A week later, at the village’s main gate.
A young girl was meticulously adjusting Hyuga Kyo’s gear. From her clear white eyes, it was evident she was also a member of the Hyuga clan, and they appeared to be around the same age. However, her delicate face was marked with a worried expression.
As he gazed at the distant Hokage Rock, Hyuga Kyo smiled and said, “Don’t worry, it’s just a normal rotation.”
The girl nodded slightly, then took out a new pair of goggles from her pouch and handed them to Hyuga Kyo.
Hyuga Kyo glanced at her without saying much, then stored the goggles in his pouch.
In truth, Hyuga Kyo had started wearing goggles, similar to Obito, a long time ago. The lenses of his goggles were darker, almost like sunglasses.
He did this not only to protect his eyes but also to conceal his identity as a Hyuga clan member on the battlefield, avoiding targeted attacks from enemies. Additionally, it was to hide the Tenseigan he might acquire in the future, as there were some differences in appearance between the Tenseigan and the Byakugan.
The girl was undoubtedly worried that Hyuga Kyo’s old goggles might break and be difficult to replace at the border, so she bought him a new pair as a backup.
At that moment, a middle-aged ninja not far away waved his hand and called out, “It’s time to go. We should head out.”
Hyuga Kyo patted the girl’s shoulder and said, “Rin, I’m leaving now. Don’t worry about me. I might be back soon.”
The girl named Rin nodded gently, but her worried expression was impossible to hide.
Finally, Hyuga Kyo took one last look at the distant Hokage Rock.
In the wake of Orochimaru’s defection, the village had become the biggest loser. Orochimaru had defected, and Jiraiya had pursued him. Thus, the renowned Three Legendary Sannin had all left the town!
Orochimaru had lost the village’s support but had also freed himself from its constraints, achieving what he desired. It was neither a win nor a loss.
However, Danzo, who had absorbed most of Orochimaru’s forces, was undoubtedly the biggest winner. Hyuga Kyo even suspected that through this consolidation, Danzo had obtained some of Orochimaru’s human experiment results, laying the groundwork for future thefts of the Sharingan and the First Hokage’s cells.
But none of this mattered to Hyuga Kyo at the moment.
The village’s leadership had agreed to gradually rotate all former subordinates of Orochimaru who, like Hyuga Kyo, had yet to be absorbed into Root to various borders.
In simple terms, they were being sent to the border to stay away from the village!
Hyuga Kyo joined the middle-aged ninja and glanced at his companions.
Including himself, there were twelve ninjas divided into three teams. Aside from the three team leaders, the remaining nine were all former subordinates of Orochimaru.
The destination for their journey was a border post at the boundary between the Land of Fire and the Land of Wind.
As soon as they left the village, Hyuga Kyo activated his Byakugan, becoming fully alert as if entering a war zone.
This was not an overreaction on his part. A few months ago, he had been attacked less than ten miles from the village. The entire team escorting injured soldiers back from the front line suffered heavy casualties. If not for the timely arrival of reinforcements from the town, his name might already be on the Memorial Stone.
The harsh realities of war had taught Hyuga Kyo many things. Even though the war was now a thing of the past, some habits were hard to change.
Hyuga Kyo wasn’t the only one on high alert. The other ninjas in the group also became vigilant after leaving the village, except for one person.
Glancing at the small, frail figure lagging at the back of the group, Hyuga Kyo sighed.
If anyone in the village was most reluctant to believe Orochimaru’s defection, it was undoubtedly Anko Mitarashi who was trailing behind him!
Almost overnight, Anko went from being a disciple of one of the legendary Sannin and a rising star in the village to a prisoner. After weeks of detention, she was now being sent to the border with Hyuga Kyo, wholly cut off from the village’s centre of power.
From her hollow eyes and dazed expression, it was clear she still couldn’t accept that her teacher, Orochimaru, one of the Sannin, had betrayed the village.
Such a near-religious collapse might never fully heal.
After looking away from Anko, Hyuga Kyo carefully observed the other ninjas in the group.
Of the twelve, only the middle-aged team leader was a Jonin. The remaining eleven, including Hyuga Kyo and Anko, were all Chunin. This made the team fairly combat-capable. As long as they didn’t encounter a squad entirely composed of Jonin, they shouldn’t face any significant threats.
Besides, the war was over. The likelihood of encountering enemy Jonin within the Land of Fire was minimal.
As Hyuga Kyo expected, the journey went smoothly without any incidents, and the team reached the border post safely.
After settling in at the border post, the twelve-man team was officially divided into three squads. Hyuga Kyo, Anko, and a Chunin named Ota were grouped with the Jonin team leader.
The Land of Fire and the Land of Wind didn’t share a direct border; small countries like the Land of Rivers and the Land of Rain lay between them. However, these small countries provided little of a barrier.
The border post where Hyuga Kyo was stationed was responsible for a 40-mile stretch of the border. One end of this stretch was at the edge of a forest, and the other led into an endless desert.
Thus, Hyuga Kyo began his monotonous patrols in the desert.
Time flew by, and two months passed in the blink of an eye.
All news from the village was cut off, and it felt as though Hyuga Kyo was living in isolation. His days were filled with patrolling, guarding, and resting.
During this time, he sensed that the Jonin team leader was constantly monitoring him and the other nine former subordinates of Orochimaru. Therefore, he behaved himself and made no unusual movements.
He speculated that this surveillance wouldn’t last long.
Even a large village like Konoha couldn’t afford to have enough personnel to monitor hundreds of ninjas indefinitely, so there had to be a limit to the surveillance.
Sure enough, not long after, the village sent three new Chunin to replace the three team leaders, including the middle-aged Jonin.
Initially, Hyuga Kyo thought this meant the village had lifted its surveillance. However, after observing for a while, he noticed the new Chunin team leaders were all silent and gave off a cold, sinister vibe.
“These people aren’t ordinary Chunin!”
Hyuga Kyo quickly realised that these new team leaders were either from the ANBU or Root!
A typical border post only needed three ANBU or Root members as team leaders.
The answer was clear, and Hyuga Kyo’s thoughts quickly spread. He didn’t know what had happened in the village over the past two months, but he knew danger was approaching.
Time was running out. He had to activate his Tenseigan plan immediately…
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