Cloud Village's guests only arrived successively the second day after written test results came out.
They lacked qualifications entering Cloud Village itself. However, affiliated villages outside the village sufficed accommodating these merchants and travelers from afar.
As for wealthy merchant nobles, they received treatment similar to participating shinobi, being placed nearby the competition venue.
As miscellaneous people increased, Cloud Village's monitoring intensity over venue exterior areas inevitably weakened. They concentrated main forces guarding several key entrances into Cloud Village itself.
The crowd's noise and management gaps provided cover.
Shuji seized this opportunity, separating one wood clone. The clone soundlessly merged into surging crowds before turning directions, departing main roads, stepping into steep mountains and ridges surrounding Lightning Country.
His main body remained within the venue. Today was the lottery ceremony, also the team competition's official first day.
Previous conversations with the Raikage basically confirmed that the possibility of Gekkō Hayate's squad encountering Darui in the first round had been reduced to minimum.
Of course, if avoiding Darui yet losing to other squads, what then? What else could be done besides accepting it?
Conversely, if Cloud Village's carefully prepared Darui unexpectedly lost to obscure opponents, Cloud Village likewise could only swallow bitter fruit.
Some small pre-match maneuvers belonged to tacitly permitted ranges of maneuvering. Once competitions began, excessive intervention lost meaning while completely destroying joint exams' reputation.
At venue center, the giant display screen revealed team competition matchup rosters one by one.
Atmosphere fluctuated with each lottery result announcement. When seeing Cloud Village's participating First Squad, meaning Darui and Xi's squad, facing Konoha Fourth Squad.
Shuji's gaze withdrew from the field.
Konoha's seed squad was Ninth Squad. Cloud Village had no intention breaking mutual understandings. Then the venue side temporarily did not require his excessive energy investment.
Within Konoha Village, the Uchiha clan just concluded one internal family assembly.
Now discussions no longer concerned coups but more practical issues. The village now treated the Uchiha with new attitudes, no longer even mandating the Uchiha clan must reside collectively within designated clan ground boundaries.
Those Uchiha members entering ninja academy as teaching staff, for commuting convenience, were permitted renting village-allocated shinobi apartments.
Uchiha entering ANBU need not be mentioned. To respond to the Hokage's summons anytime, most times they had to live in areas closer to the Hokage Tower and mission assembly locations.
With loosened constraints, most Uchiha clansmen, though still habitually residing within clan grounds, held different mindsets from previous feelings of confinement and exclusion.
After all, "I choose where to live" versus "I can only live where" represented two entirely different mental states.
This assembly's content mainly targeted work arrangements for Hyūga clan members already entering Police Force.
Uchiha Yashiro proposed one suggestion: having those eight Hyūga branch family members only handle security and investigation work near village gates.
Theoretically, this counted as a form of disguised banishment. Police Force possessed greatest influence in village daily security patrol aspects, also proving easier establishing connections and prestige in those areas.
However, Yashiro's provided reasoning sounded quite sufficient. "The Hyūga clan's Byakugan possesses see-through abilities. This point is widely known."
"If letting them continue handling village interior patrols, this would probably cause other villagers and shinobi unease and criticism. They would suspect whether those Hyūga might take opportunities peeping at privacy or even clan secret techniques."
"This is for maintaining Police Force's overall reputation and villager trust considerations."
Uchiha Fugaku tacitly accepted this matter. As long as not clearly violating agreements reached with the village, attempting completely expelling Hyūga members from Police Force, then conducting some adjustments favorable for maintaining Uchiha influence regarding such specific work arrangements seemed blameless in his view.
The next topic concerned selecting new people from the Uchiha clan entering ANBU.
Many people spoke at clan assemblies. However, Fugaku did not promise anyone. On this matter, the influential person was Itachi.
However, he did not inform attending clansmen of this situation, merely using "this matter requires village review and approval" to deflect.
Itachi's attention was not on clan assemblies.
He noticed that Uchiha Enblade once again did not attend this family assembly.
For an elite shinobi possessing three-tomoe Sharingan who should possess certain speaking authority within the clan, this itself proved noteworthy abnormal matter.
Though this abnormality already continued for some time since returning from eastern defense lines, combining previous discoveries, Itachi had to invest more attention.
He provided one incorrect intelligence to Shuji.
At that time, outside Enblade's home door, he faintly heard what seemed like conversation sounds inside. However, after entering, only Enblade was present.
All subsequent surveillance and investigations showed that during that period, no outsider visit records existed.
Did he mishear? Or...
Uchiha Enblade might have problems.
He needed confirming what problems.
Through ninja crow aerial surveillance, shadow clone stakeouts at different time periods, even utilizing some ANBU regular reconnaissance methods, Itachi discovered no traces of any interpersonal exchanges at Enblade's residence recently.
This point matched previous conclusions.
Then, was communication conducted through animals or summoning beasts?
According to Itachi's investigations, Enblade had no contracted summoning beasts. As for message transmission among ninja cats, Itachi also managed indirectly confirming through Granny Cat's side that recently no abnormal communication records related to Enblade existed.
Therefore, only two remaining possibilities existed. Either, truly his own excessive sensitivity at that time produced mishearing. Or, Enblade was contacting someone possessing more covert methods exceeding regular reconnaissance capabilities.
With Uchiha Itachi's personal capabilities and resources, under premises of not alerting targets, he seemingly reached dead ends.
However, as an ANBU squad leader, resources he could mobilize far exceeded this.
He could apply to the village, accessing village sensing barrier recent detection records.
Though such barriers mainly targeted external invasion large-scale chakra responses, abnormal chakra responses within village certain areas would also have records.
Of course, this must receive the Hokage's approval.
"Barrier detection records?" Tsunade frowned slightly. "Recently the Barrier Team is readjusting and reinforcing the village's overall barrier system."
"Therefore recent barrier detection data itself might contain considerable false alarms. Responses are not accurate."
This was security measure updates that must be done after Kakashi took over Root.
Tsunade asked, "However, that you can propose this application means you confirmed Uchiha Enblade exhibits abnormal behaviors, right?"
Itachi fell silent briefly before answering, "Currently only one accidental discovery. Cannot verify. Lacking evidence support."
Tsunade contemplated momentarily before saying, "Since unable to confirm..."
"Then just probe and see."
"See what he actually wants doing after leaving the village."
Chapters in advance there: patreon.com/Thaniel_a_goodchild