Discarded Pawn

"Captain, that's the situation."

"I understand."

After receiving the squad leader's report, Aoyama Hideomi, captain of the Patrol Team, immediately rushed over.

Aoyama Hideomi was a middle-aged man in his thirties.

He had fought on the battlefield during the Third Shinobi World War.

He had no parents, no wife, no children—utterly alone.

Upright and impartial by nature, he answered directly to the Fourth Raikage.

That was precisely why the Fourth Raikage had appointed him captain of the Patrol Team, working alongside the Barrier Team to safeguard Kumogakure.

After learning the full sequence of events from the Patrol Team, Aoyama Hideomi slowly approached Neji.

"Neji, you said that while training on Tianyun Mountain, you were attacked by a mysterious cloaked figure?"

"Yes."

"You cut off the mysterious cloaked figure's left arm, followed the blood trail, met up with three Patrol Ninjas along the way, and pursued the target to Ju Restaurant?"

"That's right."

"Is there anything else you would like to add?"

"No."

Aoyama Hideomi shook his head upon hearing this, his expression complicated. "The Patrol Team inspected all of Tianyun Mountain as you described, but found no traces of battle, nor any bloodstains you mentioned."

"Heh!"

Neji sneered. "All the traces of battle vanished, and the bodies are gone too. It seems Kumogakure has quite a few ghosts."

Aoyama Hideomi pondered for a moment before speaking slowly.

"I will assume that the mysterious cloaked figure had accomplices who cleaned up every clue before the Patrol Team arrived."

"However..."

"Neji, eyewitnesses saw you kill three Patrol Ninjas before rushing out of Ju Restaurant. You claim you were pursuing an enemy, but when the Patrol Team caught up to you at the corner, they found no suspicious person whatsoever besides you."

"Personally, I am willing to believe that you are innocent. But before the truth is uncovered, you should come with me first."

By the end, Aoyama Hideomi's tone had become stern and cold.

Neji glanced at his left hand, which wore a black glove, and slightly raised a brow. "Can I meet the eyewitness who saw me kill someone and flee?"

Aoyama Hideomi nodded and murmured something to the squad leader beside him.

Before long, an utterly ordinary street vendor was brought over.

"According to the Patrol Team's investigation, this man began selling pancakes near Ju Restaurant two years ago. His family has lived in Kumogakure for generations, and his background is clean and reliable."

"May I ask him a few questions?"

"Ask whatever you wish."

Neji walked up to the vendor and examined him carefully.

There was not the slightest chakra response anywhere on his body.

He was an ordinary person.

"Open your mouth. Stick out your tongue."

Without hesitation, the vendor opened his mouth and exposed the base of his tongue.

There was no Cursed Tongue Eradication Seal.

He was not from Root.

Neji asked again, "Where do you usually set up your stall?"

"Ninja Lord, right over there."

The vendor turned and pointed at a small pancake cart.

A long street ran in front of Ju Restaurant. The vendor's stall was on the western side of its entrance, while Neji had pursued the insect clone toward the east.

As that realization struck him, Neji's expression gradually turned grim.

"You're lying."

The vendor froze for a moment, then shouted, "No! Everything I said is true!"

Neji stepped forward and demanded from above, "You saw me kill them with your own eyes? You saw me flee with your own eyes? You saw my face?"

"..."

Intimidated by Neji's bearing, the vendor's face turned pale.

But he quickly recovered and stubbornly said, "When the explosion happened, I hid beneath my cart. I saw you kill them and run away with my own eyes, then the Patrol Ninja Lords chased after you."

Neji looked at the Patrol Ninjas, then at Aoyama Hideomi, and said gravely, "Everyone, you all heard what he said, didn't you?"

Aoyama Hideomi narrowed his eyes. "Neji, we heard it, and very clearly. What else do you have to say?"

Neji spoke slowly. "Everyone, stand by the cart. I'll slow down and walk out of Ju Restaurant to show you what happened at the time."

"Alright."

After a brief moment of thought, Aoyama Hideomi nodded.

Neji then strolled out through the main doors of Ju Restaurant, headed east, turned around the corner, and then came back.

From the cart's position, they could not see the interior decor of Ju Restaurant.

And after Neji left Ju Restaurant, he had walked east the entire way.

Because of the viewing angle, they could only vaguely catch half of Neji's profile during the one or two seconds when he emerged from the restaurant's entrance.

Everyone realized that not a single word out of the vendor's mouth had been true.

This was a frame-up.

Neji looked at the thoughtful Patrol Team ninja and asked, "Did any of you clearly see my face? Raise your hand."

No one raised a hand.

At a time like this, anyone who raised their hand was either harboring ulterior motives or utterly foolish.

The vendor hurriedly raised his hand. "I-I saw it."

Aoyama Hideomi shouted angrily, "Shut your mouth."

Neji walked toward the vendor step by step and demanded, "Just now, even though these people were standing up, none of them could clearly see my face. Yet when the explosion happened, smoke and dust filled the air. You were frightened and hid beneath the cart, with your view obstructed—how could you possibly have seen me kill someone? Seen my face? Huh?"

"I-I didn't see it. No, I saw it."

The vendor trembled all over in terror, his words incoherent.

"Bastard."

Aoyama Hideomi viciously slapped the vendor across the face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"There must be someone pulling the strings behind this guy. Take him away and interrogate him harshly."

With a dark expression, Aoyama Hideomi waved his hand, signaling for the Patrol Team members to escort the vendor away.

Then he looked at Neji, forcing a smile onto his face.

"Neji-kun, I was negligent and nearly caused a grave mistake. Thankfully, you were clever."

Neji waved it off indifferently.

"Hideomi-senpai, now isn't the time to talk about that. A large number of enemy-country ninja are lurking in Kumogakure. Until we dig them all out, we won't have a single peaceful day."

Aoyama Hideomi nodded in deep agreement. "I'll send people to investigate thoroughly at once. Even if we have to dig three feet into the ground, we'll find those scum."

Aoyama Hideomi acted swiftly and decisively, immediately leaving with the Patrol Team.

Neji watched his retreating back, but his pearly white eyes were exceptionally deep, seemingly filled with darkness so dense it had reached the extreme.

After a moment, Neji gathered his thoughts, turned around, and headed back into Ju Restaurant, making straight for the second floor.

As expected, Yakushi Nonō was still there.

The woman seemed to have suffered a devastating blow. With her back against the wall, she sat collapsed on the floor.

Neji scooped Yakushi Nonō up around the waist, carried her to a clean private room, and laid her on the bed.

He poured himself a cup of water and took a light sip.

"If that witness hadn't been so incompetent, your identity would already have been exposed by now.

But those people are still too naïve. They thought they could destroy me with a method like this.

They have no idea how much the Fourth Raikage trusts me.

Even if there were solid evidence proving that I had contacted Root spies, the Fourth Raikage would not believe it.

But if it truly came to that, it would be impossible for you to keep your life."