Chapter 149
2-in-1-chapter
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"Damn it! This is bad!"
Sweat streamed down Nara Shiosui's forehead. His mind was running at full speed, boiling as though it were a pot of water on the verge of spilling over, his very brain matter threatening to melt from the heat. As their forces pulled back again and again, the situation on the battlefield grew increasingly grim. The shinobi of Kumogakure were not simply muscle-brained brutes.
Konoha's retreat had not escaped their notice.
And yet—
"Why aren't they pursuing?"
Blood vessels were visible in the whites of Shiosui's eyes. He was certain the enemy had already seen through their intent to abandon the Kusatsu Mountains, yet Kumogakure's forces had not rushed to press the retreating Konoha troops. In such a situation, if they had pursued with full force, they could have inflicted heavy casualties on Konoha's side.
But they had not done so.
"Did they see through the countermeasures I arranged?" Shiosui muttered under his breath, his gaze fixed on the map spread across the table while his mind raced. "No, that can't be it. At best, my measures can only delay them a little. They're not nearly enough to cause significant losses to Kumogakure. With their aggressive nature, there is no reason they would hesitate to advance. Could it be…?"
A chilling realization struck him.
"Someone," he called out. "Bring the sensory ninja."
At his order, shinobi from the Hyūga and Yamanaka clans were summoned. With their aid, he marked the positions of Hyūga Hiashi and Aburame Shibi on the map, along with the movements of Kumogakure's forces. The enemy's formation closed in like the pincers of a giant crab, with Hiashi and Shibi caught in the trap. Shiosui's face turned ashen.
It was a decapitation tactic.
No wonder Kumogakure had not chased down the retreating Konoha and allied forces. Their true aim was to bring down Hiashi and Shibi. In war, such tactics were hardly rare. If one had the choice between killing a thousand ordinary enemies or eliminating a single renowned commander, shinobi would invariably choose the latter.
During the Third Great Shinobi War, the Yellow Flash, Namikaze Minato, had singlehandedly shifted the tides of battle, dashing from front to front to face Kumogakure and Iwagakure alike. His efforts had saved Konoha from imminent collapse, delivering them victory in a war that had been slipping from their grasp. Though the weak-willed decisions of the leadership at the time had cheapened that triumph, it had proven beyond doubt how decisively a single powerful shinobi could shape the outcome of war.
In that same war, Iwagakure had poured everything into slaying the Third Raikage, striking down the leader himself and sparing the thousand shinobi who had been under his command. That too was a clear example.
The direction of shinobi wars was most often determined by the clashes between the highest tiers of strength. This time, Kumogakure clearly aimed to eliminate the strongest leaders of Konoha's forward army. If they succeeded in killing Hiashi and Shibi, even if Konoha's remaining forces did not collapse outright, until new commanders could be appointed, they would be powerless to resist Kumogakure.
Nara Shiosui grasped the consequences immediately.
But—
"Damn it! What can be done?"
Agitated beyond reason, he gnawed at his fingernails, his eyes fixed on the map as though he could force an answer out of it. His brain was already at its limit, threatening to break, but no solution presented itself. Even the most skilled tactician could do nothing without pieces to move on the board. That was his dilemma.
Without usable forces, even the best strategy was useless.
By now, fewer than eight hundred Konoha shinobi remained. Of those, fewer than twenty were Jōnin, including himself. With such strength, how could they possibly break through Kumogakure's encirclement and rescue Hyūga Hiashi and Aburame Shibi?
"Advisor Nara, I've already relayed your message to both of them. But their situation looks dire. I fear it will be difficult for them to break out on their own."
Beside him, a Jōnin of the Yamanaka clan opened his eyes. He looked drained; using the Mind Body Transmission Technique unaided by any support device was no easy task.
"This won't do. We must find a way to rescue them."
Shiosui paced back and forth across the command tent, his anxiety plain for all to see. The sensory shinobi present wore equally grim expressions. They all knew just how critical the situation was, and what disaster would follow if Konoha lost Hiashi and Shibi.
They were not merely frontline commanders.
They were also clan heads. The Hyūga and Aburame clans were among Konoha's great houses. Should they fall, the consequences would be unimaginable. The shinobi of those clans would be driven mad with grief and rage, and Konoha itself could never endure such humiliation.
"Advisor Nara!"
At the peak of Shiosui's agitation, when he was nearly beside himself with frustration, a Hyūga Jōnin suddenly cried out. His face was lit with unconcealed relief.
Shiosui frowned and turned toward him.
...........
.....
.
"Huff… huff…"
Hyūga Hiashi could hear the ragged sound of his own breath, like the rasp of a broken bellows. His limbs felt so heavy he could barely lift them. Worst of all, his chakra was almost gone. Even after swallowing a secret military ration pill, he could squeeze no more out of himself.
The Byakugan, with its three-hundred-sixty-degree vision, allowed Hyūga Hiashi to see clearly the Kumo-nin closing in from every direction.
It was as if a net had been cast from heaven itself, sealing off every path of escape.
Even when Hiashi identified gaps in the formation through his Byakugan, the Kumo-nin quickly patched them under the command of their sensory-nin. Darui, the most troublesome of them all, clung to him relentlessly, denying him any chance to retreat.
Because of Darui's interference, Hiashi had realized early that the Kumo-nin intended to surround him, yet he had been forced to watch as their encirclement solidified and tightened until he was left with no way out.
Crack!
Thunder rumbled overhead.
Without turning his head, Hiashi saw the black panther-shaped lightning descending upon him.
Lightning Style: Black Panther.
The black lightning jutsu inherited by Darui from the Third Raikage. Hiashi had already experienced its power firsthand.
Facing the panther-shaped bolt of black lightning, he immediately set his stance. The last of his chakra burst from his tenketsu, and his body spun like a top. The chakra revolving at extreme speed formed an absolute defense capable of repelling any physical attack.
Eight Trigrams Palms: Rotation.
The secret ultimate technique of the Hyūga main family.
The black lightning panther was deflected, the scattered currents flattening the surrounding forest, yet unable to pierce the sphere of chakra protecting Hiashi. But when his Rotation ended, his legs faltered and he dropped to one knee.
The oil was spent, the lamp extinguished. That was how it felt to Hiashi—completely drained, with not a drop of chakra left.
"Lord Hyūga, surrender. With your status, even as a prisoner you will be treated well." Darui appeared across the scorched ground, speaking words of persuasion.
"Treated well? Hah…" Hiashi exhaled, a cold, resolute smile on his face. "Do you mean the same kind of treatment my brother received, lying on a laboratory table, dissected and studied?"
"…If you are willing to cooperate, I can guarantee you will not be harmed."
Darui's mouth spoke words that even he did not believe, all while his steps inched closer.
"The Byakugan of the Hyūga clan—you will never claim it." Hiashi's right hand twisted slightly, and from his sleeve a kunai slid into his palm. Reversing his grip, he drove it fiercely toward his own eyes.
At that instant, a shrill crack of thunder split the air.
Lightning crackled around Darui's feet as he surged forward like a bolt, the edge of his sword wreathed in black electricity piercing into Hiashi's right shoulder. The searing current paralyzed his body, halting the kunai less than half a centimeter from his eyeball.
Clang!
The kunai was knocked flying.
Darui exhaled in relief. He had managed to arrive in time. To think he had captured the Hyūga clan head alive—Kumogakure would now gain the Byakugan. The blade lodged in Hiashi's shoulder continued to discharge black lightning, locking his body in place. Darui gripped the hilt tightly with one hand, and with the other formed a fist, lowering it toward Hiashi's head.
He did not dare increase the current to render Hiashi unconscious, fearing the Byakugan might be damaged.
So he turned to the oldest, simplest method.
He would beat Hiashi into unconsciousness with his fist.
But at that moment, everything changed.
Out of the corner of his eye, Darui caught a blur of dark green rushing in from the left. The speed was such that he had no time to react with any complex technique. Yet he refused to release the sword, lest Hiashi seize the chance to destroy himself.
In that instant of hesitation, Darui saw clearly that the attacker was not wielding a weapon, but launching a flying kick.
Abandoning his punch, Darui raised his left arm to guard, bracing to block the strike and counterattack.
Bang!
Crack!
First came the impact, then the sharp sound of bone breaking. The thought of counterattack vanished from his mind.
It felt as though he had been struck head-on by an elephant. The overwhelming force sent him hurtling through the air. By fortune, most of the trees had already been leveled in the earlier battle, sparing him a direct collision. Still, he flew over twenty meters before crashing to the ground and tumbling to a stop.
"Urgh!"
A mouthful of blood sprayed out as his body came to rest.
Lifting his head, Darui followed the path of his flight back to its source. There he saw a man with a bowl-cut, thick eyebrows, and a green jumpsuit pulling the sword from Hiashi's shoulder. Those eyebrows were so thick that even at this distance they stood out clearly.