One More Gamble

Bang!

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

That kick landed solidly.

Purple lightning surged along Hyuga Qinglan's calf, pouring entirely into that small body.

"Aaaah--!"

The white figure let out a shrill, miserable scream.

Immediately after, just as it had darted out from the dense forest, it flew backward into it.

"What the hell was that?"

The Shadow Clone Qinglan frowned slightly, retracting his leg in surprise; that moment just now had been a purely instinctive reflex.

Divine Extermination activated, and he had lashed out with a kick.

He hadn't even had time to see the other person's features clearly.

"This is..."

The Shadow Clone Qinglan pushed off the ground, his figure turning into a purple afterimage as he chased deep into the dense forest.

However, when he arrived at the crater where the figure had fallen, the sight before him made him pause.

Several wriggling pieces of granulation tissue were twitching in the dirt pit.

And even more eye-catching was a blood-stained Sharingan floating in a jar, rolling beside a pile of rotting leaves.

Granulation tissue... Sharingan...

Who is it?

The Shadow Clone Qinglan felt a flicker of doubt and instantly activated his Byakugan, his vision shifting from color to monochrome.

In the far distance, a chaotic mass of chakra was fleeing frantically, and that small figure kept looking back...

Is that Hiruko?!

The Shadow Clone Qinglan was somewhat surprised. Just as he intended to increase his speed to pursue, the edge of his Byakugan captured another scene.

At the exit of the encampment area, a beautiful figure was walking slowly into the woods with two Branch Family guards.

That path happened to intersect with the direction of Hiruko's flight.

"Hyuga Yumi..."

The Shadow Clone paused, then suddenly raised a smile, slowing his pace.

"Since the main body is busy with serious business... I might as well do something interesting..."

"Behave yourself from now on... and by the way, help me scout out where the secrets of the Hyuga Clan are hidden..."

--

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

Hiruko gritted his teeth, blood streaming uncontrollably from the corner of his mouth. He frantically pushed the Swift Release within his body, his figure leaving trails of afterimages through the forest as he fled for his life toward the distance.

He never imagined that a random guy from the Hyuga Clan would be strong to such an extent.

It would be one thing if he could use Lightning Release Armor, but he actually...

Hiruko glanced down at his abdomen.

His armor-like hardened skin had shattered, revealing the mangled flesh beneath, with purple electrical sparks still crackling at the edges of the wound.

Steel Release...

The second Kekkei Genkai he had painstakingly fused was now smashed to pieces by that single kick.

"It's been a few years since I returned to Konoha... are Konoha ninjas all this powerful now?"

Hiruko coughed violently, blood spraying from his nostrils.

He couldn't understand; if Konoha ninjas were all this caliber, why were they being beaten so badly by Iwagakure?

His original plan was to take advantage of the chaotic war to capture a few ninjas with special Kekkei Genkai as materials to fuse into his Chimera Technique.

But who would have thought that as soon as he targeted a lone Hyuga, before he could even use his methods, he would be kicked half to death, even losing the Sharingan he had worked so hard to collect in that dirt pit.

"That Hyuga bastard... once I recover from my injuries..."

Hiruko cursed while desperately sensing the chakra behind him.

Only after repeatedly confirming that the figure behind him hadn't caught up did he dare to slow down, preparing to find a hidden corner to treat his wounds.

But the moment he turned his head, he suddenly froze.

Less than ten steps ahead, a beautiful figure was walking toward him nonchalantly with two guards.

And the feeling she gave him was weak—incredibly weak...

"One more gamble!"

A morbid smile appeared on Hiruko's twisted face as he stared greedily at those pure Byakugan eyes.

"I refuse to believe... that just any woman from the Hyuga Clan who happens to walk out can be as formidable as that lunatic from before!"

Inside the cave, a deathly silence descended.

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

The Branch Family... had thoroughly seized control of the moon.

The four Otsutsuki members exchanged glances, the cracks on their faces caused by the Impure World Reincarnation seeming to widen and flake away in the wake of this shocking news.

And their dear friend, whom they had long believed to be dead, was now living a second life.

Standing before them once again, inhabiting the body of a member of the Hyuga Clan from Earth.

"It's just like you... Qing."

Zi's tone was complex and heavy; on that face which no longer belonged to the living, there seemed to linger an unspeakable emotion.

Ever since this squad, known as the "Rainbow Squad," was formed, Aoshiki had always been the most exceptionally talented member among their Main Family team.

The bizarre ninjutsu of Earth and the unknown powers that others avoided at all costs were the very things he was most obsessed with.

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

Dragged them back from death into the present world.

"If that's the case... then your eyes..."

Green, standing to the side, seemed to suddenly recall something, his voice faltering slightly.

According to the ancient records left behind by their ancestor, Otsutsuki Hamura.

The awakening of the Tenseigan, aside from fusing a massive quantity of Byakugan, had another shortcut.

By nourishing the untainted Byakugan of the Hyuga Clan with the purest Otsutsuki chakra.

Then, the azure "Tenseigan" would manifest in the world at that very moment.

"That's right."

Hyuga Qinglan nodded slightly. In that instant, his originally pale pupils rippled like water, suddenly shifting into a clear, almost transparent azure blue, as if stars were slowly rotating within them.

"These eyes are the Tenseigan."

He paused, then abruptly shifted the subject, revealing the true purpose of his visit.

"Back then, after I was struck, did you... not find my corpse?"

Corpse?

Zi, Chi, Orange, and Blue looked at one another, undisguised confusion rising in their eyes.

In their view, since Hyuga Qinglan had already lived a second life and possessed ocular power that surpassed their predecessors, why would he be obsessed with a corpse that should have long since decayed and turned to dust?

"I don't know."

Zi remained silent for a long time before being the first to shake his head.

He walked slowly toward the deep pool of water to the side, and upon sensing the barely perceptible space-time fluctuations within it, his brow furrowed even tighter.

"We all died around the same time. My last memory is of the Branch Family storming the temple, and then nothing but golden light filling the sky..."

Hyuga Qinglan's gaze shifted away from Zi, looking in turn at Orange, Blue, and Chi.

What he received were equally bewildered expressions and silent shakes of the head.

No one remembered.

"..."

Silence spread through the cave like an invisible layer of frost.

Hyuga Qinglan lowered his eyelids; the faint glimmer of expectation in his heart had ultimately come to nothing.

But it was within his expectations. Summoning the Rainbow Squad was for two reasons: one was to inquire about the corpse.

The second was to increase the concentration of his Tenseigan.

"Qing..."

Zi's voice sounded once more, carrying a sense of detachment, as if he had seen through the vanity of the world. Those eyes belonging to the dead no longer held the anger of power struggles, only the tranquility left behind by the passage of time.

"We have long since turned to dust, and even you have only barely managed to live a second life."

"Perhaps that goes to show that destiny has never favored us, the stubborn Main Family."

"We old relics really shouldn't be stirring up the winds of the ninja world anymore, or disturbing those ninjas who are still alive."