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

Chapter 249 Shadow: The Wind Rises

Night enveloped the Hyuga clan's territory.

Unlike the usual hurried footsteps of the patrol teams, the silence tonight felt particularly deep and oppressive, like the unsettling calm before a storm.

Only the occasional gust of wind blowing across the eaves made a faint whistling sound.

Swish!

Several shadowy figures, perfectly blending into the night, moved silently through the alleyways and courtyards like ghosts.

They avoided all light, using every shadowy corner as cover, moving as lightly as cats, landing silently, without even a noticeable rustle of their clothes.

Several dark figures, in pairs, infiltrated different residences.

Two of the dark figures sneaked into one of the medium-sized main family residences.

One person was completely shrouded in a black robe and wore a mask, while the other person, also dressed in a black robe, did not wear a mask, and his face appeared somewhat pale in the darkness.

It was Hyuga Neji.

The two stood on either side of the gate in perfect unison. Almost simultaneously, bulging veins appeared around their eyes, and their white eyes opened, revealing the entire interior of the mansion.

There is one bedroom and one toilet, one for a woman and one for a child.

A study is one of the two objectives this time.

"Why is one target missing?"

Neji Hyuga's gaze was fixed on the bright cluster of chakra in the study on the second floor. His brows furrowed, but his eyes grew increasingly cold.

He recognized the aura of chakra.

He was one of the two head family members who used the Caged Bird Technique on Hyuga Takashi and Iroha in the hospital room.

However, one of the elders of the main family is missing.

The two exchanged a glance, and without saying a word, simply nodded slightly.

In the next instant, they seemed like two wisps of smoke blending into the night, disappearing into the study on the first floor and the bedroom on the second floor respectively.

The study was brightly lit at that moment.

A middle-aged man sat behind a desk, his brows furrowed as he flipped through the scroll in his hands.

"call……"

He put down the scroll, exhaled, leaned back in his chair, and closed his eyes, which were aching from reading for so long.

Raise your hand and use your fingers to vigorously massage the Jingming acupoint above the bridge of your nose, between your eyes.

A moment later, he stood up, walked to the study door, grasped the doorknob, and unsuspectingly turned and pulled it open.

However, at the very moment the door opened slightly...

In the distance, a cold glint suddenly flashed past his eyes. In that instant, he could even smell a faint scent of blood as it precisely slashed towards his unprotected throat.

Danger!

The sudden chill made the man's scalp feel like it was about to explode!

Almost instinctively, he used his arm, which he hadn't had time to lower, to protect himself!
puff! !
The sound of a sharp blade slicing through flesh rang out, and a deep bloody gash appeared on his forearm, from which blood immediately gushed out!

"You..." He only had time to open his mouth, uttering a single word in a mixture of shock and anger.

But the figure in the shadows gave him no chance at all; the moment he opened his mouth, the figure was already right next to him!

A hand, brimming with fierce chakra, slammed into his unsuspecting abdomen like a cannonball!
Bang! !

The blow, imbued with the power of a soft fist, entered his body, as if his intestines were tangled up, instantly stripping him of all strength and voice.

His legs buckled, and he collapsed to his knees with a thud, his body curling up in pain!
As he knelt down, his mouth involuntarily opened in pain and horror.

puff!
A cold kunai pierced in with an extremely cruel and precise angle!

The blade grazed his tongue, pierced the hard and soft palates that could vibrate and produce sound, and finally severed his trachea, leaving a trail of warm flesh and blood protruding from the back of his neck!

This blow completely silenced all subsequent words, screams, and even pleas for mercy, silencing him completely!

"Ho..."

The man trembled as he raised his head, his bloodshot eyes staring in disbelief at the familiar yet utterly indifferent face before him.

Hyuga Neji?

How can it be? !
His eyes were filled with shock and disbelief, but that quickly turned into fear, despair, and pleading.

He knew that if he made the slightest sound, the other party would immediately pull out the kunai, and he would die instantly!

He didn't want to die; he desperately pleaded with his eyes, trying to convey a message of begging for mercy.

Unfortunately, Hyuga Neji was far more indifferent and decisive than he had imagined.

puff!

Hyuga Neji flicked his wrist, mercilessly pulling out the kunai, and then reached out to gouge out his Byakugan.

A tragically beautiful flower of blood suddenly bloomed as the man fell backward, splashing onto the carpet at the entrance of the study.

But at this moment.

Click.

A soft sound of a door hinge turning suddenly came from the other end of the corridor, causing Hyuga Neji to look up sharply.

A boy, about three or four years old, rubbed his sleepy eyes and came out of the toilet.

He seemed to be drawn by the noise at the door and subconsciously looked over.

Then, he stood there, stunned.

He saw his father lying in a pool of blood, his body still twitching slightly.

I saw the liquid continuously gushing from my father's neck.

I saw a person standing beside my father's body, holding a pair of bloodshot eyes in their hand.

The immense impact left his mind blank; he even forgot to scream, his eyes wide open, like a frozen statue.

But Neji Hyuga showed no panic. He simply looked at the boy with a look of relief on his face, as if something destined to happen had finally occurred.

“Dad…” The boy opened his mouth and uttered a sound that was almost inaudible, like a dream.

The next moment, a dark figure appeared behind the boy like a ghost, and a precise hand chop gently struck the side of his neck.

The boy closed his eyes and fell softly backward, where he was gently caught by the masked member of the branch family and laid on the ground.

"I didn't find another target, only the woman in the bedroom, whom I knocked unconscious."

The voice of the branch family member came through the mask, low and hoarse: "What should we do? Should we get rid of this child?"

Looking at the unconscious boy on the ground, Hyuga Neji slowly shook his head.

"It's alright. I never really expected that tonight's events could be completely concealed, did I?"

His voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable calm: "Just proceed according to our previous plan." "Keep him alive, let him act as a witness." He paused, his gaze sweeping over the boy again, "Even if he hates, he'll only hate me."

Upon hearing this, the branch family member fell into a brief silence, his eyes behind the mask seeming somewhat complicated.

at this time.

"what!!"

A terrified scream from a woman suddenly ripped through the false tranquility of the night from another direction!
Neji and the branch family member's expressions changed simultaneously, and they vanished instantly from the blood-stained study doorway.

Their movements were so fast that they left only two blurry afterimages, and in the next instant they were already quietly standing in the shadows of the mansion courtyard.

After stopping, the two immediately scanned their surroundings warily, and the scene before them made their hearts sink slightly.

Many of the main family mansions, which had long been dark and had been shrouded in darkness, were now lit up one after another, clearly because the scream had awakened many people.

However, on those windows that were lit up, under the bright yellow light, dark red liquid was constantly splashed and sprayed, like a series of paintings that were suddenly painted!
Immediately following were a series of extremely short, faint muffled thuds, like heavy objects falling to the ground, or the final, mournful cry of a throat being smashed or cut.

Clearly, other members of the branch office carrying out their tasks were also taking action simultaneously, and encountered some unexpected resistance or situations, making it impossible to completely cover up the commotion!

"They've made a move so quickly, earlier than we expected!" The masked branch family member's tone was extremely solemn as he looked at Hyuga Neji.

Hyuga Neji withdrew his Byakugan, his gaze sweeping over the windows splattered with fresh blood, his eyes cold and calm.

He took a deep breath; a faint smell of blood seemed to be spreading in the air.

"Let's split up!" he said without hesitation. "You go to Hyuga Higo's mansion immediately and make sure the targets there are eliminated. I'll go to Hyuga Hiashi's mansion!"

The masked member of the branch family nodded, then slowly raised his hand, grasped the cold mask on his face, and removed it.

The dim moonlight illuminated the face beneath the mask.

That face was exactly the same as Hyuga Neji's.

This is the most brutal and crucial part of Hyuga Iroha and Hyuga Neji's plan.

All branch family members participating in tonight's operation will appear as "Hyuga Neji" if necessary.

Even if their actions are inadvertently witnessed by someone other than their target, even if they leave survivors or witnesses...

All the evidence, all the accusations, all the hatred, all point to only one person.

—Hyuga Neji!
He will become the only publicly known "culprit" in this bloody upheaval, bearing all the consequences alone, so that his other branch family members can continue to remain in the Hyuga clan and Konoha.

He himself will embark on the path of "defection".

This was Neji Hyuga's own choice.

In his view, the current predicament of the family division is certainly due to the long-standing grudges between the main family and the branch family, but in fact, a large part of it is because of his actions against the main family.

Moreover, if Hyuga Neji hadn't taken on this responsibility, so many branch families wouldn't have been willing to join forces, since they couldn't and wouldn't have defected from Konoha.

However, this did not affect the other branch families, who felt a sense of gratitude and respect for Neji for making this choice.

The two "Hyuga Nejis" stared at each other silently for a moment under the moonlight, the air filled with an indescribable heaviness and resolve.

"Take care of yourself."

The branch family member who removed his mask nodded emphatically to Neji, then shot off like an arrow towards the direction of Hyuga Higo's residence, quickly disappearing into the darkness.

Hyuga Neji took one last look at the main family mansions where subtle noises continued to emanate and bloodstains flashed on the windows, his gaze finally settling on the direction of Hyuga Hiashi's mansion.

Tonight, all grudges will come to an end.

His figure moved swiftly, rushing towards the core area of ​​the clan's territory.

Meanwhile, the branch family member who had separated from Neji gradually stopped walking after realizing that Neji had gone far away.

A Root ninja wearing an eagle mask lay motionless high up, seemingly blending into the shadows of the roof tiles.

Lord Danzo's task for him was to monitor all unusual movements, especially those of the branch family ninjas involved in the operation, to ensure that nothing unexpected happened.

His gaze, like that of a hawk, was fixed on the figure of the "branch family member" who had just parted ways with Hyuga Neji in the distance.

However, right under his intense gaze.

That speeding figure slowly melted away in an extremely bizarre way!
It is not invisibility or teleportation in the traditional sense; it seems to be part of the shadow itself, now returning to the darkness.

In the blink of an eye, that figure completely disappeared from his sight, as if it had never existed!
"what happened??"

The ninja with the eagle mask suddenly contracted his pupils violently, and a strong sense of unease gripped his heart in an instant.

What about people?

He snapped back to his senses and instinctively reached out to another companion who was lying next to him and was also responsible for monitoring.

"Star!" His voice was extremely low, yet it carried a hint of barely concealed surprise and doubt. "Did you see that? That thing just now..."

His hand touched his companion's shoulder...

pat.

A soft yet unusually clear sound, like something falling, suddenly rang in his ears.

The Root ninja instinctively turned to look at his companion beside him.

The masked head, completely severed at the neck, was now silently sliding off its side as he touched it.

The eyes beneath that mask still retained the cautious expression of someone intently monitoring the situation in their final moments, as if they were completely unaware that their head had been separated from their body!
what? !

The shock caused the Root ninja's mind to go blank for a moment.

However, in that brief moment of distraction, a faint, cold glint silently flashed across his peripheral vision, tracing a chilling arc!

puff! !
A dull, chilling sound rang out as a sharp blade pierced through a skull!

The sharp spike that pierced through the shadows with perfect precision pierced his temple, instantly destroying his brain, and then emerged from the other side!

Its force and speed were so great that they even pinned his head to the head that had just fallen off next to it!
Even until his last breath, the hawk-masked ninja's eyes still held an indelible fear and disbelief.

A figure emerged from the shadows and silently appeared beside the two corpses.

It was that "branch family member" who was supposed to go to Hyuga Higo's residence.

Or rather, it is a "shadow".

He retracted the spiked tentacles from the shadows, tilted his head slightly, looked up at the moonlight in the night sky, and then gazed in the direction where Hyuga Neji had left.

The night wind blew against his robes, and also brought with it the faint, increasingly frequent, short screams and crashes that could be heard in the distance.

"Meow."

At the same time, a completely black cat, with silent and elegant steps, leaped from his feet into his arms and closed its eyes with complete peace.

Did you hear that too?

'Shadow' gently stroked it and chuckled softly, with a strange mix of pleasure and coldness, as if talking to the black cat, or as if talking to itself.

“It’s getting windy,” he said.

(End of this chapter)