Manjusaka

Hyuga Genko quickly left with his guardian Jonin, Hyuga Hideki.

Only Hyuga Tetsu, transformed into Hyuga Genko's appearance, remained standing dumbly in the clearing, unable to come back to his senses for a long while.

Not until there was no one around.

Hyuga Natsu walked over with a smile, looking curiously at Hyuga Tetsu.

"What's wrong, Young Master Genko~?"

"Ugh!"

Hyuga Tetsu, wearing Hyuga Genko's face, heard Hyuga Natsu's soft laugh.

Yet he felt no joy, nor the thrill of receiving special treatment from the girl he liked after taking on another identity.

He only wanted to vomit.

He could not imagine that the young master of the Main House, who had always treated others so kindly and seemed so magnanimous, would reveal such a truly cowardly, revolting face once his mask was torn away.

"Ugh! Ugh! Ugh!"

Hyuga Tetsu clawed at his throat, trying to throw something up. He thought that if he could vomit something out, he might feel much better.

But his stomach, filled only with Military Rations Pills, could not even bring up a drop of acid.

Only then

did Hyuga Tetsu realize that what truly disgusted him

was himself.

It was himself, who had accepted Hyuga Genko's favors, feared the Caged Bird Cursed Seal, feared pain, and feared losing all the status, dignity, and respectable work he had gained so far in the eyes of others.

"Hahahahaha."

However,

watching Hyuga Tetsu like this, Hyuga Natsu let out a merciless laugh.

"Hyuga Tetsu, you're truly pathetic. You look like a dog."

Hyuga Tetsu raised his head in astonishment. Looking at the girl who was so utterly different from the one in his memories, he could not help gritting his teeth.

"Natsu, you..."

Hyuga Natsu smiled. "If it were Lion-kun, he definitely wouldn't be like you."

"He would resist, lie low, hold a petty grudge, then live on miserably. He would hide in the darkness and lick his wounds, silently gathering strength, and in the end—"

Hyuga Tetsu abruptly raised his head and asked, "What would happen in the end?"

Hyuga Natsu merely smiled faintly. "I haven't seen that part yet."

Hyuga Tetsu looked at Hyuga Natsu and bit his lip. "So you knew from the very beginning?"

"So that's why you chose Hyuga Yu."

"So even his joining Root was because of you—"

"There aren't that many whys and therefores."

Hyuga Natsu shook her head and spoke calmly.

"Like you, I'm someone without the courage to change everything, yet unwilling to accept reality. But even people like us still hold hope."

"Since you have already recognized your own mediocrity and cowardice, yet remain unwilling to accept the status quo,"

"then why not think carefully about what you can do?"

Hyuga Tetsu stood frozen, raising his hands and examining them closely.

"What... can I do?"

Before long, he raised his head, his mind a tangled mess. He looked at Hyuga Natsu as though pleading for help and spoke in a trembling voice.

"I... I don't know what I can do. I, I..."

Hyuga Natsu looked at Hyuga Tetsu with satisfaction, as though she were looking at an unparalleledly good dog.

"Just stay like this."

"Yes, exactly like this. That innocent, confused look in your eyes."

"Just be a hostage longing to be saved. When you are rescued, excitedly tell them your thoughts without holding anything back."

With that, Hyuga Natsu curled her lips into a smile, clasped her hands behind her back, turned around, and chased after Hyuga Genko.

Hyuga Tetsu instinctively opened his mouth and shouted after her.

"Wait! What are you going to do, Natsu!?"

Hyuga Natsu did not answer.

Her gaze, fixed on the direction Hyuga Genko had gone, only grew colder and sharper.

At that moment,

high in the distance,

two specially made smoke bombs were thrown into the sky one after another, colliding with each other!

Bang!

Thick red mist billowed over the forest!

Kirigakure's prearranged ambush formation resembled an oversized funnel.

Once the bait team at the funnel's tail confirmed that the Hyuga Clan Main Family's team had entered the designated area, they immediately fired the signal flare.

The shape of the ambush formation rapidly changed into an unusually elongated oval.

At this point, there were still two ways to break free.

First, the entire Hyuga side could break through to the rear and withdraw before the encirclement closed.

Second, they could immediately gather the elite strength of the three squads and charge straight ahead, tearing open the encirclement before the forces blocking the rear could arrive.

Hyuga Genko chose the second option.

The moment he discovered the first Kirigakure team, he made a decisive call. He had Hyuga Tetsu act as his double, then arranged for Hyuga Hideki to create a Shadow Clone to disguise the fact that he was still with the middle squad.

As for Hyuga Genko himself, he instinctively acted with preserving his own life as his first priority—he immediately brought the strongest Jonin in the team, Hyuga Hideki, to join the vanguard, keeping a rapid-breakthrough backup plan ready at all times.

This choice did gather two Jonin and two Genin from the vanguard and middle squad around him.

But unfortunately, his opponent was the Red Eye, the natural nemesis of the Byakugan.

The central figure capable of commanding and gathering the elites of all three squads fled before the battle even began, throwing the entire situation into instant chaos.

It then developed into the rear squad finding the middle squad and discovering that Hyuga Genko was not there at all, shattering their morale, while the vanguard, urged on by Hyuga Genko, accelerated again and again until it became separated from the rest of the force.

Before long, the three squads began running separately within the encirclement.

Like three billiard balls moving freely across an oval billiards table.

Hyuga Genko's capture was already unavoidable. In such circumstances, the best they could hope for was that, with Hyuga Genko serving as such a large target to draw enemy fire, how many people could the entire team ultimately escape with?

Elsewhere,

Hyuga Yu glanced at the red signal flare exploding in the sky.

He gripped the giant Japanese bow, slung the quiver onto his back, fastened his shinobi sword at his waist, and slowly exhaled.

Based on the portion of the encirclement he had observed with the Byakugan,

Kirigakure had deployed at least ten shinobi squads—thirty shinobi in total—to capture the Hyuga Clan Main Family this time.

Of course, none of the shinobi squads forming each point of this formation were particularly strong. Most consisted primarily of Chunin, but they ensured that shinobi could delay any Konoha ninja trying to break out from any direction.

Therefore,

beyond those ten squads, there was at least one elite main force dedicated to capturing the Main House.

It was like playing a game of tag with unknown information.

He could not tell how many taggers there were.

Nor could he tell how strong they were.

But the one thing he could be sure of was that the squad led by Ao of the Mist was one of those taggers.

So what role could Hyuga Yu, positioned behind enemy lines, play?

Very simple.

He could coordinate with the team breaking outward and instantly tear open the encirclement!

The one he wanted to save was Hyuga Natsu... with Hyuga Tetsu included as an afterthought at most...

The enemy wanted to capture that unlucky Main House member, Hyuga Genko. So long as he did not save Hyuga Genko, he would not have to face the most dangerous of the major threats head-on.

And the most troublesome possibility was—

Hyuga Genko and Hyuga Natsu were together!

Hyuga Yu could only hope Hyuga Natsu was not foolish. Since she already knew he would be outside the village providing support,

she should... make the right choice, right?