"The operational plan for Action: Kotoamatsukami drawn up by the higher-ups hinges on two key points—"
"First, intelligence decoupling!"
"Second, no matter what happens or what you witness, those assigned to this mission must carry out their duties unconditionally—even unto death!"
"All intelligence must be strictly partitioned step-by-step across command levels. Therefore, I cannot disclose the full scope of the plan to you."
Mitokado Homura unrolled a map, calmly briefing everyone present on the operational guidelines.
At that moment—
"Intelligence decoupling, huh..." As the second highest-ranking figure present, Fugaku Uchiha's face betrayed a hint of deep contemplation. He asked, "What does the village need us to do?"
Mitokado Homura replied flatly, "Retreat."
"Retreat again?" Standing nearby, Chōza Akimichi looked utterly baffled as he stared in surprise at the elder. "But if we fall back any further, the Tenseigan will push straight into the Hyūga compound. That completely contradicts our plan to prevent it from reaching the clan grounds..."
Homura nodded. "That is precisely the core of this operation—"
"The village currently lacks intelligence regarding the Tenseigan's movement speed and method of travel."
"However, our current assessment is that the Tenseigan will most likely seek to plunder more Byakugan. Based on prior intelligence, the effective radius of its ability to gouge out the Byakugan of Hyūga clan members is 500 meters."
Unrushed and composed, Homura surveyed the gathered crowd. He traced his finger across the map, drawing two distinct circles, then raised his head and declared in a cold, unyielding voice:
"Therefore, to save the majority, we must sacrifice a few."
"Sacrifice a few?"
Hearing this, the gathered ninja gasped in shock, their expressions shifting dramatically.
Paying no mind to their reactions, Homura pointed to two separate corners of the map and continued his explanation:
"Upon receiving the intelligence relayed by Minato, the village immediately dispatched personnel to evacuate the civilians within the Hyūga clan."
"Currently, over 1,500 non-combatant Hyūga civilians and a portion of Academy students have been gathered on the southeastern side of the Hyūga compound. The plan is to evacuate them toward the Forest of Death."
"As for the Hyūga clan members remaining on the western side, aside from the survivors of the assembly hall, the rest are Hyūga ninja who converged here under village orders."
"There are 224 ninja in total: 12 Jonin, 62 Chunin, and the rest are Genin."
At this point, Homura turned his eyes to Natsu Hyūga—who stood as the representative of the Branch House members—and another Branch House Jonin who had been assigned to the scene on short notice. Homura pronounced their sentence in a calm yet brutal tone:
"Your mission is to serve as the bait to lure the Tenseigan!"
Natsu's brows furrowed tightly. Glaring coldly at Homura, she asked in a deep voice, "Wait, how can you be so sure we will serve as the bait, and that the Tenseigan won't prioritize plundering the other group of Hyūga civilians first?"
Homura did not answer.
Silence was the answer itself—
Even Konoha's high command could not predict its behavior, so they were gambling.
They had merely skewed the stakes slightly, placing this group of Hyūga ninja—who possessed greater overall strength, larger chakra reserves, and closer proximity to the Tenseigan—right in its path.
If the gamble failed, the other group would instead become the... bait that protected the Hyūga ninja assembled here.
Homura remained silent for two seconds. Ignoring Natsu's question, he pressed on:
"Next, the area south of Training Ground 23, Tea Street, and the entire western half of the Hyūga clan compound will be designated as the battlefield."
"Fugaku Uchiha, you will take command of the field."
"The higher-ups require everyone present to cover these 224 Hyūga ninja as they fall back toward Konoha's southwestern sector. You are to draw the Tenseigan's focus, buying time for the larger and weaker group of Hyūga civilians to evacuate on the other side."
"You do not need to engage the Tenseigan in combat. Your only goal is to delay it for as long as possible."
"In other words..."
Before Homura could finish his sentence, a towering surge of purple chakra erupted straight into the sky behind him, bursting from the center of Training Ground 23!
Homura's eyelids didn't even twitch. Staring at the crowd with cold detachment, he delivered his final command:
"Run as fast as you can!"
In the very next instant—
BANG!
A cloud of smoke exploded, and Homura's Shadow Clone vanished on the spot.
Immediately following that—
RUMBLE! RUMBLE! RUMBLE!
The earth began to tremble violently. From the center of Training Ground 23 behind them came a harsh, ear-splitting screech, resembling a gale-force tempest tearing open the bedrock.
Natsu Hyūga snapped her head back, her eyes widening at the sight before her.
A massive river of near-solid wind blades had formed, compressed and driven forward by an oceanic wave of purple chakra. From the center of Training Ground 23 all the way to its perimeter, it carved out a straight trench over 30 meters wide and thousands of meters long, reaching as far as the eye could see.
Then—
A purple point of light rapidly expanded from the far end of the path.
It was the Giant Tenseigan. Moving in a bizarre, unnatural fashion, the purple chakra beneath it molded into a base that functioned like tank treads.
Countless tendrils slammed into the earth from various angles, driving the massive purple Tenseigan forward at a speed akin to low-altitude flight, propelling it like a cannonball straight toward the group!
"So fast!"
"That speed... it's even faster than our tree-leaping maneuvers!"
"Wait... what is that?!"
Chōza Akimichi's eyes went wide as he stared in utter disbelief at the Giant Tenseigan rushing out from that direction. Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of tiny black particles floating in the airspace high above it.
Natsu Hyūga immediately activated her Tenseigan mantle to observe the anomaly, her expression turning gravely solemn. "It's debris kicked up by the storm. But it's not being blown away to the sides... it's being caught in a gravitational field! It's following the Tenseigan, and the volume of debris is growing!"
"Gravitational field?" Chōza asked, still bewildered.
At that moment, Fugaku Uchiha's decisive voice boomed across the entire battlefield—
"Move!"
"All Chunin and Jonin, grab any Hyūga clan members near you who are unable to keep up and fall back with me!"
With a single stride, Fugaku leaped straight into the midst of the assembled Hyūga ninja.
Snatching up a young, bewildered Hyūga Branch House Genin by the collar, he took the lead and dashed at top speed toward Konoha's southwestern boundary.
Possessing extensive experience as a regional commander during the Third Shinobi World War, Fugaku immediately grasped the situation—
The leadership's gamble had paid off.
The Giant Tenseigan had temporarily abandoned the larger group of Hyūga civilians, choosing instead to pursue this group of Hyūga ninja whose concentration of chakra was significantly higher.
The mechanics were unknown, and intelligence was lacking.
However, the sole undeniable fact was—
The group left on the field, positioned closest to the Giant Tenseigan, was now in extreme peril!
Everyone present was an elite ninja from their respective clans who had endured the crucible of the Third Shinobi World War. As the backbones of Konoha—including current clan heads and future leaders—their real-time tactical judgment was top-tier. They grasped their dire circumstances almost instantly.
Following Fugaku's decisive lead, the ninja acted without hesitation, each grabbing a Hyūga clan member or falling into formation directly behind Fugaku as they fled.
No one retreated toward safer directions, nor did anyone scatter in panic.
Under the watchful eyes of the leadership and bound by a strict, absolute command, everyone had no choice but to bite the bullet and execute the mission, no matter how reluctant they felt.
After all, this was not a distant battlefield far removed from the village's hierarchy—it was the very heart of Konoha.
In an instant—
The situation on the field flared to a critical point.
Viewed from a god's-eye perspective above Konoha, three spheres of varying sizes—one small, one medium, and one massive—were rapidly expanding outward from the northwestern and southeastern corners of the Hyūga compound in the central district.
It was as if a deadly game of cat-and-mouse had broken out right in the middle of Konoha!
The Battle of the Giant Tenseigan had officially begun!
Meanwhile—
"Dividing the Hyūga clan into two groups, sacrificing one to ensure the survival of the other?"
From the perspective of the Giant Tenseigan, watching the Leaf's deployment prompted a cold sneer within its core. Childish. Switch to Tenseigan God's-Eye View and analyze Konoha's overall operational logic!
—Perspective activated. Observation radius: 60 kilometers.
While pursuing the nearest group of Hyūga ninja like a cat playing with mice, the Tenseigan utilized its wide-area vision to monitor every single movement occurring throughout the entirety of Konoha.
—Analysis initiated. Cross-referencing tracking data: Movement path of priority target Minato Namikaze, deployment of Konoha military forces, evacuation vectors of Byakugan wielders, dynamics of Konoha senior leadership...
—Analysis complete. Full scope of Konoha's battle plan:
1. Disperse Byakugan wielders to draw focus, buying time to concentrate military forces in the Forest of Death to set up sealing jutsu and countermeasure traps.
2. Contingency plan for spatio-temporal tactical transfer—presumed to be executed by Minato Namikaze—to warp me directly into the Forest of Death trap, followed by warping Konoha's high-tier combat force to launch a joint strike.
3. Tactical integration targeted specifically at breaking the Tenseigan's chakra defense system...
4. Emergency summons of Shisui Uchiha by Konoha high command. Presumed intent to deploy Uchiha Genjutsu for a decisive mental strike. Logic parameters confirm current eye-entity's vulnerability to mental attacks.
Staring at the fully decrypted operational plan, the Tenseigan sneered internally and commanded directly:
Calculate the optimal path to dismantle their countermeasure!
—No dismantling required. Merely a minor annoyance!
—Optimal action logic: Destroy all of Konoha's illusions in one decisive blow. Plunder all Byakugan at maximum speed to prepare for combat against Yu Hyūga.
The Tenseigan abruptly came to a halt.
It had shredded through the bedrock of Training Ground 23, taking less than five minutes to catch up to Fugaku Uchiha and Natsu Hyūga's retreating group on the western side of the Hyūga compound.
From this location, it was less than 200 meters from Yu Hyūga's dilapidated old apartment.
It could already clearly see the varied expressions on the ninjas' faces.
Chōza Akimichi's pale, horrified face; Shibi Aburame's shock concealed behind dark sunglasses; Baku Inuzuka's grim resignation mixed with helplessness; and the sheer terror gripping the rest of the Konoha ninja and Hyūga Branch House members...
And then, there was Natsu Hyūga.
She stood grit-toothed in front of the apartment building, her body trembling violently. Yet she maintained a protective stance in front of the 223 Branch House ninja behind her, raising a single hand with fingers outstretched toward herself in a desperate attempt at a "deterrent."
However, she no longer possessed the authority to draw upon the power of the celestial Giant Tenseigan on the Moon. Ever since she had usurped its authority for the first time, the Ōtsutsuki clan on the Moon—located on the other end of the ninja world—had completely revoked her access.
What the Tenseigan found even more amusing, however—
Was that its cognitive model for analyzing human emotion could not calculate whether she was trying to protect the clan members behind her, or the building standing behind them.
And most laughable of all—
Fugaku Uchiha.
While no overt fear showed on his face, even when pushed to such a dire extremity, Fugaku was still hesitating and concealing his power. Contemplation and conflict warred within his bloodshot, crimson eyes.
Was he genuinely still hesitating over whether to reveal his Mangekyō Sharingan in front of everyone?
The mental energy radiating from these two brought the Tenseigan immense amusement. It was so intriguing that it could barely resist forcing them into an even harsher dilemma, if only to enrich its behavioral model on human emotion.
Yet, the moment that thought surfaced—
—Halt this line of thought immediately!
The internal processing model within the Tenseigan issued a harsh, blaring warning!
Simultaneously, a sharp, ominous premonition suddenly surged within the Tenseigan's consciousness.
A flicker of alarm passed through its core. Detecting the source of this danger, its perception instantly shifted away, re-directing its village-wide vision toward a location it had deliberately ignored until now—
The Hokage Rock.
At this moment, the top of the Hokage Rock was completely bare. That figure—the one that made the Tenseigan's mouth water with intense craving—had somehow... vanished without a trace.
!
The Tenseigan's pupil contracted violently as a chilling realization struck:
That feeling of danger just now... did it come from him? Has he begun his move?
Moreover, how did he manage to interfere with my cognitive processing model?
Is he trying to protect... this girl?
Where is he?!
At this thought, a cold shivered through the Tenseigan's core. It issued an immediate command:
Scan all of Konoha! Locate that guy now!
The Giant Tenseigan poured vast processing power and massive amounts of chakra into frantically scanning every single corner of Konoha.
—Scan complete. Target not found.
How is that possible?!
Yu Hyūga had vanished entirely from the Tenseigan's observational grid!
There were only two possibilities for this:
First, Yu Hyūga had crossed 120 kilometers in under five minutes, completely leaving the Tenseigan's observation range.
Second... his methods were so advanced that the Tenseigan's sensors simply couldn't detect him!
—Target has displayed anomalous concealment capabilities. It is speculated that he activated Privilege 1 of the Celestial Giant Tenseigan: Clairvoyance, altering his 'frequency' to mask his signature. Current danger index escalated to: 2. Execute preset protocols immediately—crush Konoha as quickly as possible and harvest the power to evolve!
The Tenseigan's God's-Eye View was not literally seeing things 120 kilometers away in 360 degrees with the naked eye—that was biologically impossible.
Setting aside the focused overhead view used in combat, its "Clairvoyance" operated similarly to radar emitting electromagnetic waves and receiving echoes. During observation, it vibrated chakra through its structure to emit a unique "wave frequency" similar to electromagnetic waves, constructing an image from the returning "echoes."
This was the same principle behind the ripple patterns that flared around a Byakugan when activated.
Yet Yu Hyūga had moved like a ghost, passing straight through the "waves" emitted by the Tenseigan without generating a single echo. He was moving freely right under its nose, yet the Tenseigan was entirely unable to track his position.
Staring at the scan result, the Tenseigan's pupil shrank to a needlepoint, and its internal calculation model began analyzing the outcome frantically:
What will he do next?
Without using the higher privileges of the Giant Tenseigan, his base combat capability of 9 makes him no match for me. Yet he has now demonstrated this bizarre capability...
The true authority of the Giant Tenseigan is held by the Ōtsutsuki on the Moon. Just like Natsu Hyūga earlier, once he uses a high-level privilege, it will be locked out immediately. At his current Tenseigan stage, he can only freely access Privilege 1. This means he only has a single chance to strike at me!
So, which privilege will he unleash next?
Golden Wheel Reincarnation Explosion? Celestial Gravity Manipulation? Spatial Control? Or...
The Final Privilege?
This feeling of acting blind filled the Tenseigan with profound discomfort.
However, its obsession with evolution quickly overwhelmed its unease.
It instantly regained its composure and executed the optimal course of action calculated by its processing model—
The Giant Tenseigan abandoned its intended strike on Natsu Hyūga, shifting its gaze toward the massive crowd of Hyūga clan members standing behind her.
To the outside world, this shift manifested in an instant—
The pupil of the Giant Tenseigan hovering before the crowd suddenly constricted!
A terrifying surge of chakra erupted from its surface!
A blindingly fast, purple pulse of light flashed through the air!
Behind Natsu, the color drained from the faces of the assembled Hyūga ninja. In the next instant, every single Hyūga clan member possessing a Byakugan felt an agonizing, tearing pain rip through their eyes. Their vision blurred into darkness as lines of fresh blood poured down their faces.
On the spot, dozens of ninja fell completely blind, their Byakugan forcefully ripped from their sockets and pulled toward the Giant Tenseigan!
Natsu's expression changed drastically. Snapping her head back, she watched in horror as her kinsmen collapsed like stalks of wheat under a harvester's blade.
Instinctively, she extended a glowing blue Chakra Scalpel from her palm, intending to rush forward and save them.
However, Natsu possessed no knowledge of how to break the Caged Bird seal. She only retained the surgical techniques inherited from Yu Hyūga. With their Byakugan already gouged out and no spare eyes on scene, she had no way to perform the highly volatile re-implantation surgery.
Yet, precisely because the Giant Tenseigan felt threatened, it had altered its operational logic several times in a short span.
Another two minutes had elapsed in the process.
The time reached exactly 10:19 AM!
Suddenly, a flash of yellow light burst beside the still-hesitant Fugaku Uchiha.
Minato Namikaze materialized on the field, a hand resting on Fugaku's shoulder.
The moment he landed and witnessed the gruesome scene, his bright blue pupils narrowed.
In the next breath, Minato slammed his foot into the ground and sprinted forward, charging straight at the intimidating Giant Tenseigan with a Flying Raijin Kunai in hand!
Seeing this, the Giant Tenseigan's gaze flickered, and the wildly pulsing chakra on its surface abruptly stilled.
It fixed a triumphant, scheming glare upon Minato as he flew toward it like a moth to a flame.
Hmph, finally came!
In the very next instant—
"Flying Raijin: Guiding Thunder!"
"Tenseigan: Intimidation!"
Both jutsu were unleashed simultaneously!
Everyone on the field felt a terrifying, soul-crushing wave sweep over them.
The ten-meter-radius Tenseigan vanished inch by inch from the air, as though swallowed whole by an invisible, mid-air pocket!
The Giant Tenseigan had been warped away by Minato Namikaze.
Immediately after, Minato scanned the field, taking in the dozens of Hyūga ninja kneeling on the ground in agony, alongside the missing pairs of eyes that had been dragged away.
He did not stop to transport these wounded ninja to the hospital.
Instead, he turned around, patted Fugaku's shoulder, nodded toward him and the gathered Leaf elites, and spoke gravely:
"Thank you for your hard work."
FLASH!
In the next instant, Minato's figure flickered and vanished from the spot once more.
At the exact same time—
Toward the southeastern side of Konoha, in the direction of the Forest of Death, a colossal pillar of wind shot straight into the sky before crashing down, instantly crushing everything in its vicinity into dust as it swept outward!
—BOOM!!!
As the tempest roared and the earth trembled, the true battle between Konoha and the Giant Tenseigan formally erupted!
————
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