Double Kill

The Black Shadow fled.

It vanished without a trace before everyone's eyes.

Other than Hizashi Hyuga, who possessed the Byakugan and could see the wisp of black mist left behind by the Black Shadow, nothing remained.

Or rather, with the Hidden Leaf Village's most elite ninja acting together, it could not have left anything behind.

The last time they had felt so powerless was during the Nine-Tails Rebellion several years ago.

Speaking of the Nine-Tails...

"Could it have been that Masked Man?"

They could not possibly forget the culprit who had released the Nine-Tails years ago, resulting in even the Third Hokage's death.

"No, it absolutely wasn't him!" Hizashi Hyuga's tone was incomparably certain. "I remember that Masked Man's Chakra. It was completely different from this Black Shadow's."

"I even suspect that this Black Shadow had any Chakra at all, because I didn't see a single trace of Chakra on him."

"I even... doubt whether he was human!"

Setting aside what Sarutobi Hiruzen thought, Uchiha Fugaku let out a sigh of relief.

Although the Uchiha Clan and the Hyuga Clan could not be said to have a particularly good relationship, at this moment, Uchiha Fugaku found himself viewing Hizashi Hyuga more favorably.

After all, the Masked Man who had appeared years ago had made the relationship between the village and the Uchiha Clan extremely tense. If another "Black Shadow" connected to the Uchiha Clan appeared now, he truly would have nowhere to cry.

Since the Hyuga Clan, which possessed the Byakugan bloodline limit, had said so, there was likely no mistake.

"Our top priority now is to find out whether anyone was killed," Sarutobi Hiruzen said after pondering for a moment.

Then the entire village sprang into action.

A Black Shadow had inexplicably appeared in the Hidden Leaf Village, then inexplicably vanished. This could be considered a provocation against the Hidden Leaf Village.

Not long afterward, before the Anbu could uncover anything useful—

The Kumogakure group stormed into the Hokage's Office Building once more and confronted the Third Hokage, who had only just sat down and had not even warmed his chair.

"Hokage-sama! What is the meaning of this? We came to the Hidden Leaf Village with peaceful intentions, yet now our leader has died in your village!"

"If you people of the Hidden Leaf Village do not give us an explanation, this will not be over!"

The Kumogakure people immediately tried to pin the blame on the Third Hokage.

The Third Hokage took a puff from his pipe, exhaling white smoke from his mouth.

"Please, everyone, calm down. Something happened in the Hidden Leaf Village just moments ago. We know nothing about your leader's situation. Could there perhaps be some misunderstanding here?"

"A misunderstanding? Are you people of the Hidden Leaf Village going to deny what you did? Are you trying to start another war between the Hidden Leaf Village and Kumogakure?"

War?

Sarutobi Hiruzen's gaze instantly sharpened, and he took another puff from his pipe.

"Everyone, do not speak carelessly. The Hidden Leaf Village has no reason to kill your leader. As for war, that is even more absurd. Please do not treat such matters as a joke."

Though Sarutobi Hiruzen wore a genial smile, his tone had turned cold.

"Hmph, I don't care! Your Hidden Leaf Village must give us an explanation today!"

The Kumogakure people simply began acting shamelessly.

Just then, an Anbu appeared in the office and dropped to one knee.

"Hokage-sama, we have investigated. No ninja or civilians are missing from the village."

"Of course none of your Hidden Leaf Village people are hurt. The ones who died were from Kumogakure."

Upon hearing the Anbu's report, the Kumogakure delegation immediately began speaking sarcastically.

Sarutobi Hiruzen took another puff from his pipe. He understood now. It seemed that the Kumogakure delegation had come to sign the peace treaty with ill intentions.

Meanwhile, back in her room, Hinata watched the Black Shadow emerge from the shadows in the corner.

Hinata's vision was now... strange.

Her eyes had changed greatly over the past three years.

Outwardly, nothing looked different. They were a pair of Byakugan like those of any ordinary Hyuga.

Their functions were also nearly identical.

But in truth, the two were not even on the same level.

Two years ago, Hinata had already been able to see the meridians in the human body, as well as the Chakra within people.

Not long after that, she had been able to clearly see the Nature Energy that existed everywhere in this world.

Wind, fire, water, earth, lightning, wood—ever since she had become able to see Nature Energy, Hinata had seen it more clearly with each passing day.

Fortunately, this Nature Energy had not suddenly appeared in her field of vision. She could freely turn off this perspective that allowed her to see Nature Energy, so it had not caused Hinata much trouble.

But just now—

Ever since she had seen that mass of energy that seemed to be formed from all the negative energy in the universe—

Her vision had undergone an enormous change!

Energy that seemed able to devour everything and bore malice toward all things appeared in Hinata's sight.

The moment this energy appeared, it occupied Hinata's entire field of vision!

Yes, her entire field of vision. Every angle across all three hundred and sixty degrees!

At that moment, the entire world seemed as though it had been soaked in black dye.

The once colorful world had been wrapped in a layer of black.

And that blackness was not friendly.

Through Hinata's eyes, which could see thousands of li in every direction, she saw several places within that range—

Where vast amounts of strange black energy had gathered, as though they were nurturing something.

Unfortunately, the Hidden Leaf Village was one of those places.

And now, in Hinata's vision, a strange black vortex lay less than five meters away from her.

The vortex was only two meters tall and wide, yet it constantly devoured the strange black energy around it, strengthening itself.

"This is going to be troublesome..."

Since this was the first time she had encountered something so strange, Hinata did not know how to deal with it for the moment.

Just then, the sound of footsteps treading on the floor rang out.

Perhaps their owner had been extremely careful, quiet enough to evade many people.

But Hinata was not among them!

"You came at just the right time."

The newcomer was one of the Kumogakure delegation.

Originally, when the Kumogakure delegation heard their leader's scream, they had wanted to check what was happening. But when they recalled their mission—and saw that all the Hidden Leaf Village's people had been drawn away by their leader's scream—how could they possibly give up such a good opportunity?

This was the person the Kumogakure delegation had sent because they still had not given up on abducting Hinata!

Clearly, his luck was not very good. He had come at the wrong time.

After slipping past layer upon layer of guards and finally sneaking into Young Miss Hinata's room, what he saw was a Black Shadow. And...

Young Miss Hinata, glaring at him with a pair of Byakugan as though she had been waiting for him.

At the sight of this bizarre scene, the man could not help taking a step back.

He had been thoroughly frightened.

"I'm sorry, but you may have to die here."

Hinata apologized, because this was the first time someone was going to die because of her.

...Maybe the second time. Before him, his leader had already died first.

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