When do chess players ever need to consider how the pieces feel?

The Hokage faction and the Hyuga clan had deliberately covered up the Byakugan Cub's abduction to Kumogakure. Even in Konoha, only some of the higher-ups still remembered Neji.

A small village like Kusagakure knew even less about Neji.

So when the Kusakage jōnin saw the Byakugan, he assumed Neji was from Konoha and felt his stomach tighten.

He had never expected that the one who had infiltrated the village would be a Konoha Ninja.

The situation was rather tricky.

Obviously, letting him go just like that was out of the question.

They had to find out exactly why a Hyuga ninja had sneaked into Kusagakure.

Only after learning the purpose of his mission could they decide what to do next.

A glint flashed in the Kusakage jōnin's eyes as he probed, "Kusagakure and Konoha are allies. Is this how the Fourth Hokage treats his allies?"

"Allies? Looks like you in Kusagakure still haven't figured out where you stand."

"You're not Konoha's allies at all. You're just... pawns used to keep Iwagakure in check, discarded whenever you're no longer useful."

"When do chess players ever need to consider how the pieces feel?"

Neji replied in a hoarse voice.

The contemptuous words made the veins on the Kusakage jōnin's forehead bulge. He abruptly raised his head, his face twisting with anger.

Neji paid him no mind and continued his act. "I'm here on Lord Hokage's orders to find something."

"..."

The Kusakage jōnin was seething, but at those words, he couldn't help drawing in a sharp breath.

If Kusagakure had anything Konoha might want, it was probably the Box of Paradise left behind by their ancestors.

Suppressing his anger, the Kusakage jōnin kept his face calm.

But from Neji's Byakugan perspective, the chakra inside him was already boiling, ready to erupt at any moment.

"You're surrounded, and you're still spouting nonsense. Do you really think we wouldn't dare kill you?"

"Then I suppose that's your answer."

Neji spread his legs slightly and assumed a Gentle Fist stance.

His opponent had already guessed someone would infiltrate the village that night and had laid an ambush with a large force.

In other words, these several dozen men were the Grass Ninja's entire reserve of strength.

Neji figured he could take them.

The Grass Ninja surrounding Neji saw that, despite being trapped, he wasn't surrendering and was instead trying to attack them. They exchanged bewildered looks.

The Kusakage jōnin laughed in fury.

As a sensory ninja, he had already keenly gauged the amount of chakra inside Neji.

He was roughly at the Special Jonin level, at most an ordinary jōnin.

Although the Hyuga clan was a renowned clan in the Shinobi World, its members weren't as strong in individual combat as the Uchiha, the strongest clan. They were only a cut above ordinary ninja.

Neji's guess was right: these several dozen men were all the forces he could bring to bear.

One Elite Jonin, three Special Jonin, and the rest Chunin.

That much strength was more than enough to deal with one Hyuga ninja.

The Kusakage jōnin realized that killing Neji to silence him was the only way forward, so he said nothing more.

Without changing his expression, he gave the surrounding Grass Ninja a signal with his eyes.

"To think so little of Kusagakure. You're outrageously arrogant."

"Let's show this arrogant Konoha ninja what Kusagakure can do."

"A Byakugan delivered right to our door. We'll gladly take it."

At the order, the Grass Ninja charged at Neji as one.

Neji took a deep breath and performed the Hyuga clan's famous Gentle Fist technique.

In his field of vision, a Bagua diagram slowly unfolded, then rapidly expanded outward.

The Bagua diagram wasn't a physical object; it didn't actually exist. Only members of the Hyuga clan who had mastered the secret Gentle Fist techniques could visualize it in their minds.

The size of the diagram represented the range of their attacks. For an ordinary Hyuga clan member, it was about twice their wingspan.

Powerful Hyuga ninja could use Vacuum Palm within the Bagua diagram, giving them a greater attack range.

Neji's Bagua diagram had a diameter equal to the range of his God Vacuum Attack: about ten meters.

These Grass Ninja were among the village's elite, and they fought with great courage, charging into the Bagua diagram without regard for their lives.

But before they could get within three meters of Neji, one God Vacuum Attack after another sent them flying, their innards shattered.

Neji unleashed the God Vacuum Attack to its fullest, leaving no gaps in his defense. No matter how many Grass Ninja charged at him, they were all sent flying from beyond three meters.

In the first wave of attacks, one Special Jonin was gravely wounded, and more than ten Chunin died on the spot.

At that point, Neji still had eighty percent of his chakra left.

The Grass Ninja realized Taijutsu wouldn't bring Neji down and immediately changed tactics, launching long-range ninjutsu.

"Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique."

"Wind Release: Great Breakthrough!"

The two Special Jonin exchanged a knowing look and simultaneously performed Fire and Wind Release techniques.

The fierce wind tore through the Great Fireball, forming dozens of fiery wind blasts that bore down on Neji from all sides.

Watching the fiery blasts sweep toward him, Neji took a deep breath, opened every chakra point on his body in an instant, and released twenty percent of his chakra. A dense chakra barrier formed around him, spinning rapidly like a top.

The Main Family's closely guarded secret technique, Rotation, was known as absolute defense.

Its power depended on the strength of the user's chakra.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

With a series of dull impacts, the fiery wind blasts slammed hard into the Rotation barrier.

A dozen seconds later, when the dust settled, Neji had disappeared from the battlefield.

The Kusakage Elite Jonin first frowned, then spotted a Special Jonin and shouted, "Watch out, he's underneath you!"

Crack!

The ground beneath that Special Jonin exploded.

As the sound of thunder rang out, Chidori struck the Special Jonin's chin. His head burst like a watermelon.

Brain matter and blood splattered everywhere. The gruesome scene shook the nerves of everyone present.

"Damn it!"

The other Special Jonin saw this and his eyes instantly turned bloodshot.

He drove his chakra to its limit, then leaped into the air and charged straight at Neji.

Neji nimbly dodged, and the two fought in a blur, their afterimages flickering back and forth across the plaza.

Kusagakure liked to sell information about its allies, exploit information gaps for profit, and "learn" other countries' techniques.

But the Taijutsu this Special Jonin used was a unique Kusagakure style called Flesh-Breaking Palm.

It combined palm strikes with footwork, moving like the wind with swift, nimble movements.

Neji deliberately tried to incorporate Kusagakure's Taijutsu into his God Vacuum Attack style. After watching for a while with his Byakugan, he memorized the pathways of chakra through the Grass Ninja's body.

The Kusakage Elite Jonin charged at Neji and shouted, "Hayashi, retreat! You're no match for him!"

At those words, violent lightning suddenly sprang from Neji's empty palm and struck the Special Jonin's shoulder.

The next moment, a piercing whoosh sounded behind Neji, like the shriek of a ghost.

"Wind Release: Wind Scythe Jutsu!"

The hair all over Neji's body stood on end. He instantly entered Lightning Release Chakra Mode and hurled himself sideways with all his strength. A half-meter-long crescent wind blade sliced through the spot where he had just been standing.