Chapter 156: Byakugan and Sharingan

The Leaf's guest house is built quite large; in any case, for ninjas, infrastructure has never been a difficult task, so the entire guest house consists of four buildings in total.

The Iwagakure and Cloud Ninja Village each occupied one building, and upon entering the buildings, they immediately cast barriers and seals.

This is actually quite normal in the Ninja World; there has never been such a thing as trust between ninja villages.

Ever since the Second Hokage and Second Raikage signed a truce agreement, only to be wiped out by the brothers Kinkaku and Ginkaku, even when village leaders hold negotiations, both sides must find a permanently neutral country.

Under these circumstances, the negotiating envoys who come to other ninja villages naturally set up barriers at the first opportunity, at least to guard against eavesdropping by other ninjas.

Night quietly descends; at this moment, the ninjas of the two villages, currently within their seal barriers, have all been summoned together by their respective leaders to begin secret discussions.

"You are all elites of the Cloud Ninja Village, so this time, I will not hide anything from you."

"Coming to the Leaf to sign a peace agreement is only one of our tasks; our true mission is actually to incite a conflict between the Leaf and the Rock Ninja!"

Coincidentally, at this very moment in the Iwagakure building, the same scene was unfolding:

"The peace agreement is absolutely untrustworthy; the Leaf is likely using it as a stalling tactic. To avoid the Rock Ninja's period of weakness in a few years, we must make the Leaf turn its target toward the Cloud Ninja Village!"

"Therefore, although we came to the Leaf with the Cloud Ninja this time and appear to be united, in reality, our goal is to incite a war between the Cloud Ninja and the Leaf!"

"So this time, our target is the Hyuga Clan!"

"Rest assured, I have already gathered the intelligence; the Uchiha Clan and the Leaf have never really gotten along, so inside their compound, there happens to be a blind spot for the Leaf's perception barriers!"

"Given the nature of those Cloud Ninja barbarians, it is perfectly normal for them to covet such a powerful Bloodline Limit!"

"Lord Huoguang, then how should we incite the dispute between the Leaf and the Cloud Ninja? Do you mean we should impersonate the Cloud Ninja and go cut down the Leaf's people?"

In the Cloud Ninja Village building, the leader of the Cloud Ninja, who appeared to be all muscle during the day, spoke eloquently:

"Given the assertiveness of that Lady Tsunade of the Leaf, if such a thing were to happen while the three ninja villages are negotiating peace, Tsunade would absolutely tear through all of our brains!"

The Iwagakure delegation was also deliberating simultaneously:

"Therefore, the target of our attack this time must be carefully selected; we must choose a ninja clan that is very insular and has distant relations with the Leaf."

"If you think you can keep a secret under the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Ninjutsu, I can grant you this privilege and let you go out and cut people down!"

"This time, our target is those Sharingan of the Uchiha!"

"Of the Leaf's three great ninja clans, the Senju Clan rebuilt by Tsunade is not to be considered; we certainly cannot provoke them."

The ninja who spoke shrank his head and immediately stopped talking. Who in the entire Ninja World doesn't know the tyranny of the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Secret Technique? Unless one plants a seal in their own brain that can blow their own brains into mush, no ninja can keep a secret under the Yamanaka Clan's Mind Secret Technique.

"Lord Huoguang... the Uchiha are not easy to deal with. Although those 'red-eye' patients are arrogant, their strength is truly beyond reproach, and I'm afraid we might not necessarily..."

"Are you stupid?!! If it were really such a task without technical requirements, would it need everyone to conspire?!"

"Boss, did you make a mistake? To steal from the home base of the Byakugan... those 'cataract' patients, if even one of them has a bit of vigilance, we're all finished! The Transformation Technique cannot fool those 'cataract' patients."

"Moreover... we cannot just foolishly attack directly. Everyone is not a fool; who would do something without benefits? At the very least, we must find an excuse that can truly bring benefits to the ninja village!"

"It just so happens that this time we can catch them off guard! Once we collect the Byakugan, we will secretly send them to the Iwagakure delegation; by then, no matter how they explain it, it will be useless!"

"Only the Uchiha and the Hyuga remain. By comparison, the strategic value of the Hyuga's Byakugan is greater and more in line with the interests of group-oriented ninjas like the Rock Ninja!"

"Think about that Leaf prodigy Uchiha Obito; he was originally just a Chunin, but after his Sharingan evolved to the Three-Tomoe, he could even trade blows with Shadow-level powerhouses, and several Jonin have already died at his hands."

"Directly transforming into Rock Ninja to attack Leaf ninjas is not only easy to expose, but the method is too crude. With the ninja mindset of 'better to kill by mistake than to let one go,' neither of our villages would end up well."

"It doesn't matter; I have already inquired. This is the Leaf, after all. To avoid seeing things they shouldn't see in their own houses, the Hyuga Clan does not activate their Byakugan here in the Leaf!"

"And those Uchiha haven't set up barriers in their own compound either. I really don't know what they are thinking. To be arrogant to this extent, today we Rock Ninja will teach them a lesson!"

"But the Uchiha who have awakened the Sharingan are all very difficult to deal with..."

"I have obtained specific intelligence: the son of the Uchiha Clan head, the nine-year-old Itachi Uchiha, has awakened the Three-Tomoe Sharingan!"

"Even if this Itachi Uchiha is a genius, at nine years old, what level of strength can he have? At most, he's a Special Jonin—when that Kakashi Hatake was nine, he was only an ordinary Chunin!"

"Could it be that our elites of the Iwagakure cannot even deal with a mere ordinary Chunin?"

The thoughts of the Iwagakure and Cloud Ninja Village delegations are naturally unknown to the current Leaf ninjas.

Because of this, after nightfall, the ninjas from the two delegations left quietly, and they were not discovered by the Leaf's Anbu either.

Ninja techniques are varied and numerous; these ninjas selected for the delegations are all elites. If they are determined to hide, it is naturally difficult for those ordinary Chunin Anbu to figure out the clues.

Late at night, in the Hyuga Clan compound, several ninjas wearing Iwagakure forehead protectors walked in quietly.

"I say, will this really work? Just using makeup on the face and such..."

"Rest assured, those 'cataract' patients of the Hyuga, because they possess the ability to see through chakra, this kind of makeup that doesn't use any chakra can actually deceive them."

The Cloud Ninja leader spoke in a low voice. Of course, if the Hyuga Clan truly exerted their Byakugan to the fullest and looked carefully, they would certainly be able to see the clues through their X-ray vision, but usually, there wouldn't be a Hyuga so idle; in battle, their focus is always on chakra.

To put it plainly, this is a problem of being in the blind spot under the light.

'I hope everything goes smoothly and we don't run into any adult Hyuga ninjas!'

Perhaps the heavens heard the prayers of these people; this time, their operation was surprisingly smooth, and they soon reached the location of their target.

Under the moonlight of the night, a three-year-old little girl who looked quite young was practicing in a milky voice.

Beside this little girl, there was also a short-haired Hyuga female ninja keeping watch, though judging from the chakra radiating from that female ninja, she should also just be an ordinary Chunin.

It is easy for the Hyuga Clan to awaken the Byakugan, but in terms of combat power, they are far inferior to the Uchiha. The Gentle Fist, this Ninja Body Technique, can only be said to be very distinctive, but it really cannot be considered a top-tier heritage.

Therefore, most of the ninjas in the Hyuga Clan are still at the Chunin level, at most being slightly stronger than the average Chunin because of the Byakugan.

"This is the heir to the Hyuga Clan's main house, Hinata Hyuga!"

"A Chunin from the Hyuga branch family? How lucky..."

The Cloud Ninja had long since gathered the news that Hiashi Hyuga and his wife had left, otherwise they would not have dared to sneak directly into Hinata Hyuga's house; the reputation of the heads of the Leaf's three great ninja clans is still somewhat intimidating.

Although compared to Uchiha Fugaku, who is suspected of having the Mangekyo, and Tsunade Senju, Hiashi Hyuga is undoubtedly a big fraud, and it is not certain he could beat the several Cloud Ninja Elite Jonin who infiltrated the Hyuga Clan.

"Alright, stop discussing here, prepare to move!"

The Cloud Ninja made a few hand gestures, and then, without another word, several ninjas rushed into the small courtyard!

"Who are you..."

The young Hyuga female ninja hadn't even finished speaking when she felt the ground beneath her feet vanish and was dragged underground by a Rock Ninja.

"Earth Release: Hiding Like a Mole Technique!"

Another Cloud Ninja said nothing, simply pressing a hand lightly onto her head, and this female ninja of the Hyuga Clan rolled her eyes back and fainted.

"You... what are you trying to do? What did you do to Natsu?"

Hyuuga Hinata, who was only a little over three years old, was shocked to see this scene, but even though she was trembling with fear, she still did not run away, instead taking up a Gentle Fist stance.

The Cloud Ninja naturally had no intention of answering her question; with a *slap*, little Hinata was knocked unconscious, and then a Medical Ninja walked up, extracted the eyes, placed them into a test tube, and stopped Hyuuga Hinata's bleeding—the whole sequence of actions was performed in one smooth motion.

The reason for not killing Hyuuga Natsu and for treating Hyuuga Hinata was actually just to prevent the smell of blood from leaking out; ninjas who have experienced the battlefield are always very sharp, and once the smell of blood spreads, it is easily discovered.

"The operation was a success... let's retreat quickly!"

Truth be told, the group had not expected the plan to succeed so easily; from start to finish, they had only dealt with a three-year-old girl and a Hyuga Chunin with no combat experience.

Well, although Hyuuga Natsu was a member of the Hyuga Clan, she had never been on a battlefield, and one could tell just by the maid outfit she was wearing that she was not a combat-type ninja.

Don't let the fact that she practiced Gentle Fist and could activate the Byakugan fool you; in reality, a Chunin who hasn't seen blood like her couldn't even beat those experienced, wily Genin!

Several ninjas left the scene at high speed, disappearing without a trace.

Just as these Cloud Ninjas reached the courtyard wall and were about to leave the Hyuga Clan grounds, a loud *boom* echoed from the direction of the distant Konoha!

"What's going on!?"

"Someone is attacking... that's the Uchiha! Is someone attacking the Uchiha Clan?"

"You must be joking, who would dare provoke that bunch of manic red-eyed freaks? Could it be they're having a civil war?"

"Wait, no... something happened to Lady Hinata!!!"

A group of Hyuga Byakugan users activated their Byakugan to scan the surroundings after the explosion, and they easily saw the unconscious Hyuuga Natsu and Hyuuga Hinata, who had already lost her eyes.

At this, the Hyuga Clan, who had been holding a "watch the Uchiha show" attitude, truly exploded!

"Damn it, what exactly is going on? Who on earth went to attack the Uchiha Clan?"

The Cloud Ninja leader fled the Hyuga Clan in a hurry; fortunately, they had already reached the edge of the Hyuga Clan grounds, and they had left after just hopping over a wall.

Moreover, the Hyuga Clan's attention was all drawn to Hyuuga Hinata, so they naturally did not discover these fleeing Cloud Ninjas.

However...

"You Rock Ninja, why are you coming out of my Hyuga Clan grounds!"

The group of Cloud Ninjas cursed their bad luck; the ninja before them had long, flowing hair and a pair of Byakugan eyes wide open—most importantly, this guy wasn't wearing a forehead protector!

As everyone knows, the Hyuga Clan is divided into the Main House and the Branch House, and to distinguish whether a Hyuga ninja is from the Main House or the Branch House, one only needs to look at their head.

Those with a forehead protector on their head are likely Branch House ninjas, while those with the forehead protector on their waist are one hundred percent Hyuga Main House ninjas!

It would be one thing if it were just a Hyuga Main House ninja; after all, although Main House ninjas can learn more Secret Techniques, they generally have no combat experience, and their strength is not necessarily stronger than that of Branch House ninjas.

But while a typical Hyuga Main House ninja might not be stronger than a Branch House ninja, the appearance and attire of the person before them was clearly the head of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hiashi!

"Exposed—the Byakugan is already in hand anyway, everyone scatter and run!"

The Cloud Ninja leader shouted, and the few of them immediately assumed a running posture, and upon hearing this, Hyuga Hiashi's eyes widened:

"What!! The Byakugan is in hand... what have you all done?!!"

There were never many members of the Hyuga Main House; to be precise, there were at most two or three per generation, and the total number across several generations of the Hyuga would not exceed ten.

And among these fewer than ten ninjas, the vast majority were adults; even if their strength was lacking, it would be very difficult to kill them silently, so the easiest Byakugan to obtain—was that of his own daughter, Hyuuga Hinata!

Thinking of this, Hyuga Hiashi was extremely anxious; he clasped his hands together, activated his Byakugan, and prepared to go straight for the leader of the Rock Ninja.

At that very instant, the leader of the Rock Ninja revealed a sinister smile at the corner of his mouth and likewise performed a Seal with his hands:

"Lightning Style: Lightning Illusion Flash Pillar!"

Oh no!! Hyuga Hiashi was shocked; just as the veins around his eyes bulged and he had just activated his eyes, the blinding lightning light instantly caused his eyes a sharp pain, and Hyuga Hiashi let out a scream:

"No, you are Cloud..."

"You know too much!"

(End of chapter)