The two Jashinists showed no fear as they faced the encircling samurai guards, instead charging forward. Despite having lost their minds, they still possessed the skills of jonin, making it impossible for even well-coordinated and battle-hardened samurai to subdue them quickly.
Furthermore, these two Jashinists were immune to pain and fatigue, and their bodies possessed a recovery ability superior to even the chakra-trained samurai.
The samurai knew it was impossible to wear down these two Jashinists. Human potential is incredibly vast, especially when completely ignoring all negative physical conditions. While they weren't afraid to sacrifice themselves, it didn't mean they would throw their lives away needlessly.
The samurai maintained their distance from the Jashinists, repeatedly forcing them back with their swords. This wasn't just their own strength; they also had the assistance of Anbu ninjas.
Anbu ninjas used Earth, Wind, and Water Release techniques around the Jashinists, hindering their movements or causing them to pause, which allowed the samurai to suppress them from a distance.
A samurai threw an iron chain, its tip piercing a Jashinist's shoulder. A normal person would have been too pained to lift their arm, but the Jashinist merely pulled out the chain with force, disregarding the gushing blood, which even stopped flowing after a short while.
Not only that, but the Wind, Earth, and Water Release techniques used by the Anbu ninjas repeatedly struck them, yet the Jashinists remained unhindered.
The Jashinists' performance secretly astonished the samurai. When they first heard that Jashinists were immortal, they weren't entirely convinced, as it seemed too unbelievable. But now, it appeared to be true.
If it were just immunity to pain, that would be one thing. Ignoring pain might allow a pierced arm to move again, but for a normal person, the wound wouldn't heal, and forced movement would only further tear the wound. Pain is, after all, the body's self-protection mechanism, and in some ways, not feeling pain isn't a good thing.
However, Jashinists possessed an abnormal recovery ability, as evidenced by how quickly their blood stopped flowing. Their wounds would heal quickly, not affecting their movements.
For such enemies, the Hokage's daughter had already shown the samurai what to do through her own example: simply completely dismember these guys. They wouldn't feel any sympathy for these two individuals.
Seeing the two Jashinists suppressed, Hyuga Kei breathed a slight sigh of relief, while also feeling a hint of surprise. Since the enemy planned an ambush mid-journey, they only arranged for two Jashinists. Even with their immortality, they weren't exceptional in other aspects, and there were easy ways to deal with them.
"The enemy shouldn't have thought they could succeed with such a simple assassination," Hyuga Kei thought. "Perhaps the elusive leader of the Jashin village (Black Zetsu) will appear."
Suddenly, Hyuga Kei's brow furrowed as he looked in a certain direction. Others might not have noticed, but his Byakugan saw a group of people approaching.
In the Byakugan's special vision, the chakra pathways of those people were surprisingly similar to those of the Jashinists! Hyuga Kei immediately realized that these people were the Jashinists' reinforcements, and unlike the mindless Jashinists, these individuals appeared to possess normal consciousness and were armed.
Hyuga Kei quickly raised his hand and gestured to the nearby Anbu ninjas, directing them to deal with the rapidly approaching strangers. From their movements and weapons, they didn't seem like ninjas or Jashinists, but rather more like traditional samurai.
Hyuga Kei immediately recalled the chakra samurai that Tobi had trained for the Daimyo. Although Tobi claimed the chakra samurai had consumed normal secret medicine during the Lord incident, the Konoha ninjas didn't believe him. They largely concluded that the chakra samurai were trained with the same secret medicine.
In other words, these chakra samurai were ostensibly the Daimyo's subordinates, but secretly they might become Tobi's pawns. Research by the Konoha Medical Department showed that prolonged use of that secret medicine would gradually affect a person's mind, with the final stage being like the two Jashinists before them.
The more Hyuga Kei thought about it, the more he felt it was possible. He hadn't expected that scoundrel Tobi to even send out chakra samurai, and in such a surreptitious manner—he saw clearly that these people's attire was like ordinary thieves, even if he knew these guys were professionally trained, at least on the surface they weren't.
If they could capture these people, it would prove that there were dangerous individuals among the Daimyo's chakra samurai, which would be quite advantageous for Konoha. However, Hyuga Kei didn't have the time or energy to do that now.
Because his primary mission now was to protect Kana's safety. A conflict with the Daimyo's side would erupt sooner or later; having these people as evidence would only give Konoha a greater advantage. But if the former Hokage's daughter were to die because of it, it wouldn't be worth it. He couldn't put the cart before the horse.
"Is something wrong? Has another situation arisen?" Kana felt relieved after seeing the Jashinists suppressed, but she keenly noticed that Hyuga Kei's body in front of the carriage was slightly tense, even more so than before, and she asked.
"Ah, the enemy might have reinforcements coming. I've sent the Anbu to intercept them. You don't need to worry," Hyuga Kei said clearly, without concealment.
"I didn't think it would just be these two, either," Kana said, nodding slightly, not overly surprised.
Because the Anbu ninjas had to go intercept the approaching reinforcements, the support for the samurai decreased. However, the previously accumulated advantage didn't disappear just like that; they still maintained suppression.
Just then, a large number of dark figures suddenly leaped into the air from afar. After hovering slowly in the air, they plunged towards the ground—they were sharp arrows!
Hyuga Kei's pupils contracted slightly. The arrows were quite numerous, and a volley of them posed a significant threat. More importantly, they contained chakra, a very useful tactic for samurai on the front lines. Without large-scale ninjutsu, blocking them would be very troublesome.
Hyuga Kei raised his hand and immediately used an Eight Trigrams Empty Palm, expanding its range as much as possible. The invisible force blocked the arrows aimed at him and Kana. As for other areas, he couldn't attend to them. He had to conserve his stamina as much as possible. Fortunately, the enemy wasn't numerous, and Anbu ninjas were fighting among them, so they couldn't pose too much of a threat.
After training in chakra, the samurai guards' physical abilities had also surpassed human limits. They wielded their swords to block the arrows, but this also allowed the Jashinists to break free from suppression. Disregarding their injuries, they bypassed the defense line and charged towards the carriage.
Hyuga Kei watched the approaching enemies with full alert, just about to reduce the power of his Eight Trigrams Empty Palm to increase its speed, when the nearby jungle suddenly rustled. Immediately, numerous vines shot out, coiling towards them.
"As expected!" Hyuga Kei had read the reports sent by Konoha and knew that the leader of the Jashin village (Black Zetsu) possessed Wood Release similar to the former Hokage. Even with a significant difference in power, it could still play a large role in hindering others.
Especially since this guy possessed a unique stealth technique. Before it attacked, Hyuga Kei's Byakugan couldn't even detect its presence, as if it were one with the earth, until it emerged from this state to attack, only then could this anomaly be seen.
Now, with Jashinists charging from the front and Black Zetsu lurking menacingly from behind, if Hyuga Kei chose to block Black Zetsu, he might be attacked by the Jashinists. But if he dealt with the Jashinists, Kana might be plunged into a desperate situation.
Hyuga Kei had no time to hesitate. He didn't go to meet the Jashinists, but instead intercepted the coiling vines beside the carriage, using his Gentle Fist Eight Trigrams Palm to strike the weakest point of the vines. Chakra permeated them, destroying and breaking them.
Meanwhile, two hands suddenly shot out from the ground in front of the charging Jashinists, slapping their calves. The chakra impact caused their bodies to sway, and they fell to the ground.
Early in the battle, Hyuga Kei had secretly deployed a Shadow Clone on the ground, specifically for mutual support when he was alone and overwhelmed. While Shadow Clones were initially intended for intelligence gathering, they had now developed various new uses.
Hyuga Kei and others didn't have the massive chakra reserves of Naruto Uzumaki, so they had to be very careful in their use of Shadow Clones. In terms of efficiency, they were actually superior to Naruto Uzumaki.
The Shadow Clone's slap not only used Gentle Fist to injure the Jashinists' legs but also secretly attached an explosive tag. Before the two Jashinists could get up, it detonated, causing them to fall to the ground once again.
At this point, the samurai behind had caught up, throwing their iron chains, piercing the Jashinists, and intending to move in to dismember them, to completely incapacitate them.
At the same time, after Hyuga Kei's main body blocked the vines, he entered the carriage and struck a palm towards Kana—he, of course, had no intention of harming Kana. The reason he did this was because a certain individual was secretly attempting an ambush.
A black shadow emerged from behind Kana, intending to coil around her, seeking only her blood, but it was forced back by Hyuga Kei's Eight Trigrams Palm.
—Hamura's descendants are also troublesome!
The Hyuga clan's Byakugan can see through chakra, and the inherited Eight Trigrams Gentle Fist utilizes their special chakra to permeate and destroy subtle areas of chakra, making it very troublesome for Black Zetsu. Even using mental intrusion might expose weaknesses to the Byakugan, leading to interception, unless Black Zetsu could intrude for a period of time, which it clearly didn't have.
The Byakugan and Gentle Fist possess such power. The Hyuga clan's ability to be ranked alongside the Uchiha clan as one of Konoha's two great noble families wasn't based on propaganda, but on genuine strength. It's just that the Hyuga clan wasn't as high-profile as the Uchiha clan and was very cautious in their daily lives.
Black Zetsu couldn't even obtain the secondary option of blood and had to leave the carriage, because Hyuga Kei's invisible chakra repeatedly attacked it. This permeating chakra posed a greater threat to Black Zetsu than other methods. While it wouldn't kill it, it would destabilize its form.
"What exactly is this thing?" While attacking Black Zetsu, Hyuga Kei also wondered, in his Byakugan's sight, Black Zetsu's chakra form was very peculiar, a form he had never seen before.
Regardless, Hyuga Kei only forced Black Zetsu a certain distance away and didn't pursue it. He still had to personally protect Kana's safety. Under his Byakugan's insight, no person or thing could approach Kana, unless it was a method beyond Hyuga Kei's reaction capabilities.
And fortunately, neither Black Zetsu, the Jashinists, nor the chakra samurai in the jungle possessed such methods.
"Over here, quickly!" A voice suddenly came from not far away, catching everyone's attention. They saw someone leading a squad rushing towards them, with Hatake Sakumo at the forefront.
Hyuga Kei smiled slightly. He had never intended to rely solely on his own people to fend off the attack. After the previous Lord incident, Hatake Sakumo had been stationed near the capital, precisely so that he could receive distress signals and quickly deploy reinforcements in case of an emergency.
When the battle began, an Anbu ninja from the Yamanaka clan had sent out the signal. Due to the urgency, he even sustained some internal injuries. Long-distance information transmission usually required special techniques or ninja tools for amplification; human power always has its limits.
But the information did reach Hatake Sakumo. Upon receiving the signal, Hatake Sakumo immediately led his men out. He knew Kana would be returning to the village soon and was always on standby, so his deployment was very fast. And the ninjas he brought were all skilled in rapid movement, so they arrived at the scene in a short time.
Seeing this, Black Zetsu knew that assassinating Kana was impossible. It felt a little frustrated. It shook its head, and its body merged into the ground, leaving no trace even for the Byakugan.
The two Jashinists were also recalled. The chakra samurai in the jungle received orders, carrying away their fallen comrades' bodies while retreating. The Anbu ninjas dared not pursue too far, lest they leave their protected target. After confirming the enemy had departed, they began to return.
"Are you alright, Lady Kana?" Hatake Sakumo came to the carriage and immediately inquired about Kana's condition.
"I'm fine. Let's check on the others; after all, they were the ones fighting the enemy," Kana replied.
Hatake Sakumo nodded, assented, then looked at Hyuga Kei, bowed, and confirmed the recent battle situation with Hyuga Kei. His subordinates were cleaning up the scene and checking for any injured personnel.
Learning that not only Jashinists but also suspected chakra samurai had appeared, Hatake Sakumo once again felt that a conflict with the Daimyo was drawing closer. Although this also confirmed that the other party had no other means and could only resort to this step, he didn't know whether to feel relieved or worried.