Once they had a clearer direction in mind, Hikaru and Kakashi began preparing in earnest.
This mission only came with a rough outline—no concrete details at all—so most of the intelligence had to be gathered by them personally. That was precisely why ANBU had given them a full half month to complete it.
Half a month was no small allowance.
ANBU's numbers were limited, and every operative was an elite. In that amount of time, a team could easily complete multiple missions of considerable importance.
Hikaru and Kakashi weren't the kind of ANBU dispatched to infiltrate other villages. In Konoha, that sort of long-term external assignment had already been claimed by ROOT.
It was a decision made back in the Second Hokage's era, intended to prevent ANBU from becoming too powerful and centralized. The Third Hokage had tried more than once to reclaim that authority, but with little success.
For Hikaru, that arrangement was actually a blessing. At least he didn't have to worry about being sent deep into another country's hidden village, lying low for three years… then another three.
Information gathering was, by nature, a dull affair.
Still, it was also a perfect excuse to slack off—and Hikaru wasn't about to pass that up, even if he already had a decent idea of the truth.
After several days, his sealing-type chakra seed had reached twelve percent maturity, almost exactly in line with his expectations.
That said, slacking off didn't mean neglecting appearances. And besides—Hikaru really had noticed something off.
The moment they entered Shouqi City, he sensed it.
Someone was watching them.
Hikaru trusted his perception more than almost anything else. He was certain he wasn't mistaken. What puzzled him was who was doing the watching.
The surveillance became even more pronounced when they approached Shouqi Castle—and the desolate cemetery outside the city walls.
"Who is it…? Is there some unexpected variable here?"
Hikaru wasn't sure. After all, his arrival was a full sixteen years earlier than when Naruto and the others would eventually get involved. It wouldn't be strange if some details had changed.
That night, in Hikaru's room, he and Kakashi sat down to exchange what they'd learned and make a final assessment.
"At this point," Hikaru said calmly, "we can basically rule out human experimentation. There's no evidence at all."
"If it were human experimentation, there would be traces—no matter how careful they were. Personnel transfers alone would leave signs, and the experimental site wouldn't be far away. There's no way nothing would remain."
"Then there's the disposal of bodies after the experiments. That too would leave clues. We've found none of it."
"So I don't think we need to consider that angle any further."
Human experimentation was an extremely complex undertaking. No matter how it was handled, it always left something behind.
Because of the surveillance, Hikaru had been especially thorough in his checks these past few days. He'd genuinely suspected some hidden organization might be operating here.
Even if sealing techniques were used to cover things up, he didn't believe anyone could do it more cleanly than Konoha's ROOT.
Just look at the Akatsuki—the most dangerous enemy the shinobi world currently faced. Their research into sealing techniques was mediocre at best. Even their method of sealing tailed beasts relied primarily on the Rinnegan's abilities.
As for Kara… Hikaru couldn't even be sure whether that organization existed yet. The timeline was simply too early.
In the end, he'd found nothing.
Nothing—except the fact that someone was watching him.
"So we assume it's a monster, then?" Kakashi asked quietly. He'd done plenty of investigation himself. "But I haven't found any signs of movement. No tracks. Not even evidence of waste."
"Maybe it doesn't need to leave any." Hikaru replied casually. "Some creatures have stomach acid strong enough to dissolve even bone."
"There are plenty of examples. Orochimaru-sama's snake, for one."
Orochimaru's giant snake was famous in Konoha. Hikaru remembered its name—Manda.
Back during the war, he'd heard that Orochimaru had unleashed Manda on the battlefield in the Land of Whirlpools, where it swallowed more than fifty shinobi in one go, utterly crushing Kirigakure's morale.
The snake had an atrocious temperament, and it was later blown apart by Deidara—but there was no denying it was a strategic-level existence.
Veterans from the battlefield had said that after devouring over fifty shinobi, Manda showed no ill effects whatsoever.
No waste. No visible digestion issues.
For creatures of that size, that number probably wasn't even enough to make them feel full.
And Hikaru knew that the giant lizard masquerading as Shouqi Castle had maintained this state for over a decade. The fact that it hadn't been exposed meant its biology clearly didn't cause problems like that.
People went missing periodically, yes—but the numbers were likely just enough to sustain it.
"Captain… speaking of monsters, there's something I remembered," Kakashi said after thinking for a moment. "There's a legend about Shouqi City's last ruler—Shouqi Castle. He supposedly had an enormous summoned beast."
"Captain, you don't think that it could be—"
"Yeah. Very likely." Hikaru's eyes glinted faintly, and a small smile appeared on his lips.
"Enormous size. Immense strength. Starving, forced to feed on humans."
"It attacks people and eats them, but its behavior is restrained—passive, even. Combined with what you just said, I'm confident I know exactly what we're dealing with."
Since Kakashi had already arrived at the answer, Hikaru saw no reason not to confirm it.
Shouqi Castle… the name itself wasn't especially clear in Hikaru's memory. Remembering the giant lizard was enough.
As for where that man was now?
Hikaru didn't know. But Shouqi City had already been annexed. Was it safe to assume the man was dead?
If so, perhaps his resentment before death had bound his summoned beast here, leaving it to guard this place.
If that was the case, then Hikaru had just avoided a major headache—fighting not only a summoned beast, but also its summoner.
He'd already set his sights on that lizard. Yes, its actions were brutal—feeding on humans—but the shinobi world had always been a world that devoured people.
Hikaru himself didn't know how many lives were already on his hands. He wasn't about to moralize over an animal's instincts.
If anyone deserved blame, it was the wars of the Land of Fire—or Shouqi Castle, for leaving such a creature behind in the first place.
The fewer complications, the better. No one knew what level Shouqi Castle had been at in life.
"For now, the only real trouble," Hikaru said softly, "is the people watching us."
"But I might have a way to deal with that."
…
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