"Our identities are… special. Captain Nightingale, you should be able to guess who we are. We've crossed paths before."
Since they couldn't dispose of them, they could only handle this properly.
The man spoke in the calmest tone possible. He'd already decided what to do next.
"We've crossed paths before?" Hikaru already knew exactly who they were, but he cooperated anyway.
He frowned as if thinking hard, then widened his eyes in sudden realization.
"So it's… you people."
"Then you understand," the man nodded. "I apologize for what happened tonight. Due to special circumstances, an unnecessary misunderstanding occurred. I will punish them when I return. However—"
"I understand, sir," Hikaru cut in smoothly before the man could finish. "I'll forget this incident. I'll forget this place. I won't write it into any report. At most—if the Hokage asks directly, I'll answer truthfully."
Hikaru was very on-the-ball.
He knew what should be said, what shouldn't, and—more importantly—to whom.
In truth, he wanted to say he'd only report to the Third Hokage. But he hadn't forgotten who was standing beside him.
So he used the vague, neutral term: "the Hokage."
At the same time, his eyes flicked briefly toward Kakashi.
The man immediately understood, and nodded in earnest.
That was it.
Hikaru knew the matter was settled.
He was furious about running into these people—but he also understood perfectly that he had no power to resist them.
Fortunately, for the moment, they didn't have the bandwidth to care about him.
Or rather… they had no interest in a fallen Senju branch.
To Danzo—or the Third Hokage, both inheritors of the Second Hokage's governing philosophy—the primary target would always be the "problematic" Uchiha.
And even if they wanted to move against the Senju, they'd never do it openly.
This was still the clan of the First and Second Hokage—the founding bloodline of Konoha. No one dared go too far.
If they acted at all, they'd do it through the Second Hokage's policies—letting the Senju become the "model example," making it look as if the clan declined naturally.
Once things were done, Hikaru grabbed Kakashi and pulled him away from the area at once.
Only after they'd put real distance between themselves and that sealed forest did Kakashi finally speak.
"Who were those people?"
Until now, Kakashi had never interacted with them—didn't even know such people existed.
And tonight, they'd nearly attacked them.
How could he not be curious?
"They?" Hikaru glanced behind them, then looked back at Kakashi. "Don't pry. If you can, forget what happened today. We follow ANBU secrecy rules."
"…I see." Kakashi frowned, then fell silent.
The answer frustrated him.
They'd almost fought to the death—and he still didn't even know who the enemy was.
But Hikaru's response was technically flawless.
That was ANBU.
Kakashi was just about to give up on asking when Hikaru subtly flashed a hand sign:
Being listened to.
Kakashi caught it instantly. His gaze sharpened.
They're monitoring even ANBU?
Hikaru didn't know what Kakashi was thinking. His attention was elsewhere—hidden, controlled.
A tiny insect kept circling in the moonlit air beside them.
Hikaru had been extremely careful.
Especially when dealing with Root.
From the moment they left, he kept sweeping the surroundings with sensory perception—and he quickly detected something nasty:
Small insects with faint chakra signatures.
"Aburame clan…"
He could now identify the tracker's family, and in his memory Root had always been interested in Aburame operatives.
In the future, when Danzo began forcibly "demanding" heirs from major clans, one of his first targets would be the Aburame.
If Aburame Torune hadn't volunteered to replace Shino and enter Root, then many of Team 8's future would never have happened—Shino wouldn't have remained in the sunlight.
And that kind of rule-breaking move… had only been possible because Hiruzen tacitly allowed it.
It was the sort of decision that turned Konoha's clans cold.
By the time the Chunin Exams crisis came, no one rushed to save the Third Hokage.
"But who is it right now?"
Hikaru kept walking as if he'd noticed nothing, thinking quickly.
Then a memory clicked into place.
When Danzo approached Yakushi Nono… he brought two people.
One was Orochimaru.
And the other—
Aburame Ryoma.
Hikaru narrowed his eyes.
If there was no surprise, it was him.
Someone who could stand beside Orochimaru as Danzo's escort was not a small-time figure.
Earlier, Hikaru had already sensed how terrifying that chakra was—both quantity and quality, beyond the level of a typical jonin.
And the insects inside his body…
Just sensing them made Hikaru's scalp crawl.
Dense. Countless. Faintly chakra-laced.
No wonder the Hyuga didn't like being near Aburame—one careless Byakugan glance could become an epic-grade nightmare.
Hikaru didn't know whether those bugs were venomous.
But given Root's habits…
Even if they weren't born poisonous, they'd absolutely be bred into something that was.
He wouldn't gamble.
Not even once.
One bite could become an "accidental death."
And Hikaru refused to die like that.
"So that underground room… it's probably Root's lab."
Or worse—
A joint lab shared by Root and Orochimaru.
It was sealed to this extent, hidden so thoroughly, guarded by someone like Aburame Ryoma…
Whatever was inside was extremely important.
It could even be something that required maximum protection—
Like Danzo himself.
Hikaru didn't know which.
But he knew one thing for sure:
He didn't want to touch it.
The good news was that once they left the forest, the insects stopped following.
Clearly, their "performance" had reassured Aburame Ryoma—for now.
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