Who Had the Byakugan?

"But what if the enemy catches on?" Itachi asked.

"Then we'll head east!"

"East?" Uchiha Zongxin looked bewildered. "What's over there?"

"The sea." Naoki kept it brief. "If we can't break through the encirclement to the south, we'll head east and enter the sea. No matter how strong the Kirigakure forces are, they can't possibly blockade the entire coastline. We can follow the coast north and take a long detour home."

"Th-this..." Uchiha Zongye frowned. "Isn't that too risky? There are only a handful of us who can fight at sea."

"It's the best plan I can think of..."

A whole day had passed since Naoki sent Shisui a distress signal, but he still hadn't heard back. So he had no choice but to prepare for the worst and deal with the crisis at hand.

Naoki explained his reasoning to everyone.

"Heading east into the sea is one of the few viable options that can keep everyone safe. Besides, based on my estimate, he probably doesn't have the resources left to deploy a large force in the east to intercept us."

"In short, heading south, north, or west would all be bad choices. East is our only way out." Naoki looked at Hyuga Hiroshi. "Hiroshi, keep an eye on our surroundings. Tell me immediately if anything changes."

Over the past several days, Naoki had led everyone deep into enemy territory and successfully completed the mission Hyuga Akira had assigned. They'd run into some unexpected difficulties, but he'd always worked to resolve them. His leadership was gradually taking shape, and everyone was beginning to accept him...

"I have to take some of the blame for this..." Hyuga Akira said guiltily after arriving at the front line.

"If my intelligence hadn't been wrong, they might not have ended up surrounded by the enemy... What happened was my fault."

Shisui shook his head. "Don't say that. There's no avoiding risk in war. Once you step onto the battlefield, you have to put life and death aside and make completing the mission your top priority."

"It's still my fault." Hyuga Akira shook his head. "This time, I brought everyone from the rear with me. We have to seize this opportunity to defeat the Kirigakure army—and try to save Ah Hong and the others, too..."

Inside the tent, Hyuga Akira and Shisui discussed their plans. Sarutobi Shinnosuke watched Hyuga Akira, but his thoughts were elsewhere.

Rumor had it that fifteen years ago, Hyuga Ting, the Hyuga Clan's sixth elder of the Main Branch, had suddenly announced that he had a child. He'd spent his whole life a bachelor and had been bedridden for years.

Hyuga Ting had never revealed how the child had come to be or who the mother was. He'd simply insisted that Hyuga Hiashi add the child to the Main Branch family register.

Just one year later, Hyuga Ting passed away. The child, Hyuga Hiroshi, was taken in by Hyuga Hiashi and raised in his home for decades.

Among the Konoha High Command, no one believed that Hyuga Ting, bedridden for years, could have fathered a child in his final two years. So most people assumed that Hyuga Hiroshi, Hyuga Ting's child in name only, was actually Hyuga Hiashi's illegitimate son...

Come to think of it, was Hyuga Hiroshi made part of the Main Branch because Hyuga Ting had been so insistent?

Of course not. In the Hyuga Clan, only Hyuga Hiashi, the clan leader, was the one and only sun!

There could only be one truth: Hyuga Hiroshi was Hyuga Hiashi's illegitimate son. Hyuga Ting was dying, so helping the clan leader with one small favor before he passed wasn't a big deal. After all, he had no children or wife of his own, so he had no reason to care what people said.

Of course, that was only a rumor among the Konoha High Command. No one knew what had really happened. But as Sarutobi Hiruzen's eldest son, Sarutobi Shinnosuke had learned a little more than most.

He knew that even if Hyuga Hiroshi wasn't Hyuga Hiashi's illegitimate son, he was certainly connected to him.

From what he'd learned, fifteen years ago, Hyuga Hiashi had suddenly gone out alone one night and didn't return until dawn. Soon after, Hyuga Ting had announced that he had a child.

Of course, all that was just the bait.

Even if Hyuga Hiashi had a messy personal life, it had nothing to do with Sarutobi Shinnosuke. It was just gossip for people to enjoy and laugh about.

But recently, the Anbu on the Southern Border Battlefield had reported something extremely secret to him. When he put it together with the old rumors and what was happening now, he'd come to a suspicion.

Suppose an illegitimate son, born with the stain of his lowly status, had been forced into the Main Branch by one person's will. And suppose that this Main Branch member lost his Byakugan on the battlefield. What would happen to him?

Sarutobi Shinnosuke had seen plenty of dirty dealings in great clans. In his view, rather than being a mistake on Hyuga Akira's part, the intelligence failure was more likely the result of this Hyuga Clan elder having bad intentions from the start.

Thinking about it, he couldn't help marveling at Hyuga Akira's audacity. Wanting Hyuga Hiroshi dead to bury the clan's shame was one thing, but he'd also dragged Uchiha Itachi and Uchiha Naoki—someone Uchiha Fugaku valued—into the same grave. He really had a death wish.

Wasn't he worried that if the truth ever came out, the Uchiha Clan would go berserk?

Wait... Another thought suddenly occurred to him.

If Hyuga Hiroshi's Byakugan had been taken, who had the missing eye?

In a house in a small town in the southeastern part of the Land of Fire, Ao pulled a small glass bottle from his robes. It gleamed with a cold light in the dim candle glow. Suspended in the liquid inside was a pure white eyeball.

He closed his hand around the bottle, stood, and walked to the window. He gazed north into the dark night sky.

The Byakugan had been his prize for ambushing Hyuga Hiroshi on the battlefield.

The Hyuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai could see in all directions and perceive chakra. If he could transplant it into himself...

Ao's lips curled into a slight smile.

The future looked bright, but the pressure of reality weighed heavily on him.

Ever since he'd taken the Byakugan, he'd been hunted without end. Whenever he reached somewhere safe, another group would soon catch up, and he'd have to flee again.

For a long time, he couldn't use the Byakugan, and he was constantly pursued. After all that running around, he decided he needed to find somewhere safe and transplant it first!

"If I don't transplant it soon, I may not get another chance. Those guys are closing in..."

Once he'd made up his mind, Ao slipped quietly out of the house and made his way through the night to a shabby clinic.

He pressed two fingers together and knocked on the wooden door.

"Knock, knock! Knock, knock!"

"Who is it?"

Footsteps sounded inside, and the wooden door creaked open. Ao darted inside.

"Y-you... Who are you?"