Shino Aburame's Death

Neji was now completely confused.

"Sure, Naruto is the ideal candidate for the Hokage Position. Once he grows up, he'll take that seat sooner or later. But are you really planning to tie yourself to Naruto's chariot so easily?"

"Is there a better choice than betting on the future Hokage?"

"Have you ever thought that even if you escaped the cage of the Hyuga Branch Family, you might still be a caged bird without freedom? Can't you see that beyond this birdcage lies an even larger one, binding you and everyone else?"

After thinking it over, Neji understood what Keiichi meant.

The Hyuga Branch Family had to obey the Main House. Even if one day they no longer had to obey the Main House, wouldn't they still have to follow the orders of the Konoha High Command?

Konoha was a much bigger birdcage!

The Konoha Ninja might not have Caged Bird Seals on their foreheads, but even without the seals, didn't they still have to follow orders?

What happened if they dared to disobey?

They would be branded deserters and hunted down until they were dead.

If the Konoha High Command suddenly came up with an impossible mission for Keiichi, he would still have to grit his teeth and carry it out. He couldn't fight back.

It was just a matter of going from one cage to another.

They were all trapped in cages. What difference did it make?

Konoha's methods were simply more sophisticated and subtle, so people didn't feel as if they were being enslaved.

"But I'd rather enter Konoha's bigger cage than stay in the Hyuga Clan's birdcage!" Neji said, visibly agitated.

"Fine. Then let me ask you this: why do you believe Naruto can change the fate of the Hyuga Branch Family?"

"With the power of the Hokage, surely he can solve the Branch Family's problem?" Neji looked at Keiichi strangely.

"Konoha has had four Hokage, yet not one of them has tried to solve the Hyuga Clan's Branch Family problem. Do you think they didn't want to?"

"Isn't that right? Don't forget, Hiruzen once ordered Hiashi to atone with his life. Hiashi would rather use his own younger brother as a scapegoat than dare to resist. Doesn't that prove the Hokage has the power to solve the Branch Family problem?" Neji grew agitated.

"Is that really how it works? What do you think would happen if Hiruzen actually demanded that the Hyuga Clan abolish the Main House and Branch Family?"

"That never happened, so how would I know?" Neji waved his hand in frustration.

"I can tell you. If Hiruzen made such a demand, it would be the end of his time as Hokage. Do you believe me?"

"...Why?"

"When Hiruzen dared to demand that Hiashi atone with his life, he stood on Konoha's side, using the prevailing desire to end the war to pressure him. Hiashi couldn't risk angering everyone. But if Hiruzen tried to meddle with the Hyuga Clan's rules, the other ninja clans would feel like rabbits mourning a dead fox. They'd fear Hiruzen was trying to expand the Hokage's authority even further. So they'd all side with Hiashi and oppose him. If the policy couldn't be implemented and Hiruzen lost face, he wouldn't be able to hold on to the Hokage Position!"

Neji felt as if a light had suddenly come on. The fog before his eyes cleared, and he finally saw the truth.

He'd just put on a pitiful performance, and now he was so ashamed he wanted the ground to swallow him up.

No wonder Hiashi had been so confident. He'd had nothing to worry about all along. No one could do anything to him!

"If none of the previous Hokage could solve the Hyuga Clan's problem, why should I expect Naruto to solve it once he takes office?" Neji murmured.

"Don't forget, Hinata is part of the Main House, too. After fighting her, you must have given up your illusions about her, right?"

"Yes..."

Neji knew perfectly well that Hinata might look gentle and timid, but deep down she was a Main House member through and through. She could even treat her own older brother like he wasn't there.

"So if Naruto and Hinata really do get together one day, do you think Naruto would favor the Branch Family for your sake?"

"Then why even suggest it? You might as well have said nothing!" Neji snapped.

"I'm only pointing out one possibility and giving you fair warning, so you don't choose the wrong path when the time comes."

"I really don't understand what you're talking about."

"Enough. I've made the reality clear to you. Naruto has a very good chance of becoming Hokage, but even if he does, he might not be able to solve the Branch Family's problem. Do you agree?"

Neji thought it over for a long time, then reluctantly nodded. "Maybe."

Keiichi's words had mercilessly shattered his one remaining hope.

In that case, I might as well die. There's nothing to look forward to while I'm alive anyway.

He glared at Keiichi resentfully. It was all this guy's fault. If he hadn't said any of that, Neji could have kept dreaming. At least then he'd have some sort of belief to keep him going.

"Neji, if you choose to follow Naruto, I'll feel sorry for you, because you'll have placed all your hopes in someone else. Naruto was right about one thing, at least: people can't give in to fate. Otherwise, there really is no hope."

"This is the Caged Bird Seal. Do you even understand what that means?!" Neji pointed at his forehead, his voice full of sorrow.

"Of course I do. But what would you do if I told you I could remove the Caged Bird Seal, and even teach you how to do it?"

Neji froze. Then his whole body began to tremble.

"Y-You said what?"

"I can undo the Caged Bird Seal," Keiichi said with absolute certainty.

"How is that possible?!"

"Just tell me: do you believe me or Naruto? The choice is yours."

"If you undo it for me, I'll believe you!"

"Not yet. You have to do something for me first. Once you've done it, I'll help you. This is a deal to build trust."

"What do you need?"

"I need you to search through the Hyuga Clan's old records for classified information and find the secret passage to the moon."

"A secret passage to the moon?" Neji sounded as if he were hearing a wild fantasy.

"That's right."

"Are you joking?"

"I'm serious."

Neji studied him for a long moment. Keiichi really didn't seem to be joking. Could there actually be such a thing?

"...What are you really trying to do?" He suddenly found Keiichi impossible to understand.

"I can't tell you much yet. For now, all I can say is that you can trade information about the passage to the moon for a way to undo the Caged Bird Seal. This will be the beginning of our cooperation, not the end."

"Do you think someone in my position in the Branch Family can get access to that kind of information?"

"You might not be able to, but Hinata can."

"You mean..."

"Don't forget, you're her older brother. I'm sure you can play the part of a good big brother, right?"

Neji fell silent. If Hinata really was the key to removing the Cursed Seal, he didn't mind pretending to get along with her.

"Deal!"

"Deal."

With that, Keiichi stood up to leave.

As he walked out, he left Neji with one final remark: "You have to take your fate into your own hands. You'll never gain freedom by relying on someone else."

Hadn't he been relying on others in his previous life, too?

And what had it gotten him? The Ōtsutsuki Clan had still wiped him out.

That was why, in this life, he intended to take control of his own fate and live a different kind of life.

Chapter 68: Shino Aburame's Death

Keiichi hadn't been lying when he promised Neji. He really could remove the Caged Bird Seal.

In fact, the Exchange Shop's Cursed Seal catalog included the Caged Bird Seal. It contained not only the most detailed instructions for applying it, but also the method to remove it.

It didn't matter whether the Main House had it or not. He did.

The only problem was that unlocking the Caged Bird Seal cost 100 Magic Modification Points, which he couldn't afford yet. On top of that, the story's modification level still hadn't reached the 25% requirement.

But by the time Neji found what he was looking for, Keiichi should be able to unlock it.

The reason he valued Neji so highly had nothing to do with them sharing a similar plight. It was Neji himself he valued.

More precisely, it was his Byakugan.

Keiichi knew very well that its advanced form was the Tenseigan.

It was on the same level as the Rinnegan!

To fight off the coming Ōtsutsuki invasion, the power on the Sage of Six Paths' side wouldn't be enough. Keiichi would also need to unite the power on his younger brother Hamura's side, and the Tenseigan was the ultimate achievement of that line.

The Shinobi World had only so many resources. He wanted to make use of every available source of power!

That was why he had chosen Neji Hyuga to become the Tenseigan's bearer.

He could also exchange for the Hyuga Clan's bloodline and acquire the power of the Tenseigan himself, but that wouldn't be worth it.

With the Exchange Shop backing him, his resources were effectively unlimited. He could keep growing stronger with that alone.

But the Shinobi World had only so many resources. The only way to stand against the cosmic disaster that was the Ōtsutsuki was to unite them and place them in the hands of their own people.

In the future, he planned to establish an organization like the Salvation Army, rather than fight alone.

That was why he planned to open the Moon Dungeon before Otsutsuki Toneri evolved his eyes into the Tenseigan and seize its power.

The truth was, the real Tenseigan wasn't Toneri's pair of eyes. It was the Super-Giant Tenseigan, formed from more than a thousand pairs of Byakugan belonging to the Moon Otsutsuki Clan.

Toneri's eyes were, at most, a terminal for receiving the Tenseigan's chakra. Otherwise, how could Otsutsuki chakra and the Byakugan alone possibly give birth to the Tenseigan?

But that was all for later. For now, he was still a nobody, and his immediate goal was simply to advance to Chunin. He couldn't afford to think about any of that yet.

When he returned to the arena, he found the atmosphere unusually tense. Only the dignitaries in the VIP section were standing up and shouting excitedly, as if they'd just witnessed something they'd been eagerly anticipating.

When he turned his gaze to the battlefield, his pupils contracted and his heart jolted.

Shino Aburame was dead!

His head had been severed from his body. The scene was gruesome.

And his killer was none other than Gaara.

Nothing like this had happened in Keiichi's previous life. Shino Aburame had lived to see Naruto's time as Hokage and had even become a Ninja Academy teacher.

But now he was dead, and his death had meant nothing.

"Ten Thousand Insect Burial: Shino Aburame eliminated ahead of schedule. Earned 20 Magic Modification Points."

Keiichi would rather have received no points at all if it meant Shino Aburame could have lived. He was one of the Konoha 12, after all!

How could he have died so suddenly?

This was a wake-up call for Keiichi. He had changed the original course of the story, but that didn't mean things would always turn out for the better. The slightest misstep could have serious consequences.

Perhaps the existence of Timeline Convergence was fate's way of protecting him from letting things spiral into an irreversible disaster.

The Aburame Clan was one of Konoha's great clans, so if someone had really tried to kill Shino, the Jonin present couldn't possibly have stood by and done nothing. Yet Keiichi saw several Special Jonin injured and braced for battle, facing Gaara on the field as if expecting the worst.

In other words, they had intervened, but still hadn't managed to save Shino Aburame.

Keiichi suddenly felt a chill of fear. If Gaara had attacked him by force last night, would he have been dead too?

He'd gotten cocky. He really had been getting far too cocky lately!

He hadn't expected Gaara to be this strong!

Gaara glanced at the Konoha Jonin present, snorted, and left the battlefield. Everyone around him gave him a wide berth.

The sight of him tearing his opponent apart had been so horrifying and shocking that it had left a deep impression on everyone!

"Hey, hey. Don't you think he's acting a little strange? Why go so far? What if it messes up the plan?" Kankuro whispered to Temari.

"Then why don't you go ask him?"

"Forget it. I don't dare get on his bad side." Kankuro shrank back.

People dying during the Chunin Ninja Exams was nothing unusual, and everyone was prepared for it. So, after the battlefield was cleaned up, they acted as if the tragedy had never happened, and the third match began soon after.

"Keiichi vs. [Mummy] Dosu."

What a joke. Keiichi didn't even have a title.

That caught quite a few people's attention. When they asked around, they learned that Keiichi was an N-Rank Card, the sort of filler trash that didn't even get a title.

Even R-Rank Cards had their own titles, didn't they?