One More Gamble

Bang!

The white figure was kicked away like a kite with its string cut.

The kick landed squarely.

Purple lightning surged down Hyuga Qinglan's leg and poured into the small body.

" Aaaagh—!"

The white figure let out a shrill scream.

Then it shot out of the forest, only to be sent flying back into it.

"What the hell?"

Shadow Clone Qinglan furrowed his brow slightly and withdrew his foot, surprised. For a split second, his body had reacted entirely on instinct.

Divine Extermination activated, and he kicked.

He hadn't even had time to make out the other person's features.

"This is..."

Shadow Clone Qinglan pushed off the ground and shot into the depths of the forest like a purple blur.

But when he reached the pit where the figure had landed, the sight before him made him stop in his tracks.

Several writhing tendrils of flesh twitched in the pit.

More conspicuous still was a bloodied Sharingan floating inside a jar, which had rolled beside a pile of rotting leaves.

Tendrils of flesh... a Sharingan...

Who was it?

Shadow Clone Qinglan was puzzled. He activated his Byakugan, and the world instantly shifted from color to black and white.

In the distance, a chaotic mass of chakra was fleeing wildly. The small figure kept looking back as he ran...

Was that Hiruko?!

Shadow Clone Qinglan was startled. Just as he prepared to pick up the pace and pursue him, the edge of his Byakugan caught another scene.

At the entrance to the camp, a graceful figure was walking into the woods with two Branch Family guards.

Her path crossed the direction Hiruko was fleeing.

"Hyuga Yumi..."

The Shadow Clone paused, then suddenly smiled. At the same time, he slowed down.

"If the real me is busy with serious business... I might as well have a little fun too..."

"Behave yourself from now on... and help me find out where the Hyuga Clan's secrets are hidden..."

--

"Damn it... damn it... damn it!"

Hiruko clenched his teeth, blood streaming from the corner of his mouth. He frantically channeled his Swift Release, his body leaving one afterimage after another as he fled through the woods.

He never would have thought that some random Hyuga Clan member could be so powerful.

Using Lightning Release Armor was one thing, but to actually...

Hiruko glanced down at his abdomen.

His armor-like hardened skin had shattered, exposing the mangled flesh beneath. Purple sparks still crackled along the edges of the wound.

Steel Release...

The second Kekkei Genkai he had worked so hard to fuse was now a mangled mess, all because of that kick.

"I haven't been back to Konoha in years... Have its ninja all gotten this strong?"

Hiruko coughed violently, blood spraying from his nose.

He couldn't understand it. If Konoha's ninja were all this powerful, why had Iwagakure beaten them so badly?

His original plan had been to take advantage of the chaos of war and capture a few ninja with unusual Kekkei Genkai to use as material for his Chimera Technique.

But who could have guessed that the moment he set his sights on a lone Hyuga, before he could even make a move, one kick would nearly kill him? He had even lost the Sharingan he had worked so hard to collect, leaving it in that pit.

"That bastard from the Hyuga Clan... Once I've recovered..."

Hiruko cursed as he desperately sensed the chakra behind him.

Only after repeatedly confirming that no one was pursuing him did he dare slow down. He was just about to find a secluded spot to treat his wounds.

But the instant he turned around, he froze.

Less than ten paces ahead, a graceful figure was strolling toward him with two guards, looking utterly unconcerned.

And yet she felt as weak as could be...

"One more gamble!"

A sick smile twisted Hiruko's face as he stared greedily at those clear Byakugan.

"I refuse to believe that some random woman from the Hyuga Clan can be as strong as that lunatic!"

--

The cave fell into deathly silence.

The Otsutsuki Main Family... had been wiped out.

The Branch Family... had taken complete control of the moon.

The four Otsutsuki members exchanged looks. The cracks caused by Impure World Reincarnation seemed to spread and peel away across their faces as the shocking news sank in.

And the friend they had once believed dead had now lived a second life.

He had returned before them in the body of a Hyuga from Earth.

"That's just like you... Ao."

Zi's voice was heavy with complex emotion. On his face, which no longer belonged to the living, some indescribable feeling still seemed to linger.

Ever since the formation of the squad known as the "Rainbow Squad," Otsutsuki Aoshiki had always been the most dazzlingly talented member of their Main Family team.

The bizarre ninjutsu of Earth and the unknown powers others shied away from were precisely what fascinated him most.

Not only had he lived a second life himself, but he had even...

Pulled them back from death and returned them to the living world.

"If that's true... then your eyes..."

Green seemed to suddenly remember something, his voice faltering slightly.

According to ancient texts left behind by their ancestor, Otsutsuki Hamura,

there was another shortcut to awakening the Tenseigan besides fusing a vast number of Byakugan.

The purest Otsutsuki chakra could be used to nurture the untainted Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan.

Then, in that very moment, the azure Tenseigan would appear.

"That's right."

Hyuga Qinglan gave a slight nod. In that instant, his pale pupils rippled like water and abruptly shifted to a clear, almost translucent azure, as if stars were slowly turning within them.

"These eyes are the Tenseigan."

He paused, then abruptly changed the subject, revealing the real reason he had come.

"After I was struck back then, did none of you... find my body?"

His body?

Zi, Chi, Orange, and Blue exchanged looks, unmistakable confusion in their eyes.

In their view, since Hyuga Qinglan had already lived a second life and gained ocular power surpassing that of his predecessors, why was he still fixated on a body that had long since rotted and should have crumbled to dust?

"I don't know."

After a long silence, Zi was the first to shake his head.

He walked slowly toward a nearby pool of dark water. When he sensed the almost imperceptible fluctuations of space-time within it, his brow furrowed even more deeply.

"We died around the same time. My last memory is of the Branch Family breaking into the shrine. After that, there was only golden light everywhere..."

Hyuga Qinglan shifted his gaze from Zi to Orange, Blue, and Chi in turn.

He received the same bewildered looks and silent shakes of the head.

No one remembered.

"..."

Silence spread through the cave like an invisible frost.

Hyuga Qinglan lowered his eyes. The faint hope in his heart had ultimately come to nothing.

That was more or less what he'd expected. One purpose in summoning the Rainbow Squad was to ask about his body.

The other was to increase the Tenseigan's purity.

"Qing..."

Zi spoke again, his voice carrying the calm acceptance of someone who had seen through the world. The anger over power struggles had vanished from the dead man's eyes, leaving only the serenity of time's passage.

"We've long since turned to dust. You barely managed to live a second life yourself."

"Perhaps that means fate has never favored old traditionalists like us from the Main Family."

"We old relics shouldn't stir up trouble in the Shinobi World or disturb the ninja who are still alive."