After treating Hyuga Kyo’s wounds, Anko, understanding their precarious situation, said nothing further and quietly returned to her room.
Hyuga Kyo lay on his bed, carefully reflecting on the day’s events.
Undoubtedly, today’s mission was a trap, and the Sand Village was involved. If Scorpion hadn’t intervened, he would likely have faced a Sand Village assassination squad. Perhaps even his squad leader, Mitsui Nakaji, would have been involved.
As for why the Sand Village got involved in Konoha’s purge, Hyuga Kyo thought for a moment and found the answer.
The Fourth Kazekage of the Sand Village had taken power hastily due to the disappearance of the Third Kazekage. Without the pressure of war, the Fourth Kazekage would undoubtedly want to weaken the influence of the Third Kazekage within the village. Thus, the Sand Village had a greater need to purge its ranks than Konoha did.
Additionally, the Sand Village wanted to form an alliance with Konoha after the war. This explained why the Sand Village participated in Konoha’s purge. The top leaders of both villages had clearly reached an agreement to eliminate their undesirables mutually. This way, they could avoid staining their hands with the blood of their own comrades and have a scapegoat if things went wrong.
Realising this, Hyuga Kyo understood that even if Danzo was leading the purge, the Third Hokage and other high-ranking officials were either complicit or aware. Otherwise, Danzo alone wouldn’t have the power to bypass the village and negotiate such a significant operation with the Sand Village.
The thought of so many people being ruthlessly abandoned by the village filled Hyuga Kyo with both shock and anger. Among these people, about ninety per cent were innocent. Only a tiny fraction had actually participated in Orochimaru’s human experiments, and even then, most of them were involved in peripheral projects like Hyuga Kyo.
The truly core, bloody human experiments were almost all conducted by Orochimaru himself, with very few others capable of participating, and Hyuga Kyo needed to be qualified to access them.
This wasn’t Hyuga Kyo’s shirking responsibility. It’s just that there were very few people in the village besides Orochimaru who could independently conduct complex human experiments.
“Why is the village going so overboard with this purge?”
The more Hyuga Kyo thought about it, the more he felt something was off. The high-ranking officials of the village couldn’t be unaware that this purge would affect many innocent people, yet they proceeded anyway. There had to be a reason Hyuga Kyo wasn’t aware of.
Considering Orochimaru’s voluntary defection and Danzo’s unusual behaviour, Hyuga Kyo suddenly wondered if Orochimaru had done something so heinous that it provoked such a hysterical reaction from the village’s leadership.
Regardless of the cause, the purge had already begun. Hyuga Kyo had to calm his wandering thoughts and methodically assess the threats he faced.
The immediate threat was undoubtedly the village’s purge. Since the purge had started, the town wouldn’t stop halfway. Even if Hyuga Kyo survived this round, there would be another, and each would be more intense than the last.
Additionally, the threat of Scorpions should be addressed. The Third Kazekage once hailed as the “strongest Kazekage,” had mysteriously fallen to Scorpion, demonstrating Scorpion’s exceptional assassination skills. Now that Hyuga Kyo had antagonised Scorpion, he had to be wary of any attempts on his life.
However, the most pressing issue was how the village would react to Mitsui Nakaji’s death. If the town suspected Hyuga Kyo’s involvement, his only option would be to defect.
I’m curious if my performance can deceive the village.
Having the Third Kazekage puppet impersonate a wandering ninja was a clever move. Due to the war, there were many rogue ninjas active everywhere. Thus, encountering a rogue ninja in a poorly controlled border area was entirely plausible. Furthermore, the other two suspicious squad leaders at the outpost had seen and fought the disguised Third Kazekage puppet, adding credibility to Hyuga Kyo’s story.
After a night of restless thoughts, Hyuga Kyo found a moment the next day to retrieve the hidden Third Kazekage puppet and seal it in a scroll he carried.
The outpost had severe personnel shortages, with only four ninjas left, including the injured Anko and Hyuga Kyo. The village would likely send a support squad soon, and that squad might already be on its way. The support squad would undoubtedly include reconnaissance ninjas. If the Third Kazekage puppet continued to linger near the outpost, it could be discovered by the support squad.
Ultimately, the Third Kazekage puppet was too conspicuous. Even the audacious Scorpion wouldn’t use it for everyday activities. If it were exposed while in Hyuga Kyo’s possession, not only would he lose a trump card, but he would also face difficult questions.
Although the Third Kazekage was dead, he had once been a village leader and symbolised the Sand Village’s honour. To maintain the authority of one of the Five Great Ninja Villages, the Sand Village would go to any lengths to retrieve the Third Kazekage puppet and eliminate its possessor.
Already targeted for elimination by his own village, Hyuga Kyo didn’t want to provoke the Sand Village further. Currently, only he and Scorpion knew about the Third Kazekage puppet. Scorpion, as the one who killed and transformed the Third Kazekage, wouldn’t publicise the matter.
Moreover, knowing Scorpion’s character, he was likely contemplating how to retrieve the puppet from Hyuga Kyo. As long as Hyuga Kyo didn’t slip up, the existence of the Third Kazekage puppet would remain a secret for the time being.
The following days were calm. Using this brief respite, Hyuga Kyo shut himself away to study the Tenseigan’s puppet-controlling abilities.
After multiple tests, he discovered that the puppet’s agility depended entirely on the amount of Tenseigan chakra he infused. In simple terms, the more chakra he infused, the more agile the puppet became.
Hyuga Kyo needed to learn more about puppets. It needed to be clarified if the Third Kazekage puppet was high-end, but just activating it required at least half of Hyuga Kyo’s chakra. If he wanted the puppet to use magnet release techniques, it needed at least two-thirds of his chakra.
In other words, while using the Third Kazekage puppet, Hyuga Kyo could retain only half his chakra at best, barely reaching the chakra level of an elite Chunin.
Hyuga Kyo also tried infusing all his chakra into the puppet to see if it could gain a small degree of autonomy. But the results were disappointing.
Whether due to insufficient total chakra or some other reason, even with all his chakra, the puppet showed no further changes, only becoming slightly more agile than when infused with two-thirds of his chakra.
By now, Hyuga Kyo had learned to adjust his mindset and not constantly compare himself to the Tenseigan wielder Otsutsuki Toneri in his memories. He didn’t feel much frustration, only a bit of irritation.
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