"Sorry, you're a step too late," Xuan smiled at the Jōnin who had just arrived.
With a slight rotation of his Sharingan, he immediately noticed three Chūnin rushing onto the scene, silently fanning out to encircle him.
Unfortunately, the Jōnin standing before him did not possess pure white eyes. It wasn't the Hyūga target.
This Jōnin was the one who had been stationed deep within the compound—the second Jōnin of the Yomu clan, and the younger brother of Clan Head Kichikawa.
The Yomu Jōnin quickly scanned the area. His eyes immediately locked onto the three headless corpses of his clan's Tokubetsu Jōnin. A flash of profound fury crossed his face. "Did you kill them?" he demanded in a low, dangerous voice.
Xuan raised an eyebrow. This Jōnin's reaction was incredibly strange. At a time like this—with every passing second allowing the flames to devour more of the grain—shouldn't his absolute first priority be to put out the fire? Why was he wasting time interrogating Xuan? Furthermore, he didn't seem to care about the burning granary at all; his fury was entirely focused on the deaths of his clansmen.
"Shouldn't you be putting out the fire right now?" Xuan asked, never one to beat around the bush.
The Yomu Jōnin fell silent for a moment. He waved his hand, signaling the three Chūnin to stand down. "What does this grain have to do with us?" he replied coldly. "We aren't the ones who need to eat it. Whoever needs it can go put out the fire themselves."
Xuan's eyes narrowed slightly. So, that basically confirms the grain was definitely purchased by the Hyūga. Moreover, it seems the Yomu clan isn't entirely on board with serving them.
"Eight Trigrams: Empty Palm!"
A furious roar suddenly echoed across the courtyard. A massive shockwave of condensed chakra violently blasted into the inferno, scattering the flames surrounding one of the silos and revealing the heavily charred grain within.
"The real target is finally here. Also... not knowing Water Style truly is a tragedy," Xuan chuckled maliciously, making absolutely no effort to hide his schadenfreude.
"Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Slash! Eight Trigrams: Empty Palm! Eight Trigrams: Lion Roar!"
To his credit, the newly arrived Hyūga Jōnin was putting in a herculean effort. He frantically hurled his chakra around like it cost him nothing, desperately firing off sheer concussive force to literally blow the fire out. Miraculously, he actually managed to clear a small section of the blaze.
Xuan curled his lip. "We can't have that. Fire Style: Great Fireball Technique!"
A massive sphere of roaring flames blasted straight into the exact section the Hyūga had just cleared. The violently suppressed fire instantly flared back to life, burning even hotter than before.
"You—!"
Standing in the distance, the Hyūga Jōnin nearly coughed up blood. Glaring at Xuan with absolute murderous rage, he leaped across the rooftops and landed in the courtyard. He finally realized the bitter truth: he couldn't save the grain.
Moving with the explosive speed of a Jōnin, he landed directly beside the Yomu Jōnin.
The Hyūga operative had been casually drinking tea in the Clan Head's estate. When Kichikawa rushed to the front gates, he had been debating whether to provide reinforcements. Suddenly, he noticed the massive inferno erupting from the granary. Horrified, he abandoned all thought and sprinted straight for the silos, but he was still a step too late.
"Why aren't you putting out the fire?!" the Hyūga Jōnin roared furiously the moment his boots hit the ground.
The Yomu Jōnin shot him a look of pure mockery. "I don't know Water Style," he replied calmly.
That deadpan response nearly caused the Hyūga Jōnin's lungs to explode. However, since the Yomu was also a Jōnin, he couldn't afford to start an internal conflict right now. Forcing his rage down, he snarled, "Then why aren't you killing this brat?!"
The Yomu Jōnin scoffed coldly. "Are you blind? Look at his eyes. Three tomoe."
Startled, the Hyūga Jōnin finally took a good look at the boy standing amidst the flames. Blinded by rage and dismissing Xuan due to his young age, he hadn't paid him much attention.
Now, looking closely, his Byakugan instantly zeroed in on the Uchiha's infamous three-tomoe Sharingan. The terrifying reputation of those demonic eyes was known across the entire Warring States. No matter who wielded them, they could absolutely never be underestimated. He then noticed the three headless corpses of the Tokubetsu Jōnin scattered around the courtyard. Judging by the clean, identical cuts, they had all been killed in a single strike.
The Hyūga Jōnin immediately forced himself to calm down. His expression turned deadly serious. "Uchiha Xuan?"
Xuan blinked, genuinely surprised. "You know me?"
The Hyūga slowly drew the katana strapped to his back. "The absolute greatest genius of the Uchiha's new generation. A heaven-defying monster who awakened a fully matured three-tomoe Sharingan at the age of five. If we, as your sworn enemies, couldn't even recognize your face on the battlefield, the Hyūga clan wouldn't deserve our standing in this world. It seems my luck is excellent today."
Being flattered was always a pleasant experience, especially when the praise came directly from an enemy. Xuan flashed a wide grin and nodded sagely. You're damn right. I am a heaven-defying monster.
"It truly is a pity," the Hyūga Jōnin continued, his voice dripping with freezing killing intent. "The great genius of the Uchiha clan is going to die by my hand today. Killing you will easily compensate for the loss of this grain."
The thick veins around his pure white eyes suddenly bulged violently—the unmistakable sign that his Byakugan was fully active.
"I know you possess a bizarre spatial Ninjutsu that allows you to teleport," the Hyūga stated coldly. "Lady Tamamo informed the clan after her failed ambush. If you want to jump through space, you have to rely on your marked kunai. Rest assured, I won't give your kunai a single chance to get near me. And the moment my hands touch you, I will use the Gentle Fist to completely seal your chakra network. Without chakra, all your fancy Ninjutsu are completely useless."
Xuan listened to the man's villainous monologue with rapt attention, nodding earnestly. "That sounds incredibly logical. But it's completely useless."
Clearly enraged by Xuan's flippant tone, the Hyūga roared. He violently triggered the Body Flicker Technique, vanishing in an instant.
After Tamamo's failed assassination attempt, the Hyūga clan had extensively analyzed Xuan's teleportation Jutsu. A spatial technique was far too bizarre and deadly; if their shinobi encountered it blindly, they would easily be slaughtered.
"Yo!"
The three tomoe in Xuan's eyes spun rapidly. The exact moment the Hyūga's katana materialized millimeters from his neck, Xuan dissolved into a flash of golden light.
He reappeared near the entrance of the courtyard, standing casually beside the corpse of the first Tokubetsu Jōnin he had killed—a marked kunai still firmly embedded in the dirt next to it.
"Not a bad speed," Xuan praised lightly. With a flick of his wrists, he launched six kunai straight at the Hyūga.
The Hyūga Jōnin's expression hardened. He whipped his katana in a rapid, defensive circle, channeling his chakra into the blade. Clang! Clang! Clang! Amidst a flurry of sparks, all six kunai were violently swatted away.
"Hm?" The Hyūga frowned in confusion.
He noticed the kunai hadn't been deflected into the distance as he expected. Instead, they seemed to be tethered to something, rapidly looping back to encircle him.
What is this? Chakra wire?!
Under the pale moonlight, he suddenly noticed the faint, transparent threads tightly wound around the blade of his katana. Did he attach them the moment I parried the kunai?!
"Rasengan," a soft voice whispered directly in front of him.
Xuan materialized out of thin air, thrusting a blinding, rapidly spinning sphere of highly condensed chakra straight toward the Hyūga's heart.
"I was waiting for you!" the Hyūga sneered.
Acting as if he had perfectly predicted the attack, he instantly released his grip on his katana and violently twisted his torso to dodge the Rasengan. His hands blurred with blinding speed as he struck forward. "Eight Trigrams: Chakra Sealing Strike!"
His chakra-infused fingertips rapidly jabbed at the boy's body, forcefully locking down his chakra network point by point. "Once I know how your Jutsu works, brat, there is always a countermeasure!"
"Is that so?"
An indifferent voice suddenly echoed from his blind spot.
The 'Xuan' standing right in front of the Hyūga Jōnin vanished in a loud poof of white smoke.
Simultaneously, the true Xuan materialized on the Hyūga's right side—exactly where his discarded katana still hung suspended by the chakra wires. In Xuan's hand, a highly condensed, violently spinning sphere of blue chakra roared to life.
"I wonder... was this Shadow Clone also part of your brilliant countermeasures?"
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