Chapter 299: The Byakugan Gets in the Way

Chapter 299: Chapter 299: The Byakugan Gets in the Way

After his sneak attack succeeded, Hyuga Kagami immediately pulled back to the side and silently observed Shinno.

Drip...

Drip...

As Kagami abruptly pulled his sword from Shinno’s chest, a spray of blood burst from the wound under the pressure, turning into a bloody mist before splattering onto the ground.

Shinno’s face twisted in fury. One hand clutched his wound while the other pointed at Kagami. "You actually dared..."

He had never expected Kagami to suddenly attack while he was still talking, leaving him completely caught off guard.

Kagami merely flicked his sword, shaking off the droplets of blood clinging to the blade. He said nothing and continued silently observing Shinno.

As a researcher himself, Kagami understood the weaknesses of researchers all too well.

Researchers could create countless impossibilities and obtain terrifying powers beyond what ordinary people could even imagine. But limited by their shallow combat experience and mediocre fighting talent, they often couldn’t properly wield the tremendous abilities they had only just acquired.

They might possess a potential of one hundred, yet only be capable of displaying forty or fifty in actual combat.

Hiruko was a perfect example.

After completing his Kekkei Genkai fusion ritual, his strength had skyrocketed. Yet even after using every trick at his disposal, he still couldn’t defeat Kagami and Orochimaru—both of whom had been heavily restricted and unable to fight at their full strength.

Kagami had been the same.

When he first became the Dragon Vein’s jinchūriki, he had also been unable to properly control the amount of force he used. As a result, he had consumed too much chakra and allowed natural energy to erode his body.

Naturally, Shinno was no exception.

Although his strength had increased tremendously, he still lacked combat experience. After all, his previous identities had merely been those of a spy and herbalist. While he possessed extensive knowledge, he rarely had any experience fighting powerful opponents head-on.

Of course, Kagami didn’t let his guard down because of this.

He knew that an injury like this might be fatal to an ordinary ninja, but that wasn’t necessarily the case for Shinno.

After all, although Kagami had obtained the Body Regeneration Secret Technique from Orochimaru, Orochimaru himself had originally acquired it from none other than Shinno.

Moreover, Shinno had most likely mastered the Chimera Technique as well as some of the abilities belonging to the demon Mōryō.

Expecting to finish him off with a casual sword thrust was obviously unrealistic.

Hiss... hiss... hiss...

Sure enough, although Shinno continued coughing up blood, the muscles around the wound in his chest were constantly writhing.

In mere moments, amid a cloud of mist resembling steam, the bloody wound completely healed.

Kagami’s expression sank.

Without wasting a single word, he turned around and ran.

"You think you can escape?!"

Shinno’s eyes were bloodshot, his face filled with rage.

Although Kagami’s sword strike hadn’t caused any substantial damage to his body, it had dealt a brutal blow to his pride.

Shinno had been reveling in the seemingly endless power coursing through him, so being humiliated like this immediately sent him into a furious rage.

Boom...

Boom...

Boom...

In his rage, Shinno completely ignored the buildings and walls in his path. Like a rampaging tank, he bulldozed straight through everything, chasing after Kagami while demolishing the buildings along the way, sending thunderous crashes and clouds of dust billowing into the air.

Kagami glanced back at Shinno. While inwardly marveling at the man’s physical toughness, he thought, "Looks like this guy’s state of mind has been affected by the demon Mōryō as well!"

Back then, this was precisely one of the reasons Kagami had chosen not to use the demon Mōryō as the chakra source for his artificial tailed beast.

Mōryō’s evil was both immense and utterly pure.

After all, it was the product of the Priestess casting away the evil within herself. Completely suppressing such pure evil wasn’t something that could be accomplished through technical means alone. One also needed an extraordinarily powerful will capable of steadfastly preserving one’s sense of self.

Kagami knew his own limits.

He knew that he was ultimately just an ordinary person and wouldn’t be able to withstand Mōryō’s constant erosion of his mind. That was why he had never set his sights on Mōryō.

And now, seeing Shinno behaving as though he had completely lost his reason, Kagami felt immensely relieved that he had made the right choice back then.

Yet alongside that relief, Kagami also felt deeply puzzled.

The commotion on his side had already become this enormous, so why was there barely any response from the village?

Although quite a few Konoha ninja along the way had noticed what was happening, without exception, they were all chūnin and genin. None of them had any hope of stopping the rampaging Shinno.

"Just what the hell happened in the village?"

Looking at the civilians being evacuated all around him, Kagami’s expression grew increasingly grim.

As an ANBU directly under the Hokage, Kagami was well aware of the village’s emergency protocols.

Only when war was approaching the village itself, or during a crisis on the scale of the night of the Nine-Tails’ Attack, would the Hokage possibly declare a state of emergency.

Kagami’s thoughts raced, and he quickly ruled out the possibility that another hidden village had launched an invasion of Konoha.

Even if another village had launched a surprise attack on the Land of Fire, it would still take at least a week or two for them to reach Konoha. There was no reason for the Third Hokage to frantically evacuate the villagers in the middle of the night.

Such an urgent evacuation could only mean that the battle was already right on their doorstep.

So who was the enemy?

After considering every possibility, Kagami arrived at the only explanation that made sense.

The Uchiha had rebelled!

And considering how Shinno was openly rampaging through the village, Kagami suspected that regardless of whether the Uchiha had truly rebelled or were being framed, Akatsuki was undoubtedly involved in tonight’s events.

At that thought, Kagami suddenly looked back at Shinno.

In an instant, the dark pupils in his eyes turned scarlet...

...

Outside the village.

After asking his question and receiving no response for quite some time, Kakashi looked puzzled.

"Kagami, what’s wrong?"

The "Hyuga Kagami" accompanying Kakashi and Shisui was nothing more than one of Shisui’s Shadow Clones. Naturally, it didn’t possess the Byakugan and therefore had no way to answer Kakashi’s question.

Stammering awkwardly, he said, "M-Maybe... there’s a trap!"

"Maybe?"

Kakashi was utterly baffled.

Shisui hurriedly said, "Captain, let me try!"

Kakashi gave "Kagami" a suspicious glance before turning to Shisui and warning him, "All right. Be careful!"

With a flicker, Shisui landed lightly on the grass about four or five meters away from the bound Naruto.

Seeing him, Naruto immediately began twisting his body while frantically making muffled noises. But since his mouth had also been gagged, Shisui couldn’t understand what he was trying to say.

Shisui carefully scanned the surroundings with his Mangekyō Sharingan. After confirming that there were no traps around Naruto, he walked over and used a kunai to cut through the ropes binding him.

Hissss...

At that exact moment, the unmistakable sound of explosive tags igniting came from Naruto’s body.

Without the slightest regard for his own safety, Shisui immediately tore off Naruto’s jacket, which was covered in explosive tags, and shielded Naruto with his own body!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

In an instant, a series of violent explosions erupted throughout the forest!

Kakashi’s expression changed drastically. The three tomoe in his left Sharingan spun rapidly as he desperately searched for the enemy hiding somewhere nearby.

Amid all the chaos, a distorted vortex suddenly appeared out of thin air behind "Kagami."

Immediately afterward, a figure stepped out of the vortex and placed one hand on "Kagami’s" shoulder.

With a faint chuckle, he said,

"That troublesome Byakugan... is taken care of!"