Drip… drip…
The cold autumn rain blanketed the entire forest. Layers of dark green canopies formed a dome overhead, while mist drifted between the branches, creating a gloomy and oppressive atmosphere.
Several dark figures flickered across tree trunks and branches. Rainwater trickled down the folds of their deep black raincoats, leaving winding trails on the waterproof fabric.
Hyūga Kumokawa, also wearing a black raincoat, stood in the middle of the escort team. He carefully observed the others around him with a sidelong glance.
Out of the fifteen people, twelve were ANBU operatives—three squads of four ANBU each.
This showed just how seriously the mission was being taken. After all, the ANBU served as the Third Hokage's personal guard and rarely deployed for outside missions.
The remaining three consisted of Hyūga Kumokawa himself—who was half a protectee—and two Konoha jonin.
One was from the Akimichi clan, the other from the Aburame clan.
The rest all wore various masks and emanated cold, murderous auras.
This escort team possessed formidable combat strength. In terms of security, there should have been almost no issues.
However…
"Danger doesn't always come from the outside."
Hyūga Kumokawa's gaze swept over the Aburame jonin, keenly detecting the familiar cold aura emanating from him.
A Root ninja.
Danzō really hadn't given up. Though that was fine—their goals aligned anyway.
"Stop," Hyūga Kumokawa said suddenly.
The group instinctively came to a halt, all eyes turning toward him.
"At two o'clock, one kilometer out—thirteen shinobi gathered together. Their chakra signatures are chaotic. They're likely rogue ninjas."
As he spoke, Hyūga Kumokawa removed his goggles and wiped them, revealing the pale skin under his eyes that had been soaked by the moisture.
"Let's detour," the Akimichi jonin's voice was slightly distorted by the sound of rain.
Rogue ninjas, as the name suggested, were mostly non-affiliated shinobi who wandered between countries. They didn't belong to any village, stole techniques from various nations, and usually only grasped the surface or form without the substance. Most of them were relatively weak.
Of course, a group of over ten rogue ninjas gathering together likely meant they had been recruited by a missing-nin from one of the major villages.
Their mission was simply to escort the target. The sooner they delivered the body to Hidden Cloud, the better. There was no need to stir up unnecessary trouble along the way.
"How far are we from the Land of Hot Springs?" Aburame Ryūma suddenly asked.
Hyūga Kumokawa glanced at the map. "About a hundred and fifty kilometers."
The Land of Fire and the Land of Lightning did not share a direct border. The Land of Hot Springs and the Land of the Moon lay between them. Their destination was within the Land of Hot Springs.
At a normal shinobi traveling speed without using Body Flicker, it would take three days and nights to reach Sunagakure from Konoha. The trip to the Land of Hot Springs was a bit shorter—one day and one night.
"Akimichi-senpai," Aburame Ryūma turned to the Akimichi jonin beside him. "We still have quite a distance to go. Why don't we rest here for a bit? With the Byakugan in the team, we don't have to worry about surprises."
"…"
Akimichi Dōtō's eyes were squeezed into narrow slits by his plump cheeks. He glanced sideways at Hyūga Kumokawa behind him and inwardly approved of the boy's performance throughout the journey.
As a veteran jonin who had fought in the Third Shinobi World War—and once served in the Fourth Hokage's squad—he had expected the boy to be a burden. Instead, Kumokawa had kept pace with them perfectly. Thanks to the Byakugan, they hadn't encountered any trouble along the way.
His level of perception, stamina, and composure…
"Looks like the rumors weren't reliable after all," Akimichi Dōtō thought.
He didn't reject Aburame Ryūma's suggestion. "Alright, we'll rest here then."
With that, he looked toward the eight ANBU from the fourth and fifth squads. They nodded in understanding and vanished with Body Flicker.
Since they were stopping to rest anyway, they might as well clear out those rogue ninjas. After all, they were still within the Land of Fire's territory, and rogue ninjas were mostly just pests.
The remaining members each found a spot to rest. The only sounds were the rustling of wet black raincoats, like a flock of soaked owls preening their feathers.
Akimichi Dōtō summoned a hawk, handed it a prepared scroll, and sent it back to the Third Hokage.
They had to maintain communication with the village at all times. If contact was lost, Konoha would immediately send people to investigate.
Hyūga Kumokawa also found a place to sit. With someone else taking over watch duty, he deactivated his Byakugan and began recovering his chakra.
However, as he lifted his canteen to drink, his eyes flickered slightly.
A bug had flown into his sleeve.
It was a tiny, ordinary-looking insect. Anyone else—even Akimichi Dōtō—wouldn't have noticed.
But Hyūga Kumokawa's perception didn't rely solely on the Byakugan.
"Aburame scouting bugs, huh?"
Hyūga Kumokawa set down his canteen with a calm expression, showing no sign that he had noticed anything unusual.
These destruction bugs were reconnaissance types used for gathering intelligence, not as dangerous as the parasitic ones or nano poison insects.
Still, they could complicate his upcoming plans.
As he considered how to deal with the bug, his eyes moved again. He looked down toward the ground.
"Careful—underground…"
Hyūga Kumokawa warned without hesitation, but before he could finish speaking, the muddy ground beneath their feet suddenly split open.
Earth Release: Double Suicide Decapitation Technique.
Bang!
Two hands shot out of the earth without warning, kunai gripped tightly as they slashed toward Hyūga Kumokawa's ankles.
They were trying to cripple him—to take out the team's "eyes."
Not only under Kumokawa's feet, but hands also emerged beneath Akimichi Dōtō and Aburame Ryūma.
The former simply formed hand seals, lifted his muscular legs, and stomped down hard. The latter was instantly enveloped by a swarm of insects.
Crack! Splat!
A pool of red and white mixed with rainwater spread across the ground. Dense swarms of bugs poured underground, producing a chilling crunching sound as they fed.
The two jonin instantly dealt with their attackers and turned instinctively toward Hyūga Kumokawa.
What they saw was Kumokawa dodging the strike, seizing the two hands that had emerged from the ground, and forcefully dragging the hidden figure out.
A single palm strike followed. Immense penetrating force created a massive, clean hole in the attacker's abdomen. Blood mixed with shredded organs poured out uncontrollably.
"It's a missing-nin from Iwagakure," Hyūga Kumokawa said after glancing at the corpse's forehead. "They must have spotted us earlier…"
He looked up at Akimichi Dōtō and the others, only to meet several pairs of surprised eyes.
It was no wonder they looked at him that way. This brutal method of killing didn't quite match their preconceptions of the Hyūga clan.
These missing-nin were at most chunin level, so it wasn't too surprising that Kumokawa could kill one.
But smashing a man's stomach open with a single palm strike? Wasn't that a bit too ruthless and violent for a Hyūga?
At the same time, Aburame Ryūma frowned slightly. He sensed that his scouting bug had died and instinctively glanced at Kumokawa's sleeve, but only saw blurry bloodstains.
Assuming it had simply been crushed by accident during the fight, he quietly released several more bugs.
But it no longer mattered how many he sent.
The real Hyūga Kumokawa had already donned his shadow robe and slipped away. The one still smiling here was merely a shadow clone.
He had gone ahead to prepare the stage.
For his "puppets."
Deep within the dense shadows of the trees, Hyūga Kumokawa—cloaked in his shadow robe—blended almost perfectly into the darkness. As he moved stealthily, he murmured inwardly:
"Manifestation—Ōtsutsuki Ruins…"
This time, the people he intended to fool weren't just one person, or even a group of people.
It was the entire shinobi world—including Hidden Cloud and Konoha.
Hyūga Kumokawa was about to tell a colossal lie.
Hi guys, I just wanted to let you know that the rewrite for the Supreme Overlord project is officially ongoing now. If you want to read it, feel free to check out my second account.
Since this account got shadowbanned and I can't really interact with anything anymore, I decided to upload it on my second account instead: Elenea. (I'll leave a comment under this post so it's easier for you guys to find my second account.)
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[Father of the Evil Gods]
Synopsis:
In Zoroastrianism, the Mother of the Evil Gods is the source of all sin and darkness!
It is said that she created the Six Archdemons: Malice, Chaos, Aging, Betrayal, Weakness, and Destruction!
After obtaining the Authority of the Mother of the Evil Gods in the Little Garden, Saigou became the Supreme Being in the world of Overlord;
Surrounded by the Overlord, the Witch of the Void, the Archon of Teyvat, the Sage of Gensokyo, the Satan of DxD, and the Creator of the Demon Pillars;
Saigou was certain that he had firmly established his name as the Evil God;
And so, he must shout at the top of his lungs - God is dead!
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If you're curious and want to read it, feel free to check out my second account.