This was only what he could see.
Beyond his vision lay a stretch of darkness, hiding things he couldn't perceive at all.
A blind spot in his sight—one that didn't seem large at first glance.
But once extended over distance, its impact was enormous.
This was the restriction the Caged Bird Seal imposed on the branch family.
Hyuga Arin moved at extreme speed, like a wraith slipping through the forest.
The Byakugan helped him scout, preventing him from running straight into an encirclement.
Tsunade's chakra—and that of the two Hyuga brothers—had already vanished completely from his perception.
He stuffed the backpack directly into his inventory.
One backpack occupied only a single slot.
His inventory had a total of thirty-six slots, nearly half of which were already filled with miscellaneous items.
With the backpack gone, his speed increased yet again.
As he constantly shifted directions, Hyuga Arin also confirmed the number of pursuers.
Five chūnin.
"If I kill all five of them, I'll get at least five thousand experience—almost enough for two levels."
Chūnin gave a huge amount of experience. Each one was worth over a thousand points.
If this were a game, he wouldn't even consider counterkilling.
Game monsters had HP bars—you couldn't kill them unless you drained the bar completely.
Sneak attacks were largely meaningless.
But reality was different.
People died when they were killed.
Heart, neck, brain—any fatal injury meant death, not just a reduction in HP.
In-game, an explosive tag might deal five hundred damage.
In reality, a single explosive tag could kill outright.
Hyuga Arin clenched his teeth.
"Let's do it."
His forward speed suddenly dropped.
The five chūnin behind him gradually closed the distance.
Among the interwoven trees, both sides finally caught sight of one another.
The enemy ninja struck first.
"Wind Release · Condensed Wind Bullet!"
One ninja spat out a compressed blast of violent wind, firing it straight at Hyuga Arin.
Hyuga Arin's figure flickered and vanished.
The five chūnin stopped instantly, four spreading out to guard the ninja in the center.
"Careful—there might be traps!" the central ninja suddenly shouted.
Chi—!
Steel wires appeared from all directions, rapidly tightening inward.
Shuriken spun through the air around them, each tied with steel wire. As the shuriken circled, the wires formed tightening loops.
A dark-skinned man stood among them, a Sand Village forehead protector on his head.
It was… not very convincing.
Lightning crackled along the blade in his hand.
"Lightning Release · Lightning-Speed Slash!"
With a flash of lightning, he sliced through the steel wires in an instant.
The ninja in the center pointed sharply in one direction.
"He's over there!"
The dark-skinned ninja charged straight toward Hyuga Arin's position, locking onto him in the bushes.
"So the one in the middle is the sensor?" Hyuga Arin immediately identified his priority target.
Shuriken appeared in both hands.
"Pulling aggro."
"Heavy Firepower Mode!"
Bear Wrestling Hands.
Countless shuriken blasted toward the charging ninja.
When his blade collided with the shuriken, his pupils shrank.
One shuriken was knocked away—but so was his blade.
There was no time to think about why the shuriken carried such terrifying force.
He rapidly formed seals.
Bang!
Smoke erupted, and a wooden log replaced the dark-skinned man.
Bang bang bang!
The log was shredded into splinters almost instantly by the shuriken barrage.
"…That strength," the remaining four muttered, expressions changing.
It was the first time they'd seen a substitution log get obliterated like that.
And at that moment, Hyuga Arin's shuriken were already flying toward them.
Trees were pierced through in an instant.
The group could only scatter rapidly.
Two tall ninja retreated far away, regrouping with the dark-skinned man.
The remaining two—wearing Cloud Village forehead protectors—escorted the sensor ninja and fled in another direction.
"Two groups, huh," Hyuga Arin muttered.
"Cloud ninja?"
Cloud ninja drops were extremely useful to him.
His figure vanished from the spot.
"He's over there!" the sensor ninja immediately pointed toward the ground.
Hyuga Arin had just landed when he raised his hand and hurled several shuriken toward her.
The three instantly jumped to another tree.
The two ninja—pretending to be Sand ninja but actually Cloud ninja—rapidly closed in on Hyuga Arin.
He had no intention of engaging in close combat.
Gentle Fist was strong, but not strong enough to fight chūnin head-on.
Substitution Technique.
His body flickered out of existence.
Only a single shuriken remained behind.
When the three arrived, Hyuga Arin was already gone.
"He's over there—he's trying to escape!" the sensor ninja shouted, locking onto him again.
The five resumed their pursuit.
As Hyuga Arin leapt between branches, he analyzed their tracking method.
After several exchanges, he was certain the sensor wasn't using a bloodline limit, but some kind of ninTechnique to lock onto him.
The five stayed tightly on his heels.
He pulled out an explosive tag from his inventory, slapped it onto a tree trunk, and kept moving.
Through the Byakugan, he watched carefully.
The five all landed on the tree with the tag—yet the sensor ninja didn't notice anything.
"So it's not chakra detection."
Hyuga Arin narrowed it down.
Explosive tags contained chakra, which couldn't be hidden from the Byakugan.
"Wind? Sound?" he thought, listening to the constant whoosh of air rushing past his ears.
His hands flew through seals.
In midair, he suddenly turned around.
Shuriken launched again.
Bear Wrestling Hands.
Unknown Fire.
The shuriken transformed into blazing fireballs, screaming toward the five.
"Boom! Boom! Boom!"
The explosion scattered them apart.
Hyuga Arin landed on a branch and immediately charged toward the nearest Cloud ninja.
The enemy formed seals at lightning speed.
Rooster—Snake—Monkey—Goat.
An unfamiliar technique.
"Lightning Release · Lightning Sphere Technique!"
Yellow lightning orbs shot toward Hyuga Arin.
In the next instant, his figure vanished again.
A shuriken intercepted the lightning spheres.
Hyuga Arin reappeared near the sensor ninja.
He kicked off the branch and rushed straight at her.
The two ninja guarding her charged instantly, kunai in hand.
Hyuga Arin pulled out a kunai and hurled it straight at the sensor.
She shifted her body left, preparing to dodge.
At that moment—
Hyuga Arin suddenly swapped places with the kunai.
He slipped past the two attackers, leaving only the kunai clattering to the ground.
The two turned in shock.
Hyuga Arin had already spread his arms and locked them around the sensor ninja's waist.
In doing so, his shoulder was pierced clean through by a kunai.
The sensor ninja's pupils contracted.
She didn't know what Hyuga Arin intended to do, but panic flickered across her delicate face.
Yes—she was a woman.
And she knew full well Hyuga Arin wasn't doing this to take advantage of her.
The next moment, Hyuga Arin vanished.
An explosive tag was stuck firmly to her leg.
The two ninja hadn't even had time to rush back.
BOOM!!
Flames swallowed the female sensor ninja whole.
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