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Chapter 290: Hinata's Oppressive Aura
Tsunade was the first to feel the brunt of Hinata's Six Paths-level coercion. She had just regained her youth, her body overflowing to the brim with chakra. The sensation of reclaiming her lost power made her entire being radiate with vitality.
But the instant Hinata released her aura—
She froze.
It felt as though her body had been seized by a massive, invisible hand. Every single cell trembled in sheer terror; every inch of her bones groaned under the strain. This was a paralyzing fear she had never once experienced—far more suffocating and absolute than when she had fought Madara Uchiha. Her instincts screamed that if she dared to make a single move against this girl, she would be annihilated without suspense. There was absolutely zero possibility of victory.
Hinata's strength... is actually beyond Madara Uchiha's...?
Tsunade's pupils contracted violently, the color draining from her face at a visible rate. She subconsciously tried to clench her fists, desperately trying to circulate her chakra to resist, but her body flatly refused to obey.
She couldn't move. She couldn't move an inch.
An absurd thought flashed through her mind. This is impossible. She was Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. One of the Legendary Sannin. She had survived three Great Ninja Wars and faced countless terrifying foes. Even standing before Madara Uchiha, she had never felt this absolute, crushing sense of disparity. Against the reanimated Madara, she could at least throw a punch.
But standing before Hinata, she felt like she didn't even have the courage to try.
The eldest daughter of the Hyuga Clan, the girl who wouldn't even dare lift her head in Tsunade's presence, who used to blush just from speaking, now stood there like a god looking down upon mortals.
Just how did Hinata obtain this kind of power...?
Tsunade subconsciously took half a step back. It was pure instinct. It was the instinctive urge of a lesser lifeform retreating before a higher existence. What on earth did Hinata go through?
Shikaku stood beside Tsunade, his reaction faster than anyone else's. Not because of his strength, but because his brain operated faster in a crisis than anyone else's.
The moment Hinata unleashed her presence, his first instinct wasn't to resist, but to analyze. And his analysis led to a conclusion that turned his blood to ice:
Resistance is completely impossible. The conclusion formed so quickly that before he even had time to process fear, he was already suffocating under the crushing weight of her aura. His mind raced frantically. What is this power? It has completely eclipsed Madara Uchiha. Shikaku's pupils shrank slightly as he stared fixedly at Hinata's Byakugan, which was now radiating a faint blue light.
Those aren't the Byakugan. They were a completely different set of eyes he had never seen before, yet they possessed unimaginably catastrophic power.
Inoichi was completely incapable of speaking. As the head of the Yamanaka Clan, his natural perception of spiritual energy far exceeded ordinary people. But because of his hyper-sensitivity, the agony he was enduring was far worse than anyone else's.
That presence wasn't just suppressing his physical body; it was grinding his very soul into dust. He felt like an ant being pinned to the earth by an invisible giant finger, unable to twitch. His mind trembled violently, his willpower actively collapsing. The spiritual fortitude he had always prided himself on felt like a flickering candle in a hurricane before that power, liable to be snuffed out at any second.
He wanted to close his eyes, to sever his sensory perception, but he couldn't. His body, his mind, his soul—none of it belonged to him anymore.
In that moment, he finally understood what true, absolute strength was. It wasn't just an overwhelming gap in combat power; it was a fundamental difference in the level of existence. When an opponent stood at a summit you could never hope to reach, you didn't even have the basic right to gaze up at them.
Choza was the most straightforward of the group. His first reaction was simple: resist. He instinctively tried to mold his chakra, attempting to use his Multi-Size Technique to fight back against the crushing weight.
But the moment his chakra flared, it was immediately snuffed out by the sheer density of Hinata's aura, like a tiny spark stomped out by a giant boot.
Orochimaru's reaction was the most peculiar. He didn't step back. He didn't tremble. He didn't show a single trace of fear. He simply stood there, his golden, serpentine eyes locked dead onto Hinata, the smile on his face growing wider and incredibly dangerous.
His body was withstanding the pressure, and his soul was shuddering under the strain, but his eyes held no terror—only fanaticism.
It was the burning desire of an explorer facing the unknown. The ravenous pursuit of a scientist hunting for the truth. The gaze of a serpent witnessing a higher form of life.
"I see..." he whispered, his voice hoarse, low, and laced with a sickly excitement. "I see... So this... this is the path that lies ahead?"
His hands shook slightly—not from fear, but from sheer euphoria. How many years had it been? How long had it been since he was shaken to his core like this? Ever since he began researching forbidden jutsu, ever since he began his pursuit of immortality, ever since he tried to unravel the deepest mysteries of life... He had always been chasing a higher plane of existence.
And now, he finally saw it. Standing right in front of him, in the flesh. It wasn't Konan or Alex—those two aloof, unfathomable gods whose depths he couldn't even begin to read—but Hinata Hyuga. A little girl he had once dismissed as "nothing special."
Orochimaru's tongue slithered over his lips, his eyes glinting with a perilous light. His brilliant mind worked in overdrive, analyzing every microscopic trace of Hinata's aura, desperate to find the pathway to that higher evolution.
"Fascinating... Utterly fascinating..." he muttered under his breath. "Hinata... Just what... what exactly did you experience?"
Sakura, standing behind Tsunade, had the most visceral reaction of them all. Her legs had turned to jelly, her body shook uncontrollably, and her mind was entirely blank. The pressure felt physical, pressing down so hard she was nearly forced to her knees. She gritted her teeth so hard her jaw ached, clenching her fists until her nails dug bloody crescents into her palms, using the sharp pain to maintain her last shred of consciousness.
Only one thought echoed endlessly in her mind. Is this really Hinata? Was this the same Hinata she had grown up with in Konoha? The same girl who trained alongside her under Lady Tsunade? The girl who would stammer and blush whenever she spoke, who would panic just from making eye contact with Naruto?
Sakura's lips trembled, her eyes turning red. It wasn't from fear, but from an emotion she couldn't quite name. Envy? Jealousy? Or... the crushing despair of being left impossibly far behind?
She couldn't articulate it. She only knew that from this moment on, an insurmountable, eternal chasm separated her from Hinata.
Kurenai stood silently in the crowd, subconsciously tightening her fists. She was a Jonin, an elite who had survived countless battles, yet right now, her body was trembling entirely out of her control. She looked at Hinata with a profoundly complicated gaze.
She used to be Hinata's Jonin sensei. But now, that chronically shy little girl possessed a power that completely eclipsed her own... And now, all eyes were on her. Even Lady Tsunade was forced to look up to her.
The transformation her former student had undergone was simply... terrifying.
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