"Everyone's here."
"Let's go. Hiashi-sama and the elders are waiting for us; we shouldn't keep them waiting too long."
"What do you think they want from us?"
"If it's just a mission for the village, they could send the branch house members instead. There's no need to summon all of us."
"Natsu, what do you think?"
At the entrance of the Hyūga clan's ancestral hall, seven jonin from the main house arrived at the designated meeting point.
As jonin of the main house, they were undoubtedly strong, having mastered numerous secret taijutsu techniques. However, since they rarely carried out missions, they lacked the sharpness and decisiveness of branch house jonin like Hizashi, who had fought in the Great Ninja War.
Moreover, being part of the Hyūga main house, they all seemed a bit relaxed and nonchalant.
"I am merely following orders. How could the clan leader and the elders possibly inform me in advance?"
"However, considering that so many members of the main house have been summoned at once, it must involve a major issue concerning the Hyūga clan... No, perhaps even the entire village."
Natsu maintained her usual humble and cautious demeanor in front of the main house jonin.
"Then lead the way!"
Hearing this, the main house jonin nodded slightly. They had no doubts, as this seemed completely reasonable.
A servant of the clan leader was still just a servant.
It was impossible for Hiashi to disclose important clan matters to a branch house servant.
In fact, if she had known anything in advance, they would have been suspicious.
"Yes!"
With a light tap of her foot, Natsu shot forward like an arrow leaving its bowstring.
The main house jonin behind her immediately followed, maintaining a steady but unhurried pace.
A short while later, they arrived at the residence of the Hyūga clan leader.
If they were outside the village, they would have occasionally activated their Byakugan to survey their surroundings. But within the Hyūga compound, even as jonin of the main house, they were bound by clan rules and dared not use their Byakugan to pry into the clan leader's residence at will.
Moreover, the area surrounding Hiashi's residence was protected by an invisible barrier that prevented Byakugan from penetrating it. Even if they tried, it would be useless.
"Honorable members of the main house,"
"Hiashi-sama and the elders are waiting for you, please follow me."
Natsu stepped forward and entered first.
The jonin behind her immediately followed, stepping past the barrier that blocked Byakugan vision as they entered Hiashi's residence.
However, none of them noticed that, in a room about fifteen meters away, Tanaka had already raised the ninja sword in his hand.
He had found it within Hiashi's residence.
A weapon stored by Hiashi—though not on the level of legendary blades like the Kusanagi or the Seven Swords of the Mist—was still forged from chakra metal.
In terms of quality, it was no weaker than the short sword once wielded by the White Fang, though it lacked the same level of fame.
If he had used a standard kunai to clash against this sword, the kunai would have been chipped and damaged within just a few strikes.
"ROOM."
Tanaka raised his left hand, palm facing upward.
An invisible space expanded outward, enveloping all seven jonin.
"Amputate."
Gripping the ninja sword, he executed a simple yet deadly sweeping slash.
Crack!
Just as they stepped through the doorway, the seven main house jonin felt a faint pain in their waists. A moment later, they suddenly felt weightless below the waist, their bodies tilting unnaturally as their upper and lower halves began to separate.
Only when they looked down did they realize, they had been cut in half.
"This is bad!"
Faced with the sudden ambush, every main house jonin wore an expression of disbelief.
They couldn't comprehend.
How, within the Hyūga clan, as jonin of the main house, could they suddenly fall into an ambush?
And such a bizarre ambush at that.
"Shambles."
Tanaka clenched the five fingers of his left hand.
In an instant, Hizashi vanished from his original position, transported through spatial manipulation to appear right in front of two already bisected jonin, their upper and lower halves plummeting toward the ground.
"Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm."
With both hands striking simultaneously, his palms moved at lightning speed, slamming into the chests of the two jonin before them.
Boom!
The moment his hands made contact, an overwhelming burst of force erupted from his palms like a vacuum blast, surging directly into the bodies of the two jonin, striking their hearts with immense precision.
"Agh!"
Already bisected by Tanaka's cut, and now struck directly in the chest by Hizashi's Vacuum Palm, the two fragile jonin coughed up blood violently before collapsing to the ground, completely motionless.
Slash!
At that moment, Natsu, who had moments ago appeared harmless and humble before the main house jonin, had already activated her Byakugan without anyone noticing. With a swift motion, she reversed her grip on a kunai and drove it straight into the left chest of a bisected main house jonin.
Without hesitation, she released the kunai and immediately unleashed a rapid flurry of palm strikes.
"Eight Trigrams Thirty-Two Palms!"
In the blink of an eye, she delivered a full set of thirty-two strikes upon the jonin's body.
Under normal circumstances, even though ninja were generally fragile, a jonin was still a jonin. With her abilities barely at the level of a chunin, even landing a full Thirty-Two Palms against an expert in taijutsu would, at best, inflict some injuries—severe wounds weren't guaranteed.
But the problem was, this particular jonin had already been bisected by the Op-Op Fruit's cutting ability, his body split in two. Then, his heart had been pierced by a kunai.
One had to remember—this was the shinobi world, not the pirate world where everyone had monstrous endurance.
Even Hashirama ended his own life with nothing more than a kunai.
Even Madara, despite all his strength, still succumbed after a fatal blow orchestrated by Black Zetsu.
Let alone this already crippled jonin.
Faced with the sudden assassination, in barely two seconds, seven main house jonin had been bisected. Three of them died instantly.
The remaining four lay on the ground, their upper and lower bodies separated.
Though the Op-Op Fruit's ability ensured that their severed bodies wouldn't bleed out or cause immediate death, the fact remained—they had been cut in half.
Their lower halves were completely immobile.
Their upper bodies could still move their hands and twist their necks slightly.
But in such a state, even a Kage-level ninja would be rendered half-dead.
"Why?"
The four surviving jonin lay on the ground.
Even if they had been slow to react, even without activating their Byakugan, they had now clearly seen the one who had attacked them.
"Hiashi-sama..."
It was a face they all recognized.
The moment they saw it, their expressions shifted—not just to shock and fury, but to sheer disbelief.
They couldn't comprehend... Why would Hiashi set up an ambush against them and mercilessly strike them down?
The Hyūga main house had very few members to begin with. Each and every one of them was treated as a priceless treasure.
If fifty branch house members died, the main house wouldn't even bat an eye.
But if even one main house member perished, it would be akin to digging up the Hyūga clan's ancestral graves and tearing down their ancestral hall—a catastrophe.
And now, the clan was on the verge of complete upheaval.
To make matters worse, these weren't just any main house members.
They were the last remaining jonin of the Hyūga main branch.