Thank You

Mukai Hyuga wore an Anbu mask and stood silently atop a tree, hiding in the shadows of its branches and leaves.

A branch of the Hyuga Clan that had split off several generations ago, Mukai Hyuga belonged to a branch of a branch.

His line was made up of fringe members whose bloodline was too diluted to awaken the Byakugan.

The main family had not even bothered to place the Caged Bird Seal on them.

In the eyes of the main family, the seal itself was a resource, and it was not worth wasting on people who could never awaken the Byakugan.

And in the eyes of outsiders, it was simply impossible for members of this branch of the Hyuga Clan to awaken the Byakugan.

And that was indeed the case.

Before Mukai Hyuga, no one in this branch had ever successfully awakened the Byakugan.

He had only awakened the Byakugan in his left eye by chance, while on the brink of death during an Anbu mission not long ago.

He had never told anyone about it, not even Lord Hokage.

He watched the boy silently practicing Gentle Fist in the courtyard and suddenly felt a little wistful.

"If I'd been born into the Branch Family, I'd probably have had the Caged Bird Seal placed on me, just like this kid, wouldn't I?"

Mukai Hyuga mocked himself inwardly, but that was all it was.

He quickly composed himself and focused his attention on the boy below.

At this point, he was nothing like the Mukai Hyuga of the future, who would betray the village's secrets for the sake of his wife and children.

For now, he was still "Jie," a Konoha Anbu operative.

He did not know why Lord Danzo had sent him to assess a boy from the Hyuga Branch Family and test whether he qualified to join Root.

But the order had been given, and he would give it his all.

"Kid, I hope you're strong enough to catch Lord Danzo's eye..."

He murmured to himself as his left hand slowly reached for his weapon pouch.

"That way, even if you can't break free of the Caged Bird, you'll at least get a chance to make something of yourself in the village."

As soon as the thought crossed his mind, he flung out several Kunai.

Whoosh! Whoosh!

The Kunai scattered through the air.

A rain of death instantly engulfed Hyuga Qinglan in the courtyard.

Hyuga Qinglan, standing in the courtyard, clearly froze for a moment, but he quickly reacted.

A Kunai slid out of his weapon pouch, and he threw it precisely at the side of the leading Kunai.

Using the rebound from the collision, the Kunai struck another one.

One hit two, two hit three.

The chain reaction threw the entire rhythm of their flight into disarray.

"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm."

A fierce gust of palm wind followed, sending the remaining Kunai flying.

Clang, clatter—the sound of metal hitting the ground echoed through the courtyard.

His observation and reflexes were impressive. He'd even worked out their trajectories?

Mukai Hyuga silently praised him.

As expected, the Byakugan's true potential could only be realized as a pair.

"Are you... Anbu?"

Hyuga Qinglan feigned confusion as he looked up at the man in the Monkey Mask who had leapt down from the treetop into the courtyard.

"No. Anbu wouldn't attack a shinobi from the village without reason."

His voice suddenly turned cold. "You're... a spy, aren't you?!"

Hyuga Qinglan assumed the opening stance of Gentle Fist, his expression exceptionally grave.

"Are you trying to scheme for the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan again?!"

"..."

Mukai Hyuga was briefly at a loss for words.

He truly hadn't expected the boy before him to identify him as a spy so quickly.

Though he found it both amusing and exasperating, he still spoke in a low voice.

"Hyuga Qinglan, I..."

Before he could finish, Hyuga Qinglan had already attacked.

The killing intent gathered in his palm was aimed straight at the mask on Mukai's head!

How decisive...

The thought flashed through Mukai Hyuga's mind, but his hands didn't let up.

Chakra surged through his body. He retreated rapidly, crossing his arms to block.

Beneath the mask, the pupil in his left eye vanished, replaced by bulging veins arranged in concentric circles.

"Byakugan!"

He used the Eight Trigrams Palm technique he had developed himself and met the attack head-on.

Thud! Thud! Thud!

The two traded blows, their palm strikes crossing.

"A member of the Hyuga Clan?!"

Hyuga Qinglan kept his hands moving, astonished.

Since when had Danzo had a Hyuga shinobi working for him?!

His gaze sharpened, and the force behind his strikes grew stronger.

Thud! Thud! Thud!!

The longer they fought, the more Hyuga Qinglan felt that the man's techniques were a knockoff of the Eight Trigrams Palm.

A shoddy imitation, even.

He hadn't fully grasped its essence, either.

Still, he had to admit that although the man's technique was crude, he made up for its shortcomings with sheer strength and experience.

"If that's the case..."

Hyuga Qinglan's mind raced. The instant his opponent left an opening, he suddenly changed his move.

It wasn't the Eight Trigrams Palm.

It was a vicious Konoha Great Whirlwind.

He kicked at Mukai Hyuga's abdomen.

"Ugh!"

Mukai Hyuga staggered from the blow and stumbled back several steps, his footing unsteady.

But it wasn't over. The remaining strikes followed close behind.

He drew a deep breath and kept blocking.

But as the exchange progressed from two palms... to four... to eight...

Then sixteen palms, and even thirty-two...

Just as Hyuga Qinglan was about to unleash the Sixty-Four Palms...

Mukai Hyuga finally understood.

If this dragged on, he was certain to lose.

"Hyuga Qinglan, Lord Danzo sent me to invite you to join Anbu!"

"This is only a test!"

He practically shouted, a note of urgency in his voice that he himself hadn't noticed.

"Oh?"

Just as he'd expected, Hyuga Qinglan's attack abruptly stopped.

His palm halted three inches from Mukai Hyuga's face, and the wind from the strike ruffled the hair over his forehead.

"You really were sent by Lord Danzo...?"

Hyuga Qinglan looked somewhat uncertain. He still held a defensive stance, but most of the killing intent had left his eyes.

"Of course."

When Qinglan stopped his attacks, Mukai Hyuga finally let out a long breath.

He rubbed his numb arms and quickly explained, "Lord Danzo admires your talent and has decided to invite you to join Root."

"And I'm the one responsible for taking you there to report in."

"Then how do you explain knowing the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist and the locations of all the striking points so precisely?"

"Could it be that you have the Byakugan too?"

Hyuga Qinglan asked the question that had been buried in his heart.

"As far as I know, no one in the Hyuga Clan has joined Anbu or gone to work under Lord Danzo."

"Heh..."

Mukai Hyuga suddenly laughed. He could tell that Hyuga Qinglan was gradually letting his guard down. As long as he could prove what he'd said, Qinglan would believe him completely.

He took off his mask, revealing a young but resolute face.

"My name is Mukai Hyuga. My branch split off from the Hyuga Clan several generations ago."

"If you think about it, we're still relatives."

He smiled at the boy before him, who was gradually relaxing, then pulled a cigarette from his pocket and put it between his lips without lighting it.

"It's because the trait can skip generations. If you carry the genes, they can manifest at any time."

"Don't go telling anyone about this. It's my trump card." He paused, then continued in the tone of an elder. "After all, we'll be colleagues from now on. Maybe I'll even show you the ropes..."

"Ugh!"

Before Mukai Hyuga could finish, his body suddenly stiffened. He slowly looked down at his abdomen.

Hyuga Qinglan's hand was buried in his stomach, faint green light radiating from it.

"You...!"

Mukai Hyuga's pupils shrank to pinpricks, disbelief filling his eyes.

"Thank you for telling me all this."

A complicated look flashed through Hyuga Qinglan's eyes, but it quickly gave way to stillness.

"But first, let me make use of your body..."