"My apologies, Head of the Hyuga Clan, I've made a fool of myself!"
Dabui, the leader of the Kumogakure Shinobi, former right-hand man to the Third Raikage and now Advisor to the Fourth Raikage, spoke to Hiashi with some embarrassment.
Hiashi shook his head. "It is quite alright. The bond between the Raikage and his younger brother is truly enviable!"
Hiashi had been living in Kumogakure for a few days now. He had been very well-behaved, never once activating his Byakugan to peek at the village's secrets.
However, even a brief time spent with the Shinobi of Kumogakure was enough to understand their way of doing things.
Bold, passionate, energetic, warlike, reckless...
The people of Kumogakure worshiped strength and showed great admiration for those stronger than themselves.
But they were also incredibly reckless; once they entered battle, they became uncontrollably fanatical.
Hiashi had personally witnessed a Kumogakure Shinobi charge forward with nothing but a katana to head-on block a Ninjutsu.
The Hidden Cloud Village should really be called the Reckless Village.
Their lifestyle was rugged but not oppressive; they spoke their minds, giving off an impression of being grand, tough, and decisive.
Hiashi couldn't integrate into this atmosphere because the Hyuga Clan was the most conservative Shinobi Clan, emphasizing the dignity and conduct of a great clan in everything they did.
As the Hyuga Clan Head, he was even more bound by numerous rules and restrictions.
Even when being intimate with his wife at night, they had to turn off the lights and hide under the covers, using the most conservative methods to perform the most passionate acts.
The Hyuga Clan was a repressed clan.
He couldn't fit in, but he didn't hate it. In his heart, he even felt a faint envy for the carefree lifestyle of these big, dark-skinned fellows.
Hearing the word 'enviable,' Dabui smiled and said to Hiashi, "Clan Head Hiashi, I heard you have a twin brother named Hyuga Hizashi."
"Yes! Hizashi is my younger brother; he is an extremely excellent Shinobi."
Hiashi nodded, a smile on his face, but his heart was full of vigilance.
Dabui said regretfully, "It's a pity he was born into the Branch House, where one's life and death are not their own."
Hiashi said sternly, "Sir, those are the Hyuga house rules. The Branch House protecting the Main House is a rule set by our ancestors."
Dabui felt a bit awkward. "Apologies, Clan Head Hiashi. I was just feeling sorry for you two brothers. You are identical twins, yet your statuses are worlds apart."
"If Clan Head Hiashi doesn't mind, you could let your brother come to our Kumogakure to develop."
Hiashi was too polite to call Dabui out. Was this sympathy for their brotherly bond? No, they were after Hizashi's genes.
Hiashi and the Konoha Shinobi had been on edge for the past few days. Unless it was absolutely necessary to appear, Hiashi stayed in the embassy.
He was afraid that Kumogakure would use any means necessary to obtain the Hyuga genetic material.
Just as Dabui was about to continue persuading Hiashi, Yugito, who was among the Kumogakure delegation, suddenly stopped, sensing something unusual.
Her nose twitched as she sniffed hard, catching the scent of a male cat in heat.
Yugito was the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, and the Two-Tails was Matatabi, a feline Tailed Beast that leaned feminine.
Her companions were puzzled. "Yugito, did you find something?"
Yugito wasn't a specialized sensory Shinobi, but because she was the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, some of her physical senses were enhanced.
For instance, her sense of smell. While a cat's sense of smell isn't as exaggerated as a dog's, it is still dozens of times more sensitive than a human's.
As the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, Yugito's sense of smell was hundreds of times that of an ordinary person.
But even so, she wouldn't normally be able to smell Ryou's cat-scent from Takigakure hundreds of miles away.
Yugito relied on Matatabi's vomeronasal organ, which is an animal's second olfactory system.
Located on the roof of the mouth, it specifically analyzes weak chemical signals like pheromones.
Matatabi's vomeronasal organ could distinguish the gender, health, emotions, and territorial markings of other cats, and even detect subtle changes in scent that humans cannot perceive.
For example, if a human is eating snail rice noodles, to a cat's nose, it smells like feces, and it will try to stop its owner from eating it.
The vomeronasal organ is essentially an animal's scent map.
Relying on Matatabi's vomeronasal organ, Yugito caught the scent of the Futamata in heat from Takigakure.
Seeing Yugito's strange behavior, the Shinobi of the Kumogakure delegation all became alert and began scouting the surroundings.
The Fourth Raikage stopped lecturing his brother, and together with the Jonin in the team, they firmly protected Killer Bee and Yugito in the center.
It had been their own idea for the Fourth Raikage to bring Killer Bee and Yugito along this time.
Neither of them wanted to go to Turtle Island; they didn't want to be strictly protected.
Killer Bee's persistent 'death wrap' rapping had forced the Fourth Raikage to agree to their request.
Most importantly, Kumogakure had just gone through a Shinobi World War, and the Shinobi of the new generation had not yet grown up.
They had to rely on the power of the two Jinchuriki, Killer Bee and Yugito.
Hiashi also activated his Byakugan to scout the surroundings.
Matatabi was also startled awake. "This scent... such powerful chakra, just like Kurama's."
Yugito was confused. "Matatabi, is it a Tailed Beast?"
Matatabi shook her head. "No, this is the scent of a cat. Among the Nine Tailed Beasts, only I have cat-like features."
"Besides the cat scent, this smell also contains—"
Matatabi sniffed carefully, then became somewhat horrified. "I couldn't be mistaken. This is the scent of the Sharingan and Wood Release."
Matatabi had been captured by Hashirama and had seen Wood Release before.
Yugito was startled and informed the Fourth Raikage of the scent Matatabi had detected.
Upon hearing this, the Fourth Raikage immediately judged it to be Madara or Ryou.
Because in their current intelligence, the only ones who possessed both Wood Release and the Sharingan were Madara and Ryou.
Obito's Wood Release and Sharingan were not considered powerful, so he was excluded by Kumogakure.
The Kumogakure sensory Shinobi used their Ninjutsu to investigate and were suddenly shocked.
The Land of Waterfalls and the Land of Frost are neighboring countries, both small with limited land area; the Kumogakure Shinobi quickly detected an anomaly.
"This chakra... it's the chakra of two Tailed Beasts fighting, right in the Land of Waterfalls."
In fact, the chakra released by the battle between the Majestic Attire: Seven-Tails and Ryou was too staggering; the range of chakra conduction had already exceeded a hundred kilometers.
Dabui analyzed the situation in an instant. "This is bad. It's the Seven-Tails. Uchiha Madara is capturing Takigakure's Seven-Tails!"
The Fourth Raikage smashed his fist into the ground. "We absolutely cannot let Madara take the Seven-Tails! Let's go to Takigakure and stop him!"
Hiashi looked in shock at the Fourth Raikage, who wanted to go fight Madara without a second thought.
This was just too reckless!
Fortunately, there were sensible people in Kumogakure.
Dabui quickly held back the Fourth Raikage and said, "A, wait! Our mission this time is to arrive safely at Konoha."
"Uchiha Madara is definitely not someone we can deal with casually."
Yugito said, "I don't think it's Uchiha Madara. That scent has a very heavy cat smell. I heard Uchiha Ryou's Summoned Beast is a cat; I think it should be him."
Dabui nodded. "That's most likely it. It's probably Uchiha Ryou. If it were Uchiha Madara, the Seven-Tails wouldn't even have a chance to resist."
"Uchiha Ryou!!"
The Fourth Raikage instantly became furious. "That kid is even more detestable than Uchiha Madara! It was he who resurrected Uchiha Madara, bringing such disaster to the Shinobi World."
"I'm going to go blow his head off right now!"
The Fourth Raikage activated his Lightning Release chakra Mode, turning into a streak of blue light as he rushed toward the Land of Waterfalls.
The Kumogakure people couldn't stop him even if they wanted to.
"Big brother~ Bakayaro~ Konoyaro~ Wait for me~"
Killer Bee followed after him.
Dabui tried to stop him: "Wait, Bee! You are the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, the one we are supposed to protect!"