[Hyuga Neji]'s appearance allowed Makoto to fully confirm the timeline of this Limited Tsukuyomi.
This was the exact same timeline as the "original" Limited Tsukuyomi from the Road to Ninja movie, meaning it took place about two to three years after their current real-world timeline.
[Hyuga Neji]'s sudden, tragic death in the middle of the street naturally caused absolute chaos.
Even the female ninjas in the bathhouse, who had only just taken off half their clothes in the changing room, frantically dressed and ran outside to see what was happening.
"Ahhhh!"
Ino, Tenten, and Sakura, who had rushed out first, were all completely startled.
By now, the giant Susanoo arrow had dissipated into thin air, and Neji was lying face down on the dirt, limbs sprawled out in a weird pose, with a massive pool of blood spreading everywhere.
"Is he really dead?"
Hinata, dressed rather provocatively in a tight little tank top and a leather jacket, was the last one to casually stroll out of the bathhouse.
Seeing Neji dead on the ground, her first reaction was to step forward, violently grab Neji by the hair, and check for breathing near his nose.
After confirming he was 100% dead, Hinata casually dropped Neji's hair, letting his head unceremoniously back into the bloody dirt.
"Byakugan!"
Hinata instantly activated her Byakugan and began aggressively scanning the surroundings for the killer.
Using the Byakugan's x-ray perspective and extreme insight abilities, Hinata carefully sifted through the chaotic figures of the villagers fleeing in fear, coldly screening and eliminating suspects one by one.
While searching, she also effortlessly multitasked by barking orders at the others.
"Tenten, quickly go notify the village's Jonin. Ino, go get a cheap white bath towel from the bathhouse to cover Neji's body."
"H-Hinata, aren't you scared? Or... sad?" Sakura was deeply surprised by Hinata's incredibly cold, calm, and decisive demeanor.
"Scared of what? Sad about what?" Hinata scoffed, glaring coldly at the corpse on the ground.
"Neji got exactly what he deserved. It's blatantly obvious he was using his Byakugan for perverted shit again and finally got retaliated against. It's a good thing he's dead anyway—saves us the absolute embarrassment of him constantly disgracing the Hyuga clan's name."
If she wasn't completely aware that spitting on him would actually be considered a reward for a degenerate like Neji, she would have cut his dick off long ago.
...
Meanwhile, up in the hidden spectator seats in the real-world sky, Hanabi watched this brutal scene with literal stars in her eyes.
"Wow! This version of my sister is so friggin' cool!"
"These kids seem to have completely opposite personalities from their real selves, don't they?" Kushina keenly sensed the overarching gimmick of this world.
However, the discussion soon had to come to an abrupt end.
Because Hinata was using her 360-degree Byakugan to search for the culprit, she very quickly spotted Makoto and the other two casually flying away in the night sky.
Excluding the total impossibility of the culprit successfully hiding among the panicked crowd or moving stealthily across the rooftops, those three bizarre flying figures were immediately the most suspicious targets in the entire village.
"Stay here. If Tenten brings the Jonin back, tell them those three freaks in the sky are most likely the culprits!"
After barking those final words, Hinata aggressively leaped onto the rooftops and began pursuing Makoto's trio like a bloodhound.
...
After ruthlessly dealing with Hyuga Neji, Makoto and the other two, led by [Konan], arrived above an unfamiliar apartment attic.
Down below, [Kushina], who was just peacefully cooking dinner inside, saw the three strange figures flying toward her through the window and immediately sensed massive trouble.
But before [Kushina] could even react, [Konan] raised her pale hand.
Sheets of paper rapidly gathered beneath her wings, magically transforming into a giant, majestic white Pegasus.
The paper Pegasus violently shattered the window, slammed directly into [Kushina], broke straight up through the apartment ceiling, and carried the screaming woman high into the night air.
And then...
BOOM!!!
The majestic Pegasus violently exploded into a massive fireball, its scorching heat waves rapidly spreading and blindingly illuminating the night sky.
The sheer commotion was so loud that even without Hinata's orders, Konoha Ninja definitely would have detected their location and should already be rushing over.
"Was that move called 'Your Horse Takes Off'? Or 'Your Horse Fucking Exploded'?" Makoto felt the pun was actually quite fitting, especially since their main target was the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki.
"Why use a horse in the first place? Isn't your organization's entire philosophy to ruthlessly eliminate all that furry stuff?" Uchiha Hikari asked [Konan], genuinely baffled by her choice of jutsu.
"That's exactly why the horse exploded in the end," [Konan] calmly replied, giving an explanation that was as flawless and reasonable as it could possibly be.
"And then what? Is the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki not actually in the village right now, or is he just hiding, so you're using this explosive method to lure him out?" Makoto watched the smoking figure of [Kushina] falling from the sky after the explosion and asked.
"Close guess. The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki isn't currently in the village right now, so we need to use this person to find exactly where he is." [Konan] pointed a finger down at the falling [Kushina].
At the exact same time, a rapidly rotating paper ring flew out from behind her, securely wrapping around [Kushina] mid-air and violently pulling her back toward them.
[Namikaze Minato], who had just desperately teleported to [Kushina]'s side using the Flying Thunder God, found himself completely unable to approach his wife due to the high-speed rotating paper blades forming a meat-grinder barrier.
He could only watch helplessly as [Kushina] was dragged away.
He then landed heavily on a nearby roof, gripping a kunai tightly and staring warily up at the floating trio.
"Who are you people?! Release Kushina right now!" [Minato]'s expression was extremely cautious, but he smartly refrained from making any rash, aggressive moves against three flying targets.
Faced with [Minato]'s angry questioning, none of the three bothered to respond.
"Wait, is this... Tailed Beast Chakra?" Makoto noticed that the unconscious, smoking [Kushina] was slowly leaking thick red Tailed Beast Chakra, which was already actively helping to heal her severe explosion injuries.
Had the Nine-Tails in this deranged world also been split into Yin and Yang halves?
But that didn't make any sense—[Konan] had just clearly stated, "The Nine-Tails Jinchuriki isn't in the village."
Whether it was Yin or Yang, wouldn't they both be technically considered the Nine-Tails Jinchuriki?
"This is the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki. Now I just need to do this... to properly sense exactly where the current Nine-Tails Jinchuriki is." [Konan] raised her hand, condensed a sharp, white paper rod, and mercilessly inserted it directly into [Kushina]'s body.
'Huh.'
'Are we absolutely sure this isn't just the bootleg effect of the black chakra rods created by Nagato's Rinnegan?'
"Wait, the previous Nine-Tails Jinchuriki? If she lost her Tailed Beast, how the hell she's still alive? Even with the legendary Uzumaki clan's insane vitality, that shouldn't be enough to survive an extraction, right?" Uchiha Hikari voiced her deep doubt.
"Hmm?" [Konan], who was currently using the paper rod as an antenna to sense the Nine-Tails, turned to look at them in total confusion.
"You guys seriously don't know? About the Tailed Beast transfer and Jinchuriki succession process?"
"Yeah, we literally have no idea. Could you please explain it to us?" Makoto admitted directly.
"I'm honestly surprised you two hate Tailed Beasts so much, yet you don't even know this basic information... Whatever, I'll tell you then."
[Konan] then began explaining this cursed world's Jinchuriki inheritance system.
Just like in the original real world, a Jinchuriki would absolutely die after having their Tailed Beast forcibly extracted.
The major difference was that this world had discovered another method to completely avoid this death.
That method was childbirth.
By actively transferring the Tailed Beast directly into the baby currently growing inside their womb, and then giving birth to it, they could flawlessly complete the Tailed Beast transfer and Jinchuriki succession.
The original Jinchuriki wouldn't lose their life, and could even permanently retain some residual Tailed Beast Chakra.
This essentially gave the village two functional Tailed Beasts simultaneously—one large, and one small.
However, this insane inheritance method had some very strict, horrifying conditions.
The Jinchuriki must actively be impregnated while in a state of complete Tailed Beast Transformation.
Even for the massively powerful Nine-Tails, it required at the very least achieving the grotesque, fleshy Eight-Tails state before conception could occur.
Which meant...
[Namikaze Minato] had to...
"Alright. I really, really don't want to stay in this sinful, godforsaken world for even one more second."
Uchiha Hikari dropped her head into her hands, completely despairing at the lore she had just heard.