Ch.245 Setting the Trap

This farce quickly came to an end under Iruka's intervention.

On the rooftop of the academy building.

Jiraiya chuckled, "What an interesting bunch of kids!"

Kakashi, on the other hand, looked exasperated.

He had no idea how to react to Shinji's so-called "physical genjutsu."

Wiping the smile off his face, Jiraiya said, "Keep an eye on those two Uchiha kids. It seems the Akatsuki has taken an interest in them."

Kakashi nodded, "Understood. I'll keep an eye on them."

Jiraiya took one last look at Naruto, who had been woken up by Sakura and was now slinking back to the classroom. A faint smile tugged at the corners of his lips.

In the classroom.

Shinji propped his chin on one hand, deep in thought about his next steps.

Currently, the village appeared calm on the surface, but internally, it was on high alert. Every suspicious individual was under strict surveillance.

Karin, Kimimaro, and Neji each had their own troubles.

Sasuke, in particular, was under 24/7 surveillance by the Anbu, with every move he made being closely watched.

Even Yakumo, whom Shinji had recently approached, had drawn the village's attention due to her sudden physical recovery and was now being monitored by the Anbu.

In short, no matter what Shinji wanted to do, he had to hold back for now.

Otherwise, the village might follow the trail and capture not only him but also everyone connected to him.

"The Anbu monitoring Karin consists of only one person, and they often leave for various reasons. This suggests that the village doesn't suspect her much. Perhaps it won't be long before she passes the village's scrutiny completely. Once that happens, I can restart the 'Rinnegan Plan' and have her continue trying to restore that completely damaged Mangekyō Sharingan..."

"Kimimaro, on the other hand, is being monitored by two Anbu agents in shifts, 24 hours a day. He's clearly a key target of the village's investigation, so I'll have to pause any interactions with him for now..."

"The village hasn't assigned Anbu to monitor Neji, but there are always members of the Hyūga clan lingering around him. It's likely that Hiashi is keeping a protective eye on him. Tsk, with the Hyūga's Byakugan, any experiments I try on Neji would be discovered immediately. This is a bit tricky..."

"If I can't make moves on Kimimaro and Neji for now, the 'Tenseigan Plan' will have to remain on hold..."

"As for Yakumo, why did Tsunade assign two Anbu agents to monitor her? Well, until the Anbu surveillance of the Kurama clan's main residence is lifted, I can't make any moves there either..."

As he pondered, Shinji shook his head.

Naruto's repeated brushes with danger had left the village on edge. Anyone who could potentially know or guess Naruto's whereabouts had become a key target of the village's investigation.

Because of this, almost everyone connected to Shinji's plans—his classmates—had been drawn into the village's scrutiny to varying degrees.

This had forced both his "Rinnegan Plan" and "Tenseigan Plan" to come to a halt.

"Waiting around like this isn't going to work!" Shinji thought to himself. Suddenly, an idea struck him. "What the village is looking for is the spy who leaked Naruto's whereabouts and tipped off the Akatsuki. As long as this spy isn't uncovered, the village won't rest. In that case, why not give the village a spy to put their minds at ease?"

Almost as soon as this thought crossed his mind, a candidate came to him.

"Mizuki!"

Someone who could openly interact with Naruto and was familiar with him wasn't limited to just his classmates—there were also the academy teachers!

Moreover, the likelihood of an academy teacher being a spy was much higher than that of an underage student.

Thinking this, Shinji narrowed his eyes slightly.

Throwing Mizuki to the wolves wouldn't be unjust, as Mizuki was already a spy planted in the village by Orochimaru.

As for how to connect Mizuki to the Akatsuki, that was even simpler.

Shinji knew Mizuki's personality all too well.

In the original timeline, Mizuki hadn't sided with Orochimaru out of loyalty alone. More than anything, he had hoped to gain power from Orochimaru.

Therefore, as long as power was used as bait, even if it was offered by the dangerous Akatsuki, Mizuki was likely to bite!

Having made up his mind, Shinji felt much better.

He decided to work on setting a trap to hand Mizuki over to the village while also having Coalball step up his investigation into the Ketsuryūgan.

Now that he had obtained the Hogan and successfully fused an enhanced version of it using the 'Susanoo Tomoshibi', which had proven to be quite powerful and worth further study, his expectations for the Ketsuryūgan had grown even higher.

After all, the Ketsuryūgan was also a kekkei genkai with extraordinary abilities, and the Chinoike clan had many members. With some effort, collecting two pairs of Ketsuryūgan shouldn't be too difficult.

Once he had them, he could use the 'Susanoo Tomoshibi' to attempt a fusion, potentially creating an enhanced version of the Ketsuryūgan, just like he had with the Hogan.

As for the intelligence-selling operation he had assigned to Coalball, it wasn't going smoothly.

He had clearly underestimated the five great shinobi villages' desperation for core information about the Akatsuki. As soon as Coalball began spreading the information in the black market, he was immediately targeted by shinobi from the five great villages. If it weren't for Coalball's half-baked 'Transparency Technique', he would have already been captured by one of the villages.

Taking such risks for money clearly wasn't worth it, so Shinji called off Coalball.

Without funds, Shinji couldn't rely on the black market to help track down the Chinoike clan. For now, he could only let Coalball figure things out on his own.

Evening.

As usual, Mizuki, having finished a day of teaching, returned home exhausted.

After taking off his coat, he looked up and saw his tired reflection in the mirror.

"Damn it!"

Thinking about the academy's prodigies, who had already reached or even surpassed the level of Chunin at such a young age, and comparing them to himself, who, no matter how hard he tried, could only hover at the Chunin level, filled him with resentment.

"Why can't I measure up to those brats? Is it just because I don't have a kekkei genkai!?"

In the mirror, his face twisted into a grimace of frustration and anger.

"Exactly!"

Suddenly, a voice echoed in the room.

Mizuki was startled and immediately turned toward the source of the voice, "Who's there!?"

From the shadows of the room, a figure emerged.

"The Akatsuki!?"

Mizuki's pupils contracted as he saw the figure wearing a mask and the distinctive black cloak with red clouds—the signature attire of the Akatsuki.

Clearly.

The one who had infiltrated Mizuki's room was none other than Shinji, who was setting the trap.

Shinji smiled, "Feeling resentful, aren't you?"

Mizuki's expression stiffened, "This is Hidden Leaf. If I call out, someone will be here in an instant!"

"Is that so?" Shinji chuckled, "Then why don't you call out? Are you worried about exposing the fact that you're Orochimaru's spy?"