"Are you ready to die?" Might Guy murmured softly. He didn't know why, but a trace of sorrow filled his heart.
Looking at Neji again, the pity in Guy's eyes deepened.
His hands clenched instinctively, his mind tangled with helplessness and conflict. For a moment, he didn't know what to say.
He even wanted to persuade Neji to stop. If he didn't fight so recklessly, he might still escape.
But seeing Neji like this… it was as if after his mother's death, he had lost all sense of caution.
"Don't worry," Kakashi said beside him, trying to reassure. "Even if Neji gets captured, nothing will happen to him. Someone will come to save him."
In truth, Kakashi had his own conditions in mind.
From the conversation he overheard between Danzo Shimura and Hiruzen Sarutobi, he knew they intended to capture Neji for experiments.
If it came to that, when Genya returned, he would do everything in his power to rescue Neji.
With Genya's strength, rescuing Neji would not only be possible—it would be easy. With the aid of the Flying Thunder God technique, saving one person was practically effortless.
"Someone will rescue him?" Might Guy asked, stunned.
He couldn't comprehend what Kakashi was thinking and looked at him with confusion.
Kakashi only nodded and said, "Just watch. We only need to make sure Neji doesn't get killed."
There were some things he couldn't explain to Guy in detail, so this had to suffice for now.
Although still puzzled, Might Guy trusted Kakashi completely.
He thought to himself: Kakashi is clever. If he says so, then that's what we'll do.
At worst, if Neji is captured, he would go to the Hokage and plead. No matter what, Neji's life had to be preserved.
Hiruzen Sarutobi also noticed something unusual about Neji.
He held the Adamantine Staff tightly with both hands and shouted to the ninjas, "He's about to give out! Push with all your strength and break Neji's Eight Trigrams Formation!"
As Hiruzen encouraged the ninjas, he was secretly exerting his own power, gritting his teeth to hold on.
He realized that as the blue light on Neji's body grew stronger, the opposing force against the Adamantine Staff also increased.
The power was so intense that even he was starting to struggle to maintain his stance.
"Ninjutsu…"
"Ninjutsu…"
The ninjas quickly formed hand seals, and their chakra spun furiously within them.
Just as the battle reached a critical peak, a pure white bird appeared in the sky.
The bird circled slowly above the Hyuga clan, seemingly searching for something.
Looking closely, three people were standing on its back.
One was a young man with blonde hair and bangs slanting across his forehead, his eyes filled with determination and defiance.
Another wore white robes, expressionless, with a pair of pure white eyes, his face seemingly void of emotion.
The last was a towering figure over two meters tall, muscular, carrying a massive spiked blade on his back.
Their appearance added an even more tense subtlety to the battlefield, and those fighting noticed the anomaly in the sky.
These three were none other than Deidara, Kimimaro, and Jūgo, who had previously been resting in a lab outside Konoha.
They had been enjoying a rare moment of leisure, even discussing when and where to spar next to test each other's strength.
But unexpectedly, Toshi rushed in with shocking news—Neji might be in danger in Konoha.
Neji in danger?
Deidara and the others immediately lost their relaxed expressions, replaced by anxiety and worry.
Though they hadn't spent much time with Neji, they liked him. And since Neji was a member of Genya's faction, there was no way they could let anything happen to him.
Without hesitation, they decided to head to Konoha immediately.
Now, the three of them stood on the back of the white bird, overlooking the chaotic battlefield below.
"Toshi was right, Neji really is in danger!" Deidara said, looking down at Neji surrounded by so many ninja, unable to hide a sigh of relief.
At least Neji was fine for now, but seeing this, Deidara felt a spark of anger in his eyes.
Using sheer numbers to overwhelm one person—that kind of behavior was beneath him. And from the looks of it, the one leading them seemed to be Hiruzen Sarutobi.
"This isn't good… With so many attacking him, Neji could be in real danger. He's going to fight desperately!" Kimimaro activated his Byakugan, carefully observing the changes in Neji's body.
Thanks to his understanding of Neji and the insight granted by the Byakugan, he knew clearly that Neji had been cornered and might fight recklessly.
"Then we have to go down and help!" Jugo muttered. No sooner had he spoken than he quickly removed Samehada from his back and hurled it with all his strength.
Boom~
Samehada, carrying immense force, crashed into the ground.
At the same time, countless sharp bone spikes erupted from the earth like bamboo shoots in spring.
The spikes immediately forced back some of those who were preparing to attack Neji, making them pause their assault.
Almost simultaneously, several small white clay birds flew toward the other side.
Then, a series of violent explosions followed.
The deafening blasts shook the ground, and flames shot high into the sky.
All the ninja surrounding Neji were disrupted by the sudden attack, forced to retreat.
They looked up at the sky, stunned, their eyes filled with shock and confusion.
Above them, three figures looked down, their expressions serious.
"Is that… you?" Hiruzen Sarutobi looked up at that moment.
He recognized the three immediately—Deidara, obsessed with the art of explosions, and the two who often accompanied him, Kimimaro and Jugo.
He could never have imagined that, at such a critical moment, these three would intervene in Konoha's internal affairs.
"I'm just saying, you all bullying one person—don't you think that's going too far?" Deidara's voice rang out, as the clay birds slowly descended before the group.
The three of them stepped down from the clay bird, standing face-to-face with the elite ninja of Konoha. The atmosphere was tense, like swords drawn.
"Who are you?" Danzo Shimura stepped forward, his face dark. His single eye scrutinized the three carefully.
He had investigated Deidara and his companions through the ANBU Root before, but hadn't found anything unusual.
He had only known that Deidara had some connection with Genya, and hadn't paid much attention. But now, they were risking so much to save Neji, which immediately put him on guard.
"Who are we?" Kimimaro spoke slowly, his tone unusually solemn. "You may call us members of Atsukara." He paused slightly, then added, "Unfortunately, our leader hasn't officially granted us the Atsukara's Zodiacs title yet."
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