Kai moved.
In an instant, he cut in from behind, chakra surging as he brought his palm down in a clean arc.
Boom!
Chakra exploded from his palm.
Crack—!
The Kumogakure envoy barely managed to twist his head aside, desperately trying to avoid a direct hit.
But in front of Kai's Sharingan and enhanced dynamic vision, the man's movements were laughably slow.
The palm strike slammed straight into the back of his skull.
Thud.
The light in the Cloud ninja's eyes faded, piece by piece.
"…Hah."
Kai exhaled.
Not from exhaustion—
But from the sheer surge of adrenaline.
His heart was pounding wildly.
This was his first kill.
And instead of fear, what flooded his chest was uncontrollable exhilaration.
He even felt the urge to laugh out loud.
A Kumogakure special jōnin… so this is all he amounts to.
Just then, the system's familiar prompt chimed, perfectly on cue.
[Target defeated: Kumogakure envoy. Attempting to copy traits.]
[Available traits: Cloud Techniques (Green), Lightning Release Mastery (Blue), Lightning Chakra Activation (Blue), Cloud-Style Taijutsu (Purple)…]
[Copy successful. Congratulations! Obtained Elite Trait — Cloud-Style Taijutsu (Purple): Uses Lightning Release chakra to wrap the body in lightning, greatly enhancing reaction speed and physical power.]
Immediately after—
[Contacting target: Kumogakure envoy.]
[Contact complete (30 seconds). Trait plundered: Lightning Release Mastery (Blue).]
Defeat plus corpse-looting.
Two traits in one go.
That felt ridiculously good.
No wonder he'd caught the faint "scent" of corpse-looting earlier and rushed over without hesitation.
Both traits were top-tier.
Especially the Cloud Village's Lightning Chakra Cloak.
"If I remember correctly…" Kai muttered,
"The Fourth Raikage dodged Amaterasu using this, didn't he?"
"And the Third Raikage relied on it to tear through countless enemies."
As he spoke, he casually unleashed another Eight Trigrams: Air Palm, striking the corpse again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
The quiet forest echoed with the sound of merciless follow-up strikes.
By the time moonlight once more illuminated the clearing, the scar-faced Cloud ninja was unmistakably dead.
Chest shattered.
Throat crushed.
Forehead split.
"Since I technically saved the Hyūga clan's young lady…"
Kai straightened up, expression calm.
"…this mess should naturally fall on the Hyūga to deal with."
He hesitated briefly, then crouched beside the unconscious girl.
Hyūga Hinata.
Her forehead was burning hot.
"…You've got to be kidding."
Kai frowned.
He could clearly sense a seal related to the Byakugan—one meant to prevent external probing.
But this was the Hyūga clan's heir.
She was barely three years old.
And they were already guarding her this tightly?
"No wonder people call them a bunch of 'white-eyed' lunatics."
Shaking his head, Kai slowly extended three golden chakra chains from his body.
They wrapped around the chaotic chakra inside Hinata.
Strange sealing runes flickered faintly.
As the chains tightened, Hinata's temperature gradually returned to normal.
Adamantine Sealing Chains.
A pinnacle sealing technique of the Uzumaki lineage.
Suppressing Hyūga chakra with it was effortless.
A prompt appeared at the same time.
[Target defeated: Hyūga Hinata. Attempting to copy traits.]
[Available traits: Ninja Forbidden Zone (Black), Gentle Fist (Green), Eight Trigrams Palm (Green), Byakugan (Purple).]
"Ninja Forbidden Zone?"
Kai's gaze was immediately drawn to the pitch-black trait.
Hard to ignore something that ominous.
As he focused on it, the description unfolded.
[Special Trait — Ninja Forbidden Zone (Black): Cannot be harmed by ninja. Those who do so will inevitably die.]
Short. Brutal. Absolute.
It instantly reminded him of a meme from his previous life—
Anyone who ever hurt the Crown Princess met a miserable end.
Even Pain, who entered with max intimidation, got his entire character model smashed after laying a hand on her.
In cultivation terms, this was a bona fide Heaven-favored Child.
To be revered, never offended.
Otherwise—catastrophic karma.
[Copy successful. Congratulations! Obtained Epic Trait — Byakugan (Purple): When activated, grants vision of chakra flow and pathways, reveals chakra points, and allows prediction of enemy movement.]
"Byakugan?"
Kai blinked.
With a thought, his left eye transformed—
Pale white, veins bulging grotesquely around it.
But the world sharpened.
Crystal clear.
Because Hinata belonged to the Main House, her Byakugan granted full 360-degree vision, no blind spots.
Kai's awareness expanded dramatically.
He grinned in silent laughter.
Then, suddenly—
"…Wait. Why is the Byakugan an Epic trait?"
"An awakened Sharingan is only Elite."
That little competitive itch was impossible to suppress.
[Notice: In terms of bloodline hierarchy, the Byakugan surpasses standard Sharingan. It also possesses the potential to awaken the Tenseigan.]
"Tenseigan?" Kai scoffed.
"Don't bring fanfiction logic into Naruto, alright?"
He carefully laid Hinata down, cleaned up the battlefield, and vanished into the night.
The pursuers were close now.
Three minutes later—
Step.
Hyūga Hiashi** halted abruptly.
When he saw the unconscious blue-haired girl ahead, his heart clenched.
"Hinata!"
Scooping her up, he quickly confirmed she was only unconscious.
The Byakugan's internal seal remained intact.
He exhaled sharply in relief.
Thank goodness.
But then—
His eyes landed on the fallen Cloud ninja.
His breath caught.
"This is…?"
"A Kumogakure envoy… dead?"
A closer look made his heart sink completely.
A Cloud ninja had died outside Konoha.
This was no small matter.
Even though Hiashi had been in pursuit, killing the man had never crossed his mind.
"Eight Trigrams Palm… could this be Hizashi?!"
Seeing the Gentle Fist damage patterns, his pulse spiked.
After a moment's hesitation, he grabbed the corpse and vanished.
Whoever killed him, the Hyūga clan was going to be implicated regardless.
Burying the body was the only option.
Not long after—
ANBU operatives arrived.
And so did the Third Hokage.
Hiruzen Sarutobi** surveyed the battlefield, his expression darkening.
"He's dead…"
Bloodstains.
Residual chakra.
Signs of a swift, silent execution.
Someone capable of killing a Kumogakure envoy this cleanly, so close to the village…
In all of Konoha—
Only one person fit that profile.
"…Danzo Shimura."
Hiruzen's voice dropped, heavy with anger.
"You've gone too far."
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