251: Leave & Interrogation

Chapter 251: Leave & Interrogation

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Tsunade woke up a day later, and though the memory of last night was not vivid – she could remember the important bits.

Shit.

What was she thinking? Doing that a night after saying ‘I think of you as my son-’ just what must he think of her character now? Ugh.

She looked around her bed to see if it was messy or not – if he had actually accepted her invitation or not – but she found her bed perfectly done. Getting up and taking a stroll around her home, she found only Shizune sleeping in her own room.

“Fuuh…” Tsunade couldn’t help but sigh. Gosh, she narrowly escaped from that tight, troublesome situation. How will she show her face to him now? Actually, that’s an unnecessary worry – she could always pretend she didn’t remember anything of that incident. “…Yeah, that can work.”

Now she just had to call him to her office and thank him for bringing her home – creating the illusion that she remembered nothing.

Resolute in her decision, she left for her office.

The Hokage tower consisted of three round buildings built together, with a doorway connecting all of them. The one in the middle was the Hokage Office building, while the two on the side are living quarters for the current and previous Hokage. Since all the previous Hokages are dead, only one of them was occupied by Tsunade and the other one was mostly empty except for some personal belongings from all the other Hokages, the ones that weren’t important enough to be in the Office.

She groaned softly while walking. The hangover was giving her a terrible headache. Honestly, a small part of her… felt more annoyed at Neji for not accepting her. Even though she laid herself down and got naked, he shot her down. It stung her pride a bit. Just a bit, though.

Really, was she really that old and ugly underneath? She hadn’t seen that form in decades, so she couldn’t tell.

After reaching her office, she told the Anbu to give her a minute, which she used to take her clothes off and stand in front of a mirror. She turned off her advanced transformation jutsu as smoke rose from her body. The smoke dispersed and…

“Huh?”

Tsunade looked at the mirror in confusion, walking closer to squint at her reflection.

“What the hell?”

Nothing… changed. Actually, something did change – but it wasn’t anything negative. The last time she saw her true self two decades ago, she had a few wrinkles but now she had none of those. No, she looked more youthful, and objectively more beautiful than her transformed form from a minute ago.

“Just how?”

Confusing… but as her mind wandered, she soon found the answer.

Neji. He did something to her. Like what happened to Kakashi’s eyes, her ill-effect was also fixed. Senjus naturally had a better physique than others, as she could remember elderly from her clan looking very young when they were alive. If not for her Seal of Hundred, she would have also looked much younger – but still not to this extent.

She chewed on her lips as a small blush appeared on her face. Looking at her… true, real form, she felt conflicted. Weird. One reason why she never accepted Jiraiya’s confessions was because she feared he would be disgusted and leave her if he were to see her true form. He knew she was using a transformation jutsu to look younger, but he didn’t know how she looked underneath. Would he…would Neji…

She shook her head. What’s the point in thinking about Jiraiya now? He was… dead, with his body unavailable for recovery. Neji on the other hand already rejected her.

Tsunade sighed, wore her clothes, and took her seat. She called the Anbu's back, and when they returned – she asked Yugao to go fetch Neji here. She wanted to talk to him… she also told Yugao to bring Sakura here as well. It would be nice if those two youngsters got together… If she herself could never have Neji, at least her student should.

‘Sorry, Naruto…’ Tsunade apologised to the boy who wasn’t in this world anymore. Sakura must be so heartbroken and mentally weakened now, after all not only was she rejected just recently but one of her teammates also died. A gentleman like Neji could give her a resting shoulder at a time like this.

She waited for five minutes before Yugao returned. But something was strange, she was alone.

“Um…” The Anbu girl stuttered. She was wearing her mask but Tsunade could sense her anxiousness even so. “Hokage-sama?”

Tsunade frowned. “What happened?”

The girl sighed and said, “Hokage-sama, it seems Neji isn’t in the… village.” As Tsunade paused, confused and… in denial, Yugao explained to her the path Neji had chosen.

The path that Sakura followed as well.

“He… left?” Tsunade asked in disbelief as her mind went blank. 

—-—

Last Night,

Sakura was tired. Drained both mentally and chakra-wise.

Everything that happened last night and after that – all took a toll on her. Naruto was dead, and so was Jiraiya. All this broke Tsunade down and she was now crying. Sakura tried to help her calm down, just as Shizune did – but they weren’t successful.

The mass funeral for the people who died in the tailed beast attack happened at noon today, but neither Tsunade nor Neji attended it. It was weird on its own that the Hokage of all people didn't attend the funeral, but the hero of the incident too?

People were talking.

By the time Sakura finished all her activities, it was already night-time. The sky was cloudy, with lightning dancing occasionally. A thunderstorm was brewing. In this awfully windy atmosphere, Sakura went out to find Neji.

However, she didn't have to go to the Hyuga Compounds to find him. On her way, she found him in front of Tenten's house, accompanied by Hanabi, Temari and his three maids.

Those maids…

The general public was told that the maids sacrificed themselves to seal the two beasts inside them. But Sakura knew the truth from Tsunade. Two of those maids, the ones with nine tails behind them, were the killers of Naruto.

Shaking her head, Sakura ran to them. She talked to Tsunade and therefore learned that they weren't in control, they had no idea what they were doing, and they even redeemed themselves by healing lots of people in the hospital.

As Sakura ran towards them, she watched as Neji touched Tenten's luggage and made it disappear into thin air, similar to how he made the huge boulder in Gara’s Rescue Mission disappear.

"Neji!" Sakura called as everyone turned to her and she stopped in front of them. Ignoring the others, she looked at Neji in confusion. "Are you going somewhere?"

That was a rhetorical question. She could tell he indeed was, but Sakura didn't think it was a mission since his maids were here too. The question she had was just where was he going?

The other girls exchanged glances amongst themselves while Neji spoke, "I am leaving the village. With my belongings."

Sakura blinked twice before getting flustered. "Wait, what? Why? You didn't even attend the funeral, and now this? Neji, what's happening?"

Did Tsunade exile him? But she didn't say anything about it though? Or did they meet after Tsunade started drinking and something happened there? Sakura was confused to death. Confused and worried.

Neji sighed. "I am searching for someone. She's not here and I am not sure where she is at all, so I have to leave the village to find her." he looked at the girls besides. "They have decided to leave with me. Not that their decision mattered, I would have taken them with me anyway even if they refused."

The girls behind him paused before shrugging while Sakura froze in her spot as she took in his words. He mentioned no words of the Hokage permitting him of this mission.

No, this was a personal mission. He didn't care to ask for permission, did he?

Was he… going rogue? Just who was this person he was looking for?

No, that's not important. The important part was he – her lover – was leaving the village… Like Sasuke. 

Sakura’s heart fluttered. ‘No, no, no way! Not Neji too!’

She opened her mouth, walking over to him. "Neji, please, listen to me. You can’t-"

"I will ask this once, not that your answer matters, but," Neji interrupted her and calmly reached out a hand. "Wanna tag along?"

—

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—-—

[“Multitasking – Level 10” has evolved to “Supertasking – Level 1”]

It's been three days since he left Konoha, and using 50 clones for 72 hours straight finally caused this quirk to level up. All 50 clones were busy running around the land of fire, searching every nook and cranny of the country with their Lord’s Eye. That amount of information was stressful, but he gained 15 INT from it – and finally his quirk levelled up too. He could already feel the mental stress vanishing as the evolved quirk took effect and helped him sort out every feeling, vision, and hearing – in short, every information – he was receiving from the 50 clones.

[Genome Ability: Supertasking

Level: 1

Details: The ability to perform an infinite number of tasks in a finite amount of time.

*However, the word “infinite” is relative to the level of this ability + the INT of the gamer.

*At Level-1. Master can control up to 500 Shadow Clones – with perfect precision – using this technique.]

“Fuuh…” Neji released a sigh as the stress on his brain vanished and all the information he was receiving from his clones became much more vivid. With a bit of concentration, he created 450 more clones from his 50 clones – with each one creating 9 clones. Still, the increased number of clones seem to provide no strain on his mind. All the information, across all 5 senses, was perfectly organised thanks to his mind, shared across 500 individual bodies. 

“Onii-sama?” Hanabi asked, looking up at him from his lap. “Are you okay?”

“I am now,” he nodded. “Anyway, you were supposed to be asleep.”

She pouted but closed her eyes nonetheless.

Neji was on top of a rooftop – the rooftop of an outdoor house he created using Woodstyle. The other six girls were inside, sleeping, while he was giving Hanabi some favoured time by letting her sleep on his lap.

The house they were staying in was in a different dimension than Konoha. In this dimension, only they were the living beings (unless you count the trees as living beings too). This was the reward he got from Tsunade's Hidden Quest.

===

Quest: Resist the witch's temptation

Details: Tsunade Senju is drunk, and is trying to seduce you. You can fall to her trick, embrace her for the night – but lose her forever. Or you can resist the urge and wait for a better opportunity.

Objective: Resist the drunk Tsunade's seduction.

Reward: INT 10+, WIS 10+, Genome Ability- [Planetary Dimension Creation]

===

Neji had no idea such a quest existed. That's why it was a "Hidden Quest". He rejected her anyway, without knowing about this – so he felt at ease, somewhat more humane than before. He didn’t make this decision for the rewards.

As for the skill, it was quite a fascinating one.

[Ability: Planetary Dimension Creation

Level: 1/100

Effect: Creates an empty dimension, in the shape of a small planet with a land radius of 10 kilometres. That land is an exact replica of the 10-km radius from your standing point while creating this dimension. The planet holds everything the previous land around you does excluding the living lifeforms.

*Cost- “N” SP depending on the details of the copied terrain.]

Neji liked this new superpower. It could help in so many situations, for example mapping an enemy territory. He could even control his clones from this dimension, so that was a plus too. He could camp here all year while his clones did his job in the outside world. Though it seemed he couldn't take anything out of this place. What was here was only here. So he couldn't create an unlimited supply of some weapon just because he wished.

Neji's musing was interrupted by Hanabi's cute voice.

“Thanks,” Hanabi suddenly said, making him look down. She still had her eyes closed, but she was smiling. “For healing father’s arms.”

Right, he did that too. Before leaving Konoha, he went to meet Hiashi – who was sleeping – and healed his arms. Hanabi didn’t ask him for that, but he did it anyway.

"Only because Hinata would need someone to rely on,” and a father was a great person for that situation. “Or else she will kill herself.”

Hanabi went silent at that, but a minute later she asked slowly.

“Couldn’t you have…” her voice was gentle and slightly nervous. “...you know, helped her? I wouldn’t have minded her joining you… Or is it that you don’t like her because of the cold shoulder she always gave you?”

Neji shook his head. “No, not that. I… have wasted enough time here. It is unwise to fall in love with more people if it just causes me to waste my time and thereafter put my loved ones’ lives in danger. I like Hinata – and maybe I will talk to her someday if I have time, but that day isn’t today.”

Hanabi just nodded and went back to sleep. For a little girl who just left her family and village, she was surprisingly understanding of his reasons. Lovely little thing.

After half an hour, when he was sure she was asleep, he flew her to her room and placed her in the bed carefully. Then he went to his own room. Now that his head wasn’t constantly hurting because of the clones, he had a job to do. An interrogation.

Samui of the Cloud Village. The cat he caught the night of the double Nine-Tails incident. It was finally time to ask her questions, questions that could very well answer his most wanted worries.

Green eyes, blonde hair – he would have thought she may be Kimi if not for the ‘mark’ Kimi had under her navel. All five of his original girls had a mark of their own – but only Kimi bound it to her soul out of her own volition, so even if she were to take over someone else’s body Neji should be able to sense it. He wasn’t sure about the range of that thing, so she might still be on some corner of this world or universe – maybe even be on the planet of Otsutsukis? – but he was sure she wasn't Samui.

Locking his room and casting a few sound-proofing spells around, Neji took out the spy ninja from his inventory and threw her to the bed.

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