#
Hyuga Tetsu ultimately chose to leave as Hyuga Yu had instructed.
Hyuga Yu's reason was that Tetsu needed to hurry through the gap he had opened in the encirclement, reach the Konoha camp, and ask Hizashi Hyuga, who was stationed there, for help.
What he didn't say was that this was the only way to lessen the punishment the Main House would inflict on the Branch House ninja after the failure of their mission.
After Hyuga Tetsu disappeared from sight,
Hyuga Yu turned around and looked expressionlessly at Kurenai.
His gaze was less like he was looking at a person and more like he was looking at a piece of pork laid out for sale on a chopping board.
At that moment,
Kurenai felt his heart skip a beat. A chill shot from the soles of his feet straight to his head, and his heart nearly leaped into his throat.
"What are you looking at!?"
"You think you've won?"
"Ridiculous. You're from the Hyuga Clan—haven't you understood the situation yet?"
"You've already lost. Your Main House has probably had those Byakugan of theirs gouged out by now. Hahahahahaha!"
He laughed, his voice harsh and his bravado hollow. Gradually, he couldn't laugh anymore. His face turned ashen as he stared at Hyuga Yu, unconsciously letting a flicker of fear show in his eyes.
"You... What are you going to do?"
Hyuga Yu looked at him calmly and asked, "Tell me, who else took part in this mission besides Munashi Jinpachi, the owner of the Exploding Blade?"
"Heh." Kurenai sneered.
"Dream on!"
Hyuga Yu's expression didn't change. "Tell me, and I won't kill you."
Kurenai hesitated.
Hyuga Yu noticed his hesitation, so he raised a hand in front of him and condensed several oversized chakra needles, each twenty centimeters long, between his fingers.
Calmly, he drove one needle into Kurenai's cheek. The process didn't trigger the Red Eye's warning of danger at all.
Hyuga Yu stated matter-of-factly:
"Your Red Eye is useless against me."
"From here on, everything I do will be Medical Ninjutsu used to treat illness. But you should understand—"
"Even the most skilled physician makes mistakes sometimes. I could kill you while treating you at any moment."
"Likewise, some side effects during treatment are unavoidable."
As he spoke, Hyuga Yu raised his hand again and drove a needle into Kurenai's ashi point.
In the next instant,
Kurenai's eyes flew open. An unbearable pain rose inside him, as if ten thousand ants were biting at every part of his body!
"Ugh... Hss... Ah!"
"I'm a man of my word. Tell me, and I won't kill you. I don't have time to keep torturing you, either. I'm busy."
Hyuga Yu looked at him without removing the needle, simply watching him in silence.
"You... Hss! You're just a Genin. What use would you be if you went?"
"You think... think you can change the course of the battle? Ugh, aaaaaah!!"
"Ha... ha..."
"That's not something you need to worry about." Hyuga Yu shook his head, expressionless, and raised his hand, ready to drive in another giant needle.
This was a form of acupuncture. Hyuga Yu didn't know acupuncture; he only knew Gentle Fist, but he at least knew where to stab to make it hurt. Besides, modern acupuncture didn't hurt as much because the needles had been refined to the micron scale.
The thick, oversized chakra needles in Hyuga Yu's hands were another matter entirely...
Kurenai's eyes were wide and his whole body trembled. At last, he gritted his teeth and stammered out a name:
"K-Kushimaru Kuriarare!"
Hyuga Yu drove the needle in without hesitation.
"Aaaaaaaaaah!!!"
"You bastard! I told you! Aaaaaaah!!!"
"It hurts! It hurts! It hurts so much!"
"Stop stabbing me! Please, stop stabbing me!"
"Waaah!!!"
Hyuga Yu stared at him expressionlessly. "Say it again."
"It's true! It really is! Aaaaaaah!"
"Munashi Jinpachi always teams up with Kushimaru Kuriarare. They're known as the 'Ruthless Duo' and are highly valued by the Third."
"Everything I said is true!"
Hyuga Yu dispersed the chakra needles in his hand, then raised his head and looked at a tree overhead.
More precisely, he looked at a mass of Kikaichū writhing in the treetop.
Hyuga Yu suddenly called out loudly:
"Lord Ryoma, are you satisfied with that answer?"
At his words, the Kikaichū in the treetop seemed to stir. They took flight, gathered into a mass, and dropped to the ground.
Soon, they transformed into a human figure clad in a hooded black outfit.
It was none other than Root's second-in-command, Aburame Ryūma.
At that moment,
Aburame Ryūma looked at Hyuga Yu through his dark glasses, somewhat surprised. But his expression remained unchanged, and he gave a terse assessment:
"Barely adequate."
Then Aburame Ryūma furrowed his brow slightly. Ignoring Kurenai, who was trembling nearby, he asked another question:
"How did you learn my name?"
Those who joined Root had no past, no future, and not even a name.
Especially for a ninja like Aburame Ryūma, who often carried out infiltration missions, his name was clearly not something a mere Genin of Hyuga Yu's standing should know.
Every Root ninja was highly sensitive to such questions, since this kind of intelligence was more important than life itself.
Hyuga Yu didn't answer directly. He simply said:
"I grew up in the home of Hyuga Takahiro, an elder of the Hyuga Main House."
Aburame Ryūma frowned and thought for a moment before letting the matter drop.
Under Shimura Danzō's orders, Root had once approached the Hyuga Main House, hoping to recruit talented Main House ninja. The internal situation within the Hyuga Main House was extremely complicated: some supported Root, while others strongly opposed it. In the end, the matter went nowhere after the Hiashi branch of the Main House fobbed them off.
Perhaps that was when the information about his name had leaked.
Aburame Ryūma made a mental note of this, then looked at Hyuga Yu.
The Red Eye's appearance in this incident had been unexpected.
Shimura Danzō, who was wary of Konoha's various clans, would certainly be interested in a Red Eye capable of countering the Byakugan. And the fact that its owner belonged to the core of Kirigakure's Reconnaissance Unit was valuable as well; they might be able to extract quite a lot of information.
Even without Hyuga Yu, Aburame Ryūma would have tried to capture Kurenai.
However... the Medical Ninjutsu and methods of control Hyuga Yu had displayed were extremely valuable. They had directly prevented the Red Eye's owner from destroying his eyes and committing suicide. Besides, Hyuga Yu was someone Aburame Ryūma himself had personally recruited as an external member of Root, so he didn't mind giving him a small reward.
Otherwise, given Root's utterly unreasonable way of doing things,
he would have simply taken what he wanted by force.
Both of them were clever people, so Aburame Ryūma didn't bother beating around the bush. He asked directly:
"What do you want in exchange for him?"
However,
Aburame Ryūma heard an unexpected answer from Hyuga Yu.
This was what Hyuga Yu said:
"Lord Ryoma,"
"I'm not bargaining with you. I'm simply doing as you asked and demonstrating my 'value'!"
"Not the Byakugan, nor the Hyuga Clan, but—"
Hyuga Yu looked steadily at Aburame Ryūma and spoke earnestly:
"The value of a ninja named 'Hyuga Yu.'"
Hearing this,
Aburame Ryūma smiled.
Before you continue