Thoughts raced rapidly.
Hyūga Yuu quickly considered another possibility—
A spy.
This person could be an infiltrator from another hidden village, operating within Konoha. If so, their interest in him was likely connected to his contact with the Main Branch member, Hyūga Genkō, earlier that day. Following that line of reasoning, the opponent was most likely a Hidden Mist Village spy.
Even so, Hyūga Yuu still couldn't fully understand why he, of all people, had become the target.
But the incident had already begun, and what mattered now was this:
Resolving the sudden crisis.
Hyūga Yuu relaxed his expression, deactivated his Byakugan, and continued walking forward without drawing attention.
The apartment he lived in was located at the edge of the Hyūga clan grounds, close to Konoha's second ring road. Though small, the location was undeniably prime real estate within the village.
This area was near Konoha's central Tea Street—the same district where Naruto would eventually live. Hyūga Yuu's neighbor was Hatake Kakashi, who, for convenience, had recently sold his ancestral home and rented a place here after becoming a jōnin at the age of twelve.
None of this was meant to imply that Hyūga Yuu was wealthy, important, or particularly favored by the Hyūga clan.
It was meant to establish one fact:
This was a residential area for Konoha's elite ninja.
If the enemy wanted to make a move, they couldn't wait until Hyūga Yuu reached that neighborhood. The only place where an attack could be executed and traces concealed was the cluster of narrow alleys between the Hyūga clan grounds and his apartment.
Could Hyūga Yuu run?
No.
He was merely a genin with limited chakra reserves. What he feared most was a reckless, frontal assault.
Even with his mastery of the Gentle Fist, going all-out would allow him to stall a chūnin-level opponent for only a few minutes before collapsing from exhaustion and chakra depletion.
Calling for help wasn't an option—he would be dead long before reinforcements arrived.
The only path left was to comply.
To lower the enemy's guard.
And then… kill them in a single instant.
The sun was sinking in the west.
A summer drizzle tapped faintly against the ground.
With a calm expression, Hyūga Yuu crossed the long street, passed beneath the eaves where the enemy lay hidden, and reached the entrance of the alley—
the burial ground prepared for him.
His pale eyes tightened, flashing with cold killing intent.
He stepped forward, entering the darkness.
As his arm swung naturally, he discreetly palmed a kunai—one with a paper-wrapped pellet tied to its end—from the ninja pouch at his waist.
The moment his fingers closed around the handle, his body tensed. His toes dug into the ground.
He flickered within the stretched shadow of the alley and suddenly accelerated.
He charged straight into the three-hundred-meter-long passage.
At the same instant, the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end.
His abnormal sensitivity immediately told him that the gaze behind him—after losing its target for less than half a second—swept through the shadows and locked onto him again.
Sharper. Deadlier.
As if piercing his skin.
Whoosh!
The sound of rushing wind erupted behind him.
The enemy had realized something was wrong and activated the Body Flicker Technique to close the distance!
Hyūga Yuu's eyes snapped open, veins bulging at his temples.
"Byakugan—activate!"
The moment his expanded, godlike vision captured the enemy rushing toward him from behind, Hyūga Yuu abruptly dropped his center of gravity, halted, and rolled sideways.
The broad-faced ninja wearing a cat-faced mask—two whisker marks etched into its surface—shot past him due to the momentum of the Body Flicker, a kunai flashing with cold light in hand.
For a split second—
He saw the young man on the ground lift his head.
And he saw—
A pair of white eyes.
Dull and clumsy like a camel's only moments ago—
Now ferocious, savage, like a lion's.
POV SHIFT
Yajima Sunto was an intelligence ninja.
At the lowest tier of the Hidden Mist's spy network within Konoha.
In simple terms, he was cannon fodder—expendable even if exposed. In fact, his deployment existed precisely for that purpose: to be sacrificed if necessary, allowing his single-contact superior to gather intelligence or remove obstacles.
At ten o'clock that morning, he received a mission.
Disguise himself as a Konoha ANBU ninja.
Eliminate a Hyūga Branch Family genin named Hyūga Yuu.
Yajima Sunto didn't know why his superior wanted this genin dead, but he could guess.
At nine o'clock, he had personally seen Hyūga Yuu exit the residence of Hyūga Elder Sōsuke, a Main Branch member.
That meant the target had a high probability of having contacted Hyūga Genkō—the Main Branch member Yajima had been assigned to monitor.
Combined with additional intelligence received afterward—that Hyūga Yuu was a medical ninja—
his superior concluded that Yuu's existence might interfere with the Hidden Mist's upcoming operation.
Therefore, this variable needed to be eliminated early.
As for what that operation was…
Why someone as weak as Hyūga Yuu could affect it…
Or whether killing him now would only alert Konoha and create more variables—
Yajima Sunto had suspicions.
But he didn't need answers.
A spy must, above all else, not be stupid—especially in a village with the Yamanaka clan.
His task was simple:
Use his experience as a chūnin to quietly eliminate a weak Hyūga Branch Family genin—one who hadn't even fully mastered his clan's secret techniques—at a specific time and place, without causing excessive commotion.
However—
After reviewing the intelligence dossier, Yajima Sunto instinctively sensed something was wrong.
The file read:
[Hyūga Yuu — Genin]
[Missions Completed: D-rank ×46, C-rank ×12]
[Strength Assessment: Genin-level. Bloodline Limit active: Byakugan. Has not mastered Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms. Taijutsu, ninjutsu, genjutsu, and throwing techniques all substandard. Self-taught several medical ninjutsu, including one high-difficulty B-rank technique.]
[Konoha Year 46: Graduated early from the Academy.]
[Konoha Year 47: Joined Recon Team Eight; participated in the Third Great Shinobi War. During an Iwa assault in the Land of Grass, the squad leader and two teammates were killed.]
[Konoha Year 48: Joined the reorganized Recon Team Eight. The squad leader died again. Later participated in the Konoha Chūnin Exams; two teammates died under unclear circumstances.]
[Konoha Year 49 (Present): Recovering from injuries.]
An ordinary genin.
One who hadn't even mastered his clan's basic defensive techniques.
Aside from possessing the Byakugan—which, for him, seemed more like a burden than an advantage—his combat strength was inferior to some elite Academy graduates.
And yet—
This ninja had survived the Third Great Shinobi War.
Two chūnin leaders dead.
All teammates dead.
Only him remaining.
This wasn't normal.
Either his luck defied the heavens—
Or Hyūga Yuu possessed something the intelligence reports failed to capture.
Among intelligence operatives, people like that had a name:
Information Black Holes.
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