Everyone present looked toward Shirakumo Hayama.
"Regarding the question of how to kill the target, because it involves some special considerations, Shikaku-sama hopes not to spread the details for now, so I won't inform you in depth," Shirakumo Hayama explained.
"However, this doesn't affect the completion of this mission. But as for you and Shimi..."
As he spoke, he habitually looked toward the spot where Yamanaka Shimi had just been standing, only to find the man had vanished again.
After looking around, he finally found him in another part of the crowd.
Seeing that the man was indeed listening seriously to his arrangements, he continued, "The Byakugan and Parasitic Worms should be able to determine if the enemy is dead, right?"
"No problem!"
"Then the two of you only need to help Aokawa find Onigumo's Chakra, and after Aokawa completes the kill, determine if Onigumo is dead."
"Yes," the two nodded in unison.
Seeing that the two had no objections, Shirakumo Hayama turned to look at Uchiha Hachidai.
"Captain Hachidai, I have no other matters."
Uchiha Hachidai nodded. "Then Iroha and Shimi, come with me. The rest of you, dismissed."
The crowd dispersed.
Uchiha Hachidai led the four of them, bypassing Kumogakure's blind spots, and entered the forest.
After a few turns, he stopped at a certain spot and pointed in one direction.
"Beyond this forest is the canyon. At this distance, can you two scout it?"
He looked at Hinata Iruha and Yamanaka Shimi.
"If the distance is too far, we can move a bit further forward, but the chance of being discovered by Kumogakure will be higher."
Hinata Iruha nodded. "By concentrating the ocular power of the Byakugan in one area, I can gain a longer visual range. I'm fine."
"As long as they aren't participating in combat, the Parasitic Worms are fine too, though they will be slower," Yamanaka Shimi added in response.
"Then I'll leave it to you two."
The two of them activated their scouting methods and began investigating the forest on the other side of the canyon.
Time passed bit by bit, and the other three waited quietly.
"Found him."
The two voices rang out one after another.
Aokawa also hurriedly activated his Byakugan, concentrating his ocular power.
"Aokawa, at the 2 o'clock direction, that small house away from the crowd."
"The Chakra inside belongs to the person who prepared to ambush us last time," Hinata Iruha said.
Yamanaka Shimi also spoke up. "There is a specially marked Parasitic Worm on the wall. The Byakugan should be able to see a different colored Chakra."
Following the prompts from the two, Aokawa quickly found Onigumo in the house.
He nodded. "Found him."
Seeing this, Shirakumo Hayama said, "Since he's been found, I'll trouble you two to keep watching Onigumo's Chakra until he dies."
"As for the next preparations, because they involve confidential matters, please maintain some distance first."
"Even we can't stay here?" Hinata Iruha frowned.
"Yes, this is also the intention of Hokage-sama and Shikaku-sama."
After Nara Shikaku learned of Aokawa's long-range strike capability,
he proposed keeping Aokawa's ability as secret as possible, only letting it appear as a trump card when necessary.
But this actually didn't quite align with Aokawa's interests.
It was true that under conditions of information asymmetry, the probability of hitting the enemy increased greatly.
However, being a trump card meant he would have fewer opportunities to obtain energy crystals, which was detrimental to his growth in strength.
Moreover, elite Ninja often possessed high perception and extremely fast neural reflexes.
With information asymmetry, it was easy to injure them, but killing them might be difficult.
But since Nara Shikaku had brought it up, Aokawa agreed to cooperate as much as possible.
Uchiha Hachidai pulled Hinata Iruha and Yamanaka Shimi along. "Let's go, we'll move further away first."
Once the three had gone far enough, Shirakumo Hayama turned to Aokawa. "How is it? At such a distance, are you confident?"
"No problem. He's staying quietly in the house; that couldn't be better."
As he spoke, Aokawa raised one hand and refined his Chakra, causing the Quincy Cross spirit seal on the back of his hand to emerge.
In an instant, the grey Kojaku Spirit Bow appeared in his hand, followed by Chakra attaching to it, dyeing the Spirit Bow blue-white.
This time the distance was further, so he needed to condense a Spirit Bow with even greater draw strength.
He hooked the bowstring, and Chakra along with the surrounding Natural Energy were pulled together, continuously gathering onto the Spirit Bow to form a Chakra Arrow.
Shirakumo Hayama felt this great killing weapon slowly taking shape at close range, and his heart pounded.
Although Aokawa had shown it to him last time, he hadn't gone all out then, so the Spirit Bow displayed wasn't as shocking as today's.
Furthermore, he felt that after the Hokage-sama's guidance, the Spirit Bow and Chakra Arrow appeared even stronger than before.
He wondered how powerful the shot would be compared to last time.
Aokawa didn't have the energy to worry about the various thoughts in Shirakumo Hayama's mind.
He concentrated his focus, condensing the Chakra Arrow while continuously adding Chakra that had undergone Lightning Release nature transformation into the arrow.
On the other side, Uchiha Hachidai, who had already walked a distance with Iroha and Shimi, suddenly came to a halt.
"Alright, let's stay here!"
"From here, we can monitor Onigumo without spying on the so-called secrets of the Village."
The two agreed and focused all their attention on monitoring Onigumo's movements.
Time passed bit by bit.
Seeing Onigumo just staying quietly in the house, Hinata Iruha's mind began to wander.
Just what kind of secret required shielding people like them?
The Hyuga Clan was famous for the Gentle Fist.
With his high-purity Byakugan, he was also one of the top geniuses in the Family.
Because of this, he usually heard about many Family secrets, but there was no mention of the clan possessing an ultra-long-range attack Ninjutsu.
If it were a top Genius of the clan or a member of the Main House, it would be one thing; perhaps there were some secret legacies he didn't know about.
But Aokawa was only from a Branch House, and his talent was not outstanding, having frequently made a fool of himself at clan meetings.
The teaching Elder had even criticized him on the spot, saying he was 'rotten wood that cannot be carved.'
It was unlikely the clan would pass any secret Legacy to such a person.
How did he transform and suddenly become the core figure of this mission?
Unlike Uchiha Inabi, he felt that since the higher-ups had made such an arrangement, it certainly wasn't without reason.
A strong sense of curiosity suddenly surged in his heart, wanting to see exactly what Aokawa was doing.
"Just one look, just one..."
"But as a Ninja, obedience is my duty. Since it's a confidential matter, I naturally shouldn't investigate."
The Ninja regulations and Village orders in Hinata Iruha's heart began a tug-of-war with this curiosity.
"But I wouldn't be looking on purpose; I'd just see it by accident."
"Concentrating ocular power is very draining. If I can't hold it and it disperses, I might see something by accident."
"That's quite reasonable, right?"
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