On the western side of the Hyūga compound.
It was not until Minato Namikaze teleported away with the Giant Tenseigan and a massive commotion erupted in the direction of the Forest of Death that the tightly wound nerves of everyone present finally loosened a bit.
They did not know what had transpired.
After the operational plan commenced, the Giant Tenseigan—which had caught up to them in a mere five minutes—had frozen before them for two full minutes.
That terrifying entity, capable of instantly annihilating every single person present, seemed as though it had been hard-controlled by something, remaining completely motionless.
It held back, taking no substantive action until the very moment Minato Namikaze arrived.
No one knew what caused that two-minute pause in between, nor did those who had narrowly escaped death think about this question immediately.
They quickly realized that through this operation, Konoha had secured a massive victory—
They had gathered intelligence on the movement method and speed of the Giant Tenseigan, and they had successfully lured it into the designated trap.
However...
"That direction... seems to be the Forest of Death, doesn't it?"
Inoichi Yamanaka suddenly snapped to his senses, looking toward the Forest of Death and gasping in shock, "Wait, did the village set the battlefield against the Giant Tenseigan in the Forest of Death?!"
The Forest of Death was precisely where the Konoha high-ranking officials had evacuated the vast majority of the Hyūga clan members.
None of the Konoha elites present were fools; they instantly understood why the higher-ups had done this.
This was an open scheme, and also a secondary contingency!
Even if they had failed to delay the Giant Tenseigan's advance on their end, or if Minato Namikaze's Space-Time Teleportation tactic had encountered an anomaly and failed, the Giant Tenseigan—in its quest for more Byakugan—would have actively headed toward the Forest of Death where the rest of the Hyūga clan was gathered after dealing with the shinobi here.
In a scenario where all primary plans collapsed, as long as the first gamble paid off, the Tenseigan would at least arrive within the interception point where they were currently located. Spanning between this place and the Forest of Death was a vast residential district with complex architectural structures, which could serve as a buffer zone.
Because of the Giant Tenseigan's colossal size, traveling to the Forest of Death meant it would have to smash through and destroy the residential area.
As long as the Tenseigan could not fly, its arrival at the Forest of Death would inevitably be delayed, buying sufficient time for Konoha's forces to set up the battlefield there.
Now, the first gamble had succeeded, and the delaying action of the second step had been carried out smoothly.
Their squad had escaped death, completing the mission at the cost of only a few dozen pairs of Byakugan.
Meanwhile, the third step—the Space-Time Teleportation maneuver executed by Minato Namikaze—was also a complete success.
Whether out of arrogance, carelessness, or whatever other reason, the Giant Tenseigan had now fallen entirely into the trap Konoha had set for it.
The only remaining question was—
On the battlefield of the Forest of Death, had Konoha prepared sufficient means to deal with the Giant Tenseigan?!
Apart from that...
"The Forest of Death?"
On the field, a Hyūga Jonin whose eyes were bleeding from having his Byakugan stolen suddenly shuddered violently. He scrambled up from the ground, a look of near-total collapse on his face.
"My wife, my child, my entire family—they're all over there!"
"No, I can't... I have to stop it!"
"I must stop it!!"
With empty, hollow sockets, blood and tears mingling indistinguishably on his face, the Hyūga Jonin gritted his teeth. He pulled a kunai from his holster, gripped it tightly, and began stumbling frantically in the direction of the Forest of Death.
Hearing his cries, most of the Hyūga clan members present trembled inside. Except for a dozen Genin who were paralyzed with fear, almost all of them felt an urge to charge toward the Forest of Death.
In the crowd, Inoichi Yamanaka watched this scene, his face turning slightly pale.
The higher-ups had not assigned further tasks to this group, which meant they were free to decide their own actions now.
So, looking at it from another angle—
Was this fulfilling the Giant Tenseigan's precise intention?
Or rather, had the Giant Tenseigan delayed its attack earlier because... it was waiting for Minato Namikaze to send it straight to the Forest of Death?
Right at that moment, as the crowd finally recovered from the panic of being hunted by the Giant Tenseigan, the group of Branch House Hyūga shinobi immediately prepared to rush toward the Forest of Death.
Hyūga Natsu stepped in front and blocked their path.
The leading Hyūga Jonin with bleeding eyes recognized Natsu. Gritting his teeth, he said, "Natsu, I know you are close to Hyūga Yu... Lord Tennyo, but my family is over there! Out of the way! We can't just stand here and do nothing!"
Standing tall before them, Hyūga Natsu said coldly, "Going over there now is just throwing your lives away."
The Branch House shinobi wept and pleaded:
"I know, but even if I die, I want to die with my family!"
"At the venue, I already lost almost all my relatives! I only have one daughter left!"
"Hyūga Natsu!"
"Get out of the way!"
Hyūga Natsu said nothing, nor did she step aside.
If she allowed this group of Branch House shinobi with their massive chakra reserves to run over and feed themselves to the enemy, the Giant Tenseigan would become even harder to deal with. It would create even greater trouble for Hyūga Yu to handle, potentially causing the situation to spiral completely out of control.
She did not know what Hyūga Yu was doing right now, but she knew clearly what she had to do here—even if it was just a tiny, insignificant contribution.
Standing rooted to the spot like a spear, Natsu swept her ice-cold gaze over the crowd before speaking in a frigid voice:
"If you want to pass, gouge out your own Byakugan first!"
Hearing this, everyone exchanged bewildered glances.
"That will trigger the Caged Bird Curse Mark!" the lead Hyūga Jonin raged. "Hyūga Natsu, do you want us dead?!"
Natsu did not care in the slightest. She merely revealed her pale-blue, icy eyes—distinctly different from ordinary Byakugan—and said coldly, "I don't care. That is the only way you are passing!"
"Otherwise, I'll gouge them out myself!"
"You!"
The Branch House Hyūga shinobi glared furiously at Hyūga Natsu, yet every single one of them fell silent.
Although Natsu, who had obtained the power of the Tenseigan, was no match for the Giant Tenseigan, her strength was more than enough to suppress or even kill Hyūga Hizashi, who had gained the power of the purple Byakugan.
Even if all the Branch House shinobi present joined forces, they would be no match for her.
Just then, amid the silence where a pin drop could be heard, a figure with bleeding, empty eyes walked out from the crowd. Stopping before Hyūga Natsu, he hesitated for a brief moment before gritting his teeth:
"Natsu, my eyes have already been taken. Can I... go over now?"
"Just me."
Hearing that familiar voice, Hyūga Natsu snapped her head up.
The person standing before her... was none other than Hyūga Tetsu.
Her classmate who had once pursued her and followed in Hyūga Yu's footsteps.
Natsu's expression darkened. "You... Didn't I have Yamato arrange for you to join the perimeter patrol?"
Hyūga Tetsu shook his head, offering a bitter smile. "I heard the mobilization order and came on my own initiative."
"I'm just a Chunin, and I don't know what I can actually accomplish. But... haha, I just felt I had to do something. Sorry for making trouble for you."
As a member of the Branch House, Hyūga Tetsu had also answered Konoha's summons to participate in this mission. Unfortunately, his Byakugan had also been stolen by the Giant Tenseigan.
Now, he raised his head, staring at Natsu with hollow eyes leaking a mixture of blood and tears. His entire body trembled violently with fear, and he swallowed hard before continuing:
"My little sister is over there."
"I'm sorry, Natsu, for failing the care you and Hyūga Yu showed me. But... just like how he gave up his Main House appointment back then and went to the front lines to fight for your sake..."
"I also have someone I absolute cannot abandon, even if it costs me my life!"
Hyūga Natsu fell silent for several seconds. The icy coldness in her eyes shivered slightly, as though solid ice were cracking open.
Now that Hyūga Yu had achieved fame and success, Hyūga Tetsu had already given up on pursuing her. Yet, just as she had once foreseen, the goal this boy truly pursued had never been her.
In that moment, Natsu felt a wave of dazed trance wash over her. That figure in her mind, which had always seemed somewhat blurrily defined, finally appeared clearly before her eyes.
And then, under her playful teasing back then, he had not responded with his usual fake smile. Instead, with the most serious expression of his life, he had faced her and said:
"I will protect you."
By any means necessary, at any cost, fearless of death—even if it meant facing a terrifying opponent of overwhelming strength!
Natsu stood frozen in place. It was not until her blurry vision cleared that she realized the person standing in front of her was not him—and yet, it was him.
Finally, she let out a soft laugh. Her cheeks flushed faintly as if mocking herself, and she squeezed two words out from between her teeth:
"You may."
With that, the bleeding, stumbling Hyūga Tetsu passed right by Hyūga Natsu.
The thirty-odd Branch House Hyūga shinobi who had likewise lost their Byakugan raised their heads.
They had lost their sight and could not see the way forward, but relying on their instincts as shinobi, they discerned the direction. Enduring the agony, supporting one another, they stepped past Natsu in total, dead silence.
In that instant, for reasons unknown, Hyūga Natsu felt bewildered and wracked with heart-wrenching pain. She could not comprehend why she had permitted such a meaningless action to occur, yet she felt a strange sense of familiarity with it—as though she had done something identical in the past.
At last, a thick sheet of ice deep within her heart shattered completely, and a long-lost memory flooded her mind.
She saw herself—a young girl covered in bloodstains. With a playful tone and faintly flushed cheeks, her eyes narrowed into sweet crescents, she stared at a boy and smiled sweetly, uttering a sentence that pierced her heart with agonizing pain:
"Shishi-kun, welcome back to hell!"
It was the difference between touching a glass barrier with one's fingertips and caressing a real person's cheek with one's own hands.
Before this, Hyūga Natsu merely knew that a person named Hyūga Yu existed, but she never truly understood why she valued him so deeply.
Her willingness to help him was influenced by both subjective and objective factors.
Because that person was not just Hyūga Yu now—he was Konoha's Tennyo, the pioneer of the Tenseigan path, the existence who might fulfill the clan's ultimate wish as foretold by the will of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
Based on the collective consciousness, Natsu had determined it was necessary to help him. But as for why it had to be him, why it must be him—even after learning about their past, she had only felt an itching surface disconnect.
But now, this lingering, sour, heart-wrenching, agonizing yet reluctant sensation—this genuine touch of tracing her lover's face with her own fingertips—left Natsu feeling dazed, lost, and infinitely cautious.
"Shishi... kun?"
Natsu could not help but laugh. She laughed until it felt like grit had gotten into her eyes, shimmering tears threatening to spill down the corners of her face.
"Heheh, is this... hell?"
"Yes, it is."
Suddenly, a warm voice sounded from a distance, transmitting straight into her ears as if answering her confusion.
Startled by the voice, Natsu snapped out of her trance. Through her blurry vision, she saw a tall, upright figure walking out from the ruins blasted open by the Giant Tenseigan's relentless pursuit.
It was an extraordinarily handsome young man with an elegant demeanor, wearing black combat gear. However, his black outfit and trousers looked somewhat worn, covered in patches, and even the bandages around his leg wraps were slightly yellowed.
And behind him...
In the distance lay the completely collapsed ruins of Training Ground 23. Nearer to him were groups of Hyūga clan members—who should have died—supporting one another as they emerged from the rubble, following the young man toward this place.
Aside from the Main House members at the center of the venue who had been turned into dust by the kinetic meteor, even Hiashi Hyūga, the head of the Main House, appeared in the crowd with a soul-crushed, despondent expression.
Every face was stained with blood and mixed with black soil and ash, but uniquely, every single one of them—whose eye sockets should have been empty—was now fitted with a pair of brand-new, pure, and bright Byakugan!
Hyūga Tetsu, who had already crossed past Natsu and was about to head toward his death, stopped in his tracks upon hearing that voice.
The three whose relationships had once been so complicated met again in Konoha in a nearly theatrical fashion.
Tetsu turned his head abruptly.
He could see nothing; even the concept of "vision" no longer existed for him. The world he perceived felt upside down and distorted, making the path home ten thousand times harder to find than before.
Yet in such a desolate world, that single familiar voice he heard was so abrupt, yet so incredibly logical!
"Hyūga Yu?!" he asked loudly in pleasant surprise. "Is that... you?"
In the next instant, he felt a palm gently press over his eyes. Following the sound of a footstep landing, he heard steady, calm breathing.
A moment later, his "vision" returned. The world before him seemed shrouded in a layer of dazzling, hazy white light, obscuring his sight.
Yet at the center of this hazy white world, he could never mistake that figure—the one meeting him again after half a year, filling him with both surprise and shame.
"It's me," Hyūga Yu's gentle voice sounded, followed by his arrangements for the surviving Hyūga clan members. "Stay here for now. You don't need to worry about the other side."
Hyūga Tetsu relaxed completely. But as that figure began to fade in his vision, he grew anxious once more.
He could not help but ask eagerly, "Are you leaving?"
"What... what are you going to do?!"
Only a light laugh from Hyūga Yu carried back in the wind:
"Swift and decisive destruction—to end all of this!"
————
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