In Konoha, inside the ANBU Division Commander's office, Mochizuki Hui sat quietly, looking over intelligence reports with a slight frown.
Sakumo Hatake wasn't around—he was off on a mission.
"ANBU members vanishing without a trace... signs of collaboration among the four great ninja villages' ANBU squads… is this another Land of Whirlpools situation?" Mochizuki Hui muttered, tapping his fingers lightly on the desk.
"But why? This small nation doesn't seem like it has anything the four great ninja villages would be interested in."
Though puzzled, Mochizuki Hui was also interested.
"Whatever. I've been sitting idle long enough—time to stretch my legs a bit," he decided, setting down the reports and standing up, stretching before heading out to investigate this small country for himself.
After all, being cooped up in Konoha every day was no way to live.
It was the same reason why Sakumo Hatake had taken to leaving the village for missions—there simply wasn't enough to do during this peaceful time that required the personal attention of the ANBU's Vice Commander, the "White Fang of Konoha."
Reaching the small country wasn't difficult. It took Mochizuki Hui just three days. This time, he had brought along a small ANBU squad, making their group a total of five.
Ideally, he would've preferred to go alone; with his level of skill, companions could sometimes be more of a burden. But as the ANBU Commander, he couldn't very well travel without any subordinates—considering it part of their training, he took a small team with him.
"Commander, this is where the Bluebird Squad disappeared."
A soft voice called out, and a female ANBU member stepped beside him. She wore a mask, but the admiration in her gaze was unmistakable.
Since Mochizuki Hui had become ANBU Commander, the number of female ninja applying to join ANBU had risen sharply.
Many of them had joined, inspired by him, and a few promising talents had even been accepted into the ranks. The woman standing before him was one of them, gifted with exceptional tracking skills.
"The battlefield has been tampered with—seems like there aren't any useful clues left," Mochizuki Hui observed, surveying the surroundings.
This place had clearly seen a skirmish, but everything had been carefully destroyed, as though someone wanted to keep any information from falling into others' hands.
"It feels like someone's plotting something big," he murmured, leaping into the trees and scanning the landscape from above.
His gaze sharpened, and a pattern flickered in his eyes, revealing the surrounding ten kilometers in sharp clarity.
He wasn't looking for people, exactly—anyone within ten kilometers would be unable to escape his chakra and natural energy sensory range. He just wanted to take in the broader landscape for any clues.
Unfortunately, he found nothing. Withdrawing his gaze, Hui leapt down from the trees.
"Commander, should we capture a few ANBU from other villages for questioning?" one of his subordinates suggested.
"No need. Since their target is our ANBU, we'll just act as usual and let them come to us," he replied.
He hadn't revealed his identity during this mission, so if the enemy's target was indeed Konoha's ANBU, they'd continue targeting them, unaware that he had already arrived. All he had to do was wait.
"Yes, sir!"
Elsewhere in the small nation, within a dense forest…
Two large men sat around a campfire, on which a skewered rabbit was roasting. The rabbit, however, was charred black, its appearance anything but appetizing.
"If I'd known your cooking was this bad, I would've just eaten my rations," a blond man said with a scowl, looking disdainfully at his twin brother.
This was Kinkaku, an elite ninja from the Hidden Cloud Village and a descendant of the Sage of Six Paths.
"Damn it! You refused to cook yourself and now you're complaining!" Ginkaku shot back, though even he found it hard to stomach the burnt rabbit. He wasn't exactly a skilled cook.
Changing the topic, he turned to his brother. "So, do you think that kid Hui has shown up yet? I'd rather not stay in this dump any longer—there's nothing to eat out here!"
"I'm not sure. But it's almost pathetic how much the Second Raikage is scared of him, asking us to come and deal with some brat," Kinkaku said, voice dripping with disdain for the Second Raikage Ai, along with a clear lack of respect for Hui.
"Hmph, and the other one got his body pierced by a single strike from Mochizuki Hui. What a disgrace! That guy isn't worthy to be the next Raikage," Ginkaku sneered, but his contempt was aimed at the Third Raikage Ai.
"If we take down this little brat Mochizuki Hui, there's no reason one of us shouldn't take the Raikage's place," Kinkaku mused. The idea had crossed his mind before, but it had only solidified after the Third Raikage's defeat and the Second Raikage's request for his help. They were both elite Cloud ninjas, so why couldn't he become the next Ai?
"Still, they say Mochizuki Hui's really strong—we shouldn't take him too lightly." Despite his ambition, Kinkaku wasn't so arrogant as to believe himself invincible, and he had a degree of caution toward Mochizuki Hui.
After all, it wasn't just anyone who could force the Third Raikage to test his "strongest spear" against his "strongest shield." If nothing else, it proved that Mochizuki Hui's speed was vastly superior to the Third Raikage's.
"Relax. We don't need to match him in close combat or ninjutsu—we have the Six Paths tools!" Ginkaku reminded him. He knew that Mochizuki Hui wasn't going to be an easy opponent; otherwise, the Second Raikage wouldn't have sent him and Kinkaku to deal with the situation.
"Exactly. If we catch him off guard, Mochizuki Hui won't stand a chance. And it's not just him—even the Second Hokage, Tobirama Senju, would fall against us!" Kinkaku said, his voice laced with arrogance.
His confidence came from the Six Paths tools. With them, he and Ginkaku had taken down countless foes. And they weren't exactly weak themselves—they were the only ninjas to survive in the belly of the Nine-Tails and gain Tailed Beast Chakra from the ordeal.
"After we finish off Mochizuki Hui, we should march on Konoha and wipe it out too!" Ginkaku added, his tone filled with fervor.
Both he and Kinkaku were advocates of war; they hadn't taken the Hidden Cloud's defeat in the last Shinobi World War well, and were eager to settle the score by attacking Konoha.
"Hmph, the old man, the Second Raikage, is too soft. He doesn't have the guts to wage war against Konoha. This time, we'll be the ones to start the war!"
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