Naruto: I, who fooled the ninja world, was hailed as a savior.

Chapter 115 Neji Hyuga Gouging Out His Eyes

"Is this the book that guy wanted me to see?"

Hyuga Neji's throat bobbed as he carefully pulled the book out.

The book cover is sturdy but covered in cracks, seemingly tanned from some kind of animal hide, and feels cool and rustic to the touch.

"Let me see what it is..."

Hyuga Neji took a deep breath and opened the mysterious book.

However, after flipping through a dozen or so pages, all I found were obscure and incomprehensible characters, like meaningless graffiti.

Neji frowned, patiently flipping through the pages, only to find even older clan history records that could only be barely deciphered.

The content appears to describe how a former elder of the Hyuga clan mediated a trivial internal dispute, dedicating three full pages to describing his "brilliant and mighty" actions...

"Is this the secret that guy so earnestly hinted at, the secret that seemed to overturn my understanding?"

Neji Hyuga's face darkened, and his fingers pressed hard on the pages of the book, his fingertips even turning white from the pressure.

After going to such lengths to infiltrate this godforsaken place, risking severe punishment or even death, all we found was a book with empty and meaningless content?

Anger and disappointment at being fooled gradually replaced the initial tension and anticipation.

Was that guy getting revenge on me, or was he just toying with me?

Thinking of this, Hyuga Neji subconsciously wanted to put the useless thing back in its place. He didn't have much time, as the old man from the main family who was in charge of guarding the forbidden technique warehouse soon returned.

But at that moment, the image of that day suddenly flashed into his mind: Hyuga Kumokawa's eyes, which had briefly shone with a beautiful light, like a fleeting illusion.

"..."

Hyuga Neji paused, pursed his dry lips, and looked down at the book again.

This time he looked very seriously, even opening his white eyes, with bulging, menacing veins appearing around them.

Under Neji Hyuga's Byakugan vision, the scene before him instantly changed.

Beneath those obscure characters, resembling graffiti, the hidden images and texts emerge like rocks after the tide has receded.

"what is this?"

Hyuga Neji subconsciously held his breath, his eyeballs throbbing slightly from the intense pressure.

[The ancestral worship rites were disrupted, the natural order was thrown into chaos, the lowly rose up suddenly, and a servant murdered his master...]

The blood of the clan stained the ancestral hall red, nearly wiping out the entire clan in this battle...

The deceased's eyes were gouged out, and their whereabouts are unknown...

[To conceal their name, to erase their traces...]

Hyuga Neji used his already weak language skills to decipher the text displayed under his Byakugan.

But soon, his face gradually turned pale, and then quickly turned a sickly red.

Snapped!
Hyuga Neji slammed the ancient book shut, and in that short moment, cold sweat had soaked through his back.

He stood there, his back against the cold wall, his body stiff.

The surroundings were deathly silent, with only his own heart pounding violently in his chest, echoing like a drumbeat, each beat bringing a deeper heat.

Break up!

A member of a branch family who has been cursed with the Caged Bird Seal!

They actually slaughtered their clansmen during the ancestral worship ceremony, which the clan considered sacred and inviolable.

The reason why the main family now only has five pure bloodlines is because they were almost wiped out by that person a long time ago.

In fact, the reason why the main family is so tough on the branch family now is because of the shadow left by that person back then.
All of these seem possible.

But what alarmed Hyuga Neji the most was that this scene gave him an extremely strong sense of familiarity.

"Could it be... those eyes that appeared in my dream..." His deep murmur was already extremely hoarse.

There was another point that concerned him: since the branch family members recorded in this secret document were able to kill almost all the main family members, wouldn't that mean that the Bird in the Cage curse had been broken?

How exactly?
Hyuga Neji's gaze swept over the few short sentences, finally settling on the line: "[The deceased's eyes were gouged out, and their whereabouts are unknown...]"

To others, this might seem like revenge and venting, but he knew more.

"Those eyes..."

Hyuga Neji muttered absentmindedly, a bold and terrifying guess popping into his mind, and his body began to tremble unconsciously.

To have those eyes, you need a lot of eye rolls?

Hinata Kumokawa's guidance led him to what seemed to be more than just a secret.

The intention was to use this cold and bloody precedent to show him that the caged bird's cage can be broken, and that the Hyuga clan still harbors unknown power.

The bleak life that was originally bound to the caged bird was suddenly shaken slightly, as if a sturdy door had been gently swayed.

A beam of light shone through the crack in the door, allowing Neji to see that he still had another path to choose from.

However, the door is currently locked and requires a key to open.

And the key to opening this door seems to require the blood of one's own kind...

"Cough! Cough!"

A cough suddenly broke out in the silent forbidden arts library, so loud that it seemed as if the vocal cords would tear and bleed with each cough.

Within the entire Hyuga clan, there is only one person coughing like this. The elder of the main branch of the clan who guards the forbidden library holds an extremely high position within the Hyuga clan.

"Why are you back so soon?!"

Neji was jolted awake from the emotional shock, as if a bucket of ice water had been poured over him, chilling him to the bone, and his blood seemed to freeze instantly.

Click...click...

The footsteps were extremely light and slow, with the characteristic sluggishness of the elderly, approaching from afar.

How to do?
Hide? The terrain of the Forbidden Arts Library was not complicated, leaving him no place to hide.

Escape? The only way out is in the direction the old man came from.

Breaking through? That's even more impossible; it would inevitably alert the clansmen, and the consequences would be unimaginable.

In an instant, countless thoughts surged through Neji's mind like red-hot irons, and fear coiled around his heart like a giant python. He subconsciously looked at the book in his hand.

The chaotic, distorted handwriting in the book once again came into view of his ferocious eyes.

[The lowly servant suddenly rose up and murdered his master...]

The deceased's eyes had been gouged out...

In an instant, it felt as if his heart had cracked open, and that intense impulse spread rapidly. Hyuga Neji suddenly gripped the book in his hand tightly.

We mustn't get caught!

We must not let anyone find out!
That old guy has to go!
Almost instinctively, he crouched down, pressing his body even deeper into the shadows.

The dim candlelight cast a long shadow on the ground.

An old man walked slowly, carrying a dimly lit lamp in his hand. The light illuminated his cloudy, almost dull white eyes.

He didn't notice anything unusual, or rather, he never imagined that someone would dare to infiltrate the forbidden library, especially someone from a branch family.

He was simply making a habit of inspecting the "grave" where he had spent the rest of his life.

Finally, he staggered to the bookshelf where Neji was hiding.

One step...two steps...

As he drew closer, Hyuga Neji's body gradually stiffened, and he actually hesitated.

But soon, recalling his father who had become a scapegoat, a fierce and hateful look flashed across Hyuga Neji's youthful face.

He must never fall to that level, not even by death!
bass!
Hyuga Neji sprang out, skimming the ground, his white eyes burning with pure, icy killing intent.

There is only one goal.

--throat!
The old man's cloudy white eyes suddenly narrowed, and horror appeared on his withered face, but his sluggish nerves didn't have time to utter a cry of surprise.

A cold, hard hand, like an iron clamp, with a ferocity unlike that of a child, instantly gripped his withered neck tightly!
click!
The old man's throat was instantly crushed, preventing him from making a sound. Then, Hyuga Neji turned his claws into a palm and slammed them out in a fit of rage.

Click!

Instantly, the old man's neck twisted at an eerie angle, like a broken piece of rotten wood, and his cloudy white eyes lost their last glimmer of light.

His body twitched a few times before falling completely silent.

"Huff! Huff! Cough cough!"

Hyuga Neji's chest heaved violently as he looked at the lifeless corpse. A cold draft rushed into his lungs, and his stomach churned violently.

What did he just do?
He killed someone?

Yes, he killed someone.

And it involved killing an old man.

A strong urge to vomit surged up instantly, and Neji, his face pale, raised his hand to cover his mouth.

This was his first murder.

The physiological aversion and the shock of killing for the first time were extremely intense.

After a long while, his emotions gradually calmed down. He looked at the corpse, panting heavily, and saw the white eyes that were not like those of a caged bird.

Given the old man's age, his eyes were practically useless, almost to the point of blindness.

but……

Hyuga Neji's throat bobbed up and down, and he stretched out his five fingers together towards those Byakugan eyes.

puff!

The sound of flesh being forcibly torn apart was exceptionally clear and jarring in the silence!
Two grayish-white, cloudy eyeballs, still warm with a trace of flesh and blood, were brutally dug out of their sunken sockets!

The blood finally found an outlet, gushing out rapidly from the two bloody holes in the eye sockets, mixing with an indescribable turbid liquid, meandering across the cold ground.

"..."

Neji's fingers were covered in a sticky, scarlet substance, clinging to tiny nerves and flesh. Feeling the warm, viscous touch, his body began to tremble slightly.

But he still gritted his teeth and tightly gripped his two cloudy white eyes.

It's like holding the key to a cage.

(I'm home now. Motion sickness is awful! I feel terrible every time I travel by car. In a couple of days, I have to take a Lalamove from Shijiazhuang to Tangshan. I'm going to die, I'm sure I'll die QAQ)

(End of this chapter)