"Terai, you leave first. Head to the next safe house."
On the tenth floor of a tenement building, Hyūga Yū stepped out of his room. He looked toward the deep shadows at the end of the corridor and gave the order calmly.
Root naturally had more than one safe house within Kirigakure. It was well within Yū's expectations that the Hidden Mist would eventually track them here. In fact, Terai had urged Yū to relocate immediately the previous night.
For Root operatives like them—who weren't true deep-cover spies with official identities or civilian status within the Mist—staying in one place for too long carried an immense risk of exposure.
Last night, Yū had ordered Yamato and Shin to relocate ahead of time, leaving only Terai behind to assist while Yū finished developing his latest jutsu.
Now that he had finished cross-referencing and deducing the intel on the Mist, it was time for Yū to begin his next move. His role was not that of a traditional spy, nor a conventional regional manager; he was more like a "Machiavellian schemer" embedded deep within the enemy's court.
With the "Walking Priestess" [Nonō Yakushi] present, Danzō Shimura undoubtedly knew that the assassination attempt on Kaguya and Shirō was merely a trap. The true purpose was to throw Hyūga Yū onto this foreign battlefield to see exactly how far he could go.
This was an evaluation—and a trial.
To subvert the Hidden Mist with meager strength and influence required more than just an initial victory or mere survival amidst the surging undercurrents. It depended on whether he could, step by step, transform the enemy's fortress into his own castle through the manipulation of the situation and the fragmentation of his foes.
The core of this process lay in patience, insight, division, and decisiveness at the critical moment.
And now, it was time for Hyūga Yū to step onto the stage.
Hearing Yū's words, Terai furrowed his brows, his face etched with confusion. "What exactly are you planning to do?"
Yū replied evenly, "Infiltrate the enemy's inner circle."
"Huh?" Terai couldn't wrap his head around it. His expression was one of utter bewilderment. Who "infiltrated" an enemy so blatantly? Was he not worried that the woman downstairs would kill him the moment she made it up here?
"Go!"
Yū's brow twitched as he sensed something. He looked toward the end of the hallway, his tone sharpening into a stern command.
Sensing the shift in Yū's demeanor, Terai felt a chill. He didn't hesitate any longer, retreating rapidly toward the end of the corridor. He intended to smash through the glass window and leap out.
At that moment, the dim lighting of the hallway shifted abruptly. A brilliant flash of a blade pierced through the piping along the ceiling, lunging straight for the escaping Terai!
However, just as the assassin revealed himself, a cold, indifferent voice rang out from behind him:
"Wind Style: Vacuum Heavenly Attraction!"
The assassin, whose lower body was still in a liquefied state and lacked a solid foothold, instantly felt a gale-force suction pulling at his back.
He immediately solidified his lower half and twisted his body in mid-air, redirecting his blade to stab into the adjacent wall.
Creeeeak!
The long blade sliced into the wall like a knife through butter, carving a half-meter-long gouge before finally halting the assassin's backward momentum. He turned his head, revealing a cold, handsome face, shoulder-length white hair, and a tight-fitting grey combat suit.
It was the white-haired youth of the Hōzuki clan who had stood behind Yagura Karatachi the night before—the prodigy of the Mist, Mangetsu Hōzuki, a man renowned for his mastery of the Seven Ninja Swords.
A cold light flashed in Mangetsu's eyes. He reached for his waist and flicked his wrist, launching several shuriken. Propelled by the suction of the wind, the shuriken spun violently, turning into streaks of cold light as they shot toward Yū, who still had his right arm raised.
Suddenly, the wind ceased.
Yū tilted his head slightly, effortlessly dodging the shuriken.
The projectiles maintained their momentum, flying past him. Clang!
However, the shuriken didn't hit the wall. They were parried by a kunai that had suddenly been raised from that position.
From behind Yū, another figure ascended to the tenth floor. It was a woman with reddish-brown hair and emerald eyes, wearing a dark blue dress—Mei Terumī.
Now, Yū was flanked: the Mist prodigy Mangetsu Hōzuki in front, and the dual-Kekkei Genkai genius Mei Terumī behind.
Standing in the center of the hallway, Yū's expression remained unchanged. He calmly watched the far end of the corridor.
Crash!
The glass window shattered as Terai leaped from the tenth floor.
Dust swirled through the hallway, dancing in the morning light that poured through the broken window.
In an instant, only Yū, Mei, and Mangetsu remained.
"Buying time for a teammate to escape... Handsome guy from Root, that doesn't quite seem like your style, does it?" Mei Terumī teased from behind Yū, a slight smirk playing on her lips.
Yū didn't respond. Before him, Mangetsu Hōzuki watched him like a predator ready to pounce. Hearing Mei's voice, Mangetsu frowned slightly and glanced at her, his voice cold as he issued a warning:
"This one is my prey!"
Mei looked at Mangetsu on the other side. After a brief moment of thought, she quickly realized what was happening. This was very much Elder Genji's style—he never put all his eggs in one basket.
While he had sent her to negotiate with Konoha's Root, he had issued similar orders to Yagura Karatachi. Since Yagura's current position was sensitive and he couldn't move freely, he had dispatched his trusted confidant, Mangetsu.
Mei smiled and shrugged. "Be my guest."
In the next heartbeat, Mangetsu blurred into an indistinguishable afterimage. He drew his blade once more and slashed at Yū with extreme speed.
The mission for both of them was the same: to verify if Yū possessed the value necessary for a partnership. The method of verification was simple—if he couldn't even defeat them, then his Wind Style was nothing more than a parlor trick, useless on a more grueling battlefield.
Only by passing this test would Hyūga Yū be qualified to continue the dialogue with the Hidden Mist's Council of Elders.
However, as Mangetsu lunged forward, his expression shifted. As he drew closer to Yū, he felt his movements becoming increasingly sluggish and weak.
Seconds later, his swinging blade ground to a halt ten centimeters from Yū's face, unable to advance further.
It was as if an invisible wall stood before him. There was clearly nothing there, yet it felt like a boundary drawn by a god—utterly insurmountable.
Mangetsu's pupils shrank.
He saw Yū look up calmly, meeting his gaze with indifference.
In the next instant, Yū dropped into a horse stance and swung his right fist. With Mangetsu moving at a crawl—as if he were slowly offering his face up to the blow—violent winds coiled around Yū's knuckles, manifesting as three high-pressure, spiraling air blades.
The punch connected.
BOOM!!
The fist slammed into Mangetsu's face, the force distorting his features and sending his eyes wide as saliva sprayed uncontrollably.
He tried to activate the Hōzuki clan's secret Hydrification Technique, but realized... he was too late!
His body had been slowed by the invisible wall of air, but the speed of his opponent's jutsu had not. If anything, Yū had become faster!
The punch was impossibly quick.
Mangetsu was launched backward like he had been struck by a high-speed train, his body slamming into the wall near the broken window like a crumpled spider.
Yū slowly turned around, looking at the reddish-brown-haired girl on the other side. He asked calmly:
"Can we talk now?"
————
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