The night air was sharp and heavy with tension. Konoha's rooftops blurred under the sheer speed of Hyuga Hiashi, the head of the Hyuga Clan.
His robes flared behind him like a shadowy banner as he leapt from one structure to another, eyes glowing with the pale brilliance of the Byakugan.
"Fan out!" he barked into the communicator tucked into his collar. "Search the forest, rooftops, and tunnels. Do not stop until you find her!"
The voices of his clan members echoed back, calm but swift in confirmation. Hiashi didn't wait. He knew they would obey. He had trained them. But the thought of Hinata, his daughter, in the hands of enemy shinobi, filled him with a deep and rare dread.
Hiashi activated the full power of his Byakugan. Veins bulged beside his temples as his vision expanded in all directions—360 degrees of seamless perception. His field of vision reached far beyond the trees, through walls and ground, cutting across the forest with almost perfect clarity.
Yet he couldn't see her.
And that absence pounded in his chest like a warning drum.
Down in the trees, hidden from chakra sensors, the Cloud Village ninjas were darting rapidly through the brush. Their steps were silent, their presence minimized by practiced stealth. One of them carried Hinata over his shoulder like a sack. She squirmed weakly, tears streaking her cheeks, but her chakra was too faint and suppressed to trigger alarms.
They knew what they were doing.
But someone else was watching.
Indra Uchiha crouched high in the boughs of a large tree, his eyes locked on the escaping trio. His gaze flicked briefly to the right, where he could see the faint blur of Hiashi Hyuga approaching from the east.
"It's time," he muttered.
With a calm breath, he dropped from the branch.
The Cloud ninjas halted the moment a shadow landed on the path before them. Their eyes narrowed.
A single figure stood in the clearing, his black cloak barely fluttering, sword sheathed across his back.
"Uchiha?" one of them spat. "What, they send a brat to stop us?"
Indra didn't answer.
The man sneered. "You think you can take us alone? You better call for backup before—"
He didn't finish.
A flash of silver.
The whisper of steel slicing air.
The man's head separated cleanly from his shoulders, thudding to the ground as blood spurted skyward.
The remaining two ninjas recoiled, momentarily stunned. Then their hands flew into seals.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Fang!"
"Lightning Style: Arc Lance!"
Bolts of electricity screamed through the clearing, lashing toward Indra with jagged precision.
Indra moved.
He didn't use ninjutsu.
With a single, fluid draw, his Kusanagi sword came to life. The edge of the blade danced like it was part of him. He deflected the first wave with a spinning cut, lightning flickering off the edge of the sword harmlessly.
The next moment, he dashed forward.
His blade sliced diagonally upward, carving through one ninja's chest before the man even registered the approach. He staggered, gurgled, and fell.
The final attacker backed away quickly, panic rising.
Indra advanced, his sword spinning to deflect another wave of jutsu. The ninja shouted and formed seals frantically.
"Lightning Style: Thunder Wall!"
A shield of electricity rose around him.
Indra kicked forward, flipping through the air, and came down with a devastating overhead slash. The shield cracked, bursting apart under the force of the Kusanagi.
The ninja stumbled.
Indra pivoted, twisted mid-strike, and drove his blade into the man's side. Blood sprayed. The ninja collapsed, twitching.
Another shadow leapt from a nearby tree—a fourth Cloud ninja who had been keeping watch, previously unseen.
"You're dead, kid!" he shouted, drawing twin tanto blades crackling with lightning.
He came in fast, one blade aiming for Indra's chest, the other for his thigh. Indra spun, parried one strike, sidestepped the second. Sparks flew as Kusanagi met charged metal.
Their blades clashed in rapid succession, the clangs echoing through the trees.
Indra slid low, swept the man's legs, but the ninja jumped, avoiding the sweep and retaliating with a knee toward Indra's chin.
Indra tilted back, letting the knee skim past his face, then countered with a rising slash that cut across the ninja's chest armor.
The man grunted, stumbled back, but didn't fall. He roared and unleashed another Lightning Style jutsu, this time forming a net of electricity that expanded outward.
Indra jumped straight up to avoid it, flipping mid-air and landing on a branch. The ninja charged after him, but Indra was already gone—a blur of motion descending like a hawk.
He struck with a thrust so precise that it pierced the ninja's shoulder, then twisted behind him in a spin that severed his tendon with a backhanded slash.
The ninja screamed, collapsed, and rolled away, bleeding.
Indra exhaled slowly, looking at the trail of fallen bodies. There was no longer any resistance.
Only one remained.
The man holding Hinata.
He was frozen.
His comrades lay dead in less than three minutes.
Indra walked forward, slowly, the moonlight reflecting off his blade.
"Let her go."
The ninja didn't argue. He dropped the girl like she was poison and vanished into the trees, too terrified to look back.
Indra stepped forward and caught Hinata before she could hit the ground. She clung to him instinctively, her small hands trembling.
For a few seconds, nothing moved.
The moon cast its pale glow through the trees, illuminating Indra's face.
Hinata looked up at him, breathing heavily. Her eyes, wide and full of tears, met his.
He didn't speak.
She stared at his features—the calm expression, the dark eyes, the gentle strength in his grip.
Then she blushed.
"Th-thank you," she whispered.
He looked at her briefly, then shifted his gaze eastward.
Hiashi Hyuga was almost here.
The second act of the night was about to begin.
Hyuga Hiashi's footsteps thundered through the forest as he moved with blinding speed, chakra pulsing through his body.
His eyes glowed with the full force of the Byakugan, veins bulging beside his temples as he scanned the terrain ahead.
A single presence stood out amid the flickering chakra signatures—a boy, standing in a clearing, holding a small girl. His heart twisted.
It was Hinata.
And she was in someone else's arms.
Hiashi landed in the clearing with a deafening crack of force. His eyes locked onto the figure.
"Put her down!"
He didn't wait for a reply.
His palms glowed blue with chakra. He rushed forward with deadly precision.
"Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms!"
Indra's eyes narrowed. He adjusted Hinata in his left arm, freeing his right hand. Kusanagi hissed as it met the Hyuga clan leader's strike head-on.
Palm met blade. Sparks scattered into the dark air.
Hiashi pressed forward, launching a barrage of palm strikes that blurred with speed. Indra shifted, pivoted, deflected with quick parries, each step calculated, his grip never tightening around Hinata.
"I said, put her down!" Hiashi shouted again, attacking with another burst of palm strikes. "You think you can touch my daughter and live?!"
Indra's voice was calm. "You should look around before making assumptions."
Hiashi growled. "Don't test me, Uchiha!"
His chakra surged more violently, and he struck with a rotating double-palm aimed for Indra's chest. Indra side-stepped, letting the blow graze his shoulder. With one smooth motion, he spun and planted his heel in the earth, forcing distance.
"You're wasting time attacking the wrong person," Indra muttered.
Hinata, who had been in shock, finally found her voice. She gasped, then screamed, "Father, stop!"
She squirmed in Indra's arm, and he lowered her gently to her feet. She stumbled forward and threw herself in front of Indra.
"He saved me!" she cried.
Hiashi froze, palm still extended. His breathing was heavy, shoulders rising and falling. "What did you say?"
Hinata pointed toward the bodies lying in the clearing. "He saved me from them!"
Hiashi slowly looked at the scattered bodies of the Cloud ninja. They were sprawled across the ground, motionless.
His eyes narrowed as he activated a deeper scan with his Byakugan.
"Unconscious? No... paralyzed?"
He couldn't tell. The chakra signatures were faint, but present. He believed they were still alive—perhaps subdued.
He approached one body cautiously and delivered a sharp palm strike to the chest.
No movement.
Another strike, stronger this time, into the abdomen.
Still no movement.
Hiashi frowned, beginning to assume they had merely been knocked out. He stepped back and struck each of them again with controlled bursts of chakra—just enough to ensure they stayed down or, in his belief, to finish off whatever paralysis remained.
Indra watched in silence, a slight smirk tugging at the corner of his lips.
"You fool," he thought. "They're already dead. But now... you believe you only ensured they stay unconscious."
Hiashi turned back, finally getting a clear look at the boy who had saved his daughter. His expression faltered.
"You... you're Indra Uchiha."
Indra gave a lazy grin. "They were Cloud ninja."
Hiashi's face hardened.
Cloud ninja. The supposed envoys. If they had been caught attempting to kidnap his daughter, this was a political disaster. But he hadn't seen them die. In his mind, they were still breathing.
"I will explain this to the Hokage," he said grimly. "They crossed the line. I will speak on your behalf. You have my word."
Indra stepped forward and crouched slightly, his hand reaching out to brush Hinata's head gently. Her face turned crimson.
Hiashi tensed again, but Hinata smiled. "Thank you... Indra-nii."
Indra straightened, his voice low. "The Hokage won't protect you. Don't place your trust in him blindly. You'll see what I mean."
Without waiting for a reply, he turned and vanished into the trees.
Hiashi watched him go, his mind racing.
From a distant perch, Indra stood silently, observing the father and daughter.
"He thinks they're alive. That he finished the job. That he protected her. He doesn't realize he played right into my hand."
His gaze sharpened.
"The Hyuga Clan's shame begins now."
Indra disappeared into the night, satisfied.
The seeds were planted. All that remained was for Konoha to water them with its own corruption.
---
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