Like playing an ancient MMORPG,
controlling his character from a god's-eye view rather than a third-person perspective,
within that narrow, grayish-white bird's-eye field of vision, he himself was the controlled game character!
Hyuga Yu leaped and glided between the treetops, moving steadily and resolutely in one direction.
Relying on the map laid out in his mind, which continuously gathered intelligence and refined its information, he kept approaching the middle of Kirigakure's encirclement from behind enemy lines outside the perimeter.
Hyuga Genko of the Main House was in the central unit, and Hyuga Natsu, as a member of his Guard Squad, should have been there as well.
Normally, upon encountering such a situation, Konoha's side should have swiftly gathered the forces of all three Guard Squads and quickly chosen a direction in which to break through.
Both Hyuga Yu and Kirigakure had judged it that way.
His plan had been to take advantage of the chaos while Kirigakure captured Hyuga Genko, opening a gap in the encirclement for the others.
But an unforeseen accident soon disrupted that plan—
Using the Byakugan, he quickly spotted a Kirigakure squad around three kilometers away, as well as the Konoha group it had intercepted.
It was completely different from the twelve-person group he had expected.
At that moment, the group had only three people.
Hyuga Genko, Yamazaki Touko, and the group's Jonin, Hyuga Hideki. Hyuga Natsu, who should have been with them, was nowhere to be seen.
When Hyuga Yu looked more closely at the three, his brows immediately rose, and a strange expression appeared on his face.
Blocking their path
was the squad led by Ao of the Mist, along with another Kirigakure Chunin squad. Not far ahead of Hyuga Yu, yet another Kirigakure Chunin squad was rapidly heading this way.
At that moment,
on the battlefield,
Hyuga Tetsu, disguised as "Hyuga Genko," was forcing himself to remain calm.
Beside him, Hyuga Hideki stared coldly and steadily at the Kirigakure group.
Meanwhile, Yamazaki Touko, a civilian Chunin only responsible for miscellaneous tasks in the group, had already begun trembling uncontrollably.
Looking at the three people standing opposite him, each wearing a different expression, Ao deeply furrowed his brow.
At his side, Kurenai, whose eyes were covered by black cloth, shook his head at Ao. The Red Eye could see the state of chakra more clearly than the Byakugan, so the disguises of those before him naturally could not fool him.
"They're fake."
"That Hyuga Jonin is a Shadow Clone Technique, and that person who looks like a Main House member is disguised using the Transformation Jutsu."
Ao immediately turned to the sensory Jonin Kensuke beside him and asked, "Where did they go?"
Kensuke immediately reported, "My apologies, Lord Ao. The Shadow Clone Technique left behind by that Jonin interfered with my chakra sensing."
"Based on the traces left at the scene, they seem to have headed east. They likely joined up with the Guard Squad ahead."
A strange look immediately appeared on Ao's face.
This situation had clearly exceeded his expectations, yet it had not entirely slipped beyond his control. What struck him as strange and difficult to understand was—
This Hyuga Main House member was clearly quite clever. Not only had he anticipated the danger in advance, he had also made specific arrangements in response. Yet those arrangements carried a kind of crystal-clear stupidity unique to an amateur.
Like a politician, like a strategist, like an intellectual who had read many books,
but the one thing he did not resemble was a ninja.
Ao could not help but sneer. His indifferent gaze swept over the three Konoha people before him, pausing briefly on Hyuga Hideki's Shadow Clone Technique before he instructed the five people beside him.
"Team 7, stay behind and deal with them."
"Kurenai, stay here and work with Team 7. Get some practice in too."
Kurenai immediately raised his head and asked, "Lord Ao, the forward group has joined up with at least two Hyuga Jonin. Won't you need my eyes?"
Hearing that, Ao gave a disdainful laugh and ruffled Kurenai's messy hair, putting on the air of a senior. "Kid, I brought you out here to broaden your horizons. The Shinobi World isn't your stage yet."
"Work with Team 7 and the soon-to-arrive Team 10 to deal with that Jonin's Shadow Clone Technique. Don't give him the chance to reclaim its chakra."
Ao slightly turned his head toward the east. A grave look flashed through his eyes, as though something utterly terrifying lay there, and he sighed with emotion.
"I never expected the Hyuga Main House to be such an idiot."
"Enough." Ao wiped the expression from his face and majestically swept his gaze across the scene before saying in a deep voice,
"I'll leave this place to you."
"Though there should be no more surprises in the mission, just in case, Kensuke, you and I will head forward and cut off the Hyuga Main House group's retreat."
Kensuke immediately answered respectfully, "Yes!"
At that moment,
watching Ao openly discuss his plan right in front of the Konoha group, Hyuga Hideki, acting as their guardian Jonin, immediately darkened.
"Are you treating me like air?"
"As long as I'm here, I will never let you harm Young Master Genko!"
However,
Ao merely gave a disdainful smile before instantly vanishing with Kensuke.
"Stop!"
Hyuga Hideki was furious. With a wave of his hand, he was about to fire an Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm to stop the two from leaving!
But at that moment,
a shrill, childlike voice suddenly sounded right beside his ear.
"Where do you think you're aiming?"
Hyuga Hideki spun around sharply, only to discover that in the span of a single blink, he had somehow been surrounded by dense fog so thick he could not see his own hand.
When he activated his Byakugan and tried to pierce the fog to find the enemy,
he discovered that
his formerly all-seeing Byakugan seemed to have broken. Everywhere he looked were figures with chakra points, densely packed in numbers exceeding a hundred, tightly surrounding him!
His expression changed drastically as he recognized the method being used to restrict his Byakugan.
"The Red Eye?!"
The Red Eye could interfere with the Byakugan's vision. However, every technique had its flaws. The Hyuga Clan's effective countermeasure against such eyes was to temporarily shut down their perception and, with the help of their companions, launch attacks through Taijutsu ingrained in their muscle memory.
Though the Red Eye bloodline was powerful, those who possessed it were usually physically frail.
When Hyuga Hideki shut off his Byakugan and attempted to fight with Jonin-level Taijutsu, he discovered that without the Byakugan, he could not find the enemy within this Hidden Mist Technique at all.
Now he was trapped between a rock and a hard place.
Hyuga Hideki felt his scalp begin to tingle.
He tried to charge out of the dense fog.
However, three Kirigakure Chunin skilled at fighting in the mist attacked from within it, striking Hyuga Hideki from different angles.
For a time, although Hyuga Hideki's Taijutsu far surpassed those Kirigakure ninja,
unable to use the Byakugan, unable to use the Gentle Fist Style to strike chakra points, and only able to passively wrap Byakugan chakra around himself for protection,
he was beaten so badly by the three Kirigakure Chunin that he could only suffer in silence, unable to break free.
Within the dense fog,
Kurenai, his bright red eyes glowing, watched the scene with great interest. Once the other Kirigakure squad arrived to reinforce them, they would be able to completely drain Hyuga Hideki's Shadow Clone Technique of chakra and destroy it here.
Farther away,
Hyuga Yu took in the entire scene, a thoughtful look appearing on his face.
Though the Hyuga Hideki left here was only a Shadow Clone Technique, it still possessed Jonin-level combat power. Yet a Jonin with the Byakugan bloodline had been left unable to fight back under the targeted coordination of one Genin and three Chunin.
Then how was a Genin like him supposed to fight?
After thinking for only a moment, a look of realization flashed through Hyuga Yu's eyes.
Then,
he pulled an arrow from the quiver hanging at his waist and nocked it onto his bow.
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