"A wild Byakugan?"
Yotsuki Takeru was just as stunned.
He shoved the Uchiha mo back into his aide's arms and bent over the second report.
For Kumogakure, the Byakugan had always been the most coveted bloodline.
Bar none.
There were plenty of reasons.
Even setting aside its strategic value, the Byakugan's strengths shed too perfectly with Kumo's Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
Developed by the Second Raikage, Lightning Release Chakra Mode was a B-rank taijutsu that hardened the body with intensely nature-transford lightning chakra until it was nearly immune to lightning itself.
Once mastered, speed, power, and defense maxed out. In Kumo they called it the strongest Lightning technique, flawless on every front.
Of course, sothing that strong was anything but easy.
If everyone could master it, the title of strongest village would have changed hands long ago.
Flood your body with rampaging lightning and slip for even a heartbeat, and you ended up a charred corpse. Only the Yotsuki, born with exceptional tolerance for lightning, had the chops to push through and make the mode their own.
And the difficulty rank was not set for ordinary people.
B-rank reflected how hard it was for the Yotsuki.
What the rest of Kumo trained was a simplified Lightning Armor, not true Lightning Release Chakra Mode.
It was not that the Yotsuki were hoarding the later stages. Others simply could not do it.
When the clan shared the thod, every year more than a few Kumo shinobi electrocuted themselves in training. At one point the death rate hit a staggering one in two.
Keep that up and Kumo would turn into Kirigakure.
Which was why the Byakugan solved Kumo's problem perfectly.
With the Byakugan's extraordinary control, a user could keep lightning nature transformation within safe bounds.
Other Kumo shinobi would not train on their own at first. A Byakugan bearer would stimulate them with safely moderated lightning chakra, little by little.
Once their resistance rose high enough, the rest of the regin would flow.
What Kumo wanted was not the Byakugan's x-ray vision. They wanted to make the dangerous Lightning Release Chakra Mode trainable for everyone in the village.
A safety switch. A training aid.
Imagine it.
An army where everyone could cloak themselves in Lightning Release Chakra Mode. Terrifying.
At that point, Kumogakure would rule the ninja world outright. No one could stand in the way.
"Is it real?"
Isamu watched his son pore over the page in silence and could not stand it, blurting the question.
For Kumo, the Byakugan mattered more than anything.
And this was a girl who could bear children.
You could pile ten Isamus and ten Takerus together and they would not be worth half as much.
The balance of power across the world could shift on this alone.
"I am not sure…"
Takeru stared at the docunt. It was made of maybes, guesses, and possibilities.
"Beast" had not actually seen a Byakugan.
Charitably, it was a reasonable inference. Uncharitably, it was an intel officer's daydream, with no proof at all.
He licked his thick lips, torn.
Snatching soone out of Konoha was no simple thing. Set aside the difficulty, it could shatter the current peace and spark a Fourth Great Ninja War.
Kumo did not fear war.
But they could not start one over a flimsy report.
What would the history books say?
A sparrow's gossip led to bloodshed. Kumo went to war with Konoha.
And it even rhyd.
"Give that."
Isamu could not wait. He plucked the docunt labeled Top Secret from his son's hands.
The aide opened her mouth to caution him, thought better of it, and kept quiet.
"Can we trust this source?"
Isamu flipped it twice more, then looked at the aide.
"Very. 'Beast' is our most critical plant in Konoha. Three years ago, when we launched the Byakugan abduction, it was her lead that made the attempt possible."
The aide's reply was crisp.
She handled ANBU intel. She was the one who first recruited Kazahana Sawada, sent her to infiltrate Konoha, and relayed the promise of vengeance after clearing it with Takeru.
She trusted Sawada more than most.
Isamu nodded and read it again, old eyes narrowing.
"The Byakugan is too important. Even a sliver of a chance cannot be ignored. Report to the Fourth. He decides."
"Understood."
Takeru straightened his tunic and strode out.
Behind him, Isamu watched his son's retreating back. A hard gleam kindled in the old warrior's gaze.
…
With the intel in hand, Takeru made for the Raikage's office at speed.
He did not waste words.
He briefed the Fourth Raikage, A, on everything they had on Kono Taketori.
"Cousin, what is the play?"
A rubbed his chin, thoughtful.
"What play?" He shot his hapless cousin a look, golden whiskers bristling.
"The Byakugan."
"You said it yourself. So what do you think? We assemble a team and move."
"Just like that? Should we verify first? If this starts a war"
"Then we deny it."
A spread his hands, as matter-of-fact as a block of iron.
"Konoha is neck-deep in internal trouble. So what if we spark a fight? Will they dare escalate?
"If we do not kick them while they are down, then once they finish dealing with the Uchiha, that is when a war really starts. Right now is the ti."
Under that rough exterior, A hid a precise mind.
His nose for politics picked up imdiately what those two reports added up to.
Konoha had an internal crisis. Add an external one.
They would not be able to handle it.
But who to send.
He thought through the roster.
He had read the girl's profile. Six years old and already put a jōnin in the hospital. A Namikaze Minato-class prodigy, and maybe worse.
To take her alive would take at least three jōnin to be safe.
And with a chance like this, why settle for one dubious Byakugan.
If they were going in, they would go big.
Not just the Byakugan. He wanted a shot at the Nine-Tails' jinchūriki too.
If the girl was not Byakugan, a prodigy plus the Kyūbi would still be a haul.
The power of a tailed beast was hard to gauge.
To keep it safe, he needed elite jōnin. Kumo had a fair number, but not many. They were the village's upper-tier force, and more than a few were his kin.
Sending anyone to Konoha on a mission like this was nine chances in ten to die. No pick felt right.
Send soone weak and it was a gift to Konoha.
Send soone strong and if they fell, it would gut the village.
He tugged his beard.
He was the type to charge first and think later, yet now he hesitated.
Bang.
The office door flew inward under a boot.
A jumped, ready to bark. Then he saw the towering figure and his anger vanished, replaced by helpless resignation.
"Third Uncle. What brings you here."
"Dad?"
Yotsuki Isamu strode in like a lion, the lines on his weathered face cut deep.
"You step out. I have business with the Fourth."
Hearing the formal address, Takeru knew his father was serious.
"Cousin, I will go assemble the team?"
A waved him off.
Watching his uncle's brightened eyes, lit as if by youth, A had a good guess what was coming.
When Takeru was gone, A spoke first.
"You want to go to Konoha."
"Heh. You know ."
"It is nearly certain death."
"My ti is short. I will not die in bed. If I can bring back a pair of Byakugan for Kumo before I go"
Isamu thumped his chest twice. The sound was a drum in the quiet room.
"That would be worth it."
Like a lion on a cliff, the old man drew himself up. A light burned behind his eyes that words could not hold.
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