Bait

After leaving the village, Hyuga Yu bypassed the main road on the east side of the Land of Fire and took a narrow path. Following the path to its end, he arrived at a dense forest with no roads.

After Hyuga Yu stepped onto a tree trunk and ascended to the canopy, a path, vastly different from a normal road, appeared before him.

This was a tree path for ninja to move quickly.

Through Hyuga Tetsu, Hyuga Yu already knew the general route the Main Family was taking--

From the Land of Fire, travel east along the main road, cross the Grass Wave Coast to reach the front-line camp. This route was the relatively safest one, mostly plains with wide visibility, convenient for scouting the road conditions.

So, putting himself in the enemy's perspective, It is known that the target to be fought is the Hyuga Clan, who possess the Byakugan, can scout road conditions, and it is almost impossible to hide their tracks from such enemies.

Then, how to attack such a team and ensure the capture of the Main Family members to obtain the Byakugan?

It's simple.

Set up a pincer movement in a place the Byakugan cannot see, and when the Byakugan first spots the ambushing ninja, contract the encirclement from all directions.

Furthermore, to prevent the Hyuga Main Family members from destroying their eyes and committing suicide, it is essential to ensure the element of surprise at the initial encounter, making the enemy relax their guard until they are completely trapped.

And the most critical issue with this operational plan is--

To figure out just how far a pair of Byakugan can see.

And then determine the shape and scope of the encirclement.

With continuous training, the range of vision for each pair of Byakugan can continuously increase. Taking Hinata from Shippuden as an example, by narrowing her field of vision, she could see ten kilometers away in one direction. Her normal bird's-eye view range was at least two kilometers.

However, Hyuga Yu was not worried that the enemy would not know the reconnaissance range of the Main Family's escort team.

After all, he already knew the final outcome-- the Main Family's Byakugan was taken by Ao of Kirigakure, and Kirigakure's hunting plan was a great success.

From this, it would not be difficult to deduce, Either the Root leaked the information of the Main Family's escort team, or a spy planted by Kirigakure within Konoha gathered this information.

Hyuga Yu leaned towards the former.

But neither scenario affected Hyuga Yu's current actions--

Standing from a higher, God's eye view, he intended to enter the encirclement ahead of the Main Family's team at a speed far exceeding theirs, bypass the "unexpectedly" discovered enemies, and reach the enemy's rear first.

When the conflict breaks out, find Hyuga Natsu and carve a gaping hole in this encirclement!

With this thought, Hyuga Yu stood on the treetop at the summit of the sea of trees and leaped down, moving at full speed along the tree path formed by countless tree trunks.

On the other side, About a kilometer away from the forest, in an open space, A group of ninja wearing various masks and Anbu attire were gathering.

Soon, One of them, who was forming hand seals and wearing a bird mask, suddenly sensed something and looked up in surprise in the direction Hyuga Yu had departed.

He immediately moved to the front of the group and found Aburame Ryūma, who was squatting by the bushes observing something. He hesitated and said:

"Deputy Director, that brat... didn't follow the Hyuga Clan, but went ahead to Kirigakure's ambush location."

"Will this... affect the plan?"

Aburame Ryūma, who was squatting by the clearing, raised an eyebrow. After thinking for a moment, he roughly guessed Hyuga Yu's plan and showed a look of surprise on his face.

"Oh~, this brat actually guessed the plan we arranged for Kirigakure?"

"We... arranged it?"

The Root ninja with the bird mask was stunned.

"Deputy Director, aren't we here for patrol?"

"Heh."

Aburame Ryūma glanced at him, shook his head with some disappointment, and didn't bother to answer.

As a member of Root, located at the center of Konoha's intelligence, he didn't even know why he was here.

Either he was pretending, or he was genuinely stupid.

Aburame Ryūma didn't want to talk to an idiot.

The bird mask ninja realized he had overplayed his act and immediately gave a wry smile, admitting his mistake:

"Ah... I was wrong, Director, I know, I know now, but aren't we here to stop Kirigakure from intercepting the Byakugan?"

"Won't letting that brat act freely alert them?"

"Wrong."

Aburame Ryūma shook his head, a cold glint flashing in his eyes, and said indifferently, "The fate of the Hyuga Clan has nothing to do with us."

"The Byakugan brat leaving the village early is also due to the negligence of the Hokage's secretariat."

"Lord Danzo never issued an order to obtain the Byakugan."

Aburame Ryūma paused here and said calmly and indifferently:

"Terai... we are only here to confirm one thing – Kirigakure has acted according to the intelligence we provided."

"Everything else, we will only observe, not interfere, to prevent this big fish that we've finally lured from getting away."

"As for that Byakugan brat..."

"Let him be."

With that, Aburame Ryūma lost interest in pointing things out and turned his gaze to the ground.

At this moment, In the bushes below, a praying mantis clung to a branch, quietly watching a grasshopper below, silently raising its scythe.

Just outside the bushes, a golden sparrow with tail feathers like golden-brown reeds greedily watched the praying mantis about to hunt.

And higher up, Aburame Ryūma pushed up his sunglasses, revealing a cryptic, foolish grin.

At the same time, much further away, In front of a crescent-shaped cliff, A brown-haired ninja, holding a scroll and running at full speed, arrived here. He looked around cautiously and carefully formed hand seals to activate the barrier at his feet.

Soon, Water ripples appeared on the cliff face beside him.

A young Jonin with a Four Water Waves forehead protector, spiky blue hair, and an imposing face emerged from behind the cliff face.

"Lord Ao!"

Seeing this young man, the brown-haired ninja immediately knelt on one knee and held out the scroll with both hands.

"The last piece of intelligence from Konohagakure!"

"Understood." Ao took the scroll and immediately unrolled it to read.

A moment later, he shouted towards the empty, rocky slope below the cliff:

"The Hyuga Main Family has departed."

"This matches the previous intelligence. This Main Family member is accompanied by three escort teams."

"There are a total of three Jonin, six Chunin, two Genin, and the strength of the Main Family member Hyuga Genko himself is unknown."

"Among them, the vanguard consists of Jonin Hyuga Hiroya, Chunin Hyuga Tetsu, Aburame Shiki, and Inuzuka Hana."

"Hyuga Hiroya's detection range is a radius of 1.6 kilometers."

"Hyuga Tetsu's detection range is a radius of 1.4 kilometers."

"Aburame Shiki controls Kikaichū, with a sensory radius of 0.4 kilometers."

"Inuzuka Hana..."

"The center squad consists of Jonin Hyuga Hideki, Chunin Hyuga Natsu, Yamazaki Sumiko, and the Main Family member Hyuga Genko."

"Hyuga Hideki's detection range is a radius of 2.1 kilometers, with vertical sensing capabilities, and an extreme sensing range of 7-8 kilometers."

"Hyuga Natsu's detection range is a radius of 1.99 kilometers..."

"..."

Soon, Ao finished reciting the intelligence and sensory ranges of the escort team members in detail. He raised his head and looked around.

"So,"

"According to the pre-arranged squad composition, everyone, proceed immediately to your designated positions and await the signal to complete the encirclement!"

"The intelligence is extremely precious, and the opportunity will only come once!"

Finally, his eyes turned cold, and he said in a deep voice:

"Therefore, the operation cannot afford any mistakes!"

As Ao's voice fell, On the empty, rocky beach, a uniform shout suddenly rang out:

"Yes!"