For Neji, it was just another ordinary day at the Academy. During a rare free period, he sat beneath a tree, quietly watching his classmates laugh and chase each other across the training field.
His pale eyes eventually settled on one boy in particular. Someone who wasn't mingling with the rest. Instead, the boy stood alone beneath another tree, steadily performing squats with a quiet, stubborn determination.
Neji's lips curved faintly, somewhere between amusement and disdain.
So that's his plan? He must know he has no talent for ninjutsu, so he's trying to compensate with taijutsu.
The thought almost made him want to walk over and tell the boy outright: No matter how hard you try… you'll never defeat me.
But then, a voice whispered into his ear, low and deliberate, carrying words that froze his breath.
"Do you hate the Main Family?"
Neji stiffened instantly, his body tensing like a drawn bowstring. His eyes swept the area in a sharp, practiced motion, but there was no one there.
He was about to dismiss it as a trick of the wind when the voice came again, closer this time.
"Don't bother. You can't see me."
Neji's vigilance sharpened to a razor's edge. His eyes swept over every shadow, every branch that swayed in the gentle breeze. Instinct screamed at him to activate the Byakugan, but the Academy's rules were clear. Outside of combat training, it was forbidden.
Who are you? Neji muttered under his breath, half wondering if he was imagining things or if someone was truly there.
No answer came. Only silence, as if his question had been deliberately ignored. Then, a voice, calm yet piercing, spoke again.
"Do you hate the Main Family?"
Before Neji could form a response, the questions kept coming, one after another, like blades slipping between the cracks in his composure.
"Will you take revenge for your father's death?"
"Do you know who was truly responsible?"
"Do you know the real truth about that… 'incident'?"
"Was it really an incident at all?"
"How did a Kumo shinobi walk into the Hyūga compound so easily?"
"Why was your father the one chosen to be sacrificed?"
"Why didn't the Hokage protect him?"
"Why is it that you, more talented than Hinata, are treated as less than her?"
"And why… why has Hinata not yet been branded with the Caged Bird Seal?"
Each question landed heavier than the last, striking deep into wounds Neji had long since tried to bury.
He already knew the official story, whispered to him by other members of the Branch Family. A Kumo ninja had come for Hinata, only to be killed by his uncle. The incident nearly sparked another war.
To avoid bloodshed, the Raikage demanded compensation for the loss of his man. The obvious choice should have been the one responsible, the Clan Head himself. But that was unthinkable. The Main Family was untouchable.
So the decision fell elsewhere.
His father.
A leader, yes, but only of the Branch Family. A man whose life could be traded without shaking the foundation of the Main House.
"What do you mean?" Neji muttered under his breath. The way the earlier question had been phrased made it sound as if there was more to the story than he'd been told.
But no answer came. Only a quiet, almost mocking suggestion:
Don't go asking around casually, not unless you want to vanish. If even the Uchiha Clan could disappear overnight without resistance, what do you think would happen to you? Best to know your place.
And then, silence.
Neji's heart churned. Was that a warning or a threat? Is he saying I'd die if I try to dig deeper? Then why even tell me this much? Who is he? Why me? Does he plan to use me for something?
Questions swirled in his mind with no one to answer them.
Taking a slow, steadying breath, he scanned his surroundings one last time for the source of the voice. Nothing. No clue, no shadow, nothing out of place.
Left with no choice, Neji turned back toward the classroom, the echo of those words still clawing at the back of his mind.
From the other side of the Academy, Sasuke watched him through the window. Every word Neji had heard was planted by him, sent directly into his mind using a technique he'd recently unlocked. A simple mental transmission, one-way only, the sender and receiver fixed from the start.
I wonder what he's thinking now… Sasuke mused, his gaze lingering for a moment longer before shifting back to the teacher at the front of the class.
Of course, he had no way of knowing Neji's thoughts. This technique allowed only for sending, never receiving. Whatever storm he might have stirred in the boy's heart, he could only imagine.
As for why he had targeted Neji in the first place, Sasuke wasn't entirely certain. Perhaps it was because both of their families had been sacrificed in the name of so-called peace.
Neji and Naruto were both orphans, yet Sasuke felt a stronger connection to Neji. In his mind, the emptiness of never having something could never compare to the pain of losing it.
I wonder how far he would go for power… Sasuke mused, eyes narrowing. And what he might do with it, if given the chance. Unlike me, he's never even had one.
Sasuke knew better than to underestimate Konoha. Destroying it without the strength of at least a "super-kage" was impossible. But if he couldn't do it alone, then why do it alone?
All he needed was to find like-minded individuals, people carrying grudges of their own, and guide them. Not through force, but by letting their will intertwine with his, until they believed his goal was their own.
Some might call it extreme. Sasuke had a simpler question:
Would you forgive someone who knew your parents were going to die and chose not to save them?
Whether it was convenience, morality, or the selfish need to protect their own, people always had reasons. And maybe those reasons made sense to them.
But to Sasuke, there was only one answer.
So what?
He was himself. They were themselves. Everyone's thoughts, their choices, their paths… all different.
And understanding those differences did not mean forgiveness.
He wasn't a lunatic looking to set the whole world ablaze.
But he would never spare those who had helped burn his own.
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Shinobi reaction to anti qi?