No one had expected things to take such a turn. The wildly growing sea of trees was completely blasted away by an invisible force, piled into a heap in the corner, then slowly crushed into the walls and mountain crevices. Everyone stood dumbfounded.
Even more unbelievable was that the one who had launched the attack was not someone else, but Neji, whom they all knew well.
Crack...
Having broken free of the sea of trees, Sasuke hurriedly activated Susanoo and sliced apart the golden chains binding Kakashi, Guy, Naruto, and Mitsuki. Then he stared at Neji in astonishment.
At that moment, Neji was surrounded by a purple, dragon-shaped phantom. Surging chakra radiated from it, its might in no way inferior to the Gelel Ore Vein overhead.
"You..."
Sasuke opened his mouth, but did not know what to say.
Like Sasuke, Kakashi's mind was filled with questions. He recognized at once that the dragon-shaped phantom surrounding Neji was Ryumyaku chakra belonging to Hyuga Kagami, but he could not understand how the Ryumyaku had ended up on Neji.
"That's amazing, Neji!"
Naruto, now free, shouted excitedly.
Neji, breathing lightly, steadied himself before hurriedly calling out, "Don't let your guard down! The enemy hasn't been dealt with yet!"
Though his heart was full of questions, Kakashi knew that dealing with Nagato, the leader of the Akatsuki, was the most urgent matter at hand. He reined in his wandering thoughts and focused intently on the other side.
At the other end of the great hall, Nagato only revealed himself from the sea of trees after a moment had passed since the sudden blow.
With a light leap, he sprang out of the compressed mass of trees and landed on the cracked palace tiles. He studied Neji in confusion, then asked, "You're from the Hyuga