However, Hyūga Kenichi still failed to detect any enemy. All he saw was that the other three teammates beside him had already been killed on the spot in that sudden barrage of dense explosions.
Where? Where exactly are they hiding? Why didn't the Byakugan detect anything? Is it some special concealment technique? Or…?
His body was still suspended midair, his mind racing at full speed.
Yet just as his feet were about to touch what seemed like another flat patch of ground below—
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Four bizarre-looking puppets, dark in color and seemingly fused with the shadows of the ground, burst out from beneath the spot where he was about to land without any warning!
Each held a poison-coated blade, thrusting upward at incredible speed and from tricky angles—like venomous spiders lying in wait for prey to walk straight into their trap.
Shhk! Shhk!
The sound of blades piercing flesh rang especially clear and jarring in the silent night.
Hyūga Kenichi's body froze midair. Slowly lowering his head, he stared in disbelief at the blades that had pierced through his chest, abdomen, and ribs—cold steel gleaming, stained with warm blood. Strength rapidly drained from his body, and his vision began to blur and darken.
How…?
In the Byakugan's field of vision… there was clearly nothing…
Before his consciousness sank completely into eternal darkness, he used the last of his strength to force his dimming Byakugan to look ahead—toward that deep, shadowy darkness.
At the edge of flickering firelight and drifting smoke, a tall, slender figure slowly stepped out from the shadows.
It was a young man with rare purple hair and an exceptionally handsome face. His eyes, under the dim light, shimmered with an eerie yet pure brilliance—like radiant rubies.
The purple-haired man's expression was calm, even carrying a trace of indifferent weariness, as he silently watched Hyūga Kenichi hanging in midair, impaled by four puppets, his life rapidly fading.
Soon after, more than a dozen figures dressed in Sunagakure ninja uniforms emerged soundlessly from the surrounding trees and behind rocks, like ghosts, encircling the area.
One of them, seemingly the squad leader, glanced at the corpses of the Konoha reconnaissance team on the ground, then turned to the purple-haired man, revealing a smile filled with awe and excitement.
"Impressive, Benimaru-san. Your clan's kekkei genkai—these Red Eyes—can even completely suppress the so-called absolute perception of the Hyūga Byakugan. This ambush was practically flawless, hahaha!"
The man known as Benimaru did not respond. He merely lifted his gaze slightly, those ruby-like eyes sweeping indifferently across the battlefield, as if life and death before him were nothing more than insignificant dust.
Benimaru's clan was an extremely small and nearly unknown ninja family located along the border between the Land of Rivers and the Land of Fire.
The entire clan—women, children, and elders included—numbered no more than thirty. They usually survived by taking on scattered missions in border regions and gathering medicinal herbs, living quietly and avoiding conflict.
Earlier that year, before the Third Kazekage mysteriously disappeared, Sunagakure had been rapidly expanding its military strength in preparation for potential upheaval, searching everywhere for any power or secret technique that could enhance its capabilities.
It was during this exhaustive search that Sunagakure's intelligence personnel unexpectedly discovered this hidden clan in a remote valley—and noticed the unique kekkei genkai passed down through their bloodline: the Red Eyes.
It was a dōjutsu-type kekkei genkai, with certain abilities strikingly similar to the Hyūga clan's Byakugan.
It allowed long-distance vision, the ability to observe faraway scenes, penetrate objects, see through obstacles, and possess acute perception—detecting strength levels and potential threats.
However, the Red Eyes also possessed a far more bizarre ability.
They could use chakra to create false images and chakra signatures powerful enough to interfere with perception and mislead enemies.
The information was reported upward layer by layer, eventually attracting the personal interest of the Third Kazekage. At the time, he had been troubled by how to counter the overwhelming reconnaissance advantage of the Hyūga Byakugan in intelligence warfare—so this discovery delighted him.
Viewing the Red Eyes as a key piece capable of breaking the strategic balance, he decided to personally travel to the Land of Rivers, intending to "invite" this small clan to Sunagakure with the highest level of courtesy, promising abundant resources and high status.
However, it was during this very journey that the Third Kazekage—along with the genius puppeteer Sasori, who had just become part of his personal guard—mysteriously vanished.
Sunagakure searched across the borders of the Land of Wind and the Land of Rivers, mobilizing enormous manpower and resources, yet found no concrete clues. The two important figures seemed to have vanished from the face of the earth.
Despite such a major setback, Sunagakure's leadership did not abandon their efforts to recruit the Red Eyes clan.
Under a combination of coercion and temptation, the weak clan ultimately could not resist the will of a great nation. The entire clan was "invited" into Sunagakure and quickly integrated into its war machine.
Benimaru, as the most talented of the younger generation, was naturally assigned to this special operations squad tasked with covert ambush missions. His Red Eyes—capable of countering the Byakugan's perception and creating illusory false signals—were the crucial element that made this perfect ambush on the Hyūga reconnaissance team possible, tearing open a gap in Konoha's sensory defenses.
"Immediately notify Elder Ebizō!" the squad leader ordered in a low voice to a subordinate responsible for communications after confirming the scene had been handled. "Forward reconnaissance has been eliminated. We've confirmed the presence of Hyūga scouts. Konoha's key medical logistics support unit should be just ahead. Request the elder to bring the main force and converge on this area according to the plan!"
Their squad of just over a dozen people was merely the probing blade of a much larger hunting operation.
Behind them, a strike force of more than five hundred elite shinobi—personally led by the seasoned Sunagakure elder Ebizō—lay in wait like a swarm of scorpions beneath the desert sands.
The objective of this elite force was clear: locate and completely destroy Konoha's medical logistics support unit advancing toward the western border.
If successful, Konoha's frontline forces would lose their crucial continuous medical support. The wounded would go untreated, supplies of medicine and equipment would be cut off, and their combat effectiveness would drop sharply.
More importantly, this would clear the way for Sunagakure's other trump card—Elder Chiyo's terrifying poisons—to unleash their full destructive potential.
This could become the decisive factor in breaking the stalemate on the front lines.
In the past, even if Sunagakure had such ambitions, it was difficult to execute them. Konoha's medical units moved cautiously, always accompanied by Hyūga Byakugan users for reconnaissance and vigilance. Their long-range perception made large-scale troop movements or ambush attempts almost impossible to conceal—often exposing them before they could even approach.
But this time, everything was different.
Sunagakure had the Red Eyes.
These strange eyes, capable of interfering with the Byakugan's perception and creating blind spots, became the key to breaking the balance.
They were like a layer of camouflage designed specifically to counter the Byakugan—allowing Sunagakure's blades to approach silently, while Konoha remained completely unaware of the fatal danger closing in.
"Entire squad, maintain silence. Move to point two," the squad leader commanded with a wave of his hand.
The Sunagakure ninjas melted into the shadows of the forest like phantoms, quickly and orderly disappearing into the darkness.
Benimaru walked in the center of the group, his ruby-like eyes faintly glowing in the night, continuously emitting subtle, strange chakra fluctuations—like ripples on water—constantly disturbing the otherwise clear traces of the area, creating the perfect cover for the main force to approach unseen.
At the same time, in the rear camp, Higashino Shinichi, who had been resting with his eyes closed, suddenly felt a sharp chill shoot up from his tailbone without any warning, instantly spreading across his entire spine!
The sensation was abrupt and piercing, completely different from the normal cold of the winter night.
It felt more like a cold warning directed straight at his mind—as if an invisible venomous snake had flicked its tongue across the back of his neck.
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