"Fall back!"
The others immediately retreated again, their expressions tense and wary. When their eyes fell once more on the swarm of tiny spiders, fear filled their gazes.
No one wanted to be caught in another blast.
The previous explosion hadn't been lethal, but the sheer number of spiders was overwhelming.
If anyone were surrounded by them, no one could say what terrifying fate awaited.
"Clear the field, everyone. My partner has business to take care of."
Deidara's lazy voice rang out, filled with arrogance and unshakable confidence. The tone was so condescending that it made everyone feel both furious and helpless.
The crowd glared at Deidara and his two companions, fists clenched so tightly that veins bulged on their hands.
Their hearts burned with anger and unwillingness, but faced with Deidara's threat—and those horrific little spiders—they were lost, uncertain of what to do next.
At last, all eyes turned toward Hiruzen Sarutobi. Everyone was waiting for him to give an order: to keep fighting, or to retreat.
At this critical moment, his decision would determine the safety of the entire village.
Within the Eight Trigrams Formation, the Hyūga clan's eighth elder could only show despair.
He knew all too well that if even Hiruzen could not resolve this crisis, then no one could save them.
And when that happened, his grandson Sosuke would suffer endless torment—just as Neji's mother had suffered under his own hand.
For himself, he no longer cared. He was already an old man on the brink of death.
But his grandson… his grandson still had a bright future ahead. He couldn't bear the thought of Sosuke ending up the same way, tortured until death.
Yet he was powerless.
A bitter smile twisted his face. Perhaps this was all his karmic retribution.
If he hadn't insisted on targeting Neji's mother, perhaps the Hyūga main family wouldn't have fallen into such tragedy.
"Neji… what are you doing?"
At that moment, when the standoff reached its peak and the suffocating tension weighed down on everyone, a loud, trembling voice shattered the silence.
Everyone turned their heads at once.
A figure came running toward them in haste.
It was Hiashi Hyūga!
The man who arrived was none other than Hiashi himself, his face pale with shock as he rushed onto the scene.
What was happening? He had only gone out to look for his daughter, so how did things end up like this?
Inside the Eight Trigrams formation stood Hyūga Neji. His white robes were drenched in blood, making him look like a vengeful demon god.
At his feet lay the battered bodies of Hyūga main family members, barely clinging to life, while dozens more stood bound around the edges, terror written across their faces.
Neji… did he want to wipe out the clan?
The thought jolted Hiashi, and he instinctively tried to rush forward.
"Stop! My brother is handling this. No one takes a step closer!"
Deidara's voice rang out, cold and unyielding. With his words, a tide of tiny spiders swarmed toward Hyūga Hiashi, moving with eerie precision.
Each one exuded a suffocating sense of menace.
If Hiashi dared to force his way through, Deidara would show no mercy.
In his eyes burned a resolute flame. No one—not even the Hyūga clan head—could be allowed to interfere with his brother's revenge. That was his unshakable bottom line.
Hiashi's steps froze as the mass of spiders closed in.
His Byakugan could clearly see what others could not—each creature was packed with unstable, explosive chakra, a swarm of living bombs waiting to detonate.
One reckless move, and he could be dragged into an inescapable abyss.
Despite the storm of urgency in his chest, he dared not take another step. His gaze, however, never left Neji within the formation, his eyes heavy with worry and pain.
When Neji finally heard Hiashi's voice, his body stiffened for a moment before slowly turning his head.
His Byakugan, once calm and pure, now burned with bloodshot rage and disappointment. His voice rasped like scorched iron scraping his throat.
"Hyūga Hiashi… you're back?"
The simple words dripped with anguish and resentment.
If Hiashi had been in the clan that day, would his mother have survived?
Would she have been spared of suffering and torment?
Yet Neji knew too well how cruel reality was.
Even if Hiashi had been present, would he have stood against the rot within the main family?
After all, Hiashi was one of them. If those parasites had pressed him with authority and power, he would have been forced to compromise.
"Neji, these are your clansmen! To treat them so mercilessly—are you not afraid you'll never face your father in the Pure Land?" Hiashi's voice cracked with desperation, clinging to the one bond that might awaken Neji's conscience.
"Don't keep walking down this path of no return!"
A cold, broken laugh escaped Neji's lips. "If I don't kill them, then I'll truly have no face to meet my father in the Pure Land." His white eyes, veined with crimson, blazed with hatred and grief.
"And you… you have no right to even speak of my father!"
Every word trembled with fury, forced out through clenched teeth.
At the mention of Neji's father, Hiashi's chest tightened with unbearable sorrow.
Neji's father had once sacrificed himself for him and the clan, and even now, Hiashi felt an unshakable guilt whenever he thought of it. Hearing Neji's words, he found himself powerless to argue.
But he couldn't just stand by and watch Neji fall into the abyss of darkness. So he tried once more, speaking earnestly, "No matter what, at least think of your mother. She always wanted you to grow up safely. Right now, you're making her worry."
Hiashi knew Neji was a deeply filial child. He hoped that invoking his mother's memory might calm the fury burning inside him.
"Mother? My mother was tortured to death by these people!"
At the mention of his mother, Neji's emotions erupted. Crimson chakra surged from his body like a raging tide.
His eyes began to change as well. The once-pure Byakugan was streaked with blood-red veins, twisting into something eerie and unnatural.
That gaze, filled with pain and despair, sent chills down Hiashi's spine.
Neji's mother… dead?
The words struck Hiashi like a hammer to the chest. In just a few days of absence, what earth-shaking tragedy had befallen the Hyūga clan?
And why was it that Neji no longer feared the Caged Bird Seal?
How could he treat the once lofty main family members as if they were nothing but toys?
Hiashi's mind was a storm of confusion and shock. Staring at the boy consumed by hatred before him, his heart was heavy with grief, yet he had no idea what he could do.
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