"Hee."
Yugito suddenly looked up, her golden eyes narrowing with sharp focus. Her tone was calm but carried the weight of command.
"After the enemy killed Yotsuki Ringo, they vanished using some unknown ability. I want a search conducted within a ten-kilometer radius outside the village. Look carefully. See if you can uncover even the smallest clue."
"Yes, Lady Yugito."
Hee bowed respectfully. With a quick motion of his hand, he gestured to his patrol team. The shinobi under his command responded instantly, their forms blurring as they disappeared into the distance with the swift whoosh of practiced body flicker techniques.
The forest fell silent again, save for the whisper of the breeze.
Yugito drew in a steadying breath, then pulled a small camera from her ninja pouch. Carefully, she crouched down and snapped several pictures of the crude markings left on the blade at the scene. The faint scratches formed a strange pattern, almost circular, but with jagged and uneven lines.
Her expression softened, though sorrow lingered in her voice.
"As expected of a jonin from the Yotsuki Clan. Even in his final moments… he still left us a valuable secret code."
She sighed, the weight of the situation pressing heavily on her shoulders. Turning slightly, she looked toward Neji, who had been observing quietly at her side.
"But… what does this pattern even mean?"
The circular scrawl was irregular, almost clumsy. It was clear from the unsteady etching that Yotsuki Ringo had been in no condition to control his chakra with precision. His body must have already been failing, his mind teetering on the edge of delirium. And yet—he had fought to leave this clue.
Neji crouched down beside the marking, his pale eyes narrowing. The Byakugan flickered faintly as he examined the symbol with utmost care.
"This circle…" he said slowly, "might be the attacker's face."
Yugito blinked.
Neji continued, his tone thoughtful yet firm. "It's crude, but I can see his intent. Ringo wanted us to know what he saw. The circle isn't random—it's a rough outline. One end of the circle is wider, while the other narrows. That asymmetry resembles the contours of a face."
Yugito pressed a finger against her chin, eyes thoughtful. With Neji's explanation guiding her, the chaotic lines began to take shape in her mind.
"And this black dot…" she murmured, tracing the point within the circle, "it represents an eye, doesn't it?"
Neji's gaze hardened. He straightened slightly, his chakra blade shifting in his grip as he pointed toward the small detail.
"It's not just any eye. Look closer. That dot isn't perfectly round—there's a tiny tail extending from it. Almost imperceptible. That's not a dot… it's a tomoe."
Yugito froze. Her breath caught for a moment, and realization flickered across her face.
"A… tomoe? If it's a tomoe… then this means…" Her voice trembled with shock. "A Sharingan?"
"Yes."
Neji's voice was calm, but the seriousness in his eyes was undeniable. "The enemy possesses a Sharingan. This marking shows it clearly. The tomoe is drawn on the right side of the face, which means the Sharingan was in the attacker's right eye."
Yugito instinctively stepped back, her hands curling into fists. The idea unsettled her deeply.
"That's unlikely, isn't it? Neji… are you saying the enemy is an Uchiha? Couldn't this be some sort of mistake?"
Her disbelief was understandable. The Uchiha Clan was infamous, but the possibility of one being here, in their midst, was too outrageous to accept without doubt.
Neji lowered his blade and pressed two fingers against his chin, his expression thoughtful.
"Captain, this is only a hypothesis. A bold one, but a hypothesis nonetheless. We must carefully search for proof. And even if my deduction is correct, it doesn't necessarily mean the attacker is a loyal Uchiha from Konoha. He could be someone who secretly transplanted a Sharingan. Or a rogue shinobi once belonging to the clan. Or perhaps… something else entirely."
His tone was cautious, his reasoning logical. He knew better than to accuse the Uchiha Clan directly, not after all the tragedies that had already scarred the Ninja World.
But Yugito shook her head, disagreeing firmly.
"No. Outsiders who transplant a Sharingan cannot fully master it. The strain it places on the body is immense—fatal, in many cases. As for rogue Uchiha shinobi…" She paused, her gaze darkening. "In recent decades, only one was officially recognized as such: that so-called Asura of the Ninja World. The Uchiha Clan's pride is absolute. If anyone else had become a rogue, they would have purged him long ago."
She took a step closer, lowering her voice.
"And Neji, don't forget—Root still operates in the shadows of the Hidden Cloud. My speculation is that the enemy we're dealing with is most likely… a Root Uchiha."
Her words carried weight, and her reasoning was sharp.
Neji listened carefully, but in his heart, he thought of Obito—the true mastermind moving behind the veil. If not for what he knew, Yugito's deduction would have been the same as his: the attacker was a Root Uchiha, lurking and waiting.
Still, Yugito refused to let herself be misled.
Suddenly, Neji reached into a plastic evidence bag and pulled out a forehead protector.
"Look at this," he said, holding it up for Yugito to see. "From the battle traces at the training ground, it's clear Ringo was completely overwhelmed. Yet this headband was left behind. Too conveniently. It was no accident—it was planted to mislead us. That much is obvious. Which means…" His eyes narrowed. "The culprit is most likely not a shinobi from Konoha at all."
Yugito frowned, but she could not deny his logic.
The minutes ticked by, and tension hung in the air like a heavy fog.
Two hours later, the silence was broken by the sound of rapid footsteps. Hee and his patrol team finally returned. Their clothes were dusty, their breaths labored, but their expressions carried urgency.
"Lady Yugito!" Hee called out, panting heavily. "Thankfully, you ordered us when you did. A little later and we would have lost the trace completely!"
Yugito's eyes lit up. She immediately stepped forward, her voice urgent.
"What did you find?"
Hee raised a trembling hand, his breathing still uneven.
"About nine kilometers southeast of the village," he said, "on a fallen leaf… I discovered a drop of dried blood. After testing, the chakra residue was confirmed to be Yotsuki Ringo's."
"Nine kilometers?" Yugito echoed, her voice filled with disbelief.
It didn't add up. Ringo had died inside the village. His body had been taken by the enemy. By all logic, bloodstains should have been found near the site of death. But nine kilometers away? That was almost impossible.
Neji brought his hands together, his expression sharpening.
"This tells us something important. The enemy doesn't move like ordinary shinobi. He doesn't rely on running or leaping across terrain. No… he possesses a unique movement ability."
Yugito's breath hitched. "Could it be…?"
Neji nodded gravely. "Yes. He bypassed the constant patrols and the village's barrier. That rules out Earth Release tunneling or any form of flight. Which leaves only one possibility—Space-Time Ninjutsu."
The words sent a shiver down Yugito's spine.
"To move nine kilometers in one instant…" she whispered. "That kind of ability could rival even the Second Hokage or the Fourth Hokage of Konoha. But they're both long dead. Don't tell me… there's another shinobi alive today with Space-Time powers equal to theirs?"
Her voice dropped lower, almost a whisper of fear. "Could it be… someone with a Mangekyō Sharingan?"
The possibility made her blood run cold.
Neji remained silent, but his solemn gaze said enough. He wanted to applaud Yugito's sharpness. With just a drop of blood, she had correctly deduced that the enemy might have awakened the legendary power of the Mangekyō.
But the matter wasn't finished yet.
From his pouch, Neji pulled out a detailed map of the region surrounding the Hidden Cloud. He unrolled it quickly, spreading it across the ground.
"Senior Hee," Neji said firmly, "point out the exact location where you found the bloodstain."
Hee crouched down, squinting as he recalled the scene. His finger landed on a small patch marked as wasteland.
"Here. This uninhabited stretch. That's where I saw it."
Yugito leaned over the map, frowning.
"An uninhabited wasteland… then the culprit must have passed through this area while escaping."
Neji rubbed his chin, his sharp eyes analyzing. A moment later, he took out a pencil and drew a straight line from the village to the wasteland, extending it outward. The line stretched across the map, reaching far beyond.
It pointed directly toward the Land of Water, across the sea.
Yugito's eyes widened.
"The Land of Water?! How could this possibly involve them?"
Neji straightened, his tone steady but heavy.
"Captain, we're dealing with a formidable enemy. In a situation like this, even the boldest hypothesis might prove to be true. No matter how unbelievable it seems, we cannot dismiss it."
Yugito fell silent, her brows furrowing as she absorbed his words. She thought carefully, her chest tightening.
The enemy they faced might possess a Mangekyō Sharingan. He had mastery over Space-Time Ninjutsu. His power overwhelmed even Yotsuki Ringo without effort.
Such a shinobi was not ordinary. Whoever he was, he was a ruthless force hidden in the Ninja World. His identity, background, and motives could be anything—and none of them would be surprising.
At last, Neji's voice broke the silence.
"The enemy's lair is most likely in the Land of Water. And if that's true… then the Uchiha of Konoha Village can be ruled out as suspects."
His words hung in the air, heavy as stone.
For a long moment, no one spoke. The Hidden Cloud had just taken its first real glimpse into the shadows of a far greater storm.