News of Hyūga Hayama's death quickly reached the Konoha border camp. When Hyūga Yūya heard the report, he smashed the tactical table in a fit of rage.
The death of a member of the Hyūga Main House would undoubtedly ignite the fury of the entire Hyūga Clan. When that happened, his fate would be easy to imagine.
Especially since a Byakugan, something the Hyūga Clan guarded with extreme care, had been lost. The clan would certainly mobilize all its power to pressure the Hokage.
As one of the most influential clans in Konoha, the Hyūga Clan held enormous political power. If they applied full pressure, even the Third Hokage would be forced to take the matter very seriously.
The real problem was that Hyūga Yūya still could not confirm whether the ninja who attacked Hyūga Hayama were from Iwagakure.
If they truly were Iwagakure ninja, then given Iwagakure's current stance, it would be impossible for them to return the Byakugan under Konoha's pressure.
After all, Iwagakure was already preparing to go to war with Konoha.
---
While Hyūga Yūya was deeply troubled, Asuka and his group were in quite a good mood.
Putting Asuka aside for the moment, the Byakugan he had obtained this time had laid the foundation for his future plan of combining Sage Bone with Sage Eyes.
A was even happier.
Having obtained a Byakugan himself, his strength had improved significantly. Moreover, securing such a strategically important dōjutsu would undoubtedly raise his status within the Hidden Mist Village.
At that moment, the Hidden Mist unit was resting beneath a massive tree.
Asuka began discussing their next tactical move with A.
"Captain Asuka," A said, "we captured a Byakugan from the Hyūga Main House in this battle. The Hyūga Clan will definitely spare no effort to retrieve it. They might even pressure the Hokage. Konoha will surely make some major moves soon."
"You're right," Asuka replied. "Konoha's next move definitely won't be small."
"We've already penetrated deep into the border of the Land of Fire. To ensure the safety of the Byakugan you obtained, it's time for us to prepare for withdrawal."
"However," Asuka continued, "Konoha only needs a catalyst right now—something that convinces them the Byakugan was stolen by Iwagakure."
"With Iwagakure's recent activities, once they believe that, Konoha won't simply sit back."
A immediately understood and continued the thought.
"And if Konoha reinforces the border because of that suspicion, Iwagakure definitely won't remain idle. They might even start the war ahead of schedule."
"Exactly," Asuka said.
"So our final mission before retreating is to 'accidentally' reveal our identity as Iwagakure ninja, making Konoha believe that Iwagakure is preparing for war."
---
After discussing the plan, Asuka quickly chose the place where they would reveal their identity.
It was a small village they had scouted earlier.
On the surface, it looked like an ordinary border village.
But according to their investigation, it was actually a Konoha logistics transfer station, with large amounts of military supplies stored nearby.
Originally, Asuka had planned to destroy the supply point completely.
But now he had changed his mind.
Since he intended to leak an Iwagakure identity, he needed to carefully stage the situation so Konoha would truly believe Iwagakure was behind the attack.
Asuka soon came up with a plan.
He summoned Miyagawa Ryosuke along with several chūnin from the team.
They would disguise themselves as ninja searching for supplies, enter the village, and "accidentally" reveal their identities.
The group quickly understood Asuka's intentions. After all, the ninja selected by him were experienced operatives.
---
The group swaggered into the only restaurant in the village.
After ordering food, they began talking quietly among themselves.
"Captain, you're amazing. You actually managed to find such a remote village."
"Yeah, Captain. I've been starving for days. It's been forever since I had a hot meal."
Miyagawa Ryosuke waved dismissively.
"It's nothing. Eat quickly. After this, we still have to bring supplies back for the others."
One of the chūnin hesitated before speaking.
"Captain… our mission has been going on for quite a while now. I wonder if the Tsuchikage—"
Before he could finish, Miyagawa Ryosuke kicked him under the table.
"Don't talk about things you shouldn't," he said coldly. "Just eat."
The group immediately fell silent and quickly finished their meal.
Afterward, they bought up all the remaining provisions in the restaurant and walked out.
Not long after they left, the restaurant owner and his wife quietly slipped out the back door.
One of them followed Miyagawa Ryosuke's group from a distance to track them.
The other hurried deeper into the village.
Clearly, the information the group had "accidentally" leaked had already attracted attention.
---
After easily knocking out the restaurant owner who was following them, Miyagawa Ryosuke brought him back to the Hidden Mist team.
After hearing the report, Asuka nodded.
Turning to A, who now wore an eyepatch, he said:
"It looks like we've successfully drawn the attention of Konoha's ninja."
"Since that's the case, we should strike while the iron is hot."
"Tonight we attack their supply storage point. And during the fight, make sure they see your Byakugan."
"That will mislead Konoha even more."
A agreed with the plan.
He personally interrogated the captured Konoha ninja and soon obtained the exact location of the supply depot.
---
Night soon fell.
Following the plan, Asuka led the team in an attack.
Because of the deliberate provocation earlier that day, the Konoha ninja stationed there were clearly on high alert.
With jōnin like Asuka intentionally holding back, the battle quickly fell into a stalemate.
At that moment, the leading Konoha ninja suddenly noticed the Byakugan revealed beneath A's intentionally removed eyepatch.
"Byakugan…?!"
He stared at it in shock, momentarily speechless.
Seeing that the situation had reached the right point, Asuka blew a whistle.
It was the signal.
Miyagawa Ryosuke immediately led several chūnin from earlier.
They poured most of their chakra into a powerful Earth Release technique.
The reason they had been chosen for the village mission earlier was because they were among the few ninja in the team with Earth-nature chakra.
Together, they unleashed:
Earth Release: Earth Flow River.
The power of the technique—fueled by nearly all their chakra—was enormous.
Even an ordinary Iwagakure ninja might not have produced such a powerful Earth Release.
Of course, that was exactly the point.
It was meant to mislead Konoha.
After launching the technique, they didn't bother checking the results.
Under Asuka's command, the entire group retreated immediately.
---
After completing the mission, both Asuka and A agreed it was time to withdraw.
They had done everything they could.
What happened afterward was beyond their control.
---
Meanwhile, the latest intelligence from the battlefield quickly reached Konoha.
Inside the Hokage Office, the current Hyūga Clan Head, Hyūga Ryūta, was having a heated discussion with the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"Hokage-sama, isn't the situation obvious?" Hyūga Ryūta said angrily.
"The ones who stole our Hyūga Clan's Byakugan must be Iwagakure. You've seen their ambitions yourself."
"Why haven't we declared war yet?"
"Ryūta, calm down," Hiruzen replied.
"I understand your feelings. But Konoha is already at war with the Hidden Mist. Starting another war right now would put enormous pressure on the village."
"But Hokage-sama," Ryūta countered sharply,
"given Iwagakure's recent movements, isn't war inevitable anyway?"
Hiruzen fell silent.
After a moment, he sighed.
"I have considered that. After discussing it with the village advisors, we've decided to send reinforcements to the Fire-Earth border."
"Rest assured. If the ninja who took the Byakugan is found, the village will help the Hyūga Clan recover it immediately."
Hearing this promise, Hyūga Ryūta said nothing more.
After bidding farewell, he quickly left the Hokage Office.
Hiruzen looked out the window at Konoha Village and sighed heavily.
"What a troubled era…"
---
Konoha's troop movements naturally did not escape Iwagakure's spies.
Soon, the intelligence report arrived on Ōnoki's desk.
Although he did not know the exact reason for Konoha's sudden reinforcement, after careful consideration he made a decisive choice.
He would launch the war against Konoha ahead of schedule.
---
By the time Asuka and his team returned to the Land of Water, the news had already spread across the ninja world.
War between the Land of Fire and the Land of Earth had officially begun.
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