Zetsu Appears

The only ones with a motive to assassinate him were those people from Konoha.

However, killing Neji could easily provoke a conflict between the two great ninja villages.

Hiruzen Sarutobi had the desire to kill him, but his weak-willed nature meant he would never put it into action.

Danzo, on the other hand, was different.

For instance, Danzo believed that everything should be done for Konoha.

Or he could bring Neji's corpse back to Konoha, reopen old cases, bring down Hiruzen Sarutobi, and replace him.

He had too many reasons to kill Neji.

And Danzo's Root was naturally suited for this sort of thing.

Every Root member had been brainwashed by Danzo. They were tools stripped of their humanity, willing to use their lives to carry out Danzo's will.

Most importantly, every Root ninja had been implanted with the Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.

Capturing them alive was impossible.

Keeping a corpse as evidence against Danzo was not very realistic either.

Once the matter was exposed, there would be no need to worry about evidence being left behind.

Even if Neji told the Fourth Raikage about this, without solid evidence, the Fourth Raikage would be in no position to stand up for him.

"Was such a powerful sealing technique inherited from the forbidden-technique master Senju Tobirama, seized from the Uzumaki clan's legacy, or developed by Danzo himself?"

Sealing techniques could not only be used to restrain subordinates, but could also produce impressive effects in battle.

Neji merely sighed over it briefly. He was not particularly tempted.

He had something better.

Neji picked up the severed left arm from the ground and placed it into a storage scroll. Then, after identifying the direction the cloaked man had fled, he quickly gave chase.

Elsewhere.

Having lost too much blood, the cloaked man slowed more and more as he reached the foot of the mountain. His body swayed, and he nearly collapsed to the ground.

Whoosh!

Several figures sprang from the shadows and blocked the cloaked man's path.

Aburame Ryoma looked at the cloaked man and said coldly, "Puppet, you look quite pathetic."

"Hmph."

The cloaked man snorted in dissatisfaction, but did not argue.

Aburame Ryoma had found him carrying Danzo's written order.

He had to obey Aburame Ryoma's commands without question.

Puppet had lurked in Kumogakure for several years and always acted cautiously.

According to the plan he had devised, both he and Aburame Ryoma would take part in this assassination of Neji, supported by at least fifteen elite Root ninja.

With that force, even if they faced the Two-Tails Jinchuriki, they would have a chance of retreating unscathed.

But Aburame Ryoma had rejected his plan.

Perhaps because he had been undercover in Kumogakure for too long, Danzo had begun to doubt his loyalty.

Aburame Ryoma had deliberately used this operation to test him.

That was why he had only been assigned four helpers.

At that moment, Aburame Ryoma noticed Puppet's severed left arm, and a trace of surprise flashed through his eyes.

By now, Hyuga Neji was only six years old.

Had he already grown to this extent?

For Lord Danzo, Hyuga Neji had to be eliminated.

Aburame Ryoma withdrew his thoughts and glanced at the short Root ninja beside him.

"Although this guy is a useless fraud, he can't die here. Take him away and treat his wounds."

"Yes!"

After the Root medical ninja helped Puppet away, Aburame Ryoma glanced at the silent forest and said in a low voice, "Activate the backup plan."

Elsewhere.

Neji raced all the way forward. Before long, his Byakugan regained its vision.

He carefully surveyed the mountains and forest within three kilometers, but found no trace of the cloaked man.

Had he already gotten away?!

The cloaked man had lost an arm and should have had difficulty moving. For him to vanish so quickly, he clearly had accomplices waiting to receive him.

"Hmm?!"

Neji crouched down and picked up a fallen leaf. A drop of fresh blood stained its surface.

He followed the trail down the path for a while and found more bloodstains—some on tree roots, others in the grass...

Neji stroked his chin, lost in thought.

Had the retreat been too hurried to clean up the traces... or had those clues been deliberately left behind to lure him in?

But—

This was Kumogakure. He had no reason to back down.

"Heh."

Neji chuckled softly, took a signal flare from the Ninja Tool Pouch at his waist, and fired it into the sky.

Whoosh!

Bang!

The signal flare burst overhead. It would not be long before the Patrol Team arrived.

After pondering for a moment, Neji did not remain where he was to wait for the Patrol Team. Instead, he placed a kunai on the ground with its tip pointing in the direction ahead, then set off in pursuit first.

The bloodstains on the ground grew fainter and fainter.

Neji walked and stopped repeatedly, but he failed to find the cloaked man.

Instead, Kumogakure's Patrol Team followed the markers he had left behind and caught up to him.

Neji glanced at the three patrolmen dressed in fitted combat uniforms and carrying short swords on their backs, his gaze intentionally or unintentionally sweeping over their left arms.

They were all completely intact.

"Did you fire the signal flare?"

The squad captain studied Neji's pale eyes, his expression grave.

Neji kept a low profile, and not many people in all of Kumogakure had actually interacted with him.

Still, the squad captain had heard of Neji's name.

"Not long ago, I was ambushed by a mysterious cloaked man on Tianyun Mountain. I cut off his left arm and tracked him here."

Neji explained succinctly.

"Keep pursuing him."

The squad captain drew in a sharp breath.

Someone had attempted to assassinate the possessor of the precious Byakugan.

If the culprit succeeded, the village would suffer a major loss.

The squad captain knew that asking for more details now would only waste time. The most urgent matter was capturing the mysterious cloaked man as soon as possible.

Long after the four had left, a Pitcher Plant emerged from the ground. At its center stood a strange man with half his face black and the other half white.

White Zetsu giggled. "That's the Byakugan Cub Kumogakure abducted two years ago?"

Black Zetsu's voice was raspy and unpleasant. "Yes. He's only six this year. I didn't expect him to have already become a ninja."

"Tsk, tsk."

White Zetsu spoke cheerfully and said carelessly, "Not only did the Fourth Raikage not raise this child as breeding stock, he even assigned the Two-Tails Jinchuriki as his jonin instructor. Does the Byakugan really have that much potential?"

"It does."

That answer left White Zetsu dumbfounded.

He burst out laughing. "Zetsu, since when did you learn to joke?"

"Hmph."

Black Zetsu snorted coldly, too lazy to explain.

The Byakugan was the power of the Otsutsuki Clan, and its potential even surpassed the Sharingan.

At the beginning of the Warring States Period, the Hyuga clan, the Senju, and the Uchiha were recognized as the strongest ninja clans.

The Hyuga clan had even produced peerless experts comparable to the reincarnations of Asura and Indra.

For example, Hyuga Tenin from over three hundred years ago.

That man had carried the Giant Tenseigan to the moon and severely wounded the Otsutsuki Clan.

It was precisely because of Hyuga Tenin that the ninja world enjoyed more than three hundred years of peace.

However, the Hyuga clan's glory had long since faded.

The Byakugan possessed limitless potential, but fully developing that potential required Otsutsuki blood.

Yet after Hyuga Tenin's era passed, the Otsutsuki bloodline within the Hyuga clan declined off a cliff.

By now, the Byakugan had been reduced to nothing more than a scouting eye.

Of course, that was exactly what Black Zetsu wanted to see.

Black Zetsu hated the Senju, Uchiha, and Hyuga clans to the bone.

Those two bastards—Hagoromo Otsutsuki and Hamura Otsutsuki—those beasts and parasites, all deserved to go to hell.

What kind of sons would do such a thing to their own mother?

Black Zetsu gathered his thoughts and said faintly, "The mission comes first. Let's go."