Hyūga Yū did not kill Kaguya Washirō immediately. Instead, he calmly watched the seventy-six-year-old man, carefully noting the various expressions and strange looks flitting through his eyes under the volatile effects of an excessive dose of poison.
Yes, it was that same stuff used to create a mass of zombies on the streets of America.
Feeling that simply poisoning the tea wasn't secure enough, Yū had added a bit more powder to the teapot. This substance was also colorless, tasted bitter and astringent, and was slightly volatile.
The moment Washirō opened the teapot lid, Yū manipulated the Wind Style chakra he had left inside the pot to accelerate the evaporation of the poison dissolved in the tea. This caused Washirō to fall into a daze for nearly five minutes after just one sip.
It was only now that the old man barely managed to regain his senses.
This old man was strange. He seemed to value his life immensely; there were leaves on the front door, trigger barriers in the courtyard, dust traps on the first floor of the loft, and a massive number of barriers arranged around the room... A normal person wouldn't be this extreme just to get some sleep. Such a multi-layered process looked more like it was specifically designed to capture something.
In that case, it made no sense for him to leave such an obvious flaw as "drinking tea" by his side.
Yū had deduced this point in reverse and made the corresponding arrangements.
At the same time, he didn't kill the man immediately but waited on the spot. A person who has ingested the poison wouldn't realize how long they had been in a daze; they would only think they had seamlessly reconnected to the second after they lost consciousness.
And now, as Kaguya Washirō regained his senses and opened his eyes to see an index finger pressed against his brow, his pupils suddenly constricted. He immediately said in a deep voice:
"Young man, you cannot kill me!"
Yū looked at him calmly and asked indifferently, "Why?"
Washirō spoke with conviction, "Because I have already made prior arrangements within the clan grounds. If I do not send a signal within five minutes of returning home, the Kaguya clan will immediately surround this place."
Yū switched to a bird's-eye view, looking at the still-silent environment outside. He didn't comment on the threat, only speaking calmly:
"Five minutes is enough for me to deal with you and leave. That won't save your life. You'd better say something substantial."
However, having regained his wits, Washirō didn't seem particularly anxious. Instead, he looked darkly at the youth before him and asked in a low tone:
"Who exactly are you?"
"I am certain that there is no dangerous figure like you among Konoha's Anbu."
Yū narrowed his eyes and countered, "You are very familiar with Konoha's Anbu?"
"Of course. I even know that the ones coming to the village this time are from Konoha's 'Root.' So, you are a ninja from Root?"
"Byakugan, headguard... you are from the Hyūga branch family... Oh? Could it be that you are the one who—"
Bang!
A wind blade shot from Yū's fingertip like a bullet, piercing through the old man's brow and exiting through the back of his skull.
Washirō clearly hadn't expected that Yū, who had spared his life and seemingly wanted to pry information out of him, would strike so decisively after only a couple of questions. A flash of incomprehensible bewilderment crossed his eyes just before he died.
Yū withdrew his finger and coldly watched as Washirō's corpse slumped over.
From the man's half-true, half-false words, he had already obtained the information he wanted.
There were two key points:
First, Washirō indeed had a backup plan, but it didn't involve the Kaguya clan.
Second, Washirō knew about Root. In fact, he had anticipated that Root would send someone to assassinate him.
This explained why Washirō had set up such an exaggerated level of security. Yet, when faced with the direct threat of death, there was no fear in his eyes. On the contrary, he was doing his best to throw out "truths" that would interest Yū just to stall for time.
This indicated only one thing—Washirō knew he was going to die, but he wanted to use his death to make a statement.
The seventy-six-year-old Kaguya Washirō had spent half of his early life in the chaotic Warring States period and the rest in the turbulent Hidden Mist Village. To have lived this long meant he was undoubtedly a top-tier old fox. Every action he took had a unique purpose. Unfortunately for him, his opponent wasn't simple either.
Yū stood up abruptly, took two steps forward, and pressed his hand against the forehead of the late Washirō. A Wind Style: Chakra Scalpel lit up, quickly pouring into the body to erase any traces left by the drugs.
During this process, Yū turned his head in another direction. His Byakugan's field of vision stretched vertically.
Ten kilometers to the east of the Kaguya compound, at the location of the Mizukage Building, a figure—one that even Yū's current insight, which was no less than a two-tomoe Sharingan, could not clearly capture—leapt out from a top-floor window. Then, a pair of dim, crimson bat-like wings unfurled from the figure's back. It glided in a straight line toward the loft where Washirō was, trailing an indiscernible dark-red beam across the night sky!
At the same time, on the other side, not far from the Kaguya compound, a figure that felt familiar to Yū was also racing toward them at high speed.
Yū exhaled slowly and stood up from Washirō's corpse with a calm face. As if he had done nothing and was merely passing by a crime scene, he walked downstairs from the loft unhurriedly, crossed the courtyard...
Opened the main gate...
And walked out of the residence!
Throughout the entire process, nothing inside the residence was altered, including the leaf tucked into the gap of the door.
He left behind nothing but the corpse of a high-ranking Hidden Mist Elder.
At that moment, three figures flashed to his side outside the gate.
"Tennin, what happened?"
Terai, who possessed sensory abilities, had clearly sensed what happened in the loft. He looked at Yū with a face full of confusion. "Why didn't you just execute him? Why did you kill him immediately after he woke up from your genjutsu?"
Yū shook his head, offering no detailed explanation, only giving a calm order:
"A very dangerous fellow is coming—"
"Move!"
As he spoke, he pressed down on Shin's hand, who was about to use Super Beast Imitating Drawing to create an ink bird. Yū shook his head at him. "Follow me."
With that, Yū took the lead, turning into a dark shadow. He moved left and right through the Kaguya clan grounds, using erratic steps and an unpredictable route to quickly leap toward the edge of the compound.
Although Terai, Yamato, and Shin didn't understand exactly what was going on, after a moment's thought, they followed closely behind Yū's flickering silhouette.
Before long, the four members of Yū's team left the Kaguya grounds and arrived beneath a cluster of cylindrical, grayish-white high towers within the Hidden Mist Village. At that moment, behind them, a large expanse of lights suddenly flared up within the Kaguya compound. The silent night was suddenly thrown into a commotion, shifting from the quiet chirping of birds and cats to a chaotic roar of human voices. Soon, starting from the center of the Kaguya clan, the lights spread in all directions. The entire Hidden Mist Village seemed to have been startled awake!
Terai and Yamato looked back at the chaotic scene with lingering fear. Then, with great confusion, they turned their heads toward Yū, who was walking at the very front.
They couldn't understand how Yū had anticipated all this, or how he had made the decision that allowed them to escape. They only felt that Yū's figure had suddenly become profound and mysterious.
Just then, Yū, who was leading the way, suddenly halted his steps, as if he had sensed something in advance.
Following that, the lights of the surrounding white towers suddenly dimmed, flickering erratically.
In the darkness ahead of them, a figure wearing a deep black hooded trench coat with his hands in his pockets slowly stepped out.
His expression was indifferent, and his pace was steady. Tap, tap...
His advancing footsteps rhythmically struck the beats of their heartbeats, causing Terai and the others to tense up involuntarily.
However, as the figure drew closer and revealed the iconic sunglasses beneath the hood, the hearts of Terai and the others instantly relaxed. This was none other than their superior, the second-in-command of Root, Aburame Ryōma!
At this moment, a somewhat strange smile finally appeared on Yū's face.
Through the bird's-eye view of his Byakugan, he could clearly see several Parasitic Insects being controlled by this guy to gnaw on the power lines. He had created this flickering light environment just to highlight his dramatic entrance—both pretentious and over-the-top.
This was the correct way for his Root superior, Aburame Ryōma, to make an appearance!
The information about "Aburame Ryōma" that Yū and his team had received earlier had clearly been forged!
And the person who forged that intel was, unsurprisingly, Kaguya Washirō.
In other words, from the very beginning, the mission the team received, the intel sent back from the Mist to Root, and the drafted assassination mission had all been manipulated by Kaguya Washirō.
It was only at this moment that Yū's team had finally found the real contact person from Root.
————
Supporting me on Pa-treon to gain early access to advanced chapters and enjoy expedited updates. Your support is greatly appreciated.
pat-reon .c-om/Dragonhair
(Just remove the hyphen - and space, to access Pa-treon normally.)