Reporting and Planning

Chapter 78 Reporting and Planning

After leaving Shikkotsu Forest, Hyuga Yuto placed Kaguya's corpse in a medical-grade breeding tank. Instead of immediately conducting experiments, he went to the surface and entered the Land of Frost.

He has not shown his face for seven days. In order to avoid attracting the attention of those with ulterior motives, Hyuga Yuto must appear in public.

Moreover, as a "free agent on the battlefield," if he returned to the Konoha camp without having accomplished anything, it would be difficult for him to explain to Orochimaru.

Hyuga Yuto spent two days raiding and killing several small teams from Kumogakure and Kirigakure, seizing intelligence on logistics supply routes, and then headed towards the Konoha forces' command post. He entered smoothly without much trouble.

The atmosphere at the Konoha camp was a bit strange. Hyuga Yuto paid a little attention and overheard the ninjas discussing and speculating about the "Moon Goddess".

She single-handedly fought against more than two hundred elite ninjas, killing more than two-thirds of them. The Kaguya clan, who came to reinforce her, were all wiped out, and she also seriously injured three powerful figures: the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki, Suigetsu Hozuki, and Shimura Danzo.

Moreover, it is said that during the battle, there was never a time when the two sides were evenly matched. The man who brought death swiftly cut through the elite forces of the three great nations, like a beast entering a flock of sheep.

【Extremely dangerous. If you encounter it alone, you should run away immediately.】—This is the original text from the joint bounty poster issued by the three major ninja villages of Konoha, Kirigakure, and Kumogakure.

Rather than a bounty notice, it was more like a danger warning, proclaiming their tough stance while subtly admonishing the ninjas below not to be reckless and to run if necessary.

Dozens of people died in Konoha that night, and one Jonin was also lost, resulting in a heavy loss. In the camp, the ninjas both hated and feared the "Moon Goddess," this powerful figure who had suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

Hyuga Yuto listened all the way, and after reporting the battle achievements and intelligence to the statistics team, he went to the command headquarters as usual to meet Orochimaru as a subordinate.

Soon after, Hyuga Yuto received approval and was led into the command center by a messenger genin.

Orochimaru sat in his chair, his desk piled high with documents and scrolls. Besides dealing with these documents, he also had to find time to meet with Konoha's high-ranking officials, and when things got tense on the front lines, he had to rush there immediately to fight the enemy.

At this time, Orochimaru was already conducting human experiments, but during the Third Shinobi World War, as the commander of the Konoha forces, he truly deserved the title of "illustrious in battle".

To be fair, the position of Fourth Hokage was given to Minato Namikaze, and after Minato's death, Hiruzen Sarutobi returned to power. Having missed the Hokage position twice and failed to gain his teacher's trust twice, Orochimaru's disheartened state was not entirely unreasonable.

"Lord Commander." Hinata Yuuto said respectfully:

"Yuto is back, I..." He recounted the events of the past two days and gave Orochimaru a brief report.

"Hmm." Orochimaru nodded, his voice cold and hoarse.

"Yuto-kun, your usual practice is to report every five days, but this time the interval has reached ten days... Is there some kind of trouble?"

"It's like this, Lord Orochimaru," Hyuga Yuto said, reciting his prepared statement.

"When I was hunting enemy soldiers outside, I heard about the 'Moon Goddess'. At the time, I wasn't too far from the battlefield, so I wondered if I could find out any information about him."

"Oh? There's a result?"

"Nothing was found, absolutely no clues."

Orochimaru pondered:

"The reconnaissance team was in the same situation. Although they sensed traces of summoning magic in the forest, they couldn't follow the trail to determine what kind of summoned beast it was, so they had no way to investigate."

"Lord Orochimaru, if I may be so bold, is it really wise to keep such a dangerous individual under our noses? The bounty poster says that he not only stole the Byakugan but also killed several powerful members of the Kaguya clan. His motives and origins are still a mystery. Will he really stop here? I'm afraid that in the future..."

Orochimaru then raised his head and looked closely at Hyuga Yuto. His golden snake eyes held a scrutinizing gaze, giving off immense pressure.

Hyuga Yuto simply met his gaze without flinching or avoiding it.

Suddenly, Orochimaru sighed:

"The Third Hokage once told us that Hyuga Yuto was an excellent ninja who could see things from a higher perspective... Now it seems that the teacher had a good eye. Tsunade has taken on an enviable student. No wonder he is known as the 'Jade Lion' Hyuga Yuto."

"You're right, that masked man is a dangerous element. It's not just you and me who think so; the village's higher-ups also believe that guy won't let this go."

"The strategy against him is already being formulated... We don't need to worry about it; that's a matter for the Third Hokage and Danzo."

Yuto Hyuga breathed a sigh of relief:

"That's good. I really want to see what kind of face is under the mask."

Faced with the "Loyal Limited Edition Orochimaru," Hyuga Yuto knew that as long as he outwardly acted in Konoha's best interests, he would be in no danger.

Even after his transformation, Orochimaru was still a person who treated his subordinates well.

Hyuga Yuto and Namikaze Minato were quite familiar with each other, and they could even exchange a few jokes and chat about everyday things when giving reports. However, when facing Orochimaru, Hyuga Yuto had nothing to say after finishing his report.

He bid farewell to Orochimaru, who told him before he left, "You can reduce the frequency of your reports in the future so that you can harass the enemy from a more distant rear."

Hyuga Yuto readily accepted and left the Konoha camp.

The total time spent here was less than an hour.

The information that "Konoha has devised a strategy against Shinichi Kudo" did not surprise him.

Having caused such a huge incident, it's impossible for Hiruzen Sarutobi to remain indifferent. One can imagine that the other ninja villages must also be preparing their own countermeasures.

"That's fine. It will allow the identity of Shinichi Kudo to remain hidden for a while, and I can also use this time to study the Corpse Bone Pulse and avoid the limelight."

With these thoughts in mind, Hinata Yuto traversed the dense forest and, as usual, arrived at the underground secret base of the Land of Hot Springs.

The corpses of the Kaguya clan floated in the preservative solution. Except for Kaguya Morinosuke, the other corpses were quite well preserved. When Hyuga Yuto took their lives, he broke their necks without damaging their internal organs.

He moved a corpse to the operating table, rubbing his eyes as he finalized his plan in his mind:

"My eyes still hurt a bit. I haven't fully recovered from the exhaustion of releasing the companion pupil technique. I need to take this time to recuperate."

"The operation to capture the Hyuga clan members cannot stop. I can now study the differences between the Hyuga and Kaguya bloodlines. They share the same roots, but their bloodline powers are completely different... In that case, it would be best to obtain two Uchiha corpses for comparison."

"There's only one Mask of God left, and we need to replenish it. This is a bit of a headache. I have more cells than I can use, but the number of Hyuga ninjas is limited."

"We must consider the extreme scenario of 'mask shortage.' Masked Mode is ultimately a castle in the air, and my own training absolutely cannot fall behind. I have basically mastered the Mutual Explosion Tags, and my Hundred Healings are nearing their peak... Perhaps I should try to complete the Hundred Healings Seal? Or a combination ninjutsu of Mutual Explosion Tags and Lion's Fang Bite?"

"We must continue to accumulate merits and regularly appear on the battlefield to hone our skills."

"Sigh... Thinking about it carefully, there are really a lot of things to do..."

(End of this chapter)