Under the tranquil starry sky, the gentle waves floated.
The sea of stars reflected on the lake's surface, looking like it was adorned with countless jewels.
Neiki roasted dog meat by the lakeside, wiping his sword, quietly waiting for something.
Hanabi, holding a stick, poked the campfire with interest. After lighting the stick, she threw it into the fire and then went to break off another stick to poke with again.
After repeating this a few times, she finally asked, "Is Brother Neji okay?"
Neiki nodded and replied casually, "That sword was something he had to endure."
Hanabi didn't understand why Neji had to take that sword, but she was afraid that asking too many questions quickly might annoy Neiki. So, she decided to light five more sticks before asking this question again.
The wind blew across the lake, causing ripples. After lighting the third stick, she noticed Neiki suddenly stood up.
"What's wrong?" Hanabi asked curiously.
"The meat is ready. Divide it up," Neiki said as he walked towards the dark forest with his sword.The first task Hanabi received after leaving Konoha was dividing the meat. To show that she was useful and could help Neiki, she carefully used a kunai to scrape the hot dog meat onto two leaves.
"This much is for Brother Neiki."
"And this is mine."
She felt a bit proud.
Hearing footsteps, Hanabi looked up and saw that Neiki had returned.
The wind carried a strong scent of blood, and his sword was stained red, but Neiki himself was spotless.
Hanabi had grown accustomed to the smell. Looking up at Neiki, she said, "I've divided the meat."
Her tone was cheerful, and her eyes were full of anticipation. Neiki complied by patting her head and praising, "Well done."
Hanabi was very happy and smiled sweetly when she received recognition from someone she valued.
"Do you want to see fireworks?" Neiki asked casually after sitting down.
"Yes!" Hanabi nodded eagerly.
"Alright, finish your meal, and I'll show you," Neiki said, putting some of his meat onto Hanabi's leaf.
After finishing her meal, Hanabi followed Neiki's demonstration, making hand signs individually. However, after completing the seals, she didn't see any change around them. РἈꞐỌβƐṡ
She looked at Neiki, puzzled, who shook his head and said, "Just wait a moment."
After a few seconds, the explosive tags would detonate.
Neiki looked into the distance, and Hanabi followed his gaze.
It was the direction of Konoha.
After a while, a gust of wind swept across, bending countless branches.
A light bright enough to illuminate half the night sky suddenly rose.
Hanabi's eyes widened.
Then came the loud explosion, causing countless fish to jump out of the lake. Neiki was very satisfied with the effect of the blast from hundreds of thousands of explosive tags.
It was a masterpiece created with most of the village of Yugakure's resources, crafted by Gen'ou with time and effort.
If it weren't for the earlier individual detonations, the visual impact of a million explosive tags going off at once would be a work of art.
Although Konoha had mostly completed the evacuation and transfer of resources, as Neiki said before, killing wasn't the goal—destroying the heart was.
A mere explosion attack would only unite Konoha against an external enemy.
Neiki was indeed the culprit, but when the first sound of the avalanche came from within Konoha, it provided an excuse for internal strife, making the so-called Will of Fire seem like a joke in the face of real losses.
The bodies of those few Root ninjas in the forest proved that this farewell firework show wasn't Neiki breaking the rules but a result of internal disagreements within Konoha, forcing Neiki to retaliate.
This would create a new rift within Konoha.
Danzo didn't disappoint him.
Neiki smiled.
After suffering such a near-death humiliation, how could Danzo not send people to watch Neiki?
Once he sent people, things would no longer be under Danzo's control. With all the explosive tags in Konoha detonated, Neiki could imagine the lively scene at the Konoha high-level meeting the next day.
After watching the fireworks, Neiki put out the campfire and used a kunai to carve a deep scratch across his forehead protector.
As if symbolizing a turning point in destiny.
From ninja to rogue ninja.
Neiki looked at the forehead protector in his hand.
He had carved it quickly, but this journey wasn't as smooth as carving a scratch.
From being branded with the Caged Bird Seal to wiping out the Hyuga clan and becoming a rogue ninja.
This journey had taken Neiki ten years.
It took ten years to end a thousand-year-old clan's entrenched system and ten years to bring a powerful village to decline. From this perspective, Neiki's efficiency was still high.
Although the Caged Bird Seal was still etched on his forehead.
The eagle soaring in the sky was still at risk of being caught and caged.
Regardless, this was significant progress.
Ten years to achieve this was already a great accomplishment.
Truly removing the caged bird seal would require further efforts from Neiki in the future.
[Collected Essence: 96.7%]
This line of text still floated on Neiki's retina.
This was the current essence collection rate of Neiki's Byakugan after the Hyuga massacre, just 3.3% short of reaching the final stage.
During the Hyuga massacre, Neiki only absorbed the Byakugan from branch members, preserving the main family's Byakugan—about twenty pairs of varying purity. Still, they could easily push the Byakugan's progress to 100%.
He didn't immediately enhance the Byakugan to 100% during the massacre because advancing the Byakugan to the final stage would result in a period of weakness, and Konoha was chaotic at the time. The Uchiha rebellion was imminent, and a period of weakness would make Neiki miss out on many benefits.
"But soon, I can prepare for the final stage of the advancement."
Neiki smiled faintly.
He didn't know how long the Byakugan's weakness period would last, but it didn't matter. He would find a safe place until the advancement was complete.
The method to remove the Caged Bird Seal lay in the final stage of the Byakugan.
What abilities would the final stage of the Byakugan awaken?
Neiki was quite looking forward to it.
"Let's go." Neiki put on his forehead protector and extinguished the campfire.
"Where to?" Hanabi looked at the scratch on Neiki's forehead protector, not understanding what it meant.
She dared not ask but noticed Neiki's faint smile, feeling he was in a good mood.
Does Brother Neiki really like fireworks?
Hanabi pondered.
"To a place where we can watch the world crumble."
Neiki said.
The two, tall and short, crossed the lake, walking towards the star-lit path ahead.
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