They were a temporary team of rogue ninjas, organized solely to capture people with bounties from the black market. Hyūga Shigeo's information had only appeared on the black market list last night, and today they had already rushed to Konoha.
By coincidence, the Academy students had all gone to the western mountains of Konoha to participate in some competition, so the group decided to strike immediately.
What they hadn't expected was that Hyūga Shigeo, ranked third on the black market bounty list, would be so easy to capture. With just a casual move, they had thought they had already succeeded.
"Then what do we do now? Do we all just stay here until we defeat that kid? And only then head out together?"
This was their first time cooperating, and unsurprisingly, they lacked trust and had no teamwork.
"I think none of you are going anywhere!"
As they argued, Hyūga Shigeo appeared before them:
"Leave the hostage, or be slain where you stand!"
His voice was cold as ice, his expression calm as he stood atop a tree trunk.
"Who are you? Just some brat, daring to talk big!"
One of the four men, a rogue from Kirigakure, dashed forward. At the same time, thick mist rose from the dense forest.
"Ryota, what are you doing? Don't use Kirigakure no Jutsu (Hidden Mist Technique)! Be careful—Jun might take the kid and slip away!" said another rogue, one from Kusagakure.
A gust of wind blew the mist away. As expected, Jun and the child were already gone. The other three, realizing this, had no time to deal with Hyūga Shigeo and rushed after them.
Shigeo raised an eyebrow. These people truly had no sense of teamwork.
With a single Shunshin no Jutsu (Body Flicker Technique), he appeared directly in front of the burly Jun.
"Put him down, and I'll spare your life."
Truthfully, Shigeo could have killed him on the spot, but he didn't want to risk harming Hyūga Hikaru. The man's fingers were pressed against Hikaru's throat—one wrong move, and Hikaru would die.
At that moment, the other three rogues caught up.
"Jun! You really can't be trusted! You wanted to take the bounty all for yourself!"
"No, look! Doesn't this kid seem different from the one in the bounty scroll?"
Jun also realized something—the boy in his arms wasn't Hyūga Shigeo at all. Compared to him, the boy standing proudly atop the tree looked much more like the real target.
Ryota pulled out the bounty scroll and carefully compared the image.
A dark-haired boy with closed eyes…
It was exactly the same. At first, they had thought the boy in the picture had shut his eyes intentionally, concealing his Byakugan. But now they understood—he was blind. They had captured the wrong person from the very beginning.
"Bah!" Jun immediately tossed Hikaru aside.
Falling hard from the tree, Hyūga Hikaru groaned in pain and woke up. Looking up, he spotted the five figures above, and among them—Shigeo!
"Shigeo, I'm here!" he cried happily, waving his hand.
"I know. Take care of yourself," Shigeo replied coldly before charging forward.
"Swish, swish!"
Two strikes of Fūton: Kaze no Yaiba (Wind Release: Blade of Wind) instantly eliminated the sensory-type ninja among them—the weakest of the group.
Such was the cruelty of the ninja world: if you did not advance, if you remained weak, you would be the first to die.
Hyūga Hikaru was stunned beyond words. Was this really the same "blind Shigeo" who always scored below him? When had he become so terrifyingly strong?
He rubbed his eyes, unable to even see clearly how Shigeo had struck down the man.
"Raiton: Tenrai no Jutsu (Lightning Release: Heaven's Thunder Technique)! Mokuton: Mokuryū no Jutsu (Wood Release: Wood Dragon Technique)!"
Shigeo's hand seals blurred. The remaining three rogues had no chance to counter. Among them, Jun was the strongest—at least jōnin-level.
Realizing things were going badly, Jun leapt back, the Wood Dragon pursuing him relentlessly. In desperation, he grabbed Hikaru again, pressing his fingers to the boy's throat.
"Brat! Stop now, or I'll kill him!"
He regretted letting go of the hostage earlier.
"Don't! Don't kill me!" Hikaru screamed, face pale with terror.
Shigeo stopped his jutsu and landed silently on a nearby tree.
"Shigeo, I'm sorry! I'm really sorry! I used to bully you, talk badly about you… I didn't mean it! Please, please save me!"
Tears streamed down Hikaru's face. Looking around at the deep forest, he realized they were far from Konoha. It was over—Shigeo would never save him. Not after everything he'd done to him in the past.
Suddenly—Mokuton: Mokujōheki no Jutsu (Wood Release: Wood Spikes Technique) erupted from Jun's body, skewering him like a porcupine.
At the same time, Shigeo's figure blurred, sweeping Hikaru away to safety atop another tree.
"Shigeo!" Hikaru stared at him in awe. He seemed tall, radiant, glowing even.
Glancing back, the rogue ninja's corpse was riddled with wooden spikes.
"You're amazing, Shigeo!" Hikaru cheered.
"Let's go."
Grabbing his wrist, Shigeo used Shunshin no Jutsu. In an instant, they reappeared kilometers away.
"Shigeo, you're so fast! You're a hidden master! Where are we? Why aren't we back at the village yet?"
"Forest of Death."
"Ugh! No wonder it feels so creepy here… but with you, I feel safe. Shigeo, let's always play together from now on. I think… I think I really like you. I'm your number one fan now…"
Finally, the two made it back to the village. Shigeo shook off the clingy Hikaru, who immediately clung back with a grin, running to boast to their classmates.
"You guys missed it! Shigeo is amazing! Four against one—and with just a flick of his hand, he killed two! Another tried to use me as a hostage, but boom! His whole body exploded with wood spikes! Incredible, right? Incredible!"
The whole class crowded around Shigeo.
"Really? That's awesome! Shigeo, you should join the competition! Just earlier, the upperclassmen were laughing at us, saying we were just weak little first-years…"
(End of Chapter)
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