Border Encounter

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

Hyuga Xiao stood on the left side of the team, his Byakugan silently activating.

His vision pierced through the curtain of rain. In a hollow three hundred meters away, six chakra outlines came clearly into view—dark blue chakra flowing in the typical manner of Hidden Rain Village 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 a dark gray Hyuga Clan robe. His forehead was smooth, bearing no mark of the Caged Bird Seal. He was around fifty, with fine wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, but his gaze was as sharp as a poisoned kunai.

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

Xiao lowered his eyelids, pretending to sense carefully before speaking several seconds later. "Six people, three hundred meters away, in the direction of the hollow. Their chakra levels... are around Middle Ninja level, but one of them has a very unusual flow. Possibly a sensory type."

Ko nodded, his face expressionless.

"A Hidden Rain 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 is no surprise. 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..."

His gaze swept over the five Branch House members behind him.

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

The orders were issued as though they were perfectly natural.

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

"Elder, there are six of them, and we only have three people facing them head-on..." Tetsu Hyuga hesitated.

"The Branch House's Gentle Fist can handle one against two without issue." Ko cut him off, his tone carrying unquestionable authority. "Or do you believe you are unworthy of the Hyuga name?"

Those words lashed across the three men's faces like whips.

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

Xiao silently observed everything.

Ko's position had been carefully chosen—he stood behind a thick cedar tree, able to observe the entire battlefield while remaining at the safest distance. Hei Hyuga, the young Branch House member kept at his side, had abnormally active chakra flow. He was clearly one of the three implanted with a 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 made almost no sound. Xiao followed ten meters behind and to the side, maintaining just the right distance.

The rain grew heavier.

The six Hidden Rain ninja in the hollow had clearly discovered them as well. Both sides stopped simultaneously when they were a hundred meters apart, confronting each other through the rain curtain.

The Hidden Rain ninja were uniformly dressed—dark purple ninja uniforms, gas masks, and forehead protectors whose raindrop symbols were nearly impossible to see in the downpour. Their leader was a large man. He raised his hand and made a tactical gesture.

The six immediately spread out into pairs, pressing forward in a triangular formation.

"Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Palm!"

Tetsu Hyuga struck first. His Byakugan locked onto the two enemies directly ahead, and his palm wind sliced through the rain curtain as it went straight for their chakra points.

Battle erupted in an instant.

The clash of metal, the crackle of chakra, and the patter of rain all blended together. The three Hyuga Branch House members truly displayed exquisite Gentle Fist techniques. Amid their flurrying palm shadows, they actually suppressed all six Hidden Rain ninja.

But Xiao saw it clearly—

The Hidden Rain ninja had a clear strategy: attrition.

They did not engage head-on. Instead, they constantly maneuvered, using kunai, shuriken, and Water Release ninjutsu to harass them. Every attack forced the three Hyuga men to respond with all their strength, draining their chakra at a visibly rapid rate.

And even more deadly was...

Xiao's Byakugan penetrated the Hidden Rain ninja's bodies and saw the anomaly in their chakra flow—near each of their hearts was a mass of dark purple chakra, like some kind of sealing formula.

A trap.

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

"Water Release: Mist Concealment Technique!"

Dense mist spread without warning, dropping visibility to less than three meters in an instant. The rain sounds were swallowed by the fog, and the surroundings fell into an eerie silence.

"Watch out!" Ryo Hyuga shouted.

But it was already too late.

The sound of sharp objects cutting through the air came from within the mist—not kunai, but something thinner and sharper.

"Rain of Senbon!"

Hundreds of poisoned needles shot in from every direction, covering the entire area. The three Hyuga men hurriedly used Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven. Blue spheres of chakra spun through the fog, knocking away most of the attacks.

But Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven consumed too much chakra.

Especially for them, after fighting for five minutes and having little chakra left.

"Urgh—"

A muffled groan rang out.

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

"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"

Tetsu Hyuga forced out a burst of power, his palm shadows driving the two men back like a rainstorm. But he, too, was panting heavily, cold sweat beading on his forehead.

Xiao stood silently within the mist.

His Byakugan could see clearly through the fog. He could see everyone's positions, the cold smile rising at the Hidden Rain captain's lips, Ko Hyuga's indifferent expression beneath the tree in the rear, and the increasingly unstable chakra of the Temporary Enhancement Curse Seal inside 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 right—"

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

It was Shu Hyuga.

The Temporary Enhancement Curse Seal within him had gone out of control under the double strain of near-total chakra depletion and poison in his body.

"AAAAARGH—!"

A shrill scream pierced through the fog.

Xiao's Byakugan saw the Caged Bird Seal on Shu Hyuga's forehead flash madly, while the dark purple mass of the Temporary Enhancement Curse Seal near his heart swelled like a tumor, frantically drawing out 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.

But the berserk Shu Hyuga could not hear him at all. His eyes were bloodshot, and the leaking chakra formed tangible shockwaves that blasted the surrounding fog apart for a moment.

The Hidden Rain captain's expression changed. "Retreat!"

The six Hidden Rain ninja immediately fled backward without hesitation.

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

Blood sprayed together with rainwater.

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

He lowered his head and looked at his trembling hands, at the bulging blood vessels beneath his skin that writhed like earthworms. The backlash of the Temporary Enhancement Curse Seal had begun—his life force was being drained dry, and his body was beginning to collapse.

The mist gradually dispersed.

The battlefield was revealed—one Hidden Rain 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 nonstop as blood began to seep from his seven orifices.

From the rear, Ko Hyuga slowly approached.

His footsteps splashed softly through the mud. Rain struck his shoulders, but he paid it no mind. 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 cannot be saved." Ko's voice was terrifyingly calm. "The mission must continue. We cannot let him drag down the team, nor can we allow Hidden Rain to obtain a Hyuga Clan corpse."

Upon hearing those words, Shu Hyuga's body shook even more violently.

He turned his head, his bloodshot eyes looking at Ko. His lips trembled as he tried to say something, but all that came out was a mouthful of black blood mixed with fragments of organs.

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

The rain poured down.

Tetsu Hyuga and Ryo Hyuga were both stunned, their faces filled with disbelief.

Xiao stood to one side, his fingers slowly tightening within his sleeve. He had long expected the Main House to be cruel, but seeing this naked attitude of treating the Branch House as expendable resources 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.

His laughter was hoarse, like a broken bellows.

"Clan... contribution..." he muttered, then abruptly raised his head. A final madness flashed through 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 purest self-destruction of life energy—

BOOM!!!

White light swallowed everything.

The shockwave snapped the surrounding trees in half, hurling dirt and broken stones into the sky. Xiao had already retreated at full speed before the explosion, protecting his entire body with chakra, but the blast still shoved him backward five or six meters.

When the smoke and dust cleared, only a deep crater ten meters across remained.

Shu Hyuga had not left even bones behind.

The Hidden Rain scouting team had vanished long ago—they clearly had no intention of being drawn into such a mad self-destruction.

Tetsu Hyuga and Ryo Hyuga had been caught in the blast. Though they had not died, both were badly injured and lay on the ground groaning. Hei Hyuga ran over from the rear, his face pale as he stared at the deep crater, his lips trembling without a word.

Ko brushed the dust from his shoulder and walked to the edge of the crater for a look.

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

Xiao silently walked over and helped Tetsu Hyuga up.

Tetsu gripped his arm, his fingers turning white from exertion. His eyes stared fixedly at the crater, his voice hoarse. "Why... why..."

"Because we are Branch House," Xiao said softly, low enough that only the two of them could hear.

Tetsu's body stiffened.

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

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

The rain continued to fall.

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

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

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

"Mm." Ko looked at him for several seconds before suddenly asking, "Do you have that map on you?"

Xiao's heart tightened slightly.

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

"No." Ko shifted his gaze toward the Land of Rice Paddies. "After the mission ends, go check that location yourself. If you find anything... remember to report to me."

There was hidden meaning in those words.

Xiao respectfully replied, "Yes."

But he knew clearly—Ko was testing him. The Main House might already have noticed the appearance of that anonymous map. This mission was likely more than simply purging 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 seemed on the verge of solidifying.

Xiao walked in the middle of the team, his Byakugan kept active as he observed everything around them, as well as the flow of chakra within Ko.

In that battle just now, Ko had not acted from beginning to end.

It was not because he could not, but because he did not want to.

Were Branch House lives truly so worthless in his eyes?

Xiao touched the map hidden in his chest. The texture of parchment came through his clothes. The valley marked upon it was less than twenty kilometers from their current route.

A coincidence?

Or had someone deliberately led him there?

The rain gradually eased.

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

Whatever was there, Xiao had to go.

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

The answer might be there.