Uchiha Patriarch Mansion, Uchiha Clan Grounds.

Uchiha Fugaku quietly sat by the lake, thinking over some things. ​​

At this time, an Uchiha Shinobi rushed in and whispered lightly, "Patriarch, we heard that the Kumo delegation leader, Watanabe was kidnapped and killed by a bounty-nin for the high bounty placed on Watanabe's head!"

"He was kidnapped and killed!?" – Fugaku's face turned solemn after listening to the news.

After these past few days of attempted trials, the leader of the Kumo delegation finally agreed to meet the Uchiha Fugaku tonight.

For that purpose, Fugaku has been patiently waiting for midnight to come, but now he has received such a piece of absurd news.

Watanabe was going to utilize this opportunity and send the Shadow Clone tonight and use this chance to further provoke the internal conflict between the Uchiha Clan and Hokage faction.

Watanabe never would have thought that the moment his Shadow Clone sneaked out of the assigned mansion, it was spotted by the pair of Eagle and Cat Anbu.

Fugaku was obviously a bit frustrated and spoke after a little bit of thinking, "Where is Shisui, wasn't he responsible for protecting the Kumo delegation tonight?"

The Uchiha ninja shook his head, "There is no clear information, the situation there has been taken over by other Anbu ninja and Chunin, the process of Watanabe's disappearance is also very strange, there are no signs of fighting near the assigned mansion, which is completely unreasonable!"

Hearing this, Fugaku also frowned slightly and finally ordered, "Find Shisui and get the details about what happened exactly, I want every detail!"

"Yes!" – The Uchiha ninja nodded respectfully and disappeared.

At this time, Fugaku looked towards the full moon in the distant sky, his face filled with hesitation and confusion.

After some evaluation, Fugaku has confirmed that Uchiha Shisui is leaning on the side of the Hokage faction, for this reason, the Uchiha Clan has been continuously failing in their attempt to make a contact with the Kumo delegation. Otherwise, if Shisui was on the side of the Uchiha Clan, then using his identity, making a contact with the Kumo delegation was a piece of cake.

Shisui's attitude has further strengthened the Uchiha Patriarch's determination to bring Shinichi back to the Uchiha Clan, in his plan, once Shinichi comes back to the Uchiha Clan, and the Uchiha Clan attempts to launch a Coup d'état, then the Konoha Elder Council will no longer trust Shisui and distance him from the Hokage faction, left with no choice, Shisui would have to come back to the family he belongs to and apologize to all the Uchiha whose trust he has been breaking.

For this reason, Fugaku has never confronted Shisui about his intentions, nor has he thought of fighting Shisui.

Because for Fugaku, Shisui is not only very precious combat personnel of the Uchiha Clan, but the kid is also akin to his nephew, and which parent wouldn't forgive his child if they make a mistake?

Therefore, Fugaku is willing to let Shisui understand that only Uchiha Clan is where he would truly belong.

And Fugaku also knows that once both Shisui and Shinichi return to the Uchiha Clan, then with the combined power of three Mangekyou Sharingan users, coupled with all the elite Jonin and other top Uchiha Combat personnel, the Uchiha Clan will be able to completely defeat the Hokage faction and take over the position of the Hokage without any trouble that the Uchiha has desired for so many years.

But is that really what he wants? Fugaku is unsure, after all, he too loves his village, if there is a chance, he wouldn't want to take over the position forcefully!

Therefore, there is doubt and hesitation in his eyes, and it will only manifest when he is alone!

A moment later Fugaku sensed the presence of another Uchiha ninja rushing towards him and his face returned back to the usual.

The Uchiha ninja arrived with the latest report, "We have discovered that the Sandaime himself took a large number of Anbu ninja to hunt down the bounty-nin responsible for killing Kumo head ninja."

Fugaku wasn't surprised by this and immediately got up and ordered, "Assemble the Konoha Police force with Jonin level members!"

The Uchiha ninja was stunned and asked, "Patriarch, are we also going to be involved in the round-up!?"

Fugaku nodded, "Sandaime himself is going after the bounty-nin, this shows that the matter is undoubtedly serious, our internal conflicts should be put aside for now, if the bounty-nin escapes easily, then Konoha's reputation will be affected, besides this will also be a good opportunity to make contact with the Kumo ninjas!"

The Uchiha ninja understood and immediately nodded, "Yes, in that case, I will issue the assembly ordered on behalf of Patriarch!" – with that said, the ninja disappeared.

"Hmm!"

Using this chance, inquiring from the Kumo delegation, whether Shinichi really defected to Kumogakure would also be the best opportunity.

…

New Root Base.

The root leftover Root ninjas were constantly coming and going, reporting all kinds of information to Shimura Danzo, who sat on his chair.

After hearing that the Sandaime himself led the Anbu to hunt down the mysterious bounty-nin, Danzo showed a thoughtful look and asked the men next to him, "Have you found out the identity of this mysterious bounty-nin?"

The Root ninjas next to him nodded and passes a copy of a file recording the information about the mysterious bounty nin, "From the description of the outfit, he was wearing, the party seems to be a bounty-nin that goes by the name 'Suijin,' who has recently amassed quite a bit of fame in the black-market circle, for his efficiency and strength and perfection of completing the tasks."

"Suijin!?" – Shimura Danzo frowned when he looked at the copy in his hands.

After a brief glance, he threw the file heavily on the ground and shouted in anger, "You collected this information!?"

"In addition to the brief description of the outfit he wears, and his name, the information only stated that he is a top tier bounty-nin, besides these three details, there was no other useful information.

Seeing Danzo's anger, the root ninja immediately knelt on one knee and hurriedly explained in panic, "Please forgive me Danzo-sama, but this, 'Suijin' character appeared out of thin air, prior to this, there is no information about him any of our data files, therefore, we couldn't find any information!"

"Incompetents!" – scolded Danzo heavily,

"..." The root ninja stayed silent and dared not lift his head, afraid that he would only anger Danzo-Sama more.

After a little while, Danzo calmed himself and went on to say, "Continue investigation, I want to know who is hidden behind that mask, the other party has the gall to enter my Konoha so unscrupulously and cause such chaos, I want to know who gave him such courage! Find out everything about him, from his identity to his background, the person he working for, family, his strength, weakness, secret, anything to everything we can exploit, is that understood!"

"H-hai, crystal clear, Danzo-Sama!" – the Anbu hurriedly nodded and disappeared.

With the room silent, Danzo stood up and looked outside the window at the full moon with an inexplicable expression.

…

In the forest outside the easter outer wall of Konoha.

Suijin glanced at Dog's right hand and then his gaze moved towards the bloodstain on the ground.

In the previous confrontation, Dog's Chidori slightly rubbed through Suijin's right arm, therefore, a small cut appeared on his arm that leaked out a trail of blood.

Although it's not something to get worried over, it's still a bit troublesome if not dealt with quickly.

After all, as long as, these few drops of blood are dealt with, Suijin can avoid being tracked and pursued because of the odor.

This is something to be heavily guarded when facing the Dog masked Anbu, i.e., Hatake Kakashi, after all, he has a highly apt group of eight ninken as his summon beasts, moreover Hatake Kakashi's own sense of smell is also extremely terrifying therefore, one has to be careful against him.

After making up his mind, Suijin quickly printed the seals and muttered,

"Water Release: Water Colliding Wave!"

Instantly, a large amount of water formed a surging vortex around Suijin that kept rising upwards and exploded from the top in the form of a massive wave covering the entire battlefield.

The momentum of the wave was so high that it seemed to almost submerge the entire surrounding forest area.

Dog Anbu's face behind the mask was inexplicable and he hurriedly shouted towards his companion, "Be careful!"

The monkey responded with a nod, "Yeah!"

The two tacitly jumped up at the same time, but they didn't look away from the body of Suijin, continuously paying attention to his moves.

The Water Colliding Wave washed up the ground and increase the moisture content in the surroundings. With that, Suijin again printed hand seals and shouted, "Water Release: Multiple Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Three water dragons with their diameter over a meter; condensed from the surrounding water and instantly rose up hovering around Suijin providing a protective cover.

Suijin waved his hand towards the Dog and Monkey Anbu on the tree, and the two of the three large dragons immediately rushed towards the two Anbu.

The Dog Anbu didn't dare to be careless and immediately printed hand seals,

"Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet Technique!"

Instantly, a water dragon was also raised by Dog Anbu, using the surrounding water, and the water dragon collided with the opposite water dragon, protecting the Dog Anbu.

The Monkey Anbu was also not careless and continuously dodged the homing water dragon, seeing that the Water Dragon didn't give up the chase, the Monkey Anbu, kicked the trunk of a tree with all his power breaking it in one shot and then again kicked away the broken trunk towards the incoming water dragon, neutralizing the attack.

However, this short opportunity in which the Dog Anbu and the Monkey Anbu backed away was not wasted by Suijin, who exploded the third Water Dragon obscuring the two Anbu's sight and immediately turned around and flew towards the depth of the forest.

At this time, the Dog Anbu's voice came from behind,

"Summoning: Earth Release: Tracking Fang Technique!"

Puff… Puff… Puff… Puff… Puff… Puff… Puff… Puff…

Instantly, eight pits appeared on the ground around Suijin, the eight Ninken jumped out of the ground and pounced on Suijin from all sides.

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