Lady Aoi's face darkened, her voice trembling with wrath. "The wrath, fear, and resentment of those who died will turn into nourishment for 'Crimson giant' after death."
"The entire Branch Family Members and the entire Konoha will be dragged down by your madness."
"That is right," Homura Mitokado shouted hoarsely, half-mad from the shock and his dying state. "You slaughter your own kin and defy human morals."
"You will face retribution. You will pay the most painful price for this. After we die and become Undead, we will definitely kill you."
His face held not only wrath and madness, but also intense envy. It was envy that Neji Hyuga could break free from the cage.
Why did Neji Hyuga gain such power? Why did Neji Hyuga escape the fate of being a Caged Bird curse mark? Why was it not him?
"Retribution, you say?"
As if he had heard the most absurd joke in the world, Neji Hyuga let out a low, suppressed laugh that grew into wild laughter. The sound became sharp and manic, filled with ridicule and bitterness that made the scalp crawl.
His laughter stopped abruptly. With blood-soaked eyes burning with hatred and unwillingness, he glared at Homura Mitokado and roared.
"Retribution. Retribution."
"If this world truly has such a thing, if there really is an Otsutsuki Deity who can judge fairly, then why did it not punish the ancestors who created the Caged Bird curse mark and these rules?"
"Why did it turn a blind eye to centuries of so-called proper oppression? Why allow such crimes to continue under the names of tradition and order?"
"Why?"
Bang.
He stepped forward and threw a punch, the impact slamming into Homura Mitokado's body.
"Ah!" Homura Mitokado screamed as his body was driven deep into the stone wall carved with Sui Lie patterns. More blood and shattered Sui Lie sprayed from his mouth.
"Why are children of the Branch Family Members branded with this cursed slave mark?"
Bang.
Another punch fell, cutting off his scream and leaving only broken, gasping breaths.
"Why was my father pushed out as a substitute for Fugaku Uchiha just because he was born moments later?"
Bang.
Crack, crack, kacha.
With that punch, fine sounds of bones and Sui Lie breaking echoed from Homura Mitokado's body.
"Why can those wastes enjoy the best resources just because they are Otsutsuki Main Family, while using peace bought by the Branch Family Members to command us like dirt?"
Bang.
Splash.
With that punch, Homura Mitokado's body collapsed inward, and a torrent of blood sprayed across the walls and floor in a horrifying sight.
"Why did I train with everything I had and still fail to break this cage of birth, forced to lose everything just to reach this point?"
"Why? Tell me!"
Bang.
Like bursting a human-shaped sack of blood, stored fluids and solid matter exploded across the wall, blood and broken Sui Lie scattering everywhere.
The passage fell into an oppressive silence.
Only Neji Hyuga's heaving chest, his rough breathing, and the overwhelming stench of blood remained.
But soon, the corpse of Homura Mitokado pinned to the wall suddenly erupted with a cold and ominous aura.
Buzz.
A chilling wave filled with deep resentment and hatred spread instantly. The sudden change made Lady Aoi, who had been standing far away on full guard against Neji Hyuga, change expression sharply.
At the same time, in the underground Secret Chamber beneath Fugaku Uchiha's residence.
"Huh, huh."
Fugaku Uchiha lay on the ground like mud, all four limbs crushed beyond recognition and no longer human in shape. His tongue had been torn out, and his nose and ears cut away, leaving him able only to make broken sounds filled with resentment and hatred.
His face, exposing pale bone, twisted in unspeakable agony. Nothing remained on it except raw pain and a craving for vengeance.
Beside him lay the corpses of three other Otsutsuki Main Family elders in the same miserable condition. Their limbs were broken, and their ears, noses, and tongues removed, showing that they had suffered inhuman torment before death.
"Hoo."
Leaning on his cane, Danzo stood before Fugaku Uchiha. His single eye glinted coldly as he looked down at the twitching mass of flesh.
At last, he clearly felt a cold and filthy aura filled with massive negative energy surging from Fugaku Uchiha and the other corpses.
"It is done. It is finally done," Danzo said excitedly, staring at the flesh being wrapped in black energy. "Come, become 'Crimson giant'."
"Let me kill you with my own hands. Let your hatred, your resentment, and all your unwillingness become the nourishment of my power."
At this moment, Lady Aoi felt the complete opposite of excitement.
"This is bad."
Seeing the corpse begin to change, her face turned extremely grim as she gritted her teeth at Neji Hyuga. "Neji Hyuga, this time you are really going to get us all killed."
But Neji Hyuga seemed not to hear her wrath at all.
As if sensing something, he slowly raised his head. His gaze seemed to pierce through layers of walls and rock, looking toward the sky.
Driven by an instinct from deep within his soul, he slowly raised his hand toward the ceiling of the passage.
Bang.
The rock ceiling above exploded apart.
Amid flying gravel, a black shadow dropped as if guided and landed in his hand.
It was a strange-looking katana, still in its sheath.
What?
When she clearly saw the shape of that long sword, Lady Aoi's pupils shrank at once, and she blurted out, "Seven Deadly Sins Essence?!"
Back then, Hiruzen Sarutobi had almost gathered every Ninja in Konoha to try, one after another, to draw out the "Seven Deadly Sins Essence." She had been among them, but she had only managed to move "Lust." But the "Seven Deadly Sins Essence" had always been personally sealed by Hiruzen Sarutobi using Sealing Technique and kept in the most secure place in Konoha. How could it suddenly appear here, and even fly straight into Neji Hyuga's hand?
If she remembered correctly, the name of that long sword was…
"Wrath?"
Neji Hyuga lowered his head and looked at the long sword in his hand, one that seemed to possess its own will, and in an instant he understood why this blade had appeared here.
"If an Otsutsuki Deity were all knowing, it would not turn a blind eye to the injustice that has lasted for thousands of years, but it did, so it is not all knowing." "If an Otsutsuki Deity were all powerful, it could easily erase all injustice and suffering in the world, but it did not, so it is not all powerful." "If this is the Otsutsuki Deity that people say might exist…"
He tightened his grip on the long sword named "Wrath," and his voice suddenly turned cold and resolute toward Obito. "Then either it is blind, or it is deaf, or it is rotten to the core!"
"In that case, I do not need it." "All the pain others have forced on me, all the suffering, all the injustice, all from Obito and Zetsu, I will return it tenfold and a hundredfold with my own hands!" "Even in death, they will not escape this pain!"
As his words fell, one hand firmly grasped the scabbard above his head, while the other reached without hesitation for the hilt of the long sword.
Clang! A clear and icy blade cry rang out, sharp and piercing.