After learning the age at which students graduate from ninja academies and the female gender of the Uchiha clan survivor, Kozue had thought that although there were some changes in this world, they wouldn't be too many.
After all, events in the land of the Wave unfolded as they were meant to, and the small country was not conquered by Gato ahead of schedule.
Orochimaru's attack on the Leaf Village, with the help of the Sand Village and the Sound Village he founded himself, had not yet occurred either.
Therefore, he expected world events to unfold in the same way as he remembered them.
What I didn't expect was that Hinata Hyuga had been marked with the Caged Bird Seal ahead of time.
Even in the world she remembered, the young Hyuga still had a clean forehead at this age, so she wondered what had happened to make the Hyuga clan elders decide to mark the young woman earlier than expected.
Hinata was a character Kozue liked, so she decided to help when she realized the young woman had already been marked, even knowing the consequences.
He had lied when he said he hadn't recognized them.
But he didn't care.
The Hyuga clan could come after him if they wanted, but Kozue will make sure they learn a lesson.
Even if they involve the Leaf Village, Kozue's strength had grown enough and her shops had spread across a wide territory.
Their clones had even opened more stores in other countries, using the identities of criminals whose lives they spared by enslaving them through contracts.
Since these slaves were bound to Kozue, the dimensional shop took them under its rules, and they also gave him points every day.
Of course, the exterior and interior images of these stores were very different, so no one could guess that they were connected.
In this way, even if they somehow managed to block Kozue's point acquisition within the Land of Fire, she would still keep those shops in other countries working silently.
Sighing, Kozue hoped she wouldn't encounter any more changes like these.
A caged bird stamp could be easily solved by him.
This is very different from if Madara becomes the Jinchuriki of the 10-tailed beast or if Kaguya escapes before the moon, for example.
Both opponents on the 6-way level were still out of Kozue's reach.
For now.
Shaking her head, Kozue turned around and teleported back to the land of the wave.
The agreed date for delivering the money is in a few days, so he will return at that time.
For now, I still had documents to review and sign.
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Meanwhile, Team 8 traveled a great distance before stopping.
"Check your bodies"
"Look for any anomalies and check the condition of your weapons."
Having been in the hands of the enemy, Kurenai was worried that any of them might have suffered some mishap or be carrying something on their bodies that they shouldn't.
His weapons had also been out of his hands.
And although the young man did not seem to have ill will towards them, it was better to be suspicious now than to regret it later.
His students were also concerned about that, so they checked their bodies and weapons.
But although they searched for several minutes, none of the team 8 members found anything suspicious and they breathed a sigh of relief.
"What do we do now, sensei?" Shino asked, but received only silence in response.
Beside the young Aburame, even Kiba and Akamaru remained silent.
Normally the young man would shout for them to return to the village and report on the situation.
They had already completed the mission and would have no problem returning to the village right now.
But seeing his companion with her head down, next to their Jounin leader, the young man remained silent.
The situation was complicated.
Things happened too fast for them to react.
Kurenai saw Hinata next to her and shook her head, not knowing what to do.
"...let's take a walk around the city for a moment..." the woman said at the end, and her students followed her at a slow pace.
Within the group, Hinata had a lost look in her eyes.
I had conflicting emotions.
The seal of the caged bird had been like an iron block on her head, forcing her to lower her head and be more docile than she usually was.
Having been timid for several years, the young woman was about to change and start acting confidently. But everything fell apart when her father told her she would be marked and that her younger sister would take her place as heir to the clan.
After being depressed for the past few weeks, the young woman had inadvertently broken free from the caged bird's grip and a feeling of freedom filled her being.
The young woman couldn't help but show a beautiful smile on her face, which didn't last long before worry filled her mind.
It was because he knew the repercussions of what had just happened that he understood his team's dilemma.
They had to return to the village, but if they did, the absence of the caged bird seal on their foreheads would soon be discovered.
There would definitely be a scandal at that point, and she would be branded again.
Not returning to the village?
Hinata wasn't so brazen as to ask the entire team to run away with her and become rogue ninjas.
They had family in the village and Hinata didn't dare demand that they abandon everything for her.
Therefore, she would have to flee alone.
But even then, the young woman also had difficulty making that decision.
The reason?
It would hurt his team.
Any defection by a ninja would be recorded in the personal files of their sensei and comrades, and that would harm them in the long run.
The young woman did not want to hurt her classmates in that way.
Especially Kurenai, who received a lot of pressure when she became the leader of a team made up of heirs to prestigious clans in the village.
But there were also the problems that the young man who helped her would face.
The Hyuga clan would raise a fuss about the release of the seal, so they would be questioned about who was responsible.
Hinata wanted to remain silent, but would her classmates be the same?
She wanted to trust her teammates, but they had only been working together on Team 8 for a few months and the camaraderie hadn't grown enough.
As she watched children and adults pass by on the streets of Hiruya City, Hinata wondered what to do.
Struggling to make a decision, Team 8 spent the rest of the day wandering around Hiruya City and at night decided to spend the night at an inn.
While Kiba, Akamaru, and Shino slept in one room, Kurenai and Hinata slept in another.
As she settled into her bed, Kurenai wondered what to do.
A ninja team would often decide to hang out in a place after a mission, so there would be no problem with staying overnight.
But starting tomorrow, they had to decide what to do.
The longer they went without returning, the greater the chance that the village would be alerted and teams would be sent to check on their situation.
Especially when 3 heirs of prestigious village clans were on his team.
But seeing Hinata sleeping beside her, Kurenai thought that perhaps they might need a couple more days to make a decision.
While the entire team 8 was trying to rest, they didn't know that their movements had been followed and were now being discussed.
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At the same time that Team 8 was resting, 2 men secretly met inside an abandoned house on the other side of town.
"Are you sure that girl wasn't marked?"
One of them asked, and the other nodded.
"And"
"That girl's forehead wasn't covered with bandages this time, so I could see that her forehead was clean."
"There was no trace of the Caged Bird Seal"
Akio looked skeptically at his subordinate.
The girl he was talking about was Hinata Hyuga, the young woman who was formerly the heir to the Hyuga family in the Hidden Leaf Village before being marked with the caged bird seal and was now part of the branch family.
Akio knew the young woman's appearance because he was accustomed to keeping himself informed about various things that happened in other ninja villages, and the change of heirs of the Hyuga clan caught his interest.
Many years ago, his cloud village tried to obtain the Byakugan by kidnapping the same young woman.
But they failed in the attempt.