Naruto: From Novice to Grave

Chapter 92 - Lord Hiashi is well

Higashino Makoto naturally did not know the spiritual secrets of the Yamanaka clan.

But in fact, if he wanted to, he could really develop it with more time, including the Nara clan's shadow techniques, which he had seen the Nara Suzaku and the Yamanaka clan use when he was on the Eastern Front.

He secretly sensed the entire chakra flow process from the side.

To put it simply, it's a technique for using Yin-attribute chakra; it's a basic form of Yin Release.

Unfortunately, he had already mastered both Yin and Yang chakra natures, and was even more advanced than the two families. So, as long as one's chakra nature cultivation is deep enough, one can see through any ninjutsu at a glance.

The reason for not developing it is that it would offend too many people. If he were an orphan, he would naturally be fearless. At worst, he could defect and play rice-carrying game with Nagato.

The problem is that he has both parents and doesn't want to burden his father.

The reason he wanted to try was to use illusion techniques to interrogate the victim. As long as the Yin attribute is strong enough, even a simple illusion technique is not something an ordinary ninja can withstand. For details, refer to the story of the filial son and Shisui.

Upon seeing Higashino Makoto, the burly, dark-skinned Cloud Ninja roared angrily, "Kid, what did you do to me? Why didn't you just kill me? Attack! What are you waiting for? Don't expect me to give you any information. We Cloud Ninja aren't as weak as those Konoha bastards!"

His eyes looked as if he wanted to devour the group of Konoha ninjas in front of him whole.

Unfortunately, if looks could kill, what would be the point of having ninjas? Wait, no, in the ninja world, looks really do seem to be able to kill.

The Uchiha clan is very skilled at this, and their great-grandmother, the Otsutsuki, was an expert in it.

Higashino ignored him, simply looking into his eyes and rapidly forming hand seals.

[Illusion - The Art That Is Not Here]

He uses the true illusion technique hand seals, unlike some villain with the surname Uehara who uses fake hand seals developed by Kisame to deceive people.

Although it was just a simple C-rank genjutsu, with the support of Higashino Makoto's powerful Yin attribute chakra, the heavily injured black-skinned cloud ninja was powerless to resist and instantly succumbed, his memories being pulled back to the day he accepted the mission.

In his mind, Higashino Makoto had become his superior, and under the pretext of emphasizing the importance of the mission, he asked him to repeat the details to avoid omissions.

Because he was in a situation where he considered himself safe and his brain was not violently invaded, the sealing technique, whose existence was unknown, would not be triggered at all.

He answered every question posed by his "superior," Higashino.

Then everyone found out what tricks those barbarians from the Cloud Ninja clan were up to.

The good news is that the dark-skinned, strong Cloud Ninja is indeed an elite Jonin-level expert in the village, and has access to a lot of classified information.

The war pressure on the northern front in the Land of Hot Springs has never been too great. The Konoha ninja, mainly composed of the Hyuga clan, only need to hold their ground. The first command in the north is to prevent the Cloud Ninja from getting their hands dirty.

The focus of the Cloud Village is not here either; the Fourth Raikage is single-mindedly focused on avenging his father and beating up the Iwagakure.

But recently, due to the escalating war and their growing fatigue with the rogue tactics employed by Konoha's Byakugan, they came up with a bold idea.

That means learning from Kirigakure and pulling off a big heist.

If the Hidden Mist Village can take it, why can't we, the Hidden Cloud Village, take it?

Who wouldn't want something as desirable as the Byakugan? Isn't there the Hyuga main branch right there on the front lines of the Land of Hot Water? Why not just go and rob them?

Anyway, this is how the Black-skinned Cloud Village always behaves; stealing other people's things is commonplace for them. In addition, the intensity of the battle in the Land of Hot Springs has never been high, which has played a good role in numbing Konoha.

The time and place are right; now is the time to be looked down upon.

Thus, the plan was set. They secretly dispatched several experts to lead a group south to meet with the local Cloud Ninja and begin the Byakugan acquisition operation.

The Black-skinned Cloud Ninja's mission was to stand between the defensive line and the command post, killing Konoha ninjas as much as possible and cutting off their reinforcements.

They were just unlucky and ran into Makoto Higashino.

As for the sneak attack—there is no possibility of a sneak attack under the Byakugan. The ninja who led the assault on the second command post was Troy, a renowned strongman of the Cloud Ninja and a user of the Magnet Release bloodline limit.

Good heavens, so these barbarians were up to no good here.

Unlike the Sharingan, the Byakugan is highly sought after in the ninja world, and from this perspective, the Caged Bird Seal is still very useful.

After extracting information through interrogation, everyone fell silent. The decision now rested with the Jonin, Gekko Unkan.

Yi Ya said urgently, "Senior Yun Jian, let's hurry back to command post to provide support!"

Moonlight Cloud shook his head: "If the intelligence is true, then the battle at the command post may already be over, and our return to reinforce would be meaningless."

"What should we do then? Could it be that Lord Hiashi has already—"

"Don't worry, it's not that easy to succeed. Neither the village nor the Hyuga clan will allow the same thing to happen a second time."

Furthermore, if the situation were urgent, we should have already received orders to return to the rescue. The fact that we haven't means that Konoha has won.

Now, we'll split into two groups. Your squad will continue to hold the line and collect the bodies of our fallen comrades. I'll take the rest back with my men.

"yes!"

The three members of the Yaya Squad accepted the order. They were lucky enough to encounter the Higashino Makoto Squad and made great contributions, but their comrades defending other outposts may have met with misfortune.

For example, the team that the Cloud Ninja used the transformation technique to impersonate, and the members of the base next to theirs, must have been killed.

After confirming their respective tasks, the four members of Yunjian's team rushed back to the command post as quickly as possible.

The place was in chaos, with signs of battle everywhere, black smoke everywhere, buildings in ruins, and remnants of lightning ninjutsu in many places.

The battle was indeed over, and the Konoha ninjas were busy cleaning up.

Moonlight Cloud said, "I'm going to the command center to report. You guys help out outside."

After he left, Higashino Masami said, "I'm going to check on the medical department."

Moonlight Gale didn't object: "Go ahead, Yugao and I can stay here."

Upon arriving at the medical department, Higashino Makoto turned and went into the morgue to find out what was going on.

Rows of wooden planks held corpses of varying ages. They might have been lively and cheerful people before, but now they were all dead.

It seems that Konoha suffered significant losses in this battle.

These were just ordinary Konoha ninjas. The bodies of those with special bloodlines or special techniques were collected immediately and handed over to their respective clans to prevent them from being stolen.

In the ninja world, such corpses can fetch a high price on the black market; there are plenty of people who want them.

After explaining his identity to the medical ninja guarding the place, and with his permission, Higashino carefully examined the body and found no familiar faces among the corpses, which eased his gloomy mood somewhat.

At the same time, he discovered that many of the victims had particularly large wounds, as if they had been cut open by some giant weapon.

It must have been the work of that Magnet Release ninja, Troy.

As a renowned powerhouse in the ninja world, Konoha naturally has information about him, including records of the giant square shuriken he used.

These ordinary ninjas might not know, but Gekko Kumomi, who used to work in the Anbu, naturally knew, and had explained it to them before coming to the northern front.

Upon arriving at the medical room, it was crowded with people, many of whom were wounded. Doctors moved among them, treating them.

With permission, Higashino immediately changed his identity and became a medical ninja.

The temporary medical department here is run by a female medical jonin in her forties from Konoha Hospital. She knows Higashino Makoto and is aware of his strength.

Well, basically everyone at Konoha Hospital knows him, because his mother works there.

As for why Higashino Megumi didn't come to the front lines?

Two out of the three members of the Higashino family are on the front lines. Isn't that enough?

If the Konoha leadership were to actually throw his entire family onto the battlefield, that would be utterly inhumane.

If they dared to throw it away, Higashino would really dare to run away with his parents carrying buckets, and a few years later he would come back before Nagato to show what it meant to carry rice.

After dealing with the pile of wounded in the large medical room, Higashino Makoto, heading to a private ward, saw two familiar faces.

"Muta, Meiko? What are you doing here?"

"Visiting a patient!" Aburame Muta said succinctly.

"No way, no way, did the Sun Moon Jonin get taken down again? You guys are really bad for the teacher. Can you find someone else to mess with next time? Like this dog."

"Why me? I'm already miserable enough, okay?" The two-headed husky didn't understand. His fate was already miserable enough, and now he had to tuck his tail between his legs when he went home.

Inuzuka Meiko said, "The teacher is fine. It was Tokuma who came to visit the elders of the clan."

"Oh, really? Then Senior Sun Moon is so lucky. Well, since you've come, as a medical ninja, I'll go check on the wounded!"

Upon entering the ward, he saw an unfamiliar face.

After Tokuma's introduction, Higashino Makoto realized that this was none other than the famous Hyuga Hizashi, Hyuga Neji's father.

This person's injuries have been treated and they are currently recuperating. It seems that their previous injuries were quite serious; they probably did their best to protect their beloved brother.

"Hishashi-senpai, I'm Higashino Makoto. Nice to meet you."

Hyuga Hizashi's smile was gentle: "You really are Shin. I've heard Himon and Tokuma mention you. Everyone thinks you're a very talented genius."

"You flatter me, Hizashi-senpai."

"No, no, even if they don't say it, I've heard about your deeds from others. You're one of Konoha's little heroes."

But I remember that the mission assigned to the Cloud Viewing Squad was mobile patrol, right? What happened that made you come back early?

, 7

"Yes, Hizashi-senpai—" Higashino Makoto briefly recounted what had happened that day.

After hearing this, Hizashi said, "Actually, you have already done a great service by blocking and eliminating at least 30 Cloud Ninja. If they had been allowed to come from the side and join up with the invaders, the consequences would have been very serious."

"I'm glad it was helpful. I wonder if Lord Hiashi is well."

"Don't worry, brother, you're all right. Yunyin's plot failed. If they had succeeded, I might never have seen my precious son again, hahaha!"

"Sigh, is Hizashi-senpai already a father?"

"Yes, my son Neji is almost two months old now. I hope that when he grows up, he will grow into a genius and free ninja like Shin."

Good heavens, my brother-in-law has been born.

But Hizashi-senpai, you said he was a genius like me, so why did you add the word "free"?

If we're talking about who in the Hyuga clan hates the Caged Bird Seal the most, it's probably this guy in front of us.

A mere second's difference led to the family splitting up, and even his son couldn't escape this fate.

一