"Tap!"
A foot came to a gentle stop atop a thick branch, making a faint sound.
"Thud!"
The next second, the other foot slowly stepped onto the branch as well.
"Whew..."
Then came an exhale.
This should be the place, right?
White eyes slowly glanced downward. The young man panted lightly as the thought crossed his mind.
It was Hyuga Yukyō! He had not expected that using the Byakugan for just half an hour would leave him this exhausted. Was it because he had lost an eye? Or had he become too complacent while recovering from his injuries these past days, neglecting even the most basic training? After that glance, amid his breathing, the white in Hyuga Yukyō's remaining eye gradually faded as he deactivated the Byakugan.
The place Lord Shinsuke wrote about should be here, right? I never expected it to be...
The next moment, he raised his head and looked toward somewhere beyond the layers of trees in this small forest, where the leaves had begun to fall but the foliage remained fairly dense. A startled sense of wonder rose in his heart.
At this moment, his white eyes reflected Konoha's towering outer wall, concealed behind layers upon layers of branches and leaves, as well as the indistinct Hokage Rock Faces.
Following the secret note and coordinates left behind by his teacher, benefactor, and father-like figure—the late Hyuga Clan traitor, Hyuga Shinsuke—he had returned to the outskirts of the village.
According to Hyuga Shinsuke's instructions in the note, beneath the roots of the utterly ordinary tree on which he stood—a tree no one would ever recognize among this forest—lay a secret Hyuga Shinsuke had guarded his entire life.
It was also a secret he could not reveal even in death.
Earlier, with a single sweep of his Byakugan,