Heavy snow was falling lightly, and this year's Winter Solstice night had arrived quietly.
To celebrate the upcoming signing of the peace treaty between the Kumogakure and Konoha Village, Konoha appeared exceptionally lively tonight.
The commercial street was filled with red lanterns, crowds surged beneath the Hokage Rock, and even the usually cold and quiet Hyuga Clan Compound had festive decorations hanging at its main gate.
But deep within the Main Family's detached courtyard, the atmosphere was unusually oppressive.
In Hyuga Nozomi's room, no lamps were lit.
He sat alone cross-legged on the tatami, a game of Go that hadn't been touched yet laid out before him.
In the darkness, the sunglasses that usually sat on the bridge of his nose were taken off and placed to the side.
Those unobstructed [Six Eyes] emitted a faint, deep blue glow in the darkness, like the most mysterious gems of the deep sea.
Hyuga Nozomi kept his eyes closed, but a 3D model of the Chakra flow throughout all of Konoha was being constructed in his mind.
His brain was trembling violently, and his temples were throbbing.
But he endured the pain of the overload, extending his sensory feelers outward bit by bit like a spiderweb.
Three hundred meters.
Five hundred meters.
One kilometer.
"Found you..."
Hyuga Nozomi snapped his eyes open, a cold glint flashing through his azure pupils.
In the woods on the outskirts of the Hyuga Clan Compound, an extremely obscure yet intensely malicious Chakra was moving rapidly.
The nature of that Chakra was very special.
Irritable, active, and carrying the unique pungency of Lightning Release—it was characteristic of a Kumogakure ninja.
Furthermore, the opponent's objective was very clear.
It wasn't the Hokage Building, nor was it Hinata's courtyard.
It was heading straight here—Hyuga Nozomi's residence.
"So it really has changed?"
Hyuga Nozomi gave a cold laugh and put his sunglasses back on, concealing the sharp glint in his eyes.
In the original story, the Kumogakure's target was the three-year-old Hinata.
But in this world, because the rumors of his "Atavistic Byakugan" had caused such a stir, the greedy Kumogakure clearly felt that kidnapping a five-year-old Main Family young master with mutated eyes was more valuable than kidnapping a three-year-old lady who knew nothing.
"So they've set their sights on me..."
Hyuga Nozomi grabbed a piece of candy and popped it into his mouth, his gaze becoming somewhat playful.
If he were just an ordinary five-year-old child, tonight would likely have been the start of his tragedy.
Being kidnapped, dissected, or becoming the fuse that ignited a war.
But unfortunately for them.
They encountered Hyuga Nozomi... At this moment, on the corridor of the detached courtyard.
Hyuga Hizashi, the head of the Branch Family, stood guarding in the cold wind like a statue.
His mood was complicated.
Just this evening, this Main Family young master whom he could never see through suddenly pulled at the corner of his clothes and said in a soft, irresistible voice:
"Uncle Hizashi, I'm afraid of the dark tonight. Can you stay in the courtyard with me?"
Afraid of the dark?
A child who dared to say he would dismantle the Caged Bird Curse Seal, afraid of the dark?
Although he found it absurd, Hizashi stayed behind out of duty and out of gratitude for the candy from that night.
Suddenly.
*Crack.*
A very faint cracking sound came from the tiles on the courtyard wall.
It was the sound of tiles being cracked by a heavy weight.
Amidst the noisy sounds of the festive fireworks, this sound was almost inaudible.
But Hyuga Hizashi heard it.
As one of the top taijutsu masters currently in the Hyuga Clan, his hearing had been tempered through a thousand refinements.
"Who's there?!"
Hizashi barked in a low voice, his previously somewhat despondent aura instantly becoming as sharp as a blade.
The veins at the corners of his eyes bulged violently.
[Byakugan, Activate]
In his grayish-white, 355-degree field of vision, a dark figure was vaulting over the courtyard wall like a ghost, lunging straight for Hyuga Nozomi's bedroom!
"Kumogakure?!"
The moment he saw the other party's forehead protector, Hizashi's pupils constricted violently.
People from the Delegation actually dared to infiltrate the Hyuga Main Family on the eve of signing the treaty? Had they gone mad!
"You're looking for death!"
Hizashi roared, and the wooden floorboards beneath his feet instantly shattered.
He shot forward like an arrow from a bow, charging toward the dark figure with the sound of whistling wind.
Inside the room.
The Kumogakure leader clearly hadn't expected his proud stealth technique to be seen through instantly.
He looked at the little boy sitting on the tatami with his back turned, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes.
As long as he caught this brat as a hostage, even if the Hyuga Clan Head came, he wouldn't dare to act rashly!
As long as he brought him back to the Kumogakure, those legendary eyes would be theirs!
"Brat, come with me!"
The leader gave a sinister grin, reaching out with a calloused hand toward the back of Hyuga Nozomi's neck.
Distance.
Three meters.
Two meters.
One meter.
At the very moment that large hand was about to touch Hyuga Nozomi.
The boy who had been keeping his back turned suddenly looked back.
By the moonlight from outside the window, the leader saw that face clearly.
A pair of comical round-framed sunglasses sat on that face.
But the corners of his mouth curled into a mocking arc that didn't belong to a five-year-old child at all.
"You think you're worthy?"
The boy's childish voice sounded exceptionally piercing in the silent room.
*Vwoom—!!*
Hyuga Nozomi's fingers, resting on his knees, moved slightly.
[Unlimited: Lag]
Although he couldn't yet deploy an absolute defensive barrier, he could still use the Six Eyes to instantly analyze the surrounding airflow and create a high-pressure air field within a tiny range to block the opponent's movements for a split second.
The leader's hand came to a strange halt for 0.1 seconds just ten centimeters away from Hyuga Nozomi.
It was as if it had sunk into a quagmire.
Between masters, 0.1 seconds is the difference between life and death.
"Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Palms Revolving Heaven!"
*Boom!*
In that split second of hesitation, Hyuga Hizashi had already arrived.
A visible shockwave of Chakra, carrying all the fury of the Branch Family Head, slammed heavily into the leader's ribs.
*Pfft—!!*
The leader spat out a mouthful of blood, flying backward as if struck by a truck, smashing through the paper door and rolling into the snow-filled courtyard.
"Cough, cough... Damn it..."
The leader struggled to get up, but Hizashi had already landed in front of him like a shadow.
Countless acupoints were sealed, and his Chakra flow instantly came to a halt.
"Don't kill him! Capture him alive!"
Hyuga Nozomi's shout suddenly came from inside the room.
Hizashi's palm hovered over the leader's crown, coming to a dead stop.
He looked back into the room, his eyes filled with doubt and surprise.
Capture him alive?
Wouldn't it be safer to just kill such an intruder?
"He has poison in his mouth!"
Hyuga Nozomi walked out from the broken doorway.
He adjusted his sunglasses and pointed at the leader's bulging cheek.
"Under the back tooth on the left is a Potent Poison Capsule. If he bites it to commit suicide and dies in the Hyuga residence, those scoundrels from the Kumogakure will turn around and accuse us of murdering a peace envoy!"
Hizashi shuddered, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.
He understood politics.
If this person became a corpse in the Hyuga residence, then to appease the Kumogakure's anger and for that damned peace treaty, Konoha would definitely look for a scapegoat.
And he, the one who took action, would be the best sacrificial lamb.
This child... had actually thought of this layer in an instant?
Moreover, how did he know there was a poison capsule in the opponent's mouth?
There was no time to overthink; Hizashi acted quickly, striking the leader's mandible with his palm.
*Crack.*
The jaw was dislocated.
The leader's eyes widened. He could no longer bite the poison capsule, and he slumped to the ground like a deflated ball.
It was over.
He had been captured alive.
As the head of the Delegation, being caught red-handed while infiltrating a prestigious clan to kidnap a young child... for the Kumogakure, this was an utter scandal and a devastating diplomatic blow.
A deathly silence returned to the courtyard.