After downing a bowl of thick, pungent "toxic chicken soup" for the soul, Neji turned away with a dark expression. He intended to seize this opportunity to ask the Head of the Main House exactly what had happened regarding his father's forced suicide years ago.
From the hidden truths behind the Uchiha clan's annihilation, he realized that the Konoha High Command was not as innocent as he had originally imagined; the Head of the Hyuga Main House might very well have taken the fall for the village.
Watching the young figure walking toward him, Hiashi Hyuga did not fly into a rage as many expected. Instead, he wore a very calm smile and asked softly, "Have you truly decided to leave?"
"Yes! Can you tell me what happened back then? Why exactly did my father choose to commit suicide?" Neji finally voiced the question that had caused him immense concern, inner conflict, and even agony.
"Of course. But it will take some time."
Hiashi sighed slightly as he gave an affirmative answer, simultaneously raising his hands into the Gentle Fist stance.
As the premier clan following the fall of the Uchiha, it was clearly impossible for the Hyuga family to detach themselves from the "Great Tree" that was Konoha. Regardless of his personal thoughts, he had to make his stance clear in front of the watchful eyes of the public.
Neji shrugged indifferently. "It doesn't matter; we should still have a little time. Besides... I don't think there is anyone in the current Konoha who can threaten Allen. His power has already surpassed everyone's imagination."
As soon as he finished speaking!
The two Hyugas activated their Byakugan simultaneously, their hands blurring as they unleashed the Secret Gentle Fist Art: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
Although the fight appeared thrilling and intense to outsiders, only the two of them knew that this was actually a sparring session; neither side had any genuine intention of killing the other.
During the continuous exchange of blows, Hiashi began to pour out everything—the actions of the Cloud Ninja back then, and the pressure exerted on the Hyuga family by Konoha's Third Hokage and the Advisors.
These revelations only further solidified Neji's resolve to leave Konoha.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the battle between Sasuke Uchiha and Kakashi Hatake was nearing its end.
Although intense rage and hatred had caused Sasuke to erupt with unprecedented combat power, he was ultimately too young. Whether in terms of battle experience or reaction speed, he was far from being a match for his teacher.
"Sigh... stop it, Sasuke. If you stop now, there's still a chance to make amends," Kakashi advised helplessly.
Even he didn't feel that his words carried much conviction. After all, regarding the annihilation of the Uchiha, the blame on Danzo and the Third Hokage was a stain that could never be washed clean.
"Stop? And then continue to be a pawn manipulated by Itachi and Konoha like an idiot? No! I would rather die right this instant than stay in this shameless, filthy village for another second!"
To demonstrate his resolve, Sasuke drew a horizontal line across his forehead protector in front of his teacher and former teammates.
"Sasuke..."
A look of pain instantly appeared on Naruto's face as he witnessed this. But unlike the original story where Sasuke defected simply in pursuit of power, this time his decision came after learning the truth behind the Uchiha massacre.
This included the tragic deaths of countless clansmen and both of his parents. No matter how powerful Naruto's "Talk-no-Jutsu" was, it could not change the blood feud between his best friend and the village.
As for Sakura, she had long since lost the ability to speak, collapsing onto the ground in a daze, completely unsure of what to do.
Many of Konoha's young Genin were also frightened by the darkness of the village that had suddenly been exposed. Some were seriously considering whether ninjas and hidden villages were truly as Allen described, merely "vicious dogs" kept by the Daimyo and nobles, and whether their convictions and everything they risked their lives for actually had any value or meaning.
As the saying goes, sometimes thoughts are weapons more terrifying than swords. Once the hearts of the people are scattered, no matter how powerful the organization currently appears, it will inevitably decline and perish.
Just as Kakashi prepared to apprehend Sasuke, an arrow suddenly tore through the air, piercing his shoulder at a speed nearly invisible to the naked eye.
Puchi!
The massive inertia and force sent the Konoha Elite Jonin flying backward uncontrollably until he slammed hard into a wall, his eyes filled with horror.
He had clearly formed hand seals and performed a Substitution Jutsu! Yet, for some reason, the moment the arrow hit, the technique failed.
Even more terrifying was that the arrow piercing his shoulder could not be pulled out; it was as if some mysterious power had completely fused it with his muscle and bone.
"You must be surprised why the arrow I fired prevented you from using the Substitution Jutsu and why it can't be pulled from the wound, right?" Allen asked with a faint, knowing smile.
"Is it an ability of those Mangekyo Sharingan eyes?" Kakashi endured the searing pain in his shoulder, looking up to cautiously probe for an answer.
"Exactly! My left eye's ability is a Guaranteed Hit! No matter the ability or Ninjutsu, they are all meaningless before the arrows I fire. If I had aimed for your heart or head instead of your shoulder, you would be dead by now. Furthermore, until I deactivate the ability, it is impossible for you to pull that arrow out," Allen explained nonchalantly.
It was common knowledge that the greatest problem for long-range weapons like bows and arrows had always been accuracy. Distance gives an opponent more time to react. Especially in a world with unreasonable space-time Ninjutsu like the Flying Raijin or Kamui, the first thing Allen thought of when he awakened his Sharingan was ensuring his attacks hit with 100% certainty.
Through the unique "Creating Form from Nothing" of Yin Release chakra, he had successfully achieved this. This meant that if Obito ever tried to play around with his intangibility in front of Allen in the future, he would undoubtedly meet a gruesome end.
"A guaranteed hit, huh? The abilities of the Mangekyo Sharingan are indeed quite troublesome," Kakashi remarked with a slight sigh.
"Behave yourself. I believe you can see that I don't actually want to kill anyone," Allen warned meaningfully.
"I can feel that, but the problem is you've done something far more terrifying than slaughter or destruction. Tell me, was that bright and cheerful persona you had before all just an act?" Kakashi gritted his teeth and questioned in a low voice.
"Half and half, I suppose. In the final analysis, this is the inevitable result of you trying to forcibly keep me in Konoha. Do you know what I hate most? I hate people restricting my personal freedom and leaving me with no choices. From the moment the Third Hokage tried every trick in the book to force me to become a ninja, I had already decided to leave. It's just that the disgusting things he did later caused me to slightly change my plan of leaving quietly."
Allen made no attempt to hide anything, frankly stating his reasons for joining the Konoha Crush plan.
In his eyes, the practice of a hidden village, granting no choice from birth to death, was an utter anti-human behavior. It couldn't even compare to a feudal system; it was a total system of slavery.
It was like a job described as glamorous, but which was essentially a pile of crap! Once you chose it, you had to do it until the end. Unless you died or became disabled, there was no chance to quit. If you tried to leave or switch jobs, the company's executives and the boss would immediately take your life.
Perhaps in the eyes of people in this twisted, sickly world, the relationship between a ninja and their village should be that way, but Allen, coming from another world, certainly didn't think so.