Sasuke looked at Neji. "Are you serious? This is inside the village. I don't know how strong you've become, but you'd better think through the consequences. Once the ninja pouring in tie you down, you're dead. And if ninja from your Hyuga Clan get there right away, you definitely won't make it out alive."
Neji said calmly, "Of course I'm serious. I've already thought through all the consequences. At worst, I'll just become a rogue ninja afterward."
Sasuke fell silent for a moment, then asked, "Is there a range limit when your Hyuga Main Family activates the Caged Bird Seal?"
"Of course!" Neji nodded. "There's no such thing as a ninjutsu that can be activated regardless of distance."
Sasuke nodded in understanding, then asked, "Then when are you planning to act?"
"I haven't figured out the patterns of the Root personnel's guard shifts and movements yet. I'll wait a few more days. I'm just here to give you a heads-up," Neji said.
Sasuke gave him a long look, then said solemnly, "If it really won't work, don't push it. Given your situation, you could just wait a few years. Maybe your Tenseigan will awaken by then."
Neji laughed. "I know my limits. I'm not like you, puffing up like a balloon the moment your strength improves a little."
Sasuke snorted, then looked at Neji. "Speaking of which, why are you going to steal from Root? What could possibly make you take such a huge risk? Is it worth it? Do you absolutely have to steal it from Root? Can't you find it elsewhere?"
Looking at Sasuke, Neji shook his head. "If I could find it elsewhere, I wouldn't be targeting Root. What I need is sealing jutsu—sealing jutsu capable of sealing a tailed beast!"
"Sealing jutsu capable of sealing a tailed beast?!" Sasuke looked at Neji in surprise. "You're after a tailed beast?"
"But what do you need a tailed beast for?" Sasuke couldn't figure it out.
Looking at the puzzled Sasuke, Neji pointed to his eyes. "These eyes are absorbing my chakra, and the amount they absorb increases as time passes."
"So that's what's happening..." Sasuke instinctively activated his Sharingan to take a look.
Although the Sharingan couldn't see through things, it could still observe chakra. As long as chakra was flowing, it could see it.
That was also the principle behind its ability to copy ninjutsu.
"Sure enough..." After observing for a while, Sasuke murmured, "When your chakra enters your eyes and comes back out, some of it is gone."
Through his Sharingan, Sasuke saw Neji's chakra connecting the meridians and chakra points throughout his body. After flowing through his eyes and coming back out, a portion of that chakra disappeared.
He looked at Neji. "If that's the case, sooner or later you won't be able to sustain these eyes."
Neji nodded. "Now you understand."
Sasuke nodded. "Looking at it that way, you really do need an enormous source of chakra. Otherwise, these eyes will drain you to death."
"The Tenseigan isn't that easy to awaken. We took a shortcut back then," Neji sighed.
Sasuke nodded silently as well. He had suspected as much ever since learning about the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan. Properly awakening the Rinnegan should have come after obtaining the Eternal Mangekyō Sharingan, not at his current stage.
Seeing Neji develop this problem left him somewhat worried, too.
"Are you sure we can't get sealing jutsu capable of sealing a tailed beast through Cat Granny's connections?" Sasuke still wasn't ready to give up.
Neji looked at him and shook his head. "Sealing jutsu are different from regular ninjutsu. Generally speaking, the higher a sealing jutsu's rank, the stronger its sealing capability. Its rank measures both how difficult it is to learn and how powerful it is. The sealing jutsu circulating outside are too weak to be of any use."
"Then how are you so sure Root has sealing jutsu powerful enough?" Sasuke gave him a puzzled look.
Without changing his expression, Neji made up a lie. "Through my Byakugan, I saw a ninja proficient in sealing jutsu place an extremely powerful sealing jutsu on Danzo."
He couldn't exactly say that he wasn't sure whether Root had what he needed, either. Given his current situation, Neji could only take a gamble.
"What a shame your Byakugan can't copy ninjutsu. Otherwise, you wouldn't have to go to all this trouble," Sasuke said regretfully.
Sasuke also believed that any sealing jutsu placed on the powerful figure who commanded Root had to be among the strongest.
Neji teased him. "Why don't you lend me one of your Sharingan? Maybe then I could copy ninjutsu directly from a distance."
"Don't even think about it." Sasuke immediately grew wary.
"I was just joking," Neji said.
Now that he had brought it up, Neji genuinely wondered what would happen if the Sharingan and Byakugan were used together.
The Byakugan could see through things, allowing direct penetration of anything within the range of its eye power. The Sharingan, meanwhile, offered perception and copying abilities, and its excellent ability to track motion surpassed even the Byakugan's.
Neji was very curious whether combining the Byakugan and Sharingan would really allow him to copy ninjutsu from a distance.
If it really worked, just imagining the scene was wonderful: he could sit at home while ninjutsu fell into his lap.
If Kakashi were given a Byakugan, could he use Kamui from an incredibly long distance? The thought made Neji's heart itch as though a swarm of ants were crawling over it.
I'll see whether I get a chance to try it in the future, Neji thought.
"You aren't seriously thinking about swapping in a Sharingan, are you?" Sasuke took two steps back as he watched Neji ponder.
Amused, Neji looked at him and said, "Your eyes aren't good enough for me. They'd have to be Mangekyō Sharingan at the very least before I'd be interested."
To Neji, an ordinary Sharingan was no longer of much use. Only a Mangekyō Sharingan containing a special dōjutsu could catch his interest.
And that special dōjutsu couldn't be Amaterasu or Tsukuyomi. Even a dog would shake its head at those two.
They sounded incredibly powerful on paper, but their actual combat performance was miserable. Kamui was leagues ahead of Amaterasu and Tsukuyomi.
"Tch!" Sasuke scoffed. "Mangekyō Sharingan? You make them sound like weeds growing by the roadside, there for the taking whenever you want."
If Neji weren't limited to just two eye sockets, he would have given Sasuke a real eye-opener and shown him what was out there.
With a slightly odd expression, Neji said, "You never know."
"Heh." Sasuke had long since picked up plenty of things from Neji, and that little "heh" was one of them.
Sasuke looked at him. "Uchiha Itachi told me back then that if I managed to awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan, there would still only be three people in the entire world with those legendary eyes."
"In other words, only two people have those eyes right now. Thinking back on it, the other Mangekyō Sharingan wielder must have been Uchiha Itachi's accomplice that night."
Sasuke folded his arms. "Tell me, how are you going to take their eyes? Don't tell me you think you're already stronger than they are?"
Before you continue