Uchiha Itachi, upon hearing this, turned his head and glanced at Hyūga Shigeo before quickly striding forward to catch up.
"Class, don't worry. We can do this! Even if we're the last ones to make it up, we have to give it our all…" Yamashiro-sensei continued to encourage everyone.
Shigeo walked quietly among the students, showing no sign of arrogance, keeping a very low profile.
This made the Third Hokage, Sarutobi Hiruzen, who was watching the entire match from his office through a crystal ball, very anxious. Why did he suddenly organize this competition? Was it not to probe Hyūga Shigeo's true abilities?
If it weren't for that bastard Danzō interfering yesterday, he would have directly sent someone to test Shigeo. But Danzō nearly pushed him to the brink of an outburst. How could he dare test him openly now?
So yesterday, he had no choice but to calm Shigeo down, asked no further questions, and simply let him return home to continue his usual life.
But the Third was burning with curiosity. He desperately wanted to know what abilities this boy truly possessed. How could he have defeated Ōnoki and even kidnapped Iwagakure's Jinchūriki? Because of this, Hiruzen hadn't slept all night, and eventually came up with this idea: to use the entire school's teachers and students to spar against Shigeo, just to test out his abilities.
Yet now, the boy showed no fighting spirit at all. Wasn't this wasting the opportunity he had created? That wouldn't do!
He waved his hand, and an ANBU member approached. Hiruzen lowered his head to whisper instructions, but suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
"Wait—something's wrong!"
Though speaking to ANBU, his eyes never left the crystal ball. At that moment, on the western mountain, several unfamiliar shinobi had appeared, secretly following the younger students.
They had hidden well earlier, so Hiruzen hadn't noticed them. But now, since the upperclassmen and teachers had all climbed ahead, leaving the younger ones lagging behind, the strangers revealed themselves more boldly.
The lower-class students, huddled together, looked in terror at the figures who emerged on the tall branches and surrounding tree trunks.
Some wore headbands of missing-nin from Kirigakure, others from Kusagakure, and two were rogue ninjas without any affiliation.
"That should be Hyūga Shigeo—the Hyūga clan's Byakugan is easy to recognize. Capture him…"
As soon as the words left their mouths, they all charged toward Hyūga Hikaru.
Hikaru, stunned, nearly dropped his jaw. He cried out in panic and pointed at Shigeo.
"Don't grab me! You've got the wrong guy, I'm not Hyūga Shigeo—he is! He's the one—"
Yamashiro Aoba leapt forward, shielding Hikaru.
"What do you think you're doing?"
"We're here to take someone, obviously!"
The four rushed in at once. Aoba, though formidable in taijutsu, was no match for their numbers. Within minutes, he was beaten badly, collapsing to the ground with multiple injuries.
Several classmates tried to step in, but were swept aside easily. Hikaru was seized and dragged away!
Shigeo frowned slightly. He knew today's competition was set up to test him, but instead of ANBU, a group of rogue shinobi appeared. What was going on?
Regardless of the reason, he could not allow Hikaru to take the fall for him!
"Sensei, are you alright?" Shigeo crouched and checked Aoba's condition. Having once studied Tsunade's medical handbook, he quickly diagnosed: three broken ribs, internal bleeding in the liver—but not life-threatening.
"Sensei, take the others back to the village. I'll handle this."
With that, Shigeo leapt into the trees, chasing after them.
Back in his office, the Third Hokage was watching in alarm. When Shigeo vanished from the crystal ball's view, he nearly forgot to breathe.
"Quickly, send ANBU to provide support!"
Earlier, he had only wanted them to test Shigeo's powers. But now, before they could even act, outside forces had made their move. Still, to learn about his abilities, someone needed to witness the fight.
The problem was that his crystal ball could no longer follow Shigeo.
The reason was simple: this surveillance technique, known as the Tōmegane no Jutsu (Crystal Ball Technique), required knowledge of the target's chakra nature to function. Since Hiruzen still didn't know Shigeo's chakra nature, he could not track him.
That was the reason for organizing this whole event: to use the varying chakra types of teachers and students as reference while Shigeo fought.
But now, rogue shinobi had unexpectedly abducted Hyūga Hikaru instead.
Realizing how much damage Shigeo's disappearance could cause Konoha, Hiruzen turned sharply, grabbed his Hokage cloak, and leapt out the window. He would find him personally…
North of Konoha, seventy li away, lay the Forest of Death—a place ordinary people avoided. It was here the missing-nin dragged Hyūga Hikaru.
"Please, let me go! I'm not Hyūga Shigeo! Why won't you believe me? I swear I'm not him!" Hikaru wailed, snot and tears streaming.
"Oh heavens, is this punishment for all the times I bullied Shigeo? Is this my retribution? Shigeo, I'm sorry! I shouldn't have picked on you!" Hikaru cried loudly.
"Brat, do you take us for fools? The Hyūga are known for their Byakugan, and in your class you're the only one with it. Who else would we capture if not you? Stop trying to pass the blame!" the burly leader snorted coldly.
"No, you've got the wrong person! Shigeo is blind! I may have the Byakugan, but I'm not him… ugh, I can't explain it!"
"So noisy. Knock him out."
The burly man struck with a hand chop, and Hikaru fell unconscious.
"Someone's coming!" warned the sensory-nin in the group.
"I'll go first. You cover me!" the burly leader barked.
"No way! We all caught him together. If you run ahead, you'll hog the bounty yourself!"
The others ignored him and chased after the one carrying Hikaru.
(End of Chapter)
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