For a seasoned shinobi, the moment an assassination attempt fails, they should immediately flee thousands of miles away.
At this moment, Kakuzu wanted nothing more than to escape this place instantly.
However, the Earth Grudge Fear tentacles he had previously funneled into the high-rise's piping system to cut off Hyuga Yu's retreat now blocked his own escape routes. If he wanted to break out now, his only option was to flee through the observation deck where he had first entered the building.
To make matters worse, the massive commotion had alerted a large number of Rain Ninja outside the building, who were now swarming toward it. Furthermore, as news of the incident spread at lightning speed, Kakuzu immediately sensed a staggering chakra fluctuation coming from the direction of Amegakure's administrative center to the east. It was moving almost in a straight line, flying toward his location at extreme speed!
Kakuzu scanned the room, keeping a cautious eye on Hyuga Yu as the youth walked toward him. Completely ignoring Yu's words, he swiftly turned around, pushed off the floor, and prepared to seize the only available opening to leap out of the observation deck and into Amegakure.
However, before he could even take a step, Hyuga Yu raised both hands behind him and formed the Ram seal.
In the next instant, Kakuzu felt the chakra within his body fluctuate violently. Every single thread of Earth Grudge Fear extending from his heart trembled simultaneously!
The black tentacles of Earth Grudge Fear burst spontaneously from the stitched seams across his skin, piercing into the ground and forcibly dragging him back, completely disrupting his movements.
'It's that strange ability again! Why is the Earth Grudge Fear inside my body being influenced by him?'
Kakuzu forced himself forward, breaking free from the restraints of the Earth Grudge Fear. But in that briefest of delays, a figure with an exceptionally terrifying chakra presence suddenly materialized just outside the observation deck!
It was Yahiko.
The moment he received word that Hyuga Yu was under attack, he had borrowed the power of Nagato's Rinnegan Deva Path. With Konan providing an additional kinetic boost, Yahiko had shot across several kilometers from Amegakure's administrative center like a javelin, flying here at breakneck speed.
Now, Yahiko executed a sudden mid-air brake, hovering outside the observation deck. He frowned as he took in the scene inside the building. When his eyes landed on Kakuzu, whom he had encountered once before, his expression instantly hardened. "You again?!"
He immediately spread his fingers and aimed his palm at Kakuzu inside the room, looking ready to unleash Almighty Push at any second. Below, Rain Ninja were scaling the building's exterior walls, leaping through the opening to quickly assemble into squads, completely surrounding Kakuzu.
Seeing this, Kakuzu's face darkened significantly.
Yet, as a seasoned bounty hunter, such an extreme scenario was well within his contingency plans. Kakuzu immediately brought his hands together, intending to trigger the Earth Grudge Fear tentacles he had pre-planted throughout the building's pipes and walls to bring the entire high-rise crashing down, allowing him to escape in the ensuing chaos. However, when he channeled his chakra to command the massive network of tentacles, he suddenly discovered that the Earth Grudge Fear was refusing to obey him once again. Not only that, but a burst of translucent, brilliant cyan chakra was now surging in reverse along the Earth Grudge Fear connections, flooding directly into Kakuzu's body!
The moment this chakra entered him, Kakuzu found his own chakra involuntarily rushing toward it, being rapidly devoured. As the cyan chakra absorbed his energy, it expanded exponentially within his body, further accelerating its voracious consumption!
A wave of exhaustion quickly washed over Kakuzu's face. His arms and legs felt as heavy as lead, making it difficult to even lift them—a clear sign that his chakra and physical stamina were being depleted at an alarming rate in a short span of time.
He snapped his head up, only to see Hyuga Yu standing before him, hands raised in the exact same seal as his own, wearing a faint smile.
Kakuzu's face deformed with shock.
At that moment, Yahiko floated into the room from outside. Looking at Hyuga Yu, who was maintaining the seal to suppress Kakuzu, he asked, "Tennin, what's the situation here?"
Hyuga Yu shook his head and said calmly, "It's nothing. Just a simple experiment with a new jutsu."
Yahiko's mouth twitched slightly, and he couldn't help but complain, "Your jutsu development speed is seriously ridiculous..."
"It's just average," Hyuga Yu replied. "Everything is fine here, I can handle it."
"Alright, let me know if you need any help," Yahiko nodded. Then, glancing at the wrecked, makeshift laboratory, he asked, "Do you need a change of scenery?"
Hyuga Yu shook his head and pointed at the restrained Kakuzu. "No need. Since I've captured him, I should be leaving soon anyway. This place isn't suitable for research anymore."
Hearing this, a look of surprise crossed Yahiko's face. "So soon? But what about Iwagakure...?"
Hyuga Yu said, "Just keep an eye on Kitsuchi for me. He's no fool; he knows what he should and shouldn't do at a time like this."
By this point, Hyuga Yu had already negotiated a massive order with Kitsuchi for the initial setup of the laboratory. If they maintained a long-term partnership, Iwagakure would not only recoup the 500 million ryo cost from Hyuga Yu, but if the laboratory he described was actually established, they could stand to make an even greater profit from the venture.
Furthermore, with the upcoming peace talks between Iwagakure and Konoha in April keeping them on the hook, the web of mutual benefits meant that the relationship between Hyuga Yu and Kitsuchi was no longer a simple matter of kidnapper and hostage.
"I see... I understand then."
Yahiko nodded, and soon departed the scene with the contingent of Rain Ninja who had rushed to his aid.
The commotion that had stirred up Amegakure quickly subsided.
Inside the wrecked 13th floor of the Amegakure building, only Hyuga Yu and Kakuzu remained.
Kakuzu stared at Hyuga Yu with a mixture of shock and suspicion. He could not comprehend how Yu had pulled this off. By all accounts, he was the sole master of Takigakure's secret technique, Earth Grudge Fear, in the entire world. Yet, the abilities Hyuga Yu was currently displaying made it blindingly obvious that the boy could manipulate Earth Grudge Fear as well!
How had he done it?
And what exactly was that cyan chakra devouring his own?
It couldn't possibly be that from just the tiny lump of Earth Grudge Fear flesh he had once implanted into Hyuga Yu's body, this brat had managed to reverse-engineer the entire secret technique, could it?
Meanwhile, Hyuga Yu was observing Kakuzu—or more accurately, the mass of Earth Grudge Fear tentacles exposed across Kakuzu's body.
Forming a Chakra Scalpel, he sliced off a strand of Earth Grudge Fear tentacles from the immobilized Kakuzu, rolling it between his fingers to examine it closely. A look of surprise crossed Hyuga Yu's face. Though called tentacles, these Earth Grudge Fear appendages were actually composed of fine, black, blood-vessel-like threads. Not only could they form a chakra pathway system identical to human meridians, but they could also connect directly to blood vessels, achieving flawless flesh sutures!
If one looked past its grotesque appearance, from a purely medical perspective, this was undoubtedly the most perfect suture material, artificial blood vessel, and artificial meridian system imaginable.
At this point, Kakuzu could no longer endure the chilling horror of a white-coated medical ninja slicing pieces off him with a Chakra Scalpel. His eyes widened slightly as he glared at Hyuga Yu and barked in a low voice, "Brat, what exactly do you want?!"
"And you... how can you use my secret technique, Earth Grudge Fear?!"
However, Hyuga Yu paid him absolutely no attention. He simply continued studying the Earth Grudge Fear thread in his hand, raising his other hand to infuse a strand of—Yang Release chakra into it.
Yes, Yang Release chakra.
Kakuzu's earlier deductions about Hyuga Yu were actually correct. Previously, the core of Yu's Wind Release had indeed been the Byakugan. Without the microscopic insight of the Byakugan, Hyuga Yu could never have created an atomic-level Wind Release Chakra Scalpel, let alone manipulate atmospheric pressure to generate such overwhelming Wind Release techniques.
But after destroying his own eyes, Hyuga Yu could no longer use the Wind Release Chakra Scalpel or any of the other Wind Release techniques that relied entirely on the Byakugan's visual tracking capabilities.
He could easily regenerate a new pair of Byakugan, but the moment they grew back, they would immediately react with his further-evolved body and begin developing into a "Tenseigan embryonic vessel." This process would trigger a resonance with the Giant Tenseigan on the moon, exposing his location and inviting scrutiny and attacks from the Otsutsuki clan of the moon.
Therefore, after a brief evaluation, Hyuga Yu decided that unless he faced a truly insurmountable foe—a terrifying entity like Madara Uchiha—he would not instantaneously regenerate a pair of Byakugan to fight.
At all other times, any ordinary Byakugan he regenerated would strictly be harvested for research or saved for his later attempts to cultivate a second Giant Tenseigan.
With his current baseline Kage-level combat strength—scoring 67 points across the eight shinobi attributes—combined with the terrifying auxiliary powers of the Tenseigan, he had more than enough power to run rampant across the shinobi world until his true Tenseigan cultivation plan was completed.
Under these self-imposed restrictions, Hyuga Yu's scouting capabilities had plummeted, his pressure-manipulating Wind Release was locked away, and he could no longer even maintain his Wind Release: Flowing Steel. His ninjutsu, taijutsu, and mobility were significantly degraded across the board.
Yet, this setback came with a silver lining. Once the Wind Release factors were completely stripped from the Caged Bird chakra, the microscopic "Yang Release life force material" within Hyuga Yu's body spontaneously fused with the Caged Bird chakra, giving birth to pure Yang Release Tenseigan chakra. This, in turn, allowed him to gain a rudimentary understanding of how to apply Yang Release nature transformation.
Granted, true Yang Release—the kind used by Six Paths Sage Mode Naruto to breathe life into form and instantly save a dying Might Guy—was still far beyond Hyuga Yu's current reach.
What he comprehended was the Tenseigan's distinct method of utilizing Yang Release.
It was akin to the pure Yang Release Tenseigan chakra orbs wielded by Toneri Otsutsuki. Once fired, they could devour an opponent's ninjutsu in a manner resembling Dark Release. It could also remotely siphon the target's chakra upon piercing their body.
To a certain degree, this was a Tenseigan-exclusive version of the Preta Path ability.
Toneri Otsutsuki had once used this ability to drain Naruto's chakra to absolute zero on multiple occasions. Its sole flaw was that it could not absorb the chakra of anyone belonging to the Hamura lineage.
Hyuga Yu had named this ability—Yang Release: Organic Mutual Devouring.
Operating on the exact same principles as the mass of Yang Release Tenseigan chakra he had synthesized in the Kirigakure Yang Release Lab, Hyuga Yu manipulated his own Yang-transformed cells to fuse with his Tenseigan chakra. This hyperpolarized the mitochondrial membrane potential of his cellular tissue, causing ATP production to explode exponentially. He could then direct the Yang Release Tenseigan chakra derived from these cells to strike down enemies or deploy it around his body as an absolute barrier.
In an unbridled fashion, it would absorb and devour any matter capable of providing energy for its growth, proliferating and mutating frantically.
It sustained this process by burning through cellular vitality at an insane rate, ultimately collapsing into a powdery mass of inorganic matter.
In short, this was an "invincible" power purchased at the cost of one's own life force. It could nullify any conventional ninjutsu thrown at Hyuga Yu, with the sole exceptions being the Hamura lineage's chakra, taijutsu, and senjutsu.
To put it even more simply, when Hyuga Yu fought using this form of Yang Release, he was trading away his very lifespan.
Take this exact moment, for instance—
Hyuga Yu commanded Yang Release: Organic Mutual Devouring to strip Kakuzu of his chakra entirely. He then recalled the consumed chakra, utilizing the "Yang Release: Organic Rebirth" method he had acquired from devouring the Chimera Beast to convert it back into his own vitality. To visualize this transaction more clearly:
[Hyuga Yu expends lifespan to block Kakuzu's Earth Grudge Fear: Final Shot — Lifespan: -0.5 months.]
[Hyuga Yu expends lifespan to attack Kakuzu — Lifespan: -0.5 months.]
[Kakuzu is hit — Lifespan: -1.5 months.]
[Hyuga Yu reclaims the chakra — Lifespan: +1.2 months.]
Though the process incurred a slight net loss, without reclaiming the chakra—or if he lacked the prerequisite skill of Yang Release: Organic Rebirth entirely—Hyuga Yu would be throwing away months or even years of his life for nothing.
And this absurdly reckless style of combat originated from a secret record of the moon's Otsutsuki clan, which Hyuga Yu had extracted from the Giant Tenseigan earlier:
[Sentinel — Ultimate Tenseigan Warrior Cultivation Blueprint of the Hyuga Clan (Failed)]!
This document chronicled a bizarre history. Long ago, when the Otsutsuki clan of the moon departed the shinobi world, they left behind the Caged Bird cursed seal, the Eighty Gods Vacuum Attack, and a Main and Branch family caste system modeled exactly after their own.
Their grand design was to bring any Hyuga genius who thrived under this crucible up to the moon. There, they would pour the power of the Giant Tenseigan into them to awaken a true Tenseigan, forging them into sentinels and frontline vanguards to protect the shinobi world from the extraterrestrial Otsutsuki clan. However, while the concept was flawless on paper, reality proved bitterly disappointing.
The Giant Tenseigan, which the moon's Otsutsuki clan had poured their heart and soul into creating, possessed an inherent, catastrophic flaw. Consequently, the warriors born from its power were deformed from the very beginning.
The records revealed that:
The vast majority of "Hyuga Tennin" fought using this exact Yang Release variant of Tenseigan chakra.
Unlike Hyuga Yu, who had mastered Wind Release to an art form, ordinary members of the Hyuga clan rarely trained in ninjutsu. When they received the Caged Bird chakra, the latent Tenseigan chakra attributes that awakened spontaneously were limited to the hidden Yin and Yang releases. Compared to the notoriously elusive Yin Release, the "Hyuga Tennin" who practiced the Gentle Fist style would inevitably lean toward the Yang Release attribute as their mastery over the Caged Bird chakra deepened, culminating in the birth of Yang Release Tenseigan chakra.
Compounding the issue, every generation of Tennin would inevitably be driven insane by the influence of the Giant Tenseigan. Once lost to madness, they recognized neither friend nor foe, fighting without any regard for the consequences. Thus, this self-destructive style of combat—tailor-made for madmen—was independently derived by successive generations of Tennin.
This meant that even if the moon's Otsutsuki clan became too preoccupied with their own lunar crises to monitor the Hyuga Tennin born in the shinobi world, these ultimate warriors would, without fail, walk themselves straight down the path of self-destruction...
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