At this moment, hearing Hyuga Natsu's invitation, Terai and Yamato—who were hiding in the shadows, ready to step in at any moment to stop the conflict—looked at each other in mutual bewilderment.
Yamato scratched his head and asked, "It looks like she can handle the Hyuga clan's matters on her own... Do we even need to step in?"
"No,"
Terai pondered for a moment, frowning as he looked at Hyuga Natsu standing in front of the secretariat. A trace of solemnity flashed through his eyes. "We didn't give her any intelligence, and Tennin hasn't contacted her over the past few months. In other words, relying entirely on her own deductions, she established the prerequisite that nothing bad would happen to her as long as she stayed in this camp. Only then did she take action to tear up the Hyuga Main House's official order."
"Her timing was also incredibly precise. Relying solely on reinforcement from the Medical Department and the Might father and son wouldn't have been enough to force the Hyuga Main House to leave. This means that when we arrived last night... we were already exposed."
"Furthermore, even if we hadn't come... she seems to have prepared other backup plans."
"This girl... is not simple."
Yamato was taken aback. "But doing this completely offends the Hyuga Main House to death, doesn't it? She can't stay in the camp forever. As long as the Caged Bird exists, the Main House will eventually find an opportunity to activate it against her."
"And... other backup plans? Aside from the shinobi who are closely related to Tennin, what else could she possibly rely on?"
Terai did not answer. He couldn't say for sure either. Having grown accustomed to the methods of Danzo Shimura, Ryoma Aburame, and Hyuga Yu, he had a faint inkling that this entire conflict was actually already within the other party's control. The arrival of Root was merely a well-timed coincidence that gave Hyuga Natsu an effortless alternative. Otherwise, the ones appearing in the camp right now wouldn't just be Hyuga Kazuhiko's trio, but rather that Main House member who had reportedly arrived along with them.
This conflict should have been much more intense, but given the composure Hyuga Natsu displayed, the response she had initially prepared might far exceed Terai's imagination...
Perhaps even...
Thinking up to this point, Terai couldn't help but recall the incident two months ago when Kirigakure attacked the Hyuga Main House. Back then, Hyuga Natsu, who was at the very center of the incident, had already displayed a complete disregard for the Main House's authority, alongside the ruthlessness of directly targeting a Main House member to steal a Main House Byakugan for Hyuga Yu.
Furthermore, during that incident, Hyuga Natsu was the only person in the entire shinobi world who had witnessed with her own eyes the complete process of Hyuga Yu suppressing the Caged Bird and completing the eye transplantation surgery.
Moreover, this sudden aggression by the Hyuga Main House against Hyuga Natsu seemed very strange to Terai. Although it fit the current political landscape within the Hyuga clan, looking strictly at the conditions—
Main House members venturing outside, guards being reassigned, and having top-tier medical ninja like Furofuki as well as hidden, terrifying combat forces like Might Duy by her side...
Terai's heart skipped a beat, and he immediately shook his head to stop himself from thinking further along those lines.
At this moment, Yamato's head was still full of question marks, and he wanted to ask more.
Terai patted his shoulder and led the way straight out from behind the building, using the Body Flicker Technique to appear in front of the secretariat door. Yamato followed immediately behind him.
Approaching her, Terai narrowed his eyes behind his mask, looked at the harmless-looking girl in front of him, and asked in a deep voice, "You are... Hyuga Natsu?"
Hyuga Natsu smiled at the two of them, bowed slightly in greeting, and then suddenly raised her head to ask, "Did 'Tennin'... send you to find me?"
As soon as those words fell, Terai's pupils contracted sharply, though his expression remained unchanged. On the other hand, Yamato next to him shuddered all over. He looked up in surprise at this 'sister-in-law' and blurted out in astonishment, "Huh? How did you know?"
Having tricked them into giving her the answer, the smile on Hyuga Natsu's face suddenly grew bright, and the dark clouds looming between her brows dispersed like mist before the sun. She looked at the two of them with a chuckle, offering no answer, but simply raised her hand to invite them into the secretariat. "Please come in, I will brew some tea for you both."
Terai glared at Yamato through his mask. Their very first clash upon meeting Hyuga Yu's fiancée had ended in utter defeat, and it seemed they were about to lose control of the conversation entirely. Helpless, he could only lead Yamato into the room behind her.
Inside the simple wooden cabin that served as the camp's temporary secretariat, various documents and decorations were arranged in perfect order. Various colorful potted plants were also meticulously cultivated, most of which were a type of flower called 'Kan-tsubaki,' a winter variety of camellia that bloomed from December to February, featuring full, richly colored blossoms. Among these winter camellias, the white ones were the most numerous.
The well-traveled Terai recognized this flower. In the language of flowers, this variety signified 'humility,' 'ideal love,' or rather, 'perfect... love.'
However, the owner who cultivated it was currently displaying a sharp edge completely at odds with its meaning. After pouring a cup of tea for each of the seated guests, Hyuga Natsu took a sip and looked directly at Terai, asking straightforwardly, "What does Shishi-kun... what does Hyuga Yu need me to do for him?"
Hearing this, Terai immediately furrowed his brows and countered, "Who told you that 'Tennin' is Hyuga Yu?"
"You did." Hyuga Natsu smiled faintly and looked out the cabin window. Coincidentally, at that very moment, the Might father and son were passing by the window during their training. Further away, several members of the Hyuga Branch Family were sitting together playing cards, while Furofuki, the head of the Medical Department, was leading a group of medical ninja into a temporary operating room...
"The shinobi reassigned here are all connected to Hyuga Yu in one way or another. The eastern front has advanced forward, yet they didn't move along with the troops; they remained here instead."
"This entire camp is essentially an oversized hostage pen, and we are all 'hostages' used to tie down a certain important figure. It's an obvious reality, and I'm not the only one who has deduced it."
"Furthermore, at this specific point in time, besides 'Tennin,' I can't think of anyone else worth Root making such a massive fuss over."
Terai knitted his brows, staring intently at her. "But with your position, it should be impossible for you to have the clearance to obtain intelligence of this level. How could you be so certain it was... Root?"
Hyuga Natsu nudged the desserts placed on the small round table and smiled gently. "Alright, don't be so tense. I'm not some sort of bad person, am I?"
"The camp conditions are basic, so I could only make these dorayaki. Please forgive the poor hospitality."
"Go ahead and try some."
Hearing this, Yamato—who didn't possess nearly as many schemes as Terai—nodded eagerly. Looking at the exquisitely made dorayaki on the table, his appetite was instantly whetted. He peeled back half of his mask, reached out, grabbed a piece, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Seeing how casual Yamato was being, Hyuga Natsu couldn't help but narrow her eyes and smile, having confirmed yet another piece of information.
Terai, watching Yamato's absolute certainty of 'how could Sister-in-law possibly harm me,' couldn't help but cover his forehead, thoroughly defeated.
At this point, Hyuga Natsu did not press further regarding their purpose for coming. Instead, she hesitated for a moment before asking a different question: "Is he... doing well?"
As soon as these words were spoken, Yamato's hand holding the dorayaki froze mid-air, and Terai fell silent as well.
"It seems... not very well. However, since he still has the luxury to send you to find me, it means we don't need to worry about his basic safety at the very least."
Hyuga Natsu knit her elegant brows slightly and continued, "Given my current situation, what I can do is very limited. Therefore, what he needs is help from someone else. But because you cannot make direct contact with that party, you came to find me."
"And given 'Tennin's' current identity, those he cannot directly contact..."
"...can only be people from the Third Hokage's faction. Or to be more precise, it should be people or matters related to Minato Namikaze, who is also a candidate for the position of Fourth Hokage."
Hyuga Natsu raised her head to look at Terai and asked calmly, "What does he need?"
At this, Terai and Yamato both froze simultaneously, staring at each other.
Before Terai's seat could even get warm, the other party had already laid out their entire purpose for coming with crystal clarity. What else could he even say?
He probably didn't even know as much as the girl standing in front of him.
"The second negotiation with Iwagakure is imminent. On our way out, we were ambushed by two powerful bounty ninja. Tennin said he needs your help to find Minato Namikaze and request reinforcement..."
Hyuga Natsu was startled. "Request reinforcement from Minato Namikaze?"
As intelligent as she was, Hyuga Natsu was momentarily left dazed upon hearing this. Her first reaction was that Hyuga Yu wanted to throw mud at Minato Namikaze and pin the blame for the ambush onto his 'competitor.' But very quickly, she frowned, realizing: 'No, that's not right. Shishi-kun isn't that foolish. Even if he wanted to frame Minato Namikaze, he wouldn't use such a low-level method.'
'He has something else entirely in mind—'
'But if his safety is guaranteed, and Shishi-kun wants me to find Minato Namikaze, if it's not to harm him, then what is it for?'
Thinking here, Hyuga Natsu raised her head, looked calmly at Terai and Yamato, and said, "I must trouble you two..."
"...to tell me everything about this matter, from beginning to end, in complete detail."
Seeing this, Terai and Yamato exchanged a glance. Backed by Danzo Shimura's endorsement, they related every single detail of the events from before and after their departure following the collapse of Kirigakure to Hyuga Natsu.
Hyuga Natsu quickly discovered a figure at the source of this intelligence who was connected to everyone involved in this incident—
Rin Nohara.
Hyuga Yu had decided on his departure route only after inquiring about the intelligence regarding Rin Nohara and Kakashi Hatake. Furthermore, Hyuga Yu had encountered the ambush by the bounty ninja right before he was supposed to run into Rin Nohara.
And Rin Nohara happened to be Minato Namikaze's student. Moreover, her deployment clearly showed signs of anomaly.
Generally speaking, when a Konoha shinobi's deployment showed anomalies, it was usually because Root was playing tricks behind the scenes. For instance, during the incident where Kirigakure attacked the Hyuga Main House, both Hyuga Yu and Might Duy were sent to the front lines precisely because of this. However, Root had now ruled out its own involvement. As for Rin Nohara herself—to put it politely, she had always been detached from worldly disputes;
To put it bluntly, she possessed very little utility value.
She had no enemies within the Medical Department, and as a shinobi directly under the Third Hokage's lineage, neither the Medical Department nor the Hokage's Office had any reason to target her.
In other words, her direct department, the Hokage's faction, and the Root faction were all devoid of suspicion regarding her anomalous deployment. If so, who was covertly reassigning her?
The Jonin Commander's office?
Could it be that the various clans of Konoha were trying to curry favor with the future Hokage, Minato Namikaze, ahead of time, planning to send his disciple to the front lines to farm military achievements? However, the warfare on the eastern front had already entered its tail end, and the largest piece of fruit had already been seized by Hyuga Yu. There was absolutely no need for this...
The high-level Elder Council?
That was even more impossible. With Hiruzen Sarutobi and Danzo Shimura excluded from suspicion, Elders Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane had absolutely zero connection to this girl.
Hyuga Natsu narrowed her eyes, increasingly sensing that the matter was turning rather bizarre.
After figuring this out, she couldn't help but laugh out of pure exasperation—she was absolutely certain that the reason Hyuga Yu had his Root subordinates track her down was undoubtedly for this girl.
Having her find Minato Namikaze, following this logic, was also to make Minato realize the strangeness of this situation, and subsequently—
...have Minato Namikaze save the girl.
Furthermore, by Hyuga Yu's judgment, only Minato Namikaze stood a chance of saving her.
In short, after not seeing each other for over two months, the first thing this 'dead man' Hyuga Yu did after winning his revival match and tracking her down was actually to ask her to help him save another woman?
What exactly was the relationship between this woman and Hyuga Yu?
Could it be that in the short span of two months, Hyuga Yu had already gone behind her back to have a fling with another woman?
Hyuga Natsu felt a sour ache in her teeth. Meanwhile, Terai and Yamato suddenly heard a faint, grinding noise. The two looked at each other in bewilderment, but upon witnessing the eerie, chilling expression that had abruptly surfaced on Hyuga Natsu's face, these two young elite experts of Root actually couldn't help but shrink their necks back before this ordinary chunin.
Thinking that this fiancée, who knew Hyuga Yu best, had likely realized something, Terai stiffly asked, "Si... Hyuga Natsu, what do you plan to do?"
Hearing this, Hyuga Natsu's gaze focused, and she spoke resolutely, "According to that guy's wishes, we will go find Minato Namikaze."
Soon, she frowned again, a cold glint flashing through her eyes. "I originally intended to take care of another matter, but... for now, it can only be temporarily shelved until the next opportunity."
By this point, Hyuga Natsu's manner of addressing Hyuga Yu had already shifted from 'Shishi-kun' to 'that guy'...
Meanwhile, at the border of the Land of Rain.
Following his battle with Hiruko in the Land of Hot Springs and being relentlessly pursued by Kakuzu for two consecutive days, Hyuga Yu had led Kakuzu across four nations: the Lands of Hot Springs, Rice Fields, Iron, and Grass. Under his deliberate guidance, he was finally driven by Kakuzu into a dead end at the edge of a cliff. Utilizing the last remnants of chakra obtained from decomposing his chakra prayer beads, Hyuga Yu used Wind Style: Flowing Gale to glide far down from the cliff, temporarily shaking off the tightly pursuing Kakuzu.
By this point, the chakra within Hyuga Yu's body was completely exhausted.
Furthermore... "Is this Earth Grudge Fear?"
Mid-air, Hyuga Yu looked at the dusky "scar" attached to the surface of the back of his hand, resembling a birthmark, and knit his brows slightly. Before jumping off the cliff, under the ultra-high-speed mobility granted by Wind Style: Flowing Gale and the deliberately pathetic state he put on, Kakuzu had trailed far behind him like an experienced hunter, waiting for the moment Hyuga Yu's stamina would be completely spent. However, possessing eighteenth-hand Hashirama cells, Hyuga Yu's chakra recovery speed was far from slow, allowing him to consistently maintain his state. Ultimately, upon realizing he had been tricked, Kakuzu flew into a rage and attacked Hyuga Yu at the cliff's edge, though he only managed to barely graze Hyuga Yu with an Earth Grudge Fear tentacle.
Yet with just that single graze, the threads of Earth Grudge Fear had autonomously stitched themselves into Hyuga Yu's flesh, disguising themselves as a part of his body.
Realizing this thing was akin to a tracking device, Hyuga Yu immediately intended to use the final bit of chakra in his body to manifest a Chakra Scalpel and excise it. However—
Just as he initiated the medical ninjutsu mid-air, a squad that was constantly on the move within the Land of Rain happened to be passing by below the other side of the cliff.
An exclamation rang out: "It's an aerial attack!"
"Someone is casting a jutsu right above us! Watch out!"
The next instant—"Almighty Push!"
Before Hyuga Yu could even cut away the chunk of flesh infected by Earth Grudge Fear, an invisible ripple abruptly surged upward from below!
His eyes widened in utter bewilderment. He barely managed to swing his Chakra Scalpel to block before a colossal force violently struck him square in the chest.
"Pfft!"
Hyuga Yu instantly coughed up blood and crashed out of the sky.
At this moment, the shinobi of the squad below immediately surrounded him, looking at Hyuga Yu who lay unconscious on the ground. Among them, three youths with orange, red, and blue hair wearing hooded trench coats exchanged bewildered glances. "He doesn't seem to be one of Hanzo's men... We hit the wrong person."
"Nagato, why did you use that jutsu?!"
"Because... the feeling that person gave me just now was very dangerous..."
"Yahiko, what should we do?"
"Naturally, we have to bring him back and save him as fast as we can!"
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