“Today was really exhausting.” A Konoha Chunin who was walking in the direction of his home said while taking a puff of smoke from the lit cigarette he held with his index finger and middle finger.

The companion who was walking on the side said, “Fortunately the Alliance Ceremony went without a hitch, and no one caused any trouble.”

Konoha’s incredibly tight security naturally did not come without a price, in addition to the Konoha Military Police Force, the workload on many Genin and Chunin also increased a lot to make sure that the Alliance Ceremony went without any obstructions.

The Chunin who was smoking; threw the cigarette bud on the ground at this time, stepped on it in order to extinguish the spark, then said, “It’s already so late, I don’t think that anything major will happen now.”

As soon as he said so, a shadow swooped on him from behind and made a few precise jabs on the back of his neck, “Wh…?” were his last words before he lost consciousness and collapsed on the ground.

‘Someone wants to take advantage of the night and cause chaos?’ was the thought of the other Chunin as he tried to launch the signal flare, but before he could, he suddenly felt a tremendous force on his abdomen causing him to vomit out some fluids. His body arched under the huge force and he too lost consciousness.

“They are unexpectedly weak.” Muttered Kimimaro with a doubtful expression.

The young age and the lack of adequate experience, as well as the simplicity of his mind, have made Kimimaro’s conception of the outside world very limited and completely dependent on the narrations of Orochimaru and Kabuto as well as the few battles he has had against strong fellows.

Although Kimimaro knows that he is quite strong based on what Kabuto has told him, how strong to be exact, Kimimaro is not so sure.

Both Kabuto and Orochimaru know that Kimimaro is already reaching the level of a Jonin and when using the Curse Seal, his strength might as well be on the level of an elite Jonin. So, no matter which village, he already belongs to the elite class. This is the main reason why Kabuto has some confidence in Kimimaro’s abilities at being able to assassinate Hyuga Kuroto. And also, the reason why Orochimaru did not stop Kimimaro.

After dragging the two Konoha Chunin inside an alleyway and tying them up, Kimimaro again checked the map to discern the right direction, then his figure flashed and disappeared into the direction of the Hyuga Clan, but not before changing his appearance into that of one of the Chunin with the use of Transformation Jutsu.

Of course, Kimimaro did not notice the lone crow sitting on top of an electric pillar who has been following him silently and observing everything that he has been doing.

Running all the way, Kimimaro arrived near the compound of the Hyuga Clan, and thought, ‘Based on what Kabuto has told me, If I have to go from here on out, then I must transform my appearance into that of a Hyuga Clan shinobi, this is the only way, else I would be noticed by their Byakugan.’

With this thought, Kimimaro used transformation Jutsu upon himself to change his appearance into that of a Hyuga Kuroto and then proceeded in the direction of Hyuga Kuroto’s home.

Fortunately, it was already past midnight, so there was hardly anyone present on the streets, and those Hyuga guards who noticed him recognized him to be Kuroto-sama so chose not to disturb him.

After passing through a few blocks, Kimimaro gently landed on the roof of a house and made sure to not make even a bit of sound, neither from his footsteps nor from the creaking of wood.

Standing on the roof, Kimimaro scanned the house in front of him and the nearby streets with a cold expression. According to the information given to him, the house in front of him is undoubtedly Hyuga Kuroto’s house.

‘I will make sure to end your life today!’ After secretly making up his mind, Kimimaro covertly crossed the street and sneaked into the courtyard of Kuroto’s house.

He stayed hidden inside the canopy of the small tree for a few minutes, silently observed the surroundings, and perked up his ears, while trying to listen to any sound that came from inside the house, but even after a lot of waiting, nothing except for smooth rhythmic breathing came which can only mean one thing. Kimimaro was now certain that Hyuga Kuroto was most likely asleep on the first floor of his house and no one else was present at his house which means Kimimaro’s presence was not noticed by anyone, including Hyuga Kuroto.

With that understood, Kimimaro exerted strength into both of his legs, then jumped up and sneaked inside the room on the first floor from the open window.

Although the lights in the room were switched off, the moonlight coming from outside the window was bright enough for Kimimaro to clearly see everything inside the room.

“You… you are awake?” Kimimaro was taken aback, he can be quite sure that he heard rhythmic breathing coming from this room, but now he sees that Hyuga Kuroto is sitting on a chair facing the window and there is no one else in the room.

What’s more frustrating is that Hyuga Kuroto is sitting leisurely with his right arm on the armrest of the chair and his head resting on the right arm giving off a strange feeling as if he was expecting a visit.

Looking at Kimimaro, Kuroto muttered with a faint smile, “It seems that my luck hasn’t yet run out completely.”

Kuroto’s entire purpose of mocking Orochimaru on the street was to lure Kimimaro to his house, the purpose is obviously to obtain Kimimaro’s Cells.

Obito’s sudden action of taking back his eye from Kakashi has also put a lot of pressure on Kuroto, therefore, he must do everything in order to speed up his Project Godhood.

However, if Kuroto were to take initiative to find Orochimaru and ask for Kimimaro’s cells, then obviously he would have to give something in return too, at the same time, he will be able to figure out a few things.

Therefore, Kuroto used this approach, he stimulated Kimimaro to come to Kuroto’s house on his own initiative, of course, since the security in the village is so tight, so Kuroto wasn’t exactly sure if Kimimaro would dare to sneak into his house, but he did and it means that Kuroto’s plan worked.

As for the matter of obtaining information on Kaguya Takashi? It was just an excuse Kuroto made up to make sure that his subordinates of Team-Ro who are keeping a watch over the Otogakure squad under Kuroto’s instructions don’t stop Kimimaro. If Kuroto really wants information on Kaguya Takashi, then Yondaime Mizukage is a better option, but using this excuse is also believable and enough of a reason for Hokage-sama to ignore this matter, otherwise it would have been impossible for Kimimaro to sneak up to Kuroto’s house.

At this time, Kimimaro also realized something and said, “So you were prepared?” he soon recovered from the shocked expression as a bone blade extended out from the palm of his hand, and said coldly, “That’s good then, I too want to have a fair fight with you!”

“Ignorant kid, there is no such thing as a fair fight in this shinobi world. If you do see a fair fight, then it’s all just someone’s manipulations, either you are capable of noticing those manipulations and act accordingly, or you remain ignorant and still act accordingly.” Said Kuroto and tapped the fingers of his left hand on the armrest of the chair he sat on.

“What do you mean?” Kimimaro frowned, but not caring about whatever nonsense Hyuga Kuroto was spouting, Kimimaro crouched down a little, in order to rush towards Hyuga Kuroto.

“!!!” But as he did so, Kimimaro was shocked to find out that his body is trapped and he can’t even take a single step forward. He looked downwards to see the cause only to notice that the ground has unknowingly come to life and risen upwards encasing his feet up to his waist inside it as a result restricting his movements.

‘When did he use Earth Style Jutsu to trap me?’ Kimimaro can’t help but frown again because he did not even notice Hyuga Kuroto using any hand signs, nor did he notice any Chakra fluctuations from the surroundings.

“I mean exactly what I said, anyway, now that I have you as my prisoner, I can do anything with you.” Said Kuroto in a wicked tone and licked his lips in the same manner that Orochimaru does.

Kimimaro snorted, “Don’t think that just this can stop me.” And decided to make some bones sprout out of his legs and break the ground that is trapping him.

But strangely enough, not even a single bone came out, now Kimimaro had to take this seriously, “What’s going on?”

“As I said, you are now a prisoner of mine, and obviously I can’t allow a prisoner of mine to be able to use Chakra, now, can I?” said Kuroto and pointed at Kimimaro’s chest, “Look at your chest.”

Kimimaro looked down and noticed black symbols appearing all over his body, and these symbols were sealing his Chakra.

“Can you seal my Chakra without even weaving any hand seals or touching me?” Kimimaro asked after recovering from the shock of having his Chakra sealed.

“Who knows, I have no interest in answering questions of an ignorant fool like you.” Said Kuroto as he looked at Kimimaro’s state with a provocative smirk.

Kimimaro gritted his teeth and decided to use the Curse Seal of Earth.

Kuroto still sat on his chair, and asked, “Are you sure that you want to go so far? Do you really think that your actions are concealed and no one has noticed you coming here?”

Kimimaro said, “It doesn’t matter what happens to me.”

Kuroto chuckled, then said, “Naïve kid, you coming here can still be attributed to just a small conflict between you and me, but if you decide to use the Curse Seal implanted by him then it would be noticed by Konoha as well as other shinobi villages, and they will realize that Otogakure is a shinobi village established by him, what do you think will happen then?”

Kuroto’s words made Kimimaro stop midway, and he was now considering the implication of Kuroto’s words, upon realizing that he might create trouble for Orochimaru-sama, a hesitation flashed on Kimimaro’s young face, Kimimaro is ready to bear everything, but he does not want to cause any trouble for Orochimaru-sama.

Kuroto obviously knows this, so he said with a smirk, “Don’t worry, as long as you answer all my questions, and do not make any unnecessary moves you can safely go back to the guest house that you sneaked out from, even he won’t be implicated, how does that sound?”

Kimimaro hesitated, and asked, “And why do I trust your words?”

Kuroto chuckled, “It’s not like you have any other option, the fact that you dared to sneak here alone can create a lot of trouble for him… so now you are to follow everything I instruct you to do, without any question, that is, if you want to go back safely and not cause any trouble for him, else I don’t mind to instruct the Anbu stationed around the guest house to act immediately and take him as a prisoner.”

Kimimaro snorted, “He will not be captured by those weaklings.”

Kuroto said with an evil grin, “Maybe, but are you sure that you want to take the chances? Trust me when I say this, but even if it is him, he will not be able to escape scot-free if you were to make even a single rash move.”

Looking at Hyuga Kuroto’s face, and listening to his words, Kimimaro suddenly started to have a bad feeling in his heart.

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