Raiga Kurosuki, the Byakugan That Was Countered

"Konoha ninja? You remind me of someone I hate."

Just as Team 8 raised their guard, the leader of the approaching group in black raincoats—a man with a bulge beneath the raincoat on his back—muttered to himself.

As if sensing the man's emotional shift, a boy's voice came from beneath the bulging raincoat behind him. "Should we hold a funeral for them?"

"Heh..."

The raincoat-clad man did not answer. He merely grinned.

Soon, Team 8 and the group in black raincoats passed one another.

Throughout it, both sides kept a close watch on the other from the corners of their eyes.

As though the slightest movement would immediately provoke an attack.

Fortunately, neither side seemed interested in causing trouble, and neither made a move as they passed.

Just as Yuhi Kurenai was about to lower her guard.

A thick white mist suddenly filled the air, turning everything before Team 8 into a hazy white blur in the blink of an eye.

"Not good, it's the Hidden Mist Technique!" Yuhi Kurenai's expression changed drastically.

"Byakugan—activate!"

Hinata immediately activated her Byakugan, then turned and fired a mass of distorted air behind her. "Gentle Fist Art: Air Palm!"

The distorted air was like an invisible cannonball. It struck one of the raincoat-clad figures and sent him flying.

"Ah..."

A scream rang out through the thick mist.

But in the next second, Hinata's expression abruptly changed. She hurriedly said, "There's an ambush. There are at least a hundred of them!"

From Hinata's perspective, a large group of people with chakra flowing through their meridians appeared in the white mist at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"Don't panic. Those are just illusions."

Aburame Shino remained exceptionally calm. Looking at the insects crawling over his index finger, he said, "It's incredible that an illusion can deceive the Byakugan, but... my insects tell me their scent hasn't changed."

Hearing that, Ryusuke, whose Sharingan was already active and who had likewise seen over a hundred chakra signatures in the mist, paused in the middle of forming hand seals.

Then Ryusuke changed his hand seals. "Shadow Clone Technique!"

Poof!

With the white mist turning the world completely pale, Team 8 only heard a sound like a bursting balloon.

"Spiral Water Dragon Roll!"

Ryusuke took several steps forward, raising his right hand over his head with his palm facing upward.

Rings of blue air currents appeared out of nowhere, forming a small blue tornado.

The moment the blue tornado formed, massive waves descended from above.

The waves covered an astonishingly wide area, enough to wash Team 8 far away.

Yet the waves did not engulf Team 8. As if drawn by a magnet, they all gathered above Ryusuke's head and formed a rapidly expanding water tornado.

Before the water tornado had even fully taken shape, Ryusuke hurled it forward.

The moment it left his hand, its eye, like the base of a spinning top, plowed a massive trench through the ground.

Rubble was sucked into the water tornado, instantly causing the tornado, which had previously contained only swirling water, to surge in destructive power.

Its terrifying suction also dragged in the surrounding mist like a gigantic vacuum cleaner.

At the same time, the ever-growing water tornado, filled with increasing amounts of rubble, swept toward the black raincoat-clad group at incredible speed.

Because the water tornado was so fast, and because they too were affected by the thick mist.

By the time the group in black raincoats reacted, they had already been dragged into the water tornado by its suction.

"Ahhh..."

Screams echoed through the mountains.

When the thick mist dispersed, Team 8 watched as a water tornado filled with countless stones and several rapidly spinning figures swiftly moved away into the distance.

Unless a thick mountainside stood in its path, the tornado would likely travel very far before finally dispersing.

It was already this powerful on land. Yuhi Kurenai and Aburame Shino could not imagine how terrifying it would be if Ryusuke used this technique at sea.

Hinata, veins bulging at both temples, said in disbelief, "They really were illusions? How is that possible?"

Like the Sharingan, the Byakugan was also the bane of genjutsu.

Once the Byakugan was activated, Hinata could see the meridians within the human body.

Any ninja would have chakra flowing through the meridians in their body.

Unless it was something tangible like a Shadow Clone, human illusions created by genjutsu were no different from empty air in the Byakugan's eyes.

Hinata only needed to lock onto the person whose meridians had chakra flowing through them.

Yet just now, Hinata had clearly seen at least a hundred sets of meridians with flowing chakra appear in the dense mist.

That could not possibly have been created by genjutsu!

And yet, they really had been illusions.

For the first time, Hinata began to doubt her clan's Byakugan.

Rumble...

At that moment, the sound of thunder suddenly reached Team 8's ears.

In the next second, Ryusuke and Yuhi Kurenai seemed to sense something. Their expressions changed abruptly as they shouted, "Scatter, now!"

After saying that, Ryusuke scooped up the still-dazed Hinata and flashed away in an instant.

Boom—

Almost the moment Team 8 scattered, an enormous bolt of lightning struck the spot where they had been standing.

The ground was instantly blasted into a massive crater, sending shattered rocks flying.

Strands of blue-white electricity crackled and flickered through the air.

Team 8 appeared in an open area, forming a triangle as they scanned the surrounding mountain path.

Yuhi Kurenai said solemnly, "Hinata, quickly use your Byakugan to observe the surroundings. Can you find the person using Lightning Release?"

Still in Ryusuke's arms, Hinata said in panic, "I can't find him. Aside from the people hit by the water tornado, I can't see any chakra at all."

"My insects can't find him either," Aburame Shino said with a grave expression.

Ryusuke, on the other hand, seemed to have caught something with the Three-Tomoe Sharingan beneath his Colored Contact Lenses. He softly reassured Hinata in his arms, "Don't panic. It's not that your eyes can't see him. The enemy has a method that counters the Byakugan and sensory abilities."

"I've found him. Look over there!"

Ryusuke raised his hand and pointed toward a mountain path.

Following the direction of Ryusuke's finger, Team 8 indeed saw a figure. It was the leader whose raincoat had bulged behind him.

By then, he had removed his raincoat hood, revealing green hair and two uniquely shaped blades in his hands that flickered with blue-white lightning.

Upon seeing the man's appearance and those ninja blades, famous throughout the Shinobi World, cold sweat instantly appeared on Yuhi Kurenai's beautiful face. "He... he's one of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist... Raiga Kurosuki."

In the next second, Yuhi Kurenai decisively drew a kunai, her expression firm. "I'll hold him off. You three, leave this place quickly."

"Teacher Kurenai, aren't you running away with us?" Hinata hurriedly asked.

"I can't run!"

Yuhi Kurenai said in a low voice, "He's a rogue ninja from Kirigakure, a jonin skilled in the Hidden Mist assassination arts. If we run together, he'll only pick us off one by one."

"In that case, let Team 8 fight him together."

Ryusuke smiled confidently. "This is the perfect chance to test my new ninjutsu on him!"

Hinata stood beside Ryusuke with a determined expression.

Aburame Shino said nothing, but he also stepped to Ryusuke's other side.

"You..."

Seeing Ryusuke and the other two unwilling to leave, ready to face death together, Yuhi Kurenai was momentarily stunned. Then a warm current rose in her heart.

The corners of her lips lifted slightly as she smiled. "Then let Team 8 hunt down this rogue ninja together!"

Rumble...

Thunder echoed through the mountains, deafeningly loud.

Another enormous bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking toward Team 8.