Border Encounter

Fine rain fell like needles, piercing through layer upon layer of branches in the border forest and battering countless tiny puddles into the muddy ground.

Hyuga Xiao stood on the left side of the group, his Byakugan silently activated.

His vision pierced through the curtain of rain. In a hollow three hundred meters away, six chakra silhouettes appeared clearly—dark blue chakra flowing in the typical manner of Amegakure ninja. They were spread out in a fan formation, advancing slowly in this direction with cautious, professional movements.

"Stop."

Ko Hyuga raised his right hand, and the team froze instantly.

This elder of the Main House wore dark gray Hyuga Clan robes. His forehead was smooth, without the mark of the Caged Bird Seal. He was around fifty, with fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, yet his gaze was as sharp as a poisoned kunai.

"Xiao, what did you see?" Ko's voice was calm.

Xiao lowered his eyelids, putting on the appearance of carefully sensing the area. Only after a few seconds did he speak. "Six people, three hundred meters away, in the hollow. Their chakra levels are... around Chunin level, but one of them has a very unusual flow. He may be a sensory type."

Ko nodded, his expression unchanged.

"An Amegakure scouting team," he said blandly. "Friction along the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rain has never stopped. An encounter like this isn't surprising. Our mission is to investigate the abnormal chakra fluctuations along the border of the Land of Rice Paddies, but since we've run into them..."

He swept his gaze over the five Branch House members behind him.

"Tetsu Hyuga, Ryo Hyuga, Shu Hyuga, you three will engage them head-on. Hyuga Xiao, you'll provide flank cover. Hei Hyuga, stay in the rear with me and be ready to support us at any time."

The order was delivered as though it were only natural.

Out of the corner of his eye, Xiao glanced at the three teammates who had been named—Tetsu Hyuga, Ryo Hyuga, and Shu Hyuga. Their expressions were calm, even numb. The Caged Bird Seals on their foreheads glimmered faintly in his Byakugan vision, like some silent warning.

"Elder, there are six of them, and we're only sending three to face them..." Tetsu Hyuga hesitated.

"The Branch House's Gentle Fist can handle one against two." Ko cut him off, his tone carrying unquestionable authority. "Or do you think you aren't worthy of the Hyuga name?"

Those words struck the three of them across the face like a whip.

Tetsu Hyuga gritted his teeth and lowered his head. "Yes."

Xiao silently observed it all.

Ko's position had been chosen with great care—he stood behind a thick cedar tree, able to observe the entire battlefield while remaining at the safest possible distance. Hei Hyuga, the young Branch House member kept at his side, had unusually active chakra flow. He was clearly one of the three implanted with the Temporary Enhancement Curse Seal.

The sacrifices had already been chosen.

"Move." Ko waved his hand.

The three Branch House members shot forward like arrows loosed from a bow, weaving through the rainforest with movements so light they barely made a sound. Xiao followed ten meters behind and to their side, maintaining precisely the right distance.

The rain grew heavier.

The six Amegakure ninja in the hollow had clearly discovered them as well. When the distance between the two sides reached a hundred meters, they stopped at the same time and faced each other through the rain.

The Amegakure ninja wore uniform outfits—dark purple shinobi uniforms, gas masks, and forehead protectors whose raindrop symbols were nearly invisible in the downpour. Their leader was a tall man. He raised a hand and gave a tactical signal.

The six scattered instantly, forming three pairs as they pressed forward in a triangular formation.

"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Palm!"

Tetsu Hyuga made the first move. His Byakugan locked onto the two enemies ahead, and his palm strikes cut through the rain curtain as they targeted the opponents' chakra points.

Battle erupted in an instant.

The clash of metal, the crackle of chakra, and the pounding of raindrops blended together. The three Hyuga Branch House members truly displayed exquisite Gentle Fist techniques. Amid a flurry of palm strikes, they actually suppressed the six Amegakure ninja.

But Xiao saw it clearly—

Amegakure's tactics were obvious: attrition.

They did not clash head-on. Instead, they kept moving, using kunai, shuriken, and Water Release techniques to harass them. Every attack forced the three Hyuga to respond with all their strength, draining their chakra at a visible rate.

And more fatally...

Xiao's Byakugan pierced through the Amegakure ninja's bodies and saw something abnormal in their chakra flow—near every one of their hearts was a dark purple mass of chakra, like some kind of sealing formula.

A trap.

The thought had barely crossed his mind when the Amegakure captain suddenly formed hand seals.

"Water Release: Mist Concealment Technique!"

Dense fog spread without warning, and visibility instantly dropped to less than three meters. The rain's sound was swallowed by the mist, plunging the surroundings into an eerie silence.

"Watch out!" Ryo Hyuga shouted.

But it was already too late.

The sound of sharp weapons slicing through the air came from within the fog—not kunai, but something thinner and sharper.

"Rain of Senbon!"

Hundreds of poisoned needles shot in from all directions, covering the entire area. The three Hyuga hurriedly used Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. Blue spheres of chakra spun through the mist, deflecting most of the attacks.

But Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven consumed too much chakra.

Especially for them, after fighting for five minutes and with little chakra remaining.

"Urgh—"

A muffled groan rang out.

Three senbon pierced Shu Hyuga's left shoulder. The poison invaded instantly, and his movements visibly slowed. Then two figures burst from the mist, their kunai stabbing straight for his vital points.

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

Tetsu Hyuga forcibly erupted with chakra. His palm strikes fell like a torrential downpour, driving back the two attackers, but he too was panting heavily, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Xiao stood quietly in the mist.

His Byakugan could clearly see through the fog. He saw everyone's position, the cold smile at the Amegakure captain's lips, Ko Hyuga's indifferent expression beneath a tree in the rear, and the increasingly unstable Enhanced Curse Seal chakra within Hei Hyuga.

Should he act?

No.

Not yet.

Xiao took a deep breath, put on an anxious expression, and shouted into the mist, "Tetsu! Hold on, I'll be there right—"

Before he could finish, a violent surge of chakra suddenly erupted within the fog.

It was Shu Hyuga.

The Temporary Enhancement Curse Seal within him had gone out of control under the dual stimulus of nearly depleted chakra and a poisoned body.

"AAAAAHHHH—!"

A miserable scream pierced through the mist.

Xiao's Byakugan saw the Caged Bird Seal on Shu Hyuga's forehead flashing madly, while the dark purple mass of Enhanced Curse Seal chakra near his heart swelled like a tumor, frantically extracting the last of his life force. His chakra volume tripled in an instant, but at the cost of—his blood vessels rupturing, his muscles tearing, and his organs failing.

"Shu! Calm down!" Tetsu Hyuga tried to approach him.

But Shu Hyuga, already berserk, could not hear him at all. His eyes were bloodshot, and the chakra leaking from his body formed tangible shockwaves that blasted the surrounding mist apart for an instant.

The Amegakure captain's expression changed. "Retreat!"

The six Amegakure ninja retreated without hesitation.

But Shu Hyuga had already locked onto them. Like an uncontrollable beast, he lunged at the nearest Amegakure ninja with all defense abandoned, his palm piercing straight through the man's chest.

Blood mixed with rainwater and splattered everywhere.

But after that strike, Shu Hyuga's movements suddenly froze.

He lowered his head and looked at his trembling hands, at the swollen blood vessels beneath his skin writhing like earthworms. The backlash of the Enhancement Curse Seal had begun—his life force was being drained away, and his body was starting to collapse.

The mist gradually dispersed.

The battlefield was revealed—one Amegakure ninja's corpse lay on the ground, while the other five had retreated fifty meters away and watched warily. Tetsu Hyuga and Ryo Hyuga were half-kneeling on the ground, their chakra nearly exhausted. Shu Hyuga stood where he was, his body shaking constantly as blood began to seep from his seven orifices.

From the rear, Ko Hyuga slowly walked over.

His footsteps splashed softly through the mud. Rain struck his shoulders, but he paid it no heed. His gaze fell on Shu Hyuga as though he were looking at a damaged tool.

"Elder..." Tetsu Hyuga struggled to stand. "Shu, he..."

"The Curse Mark has gone berserk. He can't be saved." Ko's voice was terrifyingly calm. "The mission must continue. We cannot let him drag down the team, nor can we allow Amegakure to obtain a Hyuga Clan corpse."

Hearing those words, Shu Hyuga began shaking even harder.

He turned his head, his blood-red eyes looking at Ko. His lips trembled as if he wanted to say something, but he only spat out a mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of his organs.

"End it yourself," Ko said. "This is the last contribution you can make to the clan."

Rain roared around them.

Tetsu Hyuga and Ryo Hyuga were both stunned, disbelief written across their faces.

Xiao stood nearby, his fingers tightening slightly within his sleeves. He had long expected the Main House to be cruel, but seeing this naked attitude of treating the Branch House as expendable supplies still filled his stomach with cold fury.

This was the Hyuga Clan.

This was what he had to overthrow.

Shu Hyuga looked at Ko, then at his own hands, and suddenly laughed.

The laugh was hoarse, like a broken bellows.

"Clan... contribution..." he muttered. Then he abruptly raised his head, a final madness flashing in his eyes. "To hell with your clan!"

Chakra compressed wildly within his body.

Ko's expression changed. "Fall back!"

But it was already too late.

Using the last of his strength, Shu Hyuga detonated all of his berserk chakra. There were no hand seals, no technique—only the self-destruction of pure life energy—

BOOM!!!

White light swallowed everything.

The shockwave snapped the surrounding trees in half and flung mud and rocks into the sky. Xiao had already retreated at full speed before the explosion, shielding his entire body with chakra, but the blast still pushed him back five or six meters.

When the dust settled, only a deep crater ten meters wide remained.

Shu Hyuga's body had been completely obliterated.

The Amegakure scouting team was already gone—they clearly had no intention of getting caught up in such a mad self-destruction.

Tetsu Hyuga and Ryo Hyuga had been caught in the blast. Though they had not died, both were seriously injured and lay on the ground groaning. Hei Hyuga ran over from the rear, his face pale as he stared at the crater, his lips trembling too much to speak.

Ko dusted off his shoulders and walked to the edge of the crater for a glance.

"Clean up the battlefield. We leave in ten minutes." He gave the order without the slightest change in tone, as if the one who had just died had not been his own clansman but an ant he had stepped on.

Xiao silently walked over and helped Tetsu Hyuga up.

Tetsu grabbed his arm, his fingers squeezing so hard they turned white. His eyes remained fixed on the crater, and his voice was hoarse. "Why... why..."

"Because we are Branch House," Xiao said quietly, his voice low enough for only the two of them to hear.

Tetsu's body stiffened.

He turned to look at Xiao and saw something in those pale eyes that he had never seen before—something bottomless.

"Live well." Xiao released him and turned toward Ryo Hyuga. "Only by staying alive can there be a chance to change things."

The rain was still falling.

It washed away the blood and the mud, but it could not wash away the deeply rooted hierarchy and bloodshed of this land.

Ko walked over to Xiao and said blandly, "You were very calm just now."

"You flatter me, Elder." Xiao lowered his head. "I merely did what I should have done."

"Mm." Ko watched him for several seconds, then suddenly asked, "That map—do you have it on you?"

Xiao's heart tightened slightly.

But his face showed no change as he calmly answered, "I have it. Does Elder wish to see it?"

"No." Ko looked away toward the Land of Rice Paddies. "After the mission ends, go investigate that location yourself. If you find anything... remember to report it to me."

There was a deeper meaning behind those words.

Xiao respectfully replied, "Yes."

But he understood clearly—Ko was testing him. The Main House might already have noticed the appearance of that anonymous map. This mission was likely more than a simple purge of the Branch House.

Perhaps this was also a scheme within a scheme.

Ten minutes later, the team set out again.

With Shu Hyuga gone, the remaining members walked silently through the rain. The atmosphere was so oppressive it felt ready to solidify.

Xiao walked in the middle of the group, keeping his Byakugan active as he observed everything around them—and the flow of chakra within Ko.

During that battle, Ko had not acted from beginning to end.

It was not that he could not.

He simply did not want to.

Were the lives of the Branch House truly so worthless in his eyes?

Xiao touched the map against his chest. He could feel the parchment through his clothes. The marked valley was less than twenty kilometers from their current route.

A coincidence?

Or had someone deliberately led him there?

The rain gradually weakened.

Ahead, the border of the Land of Rice Paddies was faintly visible. Farther beyond, the valley marked as a "safe house" waited in silence.

Whatever was there, Xiao had to go.

Because the truth about the Caged Bird Seal, the thousand-year secret of the Hyuga Clan, and whether he could truly break the shackles of fate—

The answer might be there.