Hand Over the Corpse of the Murderer, Hyuga Hiashi

Samui struggled to pull the senbon from her lower abdomen, her face filled with apprehension as she looked at the Anbu ninja not far away, who was barely clinging to life.

Before dawn, she had set off to flee back to the Land of Lightning with the escorting cloud ninjas, as Toroi hadn't arrived.

They were ambushed by Anbu at the border.

All the escorting cloud ninjas were sacrificed, and she was already covered in wounds, unable to fight any longer.

"Cough, cough!"

The Anbu squad leader coughed twice, a trickle of blood seeping from under his mask.

His condition wasn't much better than Samui's.

Fortunately, they were on the border of the Land of Fire, and reinforcements would arrive soon.

Rustle!!

A sound suddenly came from the grass. Samui and the Anbu squad leader tensed up, turning their heads simultaneously.

They saw Hyuga Neji emerge from the grass in a panic, running quickly towards the Anbu squad leader.

The Anbu squad leader let out a long sigh of relief.

His mission was to retrieve or kill Hyuga Neji.

In any case, he couldn't let the cloud ninjas get their hands on a living Byakugan bloodline.

Of course, it would be even better if he could bring Neji back unharmed.

A hint of panic flashed across Neji's young face as he looked at the Anbu squad leader and asked, "How... how are you?"

"I won't die. There are some Soldier Pills and bandages in my ninja pouch, help me get them."

As he spoke, the Anbu squad leader narrowed his eyes slightly, his muscles tensing.

"Okay!"

Neji crouched in front of the Anbu squad leader, his hand reaching for the ninja pouch.

Whoosh!

A cold glint flashed.

At almost the same moment, the Anbu squad leader moved, and a shuriken from between his fingers shot towards Neji's chest at an incredible angle.

The next instant, Neji rolled awkwardly on the ground, clutching his bleeding chest and gasping for breath.

In contrast, the Anbu squad leader had a small senbon stuck in his throat.

Trading injury for life.

"That was amazing," Neji said, still shaken.

Anbu ninjas were all elites.

The Anbu squad leader was naturally an elite among elites.

This guy was already severely wounded, but even so, he almost managed to counter-kill Neji's sneak attack.

Samui sat on the ground, stunned, her mind reeling.

She had never expected Neji to suddenly attack, to sneak attack the Anbu squad leader, and to succeed in killing him.

"Kid, do you know what you're doing?"

Neji didn't reply. Instead, he walked up to the Anbu squad leader, raised his fair hand, and gathered his meager chakra in his palm. He then struck the Anbu squad leader's chest with a Gentle Fist.

This action only made Samui more confused.

Neji explained seriously, "Sister, I used Gentle Fist to shatter his heart. From now on, we're on the same side."

A look of surprise flashed across Samui's pretty face, and she smiled, "Good, good, good, we're on the same side."

Neji's actions were completely beyond Samui's expectations.

But since Neji was willing to return to Kumogakure with her, it was much better than being forcibly captured.

They couldn't stay here long.

Anbu ninjas could pursue them at any moment.

After bandaging her wound, Samui quickly formed a summoning seal.

Poof!

With a burst of white smoke, a sea turtle appeared before her.

Samui picked up Neji and then jumped directly onto the sea turtle's back.

"Neji, let's go home. When we get to Kumogakure, I'll still be your sister."

The sea turtle dove into the sea, swimming in the direction of the Land of Lightning.

Neji rested his head on Samui's shoulder, watching the Land of Fire grow smaller and smaller, and slowly closed his eyes.

This departure was like a bird flying to the heavens, a fish entering the sea, no longer bound.

Konohagakure publicly condemned Kumogakure for their despicable act of stealing the Byakugan under the guise of signing a contract.

They expected Kumogakure, being in the wrong, to not dare respond. Who would have thought Kumogakure would flatly deny that the Kumogakure delegation ever contacted Hyuga Neji or abducted Hinata? They even went so far as to accuse Konohagakure of having no sincerity for peace talks, cruelly murdering the Kumogakure envoy Toroi, and shamelessly demanding Konohagakure hand over the corpse of the murderer, "Hyuga Hiashi," or face war.

Such a brazen counter-accusation enraged countless Konoha ninja still possessing a shred of fighting spirit.

But at this very moment, public opinion in the village pushed the Hyuga clan into the spotlight.

"Are we going to war again?"

"We've already been fighting for eight years, when will this end!"

"It's all the Hyuga clan's fault. Why kill him when they could have just captured the person?"

"Peace is hard-won; we can't go to war with Kumogakure for the Hyuga."

The village's public opinion engulfed the Hyuga clan like a tidal wave.

Caught in the vortex of public opinion, Hyuga Hiashi couldn't sleep all night and hadn't taken a drop of water.

He suddenly thought how similar this situation was to the Konoha White Fang incident years ago.

On this day, Hiruzen Sarutobi convened a meeting to discuss countermeasures.

As the meeting began, Hyuga Hiashi took a deep breath. "Hokage-sama, this entire matter has been Kumogakure's conspiracy from beginning to end. Their goal is not just the Byakugan bloodline, but also war."

"Hiashi, I know it's a conspiracy. Everyone here knows it's a conspiracy. But the moment Toroi died, whether it was a conspiracy or not ceased to matter."

Hiruzen Sarutobi removed his pipe and slowly shook his head.

He harbored some resentment.

He resented the Fourth Raikage's lack of magnanimity, resorting to such despicable tactics, and he also resented Hyuga Hiashi for not holding back, causing an uproar.

After a pause, Hiruzen Sarutobi added, "We've already revealed the truth behind Toroi's death, and we've confirmed Hyuga Neji is currently in Kumogakure, but who will care about these things?"

The people in the conference room fell silent.

Everyone understood that dealing with those power-obsessed bandits in Kumogakure, reasoning was useless.

"Sigh..."

Mitokado Homura sighed, "If Hiashi hadn't killed Toroi, there would still be room for maneuver."

Hyuga Hiashi's expression stiffened slightly.

Was this his fault?

In that situation, any father would have fought with all their might.

Beside him, Shikaku Nara remained expressionless, silent.

Mitokado Homura was thinking too simply.

Who was Toroi?

A renowned Magnet Release ninja, with a record of killing several elite Jonin during the Third Shinobi War. His strength was definitely not inferior to Hyuga Hiashi's.

If Toroi hadn't wanted to die, Hyuga Hiashi couldn't have succeeded in killing him.

If Toroi had wanted to die at Hyuga Hiashi's hands, Hyuga Hiashi would have been powerless to stop it.

There was no choice; Konoha had truly been tricked this time.

Shikaku Nara hadn't expected Kumogakure, which had always prioritized strength, to resort to dirty tricks for once.

At this moment, Shimura Danzō, sitting to Hiruzen Sarutobi's far left, tapped the floor with his cane and said coldly:

"Hiruzen, what are you hesitating for?"

"If Kumogakure wants war, then fine, we'll see it through to the end!"

"Do those bandits really think Konohagakure is weak and easily bullied?!"

Hiruzen Sarutobi glanced at Danzō, puffed on his pipe, and remained silent, dismissive of Danzō's anger.