The ones who had attacked Hyuga Hiashi and his party were their own clansmen?!
That answer was truly unexpected.
Shikamaru Nara gave a silent, bitter chuckle. How was he supposed to have guessed that?
If Hiashi had not told him, he probably would never have found the answer.
But once he heard it, many things fell into place for Shikamaru.
Why the enemy was so familiar with the Hyuga Clan's fighting style, and why they could so easily evade the Byakugan's detection.
Since they were fellow clansmen, doing that could not have been simpler.
At the same time, though, Shikamaru still had some unanswered questions.
Namely, the Hyuga Clan was not skilled in the Puppet Technique.
The enemies who had attacked Hyuga Hiashi and his party were clearly highly skilled at controlling puppets, at least on par with Sunagakure's puppeteers in that regard.
In fact, to put it bluntly, the enemy's mastery of the Puppet Technique far surpassed that of Sunagakure's puppeteers.
Another thing was that Hinata was right.
The Hyuga Clan's ninja were either staying in Konoha or out on missions.
But most of their whereabouts were out in the open.
There was no way any of them could have slipped away to attack Hyuga Hiashi and his party.
So Shikamaru looked at Hiashi questioningly, waiting for his answer.
Hiashi clearly knew that the people before him were full of questions. He sighed and began to explain.
"The fellow Hyuga clansmen I mean aren't from Konoha."
"They're the Hyuga Clan on the moon!"
As he spoke, he raised his head, as though he could see through the ceiling to the moon gradually fading as the sun rose.
The moon?!
How had the conversation suddenly gone so far afield?
And there were actually people on the moon?
Fellow members of