Out Like a Light

"Damn it!" Hyuga Kaze inwardly cried out.

A jutsu lay ahead, his son behind him, and cliff walls on both sides.

Gritting his teeth, he stopped himself from dodging. He crossed his arms before his chest and faced the incoming jutsu head-on.

Just as the jutsu was about to strike Hyuga Kaze, a curtain of water suddenly appeared before him.

"Water Style: Water Formation Wall!"

The wall of water surged up from the ground, sealing off the inside and outside of the cave and shielding Hyuga Kaze behind it.

The rapidly spinning current collided with the explosion on the ground.

The two forces vanished into nothingness, sending water spraying everywhere.

Hyuga Kaze, being closest, bore the brunt of it and was drenched from head to toe.

The sudden jutsu had left him somewhat stunned.

Before he could react, Hyuga Seisen had already grabbed him and rushed out of the cave under the cover of the splashing water.

Once outside, they finally saw the culprits behind the Earth Pillar Explosion.

Two tall men stood outside the cave entrance, one burly and one lean.

The burly man had his arms crossed over his chest, his chin slightly raised as he looked down at them.

When he saw that both Hyuga Seisen and the other man had Byakugan, his eyes immediately lit up with excitement.

"So it's the famed Hyuga Clan, renowned for their taijutsu."

The relatively leaner man beside him rolled his eyes and said, "Big Earth, why do you only ever notice taijutsu?"

"Don't you think it's even stranger that the Hyuga Clan used ninjutsu?"

Big Earth froze for a moment, then scratched his head.

"Did they use ninjutsu just now? I thought that was Rotation!"

He then waved a hand. "Never mind that. Mo Lin, stand aside and watch later. Don't get in my way."

Mo Lin held his forehead, his face full of helplessness.

Here we go again!

Who knew what the higher-ups had been thinking, pairing him with a taijutsu maniac like this?

The moment he encountered a taijutsu ninja, he couldn't move on.

All Mo Lin could do was try to persuade him.

"Don't forget Lord Tsuchikage's mission."

"That doesn't matter." Big Earth grinned, looking utterly thrilled.

His face was filled with fervor, his gaze fixed unblinkingly on Hyuga Seisen and his father.

"Today, I only want to beat those two to death..."

"Or be beaten to death by them."

"..."

Hyuga Seisen stared at the two men ahead, his expression grave.

The ninja called Big Earth was likely at jonin level.

And Mo Lin was at least above average among chunin.

They couldn't run. Hyuga Kaze's Body Flicker Technique wasn't good enough.

Fighting was their only option.

But how?

He carefully surveyed the surroundings with his Byakugan, considering countermeasures.

"Seisen, hurry and go. Your old man will hold them off."

Hyuga Kaze could also sense how powerful their enemies were, and his expression was extremely anxious.

His movement speed was too poor; he couldn't escape. But his son still had a chance.

He could completely hold them back and let his son leave first.

Hyuga Kaze turned to look at Hyuga Seisen, who remained motionless.

He was as anxious as an ant on a hot pan. This wasn't the time for sentimentality. If one of them could survive, that was enough.

"Dad..."

"Don't say anything. Go!" Hyuga Kaze cut him off as soon as he spoke.

"Okay!" Hyuga Seisen replied.

With that, he turned and darted straight into the forest behind the mountain.

"???"

Hyuga Kaze's eyes widened, and he was a little slow to process it. "That decisive?"

He had been worried that his son would stubbornly refuse, and had kept thinking about how to persuade him.

Seeing his son leave, his expression turned stern as he fixed his eyes tightly on the two opponents.

Big Earth looked disappointed. "One of them ran away!"

He turned to his companion. "Mo Lin, go after the little one. This cripple looks stronger."

"Fine, I got it. You really know how to order people around!"

Mo Lin grumbled, then used the Body Flicker Technique to chase after Hyuga Seisen.

Hyuga Kaze wanted to stop Mo Lin.

But Big Earth immediately used the Body Flicker Technique and kicked at him.

"I'm your opponent!"

Hyuga Kaze hurriedly raised his guard.

The tremendous force sent him staggering back several steps.

Big Earth snorted and loosened up his limbs and neck.

"I'm a taijutsu ninja too. Today, I'll have a taste of the famed Gentle Fist."

Meanwhile, in the dense forest.

Towering trees blocked out the sky and sun, vines covered the area, and weeds grew thickly everywhere.

The moment Mo Lin entered the forest, he spotted the clumsy attempts to conceal tracks on the ground and couldn't help laughing.

"A brat is still a brat. He'd have been better off not hiding them at all."

After carefully sensing the area, he headed in one direction.

He had not gone far when a trap lay brazenly in the middle of the only path ahead, so crudely made that it looked like a prank.

"This is supposed to be a trap? Even a pig wouldn't step on it."

The smile on Mo Lin's face deepened.

His pace did not slow in the slightest. With a light tap of his toe against a thick tree root, his body drifted smoothly and lightly around the trap like a leaf in the wind.

Along the next stretch of road, he avoided another three or four traps in exactly the same way.

The traps were placed either left or right, as if they had all been stamped from the same mold—crude and childish.

Each time he evaded one, the contempt in Mo Lin's heart grew.

He continued the pursuit.

In the distance, the terrain ahead suddenly narrowed.

He found another crude trap.

But this time, the instant his gaze passed over it, he instinctively sensed that something was wrong.

Looking closer, he noticed that the soil on both sides of the trap was subtly different in color from the surrounding ground.

An ordinary ninja without much experience would have found it difficult to notice.

"Are you trying to use inertia in my thinking to lure me into going around the trap from either side again?"

"Not a bad brain, but unfortunately, you ran into me."

Mo Lin evaluated it inwardly with the lofty disdain of an adult looking at a child's scribbles.

He did not stop running, observing the surroundings as he moved.

"The vines on both sides are so dense they block out the sky. To get around these three traps, I'd have to take a huge detour."

"And if I want to save time, the most reasonable choice is to jump over from that branch above."

He looked at the empty space atop the branch ahead, instantly understanding.

"Since I can only get across from that branch..."

"Then the real killing move..."

"Must be here!"

While running, he pulled out several kunai and shuriken and hurled them with all his strength at the middle of the branch ahead.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The hidden weapons triggered the trap in the middle of the branch, detonating the explosive tags concealed there.

"Child's play!"

Mo Lin sneered, his disdain mixed with a hint of satisfaction at having solved the puzzle.

He quickly reached the base of the tree and leaped upward with complete confidence.

As his body cleared the trunk, the scene behind the tree came into view.

The brat he had been pursuing.

He was standing on the path ahead, holding a massive blue-and-white spirit bow.

He had an arrow drawn, his eyes cold.

Quietly aiming at him.

"Huh?"

Before Mo Lin could figure out what that was, the brat released the string. A lightning-fast arrow of light shot out and rushed toward him.

Mo Lin was suspended in midair with nowhere to brace himself, and before he could even struggle—

He could only watch helplessly as the arrow of light—

Struck him heavily in the head!

A spray of blood burst through the air.

Mo Lin's body had nearly cleared the branch from the momentum of his leap.

But after the arrow of light slammed into his head, his entire body was sent flying backward.

He crashed stiffly onto the ground.