Chapter 35

Chapter 35.

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Murama stirred groggily, disoriented by his surroundings. "Arrrh, where am I?" he mumbled.

Suddenly, a stinging pain racked his cheek, jolting him out of his confusion. "Who-?!" he began to shout, but abruptly stopped midway as he laid eyes on his captors.

Staring back at him were two pupilless, pale eyes - the unmistakable Byakugan of the Hyuga clan. But that was not all that unnerved him. Beside them were two piercing violet orbs that seemed to bore into his very soul, filling him with a sense of dread.

'These freaky eyes! Fuck, am I captured?,' Murama thought in horror as he recognized the face before him.

"...M-Matriarch?" he stammered. He couldn't believe he was directly in front of the main boss. His body started shivering from panic and fear.

'Dammit! dammit! Kami. Why do I always get fucked over?'. Murama cursed in frustration.

"Are you going to say something, or do I have to make you speak?" Hitomi said, her tone cold.

"M-Matriarch, I-I don't understand. I don't know anything," Murama replied, his words coming out in a stuttering mess.

"I see. So you don't know anything." Hitomi said calmly, and before Murama could even react, she swiftly stabbed a kunai into his shoulder joint.

"Aaaaargh!!!" Murama's agonized scream echoed through the room as white-hot pain ripped through his body. It felt as if his entire shoulder was on fire, and his breathing became labored, his heartbeat pounding in his ears.

"Aaargh... Please stop, Matriarch, please!" he begged, the intensity of the pain unlike anything he had ever experienced before. But Hitomi showed no mercy, continuing to torture him for a full minute before finally withdrawing the kunai.

By the end of the ordeal, Murama was a quivering mess. Tears streamed down his face as he struggled to catch his breath, every movement sending fresh waves of pain through his battered body.

"Mother, Don't kill him." Tatsuya stopped her.

Hitomi looked at Tatsuya and nodded, seeming to have regained her composure after her initial outburst. She had let her emotions get the better of her for a moment.

Turning his attention back to the battered Murama, Tatsuya spoke firmly, "Are you still going to deny knowing anything? I'll ask you one more time - tell me what happened to Hayami"

Murama's eyes darted side to side as he replied, "I-I can't... I don't know anything."

Tatsuya frowned at the man's continued stubbornness. Based on Murama's angry cursing towards Yami when sending the letter, it didn't seem like he was too loyal to him that he would remain silent even under torture and pain. Because what his mother just did was not just stabbing his shoulder but she had literally destroyed at least a dozen of his tenketsu points, which, on a scale of pain, he would rate as 7 out of 10. And anything above that is enough to traumatise a normal person's brain permanently. The fact that he remained conscious says much about his mental strength. It is quite formidable.

However, from what he had seen in Yami's room, it didn't make sense that Murama truly knew nothing. Yami had clearly inquired about removing the traces leading to Hayami's death.

Thinking about the situation, Tatsuya came to only one answer.'He's being forced to keep his mouth shut and Yami has that leverage,'

Coming into decision, Tatsuya first carefully scanned Murama's entire body using his Byakugan, examining all of his chakra network pathway, nervous system and each vital organ. And when he was closely inspecting the man's brain, he suddenly noticed a small, almost grain-sized bug sitting right atop the medulla oblongata.

"I see," Tatsuya murmured. "So that's why you are silent."

"He's been implanted with some kind of bug, most likely from the Aburame clan, to prevent him from revealing information," Tatsuya said, turning to Hitomi.

Murama's eyes widened in shock. 'He found it so easily and quickly! Didn't they say the bug had the ability to mimic its host's chakra, making it hard for even an experienced Hyuga to identify?' he thought.

But with shock, he was also feeling another emotion, it was hope. 'Maybe, I can finally get free from the psycho. I just have to somehow get away from this scary duo .' He thought in determination.

Hitomi also began focusing on Murama's brain to locate the bug. "It's right on top of his medulla," Tatsuya said. Only then did Hitomi finally notice a small bug burrowing into his medulla.

Hitomi's eyes narrowed as she examined the Weaver Bug embedded in Murama's brain. "I know this bug. It is indeed from the Aburame clan. It's called a Weaver Bug. It's able to track the user's neural activity and immediately stop the heart if it senses any deviation from its programmed behavior by manipulating the medulla."

Her frown deepened. "This method of using this Weaver Insect is very secret within the Aburame clan which not anybody should know. Are they helping him?"

Tatsuya considered his mother's words, but he didn't believe the Aburame clan was directly involved. As from what he remembers correctly, Root had a powerful ninja from the Aburame clan named Torune, who had cell-eating nano venom insects. It's likely Danzo had this Weaver Bug developed and provided it to Yami as a means of control.

"Regardless of the source, we need to remove it if we want to get any information," he said, then turned to her. "Do you know how to remove it?"

Hitomi shook her head regretfully. "Nothing of safe means. Only the Aburame clan has that specialized knowledge."

Tatsuya paused considering his options, knowing that the bug would likely trigger a fatal response at any disturbance. But an idea began to form in his mind.

"Mother, can you bring me the thinnest needle we have available?" he requested.

Confused but trusting her son, Hitomi quickly went and brought back a needle as thin as her hair.

"Can you reinforce it with your chakra, but don't apply it directly? Use a chakra string instead," Tatsuya instructed as he broke the needle so that only a small part of the top was left out.

Hitomi complied, delicately manipulating her chakra into a thin string and connecting it to the reinforced needle. Maintaining such precise control over an object that small was no easy feat, but she could maintain it for a short time.

Tatsuya then took the broken needle in his right hand and stood before the now terrified Murama. "Conscious or unconscious?"

"U-Unconscious! Unconscious!" Murama shouted, and without waiting he immediately struck his own neck to knock himself out.

Tatsuya's brow twitched involuntarily at the display, but he shook off the reaction and activated his {Hollow Phase} ability. To his satisfaction, the needle became intangible too along with his body.

He had remembered that his Hollow Phase had also rendered his clothes intangible when he first used it. It made him realise the technique considered anything he was holding to be an extension of himself.

Though he didn't know at how much capacity it would work as that would need further experiments.

Tatsuya wasted no time, directly plunging his hand into Murama's skull, reaching the area just behind the Weaver Bug. Timing his movements precisely, he waited until the last possible moment before his Hollow Phase technique expired.

In a single fluid motion, Tatsuya flicked the reinforced needle at the Weaver Bug while simultaneously withdrawing his hand. The intangible projectile passed seamlessly through the brain matter, striking the bug just as Tatsuya's ability ended.

The Weaver Bug had no time to react before the needle reverted to its tangible state, impaling and instantly killing it. Both Hitomi and Tatsuya watched with a mix of relief and satisfaction as the bug died.

"What was that?" she asked, her brow furrowed. She hadn't asked him before, because he looked very focused but she was extremely shocked by him suddenly plunging his hand into the skull, as if the physical barriers meant nothing to him. She had never seen something like that.

"It's a little complicated, Mother. I'll explain later." He said.

"Hmm." Hitomi nodded. He'll tell her when he wants to tell her. She didn't need to worry about him.

But suddenly they saw Murama's unconscious body begin to convulse violently.

"The bug must have had a failsafe mechanism!" Hitomi narrowed her eyes. "Quick, his heart is slowing down!"

Tatsuya's eyes narrowed as he focused his eyes intently as he put his palm against his chest and mumbled in his mind.

{Art of Violence}

Swirling chakra so violently in his hand, that even the natural colour of chakra began to distort. Tatsuya then thumped it on Murama chest heavily, the force of the blow powerful enough to have easily crushed the man's rib cage if not for his control.

Immediately, the violent convulsions ceased, and Murama's body stilled. But as Hitomi checked him over, her brow furrowed.

"...He is in a coma. His neural activity is getting very suppressed," she said.

Tatsuya nodded, his expression calm. "Don't worry. It's not a problem if he's in a coma or not if we want the information. The main issue, which was the bug, is gone."

He turned to Hitomi, meeting her gaze. "I've called Aunt Suu to do a mind search on him. It's better to mind search him than just interrogate him and believe his words."

Hitomi's eyes widened in surprise. "Suu? She agreed?!" She couldn't believe her son had managed to convince Suu to perform an unauthorized mind search.

"And she agreed to keep it secret?" Hitomi pressed, knowing full well that such an act was prohibited. "You know the risks, right?"

Tatsuya met her gaze steadily. "...Yes."

Hitomi was shocked, unable to believe how he had persuaded the notoriously stubborn Suu Yamanaka. "How did you-"

But before she could finish her thought, the door opened, and Suu herself stepped into the room.

"So…. he's the one I have to mind search," Suu said, her eyes fixed on the unconscious Murama.

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