So that meant it was fine as long as it wasn't in front of her. Tsunade glared at Hyuga Akira, said nothing more, and turned to leap onto another branch.
Hyuga Akira jumped over too, turning to tell the other two, "Hurry up and keep up. Don't hold up the mission."
Whose fault was the delay in the first place!!!
Hyuga Hiashi gritted his teeth. This was the first time he had encountered a branch family member who showed him absolutely no respect.
Hizashi Hyuga hesitated before speaking. "Brother, Lady Tsunade seems to be deliberately protecting Hyuga Akira."
It was subtle, but Hizashi Hyuga hadn't let his emotions interfere with his judgment. After all, Hyuga Akira had been targeting Hyuga Hiashi all along, leaving him calmer instead.
Hyuga Hiashi looked at Hizashi Hyuga in surprise, everything that had happened since they met Tsunade today flashing through his mind.
"That can't be."
Thinking it over carefully, both times today, Tsunade had suddenly stopped him just as he was about to do something.
"Absolutely impossible." Hyuga Hiashi remained certain of his judgment. What made Hyuga Akira worthy of having any connection to Tsunade?
Seeing that Hyuga Hiashi had already made up his mind, Hizashi Hyuga sighed.
The two hurried to catch up as well.
Trees flashed past on either side.
Tsunade led the way, with Hyuga Akira close behind her. Suddenly, she said through gritted teeth, "Kid, know when to stop!"
Hyuga Akira grinned. "Of course, Lady Tsunade. I know when to quit while I'm ahead. I certainly won't cause you too much trouble."
Tsunade snorted and continued moving swiftly forward.
The four members of the squad became dark blurs, darting through the woods.
Their mission objective wasn't far away.
They soon reached the mission site.
They quickly hid in the trees, watching a group of raggedly dressed people guarding the entrance to the mountain.
"These bandits are all ordinary people. Only their leader and deputy leader are wandering ninja. Our mission is to drive these bandits away," Tsunade quickly explained.
She gave Hyuga Hiashi a meaningful look.
"Since this is a training mission for you, you'll need to complete it yourselves. I won't intervene unless it's absolutely necessary."
This was only a C-rank mission. Although Tsunade hadn't yet reached the level she would attain later as one of the Sannin, she was already a capable jonin.
A mission like this wasn't worth her intervention.
Hyuga Hiashi nodded and took the initiative to act as captain. "Hizashi, circle around behind them and cut off their retreat. Let the ordinary people leave. Our main targets are those two wandering ninja."
"Hyuga Akira and I will sneak in and attack the two wandering ninja. Hyuga Akira, do you have any objections?"
He wasn't someone who acted arbitrarily. His younger brother, Hizashi Hyuga, would certainly listen to his suggestions. Only Hyuga Akira, that troublemaker, didn't get along with him.
Yet no one answered for a long while.
"Hyuga Akira?"
He turned to look behind him, but Hyuga Akira was nowhere to be seen.
Hizashi Hyuga pointed toward the mountain entrance, and Hyuga Hiashi's expression changed drastically.
"Hyuga Akira!!?"
He saw Hyuga Akira swaggering toward the entrance. A group of bandits had already noticed him.
Tsunade slapped her forehead. Was this guy really qualified to be a Shinobi?
Hyuga Akira didn't care what they thought, because a group of bandits had already surrounded him.
"Hey, brat, where did you come from?" Several bandits stared menacingly at Hyuga Akira.
"Those eyes... is he a monster?"
The sight of Hyuga Akira's snow-white pupils unnerved them.
Hyuga Akira completely ignored what they were saying, merely recalling the contents of a guide he had once read.
"What did the bandits drop again? I think the bandit leader boss dropped Shinobi equipment."
"Brat, we're talking to you!!" A somewhat burly bandit stepped forward angrily and swung a palm toward Hyuga Akira's face.
Bang!
Smoke billowed out, and the bandit's palm struck a spiked club.
A spiked club!!? Where did that spiked club come from!!?
The spikes pierced straight through his hand, showing just how much force he had put into that slap.
Before he could scream, blood spurted from his neck.
Hyuga Akira stepped on his head and landed on the ground, holding a bloodstained kunai.
"Pulling the mobs."
"Byakugan!"
Chapter 4: Teammates Are Mobs Too
The Byakugan.
The Hyuga Clan's kekkei genkai possessed abilities including long-distance vision, see-through vision, and perceptive sight.
Its long-distance vision turned the eyes into telescopes, while its see-through vision allowed the user to see straight through objects and clearly observe the chakra flowing through the human body.
Not to mention that everyone in this world had some amount of chakra in their bodies, meaning no one could escape the Byakugan's lock-on.
The role best suited to the Hyuga Clan was that of a sniper.
Who would have thought these people would fight in close combat instead?
Their enemies would practically laugh themselves to death.
On top of that, it offered three-hundred-and-sixty-degree perception, though the Caged Bird Seal left one degree missing.
But that wasn't much of a problem at long range.
Hyuga Akira planted his foot on a bandit, and five shuriken appeared directly in his other hand.
With a flick of his wrist, he threw them.
The five shuriken vanished from his hand. When they reappeared, they were already embedded in five people's necks.
Notifications flashed before his eyes.
[Experience: 13] [Experience: 11] [Experience: 10]...
The six people gave him 68 experience points.
Hyuga Hiashi and Hizashi Hyuga hurried up behind him.
Hyuga Hiashi, whose expression hadn't improved at all, demanded, "Why didn't you follow orders!?"
He eyed the spiked club on the ground suspiciously.
Hyuga Akira used the Substitution Technique just now, right? That had to be the Substitution Technique.
Why was there a spiked club? Where on earth had he kept it?
Hyuga Akira chose to ignore Hyuga Hiashi's question entirely and stepped forward to pick up the spiked club. This was his substitution prop.
The Substitution Technique was a diversionary technique that rapidly replaced the body with a piece of wood at the instant of an attack, making the opponent believe the attack had succeeded.
To put it plainly, it meant using something to block an attack in a crisis. Having trained his Substitution Technique to level five, Hyuga Akira was no longer restricted to wood.
"I'm asking you a question!" Hyuga Hiashi looked furious when he saw that Hyuga Akira wasn't listening to him at all.
Hyuga Akira continued doing as he pleased, picking up the drops from the ground.
[Money: 8 ryo]
That was the total of all the drops.
Too weak. They don't drop anything good at all. Hyuga Akira sighed inwardly, then turned a sharp gaze on the Hyuga brothers.
"If you steal my kills, I'll kill you."
Hyuga Hiashi was furious. Although he didn't understand what stealing kills meant, he was already charging at Hyuga Akira.
Hizashi Hyuga hesitated, then stopped in his tracks.
Watching from a tree, Tsunade shook her head. "This generation of the Hyuga Main Family is really hard to lead."
The main problem was Hyuga Akira, who didn't play by the rules.
But even so, choosing to start an internal fight during a mission wasn't a wise decision.
That wasn't a wise choice at all.
The Hyuga Clan had sheltered this Hyuga Hiashi too much.
If this kid hadn't had the same eyes as the Hyuga Clan, she would have suspected he belonged to the Uchiha Clan.
Facing Hyuga Hiashi's sudden attack, Hyuga Akira's eyes lit up. This guy wasn't using the Caged Bird Seal and actually dared to attack him directly.
He had been waiting so long for this.
Veins bulged around Hyuga Hiashi's eyes as he activated his Byakugan too. His hands lashed out like whips, raining down like a violent storm.
Gentle Fist.
Although the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist was called a fist technique, it was more accurately a pressure-point technique, primarily striking the enemy's pressure points.
Hyuga Akira's hands flashed just as quickly, blocking the storm of attacks.
He was like a stubborn rock. No matter how his opponent attacked, he couldn't hurt him in the slightest.
Unable to break through despite his prolonged assault, Hyuga Hiashi grew even more anxious.
He thrust out a palm packed with chakra.
Hyuga Akira moved both palms forward to block. If this blow landed, it would send him flying.
Bang!
"Aah!!" A piercing scream rang out.
But the one screaming was Hyuga Hiashi. His palm had struck the spiked club, and its spikes had pierced straight through his hand.
Hyuga Akira appeared behind Hyuga Hiashi, his lips moving slightly.
"You really are useless."
Before Hyuga Hiashi could react, Hyuga Akira pressed a finger against his temple, knocking him unconscious.
Hizashi Hyuga stepped forward, rapidly attacking Hyuga Akira with both palms before lashing back with a kick.
Hyuga Akira jumped backward, dodging Hizashi Hyuga's kick.
"Relax. He's still alive."
A mocking expression appeared on Hyuga Akira's face. He didn't want to defect from Konoha yet.
He glanced at the notification before him.
[Experience: 115]
"Not bad."
He looked at Hizashi Hyuga, itching to have a go, but after some thought, he chose to spare him and turned to run into the mountain.
Hizashi Hyuga breathed a sigh of relief. He hoisted the fallen Hyuga Hiashi onto his back and watched Hyuga Akira run up the mountain with a complicated expression.
"Hyuga Akira?"
"Is this guy really a genius?"
He gritted his teeth. Who in the Hyuga Clan used the Substitution Technique in a fight-and with a spiked club, no less!!
What kind of Shinobi would do something like that?
He had heard of Hyuga Akira's reputation: undefeated among his year, hailed as a genius of the Hyuga Clan.
Before you continue