An enraged voice rang out.
The next instant, an Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm slammed directly into Izumi Saburo.
The violent chakra sent him flying, smashing through the trunks of several large trees along the way.
“Gah…” Saburo spat out a large mouthful of blood.
Although Kumogakure shinobi were renowned for their powerful bodies and their mastery of techniques combining ninjutsu and physical combat, taking a direct hit from an Eight Trigrams: Vacuum Palm without warning had still left him severely injured.
“How dare you kidnap my daughter?!” Hiashi Hyūga arrived with dozens of Hyūga shinobi and surrounded Saburo and the others.
His Byakugan blazed with fury.
The other hidden villages had always coveted the Byakugan, but openly targeting the young heiress of the Hyūga clan within Konoha’s territory was unprecedented.
“Put Hinata down, and I’ll spare your lives!” “Lightning Release: False Darkness!” Saburo didn’t answer.
His hands rapidly formed a sequence of hand seals, and Lightning Release chakra transformed into a bolt of lightning that shot toward Hiashi.
“Struggling in vain…” Hiashi snorted coldly and shifted his body, easily avoiding Saburo’s Lightning Release.
“You fell for it!” Saburo suddenly laughed.
His true objective had never been to defeat Hiashi with Lightning Release.
It was to draw Hiashi’s attention away.
And his purpose?
“Hinata…” Hiashi and the surrounding Hyūga shinobi immediately used the Body Flicker Technique to rescue Hinata.
But Saburo and his men had come prepared to die.
The moment Hiashi realized what they intended to do, the three chūnin holding Hinata had already drawn their kunai and slashed toward her neck.
Even the Body Flicker Technique required a certain amount of reaction time.
The kunai was already only a hair’s breadth from Hinata’s throat.
There wasn’t enough time.
Hiashi’s eyes widened in fury.
He desperately wished he could reach Hinata instantly and take the blow for her.
“Hahahahaha!
In the end, we’ve still won!” Saburo laughed maniacally.
Just a little more.
As long as his subordinate applied a little force, the Hyūga clan’s young heiress would be dead.
Then the rest of their plan could proceed.
However, in the next instant, Saburo’s laughter abruptly stopped.
Hiashi and the others also came to a halt.
A small hand had caught the kunai just before it reached Hinata.
No matter how hard its owner pushed, he couldn’t drive the blade any farther.
The edge of the kunai was only a hair’s breadth from Hinata’s throat.
Yet that tiny distance had suddenly become as vast as the distance between heaven and earth.
“Just give up already.
Mind…” Sakura had used the Space Stone to teleport directly beside Hinata and seize the kunai.
A faint yellow light flashed through her eyes.
The man holding the kunai, who had still been struggling moments earlier, suddenly went limp and collapsed unconscious.
“Lightning Release: Earth Walk!
You can all die together!” Saburo’s frenzied shout rang out.
A bolt of lightning spread from beneath his feet and shot straight toward Sakura and Hinata.
Hiashi had only just relaxed when his heart immediately leapt back into his throat.
“Still refusing to give up?
A Lightning Release technique?
Here, have it back.” Sakura closed her oil-paper umbrella and placed it on the Demon Sword.
Holding Hinata with one hand, she extended her other hand.
Purple energy swirled in her palm.
The Lightning Release Saburo had unleashed was directly absorbed by the purple energy the instant it approached Sakura.
Then the purple energy, mixed with blue Lightning Release chakra, shot out from Sakura’s palm and roared toward Saburo.
“How is that possible?!
Aah—!” Saburo’s eyes widened in disbelief.
The enhanced Lightning Release: Earth Walk, empowered by the Power Stone, was simply too fast.
The moment Saburo even thought about dodging, the intertwined blue-and-purple lightning had already reached him.
The enhanced Lightning Release struck Saburo head-on, eliciting a scream of agony.
And when the lightning finally subsided, the severely injured Saburo was immediately subjected to another assault.
“Eight Trigrams: Two Palms… Four Palms… Eight Palms… Sixteen Palms… Thirty-Two Palms… Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!” After seeing his daughter face death twice in succession, Hiashi Hyūga had completely lost control.
His barrage of Gentle Fist strikes sent Saburo into the air, where he was subjected to the full sequence of the Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms.
When Hiashi finally withdrew his hands, Saburo had collapsed to the ground.
He was thoroughly dead.
What puzzled everyone, however, was the faint smile of having accomplished his scheme that remained on Saburo’s face.
“Damn it.
I acted on impulse…” Hiashi’s expression changed.
Regret filled his heart.
Saburo had been sent by Kumogakure to negotiate a peace treaty.
Yet now he was dead beneath the Hyūga clan’s Eight Trigrams.
Hiashi could figure out with his toes that Kumogakure would certainly use this as an excuse to make trouble.
“F-Father…” Hinata regained consciousness after the Hyūga shinobi dispelled the effects of the sleeping drug.
When she realized that she had somehow ended up in a forest, a bewildered expression appeared on her face.
“Hinata, are you hurt?
Were you frightened?
Father’s here.
Don’t be afraid…” Hiashi, who had been wearing a grim expression just moments ago, instantly transformed into the picture of a warm, doting father.
He used the Body Flicker Technique to appear beside Hinata and took her hand, anxiously checking on her.
“Daughter-obsessed…” That word suddenly appeared in Sakura’s mind.
The Hiashi standing before her was completely a doting father, with none of the disappointment toward Hinata that he had shown in the original story.
Then again, it wasn’t surprising.
Hizashi Hyūga hadn’t yet sacrificed himself to protect Hiashi.
Hinata was only four years old and hadn’t even begun training seriously.
She hadn’t yet suffered the defeat that would occur when her reluctance to hurt her younger sister resulted in Hanabi defeating her.
Naturally, Hiashi wouldn’t have the same disappointment in Hinata’s talent that he had displayed in the original story.
Still, seeing Hiashi in full-on overprotective father mode was enough to leave Sakura completely dumbfounded.
Late that night, a group of people gathered inside the Third Hokage’s office.
The Third Hokage sat behind his desk, smoking his pipe.
Standing before him were Hiashi Hyūga, Sakura, and Hinata.
“It seems that apart from signing the peace treaty, Kumogakure’s true objective this time was probably the Hyūga clan’s Byakugan.” The Third Hokage took a puff of his pipe, his expression solemn.
“The biggest problem now is that they came here publicly to negotiate a peace treaty, yet one of their shinobi somehow ended up dead beneath the Hyūga clan’s Eight Trigrams techniques.
Given Kumogakure’s nature, they’ll certainly use this as an excuse to cause trouble!” “If war breaks out, the Hyūga clan will fully support you, Hokage-sama!” Hiashi’s expression was cold.
Thinking about the psychological trauma Hinata might have suffered, he almost wanted to dig Saburo and the others out of their graves and beat them all over again.
“The Third Shinobi World War only ended recently.
If another war breaks out…” The Third Hokage felt an enormous headache coming on.
In the end, he could only wave his hand.
“For now, we’ll leave things as they are.
What happens next depends on Kumogakure’s attitude.” “Then we’ll head home first, Grandpa Third!” Sakura sat atop the Demon Sword, lazily nodding off.
Beside her, Hinata was also sitting on the Demon Sword, looking incredibly curious about the experience of flying.
“Yes.
Sakura, you did very well this time.
If you hadn’t discovered them and held them up in time, they really might have succeeded in kidnapping Hinata.” The Third Hokage smiled.
A kekkei genkai was extremely important to every hidden village, and one like the Byakugan, which could potentially be transplanted, was even more valuable.
No village wanted an enemy village to acquire such a powerful kekkei genkai.
“Hiashi, you should head home as well.
I’ll summon the village elders to discuss what happens next, and I’ll inform you once we’ve reached a decision.” “Understood!” Hiashi nodded.
But the moment he turned toward Hinata, his expression once again transformed into a warm, affectionate smile.
“Hinata, let’s go home with Father.
Tomorrow, I’ll take you to visit Big Sis Sakura during the day.
How does that sound?” “Mm.
Goodbye, Big Sis Sakura!” Hinata softly bid Sakura farewell before being led away by Hiashi.
Seeing this, Sakura said goodbye to the Third Hokage before controlling the Demon Sword and flying out through the window.
The sight left the Third Hokage speechless for a moment before he burst into an amused smile.
For some reason, the scene reminded him of his favorite student—the man who had always loved climbing out of windows.
Jiraiya.