Until the Root personnel vanished at the edge of his vision, Hyuga Yu still didn't know the name of the young operative behind the bird-head mask.
He didn't know these Root colleagues, nor could he empathize with the lives hidden behind those various masks. But Yu couldn't just sit back and do nothing. Furthermore, he couldn't guarantee that the upcoming events would unfold exactly as they had in the original history.
From the moment he intervened in the incident involving the potential theft of the Main House's Byakugan, this world had gradually begun to veer onto a path entirely different from the original story.
Ao of the Hidden Mist hadn't obtained a Byakugan, and Yu himself was now being watched by many forces lurking in the shadows. So, would the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist still encounter Team 10? Would Ao still run into Shisui of the Flicker? And what would he himself stumble into next?
These were all unpredictable variables.
However, there were two things Hyuga Yu had to do right now. First, he had to prevent the tragedy of Might Duy opening the Eighth Gate from repeating itself. Second, he had to try his best to correct the course of history, ensuring this incident ended with an outcome close to the original timeline.
He couldn't stand by and watch the people he cared about—his master Duy, Mr. Furofuki, Hyuga Tetsu who was currently with the frontline troops, and Dr. Xie Fang, who had taught him so much useful knowledge—be sacrificed as mere pawns by the high-ranking officials.
Still, Yu's arrangements weren't made haphazardly. First, because of Root, the enemy certainly knew he was with Team 10. Second, the enemy didn't know that the paper bomb convoy was a decoy.
In that case, what Yu needed to do was quite simple.
The night passed without a word. The next day, 6:00 AM.
After a night of gathering, the dark clouds had become incredibly heavy. The entire sky felt like a weightless scale, relentlessly pressing down toward the earth.
Soon, rain began to fall by the seaside. At first, it was a light drizzle, thin as cow hair, but it quickly turned into bean-sized droplets that crashed down in a thunderous, vast torrent.
Crack-boom!
The sound of thunder startled Hyuga Yu, who was leaning against a large tree in the nameless forest. He looked up, feeling the rain strike his face, and licked his dry lips. Then, he pulled a Root hooded cloak from his storage scroll pouch and draped it over his shoulders.
After orienting himself, he looked down at the three members of Team 10 beneath the tree. Might Guy was doing handstand push-ups in the rain; Genma Shiranui was staring out at the sea with a toothpick in his mouth, lost in thought; and Ebisu was huddled under the tree, shielding himself from the rain while solemnly "studying" a forbidden book with a pink cover and a heart on it.
Yu took down the greatbow hanging beside him. Holding it in his hand, his toes lightly tapped the trunk as he silently leaped out in a flash.
Before the three members of Team 10 could notice, Hyuga Yu had already quietly sprinted off toward the direction of the Konoha convoy transporting the paper bombs.
Team 10's mission was to rendezvous with the convoy. The convoy itself had its own guards, but due to confidentiality protocols, it was disguised as an ordinary transport unit.
It had been sent ahead secretly through a newly carved route, timed to arrive in the nameless forest—and thus into the sight of both allied and enemy shinobi—at the same time as other supply convoys.
Without prior intelligence, it would be difficult to tell which convoy was carrying the massive quantity of paper bombs. After all, paper bombs took up very little space and could even be packed into storage scrolls. A standard one-meter-long storage scroll could hold nearly 10,000 tags. Transporting enough to blow up the entire Hidden Mist fleet would only require about twenty scrolls.
Clearly, both the Hidden Mist and the Konoha camps on the eastern front had received detailed information about this convoy. However, Hyuga Yu possessed even more precise intelligence.
The Root scrolls had marked the convoy's route through Crow Forest, on the other side of the nameless forest.
Yu soon reached the edge of Crow Forest and crouched behind a crooked, withered tree about one kilometer away from the transport route. Within this range, he could accurately hit a slow-moving target with a greatbow arrow augmented by Wind Style: Vacuum Arrow.
Yu counted the time, waiting silently like a patient hunter.
Before long, through the vision of his intermittently activated Byakugan, he noticed several figures quietly appearing in the nameless forest twelve kilometers behind him.
These people were outposts positioned in advance to relay first-hand intelligence. There were Konoha shinobi and Hidden Mist ones alike; the Mist group consisted of spies embedded within the Konoha camp, a different group from the Mist elites actually tasked with the interception.
Seeing the "audience" arrive, Yu narrowed his eyes and slowly tightened his grip on the massive bow. It was 6:55 AM.
A convoy, having detoured from the other side of Crow Forest, appeared at the limit of Yu's vision, roughly 14 kilometers away.
Strangely, there were no Konoha guards escorting this convoy. There were only a few dogs leading the carts. (It was worth noting that after the mutation, the Byakugan's observation range had nearly doubled. Yu's original vision, which allowed for a 1.5 km overhead view and 7 km longitudinal observation, had increased to 3 km overhead and 14 km longitudinal.)
The dog-drawn carts, disguised as an ordinary transport unit, moved at a steady pace with the clatter-thud of the wooden wheels. Through the X-ray vision of the Byakugan, Yu soon saw twenty-five large, meter-long scrolls packed under the tarps of the flatbed carts.
Swiftly, Yu drew a 1.1-meter-long arrow from his quiver. He then pulled a paper bomb from the tool pouch at his waist and wrapped it around the shaft.
7:23 AM.
The convoy arrived within Yu's firing range. At the same time, it was only 13 kilometers away from the outposts behind him. At this distance, any disturbance here would only look like a small commotion to the people on the other side. But that was enough!
Yu hesitated no longer. He suddenly raised the bow, bracing the frame with one foot pointed toward the sky while his hands hauled back the string. He drew the massive greatbow into a full moon, the limbs of the bow letting out a sharp, straining creak. Simultaneously, wisps of cyan-colored Wind Style chakra rapidly coiled around the arrow in his palm.
Twang!
In the next instant, the arrow shot toward the sky, drawing a fierce and swift parabola through the air!
Without waiting to see if it hit, Yu threw the bow onto his back and sprinted toward the nameless forest in a shinobi low-profile dash.
Two seconds later, a spark ignited.
Then—
A beam of brilliant white light shot straight into the clouds. A visible shockwave rippled out from the center of Crow Forest!
Light and flame merged in that moment, forming the embryonic shape of a hideous black-and-red mushroom cloud—suppressing, expanding, collapsing, and finally, releasing heat and energy!
The carts and the dogs carrying that terrifying cargo were vaporized into nothingness in an instant!
BOOM!!!
A deafening roar followed the shockwave, echoing for several kilometers!
Whoosh!
The sudden shockwave slammed into Yu from behind. His expression went blank for a moment, and his white pupils constricted sharply. He instinctively threw himself forward, his fingers digging deep into the ground.
Then, the searing hot wind swept over his head and back, leaving a stinging, burning pain in its wake.
After a long while, Yu raised his head in a daze, looking at the massive mushroom cloud rising from the center of Crow Forest. His brain fell into a five-second stupor.
Wait... didn't that Root guy say Konoha didn't have any more paper bombs?
Then what the hell was that?!
But soon, realizing he had just done something monumental, Yu's cheek twitched slightly. He released Medical Ninjutsu through the Tenketsu across his body via his cyan chakra to heal the burns on his back. Then, he tore off his combat vest, which had been scorched into his skin, and pulled a white lab coat out of his storage scroll to drape over himself.
No matter how great the shock in his heart was at this moment, Yu gritted his teeth and continued running toward the nameless forest, pulling two smoke bombs from his ninja tool pouch as he went.
He had to, at the very least, finish what he had planned!
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