"Our direct superior in the Konoha Enforcement Unit is Lord Aoba, assistant to the Hokage. The search warrant for the Hyuga Compound was personally authorized by him."
Kawaki Aoba.
Hearing this name, the hearts of the Hyuga clan shinobi collectively skipped a beat.
The name had become legendary in its own right—etched deeply into the memories of many Hyuga, and not in a fond way.
The Hyuga clan members blocking the path of the Enforcement Unit all wore grim expressions, their disgust evident—as if they'd just swallowed something vile—while facing the arrogant group before them.
At that moment, the leading officer of the Konoha Enforcement Unit raised his voice again.
"What's this? Are you blocking official village operations? Or are you siding with rogue ninja?"
At the mention of rogue ninja, the Hyuga guards paled and instinctively stepped back.
Only a few days ago, over eight hundred members of the Hyuga branch family had been arrested. The incident had sent shockwaves through the clan, and the tension had yet to settle.
If not for the lack of an official decree from the Hokage labeling them as rogue ninja, the entire clan might have already revolted.
It was widely known that the Hyuga clan, due to generations of internal marriages and tightly woven bloodlines, shared deep familial ties. If things escalated, the entire clan could be dragged into the chaos.
Seeing the Hyuga's hesitation, the Enforcement Unit members smirked with unrestrained arrogance.
Most of them had been handpicked by Kawaki Aoba—previously nothing more than obscure shinobi in the village. But now, emboldened by authority, they wore their power like armor.
These nobodies, once unable to even speak to clan shinobi, now commanded their silence.
They were the epitome of petty men handed power—resentful of the clans who had once looked down on them, and now delighting in revenge.
Some of the younger Hyuga clan members flushed with shame. A few hot-blooded ones even stepped forward, but were quickly pulled back by the older generation.
Still, among many, there are always a few who are not afraid of death.
One such man was Hyuga Taiyi.
His brother had been among those arrested during an earlier operation led by Kawaki Aoba himself. Watching these enforcers swagger around the Hyuga compound, even damaging property as they pleased, filled Taiyi with rage.
Unable to hold back, he lunged forward without a word.
With swift movements, Taiyi activated his Byakugan and unleashed the Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Twenty-Eight Palms—a lesser variation of the clan's signature technique.
Though not a prodigy like Neji once was, Taiyi was no slouch. He had solid training and natural talent.
By targeting two seemingly weaker members of the Enforcement Unit—both genin—he managed to land clean blows and incapacitate them.
Even Taiyi was surprised by how easily it had gone.
But the moment was short-lived.
Two senior members of the Enforcement Unit immediately stepped forward to retaliate. Taiyi, still young and relatively inexperienced, was quickly overwhelmed and knocked to the ground.
As he struggled to rise, one enforcer grinned and raised his foot to stomp down—
But a sharp crack split the air.
The enforcer was suddenly launched backward, crashing into a nearby wall.
"Who did that?!"
"Who dares attack Konoha Enforcement? Are you declaring yourself an enemy of the village?!"
All eyes turned toward the source of the disruption.
A Hyuga shinobi stood silently, face stern, his Byakugan already activated. Judging by the seal on his forehead, he was a member of the branch family.
Calmly, he stepped forward and spoke with a deep voice:
"I want to speak with Kawaki Aoba. Whatever grudges he has with certain members of our clan, this is going too far. The Hyuga clan is a core pillar of Konoha. Escalating this conflict helps no one."
The Enforcement Unit leader narrowed his eyes. He was a tokubetsu jonin—just strong enough to lead, but clearly outmatched by this new Hyuga.
In truth, he knew that if this turned into a serious confrontation, he might not survive.
In the past, he would've retreated. But now...
He sneered and pulled out a small spherical scroll, which unfurled to release a chakra puppet—a humanoid weapon etched with faint blue seals.
"Kawaki Aoba? You think you're worthy of meeting Lord Aoba?" he spat.
"Hyuga shinobi are obstructing official village orders. I now suspect you're all colluding with rogue elements. Arrest every single one of them. Especially that one—don't let him escape."
The Hyuga clan ninja's expression darkened. Realizing the situation couldn't be resolved peacefully, he activated his Byakugan without hesitation.
At that moment, a humanoid puppet surged forward, lightning crackling across its body as it darted straight toward him.
Its speed was astonishing, forcing the Hyuga ninja's eyes to widen in shock.
But even more alarming was that the Byakugan couldn't see through the puppet's interior. The dense, glowing blue fūinjutsu formulas etched onto its body interfered with chakra perception—an anomaly, since Byakugan typically pierces through such obstacles.
There were also no visible chakra threads—unlike traditional puppets used by Suna's puppet masters.
The Hyuga ninja had no time to analyze further. As the puppet closed in, he countered with Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm (Hakke Kūshō).
A thunderous impact followed. The collision of palm and fist sent a shockwave rippling outward. Though the Hyuga ninja held his ground, he suddenly felt his limbs seize up—paralyzed by a jolt of electricity.
Lightning Release Armor?
The Hyuga ninja immediately recognized the signature technique of the Hidden Cloud's elite—specifically used by the likes of the Fourth Raikage. The paralyzing effect in a taijutsu exchange could only be attributed to that technique—or something closely modeled on it.
But this was a puppet. How could a puppet replicate such a high-level ninjutsu?
If this were a Cloud ninja, the Hyuga could disable him by targeting chakra points with the Gentle Fist. But the puppet had no chakra network—no pain, no vital points.
How was he supposed to win?
These thoughts passed in an instant, as the puppet pressed the attack, lightning dancing across its limbs. The Hyuga ninja found himself overwhelmed, unable to counter.
A flurry of explosive impacts followed. Finally, he was sent crashing into the ground—immobile.
In terms of physical ability, the Hyuga Jonin and the puppet created by Kawaki Aoba were evenly matched. But the difference lay in nature—this puppet had been engineered to directly counter the Hyuga clan's techniques.
Aoba had designed it with purpose.
More than that, the disparity in tactical intelligence was evident. The Hyuga ninja had walked into a trap.
As the Jonin lay defeated, the Enforcement Team commander burst into laughter.
"Still acting tough? Get up if you can, you bastard!"
He glanced around the compound, meeting the glares of multiple Byakugan users. But rather than fear, he felt elated. This was a kind of power he had never experienced before.
With a smug grin, he gestured to his subordinates. "You two—drag these two off and investigate thoroughly. I want to know if they've been consorting with rogue ninja.
And the rest of you—search the entire Hyuga compound. Let's see who else dares to stand in our way."
The enforcement team moved with arrogance, ransacking the compound.
The Hyuga clan members clenched their fists, their faces taut with suppressed rage. But none dared to resist openly.
Soon, word reached the main house, where the Hyuga elders were gathered.
A young elder slammed his hand on the table. "Damn it! Who do they think we are?!"
Another elder responded coolly, "What do they think? A paper tiger. In their eyes, we're an empty name. Anyone can come and trample us."
"Kawaki Aoba is pushing too far."
"Enough." The Second Elder spoke, silencing the room.
"Everyone outside is watching the Hyuga clan being humiliated. If we keep losing our composure, we really will become a joke.
Aoba brought his second-rate thugs to pressure us. That alone shows he lacks a proper pretext to act against us. He's using brute force because he has nothing else."
Then his voice turned cold. "Still, we can't let him run wild. How's the situation with Elder Hiroichi?"
"Smoothly. Elder Hiroichi's gotten used to life here. Convincing him to stay won't be difficult," another elder reported.
The Second Elder nodded. "Good. Let Hiroichi witness the current state of affairs himself. Let him understand that even if he returns to the moon, we can guarantee his current comforts."
Under their orchestration, Otsutsuki Hiroichi stumbled across the enforcement team's ransacking. His expression darkened. Upon seeing the puppet—clearly built to counter Gentle Fist users—his unease grew.
After all, the Otsutsuki clan's core techniques also revolved around chakra disruption and taijutsu. A puppet capable of nullifying Hyuga techniques would threaten them too.
Unable to remain passive, Hiroichi approached Hyuga Hizashi, head of the clan, and broached the topic of returning to the moon.
From the beginning, Hiroichi had been subtly guided by the Hyuga elders—manipulated without realizing it. They watched him from the second floor of the main hall, calmly maneuvering his actions.
But what the Hyuga clan didn't know was that Kawaki Aoba, observing from the shadows, had been orchestrating everything from an even higher vantage point.
In this game of layers, Hiroichi moved on the first floor, the Hyuga elders on the second, and Aoba on the third.
And above all stood Namikaze Minato, the Hokage—still removed from the game, watching the situation unfold with concern, unable to make a move.
The following day, Otsutsuki Hiroichi and two Hyuga elders quietly departed through a hidden passage.
Had it not been for the possibility of Aoba launching an attack in their absence, Hyuga Hizashi and the Second Elder would have gone themselves.
Meanwhile, Kawaki Aoba—anticipating this move—recalled his clones and created a new one, possessing half his main body's strength, to shadow the group.
Even at half power, Aoba remained at the pinnacle of the shinobi world. Furthermore, he possessed the Divine Instant Movement Technique—a jutsu so advanced it could traverse planetary distances with ease.
He had tested its limits himself: not even high-level sealing barriers could fully conceal someone's chakra from it.
Returning from the moon to Earth would be nothing more than a momentary flicker for him.
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