Chapter 182: Going Out to Roam
After leaving the Intelligence Department, Ishiro directly found Ōnoki and expressed his desire to go out and "roam." But what surprised Ishiro was that this time Ōnoki refused without even thinking, not even listening to why Ishiro wanted to go out.
"Wait until you fully become Kage-level before leaving the village." Ōnoki dismissed Ishiro with this simple sentence.
Previously, Ishiro was only an Elite Jōnin, so Ōnoki naturally wouldn't restrict Ishiro within the village. That wouldn't help Ishiro's growth. To become Kage-level, Ishiro needed sufficient experience.
And indeed, Ishiro had achieved his growth amidst the war.
However, after Ishiro became a quasi-Kage, his importance to the village was completely different. In Ōnoki's view, going out to roam at this time was too risky; it was better to stay honestly in the village for a few years.
After a few years, when Ishiro became a Kage-level powerhouse, if he then wanted to go out and roam, while not without danger, it would at least be far safer than now.
For the village, the future Ishiro was bound to be Kage-level, and at that time, Ishiro's importance to the village would inevitably be greater.
Therefore, no matter what Ishiro wanted to do by going out now, in Ōnoki's eyes, it couldn't offset the risks Ishiro would face by going out at this moment.
Seeing that Ōnoki didn't even want to hear his reasons, Ishiro felt helpless and went to discuss countermeasures with Ikura.
When Ikura heard Ishiro wanted to leave the village, he was overjoyed. "Haha, now it's finally your turn. When the war first broke out, I was restricted within the village."
"Every time I heard about what you were doing outside, I was very envious. At that time, I was thinking, if the pace of the war quickened, I probably wouldn't even have a chance to participate."
"Thinking about it carefully, it seems the only time I left the village was to exchange the Third Kazekage human puppet with Sunagakure."
"Even now, Lord Tsuchikage still requires me to master my S-rank ninjutsu proficiently before I can leave the village."
Ishiro: ...
After thinking for a moment, Ishiro said unwillingly, "But Konoha's Minato Namikaze has been active outside all this time."
Ikura shook his head and said, "Konoha is teeming with talent; how can we Iwagakure compare? Besides, Minato Namikaze at that time probably hadn't reported his situation to Konoha's upper echelons."
Ishiro felt a bit dejected and said, "By the way, how is your learning of the second S-rank ninjutsu you chose?"
Ikura gave a wry smile and said, "How can S-rank ninjutsu be that easy to learn?"
Saying this, Ikura looked at Ishiro with envy. "Your ninjutsu talent is too astonishing; you mastered two S-rank ninjutsu so quickly."
Ishiro's first S-rank ninjutsu, Banshō Ten'in, could indeed be said to be completely mastered. However, his second S-rank ninjutsu, "Mind's Eye," was only at the entry-level.
The "Mind's Eye" ninjutsu was like a passive skill. Theoretically, after complete mastery, Ishiro would be able to passively detect all chakra fluctuations around him. The range wasn't large; Ishiro had tested it to be about 200 meters in radius, far less than the sensory ninjutsu he had learned before.
But now, Ishiro could only sense clearly when his vision was closed. It was far from being usable in actual combat.
Ishiro now understood the reason for this as well.
"Mind's Eye" seemed to provide Ishiro with a sixth sense. As an ordinary person, Ishiro was accustomed to using his eyes and ears as the primary senses for receiving external information.
Now, with the sudden appearance of a sixth sense whose efficiency was no less than that of his eyes, Ishiro couldn't adapt to this change immediately.
Sometimes, even when intentionally using "Mind's Eye," it would interfere with what his eyes were seeing. If this happened during combat, "Mind's Eye" would not only fail to help him but would also be a hindrance.
So Ishiro shook his head and said, "My 'Mind's Eye' is still far from being applicable in actual combat."
"Then it's even more impossible for you to leave the village. Lord Tsuchikage won't agree," Ikura concluded.
Ishiro felt dejected. After thinking for a moment, he said again, "Didn't you go out last time when you were negotiating with Sunagakure? So, will I also have a chance?"
Ikura looked at Ishiro with a smile but didn't speak.
Ishiro didn't understand at first but quickly realized. Back then, Ikura went because the village was short-staffed and couldn't find a ninja of sufficient standing.
But if a similar situation arose now, Ōnoki wouldn't send Ishiro out because he had a better choice: Ikura. Ikura at least already possessed Kage-level combat power. Although his strength was still at the bottom among Kage-levels, he was still more reliable than Ishiro.
Ishiro sighed, left Ikura's place, and returned to his own office.
Staying in the village like this, Ishiro was unwilling.
"How can I make Ōnoki send me out?" Ishiro began to ponder.
"That's right, I have an advantage." Ishiro suddenly thought of something and jumped up excitedly.
When Ishiro was at the Eastern Front encampment before, he was often dispatched by Kitsuchi to carry out certain missions. And the missions Kitsuchi specifically assigned to Ishiro all had one characteristic: they required speed, and Ishiro possessed speed far exceeding that of ordinary people.
Ishiro could fly. Flying allowed for straight-line travel, making the journey much shorter than traveling on the ground. Additionally, there were no enemies in the air, so Ishiro could travel at full speed without needing to spend time on reconnaissance and other matters.
In wartime, Ishiro's ability to fly would be particularly advantageous.
"Fortunately, Ōnoki didn't ask me anything just now; otherwise, I wouldn't have been able to guide his thinking. But what should I say to make others feel a sense of urgency, and then have no choice but to send me out?"
Ishiro began to recall the intelligence he had seen earlier at the Intelligence Department and then analyzed it based on the plot of the original story.
A moment later, Ishiro found a way to persuade Ōnoki to let him out. Then Ishiro got up and went to the Intelligence Department again.
Half an hour later, Ōnoki, who was working in the Tsuchikage's office, saw Ishiro return after having left, frowned, and said, "You don't need to waste your breath. Stay peacefully in the village and wait until you reach Kage-level."
Ishiro grinned, then changed his expression to a serious one and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, I suspect Kirigakure is going to make a move against the Hyūga clan."
Ōnoki looked up at Ishiro and said, "Kirigakure targets the Hyūga and Uchiha every day."
"This time is different. I suspect Kirigakure's target this time is specifically the Hyūga main family, likely for their Byakugan," Ishiro said with complete confidence.
Indeed, Ōnoki finally put down the official documents in his hand, looked at Ishiro, and thought that Ishiro probably wouldn't joke about such intelligence. So he said, "Go call the others!"
"Yes." After saying this, Ishiro trotted off to find Ikura and the others.
In a short while, the four advisors had gathered in the Tsuchikage's office. Ishiro passed around the intelligence he had just obtained from the Intelligence Department for everyone to see.
The intelligence was still the same as what Ishiro had seen before, only Ishiro had picked out the related parts.
Following Ishiro's guidance, after the others read it, they were all led astray by Ishiro and more or less felt that Ishiro's suspicion about Kirigakure targeting the Hyūga main family was somewhat possible.
However, Saka said, "Ishiro, this intelligence of yours only indicates that Kirigakure's actions are somewhat abnormal. It doesn't at all prove they are going to target the Hyūga main family."
Ishiro felt a little guilty. Saka truly deserved his reputation as the advisor who had been in charge of the Intelligence Department for many years; he spotted the problem at a glance.
However, Ishiro had the advantage of plot knowledge from the original story, so he was very confident in his judgment. Thus, he said, "Senior Saka, I think the possibility of Kirigakure doing this is very high. If I were the Kirigakure commander and had an opportunity to obtain the Byakugan, I would also take action."
Saka still didn't believe it. "The Hyūga main family is definitely staying in the core position of their camp. To get the Byakugan, Kirigakure would have to launch a full assault on the Konoha camp. I don't think Kirigakure would take such a big risk for the Byakugan."
"Moreover, even after taking such a big risk, they might not necessarily obtain the Byakugan," Ikura chimed in.
"Ahem, I think Kirigakure must have obtained some intelligence about the Hyūga main family, very likely that a Hyūga main family member will leave the camp. Kirigakure must be targeting the Hyūga based on this intelligence," Ishiro said with utmost certainty.
Saka shook his head and said, "This is pure speculation on your part, completely unfounded."
Ishiro also knew this argument might not persuade Ōnoki and the others, so he took out another piece of intelligence and spread it out in front of everyone.
Ishiro pointed to a part of it and said, "Lord Tsuchikage, look, Kirigakure's Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist started acting strangely five days ago."
"And look here," Ishiro pointed to another spot, "Six days ago, a Jōnin from a Hyūga branch family was ambushed and killed by Kushimaru Kuriarare, one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist."
Pausing here, Ishiro said, "The informant who relayed this intelligence is a Chūnin from the Konoha Hyūga clan's camp. He participated in the mission to search for the missing Hyūga branch family Jōnin. Although they eventually found the body, at least half a day had passed since the incident occurred."
Ikura was somewhat stunned and said, "Are you saying that Kushimaru Kuriarare obtained intelligence on the Hyūga main family's movements from this Hyūga branch family Jōnin within that half-day?"
To be honest, Ikura almost believed it. If Ishiro hadn't just complained to him earlier, he would have been convinced by the logic Ishiro had arranged.
If even Ikura was like this, it went without saying for the others. Saka frowned tightly; he also had some doubts about the intelligence Ishiro was presenting.
Originally, such intelligence wouldn't indicate much. In a war between two countries, it was perfectly normal for a Jōnin or two to die.
But now that Ishiro had picked out these few pieces of intelligence and put them together, making a seemingly reasonable guess, he too was somewhat unsure. So he looked at Ōnoki, letting Ōnoki make the decision.
To be honest, Ōnoki initially didn't believe Ishiro's guess. He always felt this was false intelligence Ishiro had fabricated to get out of the village.
Ōnoki guessed correctly. These pieces of intelligence were all pieced together by Ishiro to persuade his superiors. Although they weren't false, their misleading effect was obvious.
The Hyūga clan had indeed lost a branch family Jōnin, but this wasn't the only time they had lost a Jōnin. Ishiro had merely taken out this one instance that suited his needs and timing to make his case.
If these pieces of intelligence were placed among all the other intelligence reports, combined with other Hyūga branch family Jōnin who had died in battle, Ōnoki and the others would feel Ishiro was being unreasonable.
But they didn't know. They subconsciously felt Ishiro wouldn't deceive them. Especially with such critical intelligence, Ishiro wouldn't be so lacking in discretion.
Thus, after struggling for a while, Ōnoki still decided to believe Ishiro's guess.
Looking at Ishiro with eyes full of suspicion, Ōnoki said helplessly, "I'll believe you this once. Kirigakure has been preparing for so many days; if they are going to act, it will probably be in these few days. You make the trip."
Ōnoki didn't instruct Ishiro on what to do. In this regard, he trusted Ishiro could handle it well. He was only worried that Ishiro might be too reckless and get himself into trouble.
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