Interception

"Plus, with their main camp nearby, even if we intercept him, he can get help from other Konoha Ninja in a short amount of time."

"So, turning back is safer for the Hyuga Main Family!"

Qi Shuang explained thoroughly to the three of them.

"Captain Ao, what do you think?" Mei Terumi looked towards the leader who remained silent on the other side.

Ao thought for a moment and immediately made a decision: "Listen to him, we'll turn back and search!"

"But what if that person isn't in this direction?" Zabuza pointed towards the location of Konoha's main camp.

Immediately, Mei Terumi also cast a questioning glance.

They didn't want to do anything meaningless.

Ao sighed, beckoned to his three subordinates, signaling them to depart. As they traveled, he explained, "Just as Qi Shuang said, there are already many Mist Ninja searching for intercepts in the direction of the Uchiha camp."

"That direction doesn't lack our team's manpower. On the contrary, searching in this opposite direction is a blind spot in most people's thinking."

"This area needs us more to rule out the possibility of the Hyuga Main Family's whereabouts!"

"Even if we don't find him, ruling out the possibility of him escaping in this direction is not meaningless!"

Afterward, the four of them expanded their search area, heading towards the direction of Konoha's main camp.

"You guys, hurry over here!"

Not long after, Zabuza made a discovery.

"What did you find?" Mei Terumi arrived first and asked.

"There's fresh blood here!" Zabuza pointed to a smear of crimson at the base of a large tree.

There were no signs of a struggle nearby, indicating that someone had stopped here to rest and left it behind.

Furthermore, judging by the other traces left behind, the person who left the bloodstain was alone, not a group.

Ao dipped a finger in it and examined it carefully before saying softly, "The bloodstain isn't dry. Someone was just here!"

"You three quickly search around here and find his tracks!"

Although he didn't know if the person who left the bloodstain was a fellow Mist Ninja or a Konoha Ninja, he decided to find the person first.

Moreover, because they were hunting the Hyuga Main Family, most of their Mist Ninja traveled in groups, so he was more inclined to believe that these traces were left by the fleeing Hyuga Main Family.

"There's a footprint here!"

A moment later, Qi Shuang made a new discovery about five meters from the bloodstain.

"There's one here too!"

Searching outwards from the footprint he found, Mei Terumi also quickly found new tracks.

Then, following the footprints and the occasional bloodstain, the four of them immediately tracked them down.

In less than three minutes, the group had tracked a suspicious figure in the dense forest.

The person seemed to have discovered their pursuit long ago, but due to their slow pace, they couldn't shake them off no matter how hard they tried.

Soon, Qi Shuang and the other three cornered him under a large tree.

"Where do you think you're going, Lord Hyuga?" Ao asked playfully, looking at the middle-aged man panting under the tree.

Although the man was covered in wounds and looked extremely disheveled, Ao could still recognize his weathered face, which matched the image on the Hyuga Main Family's photo perfectly.

Combined with Qi Shuang's earlier analysis, he guessed that this person was very likely the target of their mission this time, the current Hyuga Main Family!

Seeing that escape was hopeless with the four of them surrounding him, the middle-aged man with graying hair let out a long sigh, as if letting go of his last shred of hope. He said slowly, "I didn't expect that after shaking off so many idiots, I'd still be caught by you Mist Ninja!"

"It seems not all of you Mist Ninja are idiots!"

As he spoke, he gave a self-deprecating laugh, implicitly admitting his identity.

"Qi Shuang, fire the signal!"

Ao stared intently at the middle-aged man before him and gave an order to his subordinate, then exchanged a look with the other two.

"Take him down!"

Before he finished speaking, the three of them simultaneously lunged at the Hyuga Main Family under the large tree.

Qi Shuang quickly pulled a small rocket launcher from his ninja tool pouch.

It was the signal flare that Ao had distributed to the three of them earlier, with the instruction that it could only be used when the Hyuga Main Family was found.

Now was the time to use it.

He quickly moved to a spot with sparse leaves, pointed it towards the sky, and pulled the fuse.

Whoosh!

Accompanied by a piercing shriek, a bright spark shot through the leaves and exploded violently in the sky, forming an extremely conspicuous red smoke screen.

Just as Qi Shuang fired the signal, another spark shot into the tree canopy behind the Hyuga Main Family. After struggling to break through the dense foliage, it finally bloomed in the sky.

A yellow smoke screen was thus created.

"There's activity!"

Some Mist Ninja immediately spotted the signal flare in the sky and rushed towards its origin.

At the same time, Konoha Ninja also discovered the signal.

Coupled with the Hyuga Main Family choosing to turn back and hide, by the time Qi Shuang and the others located his position, he was already very close to Konoha's main encampment.

Consequently, more and more Konoha Ninja were heading towards the signal's origin to investigate the situation.

"Even now, you still don't make things easy for me!" Looking at the middle-aged man before him, Ao said with a smile while coldly throwing a kunai.

"Sigh!"

The Hyuga Main Family let out a light sigh, casually blocked Ao's kunai, then suddenly looked up and said, "The older one gets, the more one fears death!"

"If I have a chance to live, of course I want to try!"

Before his words even fell, he had already charged towards the little girl on the other side.

Zabuza seized the opportunity, instantly closing in, raising his short sword, and aiming for the back of the opponent's neck.

Just as he was full of confidence, believing he had landed a fatal blow, the Hyuga Main Family, who had been facing away from him, suddenly reversed his left hand, accurately clamping his blade between his index and middle fingers.

"Did your teacher never teach you that surprise attacks are meaningless against the Byakugan?"

A mocking voice echoed. Zabuza saw the person release his blade and then spin violently.

"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palms Rotation!"

A pale blue sphere of light instantly appeared in his vision, followed by a rapidly rotating force that struck him, immediately sending him flying backward.

"Lava Release: Lava Monster Technique!"

On the other side, because Zabuza had briefly tied down their opponent, Mei Terumi also seized the chance to complete her jutsu. She immediately spat out a mass of milky white slime, covering the pale blue sphere of light.

However, it did not produce the effect she had anticipated.

The pale blue sphere of light, like a spinning top, used its powerful centrifugal force to fling the milky white slime that had been poured onto it away.

Instantly, the slime splattered, crackling as it hit the surrounding tree trunks, forcing Ao and the others to keep their distance and avoid getting close.

Several trees even had their trunks corroded and broken due to the excessive amount of Lava Release slime that landed on them!