Inside the Ancestral Shrine, candle flames flickered, casting Hiashi Hyuga's fanatically twisted face in the likeness of a demon.
His chakra-laden palm carried a cold gale as it came crashing down toward Hinata's forehead!
Sacrifice! Foundation!
Those words exploded in Hinata's mind, utterly crushing the last shred of her fantasy about father-daughter affection.
She could feel that tyrannical chakra about to tear through her skin, pierce her brain, and then violently seize her eyes and her life as though she were nothing more than an object!
Fear, like an endless icy sea, completely swallowed her.
In despair, she closed her eyes. Tears slid down her pale cheeks as a soundless wail rose from the depths of her heart.
Xiao...
Yet the agonizing pain she had expected never came.
The entire world suddenly sank into a bizarre, absolute stillness.
The crackling candle flames, their dancing cores, froze in midair like amber crystals.
Hiashi Hyuga's descending palm stopped less than an inch from her forehead. The chakra glow gathered in his palm resembled a frozen vortex, utterly motionless.
The fanatical, savage expression on his face had stiffened into a ludicrous mask.
The solemn Main House elders around them maintained their expectant or indifferent poses, like puppets whose souls had been instantly stripped away.
Even the dust floating in the air had stopped its aimless dance, hanging quietly in place.
Time, space, everything—it was as though an invisible hand had pressed pause on the entire world.
Trembling, Hinata slowly opened her tear-soaked eyes.
She saw the incomprehensible scene before her, and her mind went blank.
What... was this?
A genjutsu?
No, no genjutsu could possibly be this real! This was more like... more like a miracle bestowed by a god!
Just as uncertainty filled her heart, a figure silently appeared before her, as