Yotsuki Ai shook his head at once, rejecting the suggestion from Chiba Shun and the others. "Konoha is facing four enemies by itself again," he said. "They won't be able to finish mobilizing the whole village that quickly. We're not going too deep—just another ten kilometers."
Chiba Shun, Sakai Hashi, and Killer Bee exchanged a look, then nodded. Since Ai had already made up his mind, arguing further was pointless. The four of them adjusted their formation and pressed deeper into the Land of Fire.
This time, they moved with even more caution. Every time they covered a certain distance, the team stopped and let Chiba Shun use his sensory ninjutsu. He would crouch, press his fingers to the ground, and let his awareness spread outward through the earth like ripples over still water.
A moment later, his expression shifted. "I found them," he said in a low voice. "Two four-man teams ahead."
Ai did not hesitate for even a heartbeat. "Charge!" he barked, and shot forward in a flash of speed, not bothering to probe their strength first. Killer Bee and Sakai Hashi followed from two angles at once, while Chiba Shun remained a step behind, keeping enough distance to cast ninjutsu without getting tangled in the first clash.
He had only taken a few strides when his brows knit together. "Not good," he said sharply. "They noticed us. They've got a sensory ninja too."
But by then, the distance between both sides had already collapsed. Ai and the others could see the Konoha team shifting formations ahead. Ai didn't look surprised in the slightest. Once they had come this deep, running into one of Konoha's reconnaissance units was inevitable. Since the enemy had already detected them, there was no reason to hold back anymore.
The four Cloud ninjas burst out of the trees, and Chiba Shun finally got a clear look at the enemy. The Konoha side had formed a tight defensive line, clearly ready to fight instead of flee. Ai's eyes narrowed the instant he saw one of them. "So it's the Byakugan," he muttered. "No wonder they found us so fast."
Among the Konoha group stood a branch member of the Hyuga clan. Chiba Shun understood immediately. In terms of reconnaissance, the Byakugan far surpassed the insects of the Aburame or the hounds of the Inuzuka. The Hyuga ninja had probably been activating his eyes intermittently to conserve chakra. Unfortunately for him, he had waited just a little too long.
If he had checked the surrounding forest earlier, he might have caught sight of them before they entered striking distance. Instead, by the time he saw the four Cloud ninjas, Ai was already charging straight at them like a bolt of lightning. The Hyuga branch member clenched his jaw. Regret was meaningless now. The battle had already begun.
Yotsuki Ai smashed forward alone at the center of the enemy line. Killer Bee curved in from one side, Sakai Hashi from the other. All three released powerful chakra at once, and the pressure they gave off made the hearts of the two Konoha jonin sink.
The enemy had misjudged the situation. They had expected a smaller threat, perhaps a scouting team. Instead, they were staring at three jonin-level fighters and one special jonin hanging just behind them like a hidden fang.
The Konoha side moved with admirable discipline. Two chunin immediately coordinated their hand seals. "Fire Release: Great Fireball Technique!" one shouted, while the other followed with "Wind Release: Breakthrough!" Their combined attack surged at Ai in a roaring wave of flame. At the same time, one of the Konoha jonin unleashed "Water Release: Water Dragon Bullet!" at Killer Bee, clearly recognizing him as the most explosive close-range threat.
Hyuga Akira, the branch-family jonin, chose Sakai Hashi. He judged Sakai to be the easiest target among the three frontliners and rushed to cut him down first before turning to support the others. Around them, kunai, shuriken, and explosive tags screamed through the air in dense arcs. A few were aimed at Chiba Shun as well, but not many. His chakra presence was the weakest of the four, and the Konoha ninjas instinctively focused on the more immediate dangers.
Chiba Shun's lips curled into a thin smile. "That works for me," he thought. He had been forming hand seals the entire time he advanced, fingers flying one after another in a long, unforgiving chain. This was not a technique that could be used casually in the middle of a melee. If anyone had focused on him earlier, he would have been forced to abandon it immediately.
But now the final seal snapped into place. He twisted around two incoming kunai, slammed both palms to the ground, and roared with all the drama in his chest, "Earth Release: Mountain Earth Technique!"
It was the first time he had ever used the Mountain Earth Technique in a real battle. Truthfully, it was the first time he had used it successfully at all. In training, he always failed halfway through. His chakra would run dry before the two massive hemispheres could close, leaving him pale, empty, and furious at his own limitations.
This time, though, something inside him felt different. Maybe it was the pressure of live combat. Maybe it was the knowledge that if he failed here, his teammates could die. Maybe this was what Yotsuki Ai had wanted all along—forcing him into danger until his will sharpened under fire. Whatever the reason, Chiba Shun could feel something in himself catching, hardening, rising.
He poured out every scrap of chakra he had. On the way in, he had already swallowed a soldier pill. Even as he expended chakra, he forced himself to refine more, ignoring the strain and the damage. Veins stood out along his temple. His arms trembled. But on either side of the Konoha formation, two enormous hemispherical masses of earth tore out of the ground and began crushing inward.
The six Konoha chunin at the center went white with fear. For an instant, they could hardly believe what they were seeing. Why was this Cloud ninja fighting like a madman the moment the battle started? He wasn't just trying to win—he was trying to bury everyone, allies and enemies alike, in one attack.
Their formation shattered. They could no longer afford to keep their eyes on Ai. One after another, the Konoha chunin scattered, desperate to escape the closing stone. That was exactly what Chiba Shun wanted. The instant their neat defense broke apart, Ai plunged straight through them like a thunderbolt made flesh.
In that moment, the strongest lesson of battlefield reality became brutally clear. A formation could defend against a powerful enemy. Panic could not. Yotsuki Ai hammered through the fleeing chunin, dropping them one after another before they could even reorient themselves. Four died to his charge almost immediately. The last two avoided his fists, but only because their evasive movements carried them directly into the path of Chiba Shun's closing technique.
The Mountain Earth Technique slammed shut. The two remaining chunin were crushed into pulp between the colliding masses. Even Ai, Killer Bee, Sakai Hashi, and the two Konoha jonin were forced to leap away to avoid being caught in the range. The ground thundered. Dust burst upward in a choking wave.
Chiba Shun kept the technique going with a ragged howl, squeezing out the last reserve of chakra in his body. When the two mountain-like halves finally sealed together, he dropped to the ground on both knees, then fell back on one hand, gasping for breath. His limbs felt hollow. His vision swam. But despite that, a smile tugged at his lips.
He had done it. At last, he had truly completed his first A-rank earth-release technique.
On the other side of the field, Hyuga Akira and the remaining jonin exchanged a quick glance. The battle had turned against them too fast. The six chunin were dead. Their numerical advantage had vanished. Worse, the Cloud side still had four dangerous fighters on the field. Retreat became the only sensible choice.
But it was already too late for the second jonin. Killer Bee killed him first. The clash was swift and violent, ending with the Konoha man collapsing before he even had time to disengage. Akira's expression hardened. He knew exactly what that meant. If he didn't escape now, he would die here too.
Yotsuki Ai seemed to think the same. He shifted, clearly about to explode forward and finish the matter himself. Then Chiba Shun, still panting on the ground, forced out a weak shout. "Senior Ai—wait! Sakai, stop too! Keep that Hyuga alive!"
Sakai Hashi halted almost at once. Ai hesitated, but only for a fraction of a second before holding back as well. He moved instead to cut off Hyuga Akira's route back toward the village, boxing him in without striking the finishing blow. Then he looked toward Chiba Shun, waiting to hear what kind of scheme the other man had come up with now.
Chiba Shun was still short of breath, unable to say much. For a moment he could only point upward at the sun, then to his own eyes. Ai frowned. "He's branch family," he said flatly. "We can't take the Byakugan."
Of course Chiba Shun knew that. The Caged Bird Seal hanging over the Hyuga branch family was no secret among high-level ninjas. If the branch member died, the eyes would be destroyed. If the main family wished it, they could cripple or kill him from afar. The Byakugan was not some prize that could simply be ripped out and carried home.
When he could finally speak again, Chiba Shun looked directly at the trapped Hyuga jonin. "May I know how to address this senior of the Hyuga clan?" he asked.
Akira said nothing. His eyes stayed cold, but the tension in his body was unmistakable. Chiba Shun did not press for a name. Instead, he spoke as if thinking aloud. "When I went to Konoha, I was impressed by how prosperous it was. Everywhere I looked, the village seemed full of confidence. Civilians, ninjas, the great clans—everyone wore that so-called Will of Fire on their faces."
He paused. "But there was one group that never quite fit." His gaze sharpened. "The branch family of the Hyuga clan."
Akira's breathing changed, just slightly. That was enough for Chiba Shun. He pressed harder. "Konoha likes to call itself a great family where everyone is free. But your branch family? You're caged birds. Slaves bound by a seal. Your lives and deaths are decided by the main house."
The words hit exactly where Chiba Shun wanted them to. Even Killer Bee quieted, sensing that this was no longer just a battlefield interrogation. This was something deeper—uglier. Akira's face remained stern, yet the bitterness in his eyes could no longer be hidden.
Chiba Shun let the silence stretch before asking the question he had been building toward from the start. "Tell me, Hyuga—have you ever wanted to break the cage?"
For the first time, Hyuga Akira's composure visibly wavered. Of course he had wanted that. Every branch member must have wanted it, at some point or another. But wanting and doing were two different things. The curse seal on his forehead was not a metaphor. It was a chain. Worse, if Konoha discovered he had fallen into enemy hands, the main family could activate it from afar and destroy him on the spot.
That had happened before. It could happen again. The possibility hung over them all like a blade.
Yet Chiba Shun was not done. He met the Hyuga's gaze without flinching. "If there were a chance," he said quietly, "even a slim one… would you take it?"