The Trap

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The three members of Team Eleven inside the cave did not panic too much. Each drew a weapon and went on guard.

Yugito's gaze swept across Naoki's face. She frowned, as if she had remembered something. "So it was you. You are from the Hyuga Clan?"

Clearly, Yugito remembered meeting Naoki during the mission to recover the forbidden technique scroll. That had been her first failed mission, so her impression of Naoki was deep.

And because Naoki was not wearing his dark goggles this time, she recognized his identity as a member of the Hyuga Clan.

"A Byakugan and a Sharingan. No wonder you were so hard to pin down. Two dojutsu kekkei genkai users in one squad." After sizing up Naoki and Shisui, Yugito gave a soft snort. "Perfect. We can settle every score at once."

Naoki ignored Yugito. He only said calmly to Shisui beside him, "A jinchuriki came. What a pity."

Shisui asked, "Senior, activate it?"

Naoki nodded.

Hearing the exchange between Naoki and Shisui, Yugito immediately felt something was wrong and shouted, "Get out!"

Boom, boom, boom...

Before Yugito's voice had even faded, a chain of explosions erupted inside the cave. The force was so great that it could be heard more than ten miles away.

As the smoke and dust slowly dispersed, the enormous form of Matatabi, the Two-Tails, appeared amid the ruins of the cave. The dozen or so Kumogakure jonin who had rushed in with Yugito were all hiding beneath the Two-Tails, barely avoiding the blast and the cave-in.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh...

At that moment, figures landed outside the ruined cave. The one leading them was none other than Kumogakure's Fourth Raikage.

The Fourth Raikage glanced at the battered Yugito and the others, then asked in a deep voice, "Where are the enemies?"

Yugito, who had already withdrawn from her Tailed Beast form, coughed violently as she answered, "Cough, cough... It was a trap. They probably escaped long ago."

The Fourth Raikage looked into the distance and sighed. "It seems Konoha is not as weak as we expected. Perhaps it is time to end this conflict."

Yugito quickly said, "Lord Raikage, please give me more time. I will kill them."

The Raikage shook his head. "The front line just sent word. Yesterday, the Third Hokage led a force in a raid against Killer B and the others. B could not hold them back and has already begun retreating. Not only that, but Iwagakure's movements are unclear. They may act against us."

Iwagakure, watching from the sidelines like a hunter observing a fight, had not fixed its eyes only on Konoha. If Kumogakure revealed an opening, Iwagakure would bite without hesitation.

Yugito froze and muttered, "Then were all our efforts wasted?"

The Raikage patted Yugito on the shoulder. "Do not lose heart. There will be another chance."

Yugito's face darkened as she gritted her teeth. "Damn Konoha Team Eleven..."

On the eastern coastline of the Land of Hot Water.

The four members of Team Eleven were racing along the coast toward Konoha.

Suddenly, Naoki, who was leading the group, stopped.

The other three members of Team Eleven stopped as well. Shisui and Kakashi looked at each other, regret showing on both their faces.

Shisui sighed. "I did not expect it to turn out like that. What a waste."

Kakashi, still somewhat listless, looked puzzled. "Kumogakure's reaction was too extreme, wasn't it? They sent a jinchuriki just to deal with us? And wasn't the Two-Tails jinchuriki with their forward assault force? How did she suddenly appear in the Land of Hot Water? This is too strange."

Kakashi did not know that Naoki, in Tenseigan Chakra Mode, had erased an entire valley and killed several hundred Kumogakure shinobi with one raised hand. Because of that, he could not understand Kumogakure's reaction.

Shisui carefully glanced at Naoki and thought, 'Against someone like Senior Naoki, Kumogakure has no chance unless they send a jinchuriki.'

Naoki's face was dark, and he did not say much.

The thought of all those wasted explosive tags left him in a terrible mood.

After deciding to leave the Land of Hot Water, Team Eleven had immediately set up a large trap, intending to deal Kumogakure one final heavy blow.

The Team Eleven members inside the trap were only Shadow Clones of Naoki, Shisui, and Kakashi. As for Guy, he had not yet mastered the Shadow Clone Technique, so there was no Shadow Clone of him inside the cave trap.

They had originally intended to lure in a jonin squad. At the very least, they had expected a reconnaissance squad led by a jonin.

They had not expected to lure in Yugito Nii, the Two-Tails jinchuriki.

Once a jinchuriki transformed, the protection of Tailed Beast chakra made ordinary explosions and even a cave-in unlikely to inflict fatal damage.

And Yugito was a perfect jinchuriki who could cooperate with Matatabi. Against her, the hastily arranged trap simply did not have enough power.

After receiving the information sent back by the distant Shadow Clones, the four members of Team Eleven set off toward Konoha again.

As Kumogakure invested more and more combat power into the Land of Hot Water, the country was becoming increasingly dangerous. Even with some regret, Team Eleven had no choice but to retreat immediately.

Perhaps because they feared being caught up in the conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure, the wandering shinobi inside the Land of Hot Water had already scattered. For several days, Team Eleven raced along the coastline and encountered no shinobi at all aside from a few fishermen.

One week later, after making a wide detour, the four members of Team Eleven finally returned safely to the Land of Fire.

Inside their own country's borders, Team Eleven soon encountered a Konoha scouting patrol. Through those Konoha shinobi, they learned the latest situation.

Just as Naoki remembered from his previous life, Kumogakure's raid on Konoha had only been a probe.

The trigger for that probe had been the accidental deaths of the Fourth Hokage and the Nine-Tails jinchuriki.

In other words, the conflict between Konoha and Kumogakure was entirely an aftershock of Konoha's Nine-Tails incident, a chain reaction caused by Orochimaru's defection and the deaths of the Fourth Hokage and his wife.

Neither Kumogakure nor Konoha, the victim of the surprise attack, intended to begin an all-out war. So after the attack failed to advance smoothly, Kumogakure released its willingness to negotiate peace.

The Third Hokage gladly accepted Kumogakure's request for peace talks.

At present, the Third Hokage did not know how much trouble Team Eleven had caused in Kumogakure's rear. Even if he had known, he still would have chosen peace talks with Kumogakure, because Konoha could no longer bear another Shinobi World War.

And with representatives from both sides making contact, Konoha and Kumogakure had effectively ceased hostilities. Kumogakure's raiding force had completely withdrawn from the Land of Fire several days earlier.

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