[This bonus chapter was sponsored by the honorable Godphaze who has been supporting this journey since the beginning.]
Suguru was ecstatic. His eyes could pierce through even the stealth barriers that hid the formation from curious prying gazes. Bypassing space-time, he gazed straight at the Fuinjutsu markings littered throughout the village and began his analysis.
He could not risk writing notes just yet. Otherwise, his actions were likely to be discovered — Sunagakure was that thorough with their surveillance techniques.
Suguru bid his time, letting the days pass while he buried his head in his pillows. No particle nor ray of light could reflect his shattered gaze.
He would avoid all carelessness until he could bypass the formation even without his Kaisugan.
'Hoh,'
And that moment arrived sooner than he thought.
Just two days into his analysis, Suguru realized that the formation was just one giant shared chakra field. The particles and whatnot only served as means to extend its effective range.
This meant he could use his Chakra Field Hacking without too many complications. However, he had to keep note of the large toll this would put on his reserves.
The shared chakra field was immense in that it was so uniformly spread throughout the village that other shinobi didn't realize that it was one. A shinobi can't tell white from black unless they spread their chakra field from within to sense the world outside.
Suguru decided not to hack into the chakra field right away. He would wait for an ungodly hour in the day when their security was weakest. That way, they would be hard-pressed to figure out its source even if he made any mistakes.
He could say he usually moved around in his sleep if he was suspected of any foul play.
Although suspicions about him wouldn't decrease, it wouldn't be definitive enough to warrant an execution.
From here on out, patience was key.
***
On the third night of Suguru's stay in Sunagakure, his eyes suddenly shot open when the darkness was at its deepest. His body absorbed the surrounding chakra before reemitting it as if nothing had happened.
The chakra field slowly ignored Suguru's movements, no longer sending the appropriate signals back to their users. Soon, even if Suguru used a jutsu, no one would notice.
He could write his notes in peace.
'Part one is a success. Now, let's move on to documenting this entire formation...'
Suguru's handiwork would soon be consumed only with sketches and elaborate notes. He was using up much of the paper he had brought from home.
Suguru even feared that all his scrolls wouldn't be enough.
If that happened, he would have to make a few secret purchases...
No.
'If anything, I could just openly buy some empty scrolls and claim that I was practicing my Fuinjutsu. Nothing of issue there.' Suguru laughed.
***
While Suguru was secretly recording Sunagakure's Real Mirage Formation, Hyuga Kyou did not know how he could complete his mission. There was a mysterious formation at play, and he could feel every movement of his being scrutinized.
He was under surveillance twenty-four-seven. So much so that he believed that he would be attacked the moment he activated his Byakugan for unknown reasons.
However, even after he was able to sneak an activation of his Doujutsu, he couldn't find out a thing.
Layers upon layers of anti-scrying barrier seals obscured the formation.
Only space-time Ninjutsu could bypass such a thing without leaving any traces.
"Sigh, what am I going to do?" Kyou pursed his lips.
His goal in guiding the genins this time was supposed to be easy. The Byakugan could've easily pierced through much of Sunagakure's defenses. Then, their secrets would be open for his perusal.
Kyou never expected that the village had finally devised a fool-proof technique to keep him out of their hair.
Perhaps he would have to take a risk.
As to how he would do that... Hyuga Kyou was still pondering upon its method.
***
In comparison to Suguru's rigorous secret stealing, Hyuga Ryoko busied herself with physical training. Wholly unaware of the gazes that befell her form. Luckily, there wasn't much to study when it came to the basics of the Hyuga clan's gentle fist.
Those who had fought in the Third Shinobi World War were already familiar with its mechanics.
They were even familiar with more advanced techniques such as the Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven and the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. Both of which Ryoko was unable to perform.
Thus, with time, only one gaze lingered on Ryoko's training. They only monitored her now and then, choosing random moments given her low threat level.
The gazes were more concerned with Hyuga Kyou and the jounin of other villages.
Genins were simply too weak to influence the world.
'Or so they would think until Naruto shows up.' Suguru laughed, glancing away from Ryoko.
His momentary gaze didn't linger for more than a second. He already memorized more advanced techniques of the gentle fist using his Kaisu-Sharingan. There was no need to bother with her.
Now that Suguru had more time on his hands paired with the ability to hack into the Real Mirage Formation, he could be a little more brazen.
Collecting information on his opponents was going to be a decisive factor in his victories in the future. Thus, Suguru began spying on his competitors.
'Let's start with the Suna shinobi, shall we?'
Suguru used Chakra Field Hacking and made two clones. Although there were three of him at the moment, none were the wiser that he had begun his information-gathering activities.
No secret would be hidden from Suguru.
'I'll look at more important secrets in the future. For now, my priority is becoming a chuunin.'
***
By the end of the day, Suguru had, more or less, a good grasp on the nature of his opponents in the upcoming tournament. He also spotted the Wind Daimyo as he was looking around. The funny thought that he could assassinate such a figure with just his gaze had occurred to him.
The chaos that would create would be funny.
'It might be a good hobby for me.'
Assassinating Daimyos? A hobby?
Perhaps only those who desired chaos as much as Suguru did would dare think of such things.
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