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To prevent the Red Eye from affecting the Byakugan at this critical moment and causing it to make the wrong judgment,
Hyuga Yu first used Medical Ninjutsu—Chakra Needles—to pierce Kurenai's Neiguan point, Shenmen point, subcortical reflex area of the ear, and cardiac reflex area of the ear.
These were all acupuncture points related to the central nervous system.
At close range, Hyuga Yu had mastered the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist and participated in several human anatomy lessons at Konoha Hospital. Even without activating the Byakugan, he could distinguish these points with the naked eye and hit them with his superb Senbon-throwing technique.
Besides, Kurenai was only a Kirigakure Genin. After his first test, Hyuga Yu had learned that the Red Eye bloodline ability gave him a heightened sense of danger,
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and that this foresight failed to work when there was no danger.
So Hyuga Yu did the opposite, using an acupuncture technique more suited to treating insomnia to immobilize Kurenai on the spot.
It wasn't that Kurenai couldn't control his chakra. Rather, his central nervous system believed he had already fallen asleep, so it ignored the brain's command to mobilize chakra and escape.
Back to Hyuga Hideki.
After seeing Hyuga Hideki's condition clearly with the Byakugan,
Hyuga Yu suddenly fell silent,
and Hyuga Hideki seemed to sense it. He stiffly turned his head, a look of pain slowly appearing on his face.
A Shadow Clone and its original body could transmit chakra between them, and chakra was a combination of a ninja's physical and spiritual energy.
The process that should have dispelled the Shadow Clone and returned its chakra to the original body had reversed at that moment. It could only mean one thing—
Hyuga Hideki was already dead.
At that moment,
Hyuga Hideki looked at Hyuga Yu, despair flashing in his eyes. He was about to say something, but the moment the words left his mouth, his face turned deathly pale, as if all the blood had been drained from him, and his eyes widened.
"I... Ughhhhhh!!!"
He suddenly fell to his knees, clutching his hand and wailing.
"Haahhhhhhh!!!"
"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!"
"My hand, my hand! It's so hot, so hot!"
A hint of pity flashed through Hyuga Yu's eyes, but he ruthlessly crushed it a tenth of a second later.
He abruptly turned around, crouched down, grabbed Hyuga Hideki by the shoulders, and shook him. In a voice even louder than Hyuga Hideki's screams, he demanded:
"Hyuga Hideki!"
"What did you see?!"
"This is important. What did you see?!"
Hyuga Hideki's pale lips trembled. He suddenly lifted his head, his white pupils shaking wildly.
Hyuga Yu's shouts seemed to have jolted him awake, but he couldn't control the terror that gripped him as death approached.
Only in the final second before he truly died did he force down his fear and, as a ninja, tell Hyuga Yu the last piece of information he had obtained:
"A blade... A blade... covered in Explosive Tags!"
"Bang!"
Smoke billowed up, and the last sounds of Hyuga Hideki's voice seemed to echo through this nameless, silent forest.
Hyuga Yu watched the wisps of smoke drift from his palms, unable to grasp them, and felt an inexplicable tightness in his chest.
Even after two years of the Shinobi World War and several painful partings with the dead,
Hyuga Yu still found it absurd to see a living Jonin die right before his eyes.
And a little ridiculous.
He had gone to war for the sake of an elusive "humanity," to become a Chunin and leave the Main House behind, to gain his freedom.
But what had those ninjas who had already become Chunin or Jonin—those who, in Hyuga Yu's eyes, had won at life—gone to this battlefield, this meat grinder, for?
Hyuga Yu crouched on the ground, lowering his empty hands, like a silent camel.
For a while, he couldn't understand it, nor could he find an answer.
Just then,
Kurenai, whose central nervous system activity Hyuga Yu had suppressed, seemed to understand what had happened. His body remained frozen in place, but his eyes looked down contemptuously at Hyuga Yu. He couldn't help baring his teeth in a wide grin and letting out a loud, mocking laugh.
"Heh heh heh hahahahahahaha!"
"Hyuga Clan, looks like the others have already succeeded."
"Though I don't know how you managed to fool my Red Eye's perception, I'm sure of one thing: you can't kill me. And the one you relied on to win through trickery—the Hyuga Clan's Jonin—is dead!"
"Now, as soon as you have any killing intent toward me, my Red Eye will sense it automatically and make my body dodge. And your chakra poses no threat to me. In other words, with Taijutsu alone, you can't beat me!"
"Just wait until Lord Ao returns..."
At that, Kurenai's grin spread wider, his expression blooming like a chrysanthemum.
"You'll all die!!!"
Not far away, Hyuga Tetsu had watched the entire thing. His expression changed abruptly at those words.
He hesitantly walked over and looked at Hyuga Yu with shame.
"Yu... I..."
"I..."
"I was useless. I couldn't even get involved. I... I'm so grateful you came to save me."
Hyuga Tetsu looked at Hyuga Yu, who was crouching on the ground without a word. He clenched his fists and gritted his teeth.
"But... but..."
"Run! I'll cover you from here on. If anyone can make it back to Konoha alive, it's you!"
However,
just then,
Hyuga Yu let out a long breath and stood up. He showed neither gratitude nor approval for Hyuga Tetsu's willingness to sacrifice himself, nor any annoyance or desire for revenge in response to Kurenai's mockery.
He simply asked Hyuga Tetsu another question in a calm voice:
"Tetsu."
"Where is Hyuga Natsu?"
At those words, Hyuga Tetsu's face turned deathly pale. He opened his mouth, then closed it; opened it again, then closed it again, as if a chopstick were stuck in his throat, blocking the answer.
He knew clearly and despairingly that if he told him, no matter the circumstances—even if it meant certain death—Hyuga Yu would charge headlong into danger without regard for his life, determined to drag Natsu out of hell.
Because,
Hyuga Tetsu had noticed long ago that Hyuga Yu wanted to become a "person."
He had made becoming a "person" with a sound personality and free will the ultimate goal of his life.
Or, rather,
his Nindo!
For that,
he could ignore everyone's strange looks and bury himself in his work, becoming a camel,
or bare his fangs and claws, becoming a lion when necessary!
But in the end, everything was measured by whether it brought him closer to becoming a "person."
And yet Hyuga Tetsu couldn't hide the truth. He had watched Hyuga Yu come this far, and knew that even if he didn't tell him, Hyuga Yu would find out another way.
His stubbornness surpassed that of every member of the entire Hyuga Clan,
and even,
the whole of Konoha!
So Hyuga Tetsu shut his eyes in pain and confessed with a pained voice:
"Natsu followed Young Master Hyuga Genko when he left."
"Good." Hyuga Yu nodded calmly, then turned to look at Kurenai, whose face was twisted with mockery. His eyes held a hint of scrutiny.
"Then head southeast from here. Don't worry about anything else. Keep going until you reach the Konoha camp at Grass Wave Coast."
Hyuga Tetsu looked at Hyuga Yu with determination and spoke in a low voice.
"I can fight too!"
"No." Hyuga Yu turned his head, looked at him calmly, and shook his head.
"From here on... I'm going to meet someone, and what we talk about..."
"You can't hear."
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