"Yugito, are you ready?"
On the border of the Land of the Moon, adjacent to the Land of Hot Water, Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails jinchūriki, and other Cloud Hidden ninja had circumvented the enemy and were now positioned in trees, observing the distant encampment.
Due to concerns about being spotted by the Hyūga clan of Konoha, their current location was far from the Konoha encampment.
At this distance, regular ninjutsu couldn't affect it. Only a Tailed Beast Ball could cause extreme damage.
However, Yugito couldn't achieve a complete Tailed Beast transformation like Killer B yet; currently, only having mastered half-transformation, she couldn't use a Tailed Beast Ball.
It was somewhat laughable, she had become the jinchūriki of the Two-Tails at the age of two, and despite being despised by the people of Kumogakure, she had always persevered in her training, yet she was surpassed by Killer B, who later became the jinchūriki of the Eight-Tails.
Nevertheless, their purpose here wasn't to obliterate the Konoha ninja in the encampment with a Tailed Beast Ball; such an action would be impossible anyway.
"Fire Rat Flame Bomb."
Standing on the tree, Yugito Nii formed hand seals and spat out rat-shaped flames enveloped in Two-Tails chakra. Upon landing, they silently transformed into several fire rats.
The fire rats moved incredibly fast, leaving several blue afterimages.
Under Yugito's manipulation of the Two-Tails chakra, these fire rats would head to Konoha's warehouse and silently burn it to the ground.
Thanks to the Two-Tails' chakra characteristics, the flames wouldn't be extinguished by Water Release until the chakra was completely depleted.
"Scatter!"
Seeing this, the other Cloud Hidden ninja also dispersed instantly, preparing to cooperate with Yugito in launching a new round of offense.
This was both to attract Konoha ninja's attention to provide cover for her, and to press their advantage in the ensuing chaos once the warehouse was ablaze.
Hiruzen Sarutobi's advantage in declaring war first and quickly integrating ninja clans to deploy troops was to push the battlefield further into the Land of the Moon, closer to the Land of Lightning.
One could almost see Konoha's encampment from the border of the Land of Lightning. The Fourth Raikage had been severely reprimanded by the Land of Lightning's Daimyō precisely for this reason.
No one expected Hiruzen Sarutobi to be so decisive this time, truly catching the Raikage and Kumogakure off guard.
But the drawback was that Konoha's logistical supply lines were stretched longer.
If the existing logistical reserves in the encampment were truly burned down, Kumogakure would be able to switch from defense to offense and push the battlefield back before subsequent reinforcements arrived.
However, just as the Cloud Hidden ninja scattered.
"Caw!"
A high-pitched and extremely piercing eagle cry entered their ears. Everyone involuntarily stopped and looked up at the sky.
They saw a hawk circling above them. Sensing their gaze, it released its talons and dropped a scroll.
Yugito Nii flashed forward to catch it. After opening it, she frowned at the contents.
Land of Hot Water? Underground palace? What was all this?
"Lord Raikage has given an order," she looked up at the other Cloud Hidden ninja and said, "This operation will be temporarily halted. The mission objective has changed. I'll explain the details on the way."
With that, she raised her hand and extinguished the fire rats that had flown off, then took the lead, heading in the direction given in the scroll.
Upon hearing this, although the others were also bewildered, they unhesitatingly obeyed the command and followed.
Meanwhile, at the Konoha encampment in the Land of the Moon, inside Jiraiya's tent.
Boom!
With a puff of white smoke, a toad appeared before Jiraiya. The information it croaked out made him frown.
"Tell them to come back," Jiraiya turned to the Yamanaka clan member beside him and said.
"What's going on?" Kakashi Hatake, standing nearby, asked curiously. "Weren't you saying that traces of Cloud Hidden ninja were found in the rear?"
"It's the Two-Tails jinchūriki from Kumogakure." Jiraiya's expression was also somewhat solemn and puzzled. "But they suddenly left just now."
For Jiraiya, who had the entire Mount Myōboku as backup, his "eyes" weren't just Konoha ninja; they also included those seemingly unremarkable ordinary toads.
Kumogakure's small movements wouldn't be able to easily hide from him.
It's just that Jiraiya had already set up an ambush by playing along with their plan, but he didn't expect those Cloud Hidden ninja to inexplicably stop their operation.
"Were they discovered?" the Yamanaka clan member responsible for communication asked, opening his eyes.
"...Probably not," Jiraiya pondered for a moment, then shook his head and frowned. "According to the toad, they only stopped their operation after receiving orders."
Just then, Hyuga Kawa, who had been silently standing behind Kakashi, suddenly spoke: "Which direction did they leave?"
Kakashi Hatake seemed to suddenly realize something, his face subtly changing, and Jiraiya, after asking the toad, also realized it.
"It's south," his tone was surprised and puzzled. "The Land of Hot Water? They actually changed their mission objective and went to the Land of Hot Water?"
That was no ordinary ninja squad; it included Kumogakure's Two-Tails jinchūriki. The Fourth Raikage actually sent them to the Land of Hot Water?
"This is bad." Kakashi Hatake frowned deeply. "The Fourth Raikage must have received some definite information; that place most likely has something they need."
Otherwise, the Fourth Raikage would never forcibly interrupt this operation and send such an important combat force as the Two-Tails jinchūriki to the Land of Hot Water.
"This..." Jiraiya could naturally think of this point as well.
Jiraiya hadn't really paid much attention to the "abyss" Kakashi spoke of before, after all, he had heard various legends and oddities during his travels through the ninja world over the years.
Most of them were unverified folk rumors, with only a very small portion, like evil gods, malevolent spirits, and demon beasts, having some definite traces.
But it was entirely meaningless; rash contact could even cause disaster.
However, seeing Cloud Hidden Village make such a big fuss over it now, Jiraiya also felt a little uneasy.
Could there really be some secret treasure?
Just then, the tent flap was lifted.
"Lord Jiraiya."
A Konoha ninja walked into the tent. Seeing Jiraiya's complex expression and the strange atmosphere, he was momentarily stunned.
But he quickly regained his composure and said in a solemn tone, "According to intelligence from the black market, someone has hired a large number of bounty ninja to go to the Land of Hot Water..."
Creak!
This time, before he could finish his sentence, Kakashi couldn't sit still anymore. He abruptly stood up, his chair scraping loudly across the ground.
"Lord Jiraiya, I'll take my leave now."
With that, he was about to pull Hyuga Kawa away, but Jiraiya suddenly called out to him.
"Wait a moment." Jiraiya no longer hesitated, saying in a deep voice, "You should draw some more people to go with you."
Everyone knew that old Onoki secretly loved to use bounty ninja the most.
These bounty ninja clearly indicated that Iwagakure was involved.
Never mind the Fourth Raikage of Kumogakure, old Onoki wasn't stupid; he never made meaningless moves.
Of course, Jiraiya evidently didn't realize that Onoki was thinking the same thing.
Only Hyuga Kawa, with his bird's-eye view, knew what was truly happening and found the scene somewhat amusing.
"It's completely as predicted before, even exceeding expectations."
This was the application of the so-called "catfish effect."
In a broad sense, it refers to an effect where the introduction of a strong competitor inspires weaker ones to become stronger.
When any one party, or even both parties, begin to act, other individuals who view them as rivals will feel threatened and thus be forced to take action.
In Hyuga Kawa's view, if Kumogakure's actions had been a little slower, the always low-key Sunagakure should have joined in as well.
"Never mind, I can't force it. Akatsuki, Cloud Hidden, Konoha, Stone Hidden—they're enough for the experiment."
Hyuga Kawa's eyes flickered slightly as he silently thought: "Manifestation - Underground Palace First Floor, activation condition: Two-Tails jinchūriki's chakra limit, bodies that die in the underground palace will retain their souls and flesh..."
He briefly described the layout, restrictions, and functions of the first floor of the underground palace.
Now, at the underground palace, it was his home ground.
But it wouldn't do to just expect the horse to run without feeding it grass. Plus, giving them something could also increase the credibility of his identity.
However, for the first floor, he didn't need to go overboard. Of course, the primary ownership still had to be in his hands, so he could retract it whenever he wished.
"Hmm, then I'll manifest a Kusanagi Sword named 'Ama-no-Murakumo no Tsurugi.' I'll subtly imply through text that all Kusanagi Swords are subordinate to it. Its shape will be a single-handed axe, with 'Earth Release: Super Added-Weight Rock Technique' built-in, suitable for attaching Earth-style chakra..."
"Since the Sage of Six Paths created the Golden Rope, Crimson Gourd, Seven Star Sword, and Bashōsen, it wouldn't be too much for me to create a 'God-Beating Whip,' right? It'll have 'Adamantine Chains' built-in, suitable for attaching Lightning-style chakra..."
He also needed to add three items specifically for 'Ōtsutsuki Unchiki,' 'Hyuga Kawa,' and 'Shadow' to openly strengthen his main body and aliases.
"For 'Ōtsutsuki Unchiki,' I'll just make a useless sword that others can't use. When the alias appears later, it can respond to the summons and unlock."
"For 'Shadow,' I'll imitate the Shadow Khan masks from Jackie Chan Adventures that can summon various shadow ninjas; I'll manifest a similar one."
"For 'Hyuga Kawa,' flight ability would be best, and it needs to fit the character design. The 'Winged Imperial Arm: Mastema' from Akame ga Kill! is very suitable."
After a moment of thought, Hyuga Kawa seemed to have an idea and couldn't help but smile.
"Plus, a set of seven swords called the 'Seven Deadly Sins,' corresponding to Pride, Envy, Wrath, Sloth, Greed, Gluttony, and Lust."
That's six now; finally, add four ordinary chakra blades, making it exactly ten.
[Expend 10,000 Manifestation Points? Manifest?]
"...It dropped below ten thousand again." Hyuga Kawa couldn't help but twitch his lips, but he still replied in his mind, "Manifest."
[Remaining Manifestation Points: 8754]
Hyuga Kawa, who had inexplicably gained eight thousand points from the old toad and Jiraiya, felt no heartache spending them now. Moreover, at least three of them were his own, though falling below ten thousand felt a little uncomfortable.
These ninja tools weren't inherently powerful; they simply incorporated some special ninjutsu into chakra metal. Hence, they didn't cost many points.
But for other ninja, such weapons capable of imbuing chakra properties, like Asuma Sarutobi's "Flying Swallow," were incredibly precious.
Because nowadays, no one knew how to forge chakra blades, and even chakra metal was a diminishing resource, severely overvalued in the black market.
For Hyuga Kawa, as long as he had enough Manifestation Points, he could manifest enough chakra metal.
Therefore, using such items to fish was undoubtedly the most cost-effective choice.
Only the construction of the first floor of the underground palace, the remarkably effective "Seven Deadly Sins" set, and the mask and wings he prepared for himself cost the most.
"Kawa, let's go."
At this moment, Kakashi Hatake finally selected his people, looked up, called out to Hyuga Kawa, and then swiftly walked out of the tent.
Hyuga Kawa's thoughts withdrew, and he followed closely behind him out of the tent.
He was now somewhat looking forward to what kind of returns this expenditure of ten thousand points would bring him, and what kind of ripples it would create.