Nara Suzaku slowly turned around.
Every remaining Konoha ninja was looking at him.
With Tsunade absent from the battlefield, Suzaku had become the highest-ranking officer present. And as always, when the situation turned desperate, everyone instinctively looked toward the Nara clan.
Strategy.Judgment.Decision-making.
Those were the things the Nara excelled at.
Now, caught between Neiki and the remnants of Kirigakure, the Konoha ninja wanted one answer from him:
Can we still fight?
And if the answer was yes—
How?
The looks directed at Suzaku appeared trusting, but beneath that trust lay naked urgency. The weight of it pressed heavily against his chest.
Out of the two hundred Konoha ninja who had landed on the Land of Waves, more than half were now dead or seriously injured.
Most of those losses came from the prolonged, chaotic clash with Kirigakure.
Strictly speaking, the number of ninja personally killed by Neiki was not that high.
But on a battlefield, numbers alone meant nothing.
In the ninja world, casualties were measured by rank.
The gap between a Genin and a Jōnin was vast—so vast that losing one jōnin could outweigh the deaths of dozens of lower-ranked ninja.
Kirigakure had killed more Konoha ninja overall than Neiki had, largely because the battle against them lasted longer. And most of the fallen were Genin and Chūnin—expendable forces in any village.
It wasn't that villages didn't value them.
It was simply reality.
Inexperienced ninja were always the first to die.
As long as a village lost its expendable forces more slowly than the enemy, it could still endure.
Neiki, however, was different.
Alone, he rarely targeted low-ranking ninja.They couldn't even approach him before being casually cut down.
Instead, Neiki hunted jōnin.
So far, more than half of the jōnin assigned to this mission were dead by his hand.
That loss was devastating.
Even now, Konoha technically still had enough strength to suppress Neiki—
But his mastery of the Flying Thunder God Technique made direct confrontation almost meaningless.
As long as Neiki remained elusive, their numerical advantage was nothing but an illusion.
Suzaku could already see the future clearly:
If this continued, they would be picked off one by one.
They had prepared countermeasures for Mei Terumi and Kirigakure.
They had not prepared for Neiki.
"…Regardless," Suzaku said at last, exhaling slowly,"we've already completed our mission."
His gaze shifted toward Kirigakure.
Hearing those words, the Konoha ninja finally felt a faint sense of relief.
Following his line of sight, they found grim comfort in what they saw.
Kirigakure was in even worse shape.
During the main battle, Konoha had steadily pushed them back. After Neiki entered the battlefield, Kirigakure had been utterly powerless against him—moving in panic, formations collapsing again and again.
They had no real countermeasures.
Their only resistance came from Ao's Byakugan, and even that was severely limited.
Neiki's unrestricted movement inside their ranks caused Kirigakure's casualties to climb even higher than Konoha's.
As time passed, fear of Neiki spread rapidly among them.
Ao could detect Flying Thunder God seals, but there were simply too many. The seals were everywhere—on weapons, on corpses, scattered across the battlefield.
Maintaining defense under such pressure was impossible.
Worse still, Ao lacked both the authority and the charisma to reorganize his forces in the face of such terror.
Until Neiki unleashed the Judgment Sword, the Kirigakure ninja still believed they had a chance.
They had numbers.They had strength.
All they needed was one opening.
But when divine lightning erased Ao and annihilated everything around him—
Their last hope vanished.
With Mei Terumi absent and Ao dead, Kirigakure's morale collapsed completely.
Led by Fushaku, the remaining seventy or so Kirigakure ninja exchanged brief glances—
Then turned and retreated.
They fled toward the direction where Tsunade and Mei Terumi were still fighting.
This was not cowardice.
It was a calculated retreat.
They hoped to regroup, reinforce Mei Terumi, and perhaps still overturn the battle.
There was no shame in such a decision.
They clearly understood their current position.
Konoha had prepared thoroughly.Neiki had played both sides like pieces on a board.
At this moment, Kirigakure was the weakest faction on the battlefield.
Their original plan—to exploit Konoha's internal weakness—had failed completely.
Even with the Uchiha Clan's defection and the near-destruction of the Hyuga Clan, Kirigakure had never truly intended to annihilate Konoha.
They only wanted to display strength, force concessions, and secure advantages.
Total war was never the goal.
Now, even that limited ambition had collapsed.
As the Kirigakure ninja retreated under cover of Hidden Mist Jutsu and smoke bombs, their wounded were sorted coldly—those unable to move were killed by their own comrades, while the lightly injured were carried away.
Rain continued to fall, dripping from their hair and armor.
Neiki did not pursue.
Instead, he turned his attention back to the Konoha ninja staring at him.
"Handa," Suzaku said quietly,"take the others and support Tsunade-sama."
Handa nodded, reminded Suzaku to be careful, and led the remaining force in pursuit of the retreating Kirigakure.
Neji was among them.
He said nothing.
His eyes, however, burned with hatred, pain, and confusion as they fixed on Neiki.
From the moment Neiki appeared, distrust had taken root in Neji's heart—growing uncontrollably.
As Neiki's younger brother, Neji had been restrained immediately under Tsunade's orders—officially for "protection."
Whether it was protection or surveillance, Neji couldn't tell.
He had never been given the chance to speak to Neiki.
I survived, he thought bitterly.I deserve to know the truth.
Those words never left his mouth.
Despite everything Neiki had done—despite the Konoha ninja he had killed—
Neji noticed one thing.
Neiki never once looked at him.
Neji remembered a play he had once watched in the Konoha theater.
A story about brothers turning against each other.
Neiki was the villain on the stage.
Neji sat among the audience, powerless.
Onstage and offstage, Neiki always stood beneath the spotlight.
Neji remained in the crowd, waiting—hoping his brother would notice him, acknowledge him, give him an answer.
…
Eventually, distance swallowed Neiki's figure.
Beyond even the reach of Neji's Byakugan.
The wound Neiki had left on Neji's abdomen throbbed dully, reminding him that their next meeting might be far in the future.
Neji looked at the shinobi "protecting" him.
No one else was nearby.
This man clearly didn't care.
A whisper seemed to echo in Neji's mind:
This is your chance.
Find Neiki.
Ask him everything.
Do you really want to go back?
Back to Konoha?
To live like a stray?
Surrounded by villagers who fear you.By the Inuzuka Clan, who hate you.By greedy ninja clans.By indifferent leaders.
Even Tsunade-sama—who claims to protect you—keeps you under watch.
…
Neji didn't know.
…
Then a new question surfaced.
What would Neiki do?
The world shifted.
The theater again.
But this time, Neji was the only one in the audience.
Neiki stood alone on the stage.
This time, Neiki looked directly at him.
This time, he smiled.
"Of course," Neiki said calmly.
…
"Kill."
…
Neji's eyes snapped open.
Yes.
Just kill.
Why return to Konoha?
Why go back to a village already doomed?
If becoming a rogue ninja was inevitable—
Why not now?
If Neiki could do it—
Why couldn't he?
Neji glanced at the man carrying him.
No one was watching.
He took a slow breath and raised his hand.
The academy had taught this.
Strike the back of the head.Control the force.One clean blow.
"What did you just do?" Suzaku asked suddenly, frowning at Neiki.
Something about Neiki's eyes felt… off.
"Nothing," Neiki replied with a faint smile."Just gave someone a choice."
He looked at the dozen or so remaining Konoha ninja.
"Is this your rear guard?"
Suzaku exchanged a confident glance with Hayate Shirakumo.
Shirakumo drew his sword.
"No," he said calmly."It's a team meant to kill you."
"With someone like you, numbers don't matter," Suzaku continued, his voice tired but resolute."We had chances. Many of them. But every time, you escaped into Kirigakure's ranks."
"Even if we marked all your seals, those fools wouldn't let us intervene."
Neiki nodded in understanding.
"Saitō and Aso are dead," Suzaku said quietly."I need your head—to give their families closure."
"Will you lend it to me?"
Neiki laughed softly.
"Why bother?" he said."I'll return to Konoha myself—and send their families to join them."
Suzaku's eyes sharpened.
Hundreds of people dragging each other down couldn't kill Neiki.
But a dozen perfectly coordinated shinobi?
That was his confidence.
"I'll say it again," Suzaku began."Your Flying Thunder God Technique isn't on the level of the Fourth Hokage—"
He didn't finish the sentence.
The next instant—
A shadow tore through the rain, surging straight toward Neiki.
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