Chapter 187: Taking Action
After everyone had left, Fuguki Suikazan finally let out a breath. He had lost a lot of face today. He had to obtain the Byakugan next; otherwise, he definitely wouldn't be able to answer for it when he returned.
He looked into the depths of the valley. Why hadn't Kushimaru Kuriarare and the others come out yet?
Kushimaru Kuriarare and his group were also having a hard time. Although Hyūga Shin's strength was considerable, he was no match for the three of them combined, not to mention they had over a dozen subordinates helping.
However, Hyūga Shin was experienced. The moment he saw the Kirigakure ninjas, he knew the danger and understood he was doomed today. So, he adopted what seemed like the most useless but actually the most time-consuming tactic: he led his three subordinates up the side of a cliff.
Then, the four of them, from their high position, attacked the charging Kirigakure ninjas. Although the Hyūga clan wasn't skilled in ninjutsu, there were various methods for long-range attacks: ninja tools, rocks, and even exploding tags.
Hyūga Shin's response was very correct. Kirigakure, despite having a clear advantage, didn't want their subordinates to risk casualties by passing through the valley. So, Kushimaru Kuriarare decided to take down these four first before going to support the valley entrance.
Hyūga Shin, seeing that Kirigakure had fallen into his trap and his tactical objective had been achieved, was no longer anxious. He began to play cat and mouse with the Kirigakure ninjas. Kushimaru Kuriarare and his group were afraid Hyūga Shin would escape; they wanted a complete annihilation. In truth, Hyūga Shin was also afraid they would go to support the valley entrance; he hoped Hyūga Tokuhiro could successfully break out.
As an Elite Jōnin of the Hyūga clan whose strength was second only to the patriarch Hyūga Tokuhiro, Hyūga Shin's individual combat ability surpassed that of Kushimaru Kuriarare and his companions. The abilities of the Hyūga clan could not be nullified by a single ninja sword.
Kushimaru Kuriarare and the other two, after their initial underestimation, became cautious. None of them dared to say something like, "I'll deal with him; you go support Fuguki Suikazan."
Finally, only after Kushimaru Kuriarare and his group had killed all three of Hyūga Shin's subordinates did they snap out of their anger. They hastily ordered their subordinates to go support Fuguki Suikazan.
As for the three of them, they still remained to encircle and kill Hyūga Shin, who was scurrying around like a rat. The face of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen had been utterly lost; they had to wash away this humiliation with Hyūga Shin's life.
It could be said that Hyūga Shin had accomplished his mission brilliantly. He had warned Hyūga Tokuhiro in time, held back three of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen and the Kirigakure ninjas on top of both cliffs, and also significantly delayed the arrival of other Kirigakure reinforcements.
By the time Fuguki Suikazan was waiting impatiently at the valley entrance, he finally saw a group of Kirigakure ninjas rushing over.
"Where are Kushimaru Kuriarare, Akebino Jinin, and Jūzō Biwa?" Fuguki Suikazan was clearly very surprised and displeased that the three hadn't appeared.
The Kirigakure ninjas looked embarrassed. One of them said, "They are still hunting down that Hyūga clan Elite Jōnin."
Hearing this, Fuguki Suikazan almost coughed up blood. It took you over a dozen people so long to deal with four individuals, and you still haven't resolved one of them?
"No more waiting! You guys, follow me and pursue!" After saying this, Fuguki Suikazan led these dozen or so men in pursuit.
What Fuguki Suikazan didn't know was that before they left, about two kilometers away, someone else had also left, following the footsteps of the Hyūga and Kirigakure ninjas.
This person was precisely Ishiro. Ishiro had hidden far away at first, only daring to approach when the battle between the Kirigakure and Hyūga ninjas was at its most intense. But in the end, Ishiro only used his sensory ninjutsu from two kilometers away to monitor the change in numbers here.
Initially, when he detected the number of Hyūga ninjas dwindling, Ishiro had thought they wouldn't be able to escape.
If the Hyūga clan couldn't break through the valley, then Ishiro wouldn't be able to do much against so many Kirigakure ninjas.
Just as Ishiro was contemplating whether he should help the Hyūga, Fuguki Suikazan, that coward, actually backed down.
Ishiro curled his lip. Indeed, he was still the same Fuguki Suikazan he remembered from the original story.
After Hyūga Tokuhiro's party left, Ishiro also followed in pursuit. Ishiro's perception range was limited, and he was similarly unable to detect what was happening in the valley. Although he found it strange that the other group of ambushing Kirigakure ninjas hadn't arrived yet, Ishiro was more afraid of losing Hyūga Tokuhiro's trail.
The Hyūga clan were all taijutsu ninjas, and their speed was not slow. Moreover, those ninjas who broke out of the encirclement were all elites among elites. So, initially, Hyūga Tokuhiro's party was increasing the distance between themselves and the Kirigakure ninjas.
However, Raiga Kurosuki later unleashed his power. He actually managed to slow down Hyūga Tokuhiro's entire group by continuously harassing them with his superior speed. Although the Kirigakure ninjas behind still couldn't catch up, at least the Hyūga clan could no longer pull away.
At this point, if Hyūga Tokuhiro had directly ordered two or three Jōnin to tie down Raiga Kurosuki, the others could naturally have escaped easily.
But he had clearly been provoked by Raiga Kurosuki and lost his rationality, failing to think of this. And while his subordinates might have thought of it, perhaps no one was willing to stay behind to cover the retreat, so surprisingly, no one proposed this method.
Ultimately, the group was still entangled by the fresh force led by Fuguki Suikazan.
At the brink of life and death, Hyūga Tokuhiro finally reacted, ordering all branch family members to stay behind and cover the rear, while he himself chose to flee alone.
To be honest, at this juncture, this decision was definitely the right one; at least he himself still had a hope of escaping. But the branch family members were also human; they also had their own thoughts.
Although, out of habit, everyone still chose to obey the order, when it came to obstructing the pursuers, they did not try as hard as Hyūga Shin had.
They held back the four Seven Ninja Swordsmen, including Fuguki Suikazan, but they let at least ten Jōnin slip past to pursue Hyūga Tokuhiro.
Fuguki Suikazan had wanted to pursue himself because he worried his subordinates wouldn't put in their full effort, especially since they were facing the patriarch of the Hyūga clan. Although Hyūga Tokuhiro's command performance was poor, his individual strength was undeniably formidable.
To prevent his subordinates from slacking off, Fuguki Suikazan gritted his teeth and shouted, "Whoever gets the Byakugan, I will recommend to Lord Mizukage that it be given to him to use!"
The effect of Fuguki Suikazan's words was obvious. The dozen or so ninjas who had been slowly pursuing suddenly charged towards the direction Hyūga Tokuhiro had fled, as if injected with chicken blood.
In the distance, Ishiro smiled faintly. After waiting so long, the opportunity had finally come.
Ishiro used the Light/Heavy Rock Technique to slowly follow behind the dozen or so pursuing Kirigakure ninjas, and his speed increased, gradually closing the distance between them.
At this point, Ishiro was no longer much afraid of being discovered by Hyūga Tokuhiro's Byakugan, because today, Hyūga Tokuhiro had to die.
Hyūga Tokuhiro was an Elite Jōnin, after all. Although he had been heavily targeted earlier, and both his stamina and chakra consumption were immense, his speed was still faster than the Kirigakure ninjas. Plus, with the Byakugan, it wasn't easy for Kirigakure to encircle him.
And although there were originally over a dozen Kirigakure ninjas in pursuit, after chasing for a short while, several ninjas whose speed was lacking gave up.
In the end, only eight people persistently clung to Hyūga Tokuhiro. Furthermore, these eight were very experienced in combat. They spread out to various positions, pursuing while attacking from a distance with shuriken.
With the 360-degree, no-blind-spot Byakugan, Hyūga Tokuhiro naturally didn't even need to turn his head to easily deflect these shuriken. But by doing so, his speed couldn't pick up, and as time went on, his stamina also began to decline.
Ultimately, Hyūga Tokuhiro was forced to make the decision to fight. Eight Jōnin – although they far outnumbered him, his individual strength was not something they could compare to. Although his stamina consumption was great, theirs wouldn't be small either.
Hyūga Tokuhiro felt he still had the strength to fight.
The reality was as he expected. He indeed still had the strength to fight. Facing the siege of eight Jōnin, he successfully counter-killed four of them, at the mere cost of consuming a massive amount of chakra and stamina. He didn't even suffer a single injury.
But it was precisely because he had no injuries that the four Kirigakure ninjas surrounding him didn't give up. Because, being experienced, they knew that this Hyūga patriarch was clearly an amateur in life-or-death battles. In this situation, suffering minor injuries was clearly better than consuming chakra and stamina.
And Hyūga Tokuhiro, on several occasions, had wasted a large amount of chakra casting Rotation just to avoid injury.
Finally, in another round of offense and defense, Hyūga Tokuhiro, due to his failing stamina, revealed an opening, and his right eye was directly gouged out by a Kirigakure ninja.
The intense pain of losing his right eye drove Hyūga Tokuhiro mad. He lashed out desperately with his palms, causing another Kirigakure ninja, unable to dodge in time, to die under his hands.
At this time, there were still three Kirigakure ninjas left. If the three cooperated, the injured and greatly depleted Hyūga Tokuhiro would surely die, and Kirigakure would have a high chance of obtaining another Byakugan.
However, the Kirigakure ninja who had obtained the Byakugan showed no hesitation at all and chose to retreat immediately. The other two were instantly furious. One of them cursed loudly, "Ao, you bastard!"
Although cursing, they didn't hesitate and also followed in Ao's footsteps, leaving. There was no choice; among the three, Ao was originally the strongest. With him gone, the remaining two, also at the end of their strength, were not necessarily Hyūga Tokuhiro's match.
As soon as the three left, Hyūga Tokuhiro staggered and almost fell. But he forced himself to stay standing because, in his Byakugan's vision, there was still an enemy hiding in the shadows.
Ishiro slowly walked in front of Hyūga Tokuhiro.
Looking at Ishiro, dressed as a Konoha Anbu, Hyūga Tokuhiro frowned deeply and asked, "Who are you?" He didn't believe Ishiro was Anbu. If he were Anbu, he wouldn't have allowed Kirigakure to obtain the Byakugan just now.
Although the Hyūga clan's relationship with Konoha's higher-ups hadn't been good in recent years, and the Anbu might watch him die, losing a Byakugan was too great a threat to Konoha. The Anbu would not tolerate a Byakugan flowing out.
Ishiro also knew this, but a few words of provocation could still be said. "The Hyūga clan is too cowardly. It's time to accept change. After your death, Master will arrange the future of the Hyūga clan. Rest assured, in Master's hands, the Hyūga clan will only usher in glory."
Ishiro spoke like a villain, rambling on with these inexplicable words.
After speaking, while Hyūga Tokuhiro was subconsciously pondering the meaning behind Ishiro's ambiguous words, Ishiro, who had long since activated his Lightning Release stimulation method, quickly closed in on Hyūga Tokuhiro and, quick as lightning, gouged out his remaining left eye. At the same time, his other hand took out a kunai and, with a light slash, directly ended Hyūga Tokuhiro's life.
Taking out a pre-prepared bottle containing nutrient solution, Ishiro placed the Byakugan inside and then sealed it with a sealing jutsu. After finishing, Ishiro shouldered Hyūga Tokuhiro's corpse and carried it for several more hours towards the Hyūga clan's camp. Finally, he threw Hyūga Tokuhiro's body on a path frequently used by Konoha patrol ninjas.
After handling all this, Ishiro then activated the Light/Heavy Rock Technique and left the troubled land of the Land of Whirlpools.
Ishiro had a chance to seize the Byakugan in Ao's hand earlier, but Ishiro didn't do so. Similarly, if Hyūga Tokuhiro's body were brought back to the village, the village could also obtain certain intelligence from it, but Ishiro didn't do that either.
Because Ishiro hoped that this Byakugan theft incident would not involve himself or Iwagakure.
Ishiro had shown his face several times. Although he was always dressed as a Konoha Anbu, Ishiro had taken action each time he appeared. If Kirigakure and Konoha knew a third party had intervened, they might be able to obtain intelligence about Ishiro from some of the clues he left behind.
Ishiro hoped that neither Konoha nor Kirigakure would notice him. As long as they didn't sit down together and discuss things calmly, their unclear words had a high probability of making them overlook Ishiro's role in it.
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