Chapter 148: Can’t Let Ikeizumi Intervene! The Curse Of The Caged Bird Seal
Neji was absent-minded the entire morning until lunchtime arrived, when he picked up the bento he had made for himself that morning and prepared to find a quiet place to fill his stomach.
But the moment he stepped out of the classroom, he saw a Hyuga Clan Junior about his own age walking past him in a dazed and dejected manner.
Neji recognized the guy; the other was a fourth-year student at the Ninja Academy, only two years older than himself, and a member of the Hyuga Branch Family.
The other’s father had died in the Third Shinobi World War; his mother was said to have been killed by an out-village spy three years ago while on a ninja mission.
Now he lived with his grandfather, who was a Hyuga Branch Family Elder.
Hm? Wait…
With a thought flashing through his mind, Neji inexplicably grabbed the Hyuga Clan Junior in front of him. Under the other’s puzzled expression as he turned back, Neji asked, “Last night, was the Branch Family Elder brutally murdered by a Main Family Elder one of your elders?”
The moment this question instinctively came out of his mouth, Neji somewhat regretted it, because it was a bit too blunt.
Neji watched with his own eyes as the other’s already dazed and dejected expression visibly surfaced with a layer of hatred and grief.
He even saw a pair of Byakugan in the other’s eyes already clouded with a layer of misty tears.
He also noticed that the other was already choking up a bit.
Neji suddenly felt at a loss for what to do; he had never made anyone cry before. Even when he had said some very harsh words to Hinata Hyuga, that Young Mistress of the Main Family hadn’t cried.
Now suddenly making someone cry left Neji, who greatly aspired to justice in his heart, at a loss for what to do for a moment.
Until he heard the other speak.
“Grandpa he…”
“He just wanted to help me remove the Branch Family’s curse. He felt that with my talent… without the restriction of the Caged Bird Seal, I would surely become a Konoha elite jonin in the future. Is such behavior really a wrongdoing? Does it warrant killing him? He was my only blood relative…”
“I… Neji Hyuga, I don’t know what I should do. I hate the Main Family Elder who killed my blood relative, but the other Branch Family elders told me that this is the Hyuga Clan’s family rules. Grandpa violated the family rules and had to pay a heavy price.”
“This morning, some Main Family people also came to me. They told me… that what my grandpa did broke the Hyuga Clan’s rules, and my grandpa was punished because he did wrong.”
“They told me not to follow in my grandpa’s footsteps.”
“I, I don’t know what to do…”
Watching the Hyuga Clan Junior suddenly break down emotionally, Neji fell silent.
He realized that his brief, thoughtless question had completely snapped the string of the other’s taut emotions.
He looked at the large teardrops falling from the other’s eyes, looked at the Caged Bird Seal on the other’s forehead not covered by bandages.
He vaguely recalled his own father Hyuga Hizashi, recalled the helplessness and despair he felt when his father died as a Main Family body double, that hatred and grief…
“Caged Bird…”
“Main Family…”
“Murderer…”
Neji took a deep breath, a serious expression on his young face. He directly shouted to the Hyuga Clan Junior in front of him, “Do you think simply crying will bring back that Branch Family Elder who was brutally murdered? The Caged Bird Seal triggered his body illness, leading to his death—there’s no difference from directly killing him! The Main Family Elder who activated the Caged Bird is the murderer!”
“If you have any guts and resolve, you shouldn’t show such a weak appearance here! Destiny… hmph! The Hyuga Branch Family’s destiny is indeed hard to break. We Caged Birds are indeed hard to break free from the cage and soar freely.”
“But!”
“There will always be a way, there will always be a way!” Neji emphasized twice, staring at the other and saying, “If you’re really unwilling, if you’re really harboring hatred… then come with me.”
With that, Neji quickly walked off in one direction.
Leaving the teary-eyed Hyuga Clan Junior somewhat stunned.
Neji Hyuga was actually two years younger than him, but at a time like this, he felt Neji Hyuga was more mature than himself.
Seeing Neji’s back receding farther and farther, he hesitated.
He opened his mouth, trying to say something, but couldn’t.
But seeing Neji about to disappear from sight, he hurriedly wiped the tears from his face and ran after him with all his might.
The hatred in his heart gave him a sliver of hope.
Then.
He discovered that Neji Hyuga had brought him to the outside of a first-year class at the Ninja Academy. Before he could catch his breath, he saw Neji Hyuga walk right in and find the golden-haired brat and a Uchiha Clan kid inside.
“I want to see Uchiha Ikeizumi! I’ve found a murderer!”
This was what Neji said to Naruto and Sasuke.
Naruto, who had been bored the entire morning, immediately perked up.
“Murderer?”
Sasuke, who had also been absent-minded, snapped back to attention.
…
At the same time.
Outside Konoha.
“Looks like Uchiha Obito was scared off. If he had been ambushing me outside, I probably would have walked right into it by now.”
Juzo Biwa slowly let out a breath and looked at Uchiha Ikeizumi’s Wood Style Clone beside him.
He hesitated for a moment before asking, “The Land of Rain is far from Konoha Village. Can your Wood Style Clone maintain itself for so long?”
“Even if the original body and clone are at opposite ends of the Ninja World, the Wood Style Clone can keep going. Unless the original body dispels it voluntarily or the clone suffers severe damage and is forcibly dispelled.”
The Wood Style Clone’s indifferent tone was just like Uchiha Ikeizumi himself.
“…What a monster.”
Juzo Biwa clicked his tongue in amazement. Was Uchiha Ikeizumi just too powerful, or was the Wood Style Bloodline Limit too miraculous?
That said.
This guy had Wood Style, Sharingan, and Lava Release—that was three Bloodline Limits combined into one, right?
Totally ridiculous!
“Cough!”
Juzo Biwa masked the odd expression on his face, resuming his cold demeanor. While dashing forward with the Executioner’s Blade on his back, he said, “There’s a problem. If I report Uchiha Obito’s information to that woman, and she doesn’t go after Uchiha Obito but instead teams up with him to silence me, what then?”
“She won’t.”
The Wood Style Clone said slowly and firmly, “She is more suspicious of and wary of Uchiha Obito than anyone else in the Akatsuki.”
Juzo Biwa muttered in doubt, “You probably haven’t even met that woman, right? How do you know her so well?”
“In the Ninja World, anyone with a bit of fame has no secrets in the original body’s eyes,” the Wood Style Clone said.
‘Including me?’—This doubt flashed through Juzo Biwa’s mind, but before he could ask, the Wood Style Clone continued.
“Including you.”
Juzo Biwa: “…”
…
Hokage’s Office Building.
Sarutobi Hiruzen pulled open a drawer and reached into a tin tobacco box, pinching at empty air. Only then did he recall that the tobacco in the box had run out yesterday. It was just that last night’s incident had made him forget this morning.
“Itachi, help this old man go buy…”
Halfway through the sentence, Sarutobi Hiruzen paused, unable to say the rest no matter what.
“Sigh, still not used to it.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen shook his head helplessly. Uchiha Itachi was a Uchiha Ninja he had extremely high hopes for, just like Shisui back in the day.
Unfortunately.
At that moment, an Anbu Ninja jumped in through the window, knelt on one knee to the Third Hokage, and reported, “Hokage, someone from the Hyuga Clan has died.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen frowned.
Why was someone dying in the village every day? He reasonably suspected that if this continued, everyone in Konoha Village would eventually die off.
“Related to Ikeizumi again?” Sarutobi Hiruzen asked with furrowed brows. Every time someone died in the village, he couldn’t help thinking in Ikeizumi’s direction—it had become a habitual instinct.
The Anbu Ninja shook his head and gave a brief explanation to Sarutobi Hiruzen, causing the Third Hokage’s brows to furrow even tighter.
“Conflict between the Hyuga Main Family and Hyuga Branch Family? Over these years, especially after Hizashi’s death, both sides have been very restrained. Unexpectedly, after a few years, someone from the Hyuga Branch Family has died at the hands of the Hyuga Main Family again.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen rubbed his temples with a headache. With his nicotine craving kicking in, it made him even more irritable.
“Have Homura go communicate with the Hyuga Clan. The Hyuga Main Family needs to come up with a solution to stabilize the Hyuga Branch Family. This old man doesn’t want to see the Hyuga Clan erupt into civil war.”
He waved his hand and said.
Whether the Uchiha Clan had a civil war or the Hyuga Clan did, it was harmful to Konoha Village.
Because civil war would only continuously drain the village’s high-end fighting strength, and in the end, only Konoha would be weakened.
Sarutobi Hiruzen was sitting in the Hokage’s seat.
Naturally, he didn’t want to see such a thing happen.
“Yes, Hokage.”
“Wait!” Just as the Anbu Ninja was about to leave, Sarutobi Hiruzen suddenly thought of something, immediately called him back, and instructed, “Tell Homura to go immediately. Urge the Hyuga Main Family to handle this quickly. Also urge the Hyuga Branch Family to let go of their hatred soon. Resolve this perfectly before Ikeizumi gets involved.”
“Otherwise, once he gets involved, it won’t be so easy to let go. At that point, even this old man won’t have any methods.”
Sarutobi Hiruzen was certain that Uchiha Ikeizumi would absolutely get involved; it was just a matter of his intelligence capabilities.
Based on past situations…
Ikeizumi’s intelligence-gathering ability on “illegal criminal behavior” was extremely strong.
Sending Homura Mitokado to remind the Hyuga Main Family and soothe the Hyuga Branch Family was already the utmost benevolence from him, the Third Hokage.
“Yes!”
…
At the same time, somewhere in the Land of Fire.
“Obito, it still hasn’t recovered?” The vortex-faced White Zetsu crossed his legs, looking at Uchiha Obito who was expressionlessly eating lunch, and asked, “It’s already been a whole day!”
“No.”
Obito set down the dango skewers in his hand, his expression darkening slightly as he said, “It wailed in despair for a day and a night. When I enter the Kamui Space, I can hear that kind of wailing.”
At this point, Obito felt a chill in his heart. He didn’t dare imagine what his fate would be if he were hit by such a dojutsu.
Obito shook his head, casting aside thoughts of things that absolutely couldn’t happen in his view.
He asked, “What do you think of that Uchiha Itachi? Is his offer to cooperate serious? Or is it a trap aimed at me?”
The vortex-faced White Zetsu rubbed his chin and said, “That little guy sounded pretty serious at the time. Anyway, as long as we wait for him to kill or capture Uchiha Ikeizumi’s female subordinate, won’t we know if he really has that caliber?”
“According to the intelligence we had before, that kid and the girl named Uchiha Izumi used to have a very good relationship—tch tch, seems like they were close friends.”
“To strike a fatal blow against a former close friend—born bad!”
Obito sneered coldly. Whether Uchiha Itachi was bad or not meant nothing to him; what mattered was if the other had any use value.
“Speaking of which.”
Uchiha Obito said, “It’s already been one night plus one morning. He should have succeeded by now, right?”
The vortex-faced White Zetsu said, “Last night, we placed a few White Zetsu Clones squatting around the outskirts of Konoha. If that kid brings Uchiha Izumi’s corpse or the live person out of Konoha, those White Zetsu Clones will naturally make contact. Then the intelligence will come through—hm, it will come to me.”
The moment the vortex-faced White Zetsu finished speaking, a sudden surge of information neurons flooded into its mind.
It suddenly froze.
The goofy hand gestures it made while talking also stopped.
Its reaction was keenly noticed by Uchiha Obito.
Obito frowned and asked, “What is it?”
“Obito.”
The vortex-faced White Zetsu dropped a bombshell: “One White Zetsu Clone transmitted the latest Konoha intelligence. Uchiha Itachi didn’t succeed. While hunting Uchiha Izumi, he ran into that monster-like Lava Release Uchiha Ikeizumi.”
“He was killed!”
“No bones left!”
Uchiha Obito: “???”
Huh?
Obito’s mind couldn’t process it for a moment; he was working hard to digest the amount of information in the vortex-faced White Zetsu’s words.
“Dead?!”
“Hah…”
Obito exhaled heavily. He suddenly felt both angry and amused, unable to resist saying, “With such strength, he still wants to cooperate with me and put on that arrogant front in front of me.”
“Acting all confident, as if cooperating with me would let him kill Uchiha Ikeizumi and wipe out the Uchiha Clan. Uchiha Itachi, where did he get that confidence?”
To think he had been fooled by such a junior! He had even given the other a test and a chance.
Obito wanted to slap himself.
Luckily, no fourth person knew about this.
Otherwise, he would have lost all face.
The vortex-faced White Zetsu sighed regretfully, “Too bad I wasn’t there. Maybe I could have seen him scared shitless before dying. Obito, what do you think—did he piss himself first, shit himself first, or both at once?”
Obito silently looked at his lunch.
He lost his appetite.
…
Today, the Hyuga Clan Compound welcomed Konoha’s Senior Advisor—Homura Mitokado.
Hyuga Clan members, along with several Main Family Elders, personally came forward to greet him.
And ushered Homura Mitokado into a reception room.
This was also the Hyuga Clan’s way of survival in Konoha. Always polite to Konoha’s higher-ups, always lowering the Hyuga Clan’s stance in front of Konoha’s leadership. Only this way would the Hyuga Clan not be feared like the Uchiha Clan.
Homura Mitokado didn’t waste time. The moment he sat down, he got straight to the point: “I heard that last night, a Hyuga Main Family Elder killed a Hyuga Branch Family Elder.”
“Anbu Ninjas noticed that many Hyuga Branch Family ninjas are outraged about this. The impact of this matter is very bad.”
After saying this, Homura Mitokado keenly noticed that one Hyuga Main Family Elder’s expression stiffened slightly.
“Jin Fu, was it you?”
Homura Mitokado asked.
“This old man didn’t do it intentionally and had no intention of harming him,” Hyuga Jin Fu said, his facial wrinkles twitching slightly as he explained to Homura Mitokado, “It was the power of the Caged Bird Seal that inadvertently triggered his latent body illness. To be precise, he died of illness last night.”
Homura Mitokado shook his head: “Even if he really died of illness, will your Branch Family people let go of this hatred? In their eyes, you are the chief culprit behind the Branch Family Elder’s death, even if your action only indirectly caused it.”
“The Hokage doesn’t want the Hyuga Clan to be in chaos. You should know how to handle this, right?”
Hyuga Hiashi, the Hyuga Clan Leader, said expressionlessly, “Please tell the Hokage—rest assured, Hokage, the Hyuga Clan will not cause trouble for Konoha.”
“Mm.”
Homura Mitokado stood up and said, “This old man still needs to make a trip to the Branch Family. You had best resolve the conflict between the Branch Family and Main Family before Ikeizumi notices this.”
After Homura Mitokado left, the reception room fell into brief silence.
“It was he who violated the Hyuga family rules!” Hyuga Jin Fu broke the silence first, his face grim as he said, “Not to mention I had no intention of killing him. Even if I did intend to kill him and actually did it, that would still conform to our Hyuga Clan’s family rules passed down for hundreds of years.”
“What does the Hokage mean? Does he want me to turn myself in to appease the Branch Family’s anger? The Hyuga Clan’s family matters aren’t for the Hokage to interfere in!”
Even if the Hyuga Clan outwardly lowered their stance to Konoha’s higher-ups, inwardly they were still very dissatisfied with such a situation.
No one could willingly bow and scrape to others.
“Hah…”
Another Main Family Elder nearby said, “No need to get so worked up. The Hokage and the others ultimately don’t understand the Hyuga Clan internals enough. The Branch Family people can’t stir up any waves.”
“If they’re dissatisfied, let them be. Glances can’t kill anyone. But if they make any move, the Caged Bird Seal will teach them how to behave.”
“When the Caged Bird is carved onto them, their life and death are no longer in their own hands.”
Hearing this, the grim expression on Hyuga Jin Fu’s face eased slightly.
At this time, a third Main Family Elder said, “The key isn’t with the Hokage—it’s with Uchiha Ikeizumi. If he gets involved, it really won’t be easy to handle, just like last time.”
Last time.
「Absolute Justice」 devotees Uzumaki Naruto and Uchiha Sasuke, outside the Hyuga Clan Compound, used “executing justice” as an excuse to “brutally” kill a Hyuga Clan Junior.
The Hyuga Clan chose to swallow their anger.
This time, if Uchiha Ikeizumi got involved again.
Hiss!
Thinking of this…
Hyuga Jin Fu’s expression changed.
“Senior Jin Fu.”
Hyuga Hiashi placed his hands on his knees and said, “You need to lay low for a while. At least for this recent period, don’t return to Konoha for now. When Uchiha Ikeizumi temporarily leaves the village, I’ll send clan members to notify you.”
Hyuga Jin Fu was full of frustration: “We can casually brush off the Hokage’s reminder. But for a mere Uchiha Ikeizumi’s threat, we treat it so cautiously. Does our Hyuga Clan really fear the Uchiha Clan? What’s more, Uchiha Ikeizumi doesn’t even represent the Uchiha Clan.”
“Hmph!”
With a cold snort, he silently stood up.
“This old man will go see my family for the last time in this recent period.”
Hyuga Jin Fu still chickened out.
He had just been mouthing off earlier.
“Hah…”
Hyuga Hiashi slowly exhaled and said to the other two, “For now, stabilize the Branch Family people first to avoid them dragging Uchiha Ikeizumi in early. The Branch Family people should all be inside the Hyuga Clan Compound, right?”
One Main Family Elder said, “Aside from those two Branch Family kids in the Ninja Academy, the rest are inside the Hyuga Clan Compound.”
He paused, then added, “There were originally three Branch Family kids in the Ninja Academy, but one was killed. Now only two are left, one of whom is the grandson of the deceased Branch Family Elder.”
“Those two probably have no dealings with Uchiha Ikeizumi; after all, they’re just Ninja Academy kids.”
Hiashi was stunned—that other one could only be Neji Hyuga.
While Hiashi was pondering, a Main Family Elder reminded, “Clan Leader Hiashi, you could also consider engraving the Caged Bird Seal on either Hinata or Hanabi. Your two children can’t both be Main Family members.”
“The rules have been like this for so many years. Hizashi and you were blood brothers, and he became a Hyuga Branch Family member back then. For Hinata and Hanabi’s generation, there can’t be an exception.”
The Main Family Elder stood up and advised, “Hiashi, this old man knows you’re conflicted—after all, this old man was conflicted too when he was Hyuga Clan Leader. But family rules are family rules; they can’t be changed.”
“As Hyuga Clan Leader, you must cast aside wishful thinking. Make the Branch Family matter for Hinata and Hanabi grand and proper, so that one of them has no regrets.”
Hiashi was silent for a long time.
“…I’ll consider it carefully. Hinata is already at the suitable age, but Hanabi is still young. I still need some time to see Hanabi’s talent and potential.”
He said in a deep voice.
…
Konoha, somewhere.
“Hah, hah…”
“Found her!”
Naruto panted as he gazed at Uchiha Ikeizumi not far ahead. He hurriedly wiped the sweat from his forehead and said to Neji and the other Hyuga Clan Junior who had followed behind, “Just explain the situation to Teacher Ikeizumi truthfully later.”
Just as Naruto quickened his pace forward, he suddenly noticed that Sasuke beside him had stopped moving.
Naruto also stopped in confusion.
“What’s wrong with you?”
The matter of Uchiha Itachi being killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi was currently only circulating in a small circle in Konoha Village—known only to Uchiha Clan members and some Konoha Ninjas.
Naruto obviously didn’t know that Uchiha Sasuke’s biological older brother had been personally killed by Uchiha Ikeizumi.
“…Nothing.”
Sasuke took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the strange thoughts in his heart, repeatedly telling himself ‘Uchiha Itachi deserved to die, Uchiha Itachi deserved to die,’ then said to Naruto, “Let’s go find Teacher Ikeizumi.”
“You’re acting weird today.”
Naruto muttered, but didn’t press further.
He quickened his pace toward Uchiha Ikeizumi and immediately called out loudly, “Teacher Ikeizumi!”
“Senior Kijiro!”
He didn’t forget Kijiro. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki’s “Senior” made Kijiro’s eyes close comfortably.
Sasuke also greeted twice.
“Meow, you two brats, shouldn’t you be in class at the Ninja Academy right now?” Kijiro said, “If I remember right, the Ninja Academy’s lunch break ended a minute ago?”
Naruto hurriedly said, “It’s because we discovered a murder case in the village, so we came rushing to find Teacher Ikeizumi.”
“Murder case?”
Uchiha Ikeizumi lowered her gaze to Naruto and Sasuke, then shifted her sight to Neji Hyuga behind Naruto and Sasuke, and the other Hyuga Clan Junior with a timid expression.
Facing Uchiha Ikeizumi’s gaze, Neji felt a sense of fear again.
Just like a terrifying beast staring intently at him.
While he was like a helpless, naked person.
His whole body filled with unease.
‘It’s all an illusion. As long as I act upright and sit straight, there’s nothing to fear! If I can’t even look him straight in the eye, how can I believe in his Absolute Justice?’
Neji kept telling himself in his heart.
He raised his head, looked at Uchiha Ikeizumi, and recounted the entire incident from start to finish.
Neji knew he could badmouth the Hyuga Main Family in this process, embellish the description a bit. That way, maybe the Hyuga Main Family would really suffer. Maybe he could borrow Uchiha Ikeizumi’s power to deal with the Hyuga Main Family.
But…
If he really did that, would it be justice?
This doubt made Neji choose to tell the truth.
Without any embellishment.
“Huh?” Naruto beside him was completely dumbfounded. He had only focused on rushing to find Teacher Ikeizumi and hadn’t asked Neji what the “murder case” was about.
Now after hearing it, Naruto was full of incomprehension.
“What’s this about Main Family and Branch Family? Why punish someone just for trying to remove a curse seal?”
“What Caged Bird Seal—sounds like no good thing! Do your Hyuga family rules outweigh the Land of Fire Law?”
Sasuke was also stunned.
How come the Hyuga Clan…
Was pretty crazy too?
…
…
