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The sudden attackers who lunged at Hyuga Hizashi were, of course, Riku and his Shadow Clones, though they had deliberately changed their appearances.
At that moment, they looked exactly like Riku and Yue, the Root operatives who had assaulted him earlier.
After launching the ambush, Riku didn't display any of his unique Ninjutsu or Taijutsu techniques. Instead, he used the Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique—a jutsu so common in Konoha that nearly every ninja could perform it.
A pillar of flame roared into the sky, followed by a thunderous explosion that shook much of Konoha.
No one was injured, of course—but the sudden blast startled Hyuga Hizashi deeply. His instincts took over before his thoughts could catch up.
As smoke blanketed the scene, Hizashi set down his young son and activated his Byakugan. Two human shapes appeared clearly through the haze.
In that instant, his mind focused on only one thought—eliminate the intruders.
"Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
Without hesitation, Hizashi unleashed the Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist Secret Technique, his palms moving in a blur. With the Byakugan's insight, the smoke might as well not have existed at all.
Indeed, this kind of low-visibility environment favored a Hyuga perfectly.
Hizashi pinpointed Riku's location in a heartbeat, and then his palms struck out like lightning, precise and merciless.
Had the attackers been ordinary ninja, caught so close by an elite Hyuga jonin, their fate would have been sealed instantly.
But Riku was no ordinary ninja. In his true form, he could easily dodge every strike.
He was intimately familiar with the Gentle Fist style. Though he hadn't mastered the clan's secret variations, he understood the fundamentals—the way every motion connected to the same core principle.
Yet this time, Riku did not fully evade. In fact, he deliberately held back, showing only the strength of a Chunin. After taking several heavy blows—his Shadow Clone dispersing with each hit—he retreated in apparent panic.
Hizashi, seeing his enemy flee, refused to let them escape. These men had dared to attack him near his own home—he couldn't simply allow them to vanish into the night.
He gave chase immediately.
However, something felt strange. Though the two seemed to be gravely injured, their ability to flee was unexpectedly impressive.
Despite Hizashi's pursuit, the distance between them slowly widened instead of shrinking.
Still, Hizashi pressed on. The trail of blood staining the ground was proof that his targets were on the verge of collapse. He just needed to keep going.
Finally, after several minutes of pursuit, Hizashi caught up to them—only to discover that the two figures had already collapsed.
They lay motionless, having bled out completely.
Activating his Byakugan again, Hizashi checked their chakra. There was nothing—no movement, no energy, only silence.
He approached cautiously, frowning as he noticed the masks on their faces.
Root masks.
The realization froze him in place. The sense of victory drained away in an instant, replaced by an icy weight of dread.
As head of the Hyuga Branch Family, Hizashi knew of Danzo and his secretive Root Division all too well. Their reputation within the village was not one of glory or righteousness—it was one of fear.
Danzo's methods were ruthless. He was known for eliminating obstacles without hesitation, even if those obstacles were fellow Konoha ninja.
The Root organization answered to no one.
They were a shadow within the Leaf, feared even by the strongest clans.
And now… he had just killed two of them.
It was like grabbing a tiger by the whiskers.
Hizashi's thoughts spun wildly. Why had Root operatives attacked him in the first place? Why did they seem so weak—so easily crushed by only a few of his strikes?
Something about it didn't add up.
But there was no time to think. The priority was clear: cover this up.
If word got out that he had killed members of Root—even in self-defense—it would bring endless trouble upon his clan.
The only solution was to destroy the bodies and erase all traces of the battle.
Gritting his teeth, Hizashi prepared to perform a Fire Release technique to burn the corpses.
But before he could form the first seal, he froze.
A strange sensation washed over him—hundreds of tiny movements all around, like the crawling of countless insects.
He turned sharply, Byakugan scanning the surroundings. What he saw made his blood run cold: a swarm of chakra-infused insects encircling him from every direction.
Even as an elite jonin, Hizashi felt genuine danger from them.
These were no ordinary bugs—they were controlled through Ninjutsu.
An Aburame clan technique.
His heart sank. "An Aburame…? Here?"
He knew too well how dangerous the Aburame were to the Hyuga. Their insect-based ninjutsu directly countered Taijutsu specialists.
Their bodies teemed with chakra-consuming insects that could devour a Hyuga's energy through contact.
Against such an enemy, even a master of Gentle Fist would be at a disadvantage—unless there was an overwhelming difference in power.
But the chakra signature of the approaching swarm wasn't weak at all.
This was not a Genin.
This was at least a Chunin-level Aburame, possibly stronger.
The insects shifted in formation, slowly gathering together. In seconds, they condensed into the outline of a human.
From the cloud of insects emerged a masked figure wearing Root armor.
Sora.
The Root operative's eyes glowed faintly behind his mask as he surveyed the scene.
Two Root corpses at Hizashi's feet—Riku's clones, lifeless and cold.
The moment Sora recognized them, fury welled up inside him. Riku and Yue—his fellow operatives—were dead.
Though he had never particularly liked them, their deaths during a mission still enraged him.
Worse yet, they had been slain by a Hyuga Branch Family member.
That was an insult—not only to him, but to Root itself, and by extension, to Lord Danzo.
If this matter was mishandled, Sora knew he would face harsh punishment when he returned. He needed to control the situation—by any means necessary.
He glared at Hizashi and shouted,
"Hyuga Hizashi! How dare you kill my Root comrades?!"
The accusation rang through the forest like a whip crack.
Hizashi's mind raced. He immediately realized that any hope of hiding the incident was gone.
Root had arrived—he'd been caught red-handed.
There was only one path forward now: use the Hyuga Clan's influence to resist Root's inevitable retaliation.
And to win his clan's support, he needed to hold the moral high ground.
Straightening his posture, Hizashi met Sora's glare and replied coldly,
"Twisting black and white, are we? It was your Root ninja who attacked me first. I defended myself, nothing more!
Who would have thought your men were so weak they'd die from a few light strikes?"
Sora's expression darkened, but Hizashi pressed on.
"And now you dare accuse me? Is Root truly so arrogant that it believes the Hyuga Clan will bow to your tyranny? Do you think we're that easy to bully?"
The words cut through the air with steel-like conviction.
"I will report this matter directly to the Hyuga Main Family—and to the Hokage himself!"
The two men faced each other in silence, the air between them charged with killing intent.
The insects around Sora buzzed restlessly, reflecting his simmering rage. Hizashi's Byakugan veins stood out around his eyes, ready for any sudden attack.
Both knew that the next few seconds could decide not just their own fates—but the fragile balance of power between Root and the Hyuga Clan.
Riku's plan had worked perfectly.
From the shadows some distance away, the real Riku watched the confrontation unfold, a faint smirk curling on his lips.
Everything had gone according to his design.
He had disguised himself and his clones as Root agents, deliberately provoking Hizashi. The plan wasn't to harm him—but to make it look like Root had attacked the Hyuga Branch Family.
Now, Hizashi had killed what appeared to be Root operatives, and Root's own member, Sora, had arrived in time to witness it.
The situation had spiraled far beyond either side's control.
Whether the Hyuga Clan or Root tried to spin the story, the seeds of distrust had already been planted deep within Konoha's political soil.
Riku slipped quietly into the forest shadows, the faint glow of the distant fire fading behind him.
He had achieved exactly what he wanted:
Chaos.
Hyuga Hizashi stood his ground, unaware that he had become a pawn in someone else's elaborate game.
The tension between Root and the Hyuga Clan would soon erupt—
and when it did, no one would remember the truth of what really happened that night.
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