thefictionvixens Page 115
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"You...you must be Shinichi Hyuga!"
The middle-aged man quickly walked past the guarding ninja, carefully examining Shinichi's face. His gaze finally settled on Shinichi's eyes, and a fanatical look appeared on his face.
"Well, I am."
"Did you release the ninja hawk that sent the message?"
Shinichi Hinata recalled the portraits of the various money exchange managers he had seen. Although the middle-aged man in front of him looked familiar, he couldn't remember his name for a moment.
"Yes! It was me who sent the message, Lord Shinichi. I didn't expect you to arrive so quickly."
"My name is Kohinata Tachi, and I'm in charge of this gold exchange."
"As you can see, the gold exchange has been attacked by the enemy."
While Kohinata Tachi was introducing himself, Shinichi Hyuga's gaze fell on the three ninjas behind him.
The few dead in the morgue were likely the ninja guards who routinely patrolled the gold exchange. So, who were these three ninjas...?
Having run a gold exchange for many years, Kohinata Tachi's keen eyesight had naturally been honed to an exceptional degree. Noticing Hyuga Shinichi's gaze, Kohinata Tachi quickly explained:
"After releasing the ninja hawk to deliver the message, I contacted the other brothers in town. These are the guard ninjas of Baishun Trading Company, who were borrowed from my clan,"
The Hyakushun Trading Company mentioned by Hyuga Kodachi is also a business of the Hyuga family, mainly engaged in the transportation of goods, essentially a "escort agency".
In this chaotic ninja world, the demand for this type of business is huge, and the profits are quite good, but it also requires the operator to have strong capabilities to ensure the safety of the goods.
With the backing of the Hyuga clan, Hyakushun Trading Company was naturally able to rely on the clan's power to gain more support and recruit stronger ninjas to ensure the safety of its goods.
Hyuga Kodachi would seek help from his clansmen in the trading company, naturally taking into account that the company had excellent guard ninjas.
Nodding slightly, Shinichi understood the situation clearly and didn't ask any further questions. Instead, he began investigating the culprit's whereabouts.
Where are the attackers?
"When did you leave, and in which direction did you go?"
The ninja hawk is very fast. While ordinary hawks fly at speeds of 50-100 km/h, a professionally trained ninja hawk can reach a top speed of 200 km/h, twice that of an ordinary hawk.
This place is only a hundred kilometers away from Konoha. At the speed of the Ninja Hawk, it can transmit intelligence in half an hour. Including the time for adjustment after being attacked, the enemy has run for a little over an hour at most.
With a calculated approach, Zhenyi is capable of catching up with the murderer.
"About forty minutes ago, the other party killed the guard ninja, took the money, and left towards the east of the town without stopping."
"There were two enemies. One was wearing a headband from Takigakure, but there was a slash on it, so he seemed to be a rogue ninja."
"The other one was a hunchbacked dwarf with a mask on, who didn't make a move."
"Both of them were wearing long black robes embroidered with red auspicious cloud patterns, and they seemed to be from the same organization."
"Shinichi, the enemy is very strong. The guard ninjas are not even a match for that rogue ninja from Takigakure."
"Please gather your people quickly and kill them both!"
Kohinata Tachi quickly recounted all the information he knew, including some details not mentioned in the note sent to Shinichi, such as the number of attackers.
They thought the enemy they were dealing with was just Kakuzu alone, but according to Kohinata Tachi's description, the attackers were clearly a duo.
As for the hunchbacked dwarf with a mask who hadn't made a move, as mentioned by the steward, he's probably Sasori of Akatsuki. That guy disappeared after assassinating the Third Kazekage and starting the war, but it turns out he's already joined Akatsuki and started working for them at this time.
The "immortal" duo raising funds—the strength of this combination made Shinichi frown.
"Should we give chase...?"
Considering the strength of this duo, Jin Yim looked thoughtful.
If the enemy is only one person, Shinichi Hyuga will not hesitate for a moment. He has grown rapidly in recent years, and with the various techniques he has mastered, he will not be at a disadvantage even when fighting Kushina in Sage Mode.
In ninja battles, in addition to physical strength, intelligence is also a very important factor. Kakuzu's information is almost transparent to Shinichi Hyuga, and Shinichi is confident that he can take down his opponent in a one-on-one situation.
However, the opponent now has one more person. The combat power that two strong individuals of this caliber can unleash when they cooperate is not as simple as one plus one.
Shinichi couldn't expect the two of them to go one by one. "Akatsuki doesn't fight in teams" was just a joke. When it really came down to life and death, people would forget about this and that and would definitely rush in.
Although Shinichi was confident that he could leave calmly even if he was no match for his opponent, if he couldn't stop him, it would be a waste of effort and would also expose some of his information, making his opponent wary.
Furthermore, if Shinichi performs strongly enough in battle, he might attract the attention of Obito Uchiha and Black Zetsu. Considering all that, if the attack fails, it would be somewhat of a loss.
However, after pondering for a while, Shinichi Hyuga finally shook his head, dispelling the distracting thoughts in his mind, and made up his mind to give chase.
If we don't do anything, we won't be able to break the deadlock; if we do something, we might be able to keep everyone here.
There is no plan in this world that is 100% guaranteed to succeed. Even if Shinichi searches everywhere for help, the other party may disappear again by the time he is ready to strike.
The fact that Akatsuki was able to remain hidden for so long without being noticed by the five great nations is enough to show that he was quite good at concealing his abilities.
"I'll go after the culprit. You all notify all the gold exchange shops under our Hyuga Group in that direction and tell them to evacuate first."
Shinichi Hyuga had already made up his mind to pursue Kakuzu and Sasori, hoping to keep them in the Land of Fire forever. If that wasn't possible, he wanted to at least intimidate them. Only in this way could their gold exchange continue to operate.
At this point, Shinichi Hyuga was no longer considering his own plans and interests, but also the needs and interests of his clan.
After giving a brief instruction, Shinichi Hyuga quickly left the exchange.
The gold exchange is located underground, while the above-ground building is a funeral home on the edge of town. In addition to providing some funeral services, it also sells coffins, incense, and paper money. It is usually sparsely populated.
Shinichi Hyuga emerged from the funeral parlor with his Byakugan activated. After quickly determining his location, he headed east in pursuit.
During his training at Mount Myōboku, Shisui taught Shinichi a lot about ninja tracking and trace detection. With the help of the Byakugan, Shinichi Hyuga quickly noticed the clues left by the enemy in the forest when they retreated.
The Land of Fire is mostly covered by primeval forests. The ground in these places is damp and muddy, and old, fallen trees slowly rot in the forest, their trunks often covered with moss.
Whenever someone walks through such a place, they will inevitably leave footprints or other traces.
Therefore, when ninjas were traveling, they would often choose to leap between large trees to leave as few traces as possible.
However, for some unknown reason, Kakuzu and Sasori did not "rush" when they left, but walked, thus leaving two footprints on the forest floor.
Although the other party had already left, judging from their travel speed, they probably planned to camp in the woods tonight.
Thinking of this, Shinichi was no longer in a hurry. While chasing, he adjusted himself to his best condition, preparing to deal with the battle that could break out at any time.
In less than an hour of tracking, Shinichi Hyuga had already made a discovery.
Kakuzu and Sasori finally appeared in the Byakugan's field of vision and were firmly locked onto by Shinichi Hyuga!
Shinichi left Konoha in the afternoon, and by the time he tracked him down, it was almost evening.
The primeval forest is densely wooded, and there is not much sunlight to begin with, so visibility becomes dim at this time of day.
Shinichi Hyuga gradually closed the distance between himself and the two, but for some unknown reason, Sasori and Kakuzu, who were traveling at a normal pace, suddenly quickened their pace, leaping onto tree branches to increase their speed.
The enemy's sudden increase in speed caused Shinichi's pupils to shrink slightly. In order to end the battle quickly, he decided not to wait until it was completely dark and instead quickened his pace, rapidly closing the distance between them.
Kakuzu and Sasori somehow sensed Shinichi Hyuga's approach. As Shinichi rapidly drew near, Sasori suddenly released his puppet, which lunged directly into the dense forest behind them.
At this moment, although Shinichi was less than 100 meters away from the two people, there were still layers of forest in the middle, so in theory the other party should not have been able to find him.
The moment I leaped forward, a gurgling sound came from the forest ahead.
A humanoid puppet shrouded in a black robe flew through the dense forest, rushing towards Shinichi Hyuga.
"We were discovered after all!"
"Why?!"
Shinichi Hyuga fired a Flying Thunder God kunai at the oncoming puppet. The kunai, wrapped in lightning chakra, instantly pierced the puppet's body and flew rapidly into the forest ahead.
The puppet, whose body was pierced, was completely unaffected in its movements. After getting close to Shinichi, it swung its sword at Shinichi's head. Just as the long sword was about to hit Shinichi's neck, Shinichi suddenly disappeared from his spot and reappeared dozens of meters away where the kunai had flown.
Shinichi Hyuga flashed out from the void, grabbed the kunai, and in the instant he turned around, the Flying Thunder God Kunai in his hand shot directly towards Kakuzu, who was hurrying ahead.
"Knock knock knock knock!!!"
The kunai pierced through one thick tree after another, heading straight for Kakuzu's back.
............
Chapter 129 Hyuga Opens the Sixth Gate! (Please Subscribe)
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
Several soft sounds came from the dense forest behind Kakuzu and Sasori. In an instant, the kunai wrapped in lightning chakra was close to Kakuzu's back.
The two people, who were moving at a fast pace, noticed the abnormality almost the instant the kunai appeared. They stopped in their tracks and dodged to the sides.
The kunai flew past almost at the angle of the sleeve, then landed on the ground and embedded itself deeply into the soil, with even the handle of the kunai disappearing into the ground.
Kakuzu's robe was torn by a kunai that flew past. Feeling a slight stinging sensation in his arm, Kakuzu stopped and looked down. He saw some blood seeping from his skin, and his expression darkened. He then looked in the direction from which the kunai had come.
At the same time, Scorpion, hidden inside the puppet Hiruko, subtly moved his five fingers, connecting all the mechanisms and devices on Hiruko's body, preparing for battle.
The enemy has not yet shown themselves, but judging from the power of the kunai that was fired, they are not an easy opponent to deal with.
"who?"
"come out!"
Kakuzu turned to look at the dark forest, his deep voice carrying a hint of anger.
However, Kakuzu was met with a barrage of kunai.
"Shhhhh-"
A sharp whooshing sound came from the forest, and streaks of cold light shot out from the forest. Countless lightning-style kunai rained down, heading straight for Kakuzu and Sasori.