Naruto: Becomes a Rebel Ninja After Annihilating the Hyuga Clan - Chapter 98

“I can’t,” Neiki said, swinging his Hades long sword and grinning, seemingly unfazed by the Fourth Mizukage and his elite guards before him.

“Then die!” Yagura’s eyes flashed with an abnormal white light. He roared and charged at Neiki, swinging his staff.

“Clang!” The sound of the sword and staff clashing was crisp. Clearly, Yagura’s staff wasn’t an ordinary weapon; it must have been meticulously crafted by Kirigakure’s smiths. Otherwise, like all previous weapons that collided with Neiki’s Hades sword, it would have been cut in two.

“Water Release: Violent Water Wave!”

A Kirigakure ninja seized the opportunity, biting his tongue and shooting a swift, sharp stream of water from his mouth. It cut through countless rocks and trees, heading straight for Neiki, who dodged it with a crouch just before it hit.

Despite this, Neiki stayed close to Yagura, his sword slashing rapidly, forcing Yagura to retreat continuously.

Throughout this, all the various ninja tools and techniques shot at Neiki by the surrounding Kirigakure ninjas were dodged with agile movements, and he maintained high pressure on Yagura, preventing the strongest Kirigakure ninja from counterattacking.

Two Kirigakure twins exchanged a glance and then charged at Neiki from both sides.

“Raging Shark Smash!”

The two massive fists tore through the air with a whooshing sound.

Neiki’s eyes flashed.

“Too slow!”

He shot his Hades long sword towards the retreating Yagura, disrupting his hand signs, then jumped lightly, dodging the two ferocious punches.

Then he bent his arm and raised his leg.

An elbow strike and a knee thrust.

He met the two round heads that couldn’t stop their momentum.

“Boom!”

The twins screamed and were sent flying by Neiki’s blows. Their large bodies hit the ground with a thud, their fate uncertain.

The scene was impactful, but Neiki didn’t care about them. He flashed and used the Body Flicker Technique to reappear beside Yagura. He casually pulled the black sword embedded in a tree stump and slashed at the furious Yagura, who barely blocked it with his weapon.

The battle continued.

More Kirigakure ninjas tried to assist their Mizukage, but all their attempts were in vain against Neiki.

He moved like a dancing butterfly, effortlessly dodging all long-range attacks with agile movements. In close combat, he toyed with his opponents, even redirecting some attacks towards Yagura.

“This guy…” A red-haired kunoichi widened her eyes, watching Neiki, who was moving agilely and engaging Yagura in close combat. Her expression was one of shock. “Those who returned only mentioned being wary of the Flying Thunder God markings Neiki places. They never said…”

They never mentioned Neiki’s exceptional swordsmanship.

For the first time, these Kirigakure ninjas experienced Neiki’s close-combat abilities firsthand. Before coming to capture Neiki, she had questioned several survivors from their encounter with Neiki in the Land of Waves, but all they mentioned was his black sword and Flying Thunder God Technique and a warning not to bring too many people.

But this skirmish revealed new, unexpected information.

Their Mizukage, Yagura, couldn’t even use ninjutsu due to Neiki’s relentless pressure. Despite the support of other Kirigakure ninjas, they couldn’t help Yagura shake off Neiki.

No chakra, no ninjutsu—this was pure swordsmanship, and Yagura clearly lacked the skill for such close combat. Even Kirigakure, known for its blade techniques, had no superior taijutsu traditions.

Compared to Konoha with its Eight Gates or Kumogakure with its lightning-enhanced taijutsu, even Sunagakure had the Seven Days Breath Technique to rival pre-Eight Gate Might Guy.

This was the downside of Kirigakure’s strong focus on sword techniques. With powerful weapons, who would invest effort in enhancing physical strength?

Yagura gritted his teeth, struggling to fend off Neiki’s every attack with his staff.

A kunai with an explosive tag shot from the forest, exploding between them.

Hidden in the smoke, Neiki gave Yagura a chance to retreat and form hand signs.

“Water Release…”

But before he could complete the jutsu, a swift sword thrust pierced through the smoke.

“This guy…”

Forced to drop his hand signs, Yagura used his staff to block Neiki’s relentless assault once more.

Neiki’s sword strikes weren’t fast—after all, how fast could a single sword swing be?

But the pressure he exerted was immense. Neiki’s movements were precise, with no wasted effort. Every strike was aimed at an inevitable defense point, giving Yagura no chance to counter.

It seemed Neiki had predicted Yagura’s responses and movements. In the end, Yagura could only retreat and evade.

Until Neiki’s final strike, which cut several strands of Yagura’s dark green hair, nearly taking his life, Yagura finally realized.

“Bastard! What do you think I am?!”

Yagura roared, unable to endure anymore.

Behind him, a crimson chakra tail emerged, thrusting towards Neiki, who dodged and countered with his sword, which Yagura blocked with his staff.

A second chakra tail struck, forcing Neiki to leap away, avoiding its attack and landing steadily.

Yagura finally had a chance to form hand signs, though now it seemed more out of frustration.

As he completed the signs, a ferocious water dragon emerged, lunging at Neiki, who sliced it in half with a single strike.

The surrounding Kirigakure ninjas stood guard around Yagura, both sides returning to a standoff. Neiki looked at them, slightly disappointed.

Unlike in the Land of Waves.
Back then, the sheer number of enemies required the Flying Thunder God Technique to evade large-scale assaults, and their weapons weren’t exceptional. Kunai or swords, they’d end up shattered by Neiki’s Hades long sword. This was his first prolonged close combat encounter.

### Chapter 100: Yagura

This was Neiki’s first time testing the initial ability of his Byakugan in close combat after reaching its final stage: [Insight]. Without a doubt, as Neiki’s Byakugan purity increased, the [Insight] ability provided a terrifying boost to his close-combat prowess.

Every movement Yagura made was traceable to Neiki. Even the sneak attacks from other Kirigakure ninjas were rendered ineffective due to their fear of accidentally hitting Yagura. Neiki’s Byakugan clearly perceived these weaknesses born from their hesitations. Despite these Kirigakure ninjas being elite, they still couldn’t cause significant interference to Neiki.

If they didn’t find a way to separate Neiki from Yagura, and if Yagura didn’t use the power of the Three-Tails within him, Neiki’s current close-combat ability would allow him to keep this Mizukage from using any ninjutsu until his death.

“Go get reinforcements…” the red-haired kunoichi beside Yagura said to a young Kirigakure ninja, all the while keeping an eye on Neiki.

The enemy before them was far more formidable than anticipated. Fortunately, they were close to Kirigakure, and reinforcements could arrive swiftly.

“No… no, I can’t let those who oppose me see me like this. I am the Mizukage. I must… I must kill this guy!!” Yagura growled, his pink eyes beginning to change. His entire body emitted red bubbles, three tails swung behind him, and the surrounding air seemed to heat up.

“If you’re only borrowing the chakra of the Three-Tails, it might still be a bit too much to kill me,” Neiki advised calmly. “Aren’t you the perfect Jinchuriki of Kirigakure? How about your full transformation?”

“Go ahead.”

The Kirigakure ninjas showed no immediate reaction.

But in the darkness, two figures who had been silently observing them were visibly taken aback.

“It seems he’s figured it out…” Zetsu chuckled, speaking to the masked man beside him. “Once Yagura starts transforming into the tailed beast, the surge of chakra could wake the Three-Tails, greatly increasing his chances of breaking your control.”

“If he really knew, wouldn’t it be faster to just release my genjutsu?”

The masked man snorted, his voice low and his gaze on Neiki filled with dissatisfaction. “Besides, Nagato has already decided to start collecting the tailed beasts. So what if he breaks free? We’ll take this opportunity to capture Yagura and extract the Three-Tails… Compared to that, I’m more interested in this Neiki’s true strength.”

“I heard he’s mastered the Flying Thunder God Technique,” Black Zetsu said hoarsely.

The Sharingan under the mask grew more intense with displeasure. “Not everyone who learns the Flying Thunder God Technique is Minato Namikaze.”

“Hmph, since he insists, I’ll allow Yagura to fully transform. This Neiki has many secrets. Nagato wants to recruit him into the Akatsuki, but if he’s not strong enough, dying here won’t be my fault.”

White Zetsu laughed slyly, asking the masked man, “I thought you didn’t want him in the Akatsuki.”

“It’s not the time to oppose Nagato yet… Let’s see how he performs,” the masked man deflected.

In the pine forest on the mountain, Yagura growled:

“Since you insist…”

“Then watch closely!!”

In the next second, Yagura’s chakra began to boil, the intense waves blowing away the snow accumulated on the pine forest.

Neiki shielded his face with his hand, opening one eye to observe Yagura. Yagura’s entire body was covered in the crimson chakra cloak of the tailed beast, his eyes turned hollow white, and he opened his mouth. Chakra gathered, and countless red chakra projectiles shot toward Neiki.

“Bang!”

“Bang!”

“Bang bang!”

These chakra projectiles were extremely fast, but Neiki remained calm, continuously shifting his body and narrowly dodging between each pair of projectiles.

As the last chakra projectile grazed his face, the fully transformed Yagura suddenly appeared before Neiki.

Coral Palm!

“Bang!” Neiki was directly sent flying.

Fine coral crystals formed and grew on his chest, but Neiki casually shook them off. The others stared, seeing that the coral crystals had not grown on Neiki but on a short blade.

At the critical moment, he had used the short blade to block Yagura’s surprise attack.

“Faster than I expected,” Neiki commented casually, brushing off the dirt from his clothes.

“Damn it…” Under the tailed beast cloak, Yagura growled angrily. He looked down at the red dagger embedded in his body, the poison spreading. But the real issue was the seal accompanying the dagger, spreading within him and hindering his chakra flow.

Neiki not only blocked Yagura’s surprise attack but also managed to land a hit, preventing his follow-up.

“Hey, hey, how did he do that? The dynamic vision of his Byakugan seems stronger than the Sharingan’s. He doesn’t seem to take Yagura’s attacks seriously at all…” White Zetsu exclaimed, his voice irritatingly high-pitched.

“His Byakugan is indeed unusual,” Black Zetsu rasped, equally puzzled. “It’s said that the reason he wiped out the Hyuga clan was not only to escape the Caged Bird but also because he had the ability to absorb other Hyuga clan members’ Byakugan.”

The rumor that Neiki could absorb Byakugan originated from Konoha. It was just speculation with limited credibility.

But from this battle, it seemed there might be some truth to it. Neiki’s eyes were clearly different. Although Byakugan had higher perception abilities than Sharingan, it was more suited for pre-battle reconnaissance.

In battle, the dynamic vision of the Sharingan, especially the tomoe Sharingan, was generally superior to the Byakugan. This was the foundation that once made the Uchiha clan in Konoha formidable.

The Uchiha with Sharingan were natural-born elite fighters, often capable of taking on multiple enemies on the battlefield.

“If he can absorb Byakugan, he might also absorb Sharingan. If you gain that ability… I happen to know the whereabouts of the Uchiha who defected from Konoha,” White Zetsu chuckled.

The masked man remained silent, but the Sharingan under his mask widened significantly.

Clearly, he was tempted.

Become a Patron to read chapters ahead of public release and support me 😉

Read up to 40 chapters ahead on p atreon.