Cruel Experiment

Yota understood Hizashi Hyuga’s feelings. Ever since arriving in the Sound Ninja Village, Hizashi had done nothing. It could be said that he had achieved not a single merit.

Yet Yota had helped him storm Konoha alone, rescue his son, and remove the Caged Bird Curse Mark from both father and son. To him, that kindness was as weighty as a mountain.

And now that the Hyuga Main Family was in trouble, he, a branch family member, had come running to his benefactor to ask for help. It was truly rather awkward.

Still, Yota did not care much. After all, he had long decided to help Konoha overcome this crisis. Kumogakure had naturally been one of his targets from the start.

Tsunade’s complete Medical Ninjutsu knowledge, the huge sum of money paid by Konoha, and now the gratitude of one of his subordinates—Kumogakure had been sold out three times in one go, and for quite a good price.

"Forget it. I’ve already accepted Konoha’s commission anyway. Saving a little girl along the way is no big deal."

Besides, if not for me, Hinata Hyuga would not have suffered this ordeal, Yota silently thought.

This really was his fault. Even if the father and son had not mentioned it, Yota would definitely have rescued this Byakugan princess.

Hearing Yota’s words, Hizashi Hyuga finally breathed a sigh of relief. To be honest, Hizashi still had feelings for his older brother, and naturally did not want Hinata Hyuga to fall into Kumogakure’s hands.

Though he had once felt the urge to kill Hinata Hyuga, that had only been for the sake of his son.

Another half month passed quickly. Kumogakure no longer bothered to hide its ambitions. Large ninja forces had already reached the front lines in the Land of Fire.

Konoha naturally could no longer continue its policy of compromise. Fortunately, Jiraiya was still in Konoha, so the aged Third Hokage did not need to personally take the battlefield.

Honestly, Yota doubted that, with the Third Hokage’s current strength, he would not simply be taken out by the Fourth Raikage on the battlefield!

Though he had not yet grown as old as he would be ten years later, Yota had noticed during their last battle that the man’s combat ability had already begun to decline noticeably.

Meanwhile, Kumogakure’s A-B Brothers were in their prime, while Yugito, the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, was also only seventeen or eighteen. If no one else intervened, Konoha might truly be unable to withstand this time.

Kumogakure.

Like Iwagakure, it was a shinobi village built high in the mountains. Combined with the Land of Lightning’s highland terrain, the entire village stood at an extremely high elevation. Above it lay a sea of clouds, from which thunder often rumbled.

"Building a shinobi village in a godforsaken place like this… aren’t they afraid of getting struck by lightning?" Yota said, the corner of his mouth twitching as he looked at the sea of clouds overhead.

"And would anyone really come all the way to a place like this to commission missions?"

With a roaring crack, a silver serpent of lightning writhed down from above and struck a building over Kumogakure. Electricity flickered, and the entire building seemed to absorb every bit of lightning into itself.

"…All right, are these people using lightning as energy?" Yota muttered. "Now that’s something new."

"Say, Yota… are just the two of us really going to cause trouble for Kumogakure?"

Behind Yota, Sara raised her head to look at the majestic Kumogakure, her voice trembling slightly.

"Of course. I already took the advance payment." Yota rolled his eyes. "If Akatsuki did not require two people to act together on missions, I would not have brought you at all."

"I didn’t want to join a terrorist organization in the first place." Sara muttered bitterly. "This is Kumogakure—the most unreasonable of the Five Great Shinobi Villages. Aren’t the two of us just walking into our deaths?"

"Have some confidence. I just helped you cultivate a Sage Body. With your Wood Release on top of that, no one in all of Kumogakure is your match… probably."

What Yota had given Sara was already an extremely top-tier setup. Unfortunately, her own control skills were limited. If she truly ran into a lightning-fast ninja like the Fourth Raikage, whose fighting style demanded the most precise control, Yota really could not say for certain that she would win. In fact, the odds favored her losing badly.

"Forget it. Just wait down here." Yota finally shook his head and prepared to go up alone.

"Uh…" Sara turned to look around. Though this was not exactly Kumogakure’s front gate, it was still a major route in and out of the village.

If she stood here and ran into Kumogakure Ninja passing by, what was she supposed to say?

No matter how she looked at it, her black robe patterned with red clouds was incredibly suspicious, wasn’t it?

"Wait, I’d better go up with you!"

When they reached the gate, the two muscular Kumogakure guards had just opened their mouths to speak when Yota widened his eyes. His blood-red Mangekyo Sharingan spun, and the two immediately became dazed, watching helplessly as Yota and Sara walked inside.

"Let’s gather some intelligence first. I wonder where Hinata Hyuga is being held?"

Wearing Akatsuki’s specially tailored uniforms, Yota and Sara were conspicuous beyond belief in Kumogakure. However, Yota had no intention of infiltrating discreetly in the first place.

Whenever a ninja grew suspicious or secretly tailed them, Yota simply gave them a Mangekyo stare and bluntly questioned them for information.

But the Mangekyo Sharingan really was a Divine Artifact for gathering intelligence. In barely over ten minutes, Yota and Sara had reached the entrance of the underground base where Hinata Hyuga was imprisoned.

"Another underground base… As expected of a shinobi village. Even built on a mountain, they still can’t resist digging underground chambers like these. Aren’t they afraid they’ll dig the whole mountain down one day?" Sara complained when she saw the hidden entrance to the underground base.

"Say less. Even though the ninjas who were following us have all fallen under my genjutsu, with how conspicuous we’ve been, Kumogakure Ninja will probably show up soon. Saving her comes first."

Yota was not afraid of Kumogakure Ninja, but if they lost their heads and directly harmed Hinata Hyuga, that would be troublesome. Before the hostage was rescued, they could not switch into real infiltration mode—slaughtering everyone.

After pushing open the hidden door, the two had barely stepped inside when alarms blared. Several ninjas guarding the underground base instantly sprang out.

One Mangekyo Sharingan glare made them obedient at once, and they directly led Yota and Sara toward the dungeon where Hinata Hyuga was held.

As Yota and Sara went deeper and deeper into the underground base, both of their brows furrowed.

A vast array of test subjects, ninjas who were barely human anymore, and all manner of inhumane experiments were displayed in full within this underground base.

Most of those test subjects could no longer even speak. Others had clearly developed mental problems, likely the result of having their brain memories searched.