Kirigakure Rogue Ninja

At the foot of Xia Mountain, very close to the Land of Fire's border.

"Father, aren't we going to save them?"

Hidden in the shadows, Hanabi's Byakugan veins bulged as she glared furiously at the bandits outside.

The bandits were robbing a merchant caravan and brutally killing all the men.

A samurai who seemed to have been hired to protect the caravan killed one bandit with his swordsmanship, but was then killed by a tall, pale-faced ninja.

Hiashi had activated his Byakugan too. He noticed that the pale-faced ninja wore a Kirigakure Forehead Protector, but a deep slash had been cut through its center.

A rogue ninja from the Land of Water?

Judging by his Taijutsu and ninjutsu just now, he had probably reached the level of a jonin.

Hiashi guessed as much, then quietly told his daughter not to act rashly:

"Remember, Hanabi, whether you're on a mission or doing anything else out here, you must always keep a cool head."

"But..."

"No buts. You'll inherit the Hyuga Main Family one day. You must learn to do this."

Hiashi glanced at the younger daughter he had the highest hopes for and quietly told her to follow the bandits with him.

He had brought only Hanabi along for this mission to wipe out the bandits, hoping to teach her the skills needed to survive in the Ninja World.

Or, rather, its true nature.

He just hadn't expected one of the bandits to be a Kirigakure rogue ninja with the strength of a jonin.

But they were already here. Going back to find reinforcements would waste too much time.

Besides, Hiashi believed that with his strength, he could handle a mere jonin.

The Hyuga were the strongest clan in Konoha.

For the next three days, father and daughter hid outside the bandits' stronghold, using the Byakugan to get a rough idea of its layout and defenses.

By the fourth day, Hiashi finally found the perfect opportunity to strike—

At noon that day, more than thirty bandits received orders from the Kirigakure rogue ninja—their leader—to go rob a merchant caravan on a road several mountains away.

Hiashi seized the chance. Once the bandits had left the stronghold, he led his daughter inside.

Taking advantage of the Byakugan, he quietly ended the criminal lives of more than a dozen bandits.

He had planned to use the same method to take out the rest before facing the Kirigakure rogue ninja.

But trouble always came when you least expected it.

As they passed a cage where the bandits kept people they had kidnapped, Hanabi's heart softened.

The girl had always lived in the sunlight. She couldn't bear the helpless, dying moans of the people inside, tormented by the stench and damp darkness.

She opened a cage holding a little girl and was about to use the Gentle Fist to break the chains locking her up.

By the time Hiashi turned around and noticed, it was too late. "Stop, Hanabi!"

Hanabi's Gentle Fist snapped one of the chains, and a dense series of "clink, clink" sounds rang out.

She never imagined the chain was strung with one Explosive Tag after another.

A father's instinct drove Hiashi to push himself to the limit. Before the Explosive Tags went off, he pulled his daughter into his arms...

—BOOM! BOOM!—

The successive explosions blew the building where the prisoners were held apart, blasting father and daughter outside. Hiashi's back was left a bloody mess.

"F-Father, you're hurt!"

Hanabi was so full of regret that she was about to cry.

She regretted not activating her Byakugan to inspect the chain before touching it. She had never imagined the bandits could be so utterly depraved as to hide Explosive Tags inside it.

She hadn't saved anyone, and she had caused her beloved father to suffer such a terrible injury to his back.

Clap, clap, clap...

Before the two of them could recover, they heard applause from behind.

The rogue ninja Takisui appeared with the more than thirty men who should have already left the stronghold. He clapped and sneered, "I was wondering why I'd felt watched these past few days. Turns out two little rats had snuck in."

Hiashi stood up through the pain, instantly realizing that the bandits' departure that day had been meant to lure them out.

This rogue ninja was no ordinary opponent.

"You're a Kirigakure rogue ninja in the Land of Fire. Aren't you afraid Konoha will send people to hunt you down?"

"If I were afraid, I wouldn't have become a rogue ninja."

Takisui seemed to find the question hilarious. His laughter turned even more sinister as he ordered his men to leave the injured man to him and deal with the little girl themselves.

When your opponent was weak, you struck to kill. Takisui wasn't going to wait around and let Hiashi recover.

The battle began in an instant.

Before long, father and daughter were separated. Two or three dozen men attacked Hanabi, but after she struck several of them with her Gentle Fist and sent them to the ground, twitching, the rest were too frightened to attack.

On the other side, Hiashi's injured back hampered him, turning what should have been an overwhelming victory into a stalemate.

Then one or two quick-witted bandits pulled out bows to support the Kirigakure rogue ninja. Hiashi soon fell into a disadvantage.

He began looking for an opening to retreat with his daughter.

But that hesitation gave Takisui an opening. As Hiashi turned to knock aside two incoming arrows, Takisui seized the chance, formed Hand Seals, and charged right up to him.

"Ninja Art: Water Prison Technique!"

Damn it.

Hiashi was startled by the words. He knew at once the tide had turned and shouted for his daughter to run.

Gurgle, gurgle...

A high-density sphere of water suddenly formed around Hiashi, trapping his whole body inside.

Hiashi quickly controlled his breathing to keep from suffocating due to the lack of oxygen.

As he gathered chakra to break through the water prison, he looked anxiously toward his daughter.

Takisui chuckled, placing a hand on the water sphere and increasing the pressure to stop Hiashi from escaping. Then he yelled at his men, who were still standing around in shock, "Useless fools! What are you waiting for? Grab the little girl! She can't keep up her chakra for long!"

Takisui's pale face was practically splitting with a grin. He couldn't believe he had run into someone from the Hyuga Clan here.

And the girl had no Cursed Seal mark on her forehead, which meant the two of them belonged to the Hyuga Main Family.

If he could take a Byakugan for himself, heh... wouldn't he be as strong as Ao, one of the Mizukage's guards?

And as luck would have it, Takisui had been there the whole time when Ao received the Byakugan transplanted from the Hyuga Clan.

When his men still hesitated to approach Hanabi, Takisui shouted again in exasperation, "Get her surrounded! I'll tell you how to catch her..."

The bandits heard their leader's anger and didn't dare slack off any longer. They quickly surrounded Hanabi.

Following Takisui's instructions, they focused on attacking and dodging, intent on exhausting Hanabi's chakra.

At the center of the fight, Hanabi was nearly frantic.

She worried about her father, trapped over there, while dodging the swords, clubs, and other weapons coming at her.

Soon, one bandit spotted his chance, grabbed both of Hanabi's little hands, pinned her head down, and dragged her in front of the leader to claim his reward.

Hanabi struggled in fury, but for some reason she couldn't break free from the bandit's grip.

"Boss! Boss! I caught the little lass!"

Takisui beamed at Hanabi, as if he could already see himself becoming as powerful as Ao.

"Hahaha! Well done! I'll reward you handsomely tonight."

Just as Takisui reached out to put his hands on Hanabi, a kunai suddenly plunged into his chest with a sharp crack.