Snap!
As the muscles in the hands' arms suddenly tensed, an extremely crisp yet faint sound of bone breaking gently echoed in the stillness, sending a chilling sensation up the spine and making one's scalp prickle.
Under that single twist, which contained the force of the Gentle Fist, his neck—the tough muscle fibers, the interwoven ligaments, and the hard vertebrae protecting the central nervous system—
—were instantly crushed and snapped like brittle twigs.
Pfft!
A few drops of warm blood, squeezed from his ruptured capillaries by the violent torque, shot out, tracing faint, sinister arcs in the air.
"Hrk..."
The scar-faced guard's eyes bulged violently, his eyeballs filled with terrified, painful red lines. A weak puff of air escaped his throat, like a fowl whose neck had been wrung.
His head was wrenched backward by the force. In the fleeting moment before his consciousness sank into total darkness, his blurry vision caught three pairs of cold, yet familiar... Byakugan?
One of them was Hyūga Iroha?
These madmen dare to strike directly in the clan compound?
Who else? Other members of the Branch Family?
Why, why didn't anyone tell me??
A final thought, mixed with confusion and regret, flashed through his mind before his entire consciousness was swallowed by boundless darkness.
His body, as if its bones had been removed, went slack and began to slide down.
From above, a dark shadow, as light as a cat, silently flipped down from the tree.
Hyūga Iroha caught the falling body with one arm, his movement as gentle as embracing a loved one, preventing it from making the slightest noise.
Meanwhile, on the path in the distance.
"Why hasn't he returned?"
Hyūga Haruto paced anxiously, but the other young guard showed no surprise.
He knew the look the scar-faced guard had given him earlier was a sign that he was taking a moment to calm his emotions.
He had done the same thing before.
There was no helping it; Haruto was excessively irritating. Not only was he jumpy, but he also kept talking non-stop about how he would torture Hyūga Takashi.
Just then, steady footsteps approached.
The "scar-faced guard" emerged from the shadows of the woods, his pace even.
"Lord Haruto."
He first nodded to the young guard, then looked at Haruto and said respectfully, "I've checked carefully. It was just a wild cat."
Using the Transformation Technique, one of the Three Body Techniques, Hyūga Iroha had perfectly replicated the guard's voice, including that subtle, hard-to-detect trace of deference.
"A wild cat? Just a wild cat?"
Upon hearing and receiving confirmation, Haruto immediately sighed in relief, his tense body relaxing. "Let's hurry up! I don't want to stay in this wretched place any longer!"
Hyūga Iroha naturally stepped forward, firmly supporting one of Haruto's arms.
At the moment of contact, Haruto even felt a sense of relief from this "reliability," and the young guard on the other side had no suspicion whatsoever.
After all, Hyūga Takashi, the culprit who had killed a member of the Main Family, was already locked up. The bloody precedent was clear.
How could these guards, who had abandoned the Branch Family to remain loyal to the Main Family, imagine that the Branch Family would now dare to commit a crime under their nose, even planning to kill every Main Family member who held the Caged Bird curse seal?
The three continued toward the prison in silence.
Soon, they reached the inconspicuous iron door hidden in the mountain wall.
In front of the door, two sharp-eyed Branch Family guards stood like statues.
Seeing Haruto approach, both immediately bowed slightly. Although they knew he couldn't see them, they habitually put on a respectful expression.
Then, the two worked together to pull open the iron door, revealing a black, seemingly bottomless passage descending into the earth. They stepped aside, heads bowed.
Haruto, supported by his "guards," stepped toward the entrance.
However, just as they passed the two sentries.
One of the sentries, who had a sharp sense of smell, subtly twitched his nose.
A faint, but undeniable, scent of blood!
The smell wasn't coming from deep within the passage; it was emanating from Haruto and the two men with him!
The guard's face instantly changed. He violently lifted his head, looking at the backs of the three who were about to enter. The terrifying blue veins around his eye sockets bulged instantly, like living things!
The Byakugan immediately saw through Hyūga Iroha's transformation and clearly registered the cold intent on Iroha's face.
"You..."
The guard opened his mouth, about to shout an alarm.
But the next moment.
Swish! Swish!
Two ghostly figures attacked from the deeper shadows behind him, moving so fast they were only blurred afterimages.
They were the other two Branch Family Jōnin who had accompanied Iroha.
Their strikes were ruthless and decisive. Chakra gathered on their hands as they delivered precise, quick chops to the throats of the two sentries!
Crunch! Crunch!
With two sickening snaps, the two guards' throat bones and vocal cords were instantly crushed. Their eyes bulged, but they couldn't even emit a whimper!
The attackers' movements didn't stop. They quickly reached out, caught the guards' collapsing bodies to prevent them from hitting the floor and making noise, and gently dragged them into the nearby shadows.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye.
The young guard beside Haruto seemed to hear a slight noise from behind and instinctively started to turn his head to check.
But, in the split second his head moved.
Hyūga Iroha, who had been supporting Haruto, slid a senbon from his empty left sleeve. A flick of his arm instantly turned it into a black blur.
Pfft!
The senbon pierced the guard's temple from one side, a thread of blood trailing as it exited the other!
The precision and speed were absolute. The brain was instantly pierced. Only a few droplets of hot blood splattered out, landing directly on Haruto's cheek.
Haruto seemed to have heard nothing, but the damp sensation made him momentarily pause.
"Hmm?"
He lifted his hand blankly, wiping the wet blood from his cheek, and mumbled, "Did it start raining..."
A Branch Family Jōnin simultaneously Shunshin-ed next to them, gently lowering the corpse of the guard who was frozen with wide eyes, then took over supporting Haruto's arm.
Beside him, Hyūga Iroha, who had been holding Haruto's arm, stopped disrupting his chakra flow and ceased maintaining the Genjutsu that interfered with his hearing.
"Yes, Lord Haruto," Iroha said, his expression completely calm. "Let's go in quickly."
At this, he glanced at Haruto, a hint of killing intent in his eyes, and whispered, "Once we're inside, you won't get rained on."
"Mmm. Although the stench here is unpleasant, still..."
Haruto nodded in agreement, a sinister curve appearing on his lips. "I can't wait to see that bastard kneeling before me like a dog."
Venturing deeper underground, the cold, damp air felt solidified, pressing heavily on their chests.
The dim oil lamps on the walls of the passage cast flickering, yellowish shadows that stretched, twisted, and silently crawled along the stone walls as the three walked.
The deeper they went, the stronger and more nauseating the smell of blood and sweet, moldy decay became.
The heavy sounds of whipping, mixed with the dull thud of tearing flesh, the crisp rattle of chains, and indistinct, malicious curses, grew clearer.
Every crack of the whip coming from behind the iron door at the end of the passage intensified the killing intent in Hyūga Iroha's eyes.
His Byakugan, hidden beneath his calm demeanor, was now frosted with coldness. His gaze seemed to penetrate the barriers, seeing the horrific scene beyond the door.
His hand, supporting Haruto, remained perfectly steady without a tremor.
Haruto clearly heard the approaching sounds. His breathing became rapid, his face flushed with a morbid excitement. He was completely immersed in his anticipation.
He practically dragged Iroha and the other "guard" forward, muttering repeatedly, "I hear it! I hear it! Father is teaching that trash a lesson for me!"
Finally, they quickly arrived at the iron door from which the sounds continuously emanated.
The door wasn't fully shut; it had been deliberately left ajar, and the sounds were coming from the gap.
Haruto broke free from their support. Impatiently, he hammered on the iron door, his voice distorted by excitement: "Father! It's me! I'm here!"
The whipping and cursing sounds coming through the crack abruptly ceased.
A deathly silence lasted for a few seconds.
Creak!
The iron door made a teeth-grinding, harsh sound as it slowly opened a gap from the inside. A stronger wave of putrid, bloody air surged out.
The person who opened the door was Hyūga Tokuma.
His face was deathly pale, like a corpse recently crawled from a grave, his lips utterly bloodless and trembling slightly.
His eyes were vacant, filled with the terror of a recent shock and helpless confusion. In his hand, he tightly clutched a new, blood-stained leather whip, his knuckles white from the force.
Seeing Haruto outside the door, Tokuma forced a stiff smile onto his face—one that was uglier than a cry—and spoke in a dry, respectful voice:
"Lord Haruto, Elder Nagato asks you to come in."
Haruto grimaced slightly at the overpowering stench but was instantly overwhelmed by excitement. He eagerly squeezed sideways through the opening.
Hyūga Iroha, supporting him, followed closely, head bowed.
As he passed Tokuma, Iroha's gaze flickered to the whip in his hand, a hint of coldness crossing his eyes.
Then, he reached out and took the whip from Tokuma's hand.
Tokuma seemed startled for a moment but didn't sense anything amiss, assuming Haruto wanted to use it.
He didn't re-enter the room, perhaps feeling the air inside was too stifling and wanting to catch his breath outside.
The other "guard," also a Branch Family Jōnin in disguise, silently remained outside, his frigid gaze fixed on Tokuma's back.
Iroha, the last one to enter, reached back and grasped the cold door ring.
Creak...
BANG!
With a teeth-grinding sound of metal on metal, the heavy iron door slowly swung shut behind them.
The harsh reverberation of the door closing echoed in the passage for a long time, eventually settling into absolute silence.
Inside and outside the room were now severed, completely isolating all light and sound from the outside world.
The air inside the cell was nearly suffocating. The thick, overwhelming smell of blood mixed with the sickly-sweet stench of rotting wounds created an impactful, repulsive odor.
The light from the few oil lamps on the walls seemed to be twisted by the foul air, becoming dimmer and more unstable, stretching and distorting all shadows into hideous shapes.
In the center of the room, a blood-soaked, unrecognizable figure was suspended by thick chains, head bowed, its life hanging by a thread.
Hearing the sounds of Haruto entering, Hyūga Nagato, who had been sitting in a chair, immediately stood up.
"Haruto!"
The coldness that had been on his face instantly transformed into a look of urgent concern upon seeing his son. He quickly stepped forward and supported his staggering son.
"Why did you walk here by yourself? Be careful!"
"Father!"
Haruto grabbed Nagato's arm tightly, as if finding his main support. His bandaged face turned frantically toward the center of the room: "Where is Takashi?"
"Where is that bastard? I'm going to kill him! Kill him with my own hands!"
His body was shaking violently from extreme excitement and hatred.
"There, there, don't rush, Haruto, don't rush."
Nagato gently patted his son's back, guiding Haruto to face the bloodied figure hanging there. "Listen, he's right in front of you."
"He's hanging here like a dead dog now. You can do whatever you want to him, whatever makes you happy."
"Don't worry, the soundproofing of this dungeon is excellent. Once the door is closed, no matter what happens here, no matter how much he screams, no one outside will hear a thing. You can take your time."
Although Nagato had been strict with his son, he genuinely loved him.
He knew that the shock of losing his Byakugan and the trauma of the attack had pushed Haruto to the brink of a breakdown.
Only by taking revenge with his own hands, by personally stripping the enemy of his life and dignity, could Haruto perhaps regain a twisted sense of courage and control.
However, just as Nagato's meticulously thoughtful words ended...
"You said..."
A voice so cold it seemed to freeze the soul clearly spoke from behind both Nagato and Haruto: "No matter what happens here, no one outside will hear a thing..."
"...Right?"
The voice wasn't loud, but it caused Nagato's body, which was supporting his son, to stiffen instantly.
He violently turned his head to face the "guard" who had followed Haruto in!
Clang!!
The "guard" had just secured the lock on the iron door. He then slowly turned his head to look at Nagato and Haruto.
In the dim light, the seemingly ordinary face shed its disguise, revealing the face they absolutely never expected to see here, at this time...
Hyūga Iroha's face!
The moment Nagato saw Iroha's true face, a bone-chilling coldness mixed with sheer, unbelievable horror instantly swept through his entire body!
His mind didn't even have time to process why Iroha was here. A deeply ingrained, instinctual thought of the Main Family flashed like lightning:
Caged Bird! Activate the Curse Mark!
Almost reflexively, his hands shot up, index and middle fingers together, preparing to form the seal that could instantly inflict agonizing pain on any Branch Family member!
However, Iroha's movements were faster than his thoughts.
Just as Nagato's fingers lifted, Iroha's hands had already completed a series of seals in front of him, moving so fast they were only a blur!
This is the Ninjutsu Lord Kawa taught.
Wind Release: Wind Cutter Technique!
Two extremely compressed, nearly transparent, high-pressure wind blades instantly shot out from the kunai in Iroha's hand!
Their speed was so great it surpassed the limit of human visual perception!
At such a short distance, Nagato only heard a sharp shriek. Then, he felt an extremely faint sensation on both wrists, as if they had been sliced by a cold silk thread.
He instinctively looked down and saw a terrifying sight he would never forget.
The sleeves at his wrists slowly tore open, and a circular red line appeared in the skin beneath.
The two palms that had just been preparing to perform the seal to activate the curse mark separated from his arms, flying up a short distance before dropping.
The cuts were as smooth as a mirror, revealing the white bone ends and the faintly pulsating blood vessel cross-sections.
The next moment.
Pshh!
Blood sprayed violently from the clean wrist stumps. The hot gore splattered onto the ground and onto the bewildered, unknowing Haruto beside him!
"AAAAHHH!!!"
The indescribable pain made Nagato let out a high-pitched, inhuman shriek, his body convulsing violently as he stumbled backward.
His screams echoed madly in the sealed stone cell, shaking the flames of the oil lamps on the wall!
Yet, facing this horrifying scene that would make anyone's hair stand on end, Hyūga Iroha merely tilted his head slightly, casually inserting his pinky finger into his ear.
His gaze flicked toward the tightly shut, heavy iron door.
Outside, there was absolute silence.
No knocking, no sounds of inquiry.
A cold, cruel smile slowly curved on Hyūga Iroha's lips.
"It seems, Elder Nagato, you were right."
He chuckled softly, his voice piercingly clear and chilling against the backdrop of Nagato's continuous screams: "The soundproofing of this dungeon..."
"...Is indeed excellent."
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