Chapter 209: Hand Over Hyūga Hanabi
"...The true power of the Byakugan?"
Hearing this, Neji, who was about to warn the clan, inexplicably stopped his actions. An eager desire suddenly rose in his already agitated heart.
He was far too desperate for a way to become stronger.
"That's right. The power belonging to the Byakugan."
Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito continued to entice him: "You must have your doubts, right? We are all clearly descendants of the Ōtsutsuki clan. The Uchiha clansmen's Sharingan can become stronger, so can't our Byakugan also become stronger?"
"In truth, the Sharingan is merely a mutated, heretical path. The Byakugan is our origin."
Hearing these words, which were packed with information, Neji's eyes couldn't help but widen. He subconsciously believed this person was deceiving him.
The Ōtsutsuki clan?
Clearly a family he had never heard of.
But...
"The Sharingan is just a mutated, heretical path, and the Byakugan is our origin?"
Although he told himself in his heart that it was absolutely impossible, Neji's heart still pounded wildly.
This person before him was acting as if he could see right through him, using the deepest desires of his heart to bewitch him.
"What are you still hesitating for?"
Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito said in a low voice, then extended his right hand to Neji: "As long as you help me do one thing, I will tell you the secret of the Byakugan. You can have the qualification to fly out of the cage."
Neji stared at Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito's outstretched hand. Driven by desire, he immediately wanted to agree.
However, a glance out of the corner of his eye caught the child beside him, who was about the same age as himself.
Noticing the child's empty eye sockets, Neji felt as if a basin of cold water had been poured over him, and he instantly thought of a certain possibility.
"You..."
Forcibly suppressing the agitation rising in his heart, Neji asked probingly with flickering eyes: "What do you want me to help you with?"
"We need to find a pair of high-purity Byakugan," Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito answered without concealment.
He had brought Toneri from the moon to the ninja world this time because he felt his own days were numbered and wanted to find pure Byakugan for Toneri in advance.
However, at first, he was worried about startling the snake by beating the grass, or even trying to steal a chicken only to lose a handful of rice, so he didn't want to directly snatch the eyes.
He just didn't expect that after infiltrating the Hyūga clan, he would find this unexpected surprise, Hyūga Neji.
A genius from the branch family whose worldview was not yet complete, and who still harbored ambitions in his heart.
Although this chess piece was only from the Hyūga branch family, and his own strength and power were very limited, with their cooperation from within and without, they might just be able to successfully snatch the eyes, and even obtain the resources of the Hyūga clan.
Thinking of this possibility, a smile appeared on Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito's face.
As for whether this branch family member would refuse?
In Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito's view, who was once also from a branch family, for Hyūga Neji, who longed for power and harbored resentment, this was a transaction with no losses at all. He simply couldn't think of any reason to refuse.
"High-purity Byakugan?"
Although he had anticipated it in his heart, Neji still couldn't help but be startled.
Whose Byakugan could possibly deserve the title of "high-purity"?
Having calmed down, Neji's heart sank.
A trace of struggle flashed in the depths of his eyes but was quickly suppressed.
If it were the Neji from a few years ago, he would have definitely agreed without hesitation.
But now...
"I see."
Neji sneered with feigned resentment: "Presumably, the high-purity Byakugan you speak of can only be possessed by people of the Main Family. The Hyūga Main Family's clan head, Hyūga Hiashi, or his younger daughter, Hyūga Hanabi... these two should meet your standards."
Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito was first overjoyed upon hearing this, but then frowned in confusion: "Younger daughter? Meaning, the Main Family's clan head has other children?"
"That's right. There is also the elder daughter, Hyūga Hinata, but she does not meet your standards."
"Why?" Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito pressed.
Neji sneered, saying word by word: "Because when Hyūga Hanabi was three years old, Hyūga Hiashi personally placed the Caged Bird Cursed Seal on Hyūga Hinata."
Hearing this, Toneri, beside Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito, frowned, his disgusted tone carrying a faint pity: "As a clan head, he could only personally break his own daughter's wings?"
"What a pathetic clan, a pathetic fate."
Having grown up under the protection of his father and clansmen, Toneri couldn't understand Hyūga Hiashi's actions, let alone the meaning of the "Caged Bird."
He just agreed even more with what his father had told him before.
Ninja are all cruel, bloodthirsty demons. Their birth was perhaps a mistake.
And he, Ōtsutsuki Toneri, will inherit the will of the branch family, practice the will of the ancestor, correct the world's mistakes, and create a truly peaceful world.
Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito sized up Neji.
Seeing that the expression on his face did not seem false, and the tone he spoke in did not seem like a pretense, he relaxed his guard slightly.
"Then I'll have to trouble you to take us to see the pure Byakugan."
Neji did not take Tatsuhito's hand, instead propping himself up with his own.
Then he let out a long breath before finally nodding: "Alright, I will lure Hyūga Hanabi out."
...
At the same time, inside the Hyūga clan's main residence.
Just as Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito was attempting to entice Neji, Hinata, whose eyes were originally closed, suddenly opened them.
Within her pure white pupils, a hint of azure light flickered, like stars shining in the sky.
But after a moment, the light in her eyes gradually dissipated, and a black "卍" (manji) shaped curse seal slowly appeared on her forehead.
"They've finally come to my door. The Ōtsutsuki clan mentioned in the letter."
A look of joy appeared on the elder Hinata's face. She stood up and took out a sealing scroll from a cabinet.
After undoing the seal, a blue three-eyed cat-face mask and a white hooded cloak appeared before her, along with a letter signed "Uzumaki Menma."
In these years with the Konoha Hyūga, using the cultivation method specially created by Menma, her Byakugan pupil power had now been enhanced to the extreme, reaching the level of pupil power she had in the [Tsukuyomi World].
Aside from her physical strength, which was strictly limited by her age, her strength was already not much different from her cheap old dad's, who was an Elite Jōnin.
But just like back in the [Tsukuyomi World], the promotion of her Byakugan seemed to be only a step away, but this step was like a chasm between heaven and earth, impossible to cross.
The promotion of the Byakugan was still missing a necessary condition.
-- The pure bloodline of the Ōtsutsuki clan.
After the extraterrestrial meteorite incident in Amegakure, she had already received a letter sent by Menma.
Besides the "Gene Fusion Liquid" syringe she had already used, the letter also recorded intelligence about the Ōtsutsuki clan on the moon.
According to the important intelligence Menma mentioned in the letter, only by combining the Ōtsutsuki bloodline with a high-purity Byakugan can one awaken the so-called "Jōgan" or "Tenseigan."
This point was also vaguely mentioned in the ancient texts she stole from the Forbidden Grounds.
The reason the Main Family members, including her cheap old dad, didn't discover it was merely because they were blinded by a single leaf, thereby ignoring the important information within.
"I just don't know the difference between the Jōgan and the Tenseigan, nor do I know the conditions for opening either."
Constantly pondering in her mind, the elder Hinata put on the blue mask, simultaneously infusing chakra into it.
She was only rash and straightforward in character, not a brainless brute with big breasts.
The giant meteorite that fell on Amegakure back then... she had seen it clearly from the Hokage Rock.
She had no confidence in dealing with the Ōtsutsuki clansmen by herself, so she had to seek help from other organization members.
...
Time slowly passed. The setting sun, hanging on the horizon, gradually disappeared below it, while a bright, clear, full moon slowly rose into the sky.
The cold, clear moonlight sprinkled upon the earth. Sasuke and Naruto walked shoulder-to-shoulder on the road, two deep shadows trailing behind them.
But just as the elder Hinata sent out a distress signal through her mask,
feeling the chakra fluctuation in his robes, Naruto's steps suddenly paused.
"Hmm?"
Sasuke beside him, seeing this, frowned and asked: "Did something happen?"
Such a jumpy reaction was not like Naruto's character.
"...It's nothing."
Naruto reacted, shaking his head: "I just remembered I didn't feed the pigeon and wanted to go home to take care of it."
Hearing this, Sasuke finally relaxed.
He didn't suspect anything, just rolled his eyes and said with some helplessness: "Then let's go for a walk next time. It's getting late anyway."
"Okay." Naruto nodded in agreement.
After saying goodbye to Sasuke, he walked towards his home at an unhurried pace, showing no signs of anything unusual.
But in his heart, he was already muttering to himself.
"Why did that young lady suddenly call for my help? And she even used her organization identity to call me."
Although he and Hyūga Hinata were classmates, that girl always gave him a strange feeling, and her personality was also moody.
So Naruto usually just nodded in acknowledgment when he saw her.
He was either directly ignored by her, or she would timidly look away.
It wasn't until he read the letter Menma-nii left him before leaving that Naruto knew this young lady was also a member of the organization.
And based on Naruto's understanding of Menma-nii, from the strange tone in the letter, he was afraid that Hyūga Hinata was more than just a subordinate to Menma-nii.
"Hiss, looks like tonight's study session is going to be delayed."
Sucking in a sharp breath in his heart, Naruto's steps suddenly took a turn, directly walking into a dark alley.
But after a moment, "Naruto's" figure walked out from inside again, continuing towards his home.
And a few seconds after he left, a figure wearing a hooded cloak leaped onto a rooftop, speeding away in the shadows of the alley.
...
Three figures, with their backs to the bright, cold moonlight, silently and slowly drifted from the sky towards the clan head's residence.
Scanning the position below, Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito asked in a low voice: "Is Hyūga Hanabi here?"
However, his question received no response.
Before Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito could react,
"Eight Trigrams - Vacuum Palm!"
Hyūga Neji beside him suddenly burst into action. Chakra rapidly gathered in his palm, and he fiercely struck Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito with it.
Bang!
A stream of chakra airflow suddenly gushed out from Tatsuhito's body, directly sending Neji flying several meters away.
Neji was not arrogant enough to think he could deal with him.
Unhesitatingly using the powerful force of this blow, his figure flashed and he created distance from Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito.
Without even waiting to land, while still in mid-air, he shouted loudly:
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
A few seconds after the voice sounded, Hyūga Hiashi's figure appeared in the courtyard, and the figures of other Hyūga clansmen also rushed over from a distance.
Seeing this, understanding he had been played, Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito's expression became grim.
"As expected of a pet raised in a cage! What a hopeless fellow!!"
As his voice fell, green chakra slowly covered his palm, and a green chakra sphere rapidly condensed, thrown towards the just-landed Neji.
Seeing the chakra sphere about to hit Neji, Hiashi's figure suddenly appeared before him.
Chakra was repelled from the acupressure points of his body, and his body began to rotate at high speed like a gyroscope.
"Rotation!"
BOOM!
The high-speed rotating, expelled chakra collided with the chakra sphere, instantly turning into a fierce airflow that dissipated.
Hiashi stopped the chakra expulsion, shielding Neji behind him. He didn't have time to think about why Neji knew "Eight Trigrams - Vacuum Palm."
His brow furrowed tightly as he looked up at the two in the sky, questioning sharply: "Who are you!?"
Although he had successfully used Rotation to block the green light sphere just now, Hiashi felt his own expelled chakra had actually vanished abruptly.
If he hadn't replenished it with chakra in time, he probably would have been caught off guard by this move.
Ninja and ninjutsu with the ability to fly are few and far between, let alone this ninjutsu that seemed to be able to devour chakra.
"You are the head of the Hyūga clan?"
Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito looked down at Hyūga Hiashi, saying with disappointment: "For the head of a clan to only be at this level... as expected, living in the decadent ninja world, even if the same blood flows through your veins, you have unavoidably fallen."
"Hand over Hyūga Hanabi, and I can spare your lives."
Hearing Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito's overbearing words, Hiashi's brow furrowed fiercely, his face flushing with anger.
"Not only invading the Hyūga clan, but also wanting me to hand over Hanabi. Do you think the Hyūga can be so easily bullied?"
Meanwhile, the other Hyūga clansmen had also successively arrived behind Hiashi, also looking at the two in mid-air with suspicion and uncertainty.
Although they were still unclear about the situation, these two were undoubtedly the intruders.
"I really cannot communicate with you sinners."
As if having anticipated this situation, Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito shook his head with a look of regret.
In the end, he still had to forcibly take the eyes.
"There's no other way. Toneri, stand behind me!"
Wary of the potential powerhouses in the ninja world, Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito said no more, directly taking out a scroll from his robes.
Neji, behind Hiashi, suddenly felt something was wrong upon seeing this.
"Lord Clan Head, retreat quickly!"
"Hmph!"
The instant Ōtsutsuki Tatsuhito opened the scroll, a dozen or so puppets that seemed to possess souls appeared, surrounding the Hyūga clansmen in unison.
They all extended their hands towards the Hyūga crowd, chakra rapidly gathering in their palms, forming one dazzling ball of light after another.
They created several green chakra balls in their hands and threw them at the Hyūga crowd with a roar.
Sensing the fierce chakra fluctuations around them, Hyūga Hiashi's expression instantly sharpened.
"What kind of puppet technique is this?"
(End of Chapter)
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