"..."
Kohinata Mugen's eyes were fixed on Hinata Kawa, seemingly trying to find any trace of a joke in his gaze. But those calm, unmoving Byakugan eyes were like a bottomless, cold abyss. And this made Mugen realize...
"This guy is serious."
Kohinata Mugen, of course, knew who Neji Hyuga was. He was the child of the former head of the Hyuga clan's branch family. This meant that Neji Hyuga, as a branch family member, had the Caged Bird Seal etched upon him. He was a bird imprisoned in a cage; let alone leaving Konoha, he couldn't even escape the Hyuga clan itself. But now, Hinata Kawa in front of him was actually saying that Neji Hyuga would defect from Konoha in the future, and that the Hyuga clan would also undergo tremendous changes?
Kohinata Mugen's gaze flickered continuously. After a long silence, he suddenly asked, "Aren't you afraid I'll tell Konoha's higher-ups about what you've said?"
As his words fell, Hinata Kawa's voice reached his ears, but it wasn't from in front of him. It was from a higher vantage point.
"Do you think the seal in your head can stop me?"
Kohinata Mugen's pupils constricted. Following the voice, he abruptly looked up at the tree above. His astonished eyes met a pair of calm, pure Byakugan. Unbeknownst to him, the "Hinata Kawa" in front of him had vanished. Hinata Kawa stood on the tree above his head, the same tree Hinata Kawa had been observing the battle from earlier. It was as if from the moment he and Shisui began their fight until now, Hinata Kawa had not moved from his spot at all.
"Kohinata Mugen, my ability is sensory manipulation. Why don't you guess?" Hinata Kawa's face held a faint smile as he spoke: "When you leave here, and several years pass, during a perfectly ordinary confrontation, you plunge your blade into an enemy's heart."
"Will you have killed an enemy, or a family member?"
At these words, Kohinata Mugen's face went blank as he opened his mouth, but he only felt a chilling coldness surge from his heart. Thinking of the possibility Hinata Kawa spoke of, that coldness crawled inch by inch up his spine to his cheeks, finally making him shiver violently.
"You..."
Fear, like a vine, tightened its grip. Kohinata Mugen's breathing became ragged, and his throat bobbed as he swallowed. Looking at those calm, indifferent eyes, and then at the two Uchiha standing stiffly like statues, their eyes hollow, he even felt a sense of unreality about the world. Were his current sights, sounds, thoughts, and feelings illusions or reality?
"Who said you were gentle...? You're clearly a monster!"
Finally, Kohinata Mugen dejectedly lowered his head, letting out a sigh of resignation: "I promise you, please dispel the genjutsu quickly."
"It's already dispelled."
The voice actually came from in front of him again. Mugen subconsciously looked up, seeing Hinata Kawa reappear before him, and couldn't help but offer a wry smile. This is even more terrifying. He had no idea if the genjutsu was truly dispelled.
"I have one last question." He had completely resigned himself. He took a cigarette, put it in his mouth, lit it, and then looked up at Kawa, asking, "Why him, and not you?"
Hinata Kawa knew what Mugen wanted to ask. He clearly possessed such terrifying strength and harbored obvious dissatisfaction with Konoha and the Hyuga clan, so why wasn't it himself who defected, but another brat from the Hyuga branch family?
Facing Kohinata Mugen's question, Hinata Kawa's face formed a gentle smile.
"Why would I defect?" he said softly. "I'm the 'hero' in the eyes of everyone in Konoha, the inheritor of the Will of Fire in the eyes of the Third Hokage."
At these words, Kohinata Mugen was utterly stunned. The cigarette hung in his mouth, silently burning, as he stared blankly at the gently smiling Hinata Kawa.
"...Haha! Hahahaha!"
Finally, as if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world, he burst into a fit of hysterical laughter, his laughter filled with endless mockery.
"Hahahaha, Hinata Kawa, Konoha's hero! The ninja inheriting the Will of Fire! Hahahahaha, I see! I see!"
He laughed until tears streamed down his face, accidentally pulling at his wounds. He gasped for air between laughs: "Cough, cough, I thought I was hidden deep enough."
"But compared to you, I'm utterly inferior!"
"Everyone misunderstood you. You fooled everyone. They put you on a pedestal, but they don't know that you, like me, are a traitor with ulterior motives!"
"No, that's not right. You're a monster, a devil!"
"Ironic! Too ironic!"
With that, Kohinata Mugen shook his head, grinning: "I'm convinced. This time, I'm truly convinced. Now I'm even looking forward to seeing what you can achieve."
Did he harbor hatred and resentment towards the Hyuga clan and Konoha? Naturally, he did. Otherwise, as a Konoha Jonin, not lacking in money or power, why would he choose to become a spy? The specific reason for his resentment was likely related to his wife and child, but Hinata Kawa wouldn't ask and didn't care.
He had merely received a mission from the Third Hokage. After a moment's thought, he had laid a casual piece, knowing it would definitely come in handy in the future, and there was no need to worry about being backstabbed. Furthermore, with Kohinata Mugen's development and innovation of the Byakugan, he would be more than qualified to become Neji Hyuga's teacher in the future.
"Then, the deal is struck."
Hinata Kawa nodded slightly. He took a scroll from his pocket and placed it on the ground. With a puff of white smoke, a corpse similar in size to Mugen appeared. There was even a box whose contents were unknown. Even though he had already witnessed Hinata Kawa's methods, seeing this scene, Mugen couldn't help but give him a deep look.
Had this guy already made all the preparations as soon as he received this mission? What a deeply cunning individual. Yet, such a terrifying individual was revered as a hero by those in Konoha...
"You can leave now." Hinata Kawa threw the box to him. While he busied himself with the corpse, he said, "Inside are explosive tags and the Body Flicker Technique. Don't let anyone discover your identity."
"Don't worry," Kohinata Mugen took the box and smiled, "Then I'll trouble you to look after my wife and child."
As his words fell, his figure vanished from the spot, and Hinata Kawa stood up.
Scratch.
Looking at the corpse wrapped in explosive tags before him, Hinata Kawa lit a match and threw it. At the same time, the eye on 'Greed' at his waist slowly closed. Itachi Uchiha and Shisui, trapped in the genjutsu, almost simultaneously woke up. Itachi Uchiha's memory stopped at Kohinata Mugen igniting the explosive tags, attempting a mutual kill, while Shisui Uchiha's memory stopped at Hinata Kawa throwing the lighter after taking his eye.
And before them, there was fire.
BOOM!!
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