"Huh?!"
A low murmur escaped Hyuga Satoru. The sudden appearance of the White Zetsu spores was more unexpected than he'd thought.
The Byakugan granted penetrating sight, but tracking particles that tiny still demanded absurdly high visual acuity. Before the spores activated, even Satoru hadn't noticed the dust-like motes clinging to Sasori's body and the ground.
The reason was simple: those spores carried chakra that perfectly mimicked Sasori's. They blended seamlessly into his chakra field, slipping straight past Satoru's detection.
As the White Zetsu clones howled and rushed him from all directions, Satoru was briefly caught in a dilemma.
If he used the Flying Thunder God, he could instantly break out of the encirclement and chase after Kakuzu—there was still a slim chance of forcing him to stay.
But the appearance of White Zetsu here changed everything.
If he simply left them and went after Kakuzu, the spores would spread and leak information about him. What worried Satoru more was a question he couldn't answer immediately:
Had he already come into contact with those spores during his fight with Sasori?
White Zetsu had the ability to record an opponent's chakra signature and then perfectly imitate it. If they recorded his chakra nature and managed to transmit it back to their main body, that would be a serious problem.
Compared to chasing Kakuzu, quietly erasing these spores without leaving a trace had become the top priority.
Fortunately, White Zetsu clones were independent. Once a clone died, the data it held couldn't be transmitted outward on its own.
That was demonstrated clearly in the original timeline: when Obito had left a White Zetsu to guard Uchiha Sasuke during his eye replacement, the moment that clone's core was destroyed, the others only learned of its death later—through inference, not direct data transfer.
Their communication was strong, but as Satoru knew, it required specific "channels" and conditions.
Judging from these clones' behavior, no intel had been sent yet.
Satoru's eyes narrowed. He raised a hand; chakra rapidly gathered and condensed in his palm. A terrifying aura radiated from the forming sphere.
Then he leapt high and hurled it straight at the cluster of White Zetsu on the ground.
A miniature Tailed Beast Bomb.
Six or seven White Zetsu bodies were scattered across roughly thirty square meters—precisely within the radius Satoru needed to wipe them all out with a single, controlled blast.
"Boom!!!"
The tiny Tailed Beast Bomb smashed into the earth.
Satoru's chakra detonated in a deafening explosion, the roar shaking the forest. Fire burst skyward; dust and flames intertwined and rose, forming a towering mushroom cloud.
The instant the blast went off, Satoru used the Flying Thunder God to flicker away from ground zero.
Several hundred meters out, he appeared atop a tall tree and watched the destruction he'd unleashed. The raging fire reflected in his pale pupils.
Under the Byakugan's gaze, the White Zetsu clones' chakra rapidly disintegrated within the flames until nothing remained.
Still, Satoru didn't leave immediately.
To be safe, he waited until the blaze began to die down, then returned to the shattered clearing and swept, again and again, for any lingering traces of unfamiliar chakra.
Only after repeated passes did he finally confirm that all of the White Zetsu had been completely annihilated.
Sasori's corpse, along with his remaining puppets, had been swallowed by the miniature Tailed Beast Bomb's inferno. They crumbled to ash within the firestorm. Only a few metallic weapons at the very edge of the blast remained, melted and fused into lumps of slag and dirt—no longer identifiable as anything.
Sasori of the Red Sand—the man who assassinated the Third Kazekage and helped trigger the Third Great Ninja War—had died quietly within the Land of Fire.
And the only ones who knew the truth were Hyuga Satoru… and the fleeing Kakuzu.
After thoroughly checking the battlefield, Satoru knew pursuing Kakuzu further was now unrealistic.
Kakuzu had already escaped at full speed. Delayed by the White Zetsu, Satoru no longer had a clear "lock" on him. On top of that, the chakra lingering in the sky from his own Tailed Beast Bomb was still heavily distorting sensory techniques in the surrounding area.
The air was saturated with tailed-beast chakra.
He might not have managed to take down the money-obsessed Kakuzu, but in practical terms, the mission was already complete.
Encountering someone like Hyuga Satoru within the Land of Fire—and losing a partner in the process—was a heavy blow to Akatsuki.
Kakuzu would surely report the incident to the organization's leaders. After that, they'd tighten information security and become more cautious in using their core members.
Akatsuki preferred to operate in pairs. This loss would serve as a harsh lesson.
Before Kakuzu found another partner, he probably wouldn't dare step into the Land of Fire again—much less resume raiding the Hyuga exchange houses.
Calm and detached by nature, Kakuzu would take the time to analyze why he and Sasori had been ambushed by a Konoha shinobi so far from any obvious battlefield. Whether he'd be able to deduce that the exchange house belonged specifically to the Hyuga, and not simply to Konoha at large, was another matter.
After confirming that no intelligence remained on-site, Satoru used the Flying Thunder God to leave.
The explosion of a Tailed Beast Bomb—no matter how small—would not go unnoticed.
Across the Land of Fire, Konoha maintained sensory ninja and fixed observation posts. Their abilities varied, but none of them could miss a surge of tailed-beast chakra on this scale.
That kind of fluctuation could not be concealed.
The shock wasn't just felt at the forward posts. Back in the village, Minato Namikaze—sitting in his office as the Fourth Hokage—also sensed Satoru's chakra at the exact moment of detonation.
His pen stopped in mid-stroke.
Feeling that familiar yet terrifying chakra, Minato frowned slightly, stood up, and walked over to the window, his gaze turning toward the direction of the blast.
Minato's sensing was exceptional. In another timeline, he had once sensed Naruto's chakra even from faraway battlefields.
This time, the clash was only about a hundred kilometers from Konoha. There was no way for a miniature Tailed Beast Bomb to escape his perception.
"…Satoru."
"Is he fighting someone?"
After a brief pause, Minato forced back the impulse to teleport there himself.
He didn't know what exactly was happening, but he trusted Satoru's abilities.
As another user of the Flying Thunder God, he understood better than anyone how hard Satoru was to kill. Even when facing extremely powerful foes, Satoru rarely fought without an escape route.
Minato chose to wait for a report instead of rushing out.
He quietly returned to his desk.
He wasn't the only one who felt that chakra.
On a street in Konoha, Uzumaki Kushina—on her way to pick Naruto up from the academy—suddenly stopped. Her expression shifted for an instant as her senses brushed across the distant surge.
She glanced toward the direction of the explosion, then silently pulled her gaze back and continued walking.
"…Minato sent out on a mission?"
"The enemy must be pretty strong this time."
She whispered to herself, then blended back into the crowd on the main road.
Hyuga Exchange House
Satoru reappeared in the underground chamber. The corpses had already been cleared away by Hyuga Kotachi's people. Kotachi sat at the bar beside the hidden door, tallying the losses from the attack.
Hearing footsteps, he tensed and looked up in alarm—then sagged with relief when he saw Satoru walk in unharmed.
"Lord Satoru!"
"You move like a ghost—you scared me half to death." He let out an awkward laugh. "For a second I thought one of the bodies in the mortuary had gotten up."
Kotachi stood hurriedly. Half joking, half complaining, he walked up to Satoru and instinctively checked him over with his eyes. Though the faint smell of smoke still clung to Satoru's clothes, there wasn't a single visible injury.
Kotachi's shoulders eased, and he plastered on a flattering smile.
"Lord Satoru, is everything taken care of? I knew that with you personally handling it, the matter would be resolved perfectly!"
His flattery, however, came off a bit clumsy.
Satoru shook his head.
"One escaped. So no, it's not completely finished."
"I'll explain it to Great-Grandfather myself. You don't have to worry."
Kotachi blinked. He had heard plenty of rumors about the main-family heir, but this was his first time working with him directly.
In his mind, the Hyuga main family stood at the top of the shinobi world. The branch families had always believed that wholeheartedly.
He hadn't expected someone like Satoru to admit openly that he'd failed to kill all of the attackers.
Kotachi recovered quickly and rushed to smooth things over.
"Even letting one get away isn't so bad. They must have paid dearly this time—hardly likely they'll come looking for trouble again anytime soon."
"Lord Satoru, you handled it magnificently."
As someone who had run exchange houses for years, Kotachi's eye for nuance was sharp. His praise carried a bit of carefully chosen subtext.
"The Hyuga main house is delegating the exchange-house affairs to me from now on," Satoru said calmly. "Security too."
"I'll leave one of my Flying Thunder God kunai here. If anything happens, send a hawk immediately and I'll come at once."
"I'll also set up a barrier—a safe room. If there's an attack, the staff can retreat inside and wait for reinforcements."
"My barrier isn't invincible, but it will hold long enough for help to arrive."
On his way back, Satoru had already drafted the defensive measures in his head. A barrier wasn't a perfect solution, but it was a practical one.
The Hyuga had their own barrier specialists, but none on his level. This barrier technique came from the Uzumaki—personally taught by Kushina. Combined with Satoru's natural talent, the protection a "simple" safehouse could provide under his hands would be far beyond anything ordinary shinobi could manage.
Kotachi's eyes lit up with relief and gratitude. He bowed repeatedly.
Although he was a subordinate of the Hyuga, he couldn't help feeling sincerely impressed. Unlike some of the main-family members he'd dealt with in the past, Satoru showed neither arrogance nor condescension—just straightforward responsibility.
Setting up a safehouse was more than a single jutsu. It required choosing a location, preparing supplies and communication tools, and coordinating procedures. It would take time.
There was no need for Satoru to remain here personally.
After giving a few concise instructions, he vanished in a flash of Flying Thunder God and returned to the Hyuga estate.
He reappeared in the study—and ran straight into Hyuga Shin, who was waiting there.
Shin had already seen the note Satoru left on the desk. Since then, he'd stayed in the study. If Satoru hadn't returned by dinnertime, Shin had planned to inform Hanako and the others.
Seeing Satoru walk in unharmed, he let out a breath so faint it was almost imperceptible.
To be honest, Shin had been worried when Satoru went out alone to track the attackers, especially since there was likely an organization behind them.
Now that his grandson was back, he could finally relax.
"How did it go?" he asked.
His gaze swept over Satoru—no injuries, aura steady—and a small, satisfied smile appeared at the corner of his mouth.
"There were two attackers," Satoru replied. "One was Kakuzu, a rogue from Takigakure. The other was Sasori, a rogue from Sunagakure."
"They're part of the same organization. Their outfits matched."
"I killed Sasori. Kakuzu escaped."
"But I don't think the exchange houses will be attacked again, at least not in the short term."
"For safety, I recommend setting up safe rooms at each branch and protecting them with barriers."
Satoru didn't go into much detail beyond that. Explaining where exactly his information had come from would be cumbersome—and the less attention he drew to his "extra knowledge," the better. Akatsuki wasn't widely known yet. Staying low-key was the smarter move.
Shin nodded, not pressing for more.
The safehouse plan sounded sound. If implemented across the network, it would let the exchange houses keep operating without constantly fearing another massacre.
"The safehouse idea is good. Push it through as soon as possible," Shin said. "As for the attackers…"
"Satoru, if they're part of an organization, won't they retaliate eventually?"
"Only the thief who keeps stealing has to fear the thief who keeps guarding. If we want peace of mind, we have to deal with the root."
His words were blunt, but they matched Satoru's own thinking.
Of course, actually doing it wouldn't be easy.
"I understand. I'll keep tracking their movements," Satoru said.
Shin patted him lightly on the shoulder.
"Don't put too much pressure on yourself. Whether it goes smoothly or not, no one will blame you."
"Remember this—the Hyuga will always stand behind your decisions."
He paused, then added:
"Hanako went to pick up Hinata from the academy."
"Speaking of which, your little sister has become something of a celebrity there lately."
"Satoru, I think it's about time we placed the Caged Bird Seal on Hinata."
"It's for her own good… and for the Hyuga's."
The sudden mention of the Caged Bird made Satoru glance at his great-grandfather, a hint of doubt in his eyes. He didn't quite understand why Shin was bringing this up right now.
But his reply was firm:
"The matter of the Caged Bird… I've already made up my mind."
"Don't worry, Great-Grandfather."
Even so, he couldn't help feeling curious.
Just what had Hinata been doing at the academy… to make Elder Shin bring this up again at such a time?
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