Ninjutsu Absorption

Looking at Hyuga Lan, who showed not a hint of fear but rather a playful expression, Dekai felt a surge of anger.

This ignorant branch-family brat clearly did not know the weight of his, Dekai's, reputation.

Since that was the case, he would let the boy witness his true power.

"I'll deal with this Byakugan brat; you lot go finish off those three."

Receiving Dekai's order, the members of his squad began to charge toward Gekko Hayate and the others.

Seeing this, Hyuga Lan instructed Anko and the rest, "Fight and retreat for now. I'll go help you once I've quickly dealt with this man."

Seeing Hyuga Lan still had the heart to worry about others while facing him, Dekai barked angrily, "Worry about yourself first!"

Dekai gripped a long blade and swung it toward Hyuga Lan with all his might.

Clang!

The veins on Hyuga Lan's face bulged, his expression turning somewhat fierce, while his already transparent eyes became even more crystalline—the hallmark of the Byakugan being activated.

Through the insight of his Byakugan, Hyuga Lan quickly realized that this Jonin named Dekai was different from the Special Jonin he had easily killed before.

The sheer volume of chakra in the man's body far exceeded that of an ordinary Jonin, rivaling that of an elite Jonin.

If he didn't use the power of the Tenseigan, it seemed it wouldn't be an easy task to finish him off quickly.

Hyuga Lan drew a kunai from his ninja tool pouch and rushed toward his opponent. Using the Byakugan's perception, he dodged the man's slash and thrust the kunai toward his waist.

Seeing this, Dekai hurriedly turned his blade to block the kunai.

With a crisp ding, sparks flew as the kunai met the ninja sword.

Clang, clang, clatter...

Hyuga Lan engaged in a weapon duel with Dekai. Due to his age, Hyuga Lan was naturally much weaker in terms of raw strength.

However, through the Byakugan's insight, he was always able to dodge the man's attacks, and as a result, the two were evenly matched for the time being.

Seeing that he couldn't secure a victory after a long struggle, Dekai grew furious.

Through their exchange, he discovered that Hyuga Lan's swordsmanship was improving rapidly; the boy was using him as a whetstone for training.

No, this Byakugan brat is strange. I can't let this drag on.

Thinking this, Dekai seized an opportunity to create distance between himself and Hyuga Lan, then quickly formed hand seals and slammed his palms onto the ground.

"Lightning Style: Earth Flash!"

Two bolts of lightning surged from his palms into the ground, traveling rapidly toward where Hyuga Lan stood.

Facing the Lightning Style ninjutsu, Hyuga Lan saw that no one else was nearby, so he lowered his head and charged straight toward his opponent.

Watching Hyuga Lan rush at him while ignoring the lightning attack, Dekai couldn't understand why the boy would do such a thing. Was he courting death?

Did he think he was the Fourth Raikage, capable of resisting ninjutsu with his physical body alone?

Watching Hyuga Lan get closer and closer to the Lightning Style: Earth Flash, a cruel grin spread across Dekai's face; he could already see the boy being charred to a crisp by the lightning.

Go to hell!

Dekai released even more chakra, and the lightning from his technique became increasingly dazzling.

Amidst the roar of thunder, Hyuga Lan plunged directly into the range of the attack.

Yet, the scene of him being charred to a crisp that Dekai had envisioned did not occur. Instead, as the lightning was about to touch Hyuga Lan's body, it seemed to be sucked away by something with a stronger attraction and vanished.

Soon, the Lightning Style: Earth Flash released by Dekai disappeared into thin air, and at that moment, Hyuga Lan was within arm's reach.

Dekai stared at Hyuga Lan, who had charged right in front of him, his eyes wide with a look of disbelief.

"You... how is this possible..."

Before Dekai could voice his question, Hyuga Lan, now standing before him, extended a hand. Within that palm, intense bolts of lightning surged.

"Let me return these to you."

With that, Hyuga Lan slammed the mass of lightning directly onto Dekai's body and quickly retreated.

The spherical mass of lightning expanded the moment it touched Dekai, transforming into bolts of electricity that completely engulfed his figure.

"Ah... ah..."

Dekai let out a series of agonizing screams; the taste of being attacked by his own Lightning Style ninjutsu was truly unbearable.

Step, step...

Hyuga Lan stopped his retreat, watching as Dekai's figure was thoroughly consumed by the lightning, not stopping until the man had been reduced to a charred corpse.

This guy hadn't lied; his Lightning Style ninjutsu was indeed capable of turning a person into a charred husk. It was just a pity he hadn't expected that person to be himself.

Being able to absorb an enemy's ninjutsu and reflect it back was the power of the Tenseigan. Clearly, his decision to lower his head and charge earlier had been to hide the fact that he possessed the Tenseigan.

What he had just used was the Tenseigan's ability to absorb ninjutsu and chakra.

The power of this move was indeed strong. If they had only been engaged in taijutsu, he might have sparred with the man a bit longer to improve his own skills and accelerate his body's adaptation to the changes brought by the Tenseigan.

Since the opponent was clever enough to try and use ninjutsu against him, he had no choice but to use the power of the Tenseigan to send them straight to their graves.

After disposing of Dekai, Hyuga Lan quickly reduced the corpse to ashes to ensure no one could discover his secrets through it.

Once everything was taken care of, he began to pursue the direction Anko and the others had left in. When he arrived, he saw them in a precarious situation under the assault of the Cloud Village squad.

Seeing Hyuga Lan arrive without their captain, the Cloud Village squad panicked; ignoring Anko and the others, they immediately began to retreat for their lives.

Clearly, they knew that anyone capable of finishing off Dekai in such a short time was not someone they could afford to provoke.

With Hyuga Lan joining the fray, the Cloud Village squad ultimately could not escape the same fate as the other Cloud ninjas he had killed.

When the battle finally came to an end, Anko, Gekko Hayate, and the others slumped to the ground in relief.

If Lan had arrived even a moment later, the outcome would likely have been reversed.

Through these days of fighting against the Cloud Village, they had realized that although they and Hyuga Lan were both Special Jonin, there was a world of difference in their strength.

Hyuga Lan's status as a Special Jonin was merely a designation given by the village, which didn't count for much.

Those with strength like theirs—only slightly stronger than a Chunin but far weaker than a Jonin—were the true Special Jonin.

Just as Hyuga Lan thought this war would not last much longer, he was unaware that it was precisely because of his own role as an instigator from the shadows.

Upon discovering that Kirigakure and the Sand Village were unable to recover in the short term and posed no threat, the Cloud Village and the Stone Village decided to stake everything on a single battle to completely annihilate Konoha Village.

Through intelligence sent by numerous spies, the Third Hokage realized the enemy's intentions the moment he learned that the Fourth Raikage and the Eight-Tails Jinchuriki of the Cloud Village had not been seen for days.

However, before he could prepare to head to the battlefield himself to deal with the Cloud Village, news of war arrived from the Land of Earth, which bordered the Land of Fire.

In an instant, Konoha Village entered its most dangerous period since the death of the Fourth Hokage and his wife.