The thirty-two Konoha and Suna shinobi swept through the Forbidden Zone like overlapping radar waves. Occasionally, the two sides would cross paths, but they maintained a professional, if icy, distance.
Whenever they passed, they performed quick visual ID checks. So far, no disguised infiltrators had been sniffed out.
Hagoromo's team remained the eye in the sky. He and Hizashi Hyuga had a clear division of labor: Hizashi handled the wide-spectrum battlefield monitoring with his Byakugan, while Hagoromo handled the communications link with Minato's squad.
Soon, the three-hour window was closing. It was mid-morning, and the time for the summit had arrived. The Kazekage and the Hokage, flanked by their respective elite guards, began their entry into the Forbidden Zone.
"The Third Hokage and our forces have entered the area..."
Hizashi Hyuga, who had been a silent statue behind Hagoromo, finally spoke. In the thin, howling winds of the upper atmosphere, his voice remained eerily steady and clear.
Before Hagoromo could even respond, Hizashi's voice tightened slightly as he continued:
"The Kazekage has been sighted. Warning: The Fourth Kazekage has entered the surveillance zone. Unit count: seventeen. The Kazekage and sixteen guards. Matches pre-summit intelligence..."
"Key targets identified. Target One: Rasa, the Fourth Kazekage. Threat level: S. Target Two: Chiyo, Suna Consultant. Threat level: S. Target Three: Baki, Suna Jonin and Tactical Commander. Threat level: A."
Once an enemy ninja reached a certain level of lethality, Konoha's intelligence department would plaster their face across every Bingo Book on the front lines. Hizashi could pick them out of a crowd at a thousand paces.
Take Lady Chiyo, for instance. No one wanted to fight her. You could be the strongest warrior in the world and still die without ever drawing your sword, simply because her invisible poisons had already dissolved your lungs. The only reason the Leaf hadn't been completely decimated on this front was because they had Tsunade—the only person capable of playing chess with Chiyo's toxins.
In Hizashi's clinical assessment, Chiyo's sheer threat level actually eclipsed the Kazekage's own.
As for why Hagoromo didn't recognize someone like Ebizo? Well, he was a late addition to this front. The poor kid had never actually been issued an official intelligence handbook—in fact, he didn't even know they existed because no one had told him. Kushina, for all her strengths, was a bit too "big picture" to worry about giving him a directory of enemy seniors.
Still, the Byakugan lived up to its reputation. With the Senju and Uchiha largely out of the spotlight, the Hyuga's claim to being "Konoha's Strongest" held weight in the field of reconnaissance. Hizashi had spotted the Suna party from miles away; from Hagoromo's perspective, he could squint until his eyes popped out and still see nothing but sand.
In a ninja world where "first contact" usually determined the victor, this was a massive advantage.
The moment Hizashi finished his report, Inoichi's scheduled telepathic link arrived like clockwork. This long-distance mental projection burned through chakra at a terrifying rate, so usually, Hagoromo would just ping back a "Clear" and cut the connection.
But not today. Hagoromo quickly relayed Hizashi's observations to Inoichi, repeating the target list twice to ensure no data was lost in the mental static.
"Acknowledged..." Inoichi's voice echoed in his mind. There was a brief pause—likely Inoichi reporting to Minato—and then the orders came through.
"Maintain close surveillance on the Kazekage's movements. Repeat: Stay on them."
"Hizashi/Hagoromo Team, acknowledged."
The link snapped shut. With the Kazekage on the move, Minato's ground team would be tightening their formation.
"Let's close the distance," Hagoromo told Hizashi.
Hizashi nodded. "Adjusting course to nine o'clock. Distance: forty-five hundred meters."
Hagoromo banked the Yatagarasu, diving toward the coordinates. Soon, the tiny silhouettes of the Sand delegation became visible against the dunes. Hagoromo leveled out at a lower altitude, keeping a respectful but firm distance. He wanted them to see him—a transparent, "nothing-to-hide" surveillance pass. In a climate of total distrust, being sneaky was actually more dangerous than being bold.
He desperately wanted to buzz the Kazekage's head just to see the man's expression, but he controlled the impulse. Now was not the time for a "Courting death" moment.
The Sand ninjas weren't blind. They immediately spotted the "little white bird" that had become the bane of their existence.
"Ignore him. Keep moving," Rasa commanded. Even from their altitude, Hagoromo's enhanced senses caught the faint drift of the Fourth's voice. "The meeting with the Hokage is the priority."
Hagoromo and Hizashi shadowed the parade for several miles until another Konoha ground team rotated in to take over the visual tail.
Just as Hagoromo was about to pull back and regain altitude, Hizashi's hand clamped onto his shoulder like a vise.
"Wait. We have a situation!"
The Yatagarasu hovered, wings beating against the desert thermals.
Hagoromo turned his head and saw a look in Hizashi's pale eyes that he had never seen before: absolute, bone-chilling intensity.
"What is it?" Hagoromo asked.
Hizashi didn't let go of his shoulder immediately, his gaze locked on a distant patch of nothingness.
"Hold us right here. Don't move."
Hizashi's chakra flared, surging toward his eyes. The veins around his temples bulged so violently they looked ready to burst. Hagoromo followed his line of sight, but to his "ordinary" eyes, there was nothing there but sun-scorched earth and empty heat shimmers.