In this moment of frozen time, Uchiha Souji felt only one thing—powerlessness.
His Sharingan slowed the world, but his body felt impossibly heavy, like he was trapped in glue. The kunai filled with crackling lightning was already inches from little Hinata's heart, and Souji's limbs refused to move fast enough to stop it.
His mind screamed.
I can't stop him! Even if I try, I'm too slow! It's impossible!
A dark whisper echoed inside his thoughts.
A cruel voice born from desperation:
Give up on saving her.
Turn your blade instead.
Kill the Jōnin. At least you'll avenge her.
She means nothing to you.
This is the ninja world—people die every day.
You can't save everyone.
The whisper tried to drag Souji into numbness.
Into the cruel logic of this world.
Into inaction.
But Souji's jaw clenched so hard his gums bled.
"Why should I listen to you?" he thought fiercely.
"What kind of garbage reasoning is that!?"
He bit down so hard it felt like his teeth might crack.
That whisper was wrong—he refused to become that kind of person.
Far outside the slowed world inside Souji's mind, Uchiha Fugaku arrived first. With a single glance, he understood everything happening before him.
His expression twisted into pity.
That's Hiashi's child… Hinata. Same age as Sasuke, right?
So young… how tragic.
Moments later, Hyuga Hiashi himself burst into the forest, having followed Fugaku's trail. His face was dark and filled with grief.
He already believed his daughter was dead.
---
Souji Makes His Choice
The whisper in Souji's mind pushed harder.
Let her die. You can't save everyone. You're a shinobi—accept it.
But Souji's heart raged back.
"NO."
Some things could be abandoned.
But some things must never be abandoned.
Even a traveler—someone reborn from another life—had barriers they refused to cross.
Saving Hinata was one of them.
Souji's will exploded outward, filling every fiber of his being.
As long as I don't stop, my path won't stop!
If I push forward—forward without limits—there will always be a way!
Something awakened inside him.
A dark revelation, like a command from the heavens.
Override the will of others with your own.
Force the world to bend.
This is the will of a king.
Irreversible. Absolute. Unbreakable.
Souji screamed internally—
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!?"
---
The World Shatters Open
BOOM!!!
Except it wasn't an explosion of fire.
It was the explosion before destruction.
A terrifying void-like pressure ripped through the forest.
Everything became silent.
Silent in a way that felt unnatural—like the world itself had stopped breathing.
Time froze.
Thoughts froze.
Resistance disappeared.
An invisible force washed across the clearing, passing through everyone present—Fugaku, Hiashi, Mamoi deep underground, Hinata, even the Cloud Jōnin.
It entered their minds and ripped away their will to resist, leaving their brain signals stunned and blank.
Black lightning erupted from Souji's body, crackling violently but harming nothing physical. Instead, it stabbed into the spirit itself, crushing everything that dared oppose Souji's determination.
Even the night darkened, as if ashamed to shine in front of this will.
Fugaku whispered in awe:
"What… is that?"
The Jōnin's eyes rolled back—white and empty.
His arm stopped.
The kunai halted inches from Hinata.
And Souji moved.
---
The Meteor Moves
"CHASE ME IF YOU CAN—JAIHE!!!"
Souji's roar shattered the frozen atmosphere.
The next instant—
SOUJI DISAPPEARED.
To ordinary eyes, he became a streak of light shooting across the night.
To Sharingan-level vision, he was a meteor tearing through darkness.
CRACK!
The sheath whispered as the Third Generation Ghost Blade returned home.
No one saw the cut.
Not Fugaku.
Not Hiashi.
Not even the Jōnin who died.
They only saw the aftermath:
Souji, bleeding from the mouth, standing behind the Jōnin.
Hinata safely held in his arms.
The blade silently resting in its sheath.
And then—
The Jōnin's head flew upward.
A fountain of blood sprayed across the forest.
Souji wiped blood from his lips and whispered gently:
"Next time… don't run around."
The corpse fell.
Hinata stared.
She couldn't hear.
She couldn't understand.
But she felt the warmth of Souji's embrace.
Despite the blood covering him, his smile—terrifying yet gentle—felt like safety itself.
Like a mother's hug.
And then Souji collapsed.
But before he hit the ground, Fugaku caught him, holding him firmly.
---
Aftermath
Hiashi rushed forward, tears in his eyes, and lifted Hinata into his arms. He looked at Souji—a long, deep stare filled with emotion.
What Souji had unleashed just now…
Hiashi did not understand it, but he felt its weight.
Fugaku grinned, proud like a lion.
Hiashi exhaled, calming himself. He checked Hinata.
Her eardrums were damaged, her hearing gone.
But nothing life-threatening.
A medical-nin could heal this easily.
Then Hiashi turned to Fugaku and said firmly:
"Fugaku… help me at tomorrow's clan meeting.
Including this rescue, I owe you two favors."
"And whatever Souji did today—that's a separate debt."
Hiashi was furious, but not at Konoha.
Not at Fugaku.
He was furious at the audacity of outsiders.
He could endure insults from within the village.
He could endure politics.
He could endure pressure from the Hokage.
But for foreign shinobi to kidnap his child?
To step into the Hyuga home as if they owned it?
No.
He would not swallow that humiliation.
Fugaku snorted.
"You should discuss that with the fossils in your clan first."
The Hyuga elders were notorious—stubborn, rigid, cold.
They still enforced slavery within their own clan.
The Uchiha were proud, but they weren't chained by their elders the way Hyuga were.
Fugaku thought:
Those Hyuga elders… they'll probably try to make a deal out of this instead of showing fury.
They'll trade the event for political gain.
But they don't understand—some losses can't be measured in logic.
Some insults demand fists, not negotiation.
He smirked coldly.
"Without fighting, the Hyuga clan has no future."
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