Intelligence

In the small square at the center of the village.

Several villagers crawled on the ground, kneeling and trembling.

Two men sat brazenly on the steps before the shrine.

They wore mismatched ninja attire, with swords and kunai set beside them.

Food scraps and bones littered the ground around them.

One of the sturdier ninja gnawed on a chicken leg in one hand while holding a numb-looking woman with the other, constantly groping her as he laughed wantonly.

The other ninja kicked away a food box offered by an old man, then pointed at him with a sinister expression and cursed loudly.

"Those two look like chunin. Dad, which one are you taking?"

Behind a crumbling wall, Hyuga Seisen asked.

"Leave them both to me. Perfect chance to get some practice!"

"You?"

"What? You looking down on your old man?" Hyuga Kaze bristled.

"Watch closely. I'll show you the difference between chunin."

With that, Hyuga Kaze leaped over the wall and charged straight at the two men.

The two rogue ninja were startled when they saw someone suddenly coming for them.

Then they burst into laughter.

"Big Bro, look, a cripple wants to take on the two of us."

The sinister man laughed.

"Then make sure he doesn't come back." The burly ninja snorted coldly.

He shoved the woman away, then shouted:

"Get him!"

The two moved at once.

The sinister man took the lead, charging forward with a kunai in hand.

The burly man, meanwhile, spun around one hundred and eighty degrees and ran directly away.

"Are you kidding me? A crippled Hyuga is still a Hyuga."

"To hell with fighting!"

"Just hope my brother holds out a little longer."

Hyuga Kaze watched the sinister ninja's kunai stab toward him and sneered.

Relying on the Byakugan's keen perception, he precisely knocked the incoming kunai aside with one hand.

Blue chakra already enveloped his other palm.

Gentle Fist!

His palm struck precisely against the sinister ninja's chest.

For an instant, the sinister ninja felt as though someone had ripped the engine out of his body.

His entire body went limp, and he toppled stiffly backward.

He forced his eyes open, wanting to look at his big brother behind him, only to see him getting farther and farther away.

Filled with incomprehension, the sinister ninja's world went dark.

In the distance, the burly ninja saw his brother taken down in a single blow.

His soul nearly fled his body. He hurriedly picked up his pace and sprinted into the distance.

At the same time, he congratulated himself on having good instincts.

The most important thing for a rogue ninja was knowing when to run. When they encountered ninja from the great nations—especially those with bloodline limits—

The farther they could run, the longer they would live.

His brother had just been too honest. In his next life, if he saw those white eyes or red eyes, he had better stay far away.

The burly ninja might not have been skilled at anything else, but he was truly adept at escaping.

And with Hyuga Kaze missing a leg, several uses of the Body Flicker Technique still failed to catch him.

Seeing this, the burly ninja knew he had made the right bet.

So what if the Hyuga was a cripple? A cripple still couldn't run fast.

Just as he was starting to feel smug, a flash of light suddenly streaked past behind the cripple.

Immediately afterward, a blue-white arrow of light appeared. It passed the cripple and shot toward him like lightning.

Damn it!

He hurriedly activated the Body Flicker Technique.

The next instant!

He suddenly felt some foreign object strike his right leg.

Then his center of gravity abruptly gave way, and he crashed face-first into the ground.

He hurriedly scrambled up, intending to continue fleeing, but stepped into empty air.

Instinctively, he looked down to find out why.

His right leg was gone below the knee, leaving behind a bloody, mangled stump.

He stared blankly behind him. Not far away lay a severed leg, with a trail of bright red blood stretching all the way to beneath him.

His pupils suddenly contracted, and he began to howl:

"Ah! My leg, my leg..."

Hyuga Kaze turned to look behind him as well and saw Hyuga Seisen on the rooftop, slowly lowering his Spirit Bow.

He caught up to the burly ninja in a few strides and pinned him to the ground.

"Talk. What's the situation in Mountain Dragon Stronghold?"

The burly ninja looked terrified. "M-Mountain Dragon Stronghold?"

"The bandit den in these mountains."

"I-I don't know. I only came to this village two months ago. My brother brought me here."

"H-He was the one you killed at the start."

Hyuga Seisen arrived just then. "Have you seen anyone delivering food up the mountain?"

"Yes. When I first arrived, I saw it once. It was behind that mountain."

The burly ninja pointed in a direction and answered haltingly.

Then he forced a fawning smile. "My lords, I've told you everything I know. Could you please let me go?"

"I'll give you all the money I have." As he spoke, he pulled a thick wad of bills from his clothes, then reached inside again to take out more.

Hyuga Kaze suddenly struck, killing the burly ninja with a single palm.

Hyuga Seisen moved the burly ninja's hand aside. Hidden in his clothes was a poisoned kunai.

"Hmph, cheap tricks." Hyuga Kaze sneered.

"Before the Byakugan, nothing can be hidden."

Hyuga Seisen searched the two rogue ninja and took their valuables and cash.

Then he turned around. "Let's go, Dad. We'll ask the villagers."

The two returned to the square. Seeing them, villagers from the surrounding houses gradually stepped outside.

"Thank you, Lord Ninja!"

No one knew who shouted first, but voices of thanks soon rose one after another.

A huge crowd of villagers dropped to their knees.

Hyuga Seisen and his father hurriedly told them to get up.

After having the village chief arrange for them to return home, they asked:

"There's a Mountain Dragon Stronghold in the nearby mountains. Village Chief, do you know about it?"

"Mountain Dragon Stronghold? I do!" The village chief nodded repeatedly.

"They used to come down every month to raid us, but they haven't come back these past six months."

"Our lives had just begun to improve, but then these two rogue ninja showed up two months ago."

The village chief's face was full of sorrow.

No matter how the world changed, it was always the common people at the bottom who bore the suffering.

Hyuga Seisen sighed and asked:

"Then do you know the stronghold's approximate location?"

Mountain ranges rose and fell all around them. Even with the Byakugan, it would not be easy for the two of them to find a single stronghold.

"The location..."

The village chief furrowed his brow and thought carefully.

He knew whether they could eliminate the stronghold depended on whether he could provide its location today.

It was not easy to encounter ninja willing to rid the world of evil.

After a moment.

He said, "I went up there once, but they blindfolded me."

"Still, when we were nearing the stronghold, I heard the sound of a stream."

"There aren't many streams around here. Judging by the distance, it's most likely near Mountain Pool Creek."

As he spoke, the village chief pointed toward a distant mountain—the very direction the burly ninja had indicated earlier.

Only now, the location was more specific.

Hyuga Seisen nodded. Having a general direction was enough. With the Byakugan activated, they would eventually find it.

He took out the bills he had just searched from the two rogue ninja.

He handed them to the village chief. "Take this money and divide it among the villagers."

The bills came in various denominations and were heavily worn from use. They had clearly been extorted from this village by the rogue ninja.

"Thank you!" The village chief dropped to his knees excitedly.

"Thank you, Lords Ninja!"

The father and son hurriedly helped the village chief up and offered a few comforting words.

Then they set off toward the mountain the villagers had pointed out.