Ninja of the Hyuga clan being executed in secret... cold sweat broke out on Golden Eagle's face. It seeped between his skin and his mask, growing heavier by the second.
Had the ANBU discovered something? Why was he completely in the dark?
The scouting range of the Hyuga's Byakugan reached an exaggerated three kilometers. Within the village, a Hyuga ninja could easily see many things. Sitting within their own compound, they could covertly observe the positions of many people, even the movements of the ANBU.
Much of the village's hidden filth and secrets had been witnessed by the Hyuga clan by pure chance. They cautiously hid this fact, ensuring the village leadership never knew exactly how much they had seen.
However, whenever the high command suspected a secret might have leaked, or if a Hyuga had been spotted near a sensitive location, they would demand the Head House turn over the involved ninja. Some Hyuga returned from these interrogations; others were never seen again.
Humiliation and resentment—these were the deepest hidden emotions of the Hyuga clan, feelings no one dared speak of. He hadn't expected Captain Fox to simply blurt it out. Was it because he himself had learned some secret of the high command, and they were coming to silence him?
It shouldn't be. He had served in the ANBU for a long time; the high command trusted him.
At that moment, Fox raised his hand! After a single hand sign, the cursed markings of the Self-Exerting Binding Seal snaked across the floor, darting under the desk and climbing onto Golden Eagle's feet.
Golden Eagle was stunned. Was the high command really coming to silence him? But what secret did he know? Was it his covert involvement in the death of a Senju Special Jonin? Or Orochimaru's human experimentation? Those were the only major events the Golden Eagle Squad had been involved in lately.
Golden Eagle was powerful. He raised his hand before the sealing markings could reach his shoulders.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm!"
As expected of an ANBU squad leader, his reaction was lightning-fast. Yagami tilted his chair to the right, rolling away to dodge the strike. The Vacuum Palm slammed into the wall, punching a hole straight through it.
The nearby ANBU were baffled. What was happening? Why had a violent struggle broken out in Captain Golden Eagle's office?
Hearing the rapid footsteps outside, Yagami knew he only had a few seconds. His skin turned a reddish-bronze hue as he charged at Golden Eagle.
"Rotation!"
After Yagami formed a seal, Earth Dragon Spears erupted continuously from the ground. He tested the strength of the Rotation—this was a vital piece of intelligence on Golden Eagle. The spears proved superior, their momentum crushing through the Rotation one by one.
The hemispherical chakra shield was dispelled, and Yagami reached Golden Eagle. Without thinking, Golden Eagle put all his strength into a palm strike aimed at Fox's head.
"Stop!"
The Yellow Dog Brigade Commander appeared behind them.
Yagami deactivated the Bronze Light on his forehead, taking Golden Eagle's full-strength strike head-on. Golden Eagle watched in horror as Fox's head deformed under the impact, killed instantly by his hand. He looked past the falling corpse of Fox at the horrified Yellow Dog Commander.
Wait... What?
I killed Captain Fox?
Is this a frame-up? How am I supposed to explain this to anyone?!
...
Everything went black. Yagami's vision shifted, and he returned to the night of the full moon several days prior. Beside him, Qiaoyi was still fast asleep. Lately, her ninja training had made her figure even firmer and more toned.
He woke her up to "investigate" the results of her training, and after leaving her room, he hurried to the dense forest above the Hokage Rock. After scouting with the Earth Tremor Barrier to ensure no one was around, Yagami began to accept the rewards of his death.
[Arc of Moon Activated!]
[The host has one revival chance per month, reviving on the previous full moon night.]
[Reward: One gacha draw opportunity:]
1. Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm (Entry)
2. Elite Jonin-level Chakra Reserves (Stackable)
3. Hyuga Clan Bloodline (Common, Purifiable)
The first option, the Vacuum Palm, was useless. It was a secret technique that compressed air with chakra to create a shockwave. It required compressing chakra in the meridians and releasing it instantly. Yagami didn't lack offensive secret techniques.
This move could be replaced by Wind Style: Great Breakthrough. If he could find a ninja skilled in Great Breakthrough to grind the rating from "Proficient" to "Master," it would be more practical. He couldn't show off the Vacuum Palm, but Great Breakthrough could be used freely.
The second option was Elite Jonin-level reserves. As Yagami's physical talent slowly manifested, his reserves had already grown to 1.1 times that of an elite Jonin. His chakra was still naturally increasing toward his physical limit, so he skipped this as well.
The third option, the Hyuga bloodline (Common), was exactly what he needed.
A mysterious surge of chakra appeared around his eyes. After forming the necessary hand signs, Yagami activated the Byakugan. One downside of the Byakugan compared to the Sharingan was this complex activation process; the Sharingan required no seals and could be toggled instantly.
"Byakugan!"
His vision shifted. Everything became translucent. Looking up toward the sky above Hidden Leaf, he saw a shimmering chakra canopy—the village's barrier. The flow of chakra everywhere was clear as day; the sensation was extraordinary.
He looked into the distance and found his scouting range was approximately two kilometers. There was still a gap compared to a top-tier Hyuga's three kilometers, but this could be improved through training. Before moving against the Five Rising Noble Clans next month, he had to train his Byakugan relentlessly to push its range to the limit.
Because he didn't have the Caged Bird seal of the Branch House, his Byakugan had no blind spot.
Wait!
The Hidden Mist Village eventually obtains a Byakugan from a Hyuga Head House member... it won't be mine, will it? Next time he saw a Mist ninja, he'd have to be ruthless—the thought of them potentially gouging out his eyes was too much.
Yagami pulled out a small mirror he'd swiped from Qiaoyi and looked at his eyes. After deactivating the Byakugan, his pupils returned to normal with no side effects. Good; the ability could be hidden.
Yagami checked his status panel.
[Host Status:]
[Chakra Reserves: 1.1x Elite Jonin-level.]
[Chakra Affinities: Earth, Water, Wind, Fire, Yang, Yin.]
[Bloodlines: Senju of the Forest (Mid-High), Uzumaki (Mid-High), Uchiha (Mid-High), Hyuga (Common).]
[Ninjutsu: Earth Style: Earth Dragon Spear (Master), Water Style: Water Severing Wave (Proficient), Fire Style: Fire Dragon Flame Bullet (Entry), etc.]
[Taijutsu: Bone-Crushing Bronze Light, Body Flicker, etc.]
[Sealing Jutsu: Self-Exerting Binding Seal (Master), Contract Seal, Summoning Jutsu (Great Spear Heron, Eight Ninja Hounds, Stone Pandas), Sealing Method: Item, Five Elements Seal, Hovering Sound Base Seal, Earth Movement Vibration-Dampening Seal.]
[Secret Techniques: Absolute Defense: Bronze Light, Half-Absolute Defense: Coiled Snake, Hydrification Healing Jutsu, Shadow Possession Jutsu.]
[Special Abilities: Stress Reflex (Double Breakthrough), Natural Chakra Growth, Self-Healing (Slow), Sealing Specialist, Two-Tomoe Sharingan, Byakugan.]
Most of his ninjutsu had reached "Proficient" through use, though the newly acquired Fire Dragon Flame Bullet was still at "Entry" level and lacked polish.
Yagami stared at his panel, plotting how to execute next month's assassination plan against the Five Rising Noble Clans.