Chapter 155: Orochimaru Takes Action! Konoha Scum’s Gold Content
The next day when he woke up, Neji Hyuga heard that the branch family’s clan meeting last night did not select any branch family faction to replace the main family.
Seven or eight different factions argued until they were red in the face.
In that process, some branch family clan members who did not understand their actions also imitated Neji and left the clan meeting midway.
After all, not every branch family ninja coveted the main family status.
This morning.
Neji Hyuga did not accompany Hinata Hyuga to the Ninja Academy; he no longer needed to be her “guard.” When Neji arrived at the Ninja Academy alone, he vaguely noticed that some academy students were staring at him with strange looks.
He immediately realized that what happened to the Hyuga Clan last night had spread; probably the entire Konoha knew about it.
Sure enough.
Whispers of discussion reached Neji Hyuga’s ears one after another.
“I heard… it was he who brought Uchiha Ikeizumi to the Hyuga Clan, and then Uchiha Ikeizumi arrested all the main family clan members of the Hyuga Clan and locked them up in Konoha Prison.”
Neji frowned; this person must have heard wrong, because the Hyuga Main Family still had a few innocents left.
“I remember he is called Neji Hyuga? He is a genius in the second year of the academy; at only second year, he can already fight evenly with sixth-year students who are about to graduate; he is a very impressive guy.”
“It’s better not to get close to him; he brought Uchiha Ikeizumi to the Hyuga Clan—who can guarantee he won’t bring Uchiha Ikeizumi to our ninja clan?”
“Speaking of which, there is a girl named Hinata Hyuga in the first year of the academy; she is said to be the young mistress of the Hyuga Main Family. She wasn’t arrested by the Uchiha Police Force too, was she?”
“Do you want to go ask that Neji Hyuga?”
“Like hell I will; who knows if this betrayer of his ninja clan will stab us in the back?”
“…”
Some Konoha ruffians already had the qualities of ruffians from childhood.
They always equally isolated everyone with words behind their backs.
Listening to those whispers, Neji Hyuga’s expression did not change. To pursue 「Absolute Justice」, he could completely disregard what others said about him.
And he was already mentally prepared for this.
After all…
In his stereotypical impression, that Lord Uchiha Ikeizumi had also suffered isolation from the village’s public opinion. Even compared to the isolation he himself endured, that lord had it worse. In this case, why should he care?
Unknowingly, Neji was already instinctively imitating Ikeizumi.
“Hey! Neji Hyuga!!!”
A familiar call came from not far away. When Neji turned his head, he saw Uzumaki Naruto with half a near-expiry rice ball in his mouth, mumbling: “Slow down, wait for us!”
Behind Uzumaki Naruto, Uchiha Sasuke couldn’t help but complain about the embarrassment: “Dead last, can you swallow the rice ball before speaking?”
Neji suddenly noticed that behind these two, there was also a girl with light golden hair.
“Neji Hyuga, let me introduce you.”
Naruto gulped down the rice ball like swallowing dates whole, then stepped aside to reveal Yamanaka Ino behind him.
“Yamanaka Ino!”
Naruto grinned: “She is actually one of the followers of 「Absolute Justice」 too! She even joined earlier than me and Sasuke!”
…There was a piece of nori stuck in his teeth.
Neji silently thought to himself.
Then he turned his attention to Yamanaka Ino and asked: “Yamanaka Clan?”
“Mm.”
Ino nodded lightly; her gaze subtly scanned the surroundings and she suggested to Neji Hyuga: “No need to care about the discussions from those in the academy; their worldview and morals have been corrupted by the pathological ninja world, leaving them stuck in a twisted and improper stage. If they don’t change in the future, they will one day fall into the abyss of sin and pay the price for it.”
Neji wasn’t sure if it was his imagination, but he felt that this girl Yamanaka Ino seemed more mature than Naruto and Sasuke.
“I know.”
He replied.
…
In the corridor of a certain Konoha inn, an unremarkable man dressed as an out-of-town merchant passed by Shizune without a word.
His nerves were highly tense, and his muscles were tightened all over, drawing a curious glance from Shizune passing by.
However, Shizune didn’t notice anything strange about him for the time being, and it would be rude to stare at a passerby for no reason, so she withdrew her gaze, held Tonton, and left.
The man entered his own room and closed the door.
“Phew… I actually ran into Tsunade’s disciple.” He slowly let out a breath of relief, and a small white snake emerged from his sleeve.
He hurriedly lowered his head and apologized to the white snake: “Please forgive me, Lord Orochimaru; it was this subordinate’s incompetence that nearly let your white snake clone be discovered by Tsunade’s disciple.”
“Heh heh, it’s fine; it wasn’t discovered, was it?”
The small white snake spoke human words, its voice exactly like Orochimaru’s tone, with a somewhat eerie raspiness.
The white snake continued: “The Hyuga Main Family was almost completely wiped out by Uchiha Ikeizumi… Heh heh, this actually gives me the best opportunity to collect Byakugan. Because the main family members without the Caged Bird Seal have no branch family guards anymore.”
The man was stunned: “Lord Orochimaru, do you want me to break into Konoha Prison to hunt Hyuga Main Family Byakugan?”
The white snake gave him a cold glance: “Why hunt Byakugan in prison? Aren’t there a few pairs of Byakugan outside Konoha Prison, laid out on the table and ‘at anyone’s mercy’?”
“There are still a few main family ninjas who weren’t caught, right? Like… Hyuga Hiashi’s two daughters.”
Orochimaru was not only interested in Sharingan.
He was equally interested in Byakugan.
He always felt that these two different eyes might have some similarities; these bloodline limits passed down for over a millennium might hide secrets he didn’t know. For the sake of immortality, Orochimaru was willing to try and research anything.
In the past, he had no opportunities to seize Byakugan.
Because Hyuga Main Family ninjas rarely went to the battlefield, and main family ninjas were generally protected by branch family ninjas.
Those brainwashed ignorant Hyuga Branch Family members were truly willing to sacrifice their lives to protect the main family’s Byakugan.
However.
Today, Orochimaru saw an opportunity!
The Hyuga Branch Family could no longer protect the branch family that had fallen from heaven to the abyss; Hyuga Hiashi’s two daughters definitely wouldn’t have branch family guard protection.
“You have a new mission.” The small white snake said sinisterly: “Seize the Byakugan of Hinata Hyuga and Hyuga Hanabi. Alive or dead, it doesn’t matter. The Byakugan is the key.”
The spy disguised as an out-of-town merchant felt a chill in his heart.
“Yes! Lord Orochimaru!”
…
Puchi—
The Executioner’s Blade decapitated a bandit; Juzo Biwa stuck the heavy great sword into the ground and looked helplessly at Uchiha Ikeizumi’s wood style clone beside him.
He couldn’t help but ask: “We could cross the Land of Fire border and reach the Land of Rain in just over an hour at full speed; why meddle in this and trouble ourselves with these bandits?”
The wood style clone pulled the ninja sword from the bandit leader’s chest.
It shook the blood off the blade and responded expressionlessly: “「Absolute Justice」 cannot ignore sins that can be eradicated within one’s power.”
With that said.
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s wood style clone turned to Juzo Biwa and said: “Release all the innocent people kidnapped in the bandit lair.”
Juzo Biwa: “…”
He, a dignified member of the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist! A dignified elite jonin of Hidden Mist! A dignified rookie of Akatsuki!
Being dragged here to deal with a band of bandits was one thing, but how could he be bossed around by a wood style clone?
His slightly widened eyes stared at the wood style clone.
He stood motionless in place.
But he found that Uchiha Ikeizumi’s wood style clone completely ignored him and strode deeper into the bandit lair. This brought Juzo Biwa back to his senses—oh, he wasn’t ordering him to work for free; he just wanted a little assistance.
Should have said so earlier!
Juzo Biwa coughed lightly, shouldered the Executioner’s Blade, and followed unobtrusively.
Breathing the faint bloody smell in the air, after entering the bandit lair.
Juzo Biwa was stunned.
He looked in shock at the prison-like buildings before him, seeing many scantily clad men and women imprisoned in the small, cramped wooden cages. At a glance, he estimated there were over thirty people here.
He also saw two or three people already dead in the cages, but the bandits hadn’t moved the corpses, leaving them to rot and stink, emitting a nauseating odor.
If Juzo Biwa hadn’t crawled out of piles of corpses from the Bloody Mist Village.
He would have been stimulated by the pungent smell to vomit up his breakfast.
“Most bandits in the Land of Fire engage in robbery, theft, slave trading, and other evil deeds.”
The wood style clone’s voice echoed faintly: “Or rather, most bandits in the ninja world engage in such vile acts. Few people care because there are too few ninjas and the ninja world is too vast. Moreover, they mostly collude with local nobles, and the warriors kept by those nobles are even less likely to exterminate bandits.”
It asked Juzo Biwa: “You previously gave me a chance to go to the Land of Water, which shows you despise the Land of Water under the oppressive rule of Hidden Mist’s Bloody Mist Policy and can’t stand all those evil deeds that challenge your moral views.”
“If you encountered these bandits in the Land of Water, knowing what they were doing and that ordinary people from the Land of Water were being persecuted by them, would you still find it troublesome?”
Juzo Biwa was silent for a few seconds.
“I can sort of understand why you have such polarized reputation in Konoha.” Juzo Biwa sighed and said: “Those who hope to be helped by your justice and have a clear conscience will support you. Those who don’t want you meddling and have guilty consciences wish you would choke to death on a sip of water.”
…
Hinata Hyuga was late for school today; this was the first time she walked alone from the Hyuga Clan Compound to the Ninja Academy. Previously, she was the “little tag-along” following behind Neji.
At the door of Iruka’s class classroom, Hinata clasped her hands in front of her, standing outside anxiously and silently.
Seeing her like this, Iruka on the podium sighed inwardly.
“Come in.”
He did not reprimand Hinata Hyuga for being late, because Iruka also knew what happened to the Hyuga Clan. But who could be blamed? Probably only the adults of the Hyuga Main Family.
Their behavior cost them, and also put the few women and children of the Hyuga Main Family in an extremely passive situation.
Just as Hinata lowered her little head and sat back in her seat, Yamanaka Ino suddenly stood up and raised one hand: “Iruka-sensei, can I sit next to Hinata Hyuga?”
Haruno Sakura, not far from Ino, was stunned and whispered to Yamanaka Ino: “Ino, what are you doing? During this time, it’s better not to get involved with the Hyuga Clan.”
But Ino shook her head slightly at Sakura and said nothing more.
“…Alright.” Iruka thought for a moment and nodded.
Yamanaka Ino changed seats; she didn’t continue listening to the lesson seriously but gently poked Hinata beside her.
This poke made Hinata tremble all over.
“Are you scared?” Ino’s quiet question could only be heard by her and Hinata.
“…Mm.”
Hinata’s ten fingers intertwined, then separated, repeating the motion endlessly.
Perhaps sensing the concern in Yamanaka Ino’s tone, Hinata let down some of her guard and said in a lost, low, confused voice: “Father was locked up in Konoha Prison, and some closer elders in the main family are also in Konoha Prison; only my sister and I are left at home.”
“Last night, I couldn’t sleep a bit… I didn’t sleep all night. I’m afraid… I’m afraid I’ll be arrested too. I don’t even quite understand… why Father was locked up?”
“I only heard some branch family clan members say… Father was bad to the branch family clan members, then he was arrested.”
Her tone was halting, somewhat stuttering, and her voice so low that Ino could barely hear.
However, Ino could tell that this young mistress of the Hyuga Main Family was extremely introverted.
After thinking, she said: “Have you done anything bad? For example, have you hurt any Hyuga Branch Family clan members?”
“I haven’t!” Hinata shook her head frantically.
“Then you have no reason to be afraid.” Ino said: “Because that lord’s 「Absolute Justice」 only targets those who do evil. Since you haven’t done anything bad or hurt anyone, why fear being arrested?”
But Hinata heard another meaning: “Father was arrested because he hurt others?”
“You really don’t know?” Ino glanced at Hinata suspiciously.
How could someone be this naive? She was clearly in the middle of a whirlpool, with even her own father arrested, yet she remained clueless.
If others didn’t tell her, she wouldn’t seek the truth through other channels and just stayed passive.
This person…
Was she really the young mistress of the Hyuga Main Family?
Hinata didn’t dare look at her: “No one is willing to tell me. Last night, Brother Neji only said some strange things and left.”
Shocked, Ino composed herself, recalling the “inside story” about the Hyuga Clan that her father had told her in front of her this morning.
She organized her words and asked: “You should know about the Hyuga Clan’s Caged Bird Seal, right? The Hyuga Main Family, led by your father Hyuga Hiashi, uses the Caged Bird Seal to control branch family ninjas, thereby holding power over their life and death.”
“In other words, your main family’s adults treat your branch family ninjas as slaves using the Caged Bird Seal. Do you think what your Hyuga Main Family does is right?”
Hinata was stunned.
Hinata suddenly recalled when Uncle Hizashi was still alive, how he had clutched his head in agony and screamed in front of her.
Was that the Caged Bird Seal? Was that what Father made Uncle Hizashi suffer?
Hinata suddenly couldn’t speak.
“You’re just confused about this, not blaming Absolute Justice, which shows you are at least kind.” Yamanaka Ino said: “You can ask Neji Hyuga; ask him what the Caged Bird Seal is, what the main family did to the branch family, and what Hyuga Hiashi, as clan leader, did for the branch family?”
“He might not have paid attention to you before for various reasons, but as a follower of 「Absolute Justice」, he will definitely reply to you. Once you get his reply, you’ll have the answer. Because this is the duty of justice.”
Hinata murmured the term that Ino kept mentioning.
“Absolute Justice…”
…
In a daze until noon, seeing many academy students take out their exquisite bentos, Hinata vaguely realized she should eat her lunch bento too.
But when she reached into her bag, she found it empty; she suddenly realized no one at home could make her a bento anymore.
Although there was a main family special jonin whom Hyuga Hiashi had instructed to look after Hinata.
But the other clearly had no experience with children.
Hinata reached into her pocket and felt a few banknotes; this was her pocket money. The hunger in her stomach forced her to leave the Ninja Academy to buy lunch herself.
“Ah-choo—”
She sneezed, shrank her neck, and looked up at the leaves on the roadside trees that had turned yellow by about half.
‘It seems autumn has come… Father is strict with me, but in autumn, he always reminds me to add a layer of clothing so I don’t catch a cold…’
Hinata muttered dejectedly in her heart.
Walking along, she found herself at a place called Ichiraku Ramen Shop. Smelling the aroma outside, Hinata swallowed and mustered the courage to go in.
“H-Hello…”
Just as Hinata was about to speak to the “handmade” boss of Ichiraku Ramen Shop, she suddenly saw a tall back figure and his extremely familiar attire. Beside him was a very fat orange cat that, from behind, looked just like an orange drumstick.
The few banknotes Hinata had just taken from her pocket fluttered to the ground.
Her delicate little face visibly filled with terror.
When the other slowly turned his head and their cold eyes met, Hinata’s fear reached its peak.
Her body instinctively made her retreat uncontrollably, her big watery eyes welling up with tears.
Panicked tears seemed ready to spill at any moment.
Intense unease and fear made Hinata’s body tremble.
She…
Had seen the man who locked Father up in Konoha Prison!
Uchiha Ikeizumi’s gaze moved down from Hinata Hyuga to the banknotes totaling five thousand ryo on the ground.
He took a step forward; just as Hinata was about to be scared to tears, Uchiha Ikeizumi bent down to pick up the banknotes.
He handed the money back to Hinata, who took it with trembling hands.
“Four bowls of classic ramen, large portions.” Uchiha Ikeizumi ordered.
Handmade was about to respond but was interrupted by Uchiha Ikeizumi changing his order: “Wait… make it nine bowls.”
Kijiro looked at Uchiha Ikeizumi, then at Hinata Hyuga behind him who was too scared to move.
It hesitated and asked doubtfully: “Lord Ikeizumi, isn’t this a bit off? Usually it’s two bowls for me, two for Lord Ikeizumi. Nyaa, even if Lord Ikeizumi wants to treat this Hyuga Main Family kid to one bowl today, that’s only five bowls nyaa.”
After a few seconds of pause with no reply from Uchiha Ikeizumi, Kijiro coughed awkwardly.
It changed the subject and earnestly said to the trembling Hinata: “Kid, no need to fear Lord Ikeizumi so much. If Lord Ikeizumi wanted to arrest you, he would have yesterday; why leave you until now nyaa?”
Twenty minutes later.
Kijiro completely took back what it had said earlier.
It stared in shock at Hinata Hyuga, who had eaten four bowls of ramen alone and was still eating, then glanced at her somewhat flat little belly, showing undisguised doubt about cat life.
“Looks like we need a few more bowls.”
Uchiha Ikeizumi, already full, said calmly without surprise.
Kijiro: “???”
Kijiro watched wide-eyed as the seven-year-old Hinata ate another five large bowls of ramen, stacking up the empty bowls one by one.
Then the kid said in a slightly trembling voice: “I’m full.”
Feeling her seventy percent full stomach, Hinata was in a dazed, bewildered state. She didn’t even know why she sat down or accepted this scary man’s treat, or why he was treating her to ramen.
Perhaps because she didn’t dare refuse and, under his gaze, could only brace herself to keep shoving ramen into her mouth, even drinking the soup.
She accidentally ate until seventy percent full.
Beside her, Kijiro, silent for several seconds, couldn’t help asking: “Nyaa, does Hyuga Hiashi normally abuse you?”
Kijiro could never have imagined before that a person could eat food totaling more than their own body size!
Was this a starving ghost reincarnated? Or had she never eaten properly since childhood nyaa?
Suspecting Hyuga Hiashi abused her.
Was understandable!
“…Huh?”
Hinata didn’t react.
At this moment, she heard the scary man beside her speak: “Hinata Hyuga, for now, leave the Hyuga Clan.”
Hinata was stunned.
Uchiha Ikeizumi said indifferently: “With so many in the Hyuga Branch Family, there will always be some deranged ones who look at you unfavorably. After all, you are Hyuga Hiashi’s eldest daughter, the Hyuga Main Family heir. Never underestimate the degree of human sin; if you don’t want to die inexplicably, don’t stay there.”
“I’ll arrange a new place for you to live.”
…
…
