Chapter 226: Hey, now you guys come?
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Hiashi promptly lost consciousness, but nobody moved to help the man. Not even his wife and daughters.
Neji nodded to himself. "I like the fact none of you has made a move without my permission. Good. Though if you wish the previous Clan Head stays alive at the very least, you should take him to the doctor right away."
Immediately Arima, Hinata, and Hanabi ran to the unconscious body with worried gasps. Hinata brought her father to her arms, turning to Neji to give him a hateful glare that yelled 'Why?!', and ran to the infirmary with her mother and sister.
Hanabi waited a few more seconds, looking at him with tearful betrayed eyes, but Neji acted as if he was blind.
And then sighed once they left.
Hiashi had treated Neji Hyuga like a life stock of some sort in this timeline. He had no regard for Neji Hyuga's life and only cared about his eyes. Both daughters were aware of that, yet if they couldn't accept the result of the fight and rather just hated him forever, then it's his fault for misjudging them. Especially so in Hanabi's case.
On the side, Temari seemed impressed at this drama, whistling lightly. Though she stopped once Sakura poked her with an elbow. Tenten on the other hand barely held back a cheerful grin. If he was remembering correctly, her [Dislikings] was this- "Hyuga Clan for oppressing her crush Neji Hyuga.". So of course she was happy at this turn of events.
Only Sakura seemed torn between what to feel. On one hand, she knew the reality of the Branch family and should feel happy about this all, on the other hand, Hinata was her friend. So her face only spoke reluctance.
However, this situation didn't end here.
"What's the meaning of this, Neji Hyuga?" A voice called as three people walked through the front door of the clan compounds. "Is this a signal of war against the Leaf?" said Shikaku Nara, his face stoic.
[Shikaku Nara - High Tier 8]
He was standing behind the Hokage, Tsunade Senju, and beside Shizune. Both girls looked speechless, but Tsunade soon regained her senses.
"Answer his question, Neji." She said, her face serious as well. "I hope he's not right."
Of course, her love for Dan's lookalike only went so far. Moreover, after his subtle psychological attack earlier, she was a bit more 'sober' than usual.
"It is not as he says, Lady Hokage." Neji said with his own serious expression, making her flinch. "This is purely a skirmish between the Main and Branch family of the Hyuga Clan. The Leaf has always stayed out of our clan politics, and I hope it stays that way. Though I assure you this wouldn't affect the village in any bad way, quite the opposite actually."
Shikaku narrowed his eyes at that. "I admit you have a point, at least at your first line. But Hiashi is still a part of Konoha's main pillars, attacking him and then hurting him like that can't be overlooked."
Of course, they knew how badly Neji had hurt Hiashi. A Hyuga had run to the Hokage's office the moment the battle took a favour towards Neji. He had watched the fight happen with his Byakugan, and let the Hokage and her subordinates know about the happenings of the battle when they were approaching the clan compounds. Neji had actually seen the Hyuga ninja when he ran to the Holage's office but didn't care to stop him since this situation is better to happen sooner than later.
Neji scoffed at that. "So you suggest I just let him poke my eyes out two months from now on? You guys know the deal with my eyes and the Hyuga clan, right?" Neji asked, watching Tsunade flinch, looking away and avoiding his eyes. But Shikaku only frowned. "It was purely self-defence, in a sense, and I was only forced to do this since I had no one in the village to rely on."
Tsunade couldn't find the courage to look at his eyes again, her gaze dropped to the ground and she bit her lower lip. Ahh, he liked the look in her eyes. Her "love" for Dan's lookalike truly only went so far. She tried a bit, but in the end failed to save him from this death trap, and now that he did something to save himself, she came to 'congratulate' him while wearing a scowl?
Wow.
Shikaku tried to say something more, but Tsunade, to her credit, finally raised her head back up. "It's… okay. Let's stop for today, it's already night time. Neji, tomorrow at 8-O'clock in the morning, we will hold a meeting on this incident. You should be present. Your punishment, or compensation, depending on how the meeting goes, will be decided then."
She turned around, preparing to leave. "Let's go, Shikaku, Shizune."
Shikaku sighed and followed Tsunade, while Shizune looked at Neji for a long second before turning and leaving as well. Huh. Right. Their dance session. Looks like they have to skip tonight.
When they left, Neji looked around to meet everyone's gazes. "In any case, go back to your rooms tonight and have a goodnight's rest, everyone. We will also continue this tomorrow after I return from the meeting." Neji said, waving his hands as everyone scattered towards their rooms. Some waited, coming to congratulate Neji, but they soon left as well.
Soon, it was just Sakura, Tenten, Temari, Neji (and Kurai who had jumped on his shoulders) left.
"Ah, ladies. Sorry for the drama, it must have been boring. But I think you guys should leave as well, it's getting late, except for Temari of course, she's staying with me from today onwards." Neji smiled at the blonde, watching her grin.
"Oh, no. It wasn't boring. Quite the opposite. Though I agree on the second part, you guys should leave. Shoo." Temari waved them off, running beside Neji and hugging his arm.
"Fuuuh…" Sakura sighed, rubbing her forehead. "Oh god, how bad can this day get. First that Sai and now this…"
Neji raised an eyebrow. "Sai?"
"My new teammate," Sakura said, looking at Neji hesitantly. "We… Since you told me about the meeting Sasori and Orochimaru's spy would be holding, I and Naruto have decided to go there in Sasori's stead. We hope… to bring Sasuke back, this time for sure."
She continued without a pause. "Kakashi sensei is still quite injured, so Tsunade-sama was suggesting we find a new Jounin team leader, and we also got a new teammate named Sai. I proposed to Tsunade-sama that your black cat can heal Kakashi-sensei, though I doubt that'd be happening in this situation, and also to replace Sai with you. The latter offer was rejected because you are a Jounin, one who already has a team, and the former also basically got rejected after you did all this. Ugh."
Neji shrugged at that. He wouldn't have gone with her anyway. He will be busy learning the Eight Gates in the next 5-days when Team Kakashi will be out. Also, fuck Sasuke.
"Oh well, I guess it is what it is. Congrats on… freeing yourself, I suppose. Sadly, we will leave tomorrow morning and be out for five days. I wanted to see an end to this situation. Anyway, I will be going then, it's surely getting late." Sakura said, before turning around and leaving.
Tenten waved at Neji with a grin, eyeing Temari in jealousy for a moment, before following behind Sakura.
"Well, now that they're gone." Temari muttered, hugging Neji's arm. "Where's my room, honey?"
Neji laughed, telling Kurai via telepathy to go out and play, which the Cat God did with an annoyed growl.
"Your room needs to be cleaned first. So, unfortunately, you're stuck with me for tonight." Neji said in a sad tone, making Temari giggle, before he grabbed her wrist and pulled her inside his room, pushing her down on the bed and celebrating today's victory.
—★—
Meanwhile, Samui of the Lighting who was lurking around the Leaf village soon heard the news of the Hyuga situation.
She had reached Konoha just today, with a fake civilian identification, and had been gathering information about Neji Hyuga while acting as if she was searching for a job.
At first, she was annoyed when she learned Neji Hyuga was on a mission but soon was relieved when he returned just this evening. However, that relief had turned to surprise and amazement when she heard the most recent news.
"So he defeated the Clan Head and is claiming the entire Hyuga Clan for himself? Kinda Cool." Samui muttered as she lay on her bed, playing with a bunny toy in her hands.
She planned to get a job in the brothel since perverted men tend to visit it most often. But with this, she had a better opportunity. She can enter the Hyuga Clan as a maid. That was a job only available to trusted Hyuga females before, but now that the pervert Neji had taken over, she was sure he wouldn't mind a busty maid for himself.
With that decided, Samui could only hope he would manage to get out of the meeting tomorrow without any issues.
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