The moment she heard the words "Byakugan," Hinata's mind went blank.
So their real target… was her?
When she had been small, it had happened once already. Because of these eyes her uncle had died in Neji's place. And now, because of this same pair of Byakugan… how many people would die this time?
She looked sideways at Kiba and Shino.
Guilt surged up so thick it felt like it had weight, gnawing at her from the inside.
On the other side, Sawada Fuka, who had just survived by the skin of her teeth, stared up at the lightning-wreathed figure with naked relief between her brows.
"The Nine-Tails' jinchuriki is with that girl. As for the Byakugan…" She glanced at Hinata. "This young lady of the Hyuga main house counts as an unexpected bonus."
Yotsuki Isao nodded once.
He did not pry further.
Kumogakure needed a Byakugan. Where it came from did not matter. That "wild" Byakugan that had appeared before had never truly revealed itself. No one even knew if it was genuine. The girl from a confirmed Hyuga lineage in front of him was much more reliable.
"Call down the elephant bird and load this one first. If time allows, we take them all," he said.
"Yes."
Sawada Fuka fished the bone whistle from her pocket and put it to her lips.
Fweee.
The sharp note cut through the air.
Zzzzt.
Lightning crackled around Yotsuki Isao. Kikaichu that had crept close without a sound sizzled black in an instant.
He did not spare Shino a glance.
Once the Lightning Release Chakra Mode was active, the Yotsuki were nearly untouchable. Not only their skin but their muscles, their organs, even the spaces between their cells were flooded with electricity.
The Aburame were hit hardest by this. Their kikaichu had numbers and bite, but they could not even draw near. And if a few managed to force their way into his body, one flare of Lightning Release and every foreign thing inside would be boiled and broken down.
The kikaichu's famed devouring ability only let them die faster under high voltage.
The Yotsuki had always been the Aburame's natural enemy. From the Warring States period to now, that had never changed. Even if Shino's father and clan elders had come in person, the result would have been the same.
Moments after the whistle blew, a huge shadow fell across the forest.
All three of them looked up.
In the dark red light of sunset, a giant bird appeared on the horizon. Its body was grey-brown, its shape no different from an ordinary bird of prey, only its wingspan was so vast it resembled a moving storm cloud.
It was so big that words failed.
The elephant bird grew larger as it drew close.
Fwoom.
Its titanic wings beat the air. A gale tore through the trees.
Boom.
Talons like yellow stone slammed into the ground. The great wings flapped twice to bleed off the impact.
In the span of a heartbeat, another behemoth stood in the forest.
The three Konoha students stared up at eyes the size of washbasins. The golden eagle gaze alone made their throats tighten.
Even in such a wide stand of trees, the elephant bird's body looked cramped. Its full height was hard to judge, but when its wings began to spread, Hinata guessed the span had to be more than twenty meters.
One Yotsuki Isao was already beyond them.
Now the enemy had brought in a second monster.
Despair. Thick, choking despair filled their chests.
"What do we do, Shino," Kiba's voice cracked. He could no longer keep calm.
The clan's four-legged techniques heightened his danger sense until it was almost painful, showing him the gap between the sides in brutal clarity. He could not even find a scrap of hope.
Deep in Shino's mind, the words of the clan elder echoed.
"When a sensory-type ninja reaches a dead end, you trade your life for the enemy's secrets.
"The first technique you must learn is neither offense nor defense. It is transmission. You will carve all that you see into the kikaichu and send that intelligence onward.
"And in the end… you trust your comrades."
Bzzz.
Kikaichu crawled from beneath his sandals and burrowed into the soil.
Old man from Kumo. Bone whistle. Woman. Elephant bird.
Carrying those images, a portion of the swarm slipped free of Shino's body and scattered, racing outward like ripples of sound.
Secret Technique: Bug Cry.
Insects that lived in the dark corners of the world had only one sound. It was not a cry for help, nor a wail of fear. It was information, sent to their own, buying a sliver of life.
The Aburame called it their final song.
"The enemy's target is Hinata. Kiba, you take her and run. You must not let them steal the Byakugan," Shino ordered, calm and steady as always.
"What about you?"
Kiba stared, Akamaru perched on his head, stunned by the matter-of-fact tone.
Shino watched as another wave of kikaichu, loaded with intel, settled quietly into Akamaru's fur. Behind the tinted glasses his gaze was gentle and resolute.
"I will be with you the whole time," he said.
"You are not going anywhere."
Yotsuki Isao's body lit with lightning as he strode toward them.
While they spoke, Sawada Fuka had already climbed onto the elephant bird's back.
"Go," Shino suddenly shouted.
The shout snapped Kiba out of it.
Eyes reddening, he roared and grabbed Hinata, sprinting toward Training Ground Zero. If they could just reach a Konoha instructor, there might still be a chance.
Wait for me, Shino.
Secret Technique: Bug Sphere.
As his comrades fled, the massed kikaichu that Shino had been gathering surged out of his sleeves like a black storm. They whirled together ahead of Yotsuki Isao, forming a seething barrier.
"Childish tricks," Yotsuki snorted.
He drove lightning through his whole body and shot past the cloud of bugs straight toward Hinata.
Zzzzt.
Charred insects fell to the earth like burnt husks.
Even with all his chakra poured into the attack, Shino's Bug Sphere did not delay Yotsuki so much as a single step.
Chii.
Lightning release condensed in his hand, chirping like a thousand birds. The old Cloud shinobi's body blurred, closing the distance to Hinata in an instant. His thunder-wreathed hand formed a blade aimed at the back of her neck.
"Tōrōga!"
At the last heartbeat, Kiba's body spun like a drill. He yanked Hinata to the side and barely pulled her out of the strike's path.
The whirlwind of his rotating body wrapped around Hinata, the two of them boring away toward the distant training ground.
Lightning chakra clung to a kunai in Yotsuki's hand. Years of battle hardened his instincts. His arm twitched to throw, then stopped halfway.
He lowered it.
His massive frame leaned forward and he sprinted after them instead.
If he misjudged and killed her, those eyes would be wasted.
No matter how sharp Kiba's senses, his speed was nothing next to Lightning Release. Less than a second later, gasping for air, he found the way ahead cut off by Yotsuki Isao's looming form.
Behind them, Shino had only just begun to marshal more chakra. The next wave of kikaichu was not yet ready. There was no way to interfere.
Their desperate struggle meant nothing in the face of such overwhelming force.
It was over.
Yotsuki's eyes hardened. His lightning-wrapped hand reached down toward both their heads.
Vmmm.
The air itself shuddered.
A crescent of vacuum shot in from Training Ground Zero, aimed straight at his back.
There was no time to dodge.
The wind blade slammed into him.
Boom.
Wind and lightning collided with a screech like grinding metal.
Three figures burst from the treeline. One of them flashed through hand seals, emerald eyes hard with killing intent.
It was Kazama Etsu and the others, drawn by Hinata's signal flare.
"It is Instructor Kazama," Kiba yelled, almost giddy.
He was the strongest force at the Academy.
They might actually survive.
Shino let out a slow breath of relief and hurried to regroup with Kiba and Hinata.
Zzzzt.
Thunder and storm wrapped together. Wind Release chakra carved at Yotsuki's back but could not bite deeper, shrieking like a saw on steel.
Ping.
The Lightning Release armor around his body flared, scattering the attack. The wind blade that could slice through almost anything shattered like glass. Splinters of chakra sprayed outward and shredded the earth at his feet instead.
Boom.
Dust geysered up and was immediately whipped away by the gale.
The old man stood in the storm, clothes snapping, back muscles bulging under the skin like a grotesque mask. Wind and thunder clung to him both, and for the first time, he slowly turned to face the Konoha jonin.
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