Chapter 201: Come Forth, Hyuga Legion!
Neji stood atop the tree, unhurried as he formed hand seals.
"Whether our heroes need your crocodile tears, why don't you ask them yourselves!"
"Come forth, Hyuga Legion!"
With Neji's words, the earth rumbled and shook. Coffin after coffin rose from the ground, standing silently before each hero's gravestone.
One gravestone, one coffin—perfectly matched, perfectly aligned.
The originally solemn and dignified clan cemetery instantly transformed into something sinister and terrifying.
Having failed to reach an understanding with those Hyuga ancestors before, Neji had given up placing hope in those stubborn old fools and simply expanded the summoning range.
He'd had White Zetsu infiltrate the clan cemetery to select powerful shinobi from among the recently fallen warriors, extracting their genetic samples to perform Reanimation on them all.
So when the coffin lids opened, everyone saw the very people they'd just been weeping for walk out of those coffins and stand before them once again.
"Father... how can this be..."
The crowd immediately descended into chaos.
During Konoha's destruction, they'd actually witnessed the Uchiha clan's reanimated army, but they'd never imagined their own relatives would one day be reanimated.
The shinobi brought back through Reanimation were equally confused.
In their memories, they'd just died. After closing their eyes and opening them again, they were back in Konoha Village.
Before they could express joy at seeing their loved ones again, their expressions changed as they shouted loudly:
"Get away, quickly!"
"I can't control my own body!"
Before everyone's horrified eyes, these reanimated bodies broke into a run and charged forward.
"Be careful! Reanimated bodies are immortal! Don't use your usual combat methods against them!"
"Quickly call for the village to send a sealing team!"
Amid the shouting of numerous jonin, all shinobi hastily drew their weapons and assumed defensive stances, preparing for combat.
But those reanimated bodies paid them no attention whatsoever, bypassing their forms entirely to lunge at those behind them.
The moment they recovered from their shock, they heard the reanimated bodies cry out in anguish again.
"Someone stop us!"
"I'm being controlled to kill Main House members!"
"What?" Everyone spun around, and indeed saw the group of reanimated bodies with clear targets, all striking at Main House members with killing intent.
"Protect the Main House, quickly!" Everyone shouted as they rushed toward them.
"Such audacity—daring to commit such insubordination!"
Hishi instinctively formed hand seals rapidly, activating the Caged Bird seal and pointing at the nearest approaching Branch House reanimated body.
The reanimated body immediately screamed in agony, but its body wasn't affected in the slightest. Its movements remained just as crisp and powerful, every strike lethal.
From a distance, Neji laughed heartily.
"Your Main House Caged Bird seal can control the living, but I refuse to believe you can control the dead!"
"Tch!" Hishi snorted coldly, turning his attention toward Neji.
But the distance between them was too great—the Caged Bird seal couldn't take effect at this range.
As if detecting Hishi's intent, Neji shouted mockingly, "I already investigated this seal's effective range thoroughly. Did you think I'd give you that opportunity?"
He stood atop the tree, arms spread wide, high-spirited and proud, feeling freer than he'd ever been in his entire life.
"Several of you—escort me over there!" Hishi commanded loudly.
But everywhere he looked, most jonin were tied down by numerous reanimated bodies, unable to break free.
In close combat, reanimated bodies held every advantage. Though their physical capabilities were limited by their base materials—considerably lower than taijutsu specialists—they made up for it by being utterly fearless of death!
Facing any killing technique, they didn't need to block at all. They could simply trade blow for blow and pin down their enemies.
Just as he was frowning, several Branch House members rushed over, volunteering eagerly.
"Elder Hishi, we'll protect you!"
Hishi's gaze swept over them, discovering not one of them had Byakugan. His heart filled with disdain.
But with the enemy before him, he couldn't afford to be choosy. He immediately led this group charging straight toward Hyuga Neji's location.
The distance between them wasn't too far. At a shinobi's pace, they closed it in just a few seconds.
"Let's see where you run this time!" Hishi's eyes flashed viciously as his hands began forming seals.
"Why would I run?"
Neji atop the tree showed no sign of fleeing. Instead, a strange smile crept across his face.
Hishi froze. Just as he was about to cast his jutsu at Neji, his back suddenly went cold. A bloody blade tip emerged from his chest.
"You—"
Hishi's shocked words never left his mouth. The blade retracted, then—thunk, thunk, thunk—in rapid succession, his body was pierced seven or eight times clean through.
Blood fountained from his chest and back like geysers. His life drained away with each spray from those wounds.
The Branch House members who should have been protecting him had become the assassins taking his life.
And simultaneously, similar scenes played out across many parts of the battlefield.
"Now! This is the moment!"
"I've waited for this for over ten years!"
"Damned old bastard, go to hell!"
Many Branch House members suddenly erupted with violence after getting close to Main House members, cutting them down in a single stroke.
Years of Branch House obedience meant these Main House members had never considered the possibility of betrayal. Now they had to taste the bitter fruit of that "trust."
Even when assassination attempts failed, they created opportunities for the reanimated bodies.
One elderly Main House member had just parried a Branch House member's sneak attack when his former close friend—long dead—shattered his spine with Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.
Another elder dodged in time, only to be run through the temple from the side by the beloved disciple he'd once cherished most.
In mere moments, more than half the Main House members on the field had been slaughtered.
The cemetery had become a slaughterhouse. Those carefully prepared white chrysanthemums floated in pools of blood. Ceremonial offerings lay trampled into mud.
One corpse happened to fall before its own family member's gravestone, blood flowing along the carved grooves to fill the prominently displayed characters: "Hyuga Main House."
Only a lucky few with either good fortune or strong abilities survived that first wave of assassinations.
The survivors formed a back-to-back circle, every face showing disbelief and terror. Their mourning clothes were splattered with blood, like withering plum blossoms in snow.
This wave of assassinations had shattered their courage completely. After brief hesitation, they scattered in panic, fleeing outward.
If they could just reach the village, they'd naturally receive its protection.
But before they could even leave the cemetery, the patrol teams from outside closed in around them.
One look at these people's vicious expressions made it clear they came with ill intent.