Senju Yunju

Neji turned around. His Byakugan vision had mostly recovered. He looked at the Sound Ninja before him, whose entire body was wrapped in bandages. There was no killing intent or smugness in the only exposed left eye.

"What do you want to say?" Neji asked.

Yunju glanced at Rock Lee and Tenten, then at Zaku and Kin, unconscious in the distance.

"Your teammates can hear this," Yunju said. "Mine can't."

Neji gave a slight nod.

"Orochimaru." Yunju spoke the name.

Neji frowned. Rock Lee and Tenten exchanged looks—Orochimaru, one of the Three Sannin, an S-rank rogue ninja, Konoha's greatest enemy.

"He came to Konoha this time for more than just the Chunin Exams," Yunju said. "He has a bigger plan."

"What plan?" Neji asked.

"I don't know all of it." Yunju lowered his voice. "But I can tell you the parts I know."

He paused.

"Orochimaru is interested in bloodline limits. Especially two of them—the Byakugan and the Sharingan."

Neji's gaze sharpened.

"His target for the Sharingan is Sasuke Uchiha. Orochimaru has already placed a cursed seal on him," Yunju said. "As for the Byakugan..."

He looked into Neji's eyes.

"Orochimaru set his sights on you in the Forest of Death."

Neji did not speak immediately.

Rock Lee's voice rose several notches. "You're saying Orochimaru has his eyes on Neji?"

Yunju did not answer Rock Lee. He only looked at Neji.

Neji was silent for a moment.

"You told me all this because you want me to do something?" he asked.

"It's not about making you do anything," Yunju said. "It's about letting you know. The Chunin Exams aren't over yet, and neither is Orochimaru's plan. You can judge for yourself in the coming exams—whether what I said is true."

Neji looked at Yunju, his face reflected in the Byakugan.

"You're a Sound Ninja? Does that mean the Sound Ninja are Orochimaru's forces? You're working with Orochimaru."

"I used the identity of a Sound Ninja," Yunju said. "Because I want to break away from Orochimaru's people."

That answer caught Neji slightly off guard.

"Neji Hyuga." Yunju called him by his full name.

Neji looked at him.

"Orochimaru wants your Byakugan," Yunju said.

Neji remained silent.

Then, he suddenly smiled.

It was neither mockery nor disdain, but a complicated smile that was impossible to explain.

"The Byakugan?" Neji's voice was soft. "If he has the ability, he can come take it."

He raised a hand and pointed to the forehead protector on his brow. Beneath it, a green mark could faintly be seen.

"I have the Caged Bird," Neji said. "He can't take it."

Rock Lee and Tenten both looked at Neji, their expressions complicated. They both knew what the Caged Bird meant to Neji—it was the shackle of his entire life, the root of his hatred for the Hyuga main family.

Ironic.

But true.

Yunju looked at Neji, and something stirred slightly within him.

Neji explained what the Caged Bird cursed seal was.

Caged Bird. Yunju had not known about it before—a secret of the Hyuga clan, not information outsiders could easily access. Only now did he learn that the Byakugan had this additional layer of protection.

"That's good," Yunju said, without any unnecessary emotion in his voice.

He turned and walked toward the unconscious Zaku and Kin.

"Wait."

Neji's voice came from behind him.

Yunju stopped, but did not turn back.

"What's your name?" Neji asked.

Yunju fell silent.

Behind the bandages, thoughts raced through his left eye.

Dosu? No. Dosu was Orochimaru's man. If he said Dosu, this conversation would have been meaningless.

What about another name?

A name unrelated to the Sound Ninja.

A name Konoha could not ignore.

He turned around to face the three of them.

"Senju."

He spoke the surname.

Then he paused, as if hesitating over whether to give his full name.

"Senju Yunju."

The air in the forest clearing seemed to freeze.

Rock Lee's mouth fell open and would not close.

The kunai in Tenten's hand fell to the ground again.

Neji's Byakugan widened sharply—not because of any ninja technique, but from shock.

Senju.

The Senju of the Forest.

The Senju clan that had founded Konoha.

Neji was the first to regain his composure.

"Senju..." He repeated the surname, his voice filled with complicated emotions—doubt, shock, confusion. "The Senju clan should already have..."

"Disappeared," Yunju finished for him. "I know."

He turned, his back to the three of them.

"But disappearing doesn't mean extinction."

He said nothing more. Walking over to Zaku and Kin, he hoisted Zaku over one shoulder, then pulled one of Kin's arms over his other shoulder and helped her to her feet.

Neji watched his retreating back in silence for a long time.

Rock Lee walked over to Neji's side and asked softly, "Neji... what he said..."

"I know," Neji cut him off.

He lowered his head and looked at his hands.

Senju.

A surname that existed only in legends.

And now, a descendant of that legend stood in the Forest of Death, telling him that Orochimaru had set his sights on his Byakugan.

Neji raised his head and looked in the direction Yunju had gone. The bandage-wrapped figure was already nearly gone into the depths of the forest.

"Senju Yunju," Neji quietly repeated the name.

Tenten had not heard clearly. "What?"

"Nothing." Neji gathered his thoughts and returned to his usual calm. "Let's go. To the central tower."