filled the air.

It was mouth-watering.

"Ah, red bean dango."

Orochimaru spotted a street food stall, his eyes lighting up. "One of my apprentices loves these dangos. I wonder how she's doing now. Ah, I miss the old days."

He sighed nostalgically, offering to treat Sasori, but then touched his forehead and said apologetically:

"I almost forgot, you can't eat. It's a shame, even for immortality, you shouldn't have to pay such a price."

"At least I didn't turn myself into something neither male nor female."

Sasori retorted coldly, not holding back his sarcasm.

"Hehe."

Orochimaru laughed nonchalantly, then ordered a serving of dangos and began to savor them slowly.

Sasori stood by the roadside, his eyes darting around ominously.

Before long.

A group of Leaf ninjas appeared on the street. They were all dressed in the uniform of the police force, their Byakugan activated, their sharp gazes scanning the surroundings.

"Are these guys from the Hyuga clan?"

Sasori's eyes flashed.

He had always wanted to capture a Byakugan to use in his puppet-making.

"Huh, wasn't the police force controlled by the Uchiha? How did it become the Hyuga's?"

Orochimaru looked surprised.

After asking the shop owner, he learned that the Uchiha had recently resigned en masse, causing the Leaf to reclaim the police force.

"How strange, I never thought the proud Uchiha clan would willingly give up the police force."

Orochimaru couldn't help but comment.

"By the way."

Sasori suddenly remembered something and mentioned to Orochimaru, "White Zetsu told Pain that the Uchiha attacked the Mountain Graveyard, causing Pain to panic. This happened right after the Uchiha gave up the police force. Could it really be a coincidence?"

"You mean..." Orochimaru narrowed his eyes.

"We should capture a few Uchiha jonin and interrogate them. We might be able to figure out what the Mountain Graveyard is, and what exactly happened between Pain and the Uchiha clan."

Sasori said in a low voice.

Both he and Orochimaru wanted to learn more about Pain, rather than blindly following his orders as they were doing now.

"Good idea."

Orochimaru surprisingly agreed with his partner for once, but also pointed out, "However, the elite ninjas of the Uchiha are not so easy to deal with. We need to plan carefully."

After finishing breakfast.

The two got up and left.

"Are those the two?"

The group of police force ninjas had noticed the two of them early on. After exchanging glances, they became more suspicious of the duo's behavior.

They immediately followed.

The Akatsuki duo made several turns and soon entered a secluded grove in the Leaf Village park.

The two seemed to sense something and stopped.

The next second.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Several members of the Hyuga police force appeared, surrounding Orochimaru and Sasori.

A squad leader stepped forward and sternly questioned the two:

"You're not Leaf ninjas. What's your intention sneaking into the Leaf Village like this?"

His sharp gaze scrutinized the two, mainly focusing on the hunchbacked puppet, Hiruko.

Seeing this, Orochimaru couldn't help but complain to Sasori:

"See, I told you your appearance is too suspicious."

After saying this, he spread his hands, took a step back, and said to the police force members, "I have nothing to do with this. I don't even know this guy well."

"Hmph."

Sasori snorted coldly, not bothering to waste words, and opened his mouth.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh.

Countless poisonous needles and stingers shot out from his mouth like a rainstorm, attacking the squad leader at lightning speed.

Ninjutsu: Needle Hell.

The sheer number and speed of these needles made them impossible to dodge, especially in a surprise attack at close range.

So.

The Hyuga squad leader screamed and fell to the ground, not getting up again.

At the same time.

Rip.

A metallic scorpion tail shot out from behind Hiruko, sweeping towards the police force members...

Just one minute later.

The entire police patrol was wiped out. No one managed to escape. Their bodies were impaled by Hiruko's scorpion tail and thrown into the bushes.

"Damn Hyuga clan, leaving such a curse mark on their clan members, ruining all the Byakugan. It seems next time I'll have to capture someone from the Hyuga main family."

Sasori was very dissatisfied.

"You go ahead, I don't want to be with you anymore, you're nothing but trouble."

Orochimaru looked at Sasori with disgust, then muttered to himself, "I'm going to see my beloved apprentice. She should be... eighteen this year, right?"

Contact me if you need anything.

He left these words for Sasori, then slithered out of the grove like a snake, disappearing in the blink of an eye.

Watching Orochimaru leave.

Boom!

With a puff of white smoke, Sasori suddenly transformed into a handsome red-haired teenager about fifteen or sixteen years old.

This was his original appearance.

He had turned his own body into a human puppet, so he remained eternally youthful, his appearance frozen in his teenage years.

This look was completely different from Hiruko's, and he assumed it wouldn't arouse the suspicion of the Leaf ninjas anymore.

Then.

He casually walked out of the park

and began to stroll around the Leaf Village.

Sasori planned to survey the layout and personnel deployment of the village, while formulating a plan in his mind on how to use his puppetry to destroy it.

He couldn't wait to turn the Leaf Village into a grand stage, where he would perform a play that would shock the entire ninja world.

By then, everyone would understand that puppetry was the king of all ninja arts.