Neji stared at the Shadow Clones in his field of vision, unable to tell the real ones from the fakes. His Byakugan trembled violently as countless figures filled his sight, leaving him no way to pick out the originals.
With this much interference and no wide-area attacks at their disposal, they had no answer to the situation.
He withdrew his gaze and spoke gravely.
"No."
"They have too many Shadow Clones. Our tactics have failed. There's no point continuing to snipe them from a distance."
Neji spoke in a low voice and turned decisively.
"Come on, keep retreating. Run as far as you can and buy some time for your companions!"
Beside him, Kidomaru froze for a moment. How had their opponent reacted so quickly?
Neji's voice was icy as he urged them again without hesitation.
"That man's reaction speed and tactical mind are nothing an ordinary person can match. If we waste any more time, none of us will escape."
As Neji finished speaking, Kidomaru and Tayuya exchanged a glance. They had long since prepared themselves to die.
Besides, with their current injuries, they would inevitably be caught if they ran with him. They would only become burdens to the group then.
Kidomaru drew a deep breath. His deformed, half-spider limbs tensed slightly as he gritted his teeth.
"Neji, go."
"Tayuya and I are injured. We can't run anymore. We'll stay here and stop those two."
Tayuya tightened her grip on the Summoning Flute, her expression utterly serious.
"I don't know what burdens you carry, and I don't understand why you defected.
"But you're a genius of the Hyuga Clan, with their blood flowing through your veins. To Orochimaru, you're worth far more than we are."
"If you want revenge, go find Lord Orochimaru. He'll definitely be able to help you.
"You shouldn't die here."
"Go."
Kidomaru spoke solemnly.
"Do what you set out to do."
Neither Kidomaru nor Tayuya indulged in any sentimentality. Mainly, neither of them had any emotional bond with Neji, and they certainly weren't going to use feelings to manipulate him.
Looking at the two who would cover his retreat, Neji felt the oppression, resentment, and hurt that had built up in his heart for years all melt away in that moment.
The Caged Bird Seal that had bound him for half his life, the injustice of the branch family's fate, the cold indifference of Konoha's rules... he cast them all aside.
In Konoha, the Hyuga Clan's Main Family only treated him as an object they could sacrifice at any time. Yet despite treating him as expendable, they dressed it up in such lofty language.
But in these Otogakure ninja, he saw a candor and honesty he had never encountered before. If they were being treated as tools, they would acknowledge it openly.
Why bother dressing it up like that?
If they were already tools, why decorate that fact with family bloodlines, affection, friendship... and the Will of Fire?
But now, he no longer needed to shoulder anyone's expectations or accommodate anyone's rules.
Freedom was so effortless after all.
The Caged Bird Seal couldn't imprison him. It never could!
"Are you not afraid I'll betray Orochimaru?"
Neji looked at Kidomaru and Tayuya as he asked.
"That's your business... if we become enemies again, we won't show you any mercy."
Hearing Kidomaru and Tayuya's answer,
Neji wasted no more words. He turned and leaped away, disappearing into the depths of the forest without looking back.
Watching Neji vanish into the distance, Kidomaru and Tayuya cleared their minds of every distraction. Chakra surged wildly through their bodies, and Cursed Seal markings crawled across their skin as they readied themselves for battle.
Both were so tense they hardly dared breathe.
Against a monster like Miki Yūya, who defied all common sense, overwhelmed them with Taijutsu, radiated mental intimidation, and remained immune to genjutsu throughout, conventional ninjutsu was useless.
Only wide-area ninjutsu or overwhelming him directly with Taijutsu could break the deadlock, but neither of them excelled at either.
They could only steel themselves and fight to the death.
The two made their preparations where they stood. Before long, both sensed something.
"He's here."
They murmured in warning as the forest air suddenly tore apart.
A piercing whistle came from within the forest.
An incredibly fast black blur burst through the foliage and charged straight at them.
"You two lousy outsiders!"
"Last time, you ran faster than rabbits. Now you've come all the way to Konoha's doorstep looking for trouble? You're asking to die!"
Miki Yūya's furious curses rang out, and an instant later, he arrived on the battlefield.
Kidomaru's heart jolted. Not daring to hold anything back, he frantically spun threads from his hands!
Countless white spider threads instantly crisscrossed the entire forest, forming a massive, tightly woven web cage infused with powerful chakra, sealing off every route Miki Yūya could take.
"You Konoha lowlife! You're trash who doesn't even have chakra. Go play with your rocks!"
"Let me show you a ninja's power."
The next instant, countless poisoned kunai shot out, propelled by the springlike force of spider threads pulled taut with chakra.
The kunai flew through the gaps in the web, blanketing the entire area and cutting off every possible angle of evasion!
"Secret Technique: Spider Nest Kill Formation!"
Kidomaru roared. Even if Miki Yūya could protect his vital points, an attack with coverage like this would surely injure him.
"Damn you, you wretched Konoha villager! Don't underestimate the power of ninja!"
In the next instant, the countless kunai all pierced "Miki Yūya's" body.
Kidomaru and Tayuya both froze. Miki Yūya hadn't dodged at all. His body had been completely riddled with holes.
But then...
Poof!
White smoke burst outward.
The Miki Yūya before them transformed, revealing himself to be one of Naruto's Shadow Clones.
With another "poof," Naruto burst into a cloud of white smoke on the spot, his clone vanishing inside the spiderweb formation.
Kidomaru's pupils contracted sharply, and his heart turned to ice.
Shit!
Just then, a terrifying spiritual pressure that made their scalps prickle and their minds tremble suddenly descended from above, engulfing the entire battlefield.
A shadow instantly fell over Kidomaru, bringing that scalp-numbing sensation with it.
That familiar oppressive presence struck again!
"You motherfucker! I knew you sons of bitches would play dirty!"
Miki Yūya's furious roar came from overhead.
Kidomaru hurriedly looked up, crossing his arms above his head and pouring all his chakra into defense, doing everything he could to withstand the blow.
But in the next instant, a savage sweeping kick smashed down!
Bam!!!
The explosive impact sent leaves flying everywhere!
Terrifying wind pressure swept across Kidomaru's entire face, its force scraping painfully against his skin while the bones in both arms groaned under the unbearable strain!
Crack!
The branch of the towering tree beneath Kidomaru snapped instantly!
As though struck by a truck, he was kicked straight out of the treetop and slammed into the dirt below, both arms completely ruined.
Kidomaru's pupils shook. You're a villager, yet you used another ninja's clone as bait? Aren't you fucking supposed to know neither ninjutsu nor chakra?
How can you use someone else's techniques like that?
But Miki Yūya wasn't about to give Kidomaru time to think. The moment he landed, he sprang off both feet, charging toward Kidomaru with his body almost skimming the ground.
Humm!
A shrill, urgent flute melody suddenly rang out!
Tayuya's eyes were bloodshot as she drove her Summoning Technique to its limits!
Three puppets lunged ferociously at Miki Yūya in a triangular encirclement, forcibly interrupting his pursuit!
"Stop him!"
Tayuya screamed through gritted teeth.
But to Miki Yūya, this puppet encirclement was child's play.
He neither dodged nor retreated. Facing the puppet charging straight at him, he abruptly tensed the muscles of his right arm and threw a simple punch!
Bang!
A dull impact rang out.
The puppet's hard outer shell instantly cracked and shattered, fractures spreading across its entire body as fragments and parts flew everywhere!
This is the power of raw stats, bastard.
The puppet in front of him was wrecked with a single punch, losing all ability to move!
The puppets on his left and right attacked simultaneously. Miki Yūya deftly twisted aside, easily avoiding both slashes before reaching back and precisely catching the right-hand puppet's arm.
He flexed his arm and swung hard!
He used the heavy puppet's body like a meteor hammer, smashing it viciously into the puppet on the other side!
Two crashes rang out. Both puppets suffered heavy damage, their movements faltering!
Hidden nearby, the badly injured Kidomaru endured the agonizing pain and kept leaping around under the cover of the trees, searching for a blind spot from which to launch a sneak attack.
But it was useless.
Miki Yūya's Observation Haki had no blind spots whatsoever.
Every sneak attack failed!
The battle was a completely one-sided beatdown!
Miki Yūya cursed furiously as he pummeled the two.
"Orochimaru really is disgusting!"
"You malformed freaks from Otogakure are just like Danzo, aren't you?"
"Danzo experiments on living people and messes with people in a vegetative state. You follow Orochimaru around breeding human-animal hybrids and creating deformed mutants!"
"Every last one of you is sick and twisted. No wonder that Orochimaru bastard is so creepy!"
[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +3] [Ding! Conqueror's Haki +5]
Amid the insults, the battle came to a definitive end.
Almost all of Kidomaru's arms had been broken. Covered in injuries, he had completely lost the ability to fight.
Tayuya was also badly wounded and lay collapsed nearby. There was nothing she could do. Kidomaru had fared somewhat better, but Miki Yūya was a natural counter to Tayuya.
Utterly defeated, the two could only wait to die.
Yet even now, they couldn't bear to hear Miki Yūya insult Orochimaru. They continued to grit their teeth.
"You're nothing but an unemployed bum from Konoha, a worthless piece of trash!
"What gives you the right to insult Lord Orochimaru?"
"Me, trash?"
Miki Yūya laughed. He stepped forward and kicked the barely breathing Kidomaru over beside Tayuya, then leaned down and planted one foot firmly on Tayuya's face, grinding her into the dirt.
[Ding! Armament Haki +5] [Ding! Armament Haki +3]
His Armament Haki hadn't increased at all during the fight. But now that the two couldn't even resist and Miki Yūya was subjecting them to a vicious bout of physical bullying and humiliation, things were different.
Miki Yūya wasn't using much force. It was pure humiliation.
"Open your fucking eyes and take a good look!"
"I'm just a villager who doesn't know anything."
"And I'm still grinding you both beneath my feet."
"When it comes to strength, I beat you senseless. When it comes to looks, you're both hideous, malformed freaks!"
"You're worthless from head to toe, and you still dare yap at me?"
"..."
Damn it, he was stronger than them. Fine, that was true. Handsome... that was true too. But!
"So what if you're handsome?"
"Konoha is full of scum, and people like you are a plague! With Konoha being the birthplace of the Will of Fire, do you even deserve to be one of its villagers?"
"Miki Yūya, you motherless orphan! An ill-bred piece of trash like you dares insult Lord Orochimaru?"
Both were on the verge of death, but they refused to draw their last breath. They could die, but absolutely not like this, not in such humiliation.
Hearing their words, Miki Yūya's anger surged again. He pointed at the half-dead Kidomaru and shouted abuse.
"You two dare call me scum and say I have no manners? Take a look at yourselves!"
"Especially you, you motherfucker! You're the scum of the earth!"
"I've never seen anything so vile in my life."
"Kiba protects Akamaru like his own brother, and you fucking used your strength to bully a dog instead of a person?"
"You tied Kiba up, shaved off all the dog's fur, and even wrote 'Justice' on him!"
"Who are you, a sewer rat, to drag a Navy admiral's justice into your bullshit? Wasn't Akainu's only mistake at the Marineford War not killing Koby with one punch? Did you really have to pull this cuckolding crap?"
"Ptooey!"
"Shameful! Even a scu... even a moral, civilized, responsible Konoha villager like me finds it shameful! What the hell kind of people does Orochimaru have working for him?"
[Ding! Conqueror's Haki +7]
Miki Yūya really wasn't wrong. The Inuzuka Clan's ninja dogs were their companions, their closest companions-the kind who truly counted as family.
Miki Yūya couldn't for the life of him figure out what the fuck that idiot Kidomaru had been thinking. If he wanted to stand up for Neji, he could've just beaten the guy up, for fuck's sake.
Instead, he'd shaved the guy's dog, made him stand there and watch, and even written on the dog.
The more Miki Yūya cursed, the more worked up he got. His foot showed no mercy either, pressing down and grinding Kidomaru's face against the ground.
But just then.
A voice rang out behind Miki Yūya.
"You over there."
"Which way did the Otogakure ninja and Naruto run?"
Hearing that voice, Miki Yūya turned to look, and the character for "love" above Gaara's brow caught his eye.
"A tattoo, huh? You think having a tattoo makes you hot shit?"
Before you continue