Chapter 64: Hidden Mist Village

Hiroki traveled across the Land of Water with the mindset of a wanderer, visiting various villages. After spending over ten days roaming, he finally made his way directly toward the Hidden Mist Village.

What he witnessed along the journey convinced him that the Mist Ninjas were truly ruthless.

Ordered by the Mizukage to hunt down ninja who fled the village carrying kekkei genkai, these Mist Ninjas ended up killing many civilians as well.

Empowered by the Mizukage's authority, they indulged in unrestrained cruelty.

This behavior was vastly different from ninja in the other four great ninja villages.

While ninja from other villages might also be arrogant and generally indifferent toward civilians, they didn't often go around butchering them.

Such violence usually came from rogue ninjas or missing-nins.

After all, even though civilians issued fewer missions, regular ninja still regarded them as potential clients—future sources of income.

Of course, this friendliness only existed during peacetime.

Once war broke out, ninja would abandon their peaceful "agreement" with civilians if it threatened their safety. Anyone potentially capable of revealing their whereabouts would be eliminated.

That's how so many orphans ended up on the streets.

Take Yakushi Kabuto, Nagato, Konan, and others for example.

The Hidden Mist employed an open-entry, strict-exit policy.

For outsiders, entering the village was allowed; leaving, however, wasn't easy at all.

It wasn't just people from outside the village—even local merchants required written permission from the Mizukage to leave.

Because of this, the economy in Kiri had been deteriorating year after year.

"Name: Hiroki, Origin: Country of Hot Springs."

After writing his information on the registration form, Hiroki entered the Hidden Mist Village under the cold gaze of the guards.

Meanwhile, Jiraiya arrived late, gazing toward the Hidden Mist Village.

Thanks to the frogs' assistance and Hiroki deliberately lingering long in the Land of Water, Jiraiya quickly tracked him down.

"What is he doing here in the Hidden Mist Village?"

"To enter or not to enter... With Kaguya's corruption, I wonder—is he acting according to his own will now, or has Kaguya already influenced him..."

After much hesitation, Jiraiya decided to disguise himself and follow into the Hidden Mist Village anyway.

As for Naruto, he had already left him at Mount Myoboku.

After all, should a real battle occur, he'd need to focus on protecting the boy's safety too.

Hiroki headed into a local inn while Jiraiya slipped into a geisha house.

On either side, both places had very few customers.

The innkeeper hesitated briefly before deciding to serve Hiroki, who was clearly a stranger on first sight.

Whatever—get the payment first.

Whether the guest would end up dying was none of his concern.

The Hidden Mist Village was a closed and highly sensitive place. From the moment Hiroki stepped inside, he drew the attention of nearby ninja and unseen Anbu hiding around.

Of course, Black Zetsu, shadowing Obito, also noticed him.

Sensing stares coming from everywhere, Hiroki couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

"Hidden Mist has reached such a state yet still has so many ninja? Why send so many people to monitor one stranger? Are they really that idle?"

Among these ninja were several Sensor-type ninja, whose perception abilities made the large chakra mass inside Hiroki extremely conspicuous.

Jiraiya was no exception.

He sipped his drink while closely watching the pedestrians passing by on the street.

"I've heard about the 'Blood Mist'. Indeed, there's no trace of hope in these people's eyes."

Soon, both of them were marked as suspicious individuals. Information regarding them landed on Yagura Kazekage's desk.

Inside the Mizukage's office, the boy-faced Yagura was working diligently at his desk. Beside him, a one-eyed man wearing an orange spiral mask emerged from a vortex.

Yagura pretended not to notice.

Picking up one document and glancing through it, Obito turned toward a certain direction. "Zetsu, who are those two?"

Black Zetsu rose from the ground.

After thinking for a moment, he decided to answer truthfully.

Although Obito could be easily deceived, that didn't mean he was extremely foolish. Besides, with so many Anbu around, they would eventually figure things out after spending a few more days investigating.

"The younger one is Hiroki Hyuga, a member of the Hyuga clan. He graduated in the same class as Itachi Uchiha and shows considerable skill."

"The other is Jiraiya, one of the Sannin."

"Why did they come to the Hidden Mist Village?" Obito asked curiously.

A single Hyuga wasn't particularly significant. He didn't care about this village's fate; he had practically destroyed most of the Mist Village's foundation himself. However, if they exposed the truth about the Hidden Mist Village to Jiraiya, that might become troublesome.

Without saying a word, Obito used Kamui to disappear again.

Zetsu also vanished.

Only leaving behind Yagura, who continued handling his official duties.

Hiroki remained unfazed—eating, drinking, and living it up for several days while also gathering intelligence on the Kaguya Clan.

As he wandered through the entertainment districts of the Hidden Mist Village with Hiroki, Jiraiya grew increasingly uneasy.

"Could this be intentional—to distract me while something happens back at Konoha with Hinata Hyuga?"

"Which one of them is actually going to make a move anyway?"

"If someone's planning to strike, better have them do it outside the Hidden Mist Village. I'm completely pinned down here..."

Seeing them wandering everywhere, Obito was the first to lose patience.

Late that night, he sneaked into Hiroki's room.

The space rippled violently as the black Akatsuki cloak, embroidered with red clouds, flared around Obito Uchiha, who materialized out of nowhere, fixing a gaze as cold as ice onto Hiroki.

Hearing the disturbance, Hiroki turned his head with a vigilant expression.

Hidden in shadows, Black Zetsu grew tense. Could it be a fight?

Facing Hiroki's gaze, [Obito's Mangekyo Sharingan slowly spun.]

[Genjutsu...]

"Now tell me honestly, what's your purpose coming here?"

"My clan leader fears the Third Hokage will target our Hyuga clan, so he sent me here to contact the Kaguya Clan as backup."

Black Zetsu muttered inwardly—even if he fell for the illusion, someone would break it. So this is all an act… Tsk…

Under Obito's control, Hiroki dropped flat onto the bed with a thud.

"Tch." Obito smirked lightly. "Then let this guy die along with those reckless fools. Time is almost up."

Obito fully knew about the Kaguya Clan's rebellion plan and understood their entire operation schedule.

This family didn't even have a few people with Kekkei Genkai. They were simple-minded, strong in body but weak in brain. She didn't take them seriously at all.

"Was Jiraiya trying to stop the Hyuga clan's plan?" Obito asked Black Zetsu as he turned his head.

Black Zetsu continued along his line of thought, "It should be like that."

"Is the Hyuga clan also at odds with the Hokage faction?"

"To be precise, the Hokage's influence has been fading, and villagers are turning to other clans instead—that's what upset them."

"If their problem was with Konoha, why come running all the way to Kiri…"

Once the two had completely disappeared, Hiroki sat up from the bed.

"You played your roles well enough. Don't waste time—find an opportunity to see what methods the Frog side is using." That was Kaguya's voice.

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