BANG!!
The door slammed shut with a deafening crash, causing Koharu Utatane to flinch.
Seeing this, Homura Mitokado sighed quietly. Danzo... was still firmly in Hiruzen's grip.
Hopefully, this lesson would be enough to make Danzo behave, at least for now.
"By the way, Hiruzen."
Homura suddenly furrowed his brows, lowering his voice as he asked, "The village is already stretched thin. Is it really okay to let Jiraiya stay out there unchecked?"
At the mention of Jiraiya, who had left the village under the pretense of pursuing Orochimaru, Hiruzen sighed inwardly and responded with a calm voice.
"He'll return when the time is right."
Homura and Koharu exchanged a glance. Seeing that Hiruzen had no intention of discussing it further, they could only shake their heads and take their leave.
Click.
As the door clicked shut, Hiruzen remained seated in silence. The only sound left in the room was his own breathing.
After a long pause, he stood stiffly and walked to the window. Behind the curling pipe smoke, his clouded eyes were unreadable.
Konoha always looked cleanest after the rain. Droplets hung from the rooftops, and scattered watermarks shimmered like little mirrors, on leaves, lamp posts, and tiled walls, all reflecting the prosperity of the village.
Staring out at the view, Hiruzen's mind wandered.
He thought of the hard-won peace Konoha now enjoyed, of the mounting internal and external troubles hidden beneath that peace. He thought of Orochimaru and Jiraiya, now far away. He thought of Tsunade, who numbed herself at gambling dens. He thought of the orphan left behind by Minato and Kushina. And he thought of that Hyuga child, Sho, whose eyes had once shone with admiration when he looked at him…
Hssss…
Hiruzen drew in a breath that tasted of bitterness and smoke. Then slowly exhaled, his pipe glowing faintly as the ember devoured his emotions and pressed them deep into his chest.
"It's fine," he murmured hoarsely, more to himself than anyone else. "No matter what must be sacrificed… I'll protect everything we've built."
Meanwhile, in Training Ground 44, The Forest of Death.
Sunlight filtered through the canopy, scattering golden flecks across the shoulders of two figures.
"Senior, the power begins from the ground, driven by the spine… balance hard and soft…"
"Ah-dah!!"
The training stumps in front of Hyuga Sho and Might Guy had both been shattered. But Sho's stump had clearly burst outward from within, while Guy's looked like it had been brutally pummeled by brute force.
Watching Guy's chaotic, brick-smashing punches, Sho, who had been teaching him all morning, could no longer maintain his calm smile.
"Phew." Guy, who could run laps around Konoha all day without tiring, was now drenched in sweat and panting. He scratched his head sheepishly. "Sho, your modified version of the Gentle Fist is really hard to learn."
"Well, you've trained in Strong Fist for over a decade. Trying to retrain your body's instincts takes some doing," Sho replied with a shake of his head. "Let's call it here for today."
In the second round of the Chūnin Exams, during Neji vs. Hinata, Guy and Lee had once explained the types of taijutsu.
Techniques that caused visible injuries like broken bones were "Strong Fist." Attacks that damaged internal organs and chakra pathways, like the Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist, were "Soft Fist." And hybrid techniques like Tsunade's or the Fourth Raikage's were "Nin-Taijutsu," combining chakra control and physical strikes.
Sho was now attempting to merge the strengths of Strong and Gentle Fist styles, laying the foundation for his own taijutsu system, one that would later be enhanced by the Eight Gates.
"Alright then, "
Before Guy could finish, Sho suddenly tensed. The hair on his nape stood on end. A piercing chill crept up his spine.
It was sudden. Overwhelming.
His muscles instantly tightened. The veins around his Byakugan bulged.
But there was nothing.
No visible threat. No one.
"No… something's wrong." Sho's expression shifted. "It's the blind spot!"
The Byakugan granted a 360° field of vision, but for branch family members, the cursed seal created a 1° blind spot behind the spine.
At close range, that 1° meant nothing. But at great distances?
It became a massive, wedge-shaped vulnerability.
Tsskk!
Sure enough, just as Sho registered the threat, a nearly inaudible whistling cut through the air.
An assassination attempt.
Silent. Lethal. Designed to kill.
At this distance, there was no time to react.
He couldn't turn.
He couldn't dodge.
And yet, his mind stilled.
If he couldn't see…
Then he wouldn't look.
Sho closed his eyes.
And let go.
In that moment, a strange sensation rippled outward from within. It felt like he stepped into another world, one of perfect stillness.
No wind.
No bugs.
No breath.
No heartbeat.
Time had stopped, for him.
And then, he saw.
He saw the kunai behind him, its blade infused with sharp wind chakra, spinning with deadly precision.
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade.
A chakra flow technique combining shape and nature transformation, turning a kunai into a slicing projectile.
The assassin had perfected it to the point even Guy didn't detect it in time.
But through Sho's awakened intuition, the kunai seemed to slow, dragged by some invisible thread, as if it were floating through molasses.
Sho didn't turn.
He simply raised his hand.
His fingers spread like a crane's wings.
Callused knuckles gleamed under the light.
And he caught it.
The wind-forged blade tore his palm, but it might as well have struck a wall of steel, it stopped, frozen in place.
Sho opened his eyes.
In their mirrored reflection, Might Guy's stunned face hovered beside the fragmented shapes of the trees.
Whoever it was…
To strike and not expect a response? That would be rude.
"Then allow me… to return it."
He spun.
The kunai slipped from his hand like a falling leaf.
His coat flared, revealing lean muscle across his waist and taut spine, the draw of a bowstring as he poured everything into one throw.
The kunai launched.
Wringgg!
It screeched across the air with a piercing whistle, scattering dry leaves into confetti and kicking up swirling dust.
A heartbeat later,
THWACK!
A distant splash of steel slicing into flesh echoed from deep within the trees.