Konoha's Compromise

After suppressing the Chakra of Hatake Kakashi, the ordinary Jonin, and Water Man, Neji released the Special Chunin who had used Earth Style.

He said in a deep voice, "I'm letting you go back to notify Konoha's higher-ups. I'll keep ambushing lone Konoha ninja around Konoha's outskirts unless you release Haku unharmed! Otherwise, I can't guarantee the absolute safety of the ninja I've captured."

After saying this, Neji signaled that the man could leave. He then used his self-created Eight Trigrams Sealing Style on the three captives, completely sealing their Chakra, before flying them to his temporary base.

Not long afterward, Neji returned to the temporary base and brought the three of them to the holding area.

The six of them were immensely embarrassed to meet each other! They were all pathetic brothers, captured by someone so much younger than themselves. It was utterly humiliating.

Especially the Chunin captain who had been imprisoned from the start. He recognized Hatake Kakashi, the ninja known as a genius, which made things even more awkward. There was quite a gap between this genius and the supposed genius!

Countless curses ran through Kakashi's mind. First, he had been defeated by a ninjutsu he had created himself, then by a ninjutsu his teacher had created, and now he was locked up with so many brats. Didn't I have any pride?

Neji paid no attention to their thoughts. He was troubled now. Kakashi's Sharingan was exceedingly precious; it would not be an exaggeration to call it the most valuable ability among all the Mangekyō Sharingan of the Uchiha Clan!

Kamui—especially Dual Kamui—was simply absurdly overpowered. Intangibility that ignored all attacks, and Kamui that could shatter any object. Just tell him, who wouldn't be convinced?

But no matter how powerful it was, it would be useless if Neji himself could not use it. More importantly, Kakashi was a crucial part of the future storyline. What if Sasuke and Naruto went astray after he dug out Kakashi's eye?

It seemed Sasuke had already been led astray by him. He had learned all of Kakashi's signature abilities ahead of time!

In the end, Neji slapped his forehead. Why was he thinking so much? Since he was already enemies with Konoha, why leave them such a powerful asset?

Neji turned around, grabbed Kakashi with one hand, and formed a Chakra Scalpel with the other. With one stab and a flick, he skillfully removed Kakashi's Sharingan, stored it in the Nutrient Canister he carried with him, and sealed it inside a scroll.

That entire sequence terrified the other five. Even Kakashi himself had not recovered by the time his eye had been sealed away.

What was going on? Why had his eye become the other party's target? He already had the Byakugan, so what did he need the Sharingan for? Damn it! Overcome by rage, Kakashi spat out a mouthful of blood and fainted!

After briefly treating Kakashi's eye socket, Neji left the cave under the terrified gazes of the others. He planned to capture a few more people and add to his bargaining chips.

As for how to use Obito's eye, he would think about that later!

Mounting the Black-Winged Thunder Roc, he flew into the sky once more in search of his next target!

This day was utterly dreadful for Konoha's higher-ups.

First, they had dispatched a massive force from the village, preparing to encircle and suppress Hyuga Neji. Yet before they had even caught sight of him, he had flown away on his giant roc.

Nearly a thousand Konoha ninja could only stand there and stare blankly. They could neither pursue nor refrain from pursuing. In the end, they ordered the main force back to the village and sent several elite squads out on patrol.

They had thought that would be the end of it, but before they had even settled back into their seats, reports came one after another: teams sent out had been attacked, and some ninja had been captured.

It drove the elderly Third Hokage to no end of irritation. With too few people, they could not defeat Hyuga Neji. With too many, he would flee the moment he sensed trouble, faster than anyone else.

The slightly better news was that Neji had not gone too far. He was merely capturing people rather than actually killing hostages, and he had demanded Haku in exchange.

That threw the problem back into their hands. If they agreed to the exchange, Konoha's dignity would suffer.

They would be bowing their heads and compromising with a rogue ninja. But if they refused, four squads—twelve ninja—had already been captured. Watching so many people get killed would likely have an even worse impact. What was more, even their Anbu squad captain Kakashi was on the list of captives. It was simply absurd!

What Neji had done was even more ruthless: he released one person from every squad, making it impossible to suppress the news. In just one day, word had already spread everywhere.

After discussing the matter in a meeting and failing to come up with any better solution, they chose to compromise. They had Jiraiya, Konoha's strongest pillar at the moment, lead a team to exchange hostages with Neji.

Jiraiya had initially been unwilling, but he could not withstand everyone's persuasion. Coupled with his curiosity about Neji, he accepted the task.

Having accepted the mission, Jiraiya immediately demanded Haku back from Root.

Danzo's expression at the time could easily be imagined. He, the Darkness of Konoha, had suffered setback after setback at the hands of that brat from the Hyuga Clan. It was an absolute disgrace in his life. He would definitely find a chance to retaliate!

Setting Danzo's thoughts aside, Haku remained calm, quietly following behind Jiraiya without saying a word.

Jiraiya thus led Haku and an Anbu squad out of the village, heading straight for the location where a ninja team had most recently disappeared.

After capturing Kakashi's squad, Neji captured two more ordinary squads and then stopped going out, quietly waiting for Konoha's response.

Fortunately, things developed reasonably well. Konoha's higher-ups could not disregard the lives of more than a dozen ninja and stubbornly refuse to hand over Haku, who had not been especially important to begin with.

Sure enough, after waiting only half a day, Neji spotted Jiraiya's team. When he saw Haku, he knew Konoha had compromised.

Rather than rashly sending his real body to face Jiraiya, he created a Shadow Clone and had it bring three captives to meet Jiraiya.

Neji had no desire to waste words. A mature ninja like Jiraiya, who had traveled the Shinobi World for many years, was not someone he could change with a few words. He did not possess Naruto's ultimate Talk no Jutsu.

Neji said directly, "Senior Jiraiya, this is my Shadow Clone, so don't entertain any other ideas. Hand Haku over to me, and I'll release all the captives and leave Konoha. From then on, we'll stay out of each other's way. How about it?"

Jiraiya had initially prepared a great many arguments and had even been willing to stake his character on convincing Neji to return to Konoha. But upon truly meeting Neji, he abandoned those unrealistic thoughts. All he could do was sigh, expressing his helplessness as he muttered inwardly, What a fine young man. What have the Third Hokage and the others been doing all these years?

After hearing Neji's words, Jiraiya was straightforward as well. He released Haku directly and said to Neji, "I don't want to concern myself with who was right or wrong in the past. This time, I stand with you. Take Haku and leave. From now on, you and Konoha are even. But if you commit any act that harms Konoha or the Land of Fire again, then I, Jiraiya, will hunt you to the ends of the earth even if I have to stake my name as a ninja on it!"

Neji's Shadow Clone treated Jiraiya's harsh words as nothing more than hot air and showed no reaction. Seeing Jiraiya release Haku directly, it said nothing further. It tossed out the three hostages, told him the whereabouts of the remaining ninja, then took Haku and leaped onto the Little Golden-Winged Thunder Roc waiting nearby.

This was one of the Black-Winged Thunder Roc's two chicks. After absorbing natural energy, it had undergone certain mutations. One manifestation was that its feathers had changed from black to gold.

Neji did not care much about that. Gold looked even more majestic and imposing than black.

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