The air in the safe house had frozen solid, like a block of ice.
Hyuga Xiao leaned against the wall, his right hand pressed to the forehead of the unconscious Kurenai Yuhi. A faint azure glow from the Tenseigan flowed across his palm. Samui stood guard on the other side, holding her short blade horizontally, her breathing suppressed to the barest whisper. Outside, the chakra fluctuations created by three mirror clones were rapidly retreating in three different directions—but the real threat had already arrived.
Not from outside.
From underground.
"Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique!"
The floor exploded as a black-gloved hand burst through the earth, reaching precisely for Hyuga Xiao's ankle. Xiao's Tenseigan had already caught the trajectory of the chakra flowing underground 0.3 seconds earlier. He lightly lifted his left foot, his body drifting back half a step like a feather. The hand brushed past his trouser leg and only grabbed a fragment of shattered flooring.
Almost at the same time, three dark figures dropped from the ceiling.
Torune Aburame, Fu Yamanaka, and—
Silver hair, a mask, and beneath the vertical scar over his left eye, a crimson Sharingan slowly turning.
"Senior Kakashi." Xiao's voice was calm enough to betray no emotion. "Has Root learned how to launch sneak attacks too?"
Kakashi landed lightly and soundlessly, his right hand already resting on the hilt of the short blade on his back. His Sharingan was locked firmly on Xiao, spinning thirty percent faster than usual—analyzing, copying, trying to see through every movement of the Hyuga Branch House youth before him.
"Hyuga Xiao." Kakashi's voice came through the mask, cold and mechanical. "By the orders of Lord Hokage and Lord Danzo, I am here to arrest the rogue ninja Kurenai Yuhi and take you back to Leaf Village for investigation.