Seeing Through It

"Lightning Blade!"

Kakashi burst in from the side as if wielding lightning itself, charging straight at the first ninja who had unleashed a combined ninjutsu to stab his companion in the back. The ANBU agent's expression changed. His Substitution Technique erupted, and he used the Body Flicker Technique to dart rapidly to one side.

The Lightning Blade's sharp radiance pierced through his mask, drawing a line of blood and exposing his face. As expected, it was the Konoha Jonin who had defected—Mato Kosuke.

Yuzuru Hyuga did not stop moving either—of the four ANBU ninja originally responsible for receiving them, two had turned traitor, and one had been instantly backstabbed. Only one remained, too mentally shaken by the betrayal to react for the moment.

"Moon Rabbit! What are you doing?!" the ANBU agent roared. Drawing his kunai, he charged at the ANBU agent who had stabbed his companion in the back, furiously demanding, "Why are you helping Mato? Where's Scarlet Fish?!"

"Of course, I killed him."

Moon Rabbit's voice was icy. His short blade flashed, colliding with the ANBU agent's kunai in a ringing clang.

Several bursts of Gentle Fist chakra suddenly shot out from behind the ANBU agent. Moon Rabbit's expression changed, and he instinctively twisted aside—only to give the other ANBU agent an opening. A kunai flew in from his blind spot and pierced straight through his shoulder.

Damn it!

Moon Rabbit did not have time to curse before a figure eerily appeared in front of him.

Within Yuzuru Hyuga's mask, only two cold white eyes could be seen. One hand pressed against Moon Rabbit's chest.

"Pfft!" Moon Rabbit felt an agonizing pain burst from his heart. Looking down, his pupils trembled as he still struggled to believe it. "So fast."

He had not even seen Yuzuru Hyuga move before that fist wrapped in Gentle Fist chakra struck his heart, stopping it in an instant. Then even more Gentle Fist chakra surged in, shattering his heart.

Yuzuru Hyuga kicked his corpse away. The remaining ANBU agent stared at him, disbelief still flickering in his eyes. "You—"

"There was no time to capture him alive." Yuzuru Hyuga's gaze was cold, as if he had seen through the ANBU agent's thoughts. He offered no further explanation and rushed toward Mato Kosuke, who was fiercely battling Kakashi.

The ANBU agent's eyes shook violently as he stood there, his rims reddening. Looking at the dead Moon Rabbit, he gritted his teeth and picked up his kunai before following behind Yuzuru Hyuga.

To Yuzuru Hyuga, the ANBU agent called Moon Rabbit was merely a traitor who had to be eliminated. But to this ANBU agent, he had been a comrade who had faced life and death alongside him countless times!

Mato Kosuke was likewise being firmly suppressed by Kakashi. Though he was a rare elite Jonin, Kakashi's swordsmanship was masterful, every strike fatal. He gave Kosuke no chance to pull away and cast ninjutsu. With his Sharingan spinning rapidly, his astonishing reaction speed left Kosuke unable to break free or find an opening.

When he saw Moon Rabbit killed in a single strike by Yuzuru Hyuga, Mato Kosuke realized things had gone terribly wrong.

Originally, their plan had been to use the two Chunin and one Shadow Clone inside the house to draw attention. Once the reinforcements arrived, they would use the two Chunin's lives as bait and let the Explosive Tags inflict a wave of damage.

Afterward, Mato Kosuke and Moon Rabbit, disguised as ANBU, would strike from behind together. Caught off guard, even Kakashi would be severely wounded—or perhaps killed.

But Yuzuru Hyuga had unexpectedly appeared. Not only had he stopped the ANBU agents, but he had also happened to use Rotation to knock down his own allies, preventing them from taking advantage of the moment.

Thus, they had tacitly changed the plan, intending to lure this group of Konoha ANBU into the encirclement set by the Cloud Hidden Village forces waiting to receive them. Yet they had never expected Yuzuru Hyuga to notice something unusual.

His Byakugan could observe the movements of his allies without any blind spots, even when they were positioned behind him.

"Impossible..." Mato Kosuke seemed to realize something. He suddenly roared, wanting to reveal the secret he had discovered, but in the next instant, Yuzuru Hyuga appeared at his side.

The katana Shisui Uchiha had given him carved an arc through the air.

Hatake Kakashi likewise raised his katana and slashed horizontally.

The two katanas sealed off every route of retreat for Mato Kosuke. His eyes widened with fury, but he could only die in resentment.

No matter how many ninjutsu one knew, without the ability to cast without hand seals or form seals one-handed, they could not be used if one could not escape the entanglement of close combat.

His body, split into three pieces, flew off in different directions.

Successfully killed a defected Konoha Jonin. Obtained free experience: 1782

Assisted in killing a defected Konoha Jonin. Obtained free experience: 792

A brilliant counter-ambush battle. You saw through the enemy's weakness! Obtained additional free experience: 1021.

Yuzuru Hyuga let out a breath.

Perhaps he was the only one present who knew what Mato Kosuke had discovered.

As a veteran ninja, Mato Kosuke could not possibly have been unaware of the limitations of the Branch House Byakugan. Directly behind the spine was a one-degree blind spot.

Just now, he had used that blind spot to signal Moon Rabbit with his hand, indicating the distance and direction.

But how could he have known that, for Yuzuru Hyuga, whose Caged Bird had already been hollowed out by the Flying Bird Seal, there was still some degree of interference? That one degree of vision was somewhat blurred, but unlike other Branch House ninja, he no longer possessed a true blind spot.

He had merely tilted his head ever so slightly and seen the hand signal clearly.

That was how he had realized something was wrong and signaled Kakashi that the situation had changed, preventing the two of them from being led into the encirclement.

Kakashi naturally knew nothing of this. He assumed it had merely been Mato Kosuke's desperate cry before death. Without hesitation, he pulled out a kunai and threw it at the already dead Moon Rabbit's head. The kunai embedded itself in the skull, and the corpse did not move.

Confirming a kill had become Kakashi's instinct. Afterward, his fingers rapidly formed several gestures.

He was asking Yuzuru Hyuga whether there was a problem with the remaining ANBU agent.

Yuzuru Hyuga shook his head. At the same time, he activated his Byakugan and stared into the distance, his fingers swiftly making signs where only Kakashi could see them.

The other ANBU agent turned his head away helplessly and dejectedly, openly shifting his gaze aside to show that he had no intention of peeking—his teammates had either betrayed them or been killed, and now that he knew he was under suspicion as well, he could only prove himself trustworthy through his actions.

Three kilometers away. Ten people: three at Jonin level, five Chunin, and two Genin.

At their current speed, they would take another five minutes to get here.

He gave his assessment based on the amount of chakra.

Kakashi decisively shook his head. "Inspect and destroy the bodies. Retreat!"

Even Kakashi did not consider them opponents they could not contend with, especially when they had discovered them in advance and had the chance to set an ambush.

However, Yuzuru Hyuga's safety was more important than killing those Kumogakure ninja.

The rogue ninja had already been killed anyway. If there had been any information to exchange, it had likely leaked out long ago. There was no need to fight Kumogakure again. If they had reinforcements, things would become seriously troublesome.

Yuzuru Hyuga immediately took action. He understood perfectly why they needed to inspect and destroy the bodies. He went straight to Moon Rabbit's corpse and examined it. After roughly confirming that there was no intelligence or anything else to gain, he used the Great Fireball Technique on the body.

They had to guard against the possibility that the ninja carried information regarding Konoha, so the corpses had to be thoroughly destroyed in case intelligence had been hidden somewhere they had failed to search.

As for their companions' bodies, their own people would take them away after inspecting them.

Since no one had brought sealing scrolls, this was their only option. Generally speaking, on the battlefield, someone would specifically carry large sealing scrolls for recovering the corpses of allies or enemies.

Generally, ninja would not simply leave their comrades' bodies behind.

"First, let's confirm the bodies of those two Chunin."

Yuzuru Hyuga suddenly spoke up to remind them. Kakashi immediately understood why he had said that and decisively nodded. "Got it."

When the two Chunin had been killed by the Explosive Tags, Moon Rabbit had suddenly claimed to know Mato Kosuke's whereabouts, and they had all rushed after him without inspecting the two bodies.

But now that Moon Rabbit's defection had been confirmed, they had to be wary of other possible motives.

One could never be too careful.

After returning to the village, Yuzuru Hyuga checked the area with his Byakugan but found nothing. The ANBU squad then swiftly withdrew—they did not need to return to Konoha, as there were Konoha outposts nearby where they could relay information and request reinforcements.

With peace talks with Kumogakure yet to begin, how could Konoha possibly have been defenseless around the borders of the Land of Fire?

Several minutes later, a group of Kumogakure ninja found the corpses of the two rogue ninja in the forest. Their expressions darkened, but they did not pursue.

"Forget it. We have the intelligence. We're heading back."

A leading Jonin made the decision at once and abandoned the pursuit.

The dead were merely two Konoha rogue ninja. Since the ambush had failed and they had obtained the intelligence, there was naturally no need to put themselves in further danger.

Yet Kakashi and Yuzuru Hyuga, having avoided a battle, did not feel the slightest bit fortunate.

After the intelligence was relayed back to Konoha, the two, who had remained on standby at the border, received new orders in barely half a day.

The defensive layout of the entire border outpost would be redeployed. The two of them were to work with a new ANBU squad to hunt down and kill the remaining rogue ninja along the border.

In addition, they needed to assist Konoha with reconnaissance and resist any possible Kumogakure infiltration.

That was right.

Not long after the brutal end of the Third Shinobi War, with the Fourth's death, Orochimaru's defection, the Nine-Tails Incident inflicting devastating casualties upon civilians, and the Third resuming office—

There were far more than one or two ninja choosing to defect from Konoha.

Kumogakure was highly active in regions outside the Land of Fire, including the Land of Hot Water, the Land of Frost, and the Land of Waves.

Iwagakure was likewise highly active within the Land of Grass and the Land of Iron. While remaining wary of Kumogakure's movements, it also had ties with certain rogue ninja. It was relatively restrained toward Konoha, but frequently clashed with Kumogakure.

Thus, Yuzuru Hyuga and Kakashi remained extremely active along the Land of Fire's border, tracking rogue ninja while guarding against foreign incursions. Though they had secured partial victory in the Third Shinobi War, they found themselves in an exceedingly passive defensive position on this new local battlefield.

This situation continued more or less until the end of Year 52.

In November of Year 52, Yuzuru Hyuga and Kakashi received a handwritten order from the Hokage and were summoned back to Konoha.

After a year of adjustment and reclaiming authority, the Third finally made his decision. Having judged that the conflict between Kumogakure and Iwagakure could not be contained in the short term, he changed Konoha's passive defensive strategy. They would soon shift to the offensive, intensify pressure on Kumogakure, and attempt to force it into signing a peace treaty by escalating the conflict on its battlefield.

It was against this backdrop that Yuzuru Hyuga, after a long time, met the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, in his office. He looked as though he had gained a few more wrinkles.