Chapter 45 (C45)
Every night, the moon is a mirror of the past.
A few rough stars burn in the sky, the full moon ignores their insignificant light, obscuring the small stories of humankind, in an endless cycle.
He walked through the streets of Konoha where a few lights still lingered, past the Hokage Rock statue that stood unchanging through wind and rain, past the empty swing under the old tree in front of the school, leaving behind memories of the past ten years.
Sasuke stopped in his tracks.
The person leaning against the tree stepped out of the shadows, their figure clearly outlined by the moonlight.
The four Sound Ninja, who had been hiding in the shadows, instantly appeared in four directions, their bodies slightly lowered, ready for battle.
During the Chunin Exams, Orochimaru released clues in the Land of Wind to lure the enemy away. As Orochimaru predicted, the Third Hokage did indeed send Hyuga Kana away. People who are worth Orochimaru's attention should not be underestimated.
If she tries to stop them—and all four of them simultaneously gather their chakra at the cursed seal—then they have no choice but to gamble by killing her.
“I advise you not to make any rash moves,” Kana said, her gaze never wavering as she slowly walked forward. “You can’t just take someone away in Konoha and cause a big commotion.”
Kidomaru chuckled and was about to say something when Sakon and Ukon stopped him, saying, "Behind you."
He turned his head, his eyes widening suddenly—when?
A tiny water droplet hovered silently behind him; he couldn't even sense any fluctuation in chakra.
The four exchanged glances and decided to hold back for now.
Sasuke watched her slowly walk towards him from the other side of time. At first, she was just Itachi's friend in his heart, appearing in his world as an appendage of Itachi. Later, the two were separated by Itachi in an extremely cruel way, so she became an independent and complete individual, no longer "Itachi's friend," but simply "Hyuga Kana."
While everyone else was trying to persuade him to let go of his hatred, she was the only one who felt that it was only right to pay for a life.
She was the only one who faced his pain squarely, and the only one who respected his hatred.
"If she really cares about you, why are you inferior to Hyuga Neji?" Gintoki's voice still echoed in my ears.
He's right, his only one is someone else's sister.
Kana understands him. But he's not important enough to her.
Just one step away.
The utility pole cast a long, slanted shadow on the ground, separating the two people.
Sasuke lifted his foot, crossed the line, and then treated her as if she were in the past as well.
The moment Kana turned around, the four of them tensed up to their limit. The black talismans were about to break through the suppression and erupt. Even if the worst prediction came true, they had to take Uchiha Sasuke away today.
"Smack!"
A slap, short and loud.
Because when it's patted on the back of a person's head, it has a solid, heavy feel.
The four people looked at each other in bewilderment.
"You brat, you left without saying goodbye, huh?" Kana shook her hand and stretched her right arm. "Didn't I tell you that leaving without saying goodbye is a serious crime in my eyes?"
Sasuke dodged left and right but couldn't escape. He covered his head with his hands and finally found a chance to speak, "A letter! I left you a letter!"
The cat has been wrongly accused. Kana froze for a moment, then slowly withdrew her hand, her face completely calm and composed. "Oh."
Sasuke regained his confidence, and the cat bristled, "You just didn't watch it!"
Kana started with a zero-frame attack and then nerfed again.
"Not going to study anymore?" Kana had been waiting by the lake for an hour without anyone coming to ask her to practice more, so she already knew his decision.
She was half a head taller than Sasuke, raised an eyebrow and looked down at him, "You think Orochimaru is stronger than me?"
Tayuya wanted to scold her for daring to compare herself to Lord Orochimaru, but the water droplets that flashed with faint electricity in front of her eyes forced her to shut up.
Dark clouds cast a brief shadow over the earth, and the night swallowed the silence.
The moonlight, shining down on the world once more, carefully traced her face, and in Sasuke's eyes, Kana radiated a soft glow.
Sasuke's lips curved almost imperceptibly, forming a faint smile. "You're not as ruthless as him."
He only recently realized that she had neither responsibility nor obligation towards him. She owed him nothing.
Countless times, he wanted to ask her why she had taken on this "trouble" of hers.
But he was also afraid—if what he received came from the person he hated, that would be too tragic.
So he kept deceiving himself, saying it didn't matter.
So now, that really doesn't matter anymore.
"Are you going to stop me, Kana?"
The raging fire four years ago that claimed his loved ones left his heart as dry and broken as charred trees, as desolate as wild grass howling in the wind. On a certain night accompanied by the sound of a flute, he may have found a brief moment of peace and belonging, but the fire had not been extinguished, so this belonging was destined to be short-lived.
Kana raised her hand.
Sasuke stared directly into her eyes, neither looking away nor avoiding them.
It just didn't have the familiar pain I had expected.
It felt more like a breeze gently caressing his face.
"Don't stay up late, or you'll stunt your growth."
Sasuke closed his eyes tightly, trying to suppress the bitter pain that was about to escape from his eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, the person had vanished, leaving only a patch of moonlight.
He left the moonlight to the past.
Without looking back, he simply left.
————
The next day, Sakura was the first to discover that Sasuke was missing.
According to the sensory ninja's deduction, Sasuke and his group are moving towards the direction of Otogakure (Hidden Sound Village).
In order to quell rumors of Konoha's declining strength, all Jonin were dispatched on missions, except for a minimum number of personnel, including Kakashi, who had just recovered from illness.
So Tsunade assigned this task to Shikamaru, who had been promoted to Chunin, to assemble a Genin team to bring Sasuke back.
Actually, there is an even better solution.
However, the fifth generation leader was too embarrassed to go back on his word.
That's exactly why he's here.
"Aren't we leaving yet? Who are we waiting for?" Ya asked.
"They're here."
The group looked up and saw Li and Ningci appearing on the long steps.
For ninjas, intelligence is essential. Shikamaru knew that Neji would bring Lee here every day for rehabilitation training, so this was a classic case of waiting for the rabbit to run into the tree stump.
"Well, that's all there is to it." Shikamaru simply explained the cause and effect. "Right now, the only Jonin in the village who can go out is Kana, but the Fifth Hokage can't find her. If anyone in this village knows where she is, it's undoubtedly you."
"I don't know," Neji said calmly.
Ya didn't believe it, "How could that be!"
To date, no one knows that the older sister can use psychic abilities, and Qingyuan has never appeared with her in battle, which can only mean that the older sister feels that now is not the time.
Therefore, her secret of going to Qishan through reverse spiritual communication must not be exposed.
“But I can go with you.”
Because of his cousin in the clan, Shikamaru had known Neji since he was very young. Although their relationship wasn't particularly close, he knew Neji's character fairly well. Since Neji had already said "I don't know," it was impossible to get any more information out of him, whether it was true or not.
"You were already on the list." Of all the unlucky ones who were promoted to Chunin during the Chunin Exams that were forced to be interrupted, Neji was the only one who was selected as a Chunin. He was originally a must-have in his Plan B plan.
Unlike the original storyline, Neji didn't have much emotion when he faced Naruto in the Chunin Exams, and Naruto didn't have much of a problem with him either.
Neji had seen Naruto talking to his sister from afar, more than once.
So long before Naruto knew him, Neji had already secretly observed him with his Byakugan.
That was terrifying chakra.
Neji stared, feeling as if he were looking at a beast as huge as a mountain.
That's not the amount of chakra a bottom-tier player should have. Even if he doesn't know how to use it, that amount of chakra determines that his recovery and healing speed is extremely fast.
The moment the match list was released, he had already decided to strike first.
The use of all ninjutsu depends on the flow and operation of chakra.
Kana rarely taught Neji Hinata Gentle Fist, reasoning that it was such a simple thing that many people around him were practicing it, and he could learn it just by watching.
But she personally teaches only a handful of students.
The Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms can use the Byakugan to precisely lock onto sixty-four chakra points on the opponent, and then use high-speed taijutsu to complete a series of acupoint attacks, thereby blocking the flow of the target's chakra.
“But the Sixty-Four Palms are limited by arm length and are close-combat techniques, requiring the creation of close-range opportunities.” Kana looked disgusted. “I don’t like close combat. So I combined it with the principles of Bagua Kongzhang.”
She demonstrated it once, and on the life-size wooden stake marked with human meridians, the corresponding acupoints were slightly sunken.
“Once you have more precise control over Water Release,” Kana said, gathering several water droplets on her fingertips. With a flick of her wrist, she precisely pierced through the mark from before, “and you won’t need Gentle Fist.”
Naruto's taijutsu was not systematically taught, and it was terrible; his speed and reaction time were too slow.
At the start of the match, Neji took the initiative and sealed his pressure points. No matter how much water was stored in the reservoir, as long as the switch was locked, the downstream river would dry up.
He chose to use Gentle Fist in his match against Hinata because he wanted to defeat the heir of the main family in the area they were most proud of. In reality, he wasn't that obsessed with Gentle Fist.
My sister once said that we shouldn't limit our development because of some unnecessary obsessions.
It was just a match, and he had no grudge against Naruto. He didn't need to go all out. He used the Water Release: Head Binding Technique to get the referee to announce the result as soon as possible—after all, if it went on any longer, it would be more than just lack of oxygen.
Since Naruto didn't win, his statement that "effort can overcome fate" naturally lost its validity. However, Neji didn't seem to care much; too many people had already said similar things to him.
The relationship between the two people will naturally not improve much because of a match that is not expected to be a big one.
But at this moment, the two of them had the same goal.
“Even if you don’t come looking for me, I will still go,” Neji said to Shikamaru.
Kana is actually willing to care about very few people and things.
If a thief who steals someone's valuable possessions dares to leave without saying goodbye...
Chakra gathered beneath Neji's feet, the wind whistling past his ears—he was determined to beat that bastard Uchiha Sasuke to a pulp.
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