Hizashi Hyuga, once the pride of the clan for his mastery of the Gentle Fist, felt as though his strikes were vanishing into a vast, bottomless ocean. No matter how precise his movements, he couldn't land a single meaningful blow.
In just over a dozen exchanges, Hizashi was inwardly shaken. His opponent moved with an almost casual grace atop the narrow wall, parrying every high-speed assault with just one hand. The pale moonlight glinted off the white, three-eyed fox mask, giving it a cold, metallic sheen. The stranger seemed to be studying him, his gaze thoughtful and detached.
Hizashi pushed his Byakugan to its limit. The veins around his temples bulged with the effort to see through the enemy's disguise.
But beneath that mask, he saw only a profound, swirling darkness—a void that seemed to swallow his vision and make his soul tremble. A wave of inexplicable terror washed over him, causing his focus to waver for a split second.
Menma seized the opening.
His fist blurred, the wind shrieking as it wrapped around his knuckles. The blow slammed into Hizashi's face, hurling him off the wall.
Hizashi twisted mid-air, barely managing to land on his feet. Cold sweat poured down his back as he looked up. The mysterious figure still stood tall on the wall, eyes cold and calculating, silently judging his every breath.
Swish—
At the critical moment, Hiashi Hyuga moved like a white falcon taking flight, launching himself at the intruder. Hizashi followed immediately. The two brothers, locked in perfect synchronization, unleashed the legendary coordination of the Hyuga bloodline.
Hiashi led the charge, chakra coiling around his palms as he roared:
"Eight Trigrams... Sixty-Four Palms!"
Hizashi instantly read his brother's intent, positioning himself to form a pincer attack. His hands blurred into a flurry of strikes:
"Eight Trigrams... Thirty-Two Palms!"
The combined assault wove a dense web of chakra, closing in on the masked man from both sides. On the wall, three shadows flickered and clashed. The resulting shockwaves of chakra whipped up a violent gale, forcing the nearby Hyuga guards to shield their faces, struggling just to stay upright in the storm.
"Great Spiralling Ring: Lesser!"
Menma decided it was time to end the display. His right hand clenched, condensing a sphere of swirling black chakra. He aimed it precisely at the single-degree blind spot in Hizashi's defense.
In an instant, the chill of death enveloped Hizashi. Without hesitation, he forced chakra to erupt from every tenketsu in his body, creating a spinning, cerulean dome of pure energy.
"Eight Trigrams Palms... Revolving Heaven!"
BOOM!
The Lesser Spiralling Ring slammed into the rotating shield. The violent, dark chakra tore through the defense like paper, blasting Hizashi backward.
Spurt—
A spray of blood erupted from Hizashi's mouth as his body was sent flying several meters away.
"Hizashi!"
Hiashi's panicked cry had barely left his lips when a cold voice whispered directly into his ear.
"Your turn."
The masked man had flickered in front of Hiashi, moving with impossible speed. His hands were wreathed in massive amounts of chakra, shifting into the shape of snarling, translucent lion heads.
"What! How do you know—"
Hiashi's hair stood on end. He tried to initiate his own Revolving Heaven, but the stranger was faster.
"Twin Lion Fists!"
Menma's twin strikes buried themselves into Hiashi's chest. The Hyuga Patriarch was sent hurtling from the wall like a kite with its string cut.
"Lord Patriarch!"
The guards scrambled forward, forming a protective circle around their fallen leader.
Under the high moon, Uzumaki Menma stood tall upon the grand gate of the Hyuga estate. Behind the fox mask, his cold gaze swept over the entire compound.
"Who... who are you?"
Hiashi forced himself up. His chest was heavily injured, a trail of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth as he stared at the figure above.
'Menma, a lot of ninjas are closing in fast,' the Little Nine-Tails whispered, her small head peeking out from his fur collar.
Flicker—
Menma vanished and reappeared beside the corpse of the Cloud Head Ninja.
"All gifts of fate come with a hidden price tag," Menma said, tilting his mask slightly toward Hiashi.
He then turned his gaze toward the crater where Hizashi lay.
"I will be back."
Swish! Swish! Swish!
Dozens of silhouettes descended upon the Hyuga compound.
"Patriarch Hiashi! The Anbu are here to investigate!"
A shinobi with a cat mask and white hair landed on a nearby utility pole, a short blade strapped to his back.
Even the battle-hardened Kakashi was stunned by the scene. The Hyuga Patriarch was wounded, and Hizashi was lying in a crater, his life force flickering. The elite Hyuga guards looked as if they were facing a god.
"This one's bounty is quite significant," the stranger remarked, hoisting the corpse from the ground.
Kakashi squinted. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized the body.
It was the Cloud Envoy!
"Impossible! The Envoy is supposed to be at..." an Anbu officer gasped.
Before they could react, the masked man leaped back onto the high wall with the body in tow.
"Such speed!"
Even as an Anbu Captain, Kakashi realized this opponent was on another level.
But the stranger had no intention of staying. With a few flickers of movement, he vanished into the dark expanse of the night.
"Pursue him!" Kakashi ordered.
He lunged forward, followed by a swarm of Anbu. They couldn't let him take that body. It was a slap in the face to Konoha—and a direct insult to the Third Hokage.
Once the chaos had moved away, Hiashi clutched his chest and limped toward the medics treating his brother.
"Brother..." Hizashi gasped. The dark chakra of the Spiralling Ring had shredded the skin on his back, leaving a wound that exposed the bone.
Surviving an S-rank level attack like that was a miracle in itself.
"Don't speak! Tokuma, get Hizashi to the hospital immediately!" Hiashi barked.
"Yes, sir!"
Tokuma Hyuga bowed and hoisted Hizashi onto his back, sprinting toward the medical center.
As the dust settled, Hiashi felt a wave of lingering dread. If that masked stranger hadn't appeared, and he had killed the Cloud Envoy himself, the diplomatic fallout would have been catastrophic. It could have restarted the war, costing thousands more lives.
'But... that man... why did he use the Twin Lion Fists?'
Hiashi could still feel the searing heat in his chest.
'That strike...'
"Huh?"
A young voice broke his train of thought.
He turned to see his daughter, Hinata, standing nearby. She had finally woken up. Looking at the wreckage of her home, her chubby face held an expression of maturity that was entirely out of place for her age.
"Tch," little Hinata muttered, putting a hand on her hip and pouting in annoyance.
"Hey, old man. Did you drag me out here in the middle of the night just to go window shopping?"
Pfft—
Hiashi felt a sudden tightness in his chest, nearly coughing up another mouthful of blood.
'Oh no! The Eldest Lady's second personality is out again!'
Ko Hyuga, one of the guards, paled and instinctively took a half-step back.