"You..."
A strongly seductive voice came from beside him, startling the disoriented Hyuga Hizashi. He instinctively stumbled back a step, nearly losing his footing.
"What exactly are you?" Hizashi's scalp tingled as he looked at the black-robed figure beside him. He couldn't help but ask with a trembling voice, "Why are you telling me this?"
"I'm merely pruning weeds and expecting to see what kind of flowers will bloom."
When Hyuga Kawa said this, even though Hizashi couldn't see the face hidden in the shadows, he felt as if he saw a pair of eyes—eyes harboring profound malice.
It was like a fire burning, not raging or grand, but quietly flickering.
The other party didn't care what his fire would ignite or destroy; Hizashi, as the head of the branch family, was merely fuel for the flame.
Hyuga Hizashi fell silent.
"The Hyuga Main Family is the root of the Hyuga clan. As long as the root remains, it doesn't matter if the branches and leaves wither or flourish."
This was what his father, the clan head, had instilled in him since childhood.
However, recalling Hinata's weak and flawed performance during training, various dark thoughts began to surge uncontrollably in his mind.
"With Neji's talent, he could clearly become a strong ninja of the Hyuga clan, yet because of his branch family status, he has to be branded with the Caged Bird Seal, completely losing his freedom, living his entire life in the shadow of the Main Family..."
"While the cowardly and incompetent daughter of the Main Family can enjoy the fruits of others' labor, naturally accepting Neji's protection, even sacrificing his life for her..."
As a father, to personally strip his child of freedom was truly too incompetent.
He had chosen to die humbly for a brief taste of freedom.
However, he wanted Neji to live more freely, to live a life of flesh and blood.
Not as an appendage to anyone, and certainly not burdened by so-called fate.
"Believe me, selling your soul to the devil is not shameful."
Hyuga Kawa said softly, "It's only shameful if you don't sell it for a good price."
"...What can you do?"
After a long silence, Hyuga Hizashi finally spoke, "What do I need to pay?"
"I can grant you the power to break free from your cage." Hyuga Kawa's tone was calm as he continued, "You must pay everything you possess: your name, your future, your life, your soul..."
"You..." Hyuga Hizashi was stunned for a moment and couldn't help but ask, "This deal isn't fair at all?"
"Isn't that just how devils are?" Hyuga Kawa's tone was quite candid. "So, what's your answer?"
Hyuga Hizashi's breathing grew increasingly rapid. Even so, even knowing the other party's malice, he found himself unable to refute.
The other party had truly stripped him bare, like a devil seeing through human desires, meticulously shaving his flesh inch by inch, laying his desires out on the table, pound by pound.
A moment later, he gritted his teeth, shook his head, and said, "I don't believe you can make me and Neji break free from the cage, and I don't believe anyone can do it."
As long as the Caged Bird Seal existed, Neji could never truly break free.
But even the head of the Main Family only had a way to activate the curse mark, not to release it.
"Very well." Hyuga Kawa didn't mind his skepticism. He nodded and extended an arm from the shadow of his black robe. "Then let me give you a taste."
At the same time, he silently recited in his mind: "Materialize item—Caged Bird Seal release for ten seconds."
[Cost 300 Realization Points, materialize?]
"Indeed, not a release method, just a ten-second release, won't cost too much." Hyuga Kawa's eyes flickered, and he affirmed inwardly, "Materialize."
Hearing his words, Hyuga Hizashi was stunned. He watched as two fingers extended towards his forehead, feeling as if all his blood had stopped for a moment. He instinctively wanted to step back.
But the next moment, those two fingers rested on his forehead, and a tremor instantly surged through his heart.
It felt like a slit had opened on his forehead, and clear spring water poured in from outside, then divided into several thin streams, washing away every blockage in his brain.
Hyuga Hizashi even heard the sound of an invisible shackles breaking and felt a veil covering his eyes slowly lifting.
The world had never been so clear.
Hyuga Hizashi's pupils trembled. His first reaction upon regaining his senses was for veins to bulge around his eyes.
"Byakugan! Activate!!"
It was gone?
It was truly gone.
The visual blind spot, it was truly gone!
How was this possible?!
Hyuga Hizashi couldn't believe what he was experiencing, but a smile, ranging from ecstasy to ferocity, gradually appeared on his face.
"Hahaha!"
Was this what freedom felt like?
Light, clear, joyful...
Various sensations filled his limbs and bones, as if some obscure restraints had been lifted, and the entire world became bright at this moment.
Hyuga Hizashi completely abandoned his usual meticulous etiquette, his laughter incredibly wild and unrestrained, even bringing tears to his eyes.
Others could not empathize with this feeling: something once possessed, then cruelly stripped away, with one's life constantly held in the hands of others, now suddenly regained.
However, soon, the Caged Bird mark on Hyuga Hizashi's forehead, which had faded considerably, was restored.
And his Byakugan, which had been 360° flawless, once again showed a spreading blind spot directly behind his first thoracic vertebra, and the world became dim again.
"What's going on?"
Hyuga Hizashi's joyful expression instantly froze, and a hint of bewildered pain even appeared in his eyes.
But he quickly remembered that this was only a "taste."
"You!" Hyuga Hizashi abruptly grabbed the arm of the person beside him, impatiently asking, "What do you want me to do?"
Hyuga Kawa showed no surprise and didn't rush to answer. Instead, he counter-asked, "You and Hyuga Hiashi are identical twins, right?"
"...Yes."
Seeing Hizashi nod with a gloomy expression, Hyuga Kawa's tone remained calm: "I need you to become Hyuga Hiashi, and Hyuga Hizashi will die."
"What?" Hyuga Hizashi's pupils constricted, and he blurted out, "Impossible!"
This guy wants him to fake his death and then replace his elder brother?
How could that possibly be done?
"You said you could." Hyuga Kawa looked at the hand grasping his arm, raised his hand, and gently pried it open, saying softly, "You just need to follow orders."
The moonlight cast their shadows on the ground, swaying among the dappled shadows of the surrounding trees.
"..."
Thinking of everything he had just experienced, an incredibly strong desire almost crushed him. Hyuga Hizashi clenched his teeth: "Okay! I'll do it!"
Seeing his disheveled appearance, Hyuga Kawa chuckled inwardly.
A bird that had lost its freedom briefly regained it, soaring once again in the vast sky.
How could it be content to return to a small cage?
However, Hyuga Hizashi was merely a supporting character he had chosen.
The truly important chess piece...
Hyuga Kawa's gaze shifted slightly, looking towards a desolate mansion in the distance.
New stories are on their way! Once they arrive, expect two chapters from each story, daily. Keep an eye out!