Chapter – 196 Who is the Traitor?

To be honest, Kuroto is not worried whether Sandaime-sama will figure out that it was he and Shisui who disguised as Suijin and Homusubi just based on their abnormal behavior.

After all, no one knows what kind of personality traits does the two members of Amatsukami have.

What he cared about was the reaction Sandaime-sama would have once he hears that Homusubi has the Mangekyou Sharingan.

From the doubtful look that Sandaime had when he read the report, Kuroto guessed that the Uchiha Patriarch concealed this part of information about Homusubi.

'Honestly, has Uchiha Fugaku finally gone mad, why not use this opportunity to blame Homusubi for the Kyuubi's attack?' – Kuroto was really confused by Uchiha Fugaku's actions.

In Kuroto's opinion, this was an excellent opportunity, as long as the blame for Kyuubi's attack is transferred to Homusubi, the hostility that the village leaders have towards the Uchiha Clan will decrease, and slowly and steadily the two sides can mend their relationship.

But Uchiha Fugaku concealed this from Sandaime-sama, by doing this not only did they miss the perfect opportunity to solve their problems, but it also increased the distrust between the two factions.

Kuroto couldn't help but shake his head in disappointment, Uchiha Fugaku also expressed his true intentions by doing so, and it really disappointed Kuroto.

Taking a look back at the Hokage Building, Kuroto withdrew his thoughts.

Following the rules, if a ninja performing the task fails to complete it, like in the case with Team-11 where they were unable to protect the Kumo delegation, he will be severely punished, so accordingly, Team-11 must receive serious punishment.

But the fact that even Sandaime himself was not able to capture or kill the bounty-nin responsible, and returned without any success, so no one mentioned the matter of punishment.

Therefore, Team-11 not only did not get punished but in fact, they received one week-long vacation to perfectly recover from all the injuries that the team suffered.

Therefore, the first thing that he did was to go to the Konoha Hospital. Their injuries were all treated by the Anbu medical unit in the past three days, but a careful check has to be conducted at the hospital.

…

At the Konoha Hospital.

After checking the injuries on Kuroto's body, the medic-nin on duty nodded and said, "The frostbite you suffered has been cured and all that's left are just some skin wounds, nothing to worry about, take enough rest and you will recover soon enough, there is no need to use Iryo Ninjutsu."

Kuroto nodded and said with an embarrassed look, "I have to start with some serious training, so it would be really helpful if Furofuki-sensei heals these injuries…"

The medic-nin Furofuki-sensei shook her head helplessly and used Iryo Ninjutsu to heal all the skin injuries.

After the treatment was finished, Kuroto removed the bandages wrapped over his body and quietly left the hospital.

The purpose of him coming to the Konoha Hospital and getting his injuries healed was just an excuse.

Because next he is going to be meeting the Hyuga Patriarch, and since the Water Clone Body doesn't have the curse of Caged Bird so he obviously can't use this clone body to meet the Patriarch, after all, Hiashi-sama must have his ways of sensing the Curse Seal.

Therefore, Kuroto can't risk it, he must be in his main body when meeting the Patriarch, but there was a problem, his water body had suffered several injuries, and he was to take the main body that does not have any injuries, then it would be hard to explain, so he came to Konoha Hospital to get his wounds healed to get rid of loopholes.

With that out of the way, Kuroto who had changed his body came to the Hyuga Clan territory.

Hyuga Hiashi was obviously restless for the past three days, so as soon as he received the news that Kuroto came to see him, he immediately asked the maid to bring him in.

Under the escort of a maid, Kuroto came to the study of Hyuga Hiashi.

After the maid was done pouring tea for the two, she withdrew from the study leaving Kuroto and Hiashi.

The Hyuga Patriarch couldn't take it anymore, "I heard about everything that took place, who were the two bounty-nin?"

Kuroto just shook his head and apologized, "Please forgive me Hiashi-sama it would be best for you to not know the details of all the event as we have been ordered by Hokage-sama to not reveal them, what I can tell you is that I and the other Anbu were ambushed and Watanabe's corpse was taken away by the two bounty-nin, their reason seems to be the bounty on his head."

Hiashi nodded, if Hokage-sama has restricted them to not reveal this matter, then Hiashi wasn't going to pressure Kuroto, but he worried nonetheless, "I heard that even Sandaime-sama and the Patriarch of the Uchiha Clan failed to stop them, and some of the Anbu also died?"

Hiashi obviously didn't suspect that Kuroto was one of those bounty-nin, for one, the bounty-nin seems to be the user of Ice Release, and secondly, the strength displayed by the bounty-nin.

Hyuga Kuroto is undoubtedly very strong, Hiashi knows this, but he doesn't believe that Hyuga Kuroto would be strong enough to go toe-to-toe against Hokage-sama.

What Hiashi considered was the possibility of a cooperative relationship between Kuroto and those bounty-nin, therefore, he asked about that bounty-nin.

Now that Kuroto has confirmed that he didn't know the two, Hiashi has mixed feelings.

Hiashi is relieved that Kuroto didn't collude with shinobi of unknown origin, but he is also worried that the bounty-nin took away Watanabe's corpse, which means that they now know the true cause of his death.

If they openly publicized this matter, whether Kuroto, Hiashi, or the rest of the Hyuga clan, the implication would ultimately land upon them, and I am afraid that the follow-up trouble would be worrisome.

Kuroto seems to realize Hiashi's worries and said, "Patriarch, you don't have to worry too much, firstly no one would believe the words of a bounty-nin over the words of a loyal shinobi, and the possibility of Hokage-sama suspecting the Hyuga Clan just based on the rumors is very less, besides even if he suspects the Hyuga Clan, he wouldn't make any move without any solid evidence, the same case applies to Kumogakure."

Hiashi nodded in understanding, in fact, he also understands that unless Watanabe's body is directly found in the Hyuga Clan territory, it would be impossible to implicate or cause any substantial harm to the Hyuga Clan.

At this time Kuroto said, "Patriarch, I am sure you must have also realized this, but there are still many loopholes that are yet to be filled, for one, how did Watanabe manage to sneak into the Hyuga Clan territory? How was he able to get past all the security? Most of all, how did he know the layout of the Patriarch's mansion, that he was able to find Hinata-sama's sleeping quarters?

Not to mention, Watanabe, who is a ninja of another village, even the shinobi of Konohagakure shouldn't be able to do this, an enemy being aware of such precise details is quite concerning."

Hiashi nodded with a serious look, he has been considering these matters for a while and the only possibility is that there is a traitor in the Hyuga Clan, and he is hostile not only towards the Clan but also towards the village.

Hiashi can be sure of this because the layout of the Patriarch's mansion is even unknown to the Hokage.

Only the members of Hyuga Clan with Byakugan can help the outsiders to get past all the security of the Hyuga Clan territory and sneak into the Patriarch's mansion to be able to kidnap the young lady.

It's is impossible for others to do so.

With a light sigh, Hiashi said, "I did a preliminary investigation in the past three days, but I have yet to find anything or any sign that would give away any clue."

Even Kuroto pondered a little, 'Who could it be?'

Initially, Kuroto thought that it might be Shimura Danzo, but then he quickly eliminated that possibility.

For one thing, Kuroto can be sure that Shimura Danzo is not aware of the layout of the Hyuga Patriarch's mansion, secondly, Shimura Danzo has no reason to do so. Danzo may have some hostility towards Kuroto, and certain dissatisfaction towards the Hyuga Clan for not allowing him to recruit any Hyuga shinobi in Root, but Danzo wouldn't be foolish enough to do anything against the Hyuga Clan before he destroys the Uchiha Clan.

Because if he takes any action against the Hyuga Clan before that, then the Hyuga would be offended and forced to ally themselves with the Uchiha, and since, the Hyuga shinobi are the most amicable in the village so they would obviously get support from the other major shinobi clans, overall, Danzo would be offending pretty much all the clans if he takes any action against Hyuga.

Besides, Kuroto doesn't think Danzo would collude with the shinobi of an enemy village and let him harm Konoha, at least not until he can be sure of his position. Even if the original story, whether it was destroying the Uchiha Clan or letting Sandaime be killed at the hands of Orochimaru, Danzo's main purpose was the position of Hokage, not to destroy Konoha.

And the person who assisted Watanabe obviously wanted to drag Hyuga Clan into the muddy waters, instigating both the major clan, Uchiha and Hyuga to take part in a civil war.

In other words, the ultimate aim of that person is not only to destroy the Hyuga Clan but also to destroy Konoha.

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