Looking at the forest of piercing high bones, whether it was Sandaime Hokage or Uchiha Patriarch, both of them had a gloomy expression.

In their eyes, or better yet in the eyes of great shinobi villages, the bounty ninjas are just some small-time shinobi not worth putting attention to, unless they try sticking their nose where they shouldn't, therefore, the presence of bounty-nin are generally ignored. ​​

But the series of events and the battles that took place today has changed this perception, these two groups of bounty-nin cannot be ignored.

'Unexpectedly, there are still so many strong shinobi hidden in the shadows of the shinobi world.' – Sandaime thought with a solemn expression while looking at the cold moonlight of the full moon.

The increasing rift between the Uchiha Clan and the village has already caused too much headache for Sandaime. Now he doesn't even know what will happen to the peace treaty that was signed with Kumogakure, everything has been becoming messier, Sandaime really feels exhausted.

"If only Minato was alive, everything would have been gone smoothly!" – muttered Hiruzen helplessly.

Today Sandaime didn't go all out in the battle, this is something even the Hokage Guard Platoon could see.

The reason for this is very simple, Sandaime is worried that if something were to happen to him, the Uchiha clan will no longer have any scruples and the village will fall into civil strife, and the other village wouldn't let such a chance go to waste, the result- not only would Konoha be destroyed but even the Land of Fire will be plunged into the biggest war ever seen.

But now Sandaime feels that he was a bit too conserve; if even the enemy is not captured then aside from losing the faith of his subordinates, even obtaining the required intelligence of the two bounty-nin organization will become quite difficult.

Even Fugaku had a solemn look when he thought of Homusubi of Amatsukami.

The sudden appearance of an Uchiha with the Mangekyou Sharingan is not a joke, moreover, the person in question seems to have negative intentions towards the Clan and the Village, and if it was really him who controlled the Kyuubi during the Kyuubi rebellion, and indirectly killed Yondaime Hokage, then that means he will not stop until he achieves his objective of destroying the clan and the village.

'It's unforgivable!' – Fugaku made up his mind, he must find out the true identity of Homusubi and then kill him, for the sake of the Clan… and for the Village.

Unlike Fugaku who was worried, the elites of the Uchiha Clan were embarrassed because they failed to eliminate only two bounty-nin.

Before they were being overly aggressive, arrogant, and overconfident, and now not only was each one of them injured to some degree but even their faces also had disappointed looks, even after they were injured or more, they achieved nothing!

Uchiha Fugaku is still considering whether to reveal the fact that Homusubi of Amatsukami has Mangekyou Sharingan to Hokage-sama, after all, in his opinion, Homusubi must die but the pair of Mangekyou Sharingan he has can be used by the Uchiha Clan.

However, another problem lies here, will the Hokage faction allow the Uchiha Clan to take back that pair of Mangekyou Sharingan? Or will it lead to a more severe conflict?

Allowing Hatake Kakashi to keep the Sharingan is already the biggest compromise the Uchiha Clan has made, and it was solely done because of the fact that Uchiha Obito willingly passed it onto Hatake Kakashi, otherwise Uchiha Clan wouldn't have allowed Kakashi to keep the Sharingan.

So, this issue is a bit troublesome.

…

On the other side.

After getting away from Sasori and Kakuzu, Suijin didn't go all the way in the Ice Mirror and deactivated the Jutsu.

After a series of battles, Suijin was a bit overwhelmed even if he has the Ryuumyaku Chakra, so it was best to not keep the ninjutsu activated for too long.

Homusubi asked, "So, what's next?"

Suijin spoke, "We will have to return to the village first!"

At this time Homusubi questioned again, "But how are you going to explain this situation to Hyuga Patriarch? He knows that it was the Eagle and Cat of Anbu team-11 who took away Watanabe's corpse, but the body suddenly fell into the hands of two bounty-nin, this flaw is too obvious, I am worried that Hiashi-sama will see through our disguise!"

Suijin shook his head, "You don't have to worry about Hiashi-sama figuring us out, besides he wouldn't be revealing the involvement of Hyuga Clan with this incident!"

This incident was caused because Watanabe deliberately wanted to cause conflict between the Hokage faction and the Hyuga Clan, as the patriarch of Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi will obviously not be stupid enough to show the involvement of the Hyuga Clan with this incident.

In fact, he would be really glad that the two bounty-nin took Watanabe's corpse and claimed the bounty on his head, with this, there would no longer be any official involvement of the Hyuga Clan with this incident anymore.

Shisui was still worried, "Won't Hiashi-sama be able to figure out that Uchiha Shisui is Homusubi and Hyuga Kuroto is Suijin?"

"As I said, he won't, even if he might be a bit suspicious, but the fact that Suijin had Ice Release Kekkei Genkai, so he couldn't be sure about it, because the shinobi named Hyuga Kuroto doesn't have Ice Release!"

"And what about me?" – asked Homusubi.

"Since he can't be sure of me, so he would obviously be unsure about you, we just have to present a good enough alibi and we are all clear for the time being." – explained Suijin.

Homusubi nodded.

After thinking a little, Suijin questioned, "By the way, when you broke free of Uchiha Fugaku's technique, was your Mangekyou Sharingan exposed?"

Homusubi quickly said, "With the sealing techniques you engraved in the mask, it blocked Patriarch's exploration, therefore, Patriarch shouldn't have seen my Mangekyou pattern, but he did realize that Homusubi has Mangekyou Sharingan." – After a short pause, he continued, "But Patriarch used his Mangekyou Technique, and I had to break free of it using my ocular power, therefore if he experiences my ocular power again, he might be able to guess that was me!"

Suijin nodded, and continued, "Don't worry about it, we will come to that problem in the future!"

With that out of the way, Suijin asked again, "Given that Homusubi used all his ocular power to cast a Genjutsu, what would be the result if he uses a sneak attack on Uchiha Shisui, would it be possible to defeat Uchiha Shisui?"

Homusubi was taken aback for a moment and immediately understood what Suijin was trying to ask, "You mean, that we use the alibi that we encountered a sneak attack from both the members of Amatsukami at the same time, that way we wouldn't be under suspicion?"

Suijin nodded.

In Suijin's opinion, as long as both, Eagle and Cat of Anbu team-11 encountered a sneak attack from Suijin and Homusubi of Amatsukami at the same time, and end up being defeated, then the suspicion would obviously be resolved.

After a little consideration, Homusubi nodded, "As far as I understand the power of Mangekyou Sharingan can vary from person to person, and since Homusubi is very strong and experienced then it isn't strange for Uchiha Shisui to be defeated under the combined sneak attack from Suijin and Homusubi at the same time."

"In that case, we will have to carry on the preparation of the alibi!" – with that said, Suijin started devising the plan to set up their alibi…

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Read up to Chapter - 402 on P.a.t.r.e.o.n. Page: p-atreon.com/Milta_translations