"Impossible!"
Upon hearing Chiba's words, Neji Hyuga's expression changed almost instantly, his dissatisfaction and refusal utterly unmistakable.
The one who tied the knot had to untie it? Wasn't that telling him to go find Hyuga Hiashi? Impossible! Absolutely impossible! A resistance bordering on physiological revulsion welled up inside him.
Then, after that shout, silence fell.
Chiba, who had heard those words, said nothing. He merely watched Neji Hyuga, watched the boy whose face was filled with resistance, without speaking.
His expression did not change either.
It seemed he held no dissatisfaction toward Neji Hyuga's reaction. He simply looked at him calmly.
Yet it was precisely that calmness that sent a faint chill down Tenten's back behind Neji Hyuga, while an emotion called panic began to rise in her heart.
Especially as the resistance on Neji Hyuga's face grew stronger, the panic in her heart became more intense as well.
"Ahem! Is there no other way?"
When that panic reached a certain threshold, Tenten finally could not endure it any longer and spoke up, breaking the increasingly oppressive silence.
At those words, the resistant look on Neji Hyuga's face visibly stiffened. He seemed to suddenly realize something, and his expression immediately softened. Though his face remained somewhat tense, his gaze now carried a veiled note of inquiry.
Clearly, Neji Hyuga genuinely wanted to resolve this matter. It was simply that years of hatred made it impossible for him to seek out the one who had tied the knot—Hyuga Hiashi.
However, although Tenten's clear voice had broken the silence, Chiba still did not speak. He merely widened the range of his gaze slightly and looked at the two of them with a calm expression.
There was no...
Other way?
Though Chiba said nothing, that thought naturally surfaced in both their minds.
The