One week later, at the main gate of the village.
A young girl carefully adjusted Hyuga Kagami's gear, making sure everything was in place.
From her clear white eyes, it was evident that she, like Hyuga Kagami, belonged to the Hyuga clan. They were of similar age, but her delicate face bore a slight frown, as if she was troubled by something.
Gazing at the distant Hokage Rock, Hyuga Kagami smiled and said, "Don't worry. It's just a routine deployment change."
The girl nodded slightly before taking out a new pair of goggles from her pouch and handing them to him.
Hyuga Kagami glanced at her without saying much and tucked the goggles into his pouch.
Since a long time ago, Hyuga Kagami had worn goggles, much like Obito. However, the lenses of his goggles were darker, resembling sunglasses.
He did this not only to protect his eyes but also to conceal his Hyuga identity on the battlefield, avoiding targeted attacks from enemies. Additionally, it was to hide his potential future possession of the Tenseigan, as there were noticeable differences in appearance between the Tenseigan and the Byakugan.
The girl was undoubtedly concerned that Hyuga Kagami's old goggles might break, and since it would be difficult to find replacements at the border, she bought him a new pair as a backup.
At that moment, a middle-aged ninja in the distance waved his hand and called out, "It's time. We should depart now."
Hearing this, Hyuga Kagami patted the girl's shoulder. "Suzuki, I'm leaving. Don't worry about me. I might be back soon."
Suzuki nodded gently, but the concern on her face remained evident.
Finally, Hyuga Kagami took another glance at the distant Hokage Rock.
The recent defection of Orochimaru had been a major loss for the village. With Orochimaru gone and Jiraiya in pursuit, the legendary Sannin had all officially left the village.
Orochimaru had lost the support of the village but had also freed himself from its constraints, making it a neutral outcome for him.
Meanwhile, Danzo, who had absorbed most of Orochimaru's forces, emerged as the biggest winner. Hyuga Kagami even suspected that Danzo had taken advantage of this situation to acquire some of Orochimaru's human experiment results, laying the groundwork for stealing the Sharingan and the First Hokage's cells in the future.
However, none of that mattered to Hyuga Kagami at the moment.
The village's leadership had reached a consensus: all former subordinates of Orochimaru who had not been recruited into the Root organization, like Hyuga Kagami, would be reassigned to various border posts.
In simple terms, they were being exiled—sent far away from the village.
As he approached the middle-aged ninja, Hyuga Kagami examined his companions.
There were twelve ninjas in total, divided into three squads. Aside from the three squad leaders, the remaining nine members were all former subordinates of Orochimaru.
Their destination was a border outpost at the junction between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
As soon as they left the village, Hyuga Kagami activated his Byakugan, remaining on high alert as if entering a war zone.
This was not an overreaction. He had learned a hard lesson months ago when his team, escorting wounded soldiers back from the front lines, was ambushed less than ten miles from the village. The attack resulted in heavy casualties, and if not for the timely arrival of reinforcements, his name might already be engraved on the Memorial Stone.
The brutal realities of war had taught Hyuga Kagami many things. Though the war was now over, some habits were hard to change.
He wasn't the only one on guard. The other ninjas in the group also remained cautious—except for one.
Glancing at the small figure trailing at the back of the group, Hyuga Kagami sighed softly.
If anyone in the village refused to believe Orochimaru had defected, it was undoubtedly Anko Mitarashi.
Almost overnight, Anko had fallen from being the disciple of one of the Sannin and a rising star in the village to a prisoner. After weeks of detention, she was exiled alongside Hyuga Kagami, completely removed from the village's political core.
One look at her hollow eyes and blank expression was enough to tell that she still couldn't accept the fact that her mentor, one of the legendary Sannin, had betrayed the village.
Such a complete collapse of faith might never be mended for the rest of her life.
Shifting his gaze away from Anko, Hyuga Kagami carefully observed the other ninjas in his group.
Among the twelve, only the middle-aged leader was a Jonin, while the rest, including Hyuga Kagami and Anko, were all Chunin. This meant that their team had a decent level of combat ability. As long as they didn't encounter an ambush team composed entirely of Jonin, they wouldn't have any major security issues.
Moreover, the war had ended, and the chances of encountering enemy Jonin within the Land of Fire were slim to none.
As expected, their journey was uneventful, and they successfully arrived at the border outpost.
Once stationed at the outpost, the twelve-man team was officially split into three squads. Hyuga Kagami, Anko, and a Chunin named Oda were assigned to the squad led by the Jonin.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Wind did not share a direct border; smaller nations such as the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain lay in between. However, these small nations provided little real separation.
The border outpost where Hyuga Kagami was stationed covered a forty-mile stretch. On one side was the edge of a forest, and on the other was an endless desert.
Thus began Hyuga Kagami's monotonous routine of patrolling the desert, over and over again.
Time passed quickly, and two months went by in the blink of an eye.
All news from the village had been completely cut off. Isolated at the border, Hyuga Kagami felt as if he had been completely removed from the world, spending his days in an endless cycle of patrolling, standing guard, and resting.
During this time, he could sense that the Jonin squad leader had been keeping a close watch on him and the other nine former subordinates of Orochimaru. As a result, he remained disciplined, showing no signs of rebellion.
He quietly speculated that such surveillance wouldn't last forever.
Even a powerful village like Konoha didn't have the manpower to monitor over a hundred ninjas indefinitely. There had to be a limit.
Sure enough, not long after, the village sent three new Chunin to replace the previous squad leaders, including the middle-aged Jonin.
At first, Hyuga Kagami thought this meant the village had lifted its surveillance. But after observing the newcomers, he realized all three of the new squad leaders were eerily silent and gave off a chilling presence.
"These people aren't ordinary Chunin..."
Hyuga Kagami quickly came to a realization—these new squad leaders were either from the Anbu or the Root organization.
Would a normal border outpost require three Anbu or Root operatives as squad leaders?
The answer was obvious. His mind raced as he tried to figure out what had happened in the village over the past two months. One thing was certain—danger had arrived.
There was no time to waste. He had to activate the Tenseigan plan immediately...