Yuroketsu's Secret Technique

Hideto and Yuroketsu spoke for a while. Seeing that it was about time, they set out.

As a main-family daughter marrying out, Hyuga Kicho sat in the carriage at the very center of the procession, moving along at an unhurried pace under the escort of the group.

Ninja and samurai guarded the surroundings together, maintaining tight, seamless protection.

Hideto looked over the ninja and samurai sent by the Land of Night and gave a slight nod.

These guards had already become a complete whole. Setting aside their strength, the fact that they could swiftly and effectively form such a tight formation showed that these ninja and samurai had undoubtedly undergone rigorous training. They were not merely fragile ornaments.

Though in Hideto's eyes, this force could be crushed head-on.

The gap in strength was too great. Any formation would be meaningless.

The only one who caught Hideto's attention was probably their leader, Kakuzu.

He was very young, and his strength would not count as weak even within the Hyuga Clan. He could hold some fairly important positions.

It seems this isn't a country that relies on one person alone to maintain its deterrence.

Hideto silently gave the Land of Night a favorable assessment.

The procession traveled for several days and finally reached the border of the Land of Fire at dusk.

Beyond the wilderness ahead lay the Land of Night.

Just then, under the lingering glow of the setting sun, a bone-piercing chill descended along with the night.

Hideto sighed.

The instant he sighed, a series of whooshing sounds rang out.

More than a dozen dark figures leaped from shadowed corners on all sides, their target the palanquin at the center of the procession.

Clearly, their assassination target was obvious: Hyuga Kicho, the future general's wife of the Land of Night.

"Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!"

Only after a beat did Hideto choose to strike back at the attackers.

Calling it a beat too slow was not quite right. Hideto had long prepared himself to act; he had merely been gathering strength in secret.

After all, trying to launch a surprise attack beneath the Byakugan was simply too foolish.

Hideto leaped forward to meet them, spinning through the air as immense chakra burst through his body in streams of blue energy.

In the blink of an eye, a chakra sphere more than ten meters across formed from Hideto's spinning body and swept all of the attackers into it.

Screams rang out without end as the violent storm driven by the spinning chakra sphere tore savagely at the attackers' bodies.

For a time, blood flew everywhere.

Hideto stopped spinning, and more than a dozen mangled bodies lay strewn across the ground, devoid of breath.

This powerful elder of the Hyuga Clan had killed more than a dozen formidable assassins with a single move.

Boom!

An explosion suddenly erupted behind them, startling everyone present.

The carriage at the center of the procession was abruptly blown apart by some attack.

Dressed in a white furisode kimono, Kicho seemed to have sensed something in advance. Without hesitation, she sprang through the smoke and splintered wood from the explosion, flashing into the air to one side.

From the billowing smoke and shattered wood, a ninja-clad figure wielding a ninja blade slashed toward Kicho's chest.

The sharpened ninja blade had cut through part of the fabric at the cuff of Kicho's right sleeve during the earlier attack.

Kicho, gripping Spirit Blade: Kumokiri, had already drawn her blade when the ninja pursued her.

Clang!

The ring of metal echoed through the air.

Borrowing that force, Kicho's body drifted lightly backward like willow fluff.

The ninja and samurai of the Land of Night around them reacted one after another, surrounding the attacker.

"To evade the detection of the Byakugan and the insects... is this ability to conceal one's presence and chakra a special secret technique... or an unknown Kekkei Genkai?"

A cold glint flashed beneath Yuroketsu's sunglasses.

Being able to bypass the Hyuga's Byakugan and the Aburame's insects to attack an important target was somewhat unexpected, but upon reflection, it was not impossible.

In this chaotic Warring States era, there was no shortage of strange techniques and Kekkei Genkai.

"His body has great research value."

"Mm."

Hideto nodded, agreeing with Yuroketsu's judgment.

"Move aside."

At Yuroketsu's command, the ninja and samurai besieging the attacker quickly dispersed.

Yuroketsu extended an arm, and his black sleeve opened.

Rumble!

It was not a swarm of insects blotting out the sky, but an enormous centipede as red as blood, covered in densely packed hooked claws, like a crimson dragon.

It first crawled across the ground, then launched itself skyward, coiling through the air before abruptly charging at the attacker and ripping open its gaping maw.

Its enormous body, more than two meters wide, was frighteningly massive.

This guy is still as underhanded as ever, specifically engraving the Summoning Jutsu inside his sleeve...

Hideto felt wary of Yuroketsu's method of attack.

When they had fought in the past, Hideto had nearly been caught off guard by it. If the Byakugan had not spotted the abnormal fluctuations in chakra beforehand, he would most likely have been severely injured in a single blow.

"Aah!"

The attacker had no time to dodge and had a bloody arm torn off by the dragon-like red centipede.

"Damn it!"

The attacking ninja's face turned deathly pale as he stared at the enormous red centipede, as large as a small mountain. He could not believe this was also the Aburame Clan's Insect Manipulation Technique.

This was on an entirely different level from the Aburame Clan ninja he had faced in the past.

This man who controlled centipedes was far too dangerous!

He shot Yuroketsu in the distance a vicious glare, as if he wanted to remember today's humiliation, then fled without looking back.

But after only a few steps, his body stiffened, and he fell straight down.

At the instant he collapsed, he saw it.

The wound where his right arm had been torn away was somehow covered in densely packed black insects.

They silently squeezed into his torn wound, continuously injecting toxins that numbed his nerves.

"When did this happen!? Was it that centipede...?"

The attacking ninja suddenly realized something, but it was already far too late.

An intense drowsiness swept over him. He helplessly closed his eyes and fell into a deep coma.

"You left a large number of insects inside the centipede, then used its attack to leave them in the wound... Your methods are as underhanded as ever."

Even Hideto felt his scalp tingle.

No matter when he saw the Aburame Clan's techniques, they made him somewhat uncomfortable.

They were practically impossible to guard against.

The only things capable of guarding against the Aburame Clan's secret techniques in advance were the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan and certain special sensory secret techniques.

"This is more efficient."

Yuroketsu calmly accepted Hideto's praise.

"Release!"

Then, he formed hand seals. The giant red centipede that had remained crawling and writhing across the ground, leaving a deeply sunken track behind it, vanished amid a burst of white smoke.

"Kicho, are you all right?"

Hideto walked over to his daughter.

"I'm fine, Father. The clothes only need to be mended afterward."

Kicho pointed to the split section of her sleeve. The cut was small enough that it would be impossible to notice without looking carefully.

Hideto nodded.

"As expected of my daughter. Even in that situation, you still dodged with composure."

Hideto's words affirmed Kicho's strength and alertness.

Being able to avoid danger on instinct alone when the Byakugan was ineffective clearly showed that she had inherited his essence.

"After all, it was your teaching, Father, that I shouldn't rely too heavily on the Byakugan in battle."

Kicho lowered her head and smiled faintly, seeming a little embarrassed.

Hideto smiled as well, finally putting his mind at ease.

Elsewhere, Kakuzu had someone bind the unconscious attacking ninja and ordered the medical ninja in the procession to stop his bleeding, lest he die before the interrogation.

After finishing, Kakuzu walked over.

"It seems we'll have to hurry from here on. My apologies, Madam. We gave you quite a fright."

"No, not at all. After all, no one expected the enemy to evade the senses of the Byakugan and the Aburame Clan's secret techniques."

Kicho smiled understandingly. Speaking with the bearing of a future general's wife, she did not blame him.

With the carriage destroyed, there was not enough time to make another one nearby.

Moreover, no one knew whether there would be a second wave of attacks.

Therefore, everything from here on would be kept simple, and they needed to reach the capital, Nightview City, as quickly as possible.

Ninja valued efficiency above all else. On the contrary, after leaving that slow-moving palanquin, Kicho's mood improved considerably.

She had not liked that sluggish method of travel.

The journey afterward went very smoothly.

They made it all the way to Nightview City without suffering a second attack.

Either there were no more attackers, or the person behind it had deemed the attempt futile and did not intend to waste effort.

Whichever it was, everyone who had safely arrived in Nightview City quietly breathed a sigh of relief.

Traveling for a long time with their bodies constantly tense wore away at one's patience.

"So this is Nightview City..."

Looking at the towering, solid metropolis before her, where everything appeared orderly and stable, even the worldly Kicho was briefly lost in thought.

It was not as if she had never visited a major city. She had been to the capital of the Land of Fire more than once.

Yet the level roads, clean streets, healthy-looking pedestrians and children, and the many novel items sold in the shops that she had never seen before were all things she had never encountered in the capital of the Land of Fire.

Although the capital of the Land of Fire was more magnificent and commercially developed, with war ignited there, its people could only be said to live a barely adequate life.

Even so, compared with the other great nations, the Land of Fire's capital was far ahead.

But compared to Nightview City, it seemed to be lacking something.

"Yes. In the past few years, Lord Yayoi has pacified the disorder throughout the country one region at a time. And since this place is not at the center of the continent, war... has been a thing of years past in this country."

Kakuzu spoke with feeling.

He was one of the old veterans who had followed Yayoi from the beginning, watching step by step as this newborn country found its footing.

The beginning had been difficult as well, but Yayoi led by example, facing the hardships and difficulties on the front lines time and again, taking the lead in solving every kind of problem.

Inspired by that atmosphere, the entire nation naturally developed a powerful sense of unity and fearlessly carved out a path forward through hardship.

Sometimes, inspiring people and motivating them did not require many rewards. Creating a fair platform and allowing them to receive what they deserved was enough to make talented people flock there.

"For now, everyone should settle into the state guesthouse. The wedding arrangements still require some preparation."

After bringing everyone to the state guesthouse, Kakuzu told the Hyuga Clan members to stay there without worry.

"Thank you for the trouble."

Hideto nodded and left the arrangements to Kakuzu.

Kakuzu departed, and Yuroketsu, the Aburame Clan's head, left with him, intending to formally visit his future superior.

Although the Aburame Clan had already successfully migrated away from the Land of Fire, Yuroketsu himself had not handled those matters as clan head. Since he had happened to accompany the Hyuga Clan's wedding procession, he had remained in the Land of Fire and returned with Kakuzu.

"Lord Yayoi is a very mild-mannered person. As long as you do not deliberately offend him, he won't take many things to heart."

On the way to the General's Residence in Nightview City, Kakuzu began explaining some matters Yuroketsu should keep in mind when meeting Yayoi.

Though Yayoi had few taboos, Kakuzu did not know Yuroketsu well and feared that he might inadvertently cross Yayoi's bottom line somewhere.

After all, mildness was only one side of Yayoi. Kakuzu had also deeply witnessed his other side: cold cruelty.

He was the general of the Land of Night, someone who would show no mercy and slaughter his enemies to the last.

Yuroketsu was to be a future colleague, and Kakuzu did not want their relationship to become so strained.

Yuroketsu listened in silence, gaining a general understanding of how to get along with General Yayoi.

Upon entering the General's Residence, they found themselves in a fully militarized area.

Tall walls sealed off the interior from the outside world. Patrols of ninja and samurai passed through constantly, while tall watchtowers and pavilions rose one after another.

But Yuroketsu could tell that many of the buildings had not been constructed for pleasure at all. They were military structures, with only a small portion built for living and entertainment, meant to ease the stress accumulated by ninja and samurai.

Clearly, General Oda Yayoi... had turned his residence into an impenetrable military fortress.

They passed through the outer court and headed into the inner court.

To Yuroketsu's surprise, the defenses here were much weaker than in the previous areas.

Did he not value his own safety?

No, perhaps it was confidence. Someone with overwhelming power did not need such things.

The strongest person in the Land of Night was the general himself. If even the general could not solve a problem, then sending more people would only result in meaningless sacrifice.

Therefore, only the necessary messengers and staff needed to remain here.

They arrived at the Tenshu Tower, the only building in the inner court that faced the outer court.

It was an eighty-meter-tall tower.

From here, the entire layout of the General's Residence could be seen at a glance.

After bringing Yuroketsu to the highest floor, Kakuzu turned and left.

"Come in."

As the voice within reached him, Yuroketsu drew a deep breath and stepped inside.

It was an open space roughly seven meters high and several hundred square meters in area.

He casually glanced over the furnishings and layout. It did not seem particularly elaborate, with few flashy but impractical decorations. Everything was arranged for convenience, and most of the items placed here had practical uses.

Then he swiftly shifted his gaze ahead, looking at the black-haired young man seated behind a broad desk. His features were refined, and he did not look like a general who commanded a nation's military and political affairs.

Dressed in loose grayish-blue casual clothes, he had the air of a literary worker carrying a pen.

Yet the fact that his body could fill out those loose clothes showed that beneath his seemingly slender frame lay terrifying explosive power.

When it came to taijutsu, he was probably quite a frightening person as well.

The insects are uneasy.

Yuroketsu's hand, hidden within his sleeve, slowly clenched before relaxing again.

Then Yuroketsu imperceptibly glanced at the blue-kimono-clad girl beside him.

He looked very young, around sixteen or seventeen. His flawless, beautiful face was so exquisitely refined it seemed unreal, carrying the dreamlike quality of something artificially sculpted.

He looked gentle, but the icy, bone-piercing aura that drifted from his purple eyes made Yuroketsu's nerves tense instinctively.

The insects tell me they can sense nothing from this girl, yet he is extremely dangerous... If I make the slightest rash move, I might be crushed immediately.

These thoughts flashed through Yuroketsu's mind in an instant, but little emotion showed on his face. Without changing expression, he bowed to Yayoi.

"Pleased to meet you, General. I am Aburame Yuroketsu, clan head of the Aburame Clan."