"So, what's the plan this time? You've got EP, a ridiculous skill set, and access to tech even the Hidden Leaf doesn't have. What else could you possibly need?" Nova said in Hiroshi's mind.
It's been a week since Hiroshi killed ant queens, Hiroshi sat cross-legged in the center of his lab—previously cave of ant queens.
lab was lighted by glow of numerous sealing arrays, product of his relentless experiments and Nova's assistance. What had once been an ordinary cave was now a highly secure fortress, layered with traps, sealing arrays, and stealth barriers.
Hiroshi tapped his chin, still focused on a glowing huge diagram in front of him. The floating projections of his custom sealing arrays rotated slowly, each one a design for a new tool or technique.
"I need more tricks," he said, "If I'm going to infiltrate the Akatsuki and survive in that den of lunatics, I need to outthink them at every turn."
"Infiltrate Akatsuki?" Nova asked, the surprise evident in her voice. "I thought you were working on making Konoha stronger."
"Minato is alive," Hiroshi replied. "Even if all the other villages attack at once, they'll lose. Minato's got too many advantages—the guy's practically a one-man army. No, the real opportunity here isn't in defending Konoha—it's in the chaos. If I join the Akatsuki, I can use the war to gather EP. They'll provide me cover and resources."
Nova let out a low whistle. "Bold. Dangerous, you're going to need more than flashy jutsu and your smarts to pull this off. What's your plan to beef up your toolkit?"
Hiroshi grinned, his mind already working through the possibilities. "Modern tech," he said simply.
Nova's tone turned curious. "Modern tech? You know, you don't have that teach guy here in ninja world, right?"
"I don't need Earth," Hiroshi replied, gesturing to the numerous scrolls and tools scattered around him. "I'll use sealing techniques and ninjutsu to replicate the tech I used in my past life. But first we need to solve our problem related to sealing techniques, … we still don't have way to combine seals… our seals
"Yep, they are way bigger to use in any fight, we just using few fundamental seals and staking them" Nova said,
"—Huh? We've got company. Two signatures, moving cautiously. Probably shinobi."
Hiroshi's eyes narrowed. "Civilians don't wander into a cave like this. Any idea who they are?"
"High lightning chakra density, Cloud shinobi. They're keeping their energy suppressed, but they can't fool me."
Hiroshi dismissed the interface and activated shadow cloak and moved silently towards entrance.
A group of three shinobi entered, two man and one woman, their uniforms marking them as Hidden leaf ANBU. They spoke in hushed tones,
"This place used to be one of our forward bases," one of them said, his voice low and gruff. "If we're lucky, we might still find some useful supplies here."
"Forget the supplies," another said, "We're here for the Hyūga kid. The Raikage wants him. we will use this cave as base and capture him from Hyuga compound, The Byakugan's too valuable to leave in Konoha's hands."
The third shinobi, a younger one with a nervous edge to his voice, spoke up. "Are we sure this is a good idea? I heard the kid stopped the Nine-Tails attack."
Hiroshi's eyes narrowed behind his mask. "They're after me?"
kunoichi snored "That was a fluke. The Nine-Tails was in a genjutsu, and that kid just got lucky. He's no match for us."
Hiroshi had to resist the urge to laugh out loud. "Idiots."
Nova's voice echoed in his mind, amusement lacing her tone. "we were lacking few test subjects in the past… Now we don't."
"Let them underestimate me," Hiroshi replied silently. "It makes things more fun."
The Cloud shinobi began searching the cave, their movements cautious but confident. Hiroshi watched them from the shadows.
"Should I take them out?" he asked Nova.
"Depends," she replied. "If you're going to Akatsuki, it might be better to let them go. Their failure to capture you could cause problems for the Cloud, and the more distracted they are, the easier your plans will be. But they can be replaced,"
Hiroshi considered this. "Good point. We are lacking advance selling technique, if few 'cloud shinobis brake inside clan libraries and steal them' we are out of suspicion right? may be they will caught in end and earn the "Darwin award" for themself,"
Hiroshi waited until the shinobi were far enough apart, then activated a series of silent traps he had placed around the lab. Each one triggered a minor explosion of smoke and light, disorienting the intruders.
"What the—?!" one of them shouted, coughing as the smoke filled the air.
"Stay together!" a kunoichi barked in panic.
In the chaos, Hiroshi moved swiftly, deactivating key systems in the lab to prevent the shinobi from uncovering anything valuable. Then he slipped out of the cave, leaving the Cloud operatives to stumble around in confusion.
"Who set these traps?!" the gruff shinobi growled, his voice echoing through the smoke-filled chamber.
"Maybe this place isn't as abandoned as we thought..."
"Or," the kunoichi muttered darkly, "Leaf higher-ups find out about us."
Silence fell between them, the weight of their failure sinking in.
"Let's... let's just report back—" the younger one said nervously. But it was already too late, they saw grownd below them glowing with numerous seals, before they can even think about running, their world darkened, all of them were forcefully knocked out.
As the cave returned to silence, Hiroshi sighed, looking at the mess left behind. "So much for a quiet evening."
"On the bright side," Nova said, "you've got new test subjects for your gadgets."
Hiroshi smirked beneath his mask. "I guess that's one way to look at it."
With a wave of his hand, he activated a sealing array that transported the captives to a secure chamber deep within the cave. "Now, let's see what they know about the Cloud's plans."
As he turned back to his workbench, a thought struck him. 'The world is already moving toward war.'