Clone Explosion

Bang!

Like a watermelon hitting the ground, red and white matter splattered everywhere!

Hearing the red-eyed brat's panicked scramble and cry just moments earlier, then seeing that arrow shoot into the thick mist and force the Kirigakure Chunin into his range,

Hyuga Hideki immediately realized—

Someone was helping him!

Who was it? Why were they helping him? Was there really someone in the Shinobi World skilled with a bow and arrow, a weapon rendered obsolete by the times—and even using it so deftly? How had he managed it?

One question after another rose in Hyuga Hideki's mind, but before he could figure out the answers,

Whoosh!

The bowstring sang again!

It was as if the other person had eyes just like his own, able to see everything within the thick mist from an extremely long distance away.

And they were using a method and technique he knew extremely well, working with him and guiding him, just like the method the clan had trained them to use against the Red Eye—

At that moment, the two of them reached an inexplicable understanding.

Hyuga Hideki moved toward the place where the bowstring had sounded.

Three seconds later, he spotted another Kirigakure Ninja dodging arrows in the mist.

Seeing this, Hyuga Hideki's heart leaped with joy. He charged forward like a hound released from its cage, then struck with another unadorned, swift Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm, the strongest Taijutsu in the legendary tale of the "Greatest Ninja Storm"!

"Y-You... How did you know!?"

A startled cry came from the mist.

Half a second later,

"Ah!!!"

A scream rang out, and everything fell quiet once more.

At that moment,

The last remaining Kirigakure Chunin kept up Water Release: Hidden Mist Technique, hiding in the mist as if to reassure himself. After hearing his teammates meet their ends one after another, he didn't dare move a muscle.

But it was no use.

Whoosh!

As another arrow whistled through the air,

Hyuga Hideki struck down the last Kirigakure Chunin with a palm.

The mist dispersed. In the blink of an eye, only the Kirigakure Genin Kurenai, who possessed the Red Eye Kekkei Genkai, remained.

Faced with the one-sided slaughter, and seeing Hyuga Hideki's figure grow clearer as the mist cleared, Kurenai's white kimono was now covered in scarlet bloodstains.

His heart raced. He was at a loss, his mind a muddle. He couldn't understand why, in less than half a minute,

the situation had turned as sharply as a breach in a dam. His Kirigakure side had held such a tremendous advantage, yet even their attempts to fight back had seemed so ridiculous.

Just then,

Tap, tap!

Steady footsteps came from beyond the mist.

Kurenai immediately turned around—and saw a figure he would never forget for the rest of his life.

"It's you!"

"No... How... How is this possible!?"

In response to Kurenai's startled cry, the culprit who had turned the tide and caused three Kirigakure Ninja to die at Hyuga Hideki's hands appeared slowly: Hyuga Yu.

Holding a great bow and carrying a quiver, he calmly stepped out from behind a tree.

Hyuga Hideki had wondered if some Jonin from the Hyuga Clan who liked archery as a hobby had arrived. But when he saw Hyuga Yu, he couldn't help being astonished.

"Huh? Aren't you that..."

Hyuga Yu shook his head, then immediately asked Hyuga Hideki in a low voice,

"Never mind that for now. Where is Hyuga Genko?"

Hyuga Hideki was very surprised. He didn't even bother correcting Hyuga Yu for addressing the Main House heir by name, and answered at once,

"About twelve kilometers to the east. He should have joined up with the front unit of the Guard Squad by now. Wait... Hyuga Yu, why are you here? I thought your transfer order wasn't until the day after tomorrow?"

"Let's deal with this guy first. We can talk about the rest on the way."

Hyuga Yu shook his head at Hyuga Hideki, then turned a cold gaze on the red-eyed boy standing stiffly nearby, exposed to the Byakugan of all three Hyuga Clan members.

At that moment,

Kurenai stared at Hyuga Yu in disbelief. But his shock that someone like him could kill even this piece of trash soon turned into fear that welled up from deep within him.

"Wait... Wait..."

"You can't kill me. I'm useful. I have a lot of information in my head."

"I... I'm a member of the Reconnaissance Unit. Big Brother Ao thinks highly of me. He even said he'd train me to become the future captain of Kirigakure's Reconnaissance Unit. Hah... Hah..."

As he spoke, he began panting rapidly, his face twitching beyond his control. Under the circumstances, all that remained in the twelve- or thirteen-year-old's youthful face was the instinct to survive.

Hyuga Yu looked at the Kirigakure Ninja, who was about the same age as him.

He watched the boy make such a sorry spectacle of himself,

after having acted so arrogant toward them before.

But Hyuga Yu felt nothing.

This was the Shinobi World.

The hidden villages had been established to protect children, yet they sent those same children onto the battlefield with blades in hand, making them fight one another under one absurd pretext after another.

Hyuga Yu was powerless to change any of it. Even the path he would take remained like a reflection of the moon in water, impossible to make out.

All he could do was force himself to adapt, to fit in,

until he became the kind of person most suited to surviving in this world.

"Right."

Hyuga Hideki nodded. His gaze on Kurenai was indifferent as he reached into his ninja tool pouch and took out a kunai.

"We should put an end to this farce quickly. Young Master Genko still needs our help."

"Wait... Wait!"

Kurenai stumbled two steps backward in alarm, yanked the black cloth from his eyes, and widened them, instinctively driving the power of both Red Eyes to its limit.

But the Red Eye's effect was only to create chakra images in the Byakugan's field of vision when the Byakugan was active, disrupting what it saw. It was like implanting a virus in someone's vision to blur the information they received—a purely countermeasure-based ability.

But with no Hyuga Clan member there using the Byakugan, this ability could only let Kurenai see the chakra surging with murderous intent around Hyuga Hideki even more clearly.

However,

just then,

Hyuga Hideki, eyes full of murderous intent as he steadily approached Kurenai, suddenly shuddered. A look of disbelief appeared on his face.

Watching Hyuga Hideki's back, Hyuga Yu sensed something was wrong.

He immediately moved before the other man could, formed three chakra needles between his fingers, and hurled them at Kurenai from close range!

Thwip!

Thwip!

Thwip!

The chakra needles struck Kurenai.

"What did you do!?"

Kurenai looked terrified. He only saw something sharp flash past his eyes before stabbing into the side of his ear, the spot between his brows, and his hand.

Immediately afterward, the flow of chakra within his body abruptly stalled!

Only then did Hyuga Yu widen his eyes, the veins around them bulging as he activated his Byakugan and scanned Hyuga Hideki.

At that moment,

Hyuga Hideki's condition was extremely abnormal.

Through the Byakugan's vision, the chakra flowing through his body's pathways had suddenly expanded, increasing by nearly a quarter. Then, that chakra, along with the chakra within his Shadow Clone, began rapidly dwindling. It was almost as if someone had attached a water pump to him, constantly drawing chakra from his body and letting it dissipate into the world.

This condition reminded Hyuga Yu of something Hyuga Natsu had told him about after a mission last year.

She had said:

"Hey, Lion-kun, do you know what state the Shadow Clone is in when the original dies while using Shadow Clone Technique?"

"It's terrifying. The chakra throughout the Shadow Clone's body drains away in seconds. Then, all the pain the original suffered before dying hits the Shadow Clone too, and it lets out an incredibly agonized wail."

"Finally, with a bang!"

"And that person is gone from this world forever..."

Hyuga Yu's clear white pupils suddenly contracted.