Chapter 190: Orochimaru: "Ikeizumi, we meet again!"
"Hinata Hyūga, you..."
Just as the two people in front of Hinata were about to say something, a sudden whoosh sound came from far away, getting closer.
This was immediately followed by a painful scream.
Hinata looked up in surprise.
She saw one of the people in front of her on the ground, clutching the back of his head in pain. The other one hurriedly turned around, only to also let out a shriek, clutching his head and crouching down, trembling in pain.
Hinata also saw two objects fall. Looking closely, she saw they were two wooden kunai. The blunted tips of the wooden kunai were stained with a faint trace of blood.
These two hits likely cracked both of their skulls.
"You're still as cowardly as ever." A familiar voice entered Hinata Hyūga's ears. She saw Neji Hyūga walking toward her.
"Neji-nii-san..."
Neji Hyūga ignored the two Academy students clutching their heads. He stood in front of Hinata Hyūga and said emotionlessly: "No one can protect you forever, not even justice. If you don't want to be bullied, abandon your status as the Main House Young Mistress, and abandon that meaningless, cowardly thought of 'not wanting to hurt others.'"
After speaking, he slightly lowered his head and said to the two boys: "Next time, if I see you verbally bullying your classmates at the Academy again, it won't be as simple as a wooden kunai to the head."
The two Academy students had already recognized him as Neji Hyūga, the Ninja Academy's top genius.
One of them clutched his forehead and said through gritted teeth, "Aren't you from the Hyūga Branch House? Why are you helping this Main House Young Mistress? Didn't your Branch House already win against the Main House? Or have you been protecting her for so long that you've gotten used to being the Hyūga Main House's dog?"
The other boy was so shocked and numb by his companion's outburst that he was speechless.
If Neji Hyūga got angry because of this, both of them would definitely get a beating!
However, Neji Hyūga said with a complete lack of emotion: "I am intervening to stop your bullying of her from the standpoint of [Absolute Justice], not as a member of the Hyūga Branch House protecting her. There is a fundamental difference between the two."
Neji-nii-san's tone is a little bit like that terrifying man's. He seems to be deliberately mimicking him, but he's not very good at it, Hinata thought to herself.
After that.
She heard Neji Hyūga speak to her: "Next time something like this happens, you can tell me directly."
Hinata watched Neji walk around her and leave.
It seemed...
Neji-nii-san wasn't as repulsed by her as he used to be.
Hinata murmured in her heart.
"You... what are you saying? I don't understand." Nao Hekawa's innermost layer of clothing was already soaked with sweat.
However, at the end of the day, he was a spy meticulously trained by Orochimaru, so his acting skills were up to par.
The expression on his face didn't betray him.
He appropriately feigned a hint of fear, as if he had just realized that Ikeizumi Uchiha was wearing a Military Police uniform. He spoke with a regional accent, saying in a flustered tone: "Um... did I accidentally violate some Konoha Village law? I just arrived in Konoha not long ago, and I don't know many of the rules. Your Konoha Village should also advocate for 'ignorance of the law is not an offense,' right?"
"Your acting is so fake, meow."
Kijirō mercilessly exposed Nao Hekawa's lie. It said disdainfully: "That kind of acting and micro-expressions can only deceive some inexperienced ninja. In my eyes, I can smell the emotions on you. You're shocked right now, aren't you?"
"You're shocked that Ikeizumi-sama could find you, and you're shocked that Ikeizumi-sama knows you're connected to Orochimaru, and you're even more shocked that Ikeizumi-sama caught you before you could make a move on the Byakugan."
"Meow, although Orochimaru was exiled from Konoha, he seems to be doing quite well out there, occasionally sending a few spies back."
Nao Hekawa, whose backside was starting to sweat with nervousness, took a few terrified steps back, staring at Kijirō in disbelief.
"The cat... that cat..."
"It talked!?"
"Ikeizumi-sama, it looks like he's not giving up," Kijirō said.
"Arrest him and hand him over to the Yamanaka clan," Ikeizumi Uchiha said slowly. "Let a Yamanaka clan ninja check his memories to see if he's a spy sent by Orochimaru."
Nao Hekawa: "!!!"
Damn it!
He had heard that Ikeizumi Uchiha was an extremely radical guy, but it was only when he became a "victim" of [Absolute Justice] that he realized how outrageous the guy was.
Do Konoha's ninja just let this guy run wild in the village?
The Konoha Village without Orochimaru-sama is indeed in a state of chaos!
A thousand thoughts flashed through Nao Hekawa's mind, and he gritted his teeth.
He directly bit down on one of his molars, and in an instant, a cloud of black smoke spread from his mouth. He inhaled sharply through his nose, then exhaled the black smoke, and in the blink of an eye, half the street was shrouded in thick black smoke.
Nao Hekawa turned and ran without hesitation!
He was confident that he could even hold his own against Konoha's Elite Jōnin, but in front of Ikeizumi Uchiha, he had no desire to fight at all. This radical Uchiha's strength had long exceeded the level of a Jōnin.
He was definitely not someone he could handle.
Damn it...
He had just messed up the mission Orochimaru-sama gave him. Now he could only run and see if he could escape Konoha.
Whoosh!
At that moment, an orange-yellow figure tore through the layers of black smoke, chasing after Nao Hekawa like a released arrow.
Kijirō's cat paw suddenly became massive.
It swatted down at Nao Hekawa.
BANG!!!
Nao Hekawa's body dissolved into a puff of white smoke—it was a Shadow Clone.
"Hah... hah..."
In a hidden alley in Konoha, a profusely sweating Nao Hekawa slowly exhaled, still feeling a great sense of trepidation.
'The ninja cat beside a monster is also a monster. If that swat had landed on me, it would have flattened me into a meat patty.'
Just as he thought he had temporarily escaped danger.
A crisp voice rang out from his side: "What are you doing skulking around here? You look unfamiliar! And, you have a very familiar scent on you."
Nao Hekawa: "!!!"
He immediately looked in the direction of the voice, seeing a short-haired Konoha kunoichi walking toward him. Trailing behind her was another kunoichi in a Uchiha Military Police uniform.
"Is it my imagination?"
Anko Mitarashi's beautiful eyes were narrowed. She stared at the ordinary-looking man in front of her and said something that would shock him to the core: "I smell a scent on you that's very similar to my own. Or rather... that scent comes from Orochimaru!"
This person...
Is Anko Mitarashi! Orochimaru-sama's disciple in Konoha!
Hiss!
Which means, the Military Police kunoichi behind her is Ikeizumi Uchiha's subordinate, Ikeizumi Uchiha?!
CRAP!
"Anko, wait!" Ikeizumi Uchiha called out from behind. Her hand was already on her ninja sword, and her eyes were fixed on Nao Hekawa. She reminded Anko in a rapid tone: "It's not your imagination. You didn't smell wrong; he has Orochimaru's scent on him. He's an Orochimaru spy!"
Nao Hekawa: "???"
No.
It was one thing for that Ikeizumi Uchiha to see through me for no reason, but how can you see through me with just a glance? Do I have the word "SPY" written on my face in bright letters?
He was completely numb!
"Heh heh, there's no need to keep up the act." A sinister voice rang out: "You can't escape being targeted by Ikeizumi Uchiha."
An extremely small and slender white snake slithered out of Nao Hekawa's sleeve.
And along his arm.
It climbed onto his shoulder.
The very next second after the white snake's words fell, Ikeizumi Uchiha's voice rang out from behind Nao Hekawa: "Orochimaru, it's been many years. Although I can only hear your voice, it still evokes my murderous intent as always."
"Ikeizumi-senpai!"
"Ikeizumi?"
Both Ikeizumi and Anko also saw Ikeizumi Uchiha.
The small white snake raised the upper half of its body. Its scarlet eyes stared deeply at Ikeizumi Uchiha, and it spoke again in a human voice: "Ikeizumi, you still hate me so much? I've never offended you, or is it because of your so-called [Absolute Justice]?"
"Heh heh, your killing intent toward me is useless. Even if you kill me, how much will it change this hopelessly sick shinobi world? Your ninja way can't save this twisted world."
The white snake paused, flicking its tongue, and continued: "Speaking of which, you've really exceeded my expectations. I don't know what method you used to turn my former apprentice into your subordinate."
Anko Mitarashi clenched her fists and gritted her teeth, interrupting with a question: "Orochimaru, where are you hiding?!"
"You're not going to call me 'Teacher Orochimaru'? How disappointing, Anko."
The white snake's tone was rather playful: "I was never hiding; you people in Konoha just lack the ability to find my trail."
After saying this, it looked at Ikeizumi Uchiha again.
"Ikeizumi, your talent shouldn't be wasted on useless endeavors. If you're willing to cooperate with me, I will make you realize the true essence of what it means to be a ninja. I'll also show you what a powerful ninja should truly strive for."
"Heh heh, you will definitely..."
SWISH!
A flash of blade light passed by, and the snake's head, only slightly larger than a thumb, was sent flying.
Ikeizumi Uchiha didn't care to listen to Orochimaru's nonsense. He took a step forward.
And grabbed Nao Hekawa's throat with one hand.
As the other man's eyes widened in suffocation, he used a blade to cut open his shirt, revealing a large, bizarre cursed mark on his chest.
Ikeizumi Uchiha released the ninja blade, his five fingers slightly bent and wrapped in chakra as he slammed them down on Nao Hekawa's chest.
"Ninjutsu..."
"Adamantine Sealing!"
(End of Chapter)
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