Rogue Ninja of Kirigakure

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

"Father, are we not going to step in and save them?"

Hidden in the shadows, Hanabi had the veins around her eyes bulging as she glared at the group of bandits outside.

The bandits were currently slaughtering every man in the merchant caravan for the sake of their wealth.

A samurai, who seemed to have been hired to protect the caravan, managed to cut down one bandit with his swordsmanship before being killed by a tall, pale-faced ninja.

Hiashi, who had also activated his Byakugan, noticed that the pale-faced ninja wore a Kirigakure headband, though it had a deep slash carved through the middle.

A rogue ninja from the Land of Water?

Judging by the taijutsu and ninjutsu displayed just moments ago, he should have reached the level of a jonin.

Hiashi speculated, then whispered to his daughter not to act rashly:

"Remember, Hanabi, whether you are on a mission or doing anything else, you must always keep a calm heart."

"But..."

"There are no 'buts.' You are the one who will inherit our Hyuga Clan's main house in the future; you must be able to do this."

Hiashi glanced at his youngest daughter, whom he currently favored most, and whispered for her to follow the bandits.

He had brought only Hanabi along for this mission to suppress the bandits specifically so she could gradually learn the survival skills of the Ninja World.

Or, perhaps, its true nature.

He just hadn't expected that among these bandits, there would be a Kirigakure rogue ninja with the strength of a jonin.

However, since they were already here, going back to find reinforcements would be a waste of time.

Moreover, Hiashi believed that with his own strength, he was more than capable of dealing with a mere jonin.

They, the Hyuga, were the strongest clan in Konoha.

Over the next three days, the father and daughter hid outside the bandits' stronghold, using the power of the Byakugan to roughly map out the terrain and guard situation.

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

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

Hiashi seized this opportunity; after those thirty-plus bandits left the stronghold, he snuck in with his daughter.

Utilizing the advantage of the Byakugan, he quietly ended the wicked lives of over a dozen bandits.

He had originally intended to continue using this method to eliminate the rest of the bandits before finally engaging the Kirigakure rogue ninja.

But accidents always arrive when least expected.

Just as he and his daughter passed a cage where the bandits kept their captives, Hanabi felt a surge of compassion.

The girl, who had always lived in the sunlight, could not bear the helpless, dying moans of the people inside, tortured by the stench, darkness, and dampness.

She moved to open a cage holding a little girl and was about to use her Gentle Fist to break the iron chains locking the child in.

By the time Hiashi turned his head to see the situation, it was already too late: "Stop, Hanabi!"

As Hanabi's Gentle Fist snapped one of the chains, a dense, crackling sound erupted.

They never imagined that the chains were rigged with link after link of Explosive Tag.

A father's instinct forced Hiashi to unleash his potential, shielding his daughter in his arms before the Explosive Tag detonated...

--BOOM--BOOM--

The continuous explosions blew the roof off the building where the captives were held, blasting the father and daughter outside and leaving Hiashi's back a bloody, mangled mess.

"Fa... Father, you're hurt."

Hanabi was already crying with regret.

She regretted not activating her Byakugan to observe before touching that chain, and she never imagined these bandits could be so heartless as to embed Explosive Tag inside the chains.

Now, she hadn't saved a single person, and she had caused her beloved father to suffer such a severe injury to his back.

Clap, clap, clap...

Before the father and daughter could recover, they heard the sound of clapping from behind them.

The rogue ninja Takisui appeared with the thirty-plus men who were supposed to have left the stronghold, clapping his hands and laughing viciously:

"I was wondering why I kept feeling like I was being watched these past few days. So, two little mice had snuck in."

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

This rogue ninja was no simpleton.

"A rogue ninja from Kirigakure entering the Land of Fire—aren't you afraid that Konoha will send people to hunt you down?"

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

Takisui seemed to have heard a hilarious joke; his laughter grew even more sinister as he ordered his subordinates: he would deal with the injured one, and they were to finish off the small one.

Taking advantage of an opponent's weakness to end their life, Takisui would not wait for them to stall for time to recover.

The battle was on the verge of breaking out.

Hiashi and Hanabi were quickly separated. Hanabi was swarmed by twenty or thirty men, but after she struck a few of them in their pressure points, causing them to collapse and convulse, the others were too terrified to do anything but circle her.

On the other side, Hiashi was struggling to maintain a stalemate in a fight that should have been a total rout, his performance hampered by the wound on his back.

As one or two clever bandits began to use bows and arrows to provide cover for the Kirigakure rogue ninjas, Hiashi soon found himself on the defensive.

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

It was this moment of hesitation that Takisui seized upon. Just as Hiashi turned his head to deflect two incoming arrows, Takisui exploited the gap, performed a hand seal, and lunged directly in front of him.

"Ninja Art: Water Prison Technique."

Damn it.

Hiashi was startled by the voice, instantly realizing that the situation had turned dire, and shouted for his daughter to run.

Glug, glug...

A high-density sphere of water manifested out of thin air, centering on Hiashi and encasing him completely.

Hiashi hurriedly adjusted his breathing to prevent suffocation from lack of oxygen.

As he gathered his chakra to break through the water prison, he cast a worried gaze toward his daughter.

Beside him, Takisui let out a sinister chuckle, placing his hand on the water sphere to increase the pressure and prevent his captive from escaping, while barking at his stunned subordinates:

"Useless trash, what are you standing around for? Grab that little girl! Her chakra won't last long."

Takisui's pale face was twisted into a grotesque grin; he never imagined he would actually catch members of the Hyuga Clan here.

Seeing that the little girl's forehead was free of any cursed seal, he deduced that both of them were from the Hyuga main branch.

If he could seize a Byakugan, heh... wouldn't his strength reach the level of the Mizukage's bodyguard, Ao?

Coincidentally, Takisui had been present for the entire procedure when Ao had the Byakugan from the Hyuga Clan transplanted.

Seeing his men still hesitating to approach Hanabi, Takisui roared in a fit of rage:

"Surround her! I'll tell you how to catch her..."

Hearing their boss lose his temper, the bandits dared not slack off any longer and hurriedly swarmed Hanabi.

Following Takisui's instructions, they adopted a strategy of only attacking and dodging, aiming to exhaust Hanabi's chakra.

At the center of the fray, Hanabi was frantic.

She was torn between worrying about her father, who was trapped, and dodging the incoming blades and clubs.

Soon, a bandit spotted an opening, grabbed both of Hanabi's small hands, pinned her head, and dragged her toward the boss to claim his reward.

Hanabi struggled in fury, but for some reason, she found she could not break free from the bandit holding her.

"Boss! Boss! I've caught the little brat."

Takisui looked at Hanabi with great delight, as if he could already see himself becoming as powerful as Ao in the near future.

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

Just as Takisui reached out his demonic claws toward Hanabi, a sharp crack echoed through the air, and a kunai was driven deep into his heart.