Bang!
The door slammed shut with a loud bang, making Koharu Utatane flinch.
Seeing this, Homura Mitokado sighed, lamenting inwardly that Hiruzen still held Danzo in his grasp.
"Hopefully, this lesson will make Danzo behave himself..."
"By the way, Hiruzen."
Homura Mitokado suddenly thought of something, frowning as he looked at Hiruzen Sarutobi, and asked in a low voice, "The village's strength is already depleted. Is it really okay to let Jiraiya wander outside?"
Hearing this, Hiruzen Sarutobi sighed inwardly, thinking of Jiraiya, who had left the village under the pretense of "pursuing Orochimaru." He said calmly, "He'll return when it's time."
Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane exchanged glances, seeing that Hiruzen Sarutobi was unwilling to elaborate. They could only shake their heads helplessly and bid farewell.
Click.
Hiruzen Sarutobi remained silent for a long time, gazing at the closed door, with only his breathing audible in the room.
After a while, he stood up somewhat stiffly and walked to the office window. His cloudy eyes were obscured by the smoke rising from his pipe.
After the rain, Konoha always looked clean. Raindrops adorned the eaves, and mottled water stains, like scattered mirrors, were embedded everywhere—on the leaves, streetlights, and wall tiles—all reflecting Konoha's prosperity.
Looking at the scenery outside, Hiruzen Sarutobi thought of many things.
He thought of Konoha's hard-won peace, the internal and external difficulties beneath that peace, Orochimaru and Jiraiya who had left the village, Tsunade who numbed herself daily by frequenting casinos, the orphan left by Minato and Kushina, and the hopeful gaze of that Hyuga child looking at him...
"Hiss..."
Hiruzen Sarutobi's chest rose high as the bitter, sour air filled his lungs. Finally, he exhaled slowly, and a spark lit up his pipe, suppressing all his emotions deep within.
"It's alright." After a moment of silence, he spoke in a slightly hoarse voice, as if talking to himself, whispering, "No matter what the sacrifice, I must protect everything Konoha has so painstakingly achieved."
At the same time, at Training Ground 44 on the outskirts of Konoha, within the Forest of Death, sunlight filtered through the branches, casting fragmented golden specks on the shoulders of two figures.
"Senior, strength comes from the ground, power originates from the spine, combining hardness and softness..."
"A-tah!"
The wooden stakes in front of Hyuga Kawa and Might Guy were shattered, but the former's stake clearly showed it had burst from the inside, while the latter's stake appeared to have been severely pummeled by heavy blows.
Looking at Might Guy, whose technique was almost completely chaotic and relied solely on brute force, Hyuga Kawa's smile, which he had maintained all morning while teaching, began to falter.
"Whew." Might Guy, who normally wouldn't tire after running around Konoha all day, was now drenched in sweat and panting heavily. He couldn't help but rub his head and said with a helpless smile, "Kawa, your improved Gentle Fist is really hard to learn."
"After all, Senior has been studying Strong Fist for over a decade. It'll definitely take some effort to adjust your body's instincts," Hyuga Kawa shook his head. "Let's stop here for today."
During the second stage of the Chunin Exam, in the match between Neji and Hinata, Might Guy and Rock Lee had discussed the classification of taijutsu.
Taijutsu that focuses on superficial damage, causing fractures or other external injuries through direct attacks, is called 'Strong Fist'. The Hyuga clan's taijutsu, which targets the enemy's chakra pathways and internal organs, is called 'Gentle Fist'. As for Tsunade and the Fourth Raikage, who combine ninjutsu and taijutsu, their style is called 'Ninjutsu'.
Hyuga Kawa was now attempting to combine the advantages of Strong Fist and Gentle Fist, aiming to develop the taijutsu system most suitable for him, building upon the Eight Gates Release.
"Alright, then..."
Halfway through Might Guy's sentence, Hyuga Kawa suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, and a deep chill rose within him.
It was incredibly sudden, incredibly terrifying.
All his muscles tensed instantly, and the veins around his Byakugan pulsed.
No abnormality.
No abnormality whatsoever.
"No, that's wrong!" Hyuga Kawa's expression changed dramatically. "It's a blind spot!"
The Byakugan grants members of the Hyuga clan a 360° field of vision, but due to the Cage Bird Seal, branch family members have a 1° blind spot that extends backward from the spine!
If the enemy is at close range, a 1° blind spot is insignificant. However, if they are at a very long distance...
This 1° expands into a large blind spot area as the fan's radius increases!
Splat!
Indeed, almost the instant Hyuga Kawa reacted, a barely audible whoosh reached his ears.
This was an assassination, an incredibly lethal attack targeting him.
At this sound and distance, it was already too late to search and dodge.
Realizing this, Hyuga Kawa's originally grim eyes suddenly became calm. Driven by his body's instinctive reactions, he slowly closed his eyes.
"Since I can't see it," he thought, "then I won't look."
The next moment, an invisible ripple spread from within his body, and Hyuga Kawa seemed to step into another world.
All his physical senses were shut down, leaving only the spiritual "perception."
No whistling wind, no chirping insects, no breathing, no heartbeat...
The world was as silent as death.
It was as if time had stopped for him.
And then, he "saw."
Hyuga Kawa "saw" behind him, a kunai enveloped in a sharp airflow.
Wind Release: Vacuum Blade, a Wind Release ninjutsu that combines shape transformation and nature transformation, infusing wind-nature chakra into an object to create an incredibly sharp and swift blade.
The assassin had mastered this technique to its extreme; its speed was so great that Might Guy hadn't even reacted.
However, under Hyuga Kawa's intuition, the kunai, which should have been a blur due to its extreme speed, seemed to drag an endless thread, gliding towards him at an incredibly slow pace.
Hyuga Kawa didn't turn around. He raised his hand and spread his five fingers, like a crane spreading its wings, the knuckles showing the pale yellow calluses from years of training under the sunlight.
He grasped the kunai's handle, and the surrounding wind blade pierced his palm but seemed to hit an invisible iron wall, abruptly stopping mid-air.
Hyuga Kawa opened his eyes, his serene, snow-like pupils reflecting Might Guy's tense face beside him, and the depths of the forest, fragmented by fallen leaves.
Whoever it was, a guest should be greeted in kind.
"Then, I'll return it to you."
He turned and threw the kunai, moving as fast as a leaf scattered by the wind. As his clothes fluttered, they revealed his lean waist, his spine rippling like a taut bowstring, unleashing his full power.
The next moment, the kunai left his hand.
Whizz!
A piercing scream that tore through the air exploded in Might Guy's ears. Falling leaves were crushed by the strong wind in the blink of an eye, and the yellowed leaves on the ground were swept up by the airflow, swirling into the air.
Almost simultaneously, the sound of a blade entering flesh echoed from a distance.
Thud!