45 Another Hyuga-Related Disturbance

"Remember, we're going to move swiftly and decisively, only Hiashi is our priority. We're going to try and immobilize him in order to take him away from the village in order for me to carefully extract his memories of the location of that treasure. In the worst-case scenario, however, I'm going to try and read his memories right then and there if we don't have other options. I'm going to carry you two in with my Tenseigan Chakra Mode, Kiyomi will also accelerate our speed with her Mangekyo...",

"Once we get there, Karin you will make a large barrier and then try to seal his body once you get the chance while we all engage him fiercely at the same time. We're later leaving Konoha in the same fashion that we entered afterward. Nonetheless, be prepared for some potential disturbances and interruptions, along the way, mainly from Jiraiya and Might Guy, who I told you about before...",

Neji patiently went over their entire plan once again with them while they currently approached Konoha, their target, really close. He previously informed them of Jiraiya and Guy and their abilities. He mentioned a few others as well, like Tsunade's medical prowesses and Kakashi's spatial dojutsu.

However, a few minutes later, when they arrived right outside the village, Karin suddenly opened her eyes wide and spoke urgently, after sensing something beneath the ground they were presently standing on, "Wait for a while, Neji, there are weird, plant-like beings scattered here all over the underground...", Karin barely managed to sense a dozen of unusual presences below. They were sneaking around the entire Konoha, in the forest, attached to the roots of those trees, and were incredibly hard to sense. She was also sure that if she didn't get injected with those Senju cells before she wouldn't have been able to sense them now. After all, in addition to her sensing range improvement, she also got a quality of sensing boost as well, "Where do they come from, are they on Konoha's side?", Kiyomi suddenly interjected too after hearing that while Karin spoke once more,

"They are really creeping me out. They are not all that strong, they're just sneaky and disturbing...", Neji and Kiyomi also got pretty surprised after hearing that, 'Wait, those are probably White Zetsu clones. We shouldn't touch them then, but even if we don't, they might still alert Obito in time to ruin my plans. Well, what could we do...', "Forget about them, lean onto me, we're breaching the sensing barrier...", Neji decided to ignore it and then spoke to those two beside him. He quickly turned his whole body's blue Tenseigan Chakra Mode. Powerful energy filled his entire being. He then embraced both Kiyomi and Karin while moving their arms to his sturdy shoulders and back.

If they remove those White Zetsu clones, they might alert both Konoha preemptively and Obito, but if they leave them be, then they could only potentially inform and alert Obito of their presence. The first choice was obviously more logical to take. And not like that Obito would certainly decide to come if he knew about them in Neji's current opinion, 'Well, he needs to run the Akatsuki and stuff.'

After a few moments, Neji and the two suddenly glided through the air at light speed, not caring about the sensing barrier there. After a short while, they stopped right above the familiar Hyuga clan residence which was a place of many great disturbances that happened inside the Konoha during the last couple of years. Neji was already aware of Toneri's visit to Konoha a few months ago.

Kiyomi was a bit surprised at how Konoha looked now since she wasn't there since she was a child. She also looked at the Hyuga residence below curiously. Konoha's Anbu and Root operatives, on the scene, in various secret positions outside the compound, opened their mouths wide and expeditiously left to report this to their superiors. They were ordered not to engage with Neji or Toneri, at any cost, previously as they were deemed too much of a threat for them to engage with.

Neji didn't care about them and immediately ordered, "Karin, activate your barrier, and let's get him out of there!", Karin nodded to his words, and promptly many large Adamantine Chains instantly sprouted out from her back. They encircled the whole Hyuga compound like lighting without delay.

They served as some kind of shaping frames and chakra transmitters for her best barrier ninjutsu of the Uzumaki clan. In this way, the barrier was much stronger than ordinary and could be controlled and scaled in a superior way. Neji remembered how Kushina Uzumaki also performed this technique in the original. A blue barrier chakra sphere soon materialized all around this large compound for everyone in this village to see, "He's there, don't care about any of those other clansmen, do everything you can to incapacitate him!", Neji suddenly said after checking for Hiashi's position with his Tenseigan and then pointing to it with his finger with an indifferent face.

It all happened within a few seconds since they arrived. Karin and Kiyomi were a little surprised by his ruthlessness but then nodded in agreement. Karin who was now controlling her Adamantine Chains and that large barrier ninjutsu, as well as sensing the entirety of Konoha for potential interference with her Kagura's Mind Eye, suddenly clasped her hands as well and launched another kind of ninjutsu, a very special one. She awakened it naturally the other day after getting those cells.

"Wood Release: Deep Forest Emergence!", Neji and Kiyomi looked in awe no matter just how many times they witnessed it and even wrestled against it in the past during their usual fighting sessions. Karin created a dense growth of trees while controlling how they grew by using her chakra. The trees' life force is immense enough to split the earth as they sprout and further pierce through any other obstructions they encounter. This growth is also fast enough that it can capture targets before they have a chance to escape. Hashirama Senju used this technique to serve as a foundation for Konoha. Alongside that technique, Karin also devised many others Hashirama also used in the original with the help from Neji. The required hand seals weren't that difficult to figure out for him.

The hand seals were not precise mathematical constant-like formulas, they were more so just an approximal tool used by shinobi as their main chakra control instrument to assist them in launching various ninjutsu. Some hand seals or their sequences were just better than others in some nature changes.

They weren't even necessary for any ninjutsu at the end of the day. They were just helpful for easier chakra control, the amount of chakra input, the shape of your ninjutsu, the potency of it, and the final scale, you wanted, amongst others. Some shinobi could even launch ninjutsu without any hand seals or by using just one hand for it like Itachi or Haku. They were special man-made constructs shinobi were trained at, from the academy, and made to resonate with souls in many specific ways through that exact same training for later use while learning ninjutsu from your shinobi instructors.

However, just when those gigantic trees Karin made, sprouting from the ground, broke through the whole complex, straight toward Hiashi's place, they all suddenly saw a big rotational, white-like force breaking them all at the same time, and then a strange man stepped forward in the sky. However, his appearance was nothing like Neji remembered him. His white eyes were bloodshot and he looked really haggard. And it was not just Hiashi who was strange, nearby branch members, on the lookouts, also had a soulless and suffering look for some reason. The atmosphere was heavy.

"Hiashi, what happened to you since I left? How could one distinguished main branch patriarch be so depressed?", Neji suddenly looked at him with a joking expression. Kiyomi and Karin looked at him surprised a bit. She knew about Neji's previous history however she rarely saw Neji in such a good mood before, "Try using your Curse Mark on me, hehe... Maybe if you wish for it hard enough, it would work...", Neji continued mocking him ruthlessly and Hiashi expression looked crazier and crazier, "Wait, where is your precious daughter? I don't see her inside...", Neji suddenly wondered.

"Neji, you beast, it is all your fault!", Hiashi's expression twisted even more and he fiercely launched himself at Neji and them while previously already activating his connection to the ancient Giant Tenseigan of their clan. He didn't appear to be paying any attention to Kiyomi and Karin beside him.

'Wait, don't tell me she maybe killed herself after losing her eyes? Knowing that Hiashi, he probably attempted to court Hinata as the next inheritor of the clan right away and abandoned Hanabi. After all, she is still such a young girl who got blind and was probably forsaken by her father too. Then let's test it...', "Hiashi did poor Hanabi kill herself?", Neji suddenly thought of that and questioned.

"I will kill you!", Hiashi yelled even harder, up in the air, after hearing Neji's questions. 'So that's it... Quite a deserving payback. At least my father didn't have to watch me die as Hiashi did his favorite daughter. That's your main branch fate you were so proud of...', Neji obviously didn't feel an ounce of sadness or pity toward Hiashi and his daughter despite them being his supposed close relatives.

And, before Hiashi could get any closer to them, a dozen of Karin's trees grew in size straight to his position, while Kiyomi's red eyes suddenly fascinatingly changed their shape into another one, and then a surge of evil aura came out from Kiyomi's soul manifesting a large demonic-looking chakra being of black color. It was nearly the size of this whole compound and Karin's barrier. It was her Susanoo in its Armoured Stage. It was black in color and menacing in appearance, holding some kind of a big scythe as well like a Shinigami. It also swung that weapon right at the shocked Hiashi.

Every Uchiha's Susanoo had its own unique weapons that were an extension of the Susanoo's will and presence. Kiyomi's father Susanoo for example had a giant hammer that could also be easily increased and decreased in size. Kiyomi got that scythe that responded to her time-speeding ability wonderfully. Kiyomi theorized that in the next stage of evolution, the scythe will manifest chains too.

Hiashi's Rotation was currently on cooldown, at this moment, therefore he could only grit his teeth and use his gravitational ability to deal with those emerging, still-growing big trees and the black chakra giant. Karin's overgrown trees, coming from all sides, were destroyed but keep coming back in almost an unlimited number of barrage-like attacks. But, Kiyomi's demonic scythe kept drilling in.

Hiashi's entire body now got filled with white chakra energy, 'Damn, how did Neji get both a Wood Release user, second in the whole history, and an Uchiha Mangekyo Sharingan user with a Susanoo. It seems that I'm really cursed by something...', Hiashi's face was now both furious and despondent. He thought that he was even dreaming about this encounter because he knew just how rare those two abilities really were in today's world and the status of the only two clans that could birth them.

'We caught him off guard before he managed to prepare and create an earth puppet golem. I could also wait for his gravity ability to come to a cooldown. However, this must be over quickly!', Neji suddenly joined his hand together and trusted them forward while he focused as if visualizing something. His control over gravitational forces was much more precise and refined than Hiashi's. Therefore, Neji attempted to focus it on a single point and break right through his current defense.

Hiashi was now effectively pressured in three different directions. His face was getting worse and worse. A full minute passed after that point and Neji's gravitational pressure progressed to his body. Neji was understandably following his gravitational tunnel and entered near his body as well. Karin followed right behind him, her hands still closed together in order to summon even more trees, while Kiyomi was inside her Susanoo a little further away. Hiashi looked at them all in indignation. Looking at Karin's chains on her back, barrier on the outside, and her hair color, he realized that they planned to probably seal and subdue him in order for Neji to read his memory with Tenseigan.

Hiashi suddenly looked at Neji's young face feeling incredible hatred and resentment. He couldn't think straight anymore, he just knew that there was no way that he would let Neji get what he wanted, no matter the costs. No, he was now preparing to even give everything in order to kill him.

He was left with nothing to lose. Hanabi was dead, Hinata doesn't want to even talk to him and she took refuge in Tsunade's faction. And she was the only main branch successor left. However, he was sure, that with her personality, she would probably abolish their curse mark system as soon as he passed away or even bring that treasure to the village, specifically to Tsunade her faction. They already realized that, by the looks of it, and often met with Hinata, manipulating her with Naruto for example alongside other love bombing tactics and the usual "Will of Fire" brainwashing in addition.

'Alright, if the main branch got finished like this... Then there are no more reasons for you bastards to exist either...', Hiashi's face suddenly turned crazed but decisive as well while looking at Neji's clean forehead and mesmerizing arctic blue eyes. He then turned to look at hidden and frightened branch members nearby. Neji realized something and attempted to stop him, however promptly they all fell onto the ground in agony. Hiashi's gravitational force suddenly recovered and pushed Neji and Karin backward. Neji looked at his expression, realized something, and shouted a little annoyed, "He is prepared to sacrifice them all in order to get temporary power. Go all out quickly!"

Kiyomi and Karin opened their eyes wide, Kiyomi immediately added the time-speeding powers of her left eye, on the giant scythe, in order to try and break through Hiashi's gravity. And it really worked, the previously stopped scythe suddenly started slowly moving toward Hiahsi once again. Karin was currently occupied with keeping the barrier, her chains, and those trees, therefore she couldn't launch another ninjutsu in a short time. However, Hiashi looked at the black scythe and Kiyomi's eyes which looked like the upper part of the cropped rose diagram shaped in resentment.

The wailing side branch members, rolling all over the ground in suffering, suddenly started rapidly losing their previous skin tones. Their life forces were for the first time now really drained by Hiashi.

'I need to at least get his memories before Konoha comes, so we can run!', Neji furrowed his brows and quickly came behind Kiyomi's giant scythe also pushing it with his gravity like spear of pressure.

Kiyomi and Karin glanced at those members who were now slowly turning into rotting skeletons in surprise. They were the side branch members with no previous hatred with Neji. Moreover, they even shared the same fate as him. They couldn't believe that Neji was so indifferent toward them.

You must know, that in this world, the shinobi clans were even considered to be above your villages in terms of devotion, second only to your family, due to the previous hundreds of years of clan system ruling in the entirety of the Warring States era. The hidden village system got introduced just recently in comparison to that. It wasn't even there for a full century. That's why Kiyomi hated Itachi so much in the first place, she not only hated him for killing her closest family, her parents, but for killing her entire clan too. People in this world had almost natural affection and a sense of belonging to their clans from the moment of birth. Even Karin, who never met her clan beforehand, held an unexplainable sense of affection and familiarity for her clan's birthplace after visiting there.

Neji somehow noticed their thought and suddenly turned away, his voice indifferent and his face ice cold and serious, "Yes, I pity them, but so what? What do they have to do with me? They are not my children...", Even Hiashi, in his maddened state, turned surprised after hearings Neji's apathetic words. How could they understand that Neji was not originally from this world with no original sense of belonging toward anyone in this universe? He viewed all of the people here as bystanders. Moreover, Hiashi, who was their patriarch, wanted to kill them, how could he, a transmigrator, care?

Additionally, seeing their pitiful appearance just now reminded him of his former self, he didn't even want to look at them. For someone to earn good feelings from Neji, in this world, after everything he had been through, they had to go to extreme lengths for him or some kind of a true miracle happened. Those kinds of people can be counted on one hand now, and it didn't mean that he put them on the same level as himself. If he needed to sacrifice them, in some way, in order for him to live, he would do that without a second thought. His primary purpose in life, after getting freedom and revenge, was to now strengthen himself to the peak and protect his life no matter the danger.

Moreover, during his first few years of life, after he transmigrated into this world, it was even worse. Neji didn't view them even as bystanders. Instead, he viewed everyone, other than himself, as some kind of imaginary pixels and mindless NPCs. It was only after he met his previous team that he softened up a little and finally agreed to the notion that everyone in this world was real in the same way as he was an actual being himself. However, even if they all were real, on the same level of existence as he was, he still didn't care for them all. He still only cared for himself fundamentally.

And just like that, Hiashi was using the energy of his Giant Tenseigan, in addition to everyone's life forces, however, it still wasn't enough for him to deal with them. After another minute, every side branch member turned to ashes, from their previous near-skeletal state, and already died in the most gruesome ways possible. Hiashi was finally pressed by Neji's gravity in place after he came in front of him. Hiashi's resistance was finally over, his gravity protection ending. But, just then, Neji heard Karin's shouts, "Neji, I sense four strong people coming right here, read his memories now!",

'Four...? Did they bring someone else with them...?', Neji nodded and thanked Karin. He previously thought that only Tsunade, Guy, and Jiraiya would engage them. Their previous plan was to bring Hiashi's sealed body outside, to read his memories safer, however, now it wasn't possible because of intruders. Neji nodded and immediately pressed his hands onto Hiashi's head while controlling him with his gravity. Suddenly he stole some kind of a chakra orb from inside of it, placing it on himself.

Hiashi was furious and dismayed, but after getting his memories stolen away presently, he suddenly collapsed. After a few seconds, Neji digested all of his memories and smiled. He then sent a wave of natural energy toward Hiashi's body, turning him into stone, and then fiercely kicking his body away while breaking it like that into smaller pieces while laughing, "I found its location, let's leave girls!",

Neji felt great and complete all of sudden. The whole main branch was now eradicated, he was a hundred percent free, and was about to get even stronger. Kiyomi and Karin looked at his face feeling surprised. People would have never guessed that the person he just dealt with in that way was his own blood uncle. Karin looked at Neji's chakra aura to confirm something, and it was the same otherworldly, apathetic and powerful one. While Kiyomi thought, 'I have a lot to learn from Neji to complete my revenge!', 'Middle Six Paths powerhouse down. However, we all used half of our chakra!', Neji suddenly thought before Kiyomi turned off her Susanoo and came near him and Karin. They were preparing to leave straight toward the location of the Giant Tenseigan Neji found.

Hiashi entered the realm of the Middle Six Paths powerhouse after using the complete life forces of hundreds of the branch members. The clash was over in three minutes, and it looked quite easy, however, it was like that because they all rapidly burned through their reserves in order to break through his gravitation defense as soon as possible and leave before more people came. Hours worth of battle was over in just these short few minutes. Their chakra expenditure was much larger than Hiashi's because they were taking the initiative to break it. It was a pure chakra concentration battle. They also caught Hiashi by surprise, and he wasn't in the right mental state of mind to fight.

Unlike normal shinobi who couldn't use half of their entire stamina, in a short amount of time, like that, Neji and Kiyomi drew their powers straight from their dojutsu, not ninjutsu, therefore they didn't have a natural, set amount of chakra they could create from their stamina in a given time to use for ninjutsu. They could take however much stamina they wanted while Karin's trees worked in a very similar manner, she could use however much chakra stamina, also called chakra reserves, she lacked at any time. Chakra reserves mean how much chakra potential you have, in the bigger picture, while chakra potency meant how much chakra you could create and use at a specific time. Hiashi was also directly drawing his powers from another source, not from his own body potency. At this point in time, Neji really doubted that Hagoromo and Hamura fought with Kaguya for weeks or months at that time, as it was mentioned in the anime, he felt like it could be at most for a few days.

Chakra stamina, or reserves, the big picture chakra measurement, and chakra potency, the short-term chakra measurement, were also mentioned in the original series in regard to Senju and Uchiha clans. One clan had the bigger stamina while the other had better potency. One fought prolonged battles, while the other fought short-term burst battles. That's why also Uchiha's fireballs were much stronger than those of other people, it was because of their superior potency, the portion of their stamina they could draw up at any given time. It was also hypothesized to be related to their soul-leaning chakra disposition. Also, even ordinary shinobi had different potencies depending on genes.

"Karin, resolve your barrier on my signal. We're finished here.", They now achieved their purpose for coming here therefore Neji prepared for them all to leave next. Karin and Kiyomi nodded and walked near him. Neji's body suddenly glowed in azure blue color with that distinctive flamy appearance and a single horn on his forehead once again. He activated his Tenseigan Chakra Mode, "Kiyomi, you should accelerate all of us again!", He hugged them both together and jumped above.

Karin, in the mid-air, already resolved her barrier and chains, on Neji's signal. However, she suddenly opened her mouth and eyes in shock while sensing something else in the vicinity. And she couldn't manage to relay that kind of information to them, on time, unfortunately, now due to the light speed they were currently moving. Tenseigan Chakra Mode in addition to Kiyomi's time acceleration wasn't creating just any kind of speed. She furrowed her brows and slowly tried to wrestle those words out of her mouth. However, they have already arrived right at that mysterious person's place.