Konoha: The Absolute Justice of the Uchiha

Chapter 148 We can't let Chi Quan interfere! The Curse of the Caged Bird
Neji was absent-minded all morning until lunchtime. He picked up the bento he had made for himself that morning and prepared to find a quiet place to eat.

But as he stepped out of the classroom, he saw a Hyuga junior of about his age walk past him, looking lost and dejected.

Neji recognized the guy; he was a fourth-year student at the Ninja Academy, only two years older than Neji, and a member of the Hyuga branch family.

The other party's father sacrificed himself during the Third Shinobi World War; his mother is said to have died three years ago at the hands of a spy from another village while on a ninja mission.

Now she lives with her grandfather, who is an elder of the Hyuga branch family.

Um? etc……

A thought flashed through Neji's mind, and he inexplicably grabbed the Hyuga clan junior in front of him. Seeing the junior turn around with a puzzled look, Neji asked, "Was the branch family elder who was brutally murdered by the main family elder last night your elder?"

The moment Neji instinctively blurted out those words, he regretted it, because it had been a bit too direct.

Neji watched as the other's already dazed and dejected expression visibly deepened into one of hatred and sorrow.

She then noticed that the other person's eyes were already misty with tears.

He also noticed that the other person was already choking up.

Neji suddenly felt a little lost. He had never made anyone cry before. Even though he had said some very harsh things to Hinata Hyuga, the eldest daughter of the main family had never cried.

Now that someone has suddenly been made to cry, Neji, who yearns for justice, is at a loss for what to do.

Until he heard the other person speak.

"Grandpa, he..."

"He just wanted to help me remove the curse from the branch family. He felt that with my talent... without the limitations of the Caged Bird Seal, I would definitely become an elite Jonin of Konoha in the future. Is such an action a mistake? Was it necessary to kill him? He was my only blood relative..."

“I… Hyuga Neji, I don’t know what to do either. I hate the elders of the main family who killed my blood relatives, but the other elders of the branch family told me that this is the Hyuga clan’s rule, and my grandfather violated the rule and had to pay a heavy price.”

“This morning, someone from the main family also came to me. They told me... that my grandfather broke the rules of the Hyuga clan by doing what he did, and that my grandfather was punished for making a mistake.”

"They told me not to follow in my grandfather's footsteps."

"I...I don't know what to do..."

Neji remained silent as he watched the Hyuga clan junior suddenly break down in tears.

He realized that his thoughtless question had caused the other person's already tense emotions to completely break down.

He looked at the large tears falling from the other person's eyes, and at the caged bird curse mark on the other person's head that was not covered by bandages.

He vaguely recalled his father, Hyuga Hizashi, and the helplessness, despair, hatred, and grief he felt when his father died as a scapegoat for the main family...

"A bird in a cage..."

"The Zong family..."

"murderer……"

Neji took a deep breath, his small face hardening with seriousness. He directly addressed the Hyuga clan junior before him, shouting, "Do you really think that simply crying and wailing can bring back that cruelly murdered branch family elder? The Caged Bird Seal triggered his physical illness, leading to his death. This is no different from killing him outright! The main family elder who activated the Caged Bird Seal is the murderer!"

"If you had any courage and boldness, you wouldn't be showing such a weak appearance here! Fate... Sigh! The fate of the Hyuga clan branching out is indeed hard to break, and we caged birds are indeed hard to break free from the cage and fly freely."

"but!"

"There's always a way, there's always a way!" Neji emphasized twice in a row. He stared at the other person and said, "If you're really unwilling to accept this, if you really harbor hatred... then come with me."

After saying that, Neji strode off in one direction.

The young Hyuga clan member, whose tears had fallen, was momentarily stunned.

Hyuga Neji was actually two years younger than him, but at this moment, he felt that Hyuga Neji was more mature than him.

As Neji's figure receded into the distance, he hesitated.

He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but couldn't utter a word.

Seeing that Neji was about to disappear from his sight, he hurriedly wiped away the tears on his face and ran after him with all his might.

The hatred in his heart gave him a sliver of hope.

then.

He then discovered that Hyuga Neji had led him to the outside of the first-year classroom at the Ninja Academy. Before he could even catch his breath, he saw Hyuga Neji walk straight in and find a blond-haired brat and an Uchiha clan brat inside.

"I want to see Uchiha Ikezumi! I've discovered a murderer!"

This is a sentence Neji said to Naruto and Sasuke.

Naruto, who had been bored all morning, suddenly perked up.

"The murderer?"

Sasuke, who was also somewhat absent-minded, also snapped back to reality.

……

at the same time.

Outside the leaves.

"It seems that Obito Uchiha was scared off. If he had been lying in ambush outside, I probably would have fallen into his trap long ago."

Pipa Juzo breathed a sigh of relief and looked at Uchiha Ikezumi's wood clone beside him.

He hesitated for a moment, then couldn't help but ask, "The Land of Rain is very far from Konoha Village. Can your wood clone last this long?"

"Even if the main body and the clone are at two different extremes in the ninja world, the Wood Release clone can still be maintained. Unless the main body cancels it out on its own, or the clone is passively canceled out due to severe damage."

The wooden clone's cold tone was very much like that of Uchiha Izumi himself.

"...What a monster."

Juzo Biwa was speechless with astonishment. Was it because Uchiha Ikezumi was too powerful? Or was it because the Wood Release bloodline limit was too miraculous?
anyway.

This guy has Wood Release, Sharingan, and Lava Release. Isn't this a combination of three bloodline limits?
That's outrageous!

"cough!"

Hibiki Juzo concealed the strange look on his face, reverting to his cold expression. Carrying his Executioner's Blade, he sped forward, saying, "I have a problem. What if I tell that woman about Uchiha Obito? Instead of fighting Obito, she cooperates with him to kill me to silence me. What should I do?"

"She won't."

The wooden clone slowly and confidently stated, "She is more suspicious and more wary of Obito Uchiha than anyone else in the Akatsuki organization."

Pipa Juzo muttered in confusion, "You probably haven't met that woman, have you? How do you know so much about her?"

“In the ninja world, those with a bit of fame have no secrets in the eyes of the main body,” the wood clone said.

'Including me?' — This question flashed through Biwa Juzo's mind, but before he could ask it, the wood clone continued to speak.

"including you."

Pipa Juzo: "..."

……

Hokage Building.

Hiruzen Sarutobi opened the drawer and reached into a tin tobacco box, only to find it empty. He then remembered that the tobacco in the box had been used up yesterday. He hadn't remembered it this morning because of what happened last night.

"Itachi, go buy it for me..."

He had only said half of the sentence when Hiruzen Sarutobi froze, unable to utter the remaining half.

"Phew, I still haven't gotten used to it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi shook his head helplessly. Itachi Uchiha was an Uchiha ninja he held in extremely high regard, just like Shisui back then.

pity.

Just then, an ANBU ninja jumped in through the window, knelt down on one knee before Hiruzen Sarutobi, and reported, "Lord Hokage, someone from the Hyuga clan has died."

Hiruzen Sarutobi frowned.

Why are people dying in the village every day? He reasonably suspected that if this continued, the people of Konoha would eventually be wiped out.

"Is it related to the pond again?" Hiruzen Sarutobi asked, his brow furrowed. Whenever someone died in the village, he couldn't help but think about the pond; it had become a habitual instinct.

The ANBU ninja shook his head and gave a brief explanation to Hiruzen Sarutobi, whose brows furrowed even more deeply.

"A conflict between the Hyuga main family and the Hyuga branch family? Over the years, especially after Hizashi's death, both sides have maintained a lot of restraint. I didn't expect that a few years later, someone from the Hyuga branch family would die at the hands of the Hyuga main family."

Hiruzen Sarutobi rubbed his temples, his headache and craving for a cigarette making him even more irritable.

"Let Yan go and communicate with the Hyuga clan. The Hyuga main family needs to come up with a solution to stabilize the Hyuga branch family. I don't want to see the Hyuga clan go into civil war."

He waved his hand and said.

Whether it's a civil war within the Uchiha clan or the Hyuga clan, it will be detrimental to Konoha Village.

Because civil war will only continuously deplete the village's high-end combat power, and in the end, only Konoha will be weakened.

Hiruzen Sarutobi was sitting in the Hokage's seat.

He naturally didn't want this to happen.

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"Wait a minute!" Just as the ANBU ninja was about to leave, Hiruzen Sarutobi suddenly remembered something, immediately called him back, and instructed, "Tell En to go immediately. Also, urge the Hyuga main family to handle this matter as soon as possible. Urge the Hyuga branch family to let go of their hatred as soon as possible. Resolve this matter perfectly before Izumi gets involved."

"Otherwise, once he gets involved, this matter won't be so easily resolved. At that point, I won't be able to do anything about it."

Hiruzen Sarutobi was certain that Izumi Uchiha would definitely intervene; it was just a matter of how well Izumi had intelligence.

Based on past experience...

Chi Quan has an extremely strong ability to gather intelligence on "illegal and criminal activities".

Sending Mitokado Homura to remind the Hyuga main family and appease the Hyuga branch family was already the most benevolent thing the Third Hokage could do.

"Yes!"

……

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Land of Fire.

"Obito, has it still not recovered?" The vortex-faced White Zetsu crossed his legs and looked at Obito Uchiha, who was eating lunch expressionlessly, and asked, "A whole day has passed!"

"No."

Obito put down the skewer of dumplings in his hand, his expression slightly grim, and said, "It screamed in despair for a whole day and night. I could hear its screams when I entered the Kamui dimension."

At this point, Obito felt a chill run down his spine. He dared not imagine what would happen if he were to be struck by such a dōjutsu.
Obito shook his head, dismissing the thoughts that he believed were impossible.

He asked, "What do you think of that Uchiha Itachi? Is his cooperation serious, or is it a trap set for me?"

The vortex-faced Shiro stroked his chin and said, "That little guy sounded pretty serious back then. Anyway, as long as he kills or captures that female subordinate, Uchiha Izumi, we'll know if he really has the ability."

"According to the intelligence we had previously gathered, that brat and that girl named Uchiha Izumi used to have a very good relationship. Tsk tsk, they seemed to be best friends."

"To ruthlessly kill a former best friend, that's just being inherently evil!"

Obito chuckled coldly. Whether Itachi Uchiha was bad or not was meaningless to him; what mattered more was whether the other party had any use to him.

"Speak of it."

Obito Uchiha said, "A whole night and a morning have passed. He should have succeeded by now, right?"

The vortex-faced White Zetsu said, "Last night, we arranged for several White Zetsu clones to lie in wait near the outskirts of Konoha. As long as that brat leaves Konoha with Uchiha Izumi's corpse or a living person, those White Zetsu clones will naturally come to his aid. At that time, the intelligence will also be transmitted over, and yes, it will be transmitted to me."

Just as the vortex-faced Bai Jue finished speaking, a sudden surge of information neurons flooded into his mind.

It suddenly paused for a moment.

The funny hand gestures he was making while speaking also stopped.

Its reaction was keenly noticed by Obito Uchiha.

Obito frowned and asked, "What's wrong?"

"Obito."

The vortex-faced white-faced Zetsu dropped a bombshell: "A White Zetsu clone has relayed the latest intelligence from Konoha. Itachi Uchiha failed; during his hunt for Izumi Uchiha, he encountered that monstrous Lava Release user, Izumi Uchiha." "He was killed!"

"No bones left!"

Obito Uchiha: "???"

what?
Obito's thoughts didn't quite catch up at first; he was trying hard to process the information in Zetsu's words.

"died?!"

"call……"

Obito let out a heavy sigh. He suddenly felt a mix of anger and amusement and couldn't help but say, "With this kind of strength, you still want to cooperate with me and put on that kind of air in front of me."

"He has this arrogant air about him, confidently asserting that as long as he cooperates with me, he can kill Uchiha Izumi and annihilate the Uchiha clan. Where does Uchiha Itachi get his confidence from?"

I was actually intimidated by such a junior! I even gave him a test and a chance.

Obito wished he could slap himself.

Fortunately, no one else knew about this.

Otherwise, you'll lose all face.

The vortex-faced White Zetsu sighed regretfully, "It's a pity I wasn't there at the time. Maybe I could have seen him so scared he lost control of his bladder before he was killed. Obito, do you think he peed first, or pooped first? Or both at the same time?"

Obito stared silently at the lunch in his hand.

He lost his appetite.

……

Today, the Hyuga clan's residence welcomed Konoha's senior advisor, Mitokado Homura.

The Hyuga clan, along with several elders of the main branch, personally went forward to greet them.

They then ushered Mitokado Yan into a waiting room.

This is also the Hyuga clan's way of surviving in Konoha. They always treat Konoha's higher-ups with utmost courtesy, always maintaining a humble posture in their presence. Only in this way can the Hyuga clan avoid being feared like the Uchiha clan.

Mitokado Homura wasted no time. The moment he sat down, he went straight to the point: "I heard that last night, an elder of the Hyuga main family killed an elder of the Hyuga branch family."

"Some ANBU ninjas have noticed that many members of the Hyuga branch family are indignant about this matter. The impact of this incident is very bad."

After he finished speaking, Mitokado Homura keenly noticed that the expression on the face of one of the Hyuga clan elders had stiffened.

"Renfu, did you do this?"

Mitomon Yan asked.

“I didn’t do it on purpose, and I had no intention of harming him.” Hinata Jinsuke’s wrinkles twitched slightly as he explained to Mitokado Homura, “It was the power of the Caged Bird Seal that inadvertently triggered a hidden ailment within him. To be precise, he died of illness last night.”

Mitokado Homura shook his head: "Even if he really died of illness, will your branch family members let go of this hatred? In their eyes, you are the culprit who caused the death of the branch family elder, even if your actions were only indirect."

"The Hokage doesn't want the Hyuga clan to descend into chaos. You should know how to handle this, right?"

Hiashi Hyuga, the head of the Hyuga clan, said expressionlessly, "Please tell the Hokage that the Hyuga clan will not cause any trouble for Konoha."

"Ah."

Mitomon Homura stood up and said, "I still have to go to the branch family. You'd better resolve the conflict between the branch family and the main family before Ikezumi notices this."

After Mitokado Yan left, the waiting room fell into a brief silence.

"He violated the Hyuga clan rules!" Hyuga Jinsuke broke the silence first, his face grim. "Putting aside the fact that I didn't intend to kill him, even if I did intend to kill him and actually did it, it would still be in accordance with the Hyuga clan rules that have been passed down for hundreds of years."

"What does the Hokage mean by this? Does he want me to hand myself over to appease the anger of the branch family? The affairs of our Hyuga clan are none of the Hokage's business!"

Even though the Hyuga clan outwardly adopts a humble attitude towards the Konoha leadership, they are still secretly very dissatisfied with their situation.

No one willingly grovels before others.

"call……"

Beside him, another elder of the main family said, "There's no need to get so agitated. The Hokage and the others don't really understand the inner workings of the Hyuga clan. The branch family members can't cause any trouble."

"If they're unhappy, let them be unhappy. A look won't kill anyone. But if they make any move, the Caged Bird Seal will teach them a lesson."

"When they were carved into caged birds, their lives were no longer in their own hands."

Upon hearing this, Hinata Jinsuke's unpleasant expression softened slightly.

At this moment, the third elder of the main clan said, "The key is not on the Hokage's side, but on Uchiha Ikezumi's side. If he gets involved, it will indeed be difficult to handle, just like last time."

Last time.

Naruto Uzumaki and Sasuke Uchiha, proponents of "absolute justice," "cruelly" killed a junior member of the Hyuga clan outside the clan's compound under the pretext of "executing justice."

The Hyuga clan chose to swallow their anger.

If Uchiha Izumi gets involved again this time...

hiss!
Think of it...

Hinata Jinsuke's expression changed.

"Senior Renfu."

Hiashi Hyuga placed his hands on his knees and said, "You need to lay low for a while. At least for the time being, you shouldn't return to Konoha. I will send someone from my clan to inform you when Izumi Uchiha temporarily leaves the village."

Hyuga Jinsuke looked aggrieved: "We can easily dismiss the Hokage's warning. But we take the threat from Uchiha Ikezumi so seriously. Are we really afraid of the Uchiha clan? Besides, Uchiha Ikezumi doesn't even represent the Uchiha clan."

"Humph!"

After letting out a cold snort, he stood up silently.

"I'm going to see my family for the last time in this period of time."

Hyuga Jinsuke chickened out after all.

He was just being stubborn.

"call……"

Hiashi Hyuga slowly exhaled and said to the other two, "For now, let's calm down the branch family members and prevent them from dragging Izumi Uchiha into this prematurely. The branch family members should all be at the Hyuga clan's headquarters, right?"

An elder of the main clan said, "Apart from the two branch family children who are in the Ninja Academy, the others are all in the Hyuga clan's territory."

He paused, then added, "Originally there were three children from the branch family at the Upper Ninja Academy, but one was killed. Now there are only two left, one of whom is the grandson of the deceased branch family elder."

"Neither of them should have any connection with Uchiha Ikezumi, since they're just kids in the ninja academy."

Hiashi was taken aback; the other one could only be Hyuga Neji.

Just as Hiashi was pondering this, an elder of the main family reminded him, "Clan Head Hiashi, you could also consider marking either Hinata or Hanabi with the Caged Bird Seal. It's impossible for both of your children to be members of the main family."

"This has been the rule for many years. Hizashi is your biological brother, and he also became a branch family member of the Hyuga clan. Hinata and Hanabi's generation cannot be an exception."

The clan elder stood up and comforted him, saying, "Hiashi, I know you're conflicted. After all, I was conflicted when I was the clan leader. But clan rules are clan rules, and they can't be changed."

"As the head of the Hyuga clan, you must abandon the idea of ​​wanting both. Make sure that Hinata and Hanabi separate from the family in a grand and beautiful way, so that neither of them has any regrets."

Japan remained silent for a long time.

"...I will consider it carefully. Hinata is already of a suitable age, but Hanabi is still young. I need some time to see how talented and potential Hanabi is."

He said in a deep voice.

……

Konoha, somewhere.

"Huh, huh..."

"found it!"

Naruto, panting, gazed at Uchiha Ikezumi not far ahead. He quickly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Neji and another junior member of the Hyuga clan who had followed behind him, "Just tell Ikezumi-sensei the truth about the situation later."

Just as Naruto was walking quickly forward, he suddenly noticed that Sasuke beside him had stopped in place.

Naruto stopped, puzzled.

"what happened to you?"

The news that Itachi Uchiha was killed by Izumi Uchiha is currently only circulating in a small circle in Konoha Village. Only members of the Uchiha clan and some Konoha ninjas know about it.

Naruto was unaware that Sasuke Uchiha's biological brother had been killed by Izumi Uchiha himself.

"……fine."

Sasuke took a deep breath, suppressing the strange thoughts in his mind, repeatedly chanting, "Itachi Uchiha deserved to die, Itachi Uchiha deserved to die," before saying to Naruto, "Let's go find Izumi-sensei."

"You're acting weird today."

Naruto muttered something, but didn't press the matter further.

He strode towards Uchiha Ikezumi and immediately greeted her loudly, "Ikezumi-sensei!"

"Senior Tachibana Jiro!"

He didn't forget Tachibana Jiro; the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki's "Senpai" made Tachibana Jiro close his eyes in comfort.

Sasuke also greeted them twice.

"Meow, you two brats, shouldn't you be in class at the ninja academy right now?" Tachibana Jiro said. "If I remember correctly, the ninja academy's lunch break ended a minute ago, right?"

Naruto hurriedly said, "It's because we discovered a murder in the village, so we rushed here to find Izumi-sensei."

"A murder case?"

Uchiha Ikezumi lowered her gaze to Naruto and Sasuke. Then her gaze fell on Hyuga Neji behind Naruto and Sasuke, as well as another Hyuga clan junior who looked timid.

When Neji was stared at by Uchiha Ikezumi, he found himself feeling a sense of fear again.

It felt like a terrifying beast was staring intently at me.

I felt like a naked, helpless person.

I was filled with unease.

"It's all an illusion. As long as I act uprightly and honestly, it's no big deal! If I don't even dare to look him in the eye, how can I believe in his absolute justice?"

Neji kept repeating this to himself.

He raised his head, looked at Uchiha Ikezumi, and then recounted the whole story.

Neji knew he could sow discord among the Hyuga main clan during this process, embellishing his account. This might actually put the Hyuga main clan in a truly dire situation. Perhaps he could even leverage Uchiha Ikezumi's power to deal with them.

but……

If I were to actually do that, would it truly be justice?
This question led Neji to choose to tell the truth.

There was no exaggeration or embellishment.

"Huh?" Naruto was completely dumbfounded. He was so focused on finding Ikezumi-sensei that he didn't have time to ask Neji what the "murder case" was all about.

After hearing this, Naruto looked completely bewildered.

"What do you mean by a main family branching out? Why should someone be punished just because they want to break a curse seal?"

"What Caged Bird Seal? It doesn't sound like a good thing! Do you think your Hyuga clan rules are more important than the laws of the Land of Fire?"

Sasuke was also stunned.

How come the Hyuga clan...

Is that a bit obsessive?

……

……

(End of this chapter)