Following Io, Hyuga Yuu quickly passed through the workshop in the backyard used for forging ninja tools and arrived at the display room where Io kept his collection.
Io walked ahead with a sigh. "I never thought that in this day and age, there would still be a ninja who'd think of using this kind of weapon."
Behind him, Shoseki raised his head, clearly puzzled yet full of anticipation as he followed Io and Hyuga Yuu. He was obviously curious about the ninja tool that had taken eight years to forge.
Hyuga Yuu shook his head.
"Even if it isn't particularly valuable, the manufacturing process is absurdly complex. It has to be sturdy enough for close combat, yet flexible and resilient in actual use. Back then in Konoha, only Master Io could have forged something like this."
"After all," he added, "it's a weapon that time has already discarded."
Io laughed loudly. "Only an old, stubborn man like me would bother making toys like that. I'll take the compliment."
He took out a key, opened the display room door, and led the two inside.
The room was spacious. Every meter along the shelves sat a ninja tool with a distinct shape.
Ninja swords, iron staffs, hatchets, steel wires, tonfas, nunchaku, iron chains, explosive tags, spiked iron balls, giant chained iron spheres, Fūma shuriken, explosive orbs—common and uncommon ninja tools alike filled the shelves. Displayed publicly, the room would have passed for a small ninja tool museum.
They soon reached the innermost shelf. Io pulled out a giant wooden box roughly two and a half meters long.
When he opened it, a massive Japanese bow lay inside—taller than Hyuga Yuu himself.
The bow measured roughly 2.2 meters in total length, with a longer upper limb and a shorter lower limb, resembling the demon-quelling bows used in rural rituals. It was crafted entirely from solid wood, with white gohei decorations tied at both ends. Several key sections—the upper nock, grip, and lower nock—were fitted with chakra-elastic modules. For close combat, an iron bow plate could be slotted in to strike opponents, though this was generally ill-advised.
Io lifted the bow and deliberately showed Shoseki the four engraved characters: "Io Forge." Only then did he turn to Hyuga Yuu.
"The draw weight is 150 pounds. Effective range is within 150 meters. Maximum range can reach 300. It isn't heavy, but it's long, which makes it troublesome to carry. And it can only use hemp strings. Arrows fired from a bow like this are hard to retrieve and reuse."
Hyuga Yuu gave a brief nod and calculated silently.
"So around a hundred to two hundred arrows before it's scrapped?"
"Exactly," Io replied. "You can substitute tanned elastic ninja-thread, but that changes the shooting technique. Since this bow was custom-made for you, you understand why, don't you?"
Hyuga Yuu nodded again.
The Japanese bow demanded a specialized firing technique. The archer had to precisely grasp the vibration amplitude of the bow at the moment of release, anticipate the recoil caused by the unequal length of the upper and lower limbs, and factor that recoil into both direction and force.
If mastered correctly, that recoil could be exploited to alter the arrow's trajectory—adjusting range, curvature, and angle at will.
For that reason, only special hemp strings were suitable.
In short, the weapon required a long forging period, high maintenance costs, and suffered from short bowstring lifespan.
Add to that the reality of ninja combat—where fighters could burst forward at speeds comparable to a locomotive, rapidly closing distance—and bows quickly lost relevance, even becoming liabilities once a fight began.
Thus, bows and arrows became relics of the past.
Throughout recorded history, the only notable ninja to rely on a bow was Kidōmaru, who was ultimately killed by Hyuga Neji.
For ordinary shinobi, time spent mastering the Body Flicker Technique was far more practical than investing in such an ungrateful weapon.
However—
If the user possessed the Byakugan, capable of vision exceeding a kilometer, and combined it with Wind Release: Vacuum Blade attached to a ninja tool to extend range and amplify penetration…
Then everything changed.
With that thought, Hyuga Yuu accepted the bow, anticipation quietly stirring in his chest.
Naturally, the path of [bow + Byakugan + attached ninjutsu] was still only a theoretical framework derived from his existing knowledge. Its true combat effectiveness would have to be tested in practice.
Moreover, Wind Release: Vacuum Blade itself remained a distant goal.
Although he had already resolved to approach Shimura Danzō, whether Danzō would accept him—a branch member of the Hyuga clan—remained uncertain.
Hyuga Yuu's position was, frankly, precarious.
Unlike Might Guy, who had once attempted to join Root on Kakashi's behalf only to be rejected with the explanation that "there is no darkness in your heart,"
Hyuga Yuu stood at the opposite extreme.
Even if he had only recently grown ambitious and decided to live with purpose, the Caged Bird Seal still branded him as property of the Hyuga main family—someone who could be compelled to leak information at any moment.
Given Danzō's suspicious nature, his near-total distrust of subordinates, and his reliance on cursed seals to ensure loyalty, it was more likely than not that accepting Hyuga Yuu would be difficult.
But then again—
People's thoughts shift with time. Children long to grow up, while adults envy the days they spent playing in the mud.
And Shimura Danzō, currently trapped in an even more awkward position than Hyuga Yuu himself…
Perhaps he could pinch his nose and convince himself.
#
While Hyuga Yuu prepared himself, the S-rank mission intelligence he had released began to ferment within Konoha.
The information was first circulated among jōnin squads, ANBU, and their affiliated organizations.
Setting aside whether the mission's rank was justified, its contents alone immediately struck several sharp-minded and well-informed ninjas as strange.
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade.
At present, only two people in the entirety of Konoha were known to possess this ninjutsu.
One was the Third Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi—the so-called Professor of Ninjutsu, who had mastered thousands of techniques.
The other was Shimura Danzō, Konoha elder, Root's leader, and one of the Hokage's advisors.
Between the two, Danzō was clearly more specialized in this art. In fact, Wind Release: Vacuum Blade was a secret technique of the Shimura clan.
Similar techniques did exist—such as the Hyuga clan's Wind Release: Vacuum Sword, certain minor clans' Wind Release: Shurikenjutsu, or the Sarutobi clan's Wind Release: Gale Palm—but all merely shared comparable effects.
This mission, however, requestedWind Release: Vacuum Blade by name.
The implication was impossible to ignore.
Speculation quietly spread among those paying close attention.
Yet before the information could circulate further, before the mission approval process even reached the Hokage's desk, those same observers discovered something astonishing.
The mission had been withdrawn.
Not only that—every document related to it, every procedural record, even evidence of Hyuga Yuu entering the Hokage Building—had been erased.
It was as if the mission had never existed.
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