After a while, the dust began to settle.
"What kind of ninjutsu was that?"
"What happened to the forest? There's almost nothing left..." a stunned Hyuga ninja muttered.
After the blinding white light engulfed the sky, all that could be heard was a deafening explosion. It felt as if anything caught in the path of the attack would be annihilated completely.
The once-proud Hyuga training forest was now all but destroyed—blasted away by a single attack!
In its place was a massive trench—over ten meters wide and stretching tens of meters long—like a battlefield where some terrible giant had raged.
"Didn't Naraku say that technique was called 'Byakugan: Kamikaze Strike'?" someone whispered hesitantly.
"I heard it too. He added 'Byakugan' at the beginning!"
"But... can our Byakugan really unleash an attack like that?"
"That attack looked like something related to the Eight Trigrams..."
"No way!"
Some tried to deny it outright.
They all knew the power of the Eight Trigrams. Yes, using chakra through the palms was a known extension of the Byakugan. But no Air Palm ever had power like that.
The forest's obliteration left no doubt—this was something else entirely.
"Naraku, was that really a Byakugan-based attack?" Hiashi asked, visibly shaken.
He suspected Naraku might have used some other form of ninjutsu and falsely attributed it to the Byakugan.
"It definitely required the Byakugan," Naraku replied calmly.
In fact, the technique was similar to the Eight Trigrams. Specifically, it was a refined variant of the Vacuum Fist used by Otsutsuki Kaguya herself—known as the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack.
Just like Air Palm, it involved channeling chakra through the palms. But unlike the traditional technique, this required mastering chakra control to the point of manifesting solid chakra fists—a feat only possible with immense power.
In the original world, Otsutsuki Kaguya used the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack to shatter even Sasuke's Susanoo!
"I told you all—don't focus solely on Gentle Fist. What matters most is the power of your chakra."
The difference between chakra strength and taijutsu technique was like the difference between night and day.
Ultimately, the stronger one's chakra, the more powerful their jutsu and genjutsu will become.
"But I'm not done yet," Naraku said, shifting his gaze to the Great Elder, whose face had turned deathly pale.
The branch ninjas, long oppressed by the Bird in the Cage seal, were wavering in their loyalty. And now, after witnessing Naraku's devastating attack, they were paralyzed by fear.
"What is the punishment for inviting outsiders to conspire against the clan's patriarch?" Naraku asked casually.
"The ringleader must be executed," Hiashi responded without hesitation.
His face was cold and resolute as he stared at the Great Elder. Not a trace of sympathy could be found.
"Those from the clan who assisted in the plot must be sealed with the Bird in the Cage—and stripped of all status within the clan."
Upon hearing this, the second and third elders turned pale with horror. They were once noble figures within the clan. Now they faced either subjugation—or death.
They had no strength left to resist—not after seeing what Naraku had just done.
"Do you want another option?" Naraku said with a casual, almost mocking tone.
To the second and third elders, his words were a lifeline.
As long as they weren't branded with the cursed seal, they would accept almost anything.
But what came next chilled them to their very cores.
"If you don't want the Bird in the Cage imprinted on you... you can choose death alongside the Great Elder."
This situation had been orchestrated by the Great Elder. He didn't even deserve the option of subjugation.
He must die.
The elders turned pale as death. They didn't want to be branded. But they didn't want to die either.
"Fortunately, you still have a choice," Naraku said, walking up to the Great Elder.
"Hyuga Zongzan, are you ready to die?"
Zongzan's heart stopped. Was he really going to be executed?
He turned desperately toward Hiashi, hoping for mercy.
But the Hiashi who once showed kindness now looked at him with nothing but cold indifference.
"No—it wasn't me! I didn't want to overthrow the patriarch!" the Great Elder suddenly screamed, pointing at the Third Hokage beside him.
"It was him! Hokage-sama gave me the order!"
"Hokage promised me he'd support my son as the next patriarch! He told me to torment Naraku with the Bird in the Cage, and then kill him. He said he wanted to watch it happen!"
The Third Hokage's eyes widened in shock and fury.
"You snake! You dare turn on me now?!"
With a snarl, he leapt forward to silence the Great Elder.
But his attack was blocked—by Fugaku.
"Hokage-sama, it's disgraceful to interfere in the internal affairs of another clan like this," Fugaku said coldly, without a trace of respect.
He understood now: the Hokage and the Great Elder had conspired together to replace the clan leader.
This time it was the Hyuga. Next time, would it be the Uchiha?
"Fugaku!" Hiruzen growled, his face livid with rage. He turned to the nearby Anbu. "Kill him!"
The Anbu were ready to strike—until Shisui and Itachi blocked their path.
"At least let him finish talking," Shisui said calmly.
He had never imagined that the kind old man behind the title of Hokage could be so sinister.
"You traitors! Shisui, Itachi—you defy my orders?!" Hiruzen roared.
These two, whom he believed carried the Will of Fire, now stood against him.
"What more proof do you need?" Naraku said. "He literally said he wanted to watch me die by the Bird in the Cage."
"He also said that once my son becomes clan head, he'd provide enough men to fill the missing slots in the Anbu and Konoha military police."
The Great Elder no longer had anything to lose—he laid bare every secret of the deal he made with the Third Hokage.
Hearing this, Hiruzen tried to leap again—but was blocked once more by Fugaku.