Neji had few choices. Or rather, if he wanted to obtain the Dragon Vein, he had only one option: join Konoha's side and defeat the invasion from the other ninja villages, or at the very least break the Sand Village's offensive.
Fortunately, he had originally belonged to Konoha.
Revealing himself and declaring his identity rashly would hardly be wise, but if the other party was Hashirama Senju, that was another matter.
He had even yielded the position of Hokage to Madara Uchiha. Neji believed that Hashirama's personality in this time-space could not have changed too much.
Besides, the Shikkotsu Forest Sage Art he had inherited and Tsunade's Senju Clan bloodline were the most genuine proof.
At worst, things could not get any worse than they already were.
Along the way, Neji drove his chakra at full force, even activating Sage Mode without hesitation.
Natural energy surged through his meridians, infinitely expanding his vision and perception, but the horrific scenes along the way weighed heavily on his heart.
The charred edge of the forest was piled with the wreckage of Sand Village puppets, while much of the familiar terrain had been blasted into ruin.
Though the corpses had all been removed, dark-red blood had stained the earth the color of rust.
The smoke of war gnawed at the land, driving even the birds away.
After racing for a day and night, the outline of Konoha's main camp finally emerged on the horizon.
Neji suddenly stopped. Within Sage Mode's sensory net, a vast energy of the same origin was spreading out from the center of the camp—it was Hashirama's Sage Art fluctuation.
"So he really is here..."
He took a deep breath, decisively retreated several kilometers, then released the natural energy unique to Shikkotsu Forest.
Sage Chakra spread out like ripples. It