At Last, Root

Anko, are you kidding me?

Aren't you here to comfort me?

Under her suspicious gaze, Anko continued to speak:

"Who in Konoha doesn't know about Hyuga Tenka's notorious reputation? He's the kind of guy who kills even his own clansmen without a second thought!"

"When he did this, did he ever think of you?"

"I was against you being with him from the start, but you insisted on saying yes!"

"So young, and with a body like that—who knows when he'll kick the bucket, leaving you a young widow?"

"It's better that he's dead now, at least you two aren't married yet. This is the first time I've ever seen someone so brain-dead!"

"He never considered that doing this would implicate you, or even get his entire clan wiped out!"

"Look at the other clans who came along—how come not a single person stepped out to stop him?"

"Even if he survives today, with a personality like that, he'll die a violent death sooner or later!"

"Besides, Yugao, hand on heart, were you really happy these past two years with him?"

Happy?

Perhaps she was?

They barely spent any time together, what with her being busy with Anbo missions!

All he knew was sword practice day in and day out, and he was a stubborn blockhead who didn't even dare hold hands!

Not to mention creating romance for her—in two years, it seemed like he hadn't done it even once!

Yugao Uzuki carefully recalled every little detail since she agreed to Gekko Hayate's pursuit.

It seemed there was no difference between being with him and not dating him at all!

Seeing her good friend fall silent and say nothing, Anko worried she might do something foolish!

Especially thinking about going after that fierce star for revenge—such a brainless act.

"Yugao!"

"Don't do anything stupid!"

"Men, what's so great about them?"

"Come play with snakes with me, I'll teach you the Ryūchi Cave Summoning Technique!"

"Look at me, staying single all this time, isn't it pretty good?"

"Don't worry, Anko!"

"I won't go looking for him to get revenge. You don't know, working in Anbo, I see a lot of things others don't!"

"I'm not that stupid, otherwise, I would've made a move just now!"

Hearing her say this, Anko finally relaxed!

"Yugao!"

"It's best if you can think like that!"

"Listen to me, that guy is someone we can't afford to provoke!"

"If you don't believe me, just watch. Konoha will lose an elder tonight, and he won't be hurt at all!"

Yugao Uzuki nodded gently, squatted down, and tidied up the corpse on the ground!

"Yugao, what are you doing?"

"Helping him tidy up, consider it seeing him off one last time!"

"Then I'll help you!"

"No need, just keep me company, I'll do it myself!"

As the two of them cleaned up Gekko Hayate's body, Tenka had already arrived at a secluded corner of Konoha!

Looking at the barrier ahead, Tenka stopped in his tracks, turned his head, and glanced at Neji in the crowd behind him!

"Watch closely, this is how you use a Vacuum Palm!"

Tenka squatted down slightly, stepped his right foot slightly forward, and assumed the stance of the Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!

Spreading his hands into palms, mind reaching the eyes, eyes reaching the palms, and the palms releasing the momentum!

With that, Tenka thrust a palm toward the barrier, instantly forming a giant hand in the air!

The palm was fifty meters high and twenty meters wide, pressing down fiercely upon the barrier!

"Boom!"

With a loud crash, the barrier couldn't hold on for even a second under the palm strike and instantly shattered!

Only then did the crowd discover that behind the barrier was actually a small mountain seventy or eighty meters high!

The mountain face bore a giant palm print embedded to an unknown depth, with a dark, pitch-black cave entrance at the base!

"Wait here for me!"

"If anyone comes out from inside, kill them!"

Tenka told the Hyuga Clan, stepped into the cave alone, and vanished inside!

"Gulp!"

Neji stared blankly at the palm print and swallowed hard.

My dear big brother, you told me this was a Vacuum Palm? Then what on earth was the one I used?

A mere palm-sized stream of qi couldn't even form a palm print!

Neji fell into a daze, feeling as though all his hard work and desperate efforts over the years had been for nothing!

"Get over it, don't compare yourself to him. Your brother... is a bit of a monster."

"An air palm of this magnitude—let alone you, even your uncle couldn't execute it."

"Not just your uncle, no one in the history of the Hyuga Clan has ever been able to use it!"

Hizashi Hyuga gently patted Neji's shoulder and offered words of comfort!

He knew how hard Neji tried, wanting to catch up to Tenka, but that was impossible!

Compared to his peers, Neji was definitely a genius, but when it came to Tenka, Hizashi didn't even know what to say!

Hearing his younger brother's words, Hiashi's mouth twitched on the side!

My good brother, could you please not bring me up at this moment?

If you're going to comfort someone, just comfort them, there's no need to strike down one while comforting another!

If I could actually use that, the Hyuga Clan wouldn't have been reduced to its current state!

Whoever refused to submit, I would just slap them to death on the spot—would I have been bullied by Konoha's upper echelons for so many years?

"Hinata, Hanabi!"

"Did you see that?"

"This is the most outstanding genius in the history of our Hyuga Clan!"

"You must take him as your role model and keep striving, even if you can't catch up to him!"

"But you must also understand, it's not that the Byakugan isn't strong, nor is it that the Gentle Fist isn't strong—it's that the user isn't strong!"

As heart-piercing as his brother's words were, Hiashi wasn't about to miss an opportunity to teach his daughters!

"Father, do you mean that you aren't strong either?"

"Is that why you can't use Tenka's kind of Byakugan and Vacuum Palm?"

"Pfft!"

Hiashi felt that his heart, just pierced by his brother, had now been thoroughly pierced through by this leaky little cotton-padded jacket!

He looked down in a daze, meeting Hanabi's innocent, wide eyes!

Hinata, standing nearby, knew she shouldn't laugh in a situation like this, so she tried desperately to hold it in, her face turning red with the effort!

Looking at little Hanabi, Hizashi suddenly felt that this little niece of his had a bright future ahead of her!

"Big brother, I think Hanabi has great talent, perhaps even better than Neji's. We should train her well!"

With a solemn expression, Hizashi finished speaking, and the anxiety in his heart suddenly eased quite a bit!

Given Tenka's strength, he didn't worry about him coming to harm; he only worried about his mental state going awry!

Now, looking at Hanabi, Hizashi suddenly had an idea—perhaps it could make Tenka a little less bloodthirsty!

In truth, Hizashi had no idea that Tenka's situation required no worry at all!

The reason he was like this was simply because the sword heritage he was currently in contact with was Slaughter Sword Intent!

He only needed to complete the heritage and fully master the Slaughter Sword Intent for this condition to begin improving!

Of course, excessive slaughter indeed carried the risk of becoming addicted to it, but this was a hurdle Tenka had to overcome himself!

Otherwise, his Slaughter Sword Intent would not be perfected, and the heritage would remain incomplete!

This was also the reason why Tenka still hadn't passed this very first sword intent heritage after all these years!

The slaughter experienced within the heritage space was far too cruel and terrifying!

Every time he went in, he would spend a massive amount of time adjusting his mindset!

"Danzō, I'm here!"