Support me and be 30 chapters ahead of webnovel:
patreon.com/Draco_
For every 5 Patreon memberships I receive, I'll release 15 chapters all at once. Your support means a lot to me.
*****
Swish—
Swish, swish—
In the forest on the outskirts of Konoha Village, four Anbu ninja flickered and traversed through the trees, gradually converging from different directions.
"Target not found!" An Anbu ninja halted, standing on the branch of a massive tree. He used his sensory abilities to probe the surroundings, then reported to his teammates via the wireless communicator clipped to his ear.
The technology tree of the shinobi world was quite peculiar; while the development of thermal weaponry was essentially stagnant and technological levels were inconsistent, they already possessed advanced tech products like radio communications and microphones.
The other Anbu ninja also stopped one by one, each taking a high vantage point on a tree trunk to maintain a lookout.
"Strange, where did he go?" The sensory ninja formed a seal again. Chakra rippled outward like a wave, but he still found nothing.
Whish—
A sudden sound of breaking wind cut through the air as Kakashi, wearing a white cat mask, landed nearby.
As an Anbu Captain, Kakashi wouldn't normally be deployed so easily, but the incident this time involved the Hyūga Clan, one of Konoha's two great noble families.
The Third Hokage had personally ordered Kakashi to lead an Anbu squad to investigate.
"Captain!" The other Anbu ninja turned their heads toward him.
"Nothing on your end either?" Beneath the white cat mask, Kakashi's single visible eye turned solemn.
The moment the mysterious person vanished into the night, Kakashi had immediately led the Anbu in pursuit, fanning out like a giant net.
Yet they were nearly at the village's perimeter barrier, and there was still no sign of the intruder.
"Orphanage check complete, no anomalies," one Anbu added. "This area has only scattered buildings. The Director is Nonō Yakushi."
"The Wandering Miko?" Kakashi murmured in a low voice.
He had naturally heard of her name; after all, Root was technically a sub-division under the Anbu's umbrella, and the profiles of many Root spies and personnel were filed with the Anbu.
As for the ninja Danzo raised in secret, they were not included in those records.
"Continue the search! You two search east along the barrier; the rest follow me to the west!" Kakashi ordered.
"Yes!" The ninja moved out instantly.
---
*Konoha Hospital, Intensive Care Ward.*
Hizashi Hyūga was out of critical danger following emergency treatment by medical ninja and had been moved to a private room for recovery.
After all, Hizashi was not only a Jonin but also the head of the Hyūga Branch House and the younger brother of the Clan Head.
However, Hizashi, who should have been sleeping to recover from his injuries, found it impossible to drift off.
He lay on the hospital bed, his Byakugan staring at the ceiling, the furrow between his brows deep as if carved by a knife.
Scenes from the earlier battle flashed through his mind repeatedly.
Facing the combined assault of himself and Hiashi, the mysterious man had directly struck his one-degree blind spot. It was as if he understood the Hyūga Clan's situation perfectly.
Knock, knock—
A sound at the door.
"Come in." Hizashi turned his head toward the entrance.
The door slid open slowly, and Hiashi, now changed into casual clothes, walked in.
"Brother..." Hizashi struggled to sit up and pay respects, but Hiashi raised a hand to stop him.
"Stay down, your condition isn't good." Hiashi walked to the bedside and sat on a stool. Seeing his brother injured to such a degree, his expression was grim.
Though he had strong disagreements with his brother due to recent events, he had to admit that Hizashi's combat strength was on par with his own.
The two of them had pincer-attacked that mysterious man, yet one ended up heavily injured and the other lightly wounded!
A ninja this powerful was definitely no ordinary person; they shouldn't be unheard of in the world.
And more importantly...
"I came here to confirm the techniques used by that mysterious person earlier." Hiashi gave a soft grunt, adopting a stern expression.
"Yes..." Hizashi lay on the bed, recalling with a dim expression: "That person knows us—or rather, the Hyūga Clan—very well."
"In the initial exchange, when my Gentle Fist struck his tenketsu, he was able to erupt chakra from those points to counter me, using chakra to protect his points. Every strike felt like hitting a block of iron. It was difficult for the Gentle Fist to block his tenketsu, and even harder to inject Gentle Fist chakra into his meridians."
Hiashi's engagement with the stranger had been short, and he hadn't used the Gentle Fist's point-striking, instead going straight into the Eight Trigrams Palms.
Hearing this, Hiashi's expression darkened further.
"I tried to use the Byakugan to see the face under the mask, but I found only an endless dark abyss beneath it. His chakra was so immense it was beyond description."
"And he seemed to know my blind spot..." Hizashi shivered slightly at the thought.
The one-degree blind spot caused by the Caged Bird seal varied for every Branch House member. It was almost impossible to figure it out in a single engagement.
A Jonin like Hizashi, who had survived many brutal wars, had basically never had anyone find his blind spot before.
Yet today's mysterious man had found it in just over ten exchanges—
Hiashi crossed his arms over his chest, silent for a moment before speaking slowly: "I was defeated by his Twin Lion Fists."
"What?!" Hizashi sat up in shock.
He had been semi-conscious after being sent flying and hadn't seen the miserable sight of Hiashi being hit by the Twin Lion Fists.
But as the head of the Branch House, Hizashi had seen his brother use the Twin Lion Fists many times during their spars.
The full name of the technique was the "Gentle Step Twin Lion Fists," a high-level taijutsu that only the Hyūga Main House was permitted to learn.
By clenching both fists and gathering a massive amount of Gentle Fist chakra, the user shapes the chakra into two lion heads attached to the fists. Combined with specific footwork, it greatly increases attack power and striking range.
Its learning difficulty was no less than that of the Kaiten. Even Hizashi, who could develop Kaiten on his own, had not been able to replicate the Twin Lion Fists.
In an instant, many possibilities flashed through Hizashi's mind.
The Hyūga Clan... could there be a defector?
---
*Late Night, Hyūga Clan, Main House Estate.*
After shaking off the Anbu pursuit, Menma Uzumaki had doubled back.
Taking advantage of the fact that both Hizashi and Hiashi were at the hospital, Menma strolled into Hiashi Hyūga's study as if he were walking through his own home.
The tiny Nine-Tails hopped out of Menma's fur collar, jumped onto the desk, and began rummaging through the drawers.
"What did you say we were looking for again?" Opening a drawer, the tiny Nine-Tails paused. What was it?
"Clues about the moon and the Tenseigan." Menma stood before a bookshelf filled with volumes, his right hand scanning the spines for something specific.
It was impossible for the descendants of Otsutsuki Hamura on the moon to have zero interaction with the Hyūga Clan of the shinobi world.
Otherwise, it was impossible to explain why, among all the Kekkei Genkai clans in the shinobi world, only the Hyūga had developed a cursed seal like the "Caged Bird."
What they were guarding against wasn't necessarily other clans in the shinobi world stealing the Byakugan.
If a normal clan stole a Byakugan, they would at most get one or two eyes like Ao did.
But the Otsutsuki on the moon were a different story.
Furthermore, in the Naruto movie, Otsutsuki Toneri had visited the shinobi world as a child with his father, found the Hyūga estate, and observed Hinata from afar.
As an adult, Toneri even met with Hiashi Hyūga for a talk, and Hiashi went to the meeting with only two confidants.
This suggested that Hiashi might know something about the moon from the clan's ancient records.
"Menma." The tiny Nine-Tails rummaging through the drawers suddenly sensed something and scampered back into Menma's fur collar.
"That 'Big Sister' is coming," the tiny Nine-Tails said, shrinking back into the spiritual space.
"Hmm?" Menma, who was flipping through a copy of Manual for Using the Byakugan, paused.
He expanded his Malice Sensing. A somewhat familiar chakra was approaching.
And by the feel of it, she had quite the temper.
(End of Chapter)