Bad!

Yongye withdrew his leg and brushed the dust from his pants. He had switched off his Sharingan, hadn't used the Eight Gates Release, and hadn't even used any Ninjutsu.

Pure reaction speed and physical strength had been enough to leave two elite ANBU unable to fight back.

Gekko Hayate lay on the ground, blood spilling from his mouth. His chest heaved, and every breath tugged at his broken ribs, making the veins on his forehead bulge.

But he neither screamed nor begged. He only glared at Yongye through bloodshot eyes.

Uzuki Yugao struggled to rise, but her arms gave out halfway. She could only kneel on one knee, her long purple hair disheveled across her shoulders, her face smeared with dust and blood.

Wearing a smug grin, Yongye swaggered toward them like a man who owned the street.

He stopped before Gekko Hayate and looked down at the ANBU jonin, who was still coughing up blood.

Gekko Hayate raised his head. He coughed twice, bloody foam spilling from his lips each time, but forced himself to speak.

"Kill us, and Lord Hokage won't let you get away with it!"

Yongye looked down at him and shook his head.

"Not 'us.'"

He fixed his gaze on Gekko Hayate and smiled wickedly. "I'm only going to kill you."

Gekko Hayate went rigid.

Yongye turned to Uzuki Yugao and looked her up and down. His gaze held the careless appraisal of someone inspecting merchandise about to go on display.

"As for this woman..."

"Once I've crippled her arms and legs, I'll sell her to a bathhouse. An elite Konoha ninja like her is bound to be popular. The customers will call me a good man while they line up and wait their turn."

Uzuki Yugao jerked her head up. Every trace of color drained from her dust-covered face. Her mouth opened and her lips trembled violently, but she couldn't get a word out.

Gekko Hayate's pupils contracted. He thrashed, trying to reach the sword lying on the ground, but Yongye was faster. He planted a foot on Hayate's wrist, pinning his hand firmly to the ground.

"I'll kill you!"

Gekko Hayate roared, his voice hoarse with desperation. His other hand scrabbled across the ground, nails scraping harshly against the stone slabs and leaving streaks of blood.

But he couldn't grasp anything.

All he could do was watch the madman appraise Yugao like merchandise. Her face was white as paper, her eyes brimming with tears, but she bit her lip hard to keep them from falling.

Countless images flashed through Gekko Hayate's mind:

He and Yugao meeting in the ANBU, fighting side by side, the promises they had made beneath the moonlight and had yet to keep.

And now all of it was about to be crushed beneath this Uchiha madman's feet.

[Ding—Target Gekko Hayate has suffered a severe mental breakdown!]

[The host defeated him overwhelmingly and threatened to sell his girlfriend to a bathhouse right in front of him. Heart-Piercing points have far exceeded the threshold!]

[Congratulations, host! You have received an Advanced Blind Box ×1. Open it now?]

Yongye was overjoyed.

Finally!

All that effort acting like a villain paid off!

His face remained cold as he silently ordered, Open it.

[Ding—Advanced Blind Box opened!]

[Congratulations, host! Reward received: Hyuga Byakugan!]

The next instant, a warm, immense power poured into Yongye's eyes.

It wasn't like the burning Chakra of the Sharingan. This felt entirely different—cool and clear, like mountain spring water washing over every visual nerve.

The whites of his eyes remained white, but an invisible power quietly gathered deep within his pupils. The air around him warped for an instant with the distinctive Chakra fluctuation of an activated Byakugan.

Then he realized his vision... pierced everything.

The walls of the houses across the street became translucent gray outlines. He could clearly see everything inside:

An old woman cooking miso soup at the stove, a middle-aged ninja reading a scroll on the Tatami, and a little girl chasing butterflies in the yard.

The earth beneath his feet turned translucent gray as well. He could see tree roots, stones, and an underground river flowing slowly a dozen meters below.

A full 360-degree view unfolded in his mind, without a single blind spot. He could even see the hair at the back of his own head stirring in the breeze.

But that wasn't what pleased him most.

The best surprise was that this all-around, see-through vision didn't interfere with his normal sight.

His eyes still looked like an ordinary pair of black eyes, with nothing unusual about them.

Unlike the Sharingan, which turned bloodred the moment it activated and carried an eerie air as its Tomoe revolved.

The Byakugan could be activated and used without a sound.

Combined with the perception granted by Clear Sword Heart, he was now a human radar. His senses covered hundreds of meters in every direction, pierced every obstacle, and left no blind spots!

What's more, he could switch freely between the Byakugan and the Sharingan.

He could keep his eyes normal most of the time, switch to the Sharingan when he needed it, and switch to the Byakugan when he needed that, without any conflict.

He slowly clenched his fist, feeling the new power circulate through his meridians.

Then he summoned his Personal Panel.

A translucent screen unfolded in his mind, densely listing every ability he had gained:

Physique doubled

Total Chakra doubled

Clear Sword Heart

Indestructible Golden Body (complete, no weak points)

Lightning Release Chakra Mode

Eight Gates Release (can open up to the Seventh Gate without injury)

Flying Thunder God Technique

Five Release: Great Combo Technique

Super Heavy Rock Technique

Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere

Sharingan (three Tomoe)

Complete Sharingan Genjutsu collection

Shennong Constitution (Immunity to All Poisons)

Shennong Knowledge (can identify any poison and devise antidotes)

Uzumaki Constitution

Sealing Jutsu: Four Symbols Seal

Multiple Shadow Clone Technique

Impure World Reincarnation

Hyuga Byakugan

Each was an ultimate skill an ordinary ninja could spend a lifetime pursuing. He had collected them all in just a few days.

Unfortunately, the Sage of Six Paths was still lurking out there. Otherwise, Yongye would have stopped playing nice and put on a show right in front of her boyfriend!

Yongye closed the Personal Panel and lifted his foot from Gekko Hayate's wrist.

He looked down at the face twisted with rage and despair, then glanced at Uzuki Yugao, who was still kneeling nearby. He fell into thought.

Something's off with Uzuki Yugao!

Her face showed fear, anger, and humiliation, and her eyes were full of tears. Whatever the emotion, her mental defenses were clearly taking a tremendous blow.

Yet the Heart-Piercing System hadn't reacted at all!

When Gekko Hayate broke, the system alert came almost instantly. Less than three breaths had passed between Yongye saying he would sell Hayate's girlfriend to a bathhouse and the system announcing the reward.

Judging by how Uzuki Yugao looked now, she was nearly as devastated as Gekko Hayate, yet the system hadn't said a word.

That reminded Yongye of two earlier incidents.

At the ramen shop, he had put Ayame and Teuchi through the wringer.

Teuchi had watched him lay hands on his daughter right in front of him, while Ayame had gone from wanting to be Yongye's wife to becoming his maid... Both of them had surely suffered severe breakdowns, yet the system hadn't given him a thing.

The same went for Uchiha Ibe. The Naka Shrine guard captain had been slapped in public. His face had swollen, he had lost teeth, and he had been humiliated in front of his men. Still, the system hadn't reacted.

Yongye had first thought strength was the deciding factor, but later found it wasn't. Sasuke Uchiha and Asuma Sarutobi were weaker than Uchiha Ibe, yet both had yielded Advanced Blind Boxes.

Now there was Uzuki Yugao. She and Gekko Hayate were comparable in strength and status. Both were ANBU jonin.

They had stood here together, been defeated together, and been humiliated together. Gekko Hayate's breakdown had earned a reward. Hers hadn't.

Yongye had to reconsider his two earlier theories.

The first: Uzuki Yugao hadn't actually broken. She might appear to be crying, trembling, and calling him a bastard, but her mental defenses hadn't truly collapsed.

Perhaps she was more resolute than Gekko Hayate. Perhaps she hadn't believed his threat. Perhaps she still had a trump card up her sleeve.

It was plausible, but it didn't feel right. Clear Sword Heart let him sense emotions, and her fear and despair were real. She couldn't fake them.

The second: she belonged to the same category as Ayame, Teuchi, and Uchiha Ibe. Breaking them didn't earn rewards.

That seemed more likely, yet it made even less sense.

Why did Gekko Hayate count, but Uzuki Yugao didn't? Both were elite Konoha ANBU, with similar strength and standing.

If the system treated them differently, there had to be a rule. But Yongye still couldn't figure out what it was.

He decided to run an experiment.