Hinata's Path
Shinnō's eyes went wide.
In the next instant, his body withered.
The muscles that had just swelled with dark chakra collapsed inward, shrinking as if all vitality had been drained at once. His black hair turned ash-white, then fell out in clumps, leaving only a miserable fringe behind.
In seconds, the muscular youth reverted into something far worse than before. A frail, skeletal old man, barely standing.
"H–How is this possible?!" Shinnō stared at his trembling hands in disbelief. "What did you do to me?!"
"To use a chakra-based body modification technique that manipulates tenketsu in front of the Byakugan," Neji said calmly, "is to underestimate the Hyūga."
He looked at Shinnō without emotion.
"Did you really think our Gentle Fist only blocks chakra flow?"
From the very beginning, Neji had seen through it. The fight had been difficult only because Shinnō's corrupted Eight Gates still carried enough brute force to exceed his estimates.
But only barely.
"You… you monster…" Shinnō staggered backward, panic flooding his face. "My power was supposed to be absolute!"
"Relax," Neji said, stepping forward. "I'm not killing you. You still need to land this fortress."
He reached out.
"Don't touch me!" Shinnō snarled, his expression twisting. "If I'm going down, you're coming with me!"
Two black pills dropped from his sleeve and hit the floor.
Neji's pupils shrank as he leapt back—
The pills detonated.
Not with fire.
But with thick, black smoke.
"Smoke bombs?!" Neji clicked his tongue. Tricked.
His Byakugan pierced the haze instantly. Shinnō was already at the throne, yanking a hidden mechanism. The floor beneath him opened, dragging him downward into darkness.
"That direction… Naruto!" Neji's jaw tightened.
Shinnō himself was no longer a threat, but if he reached the Zero-Tails, things could still spiral out of control.
Neji sprinted toward the passage Naruto had taken.
Elsewhere in the flying fortress, Jūgo's group advanced rapidly.
Jūgo and Sakura led the charge, Hinata staying close to Ryūko.
Jūgo's right arm had fully transformed, scales covering it like armor, claws ripping through metal and flesh alike. Sakura followed beside him, every punch exploding with terrifying force.
Just as Fujimoto Tōma had predicted, the Sky Ninja were weak in direct combat. Without aerial advantage, their firearms were useless against trained shinobi.
One punch, one enemy.
They fell fast.
Before long, they reached the final stronghold.
"Ryūko," Hinata said softly, Byakugan scanning ahead. "Stay here for now. Protect yourself. I'll help Sakura and Jūgo clear the room."
"Hinata, you don't need to—" Sakura started.
"We do," Hinata said firmly. "The villagers are still trapped. Shinnō said dark chakra comes from the human heart. That means the villagers may still be feeding the Zero-Tails."
She met Sakura's eyes without wavering.
"If we free them quickly, Naruto and Neji-niisan will be safer too."
Sakura paused, then nodded. "Alright."
"Let's move," Jūgo said.
They burst forward.
Sakura struck first.
"Hah!"
Her fist landed squarely on a Sky Ninja who hadn't even raised his weapon. The impact sent him flying straight through a group behind him, scattering bodies like bowling pins.
Terrifying strength.
On the other side, Jūgo tore through enemies with savage efficiency, claws flashing, eyes faintly red.
Hinata took a breath.
For Naruto-kun.
For Neji-niisan.
She couldn't hesitate.
She followed Jūgo straight into the center of the enemy formation.
Byakugan active. Mind clear.
When the Sky Ninja lunged for her—
"Protective Eight Trigrams: Sixty-Four Palms!"
Hinata's arms blurred, moving in every direction at once. Chakra condensed into countless needle-like points, smashing aside weapons and even shattering incoming projectiles.
This technique wasn't meant to mirror Neji's Eight Trigrams attack.
It was her answer to Rotation.
Flexible. Precise. Hers.
And now—
She pushed it further.
Hinata fused it with the Chakra Scalpel.
Each needle that struck carried cutting chakra, slicing muscles and severing chakra pathways from within. The damage wasn't explosive, but it was surgical.
Every hit crippled.
Every mistake was fatal.
With her pure Byakugan pushed to its limit, Hinata tracked every movement around her, memorizing positions faster than thought. Something even Neji couldn't do.
Within moments, Sky Ninja collapsed across the floor.
"…Amazing," Ryūko whispered from behind cover.
She had expected Jūgo's ferocity. She'd already seen Sakura's power.
But Hinata?
Quiet. Gentle. Unassuming.
And yet—she was the most efficient of them all.
The room fell silent.
They entered the final chamber together.
Ryūko's breath caught.
Her villagers were there.
All of them.
Trapped inside a strange containment field, faces hollow, eyes empty, as if hope itself had been drained from them.
Sakura clenched her fists. "We were right."
They were feeding the Zero-Tails.
"Ryūko," Sakura said seriously, stepping forward. "This part's yours."
She shattered the cage with a single punch.
Ryūko nodded, resolve hardening as she ran to her people.