The face reflected in the mirror, set off by the deliberately imitated indifferent expression and the gradually formed "Caged Bird Seal" Cursed Seal, gradually overlapped with the face of Neji's father Hizashi Hyuga in Neji's memory... No, it was almost exactly the same!
Hiashi and Hizashi are twin brothers, with extremely similar appearances.
At this moment, Main Family deliberately restrained his unique calm demeanor and painted Hiashi with Caged Bird Seal. In Neji's eyes, in a trance, he actually overlapped with the figure of his father who had passed away long ago and was always gentle and tinged with pain in his memory.
Neji stared blankly, forgetting words and questions.
Time seems to be flowing backwards at this moment, and it seems to be distorted.
He looked at his "father" in the mirror, marking himself with shame and pain. His heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible hand. Sourness, pain, shock, confusion... all kinds of emotions surged through him, almost making him unsteady.
He had never seen his uncle like this, and he had never thought that he would "see" his father in such a way, so close, and almost like the real thing.
Hiashi focused on the sketch in his hand, and seemed unaware of Neji's shock.
It wasn't until the last stroke came down that a complete and realistic mark of "Caged Bird Seal" appeared on his forehead. He put down the pen and looked at the mirror carefully for a moment.
"Hizashi" in the mirror has cold eyes and a glaring Cursed Seal on his forehead.
Hiashi slowly turned his head and looked at Neji, who was standing blankly on the spot, his pupils shaking.
At this moment, his voice was also deliberately lowered, erasing the usual calm and majestic tone, and taking on a hint of hoarseness and coldness that matched this outfit, and even subtly imitated the tone of his younger brother Hizashi in his memory at certain moments:
"Neji, do you see clearly?"
He pointed at the green mark on his forehead that looked real.
"From now until dawn... I am not Hyuga Hiashi."
He stood up, and the black evil ghost Golden Cloak hung down with the movement, and the ghost head on the shoulder armor seemed to be roaring silently.
The "Caged Bird Seal" on the forehead actually shimmered with an ominous light under the dim light.
"I am Hizashi."
He said, his voice filled with a deep pain and determination that had been suppressed for too long.
"A... person who has long been 'dead', an avenger who returned from Pure Land."
"What do you mean?"
Neji's voice is very cold and hard.
Hiashi What does this mean? He was originally one of the murderers who killed his father.
His father died for him, and now he is acting coquettishly here.
Hiashi looked at his nephew and sighed, "You can accuse or resent me. Your father died because of me. I won't deny this. But before that, Neji... it's time to let you know the complete situation at that time.
It's not the understatement of 'going to justice for a brother' in the genealogy, nor is it the fragments you hear from others.
It's everything, including the compromise of light and the deal with darkness."
He sat down again, and during his movements, Golden Cloak's ghost lines squirmed like living creatures, and the fake Cursed Seal on his forehead seemed to be deeper.
"Fifteen or six years ago."
He began to narrate, his voice sinking into the smoke of the past.
"At that time, Konoha's 'Yellow Flash' Minato Namikaze came out of nowhere, shocking all countries with unparalleled speed and power. He eventually succeeded Fourth Hokage, bringing a short-lived and hopeful boost to the village. However, the foundation of peace is far from solid.
Third Shinobi World War Although the smoke has gradually dissipated, the post-war negotiations are like tangled threads, with countries pulling at each other endlessly, and it is difficult to settle on a tone that satisfies both parties."
"Twelve years ago, disaster struck. Nine-Tailed Demon Fox appeared in Konoha without any warning. The pattern of Three-Tomoe Sharingan was clearly reflected in those brutal beast eyes."
Hiashi's voice was low, with a hint of the heaviness unique to that era Survivor.
"Many people have seen that it was controlled by Sharingan. In order to protect the village, Fourth Hokage and his wife re-sealed Nine-Tails at the cost of their lives. The hero fell and Konoha's vitality was severely damaged.
Because Nine-Tails was controlled by Sharingan, the conflict between the village and Uchiha intensified, and both parties distrusted each other. This resulted in Konoha's already limited power being unable to effectively deter surrounding countries in order to prevent the occurrence of civil strife.
The already difficult post-war negotiations have been postponed indefinitely due to various reasons.
Among them, Kumogakure is the most cunning and arrogant. They took advantage of Konoha's weakness and delayed the treaty that should have been concluded early until three years later."
His eyes seemed to have traveled through time and walls, falling on the night of the Hyuga mansion nine years ago.
"Nine years ago, that night.
The Kumogakure delegation officially visited, ostensibly to renew the peace agreement, but secretly they coveted our Byakugan.
A thief, relying on his superb stealth skills and bold spying on Hyuga Clan Compound, took advantage of the opportunity to sneak in with a clear goal - to kidnap the young Hinata, the heir of the Main Family."
Neji's fingers tightened suddenly, and his knuckles turned white.
He knew about the beginning, but he had never heard such a detailed description from the perspective of the person involved.
"I'll give chase after noticing."
Hiashi continued to talk, his tone was as calm as if he was telling someone else's story, but there was a cold light flashing deep in his eyes.
"I caught up with him at the border and shot him down from the air with a Eight Trigrams Vacuum Palm. I controlled the force, intending to stun the capture and find out what was going on behind the scenes. However... when I came down to check, the man was already dead.
What's even more shocking is that after taking off his disguise, we discovered that he is actually one of the official members of the Kumogakure mission."
"We knew immediately that it was a conspiracy, a conspiracy against the Hyuga Clan."
"The Kumogakure mission immediately attacked and counterattacked, claiming that their envoy was killed by Hyuga Clan Leader for no reason during the 'friendly consultation' period. They demanded that Konoha severely punish the murderer and hand over my life. Otherwise, it will be regarded as tearing up the peace agreement and war will resume."
"At that time, Konoha had just recovered a little from the trauma of Nine-Tails' Attack. The void left by Fourth Hokage had not yet been completely filled. Third was also under great pressure to return to power.
At the high-level meeting, the cloud of war overwhelmed everyone.
Kumogakure's wolfish ambitions are obvious. They may have planned to use the death of the messenger as an excuse to either get rid of me, the murderer of the Kumogakure messenger, to plot Byakugan, or to force Konoha to make concessions and reap huge benefits."
"Hyuga Clan clan elders are urgently discussing behind closed doors."
Speaking of this, Hiashi's voice was filled with extremely complex emotions, including sarcasm, sadness, and deep powerlessness.
"They came up with a so-called 'best of both worlds' solution: let my twin brother Hizashi Hyuga, your father, die in my place.
Using our almost identical appearance, the body of Hizashi was handed over to Kumogakure, and it was announced that Hizashi, the murderer of Kumogakure, had committed suicide and apologized."
Then Hiashi paused and dryly stated the outcome of the matter:
"Your father agreed and committed suicide. The last words he left to me were, 'I did not die to fulfill my obligations to the Branch Family. I was willing to die for my brother as a younger brother.'
This is the way it is."