Neji was not some fool who couldn't tell right from wrong.
At this moment, he already understood that Arata was trying to snap him awake.
"Brother Arata… please, tell me."
Neji's voice was hoarse, his tone calm. "What should I do?"
Arata did not answer his question. Instead, he raised his head and looked into the distance as he slowly spoke:
"When we handed over the body to Kumogakure, we encountered a monster."
"He was very strong, terrifyingly strong."
"He easily killed the Magnet Release user Toroi… and slaughtered nearly a hundred Kumogakure ninja."
"Even the Byakugan couldn't see his appearance. All we could see… was a pair of brilliant, dazzling blue eyes."
As soon as those words fell, Neji froze.
That figure from his dream suddenly surfaced in his mind, and he blurted out:
"What did you say?!"
'Brilliant… dazzling blue eyes?'
'How could that be? Wasn't that just a dream?'
"When you have time, go to the clan's ancestral library," Arata said, lowering his gaze and giving him a deep look.
"I247.5, L632. Go find that book. You'll understand many things."
Neji lay on the ground, staring blankly at him.
But when their eyes met, those pale white eyes seemed to take on a faint celestial glow.
Neji saw a trace of blue emerge within them, like snow melting over a clear lake under sunlight.
Yet when he focused again, they were still as white as snow, as if it had all been an illusion.
"Remember this," Arata said softly, his tone meaningful.
"Those who cannot command themselves will be commanded by others."
As his words fell, his figure disappeared from Neji's sight, leaving only his voice lingering faintly in the air.
"…"
Neji lay there in the snow, staring blankly upward. Gradually, the emptiness in his white eyes solidified.
Beneath those calm, glacier-like pupils, something deeper stirred, desire… and hatred.
"The ancestral library…" he murmured.
.....
Hokage Building – Underground
Following the directions from the scroll, Arata soon arrived at a door at the end of a corridor.
There were no guards outside, but he could clearly sense the presence of seals and barriers. Even a mosquito entering would instantly trigger alarms and defensive measures.
It was hard to imagine how Naruto had once managed to steal the Scroll of Sealing from here under Mizuki's manipulation.
But then again, Orochimaru had also infiltrated this place before. And since Mizuki was one of Orochimaru's planted pieces in Konoha, using some leftover methods to bypass the defenses wasn't impossible.
As for Arata, he didn't need to go through all that trouble.
Taking out the scroll given to him by Hiruzen, the oppressive feeling of restriction instantly vanished. With a light push, he opened the door to the Forbidden Techniques Library.
Click.
Stepping into the silent chamber, dust stirred slightly from the ground as the candles inside lit themselves automatically.
The walls had no windows, and tall rows of bookshelves lined the room.
Neatly arranged scrolls filled the shelves, each sealed and marked with its rank. Under the flickering candlelight, they appeared ancient and heavy with history.
"Looks like the Third Hokage, the 'Professor of Ninjutsu', comes here often," Arata thought.
Noticing how clean everything was despite its age, he also sensed a faint feeling of being watched.
'Hiruzen's Telescope Technique?'
A jutsu that used a special crystal ball to monitor targets from afar by analyzing chakra fluctuations, often used by Hiruzen to "keep an eye on" Naruto.
Even the Great Toad Sage of Mount Myoboku had used a similar technique, though his range far exceeded normal limits.
"Not exactly for combat, but incredibly convenient for reconnaissance," Arata mused inwardly, his expression unchanged.
As his gaze swept across the shelves, he even showed a hint of curiosity and delight, like someone entering a treasure trove for the first time.
He casually pulled out a scroll and unrolled it. The material was smooth, covered in dense handwritten text and a few diagrams.
A Fire Release technique: Ash Pile Burning.
Just an ordinary B-rank fire jutsu.
Of course, that "just" was only from Arata's perspective.
After all, jutsu difficulty ranged across six tiers. E-rank was basic academy level, like Substitution, Clone, and Transformation techniques.
D-rank was genin level, C-rank chunin, and B-rank already belonged to jōnin-level techniques, valuable even in the Five Great Nations.
Even the Raikage's Lightning Armor was around this level.
Arata skimmed it briefly, clearly uninterested, and placed it back.
He continued browsing; most were B-rank Wind Release techniques and taijutsu.
Leaf Hurricane, Wind Release: Great Sickle Weasel, Wind Release: Pressure Damage, Wind Release: Vacuum Sphere…
"The intention here is way too obvious," he muttered, twitching slightly, before returning them without hesitation.
Only a few techniques caught his attention briefly:
Summoning: Rashomon
Adamantine Sealing Chains
Shadow Strangle Technique
"Not a single forbidden technique left for me… but the secret techniques of other clans weren't removed," Arata thought with a faint smile.
"Seems the old man is confident I won't be able to learn them."
That assumption wasn't unreasonable.
The line between secret techniques and bloodline limits was often blurred.
Techniques like the Nara clan's shadow jutsu or the Uzumaki clan's Adamantine Chains required special innate traits.
For example, the Nara had naturally strong spiritual energy, while the Akimichi had exceptional physical energy, allowing them to master their clan techniques.
The Uzumaki were similar.
As Uzumaki Mito once said to Kushina, she was chosen as a jinchūriki because of a rare innate talent.
Only a few within the Uzumaki could master the Adamantine Chains.
These "secret technique clans" were essentially a lower-tier form of bloodline clans.
Through generations of internal marriage, their bloodlines became refined, eventually stabilizing into inheritable traits, possibly even evolving into true kekkei genkai over time.
So, unfortunately for them,
From a bloodline perspective…
Arata was the ancestor of them all.