Naruto: From Fake to Real, Deceiving the Ninja World.

thump!

The body crashed heavily to the ground with a thud, raising a fine cloud of dust.

That pale yet familiar face was turned to the side of the doorway, its empty eye sockets constantly oozing blood, as if it were staring at Hinata Hyuga outside the door.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment.

Hinata Hyuga's small body stood stiffly at the doorway, the color draining from her face at a visible speed, turning her ashen white as a corpse.

Those eyes, which always held a hint of timidity, were now wide open, filled with shock, fear, and an incomprehensible blankness and bewilderment.

Her lips trembled, and after several seconds, she managed to squeeze out two almost inaudible, broken breaths from deep in her throat.

"Father?" Her gaze fell on that familiar figure. "Neji, brother?"

The call was very soft, like a whisper in a sleep, as if afraid of waking something.

Neji Hyuga suddenly turned his head.

Those bloodshot Byakugan eyes, filled with intense emotions, were fixed on Hinata Hyuga, who had suddenly appeared behind him!

The shadow covered half of his face, while the flickering candlelight clearly illuminated the other half.

That face, half covered in tears and blood, its muscles contorted in agony to the point of near deformity, radiating an aura of madness and terror!

It made him look like a demon crawling out of a pool of blood from hell!

This is definitely not the Neji Hinata remembered from the past, who, though aloof, would occasionally reveal complex concern and even sometimes guide her training.

More like, a demon.

Hinata Hyuga felt as if her blood had frozen. Fear made her body tremble uncontrollably, and she shook her head incessantly, instinctively turning to run away.

no no!

impossible!

How could it be, how could it be possible?

This must be fake, this must be a dream, it must be the most terrifying and absurd nightmare!

Wake up! Wake up quickly!

thump!

Hinata Hyuga stumbled and fell heavily to the ground, her elbows and knees hitting the earth, sending a sharp, piercing pain through her.

The pain was so real, so clear, that it instantly shattered her last shred of hope, and the tears that had been building up in her eyes burst forth.

This is not a dream.

This is a reality more terrifying, crueler, and bloodier than any nightmare!

Neji really did kill her father!

at this time.

Tap...tap...tap...

A series of heavy, clear, unhurried footsteps came from the direction she had just run from, gradually approaching her.

Hinata rolled over, ignoring the pain, and moved backward using both hands and feet, looking fearfully into the darkness at the other end of the passage.

Then, a figure slowly emerged from the shadows.

The tears and blood on Hyuga Neji's face remained, but all the twisted and insane emotions seemed to have settled, leaving only a chilling, almost numb, deathly stillness.

He looked at Hinata Hyuga, who had fallen to the ground in a disheveled state, at the child he had once protected as a younger sister.

On that face, Neji saw only bewilderment, embarrassment, fear, and cowardice.

But I saw no anger, no hatred.

Even now, is there still no anger?

A barely perceptible look of disappointment flashed across Hyuga Neji's eyes.

Father, even if Hinata survives, how can she survive in this increasingly cruel and chaotic world?

"Why..." Hinata shook her head repeatedly, tears finally breaking free, as she murmured, "Neji-nii-san, why, why did you do this..."

Hyuga Neji's voice was hoarse and low, carrying a deliberate coldness and sarcasm: "You are still so cowardly and weak, it's pathetic."

He approached step by step, his footsteps echoing in the silent passage, striking Hinata's heart.

“I avenged my father, and what about you?” he whispered. “You’re just a fledgling bird hiding under your parents’ wings, without even the courage to be angry or to fight back.”

"He was born with the right to fly, but he has lost the courage to do so."

"Even when faced with your father's tragic death, and with me standing right in front of you, you are just a powerless piece of trash who can only cry and tremble."

At this point, a complex look flashed across Hyuga Neji's eyes, as if he were talking about Hinata, or perhaps about himself.

But soon, his eyes turned cold, and his tone was devoid of any emotion: "My cowardly sister, your only value is to be killed by me and have your white eyes gouged out."

As soon as he finished speaking, Hyuga Neji's figure vanished from his spot in an instant, and the next moment, he appeared in front of Hyuga Hinata like a ghost!

call!

A piercing, sharp whistling sound rang out.

The blood-stained hand, with its fingers slightly bent, was aimed straight at Hinata's face with a merciless killing intent. The force of the wind from the sleeve even blew Hinata's hair!

Hinata's eyes were instantly filled with fear and despair, but a trace of unwillingness also surfaced in her eyes, driving her to raise her trembling arm...

Bang! !

A dull, loud bang suddenly exploded in front of me!

The expected excruciating pain did not come; instead, a violent gust of air blew across her face.

A slender yet remarkably steady arm, covered by a black sleeve, stood between her and Neji, precisely blocking the fatal grab.

Neji Hyuga's hand was firmly stopped less than half a foot from her eyes, unable to move forward even an inch.

Neji slowly raised his head, his cold gaze passing over the arm and looking at the figure that suddenly appeared in front of Hinata.

"Hyuga Neji!"

Hyuga Aoi's eyes were filled with shock and anger as she stared intently at Hyuga Neji's terrifying face, enunciating each word as if she wanted to crush that name: "What... what have you done?!"

Hyuga Neji ignored her and looked past her to the person behind her.

—Hyuga Hido.

At this moment, Hyuga Himon's eyes were solemn and filled with coldness as he stared at Hyuga Neji, who was covered in blood, and his brows gradually furrowed.

He was sent by Hyuga Higo to lure Hyuga Aoi, who might have leaked information to the branch family, out of the clan's territory, but he didn't expect to see the corpses of the branch family's guards after returning to the Hyuga clan.

Feeling uneasy, the two immediately rushed to the clan leader's residence. Along the way, they saw many corpses of members of the main family and branch families, which intensified their shock, anger, and unease.

However, they never expected to see this scene before their eyes...

"Sister Aoi!" Hinata Hyuga cried out in a trembling voice, "He killed my father!"

Sensing the underlying anger in her words, Hyuga Neji lowered his eyes.

Yes, that's it. Be angry, hate. Only resentment, anger, and hatred towards your own and others' fate can drive you to become stronger in this cruel world.

Hyuga Aoi and Hyuga Himon's expressions changed instantly, looking at Hyuga Neji, who was radiating killing intent, in disbelief.

Are you kidding me? !

Hyuga Neji killed Hyuga Hiashi, the clan leader?!

"Hyuga Neji!" Hyuga Himon roared in utter shock and fury, "Are you insane?!"

Meanwhile, in the secret chamber at the end of the passage, the flickering candlelight emitted a final, faint crackling sound, the flame suddenly shrank, struggled a few times, and finally went out completely.

Darkness surged like a tide, instantly engulfing the entire space.

Only the faint glow of the burning flames could barely outline the silhouettes of two blurry figures.

"Looks like you succeeded."

The Shadow looked down at the corpse on the ground, which Neji had set ablaze, and casually extinguished the flames with a wave of his hand, saying with a sigh, "It's a pity that you died like this."

As he spoke, he raised the "Box of Bliss" in front of him, and a white-haired, white-eyed soul was manipulated and entered Hyuga Hizashi's body.

Without a doubt, that was the soul of Otsutsuki Toneri's father.

The 'Shadow' has preserved it until this day, just for this day to come.

"I heard from others that there is a kind of bird in this world that has no feet. It can only fly, and when it gets tired, it sleeps in the wind."

"This kind of bird can only land once in its life, and that is when it dies."

'Shadow' chuckled softly: 'You pushed the fledgling under your wings off a cliff, watching it struggle and finally fly into the sky, breaking free from the cage of fate.'

"But for the rest of his life, he will be a 'footless bird,' flying endlessly in the sky, with nowhere for him to stop, until the moment he falls to his death."

“If you still want to see his future with your own eyes,” 'Shadow' said in a low voice with a hint of a smile, “then you can continue to struggle in your pain.”

hum! !

The moment the words fell, something seemed to be triggered, and a chilling aura surged from Hyuga Hizashi's body.

The 'Shadow' stopped looking at him, slowly raised its head, and its gaze seemed to pass through the wall, looking at the four people outside, and at Hyuga Neji, who seemed to have matured completely overnight.

“Now, you are worthy of that sword,” he said in a low voice. “Let me add a ‘fire’ to Konoha tonight.”

After saying that, he slowly raised his hand towards the Hokage Building.

At the same time, almost the instant he raised his hand, one of the Seven Deadly Sins, which was originally stored in the forbidden jutsu library in the underground of the Hokage Building, suddenly began to tremble.

The name of that sword is...

--"anger".

Chapter 257 What's wrong with your eyes?

"Hyuga Neji! Are you insane?!"

Faced with the shock and questioning of Hyuga Aoi and Hyuga Himon, Hyuga Neji's expression remained unchanged, only as cold as still water.

“You’ve come back after all.” His voice was hoarse and steady, devoid of any emotion. “Unfortunately, you’re too late.”

"Everything I sought..." He slowly raised his blood-stained hand, his gaze falling on his palm, and said in a complicated tone, "I have now obtained it all."

"what have you done?"

Hinata Aoi suppressed her thoughts, her brows furrowed, and her sharp gaze swept over Neji. When her eyes landed on Neji's forehead, she suddenly froze, exclaiming in surprise, "Your cursed seal..."

what happened?

The caged bird curse mark, which should have been as clear as a brand, had become extremely blurry and dim.

Could it be that Neji has found a way to seal or even break the Caged Bird Seal?

Is this why he was able to injure or even kill the Sun Foot Clan Chief, instead of being executed directly by him using the cursed seal?

"Miss Aoi".

Just then, Hinata Himon's voice interrupted her thoughts.

"I'll leave Hyuga Neji to you for now. I'll go in and check on Lord Hiashi immediately!" His tone was more serious and urgent than ever before.

Several days earlier, Hyuga Higo had used a mission as an excuse to have him accompany Hyuga Aoi on a mission away from the village.

However, Hinata Hinata knew very well that Higo-sama was preparing to take action against the branch family and was worried that Hinata Aoi would obstruct the main family's actions against the branch family.

But now, thinking back to what he had seen along the way—the corpses of the branch family guards, and the deathly silent main family mansion…

An unbelievable and chilling thought had uncontrollably surfaced in his mind.

However, the sense of superiority stemming from his loyalty to the main family and his fear of the Caged Bird Seal made it impossible for Hyuga Himon to accept this crazy and terrifying conjecture from the bottom of his heart.

He couldn't believe it, nor did he want to believe it: how could Hyuga Neji, a branch family member bound by the Caged Bird Seal, possibly pose a threat to Lord Hiashi or even the main family?

Hyuga Aoi did not answer Hyuga Himon immediately, her attention focused on Hyuga Neji.

"Neji." She stared intently at Neji and whispered, "Stay here and don't do anything dangerous. I promise you'll be safe."

Earlier, Hyuga Aoi had been reprimanded by Hyuga Higo for helping Hyuga Takashi stop Hyuga Haruto, and was then kicked out under the pretext of a mission.

She was unaware of either the attack on Hyuga Haruto or the subsequent intrusion of the main family into the hospital room and the violent removal of Hyuga Takashi.