Rain fell in a steady drizzle that night, turning the already dark forest into a murky, claustrophobic nightmare. Even elite shinobi could barely see ten feet ahead. Perfect weather for an ambush—if you were the one setting it.
A column of over three hundred Leaf shinobi moved through the trees at a controlled pace. At the front walked Uchiha Fugaku, Matsushita Taiichi, and Hyuga Hiashi. Fugaku and Hiashi were running the show; Taiichi was there to keep the two clans from stabbing each other in the back while they worked together.
The column moved like a silent predator until a Hyuga scout came sprinting back through the rain, face tight.
"Clan head! Large Mist force ahead—roughly four hundred shinobi. Twenty kilometers out. Same heading as us."
Hiashi raised a fist. The entire column halted instantly.
Fugaku and Taiichi stepped forward.
"Contact?" Fugaku asked.
"Four hundred Mist ninja," Hiashi said, a grim smile touching his mouth. "Looks like they're heading for the same target we are."
The three men exchanged looks. No one needed to say it out loud. This was too good to waste.
Orders spread in low voices. The column split, half sliding into the trees on the left flank, half on the right. Taiichi moved ahead of them, scattering marked kunai through the undergrowth like deadly seeds. Flying Thunder God markers. Just in case.
Twenty kilometers away, the Mist column pushed forward through the same rain. Their morale was high. Water Release specialists loved nights like this, and the Ghost Lantern clan's Hydrification Technique turned the downpour into an advantage. Kaguya Kuma walked at the front, eyes glowing with battle lust, bone blades already half-formed under his skin.
"Bear," Mizunotsuki Hiyori warned quietly. "Keep your people in check. We're not fighting yet."
Kaguya Kuma just grinned, teeth sharp. "Relax. I've got plenty of self-control."
Ghost Lantern Hoshizuki said nothing, but the look he gave Kaguya Kuma said he didn't believe it for a second.
They kept moving. Then Kaguya Kuma suddenly stopped, a visible shudder running through him. His red eyes dimmed for a moment.
"Something's wrong," he muttered. "Feels like death's breathing down my neck."
Mizunotsuki Hiyori and Ghost Lantern Hoshizuki exchanged glances. Kaguya were battle maniacs, but their instincts were rarely wrong.
Still, they kept advancing—until the first wave of kunai and explosive tags came screaming out of the trees on both sides.
The ambush hit like a hammer.
Leaf forces erupted from the flanks, fireballs, water bullets, lightning nets, and wind blades tearing into the Mist column. The long formation was instantly cut into three isolated groups. Commands couldn't pass. Chaos spread fast.
"Leaf bastards!" Ghost Lantern Hoshizuki snarled, water already swirling around him. "How the hell did they know we were coming?"
Kaguya Kuma ripped a long bone blade from his forearm and charged straight into the nearest Leaf shinobi with a roar. Mizunotsuki Hiyori stayed cooler, ice already forming across his arms as he scanned for the real threats.
From above, Taiichi watched the battlefield unfold through Soul Vision. Fugaku was trading fire and ice with Mizunotsuki Hiyori in a brutal back-and-forth. Hiashi was locked in a dangerous dance with Kaguya Kuma—Gentle Fist against bone armor, neither able to land a clean kill. The Mist forces were outnumbered and out-positioned, but they were fighting hard.
Taiichi created three shadow clones and sent them down with Flying Thunder God. The clones didn't fight fair. They appeared behind Mist jonin, slit throats, and vanished again before anyone could react. Every time a Mist commander tried to rally his section, another one dropped.
Taiichi's real body dropped like a golden comet straight at Ghost Lantern Hoshizuki.
The man sensed the killing intent and spun, water already rising to meet the attack. Taiichi's short blade came down in a blazing arc. Hoshizuki twisted aside, the edge grazing his shoulder and flash-boiling the water there.
"You're fast," Hoshizuki hissed, body already half-melting into the rain. "But in this weather? You're dead."
He vanished into the downpour, firing high-pressure water bullets from every angle. Taiichi kept moving, eyes glowing faint blue. Soul Vision didn't care about water or rain. He could still see the bright, agitated soul flame darting around him.
"You think hiding in water makes you invisible?" Taiichi called out, voice calm. "Cute."
He slammed both palms to the ground.
Ice Release: Freezing Earth.
A wave of killing cold exploded outward. Rain turned to ice mid-fall. The ground flash-froze. Every puddle, every drop of water in the air crystallized in an instant. Ghost Lantern Hoshizuki's half-transformed body locked solid as the water inside him turned to ice.
He screamed as he was forced back into solid form—skin cracking, body shrinking as moisture was ripped away. Taiichi was already moving. Lightning chakra crackled around his blade. One clean thrust drove the lightning-charged edge straight through Hoshizuki's chest.
The Ghost Lantern jonin convulsed once, eyes wide with disbelief, then went still.
Taiichi yanked his blade free and looked around. The three Mist sections were collapsing. Without their strongest fighters coordinating, the ambush was turning into a slaughter.
He rose back into the air on golden chakra wings, scanning the battlefield one more time.
Byakugan didn't just see far. It saw everything that mattered before the enemy even knew they were being hunted.
That was the real power of the Hyuga. And tonight, Mist was learning it the hard way.