"A four-man squad, huh."
After confirming that the team following him was a four-man squad from Sunagakure, Hyuga Kagami rubbed his chin in thought. After some consideration, he decided to handle the situation personally.
After all, the caravan of the remnants from Roran still had two to three days of travel before reaching the border of the Land of Rain. If their location were exposed now, the troubles would be endless.
One had to remember: ninja were far faster than a civilian caravan.
With his mind made up, Hyuga Kagami instructed the Third Kazekage Puppet, "Go and stay with the caravan."
"Understood!"
The puppet responded and vanished in a flash, disappearing from Hyuga Kagami's sight.
Hyuga Kagami twitched his lips. "Was it really necessary to use the Body Flicker Technique..."
Suddenly, he felt the need to establish some rules for the puppet. Such flashy waste of chakra—even as the Jinchuriki of the Dragon Vein—still made his heart ache a little.
Besides, converting the chakra from the Dragon Vein into Tenseigan chakra wasn't easy. While he hadn't used much chakra himself, the puppet had been quite unreserved.
Activating his Byakugan to locate the Sunagakure squad, Hyuga Kagami flickered forward.
A few swift leaps later, he arrived in front of the four-man team from Sunagakure.
Seeing Hyuga Kagami in a black cloak and a demonic mask, the Sand ninjas instinctively identified him as suspicious. Without wasting words, they spread out to encircle him while also firing off a signal flare.
Hyuga Kagami didn't intervene, allowing them to send the signal.
It was clear that Sunagakure's search efforts were divided into zones. If he wiped out this team now, it would only confirm that this zone held something of interest.
His true goal wasn't to eliminate one squad but to throw Sunagakure's entire search strategy into disarray.
Moments later, two more four-man teams from Sunagakure arrived.
The leading jonin, wary and stern, barked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"
Having drawn their attention, Hyuga Kagami didn't linger. He immediately turned and fled, darting over several sand dunes in the blink of an eye.
Seeing such a suspicious figure running, the Sunagakure ninjas naturally gave chase.
And so, the scene transformed into a chase—Hyuga Kagami in front, a horde of Sand shinobi behind. As the pursuit continued, their numbers swelled.
Glancing back at the growing crowd, Hyuga Kagami smiled inwardly.
His intention was crystal clear: to redirect their personnel. He knew there were smart people among the Sand ninjas who would realize this. But with such a suspicious character running, even if they knew his purpose, they couldn't just ignore him.
Over the next few hours, a high-speed chase unfolded in the desert. Eventually, nearly forty to fifty Sand ninjas were on his tail.
"If each team is responsible for one zone, I've probably pulled ten search zones' worth of personnel."
While sprinting, Hyuga Kagami analyzed the situation. If ten zones were thrown into chaos, it would take Sunagakure an enormous amount of time to determine where the real problem lay.
Satisfied, he decided it was time to disappear. Using Body Flicker and Rotational Shift, he vanished into the sandstorm like a mirage.
"Where did he go?!"
"How did he vanish so quickly?"
"I saw him speed up and fly off!"
"What nonsense are you spouting—he can't possibly fly!"
The Sand shinobi, now without a target, descended into confusion.
These search squads were mostly made up of average ninja—only the squad leaders were jonin, the rest being chuunin or genin. They were more than capable of tracking a caravan full of civilians, but catching Hyuga Kagami? That was wishful thinking.
Meanwhile, Hyuga Kagami, now freely expending chakra, raced through the desert.
In the past, he had to be cautious with chakra usage, but now he was indulging in it for the first time. With Body Flicker and Rotational Shift, his movement speed resembled flight, easily leaving the Sand pursuit far behind.
Eventually, he came to a stop, gasping for breath.
The indulgence had been exhilarating, but it drained most of the Dragon Vein chakra he had converted. Repeated use of Body Flicker had also taken a toll on his body.
"Heh, guess I still can't go overboard."
Once he caught his breath, he sensed the location of the Third Kazekage Puppet and looped around, heading back toward the Roran caravan.
Two days passed quickly.
Thanks to their constant travel, the caravan had exited the vast desert of the Wind Country and reached the rocky terrain of a gobi.
Landing behind the caravan, Hyuga Kagami unrolled a map and studied it closely.
"Once they pass through the gobi and into the canyon, they'll officially be in the Land of Rain."
After escorting them into Rain territory, his job would be done.
By that point, he would've done more than enough. As for how Queen Sara and the Roran survivors would live in the Land of Rain—he neither had the power nor the interest to get involved.
Just then, the Third Kazekage Puppet returned to report. "Sunagakure forces are catching up again!"
Hyuga Kagami turned and shot a cold glance in that direction.
His earlier interference had successfully thrown Sunagakure's operations into chaos. But with time, they had gathered enough intelligence to guess the caravan's escape route into the Land of Rain. Now the pursuers had a clear direction.
Watching the Sand ninjas approach, Hyuga Kagami calmly muttered, "If you're so eager to die, then I'll be glad to oblige."
He hadn't planned on a massacre. Doing so would only expose information about himself. But at this point, Sunagakure had effectively locked onto the caravan's path. Disruption alone wouldn't work anymore.
So now, it was time to strike hard...
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