51-55

Chapter 51: Leverage and the Secret Manual  

The Elite Class classroom was thick with drowsy monotony.  

Even the lush pothos plant by the window seemed to wilt under the weight of boredom.  

Naruto, for once, was diligently copying notes—though his face twisted in agony. He glanced at the stern-faced Hikari beside him, swallowed his complaints, and forced himself to keep writing.  

Meanwhile, " Hikari" sat rigid, her Byakugan locked onto the restroom’s aftermath.  

Through their shared vision, she watched as Hinata—tear-streaked and trembling—cleaned herself up. The girl slumped into her seat, exhaustion plain on her face.  

Mission accomplished.  

The real Hikari had already left.  

Everything had gone smoothly.  

This version of Hinata—still unhardened by war, still cowed by fear—was nothing like the girl who’d once stood against Pain.  

Pathetic.  

The Hyūga heiress, bullied into submission by a mere child.  

No resistance. No defiance.  

Just raw, whimpering terror.  

" Hikari" ran through the plan again. No flaws.  

With both her and the original’s Byakugan active, they’d created an impenetrable surveillance net. No witnesses. No mistakes.  

Now, the stubborn Neji would be the original’s problem.  

Her job?  

Break Hinata further.  

And claim the Eight Trigrams Palms secrets.  

The Shadow Clone Technique really is absurdly useful.  

As one of those clones, " Hikari" couldn’t help but marvel at the Second Hokage’s genius.  

Flying Thunder God. Shadow Clones. Reanimation Jutsu.  

Each a forbidden art rivaling kekkei genkai.  

If only someone could merge Hashirama’s raw power with Tobirama’s intellect—that would be a true Shinobi God.  

Her fingers traced her cheek.  

…Perhaps I’m the only one who could achieve that now.  

A humorless smirk curled her lips.  

Her Byakugan never wavered from Hinata. If the girl tried anything, this clone’s final role would be simple:  

Cause a distraction.  

Buy time for the original to ignite the Eight Gates and flee.  

At full speed, muscles burning for propulsion, not even Konoha’s best could catch her.  

Elsewhere, " Hikari" was hitting a wall.  

She’d tried mimicking Gaara’s sand platform—using water to fly.  

Failed.  

Too heavy. Too unstable.  

Next, avian shapes.  

No luck.  

Water’s fluidity was a double-edged sword. Pressure deformed it instantly.  

But experiments bore fruit:  

Piscine. Serpentine. Web-like structures.  

The spiderweb that had loomed over Hinata? A recent breakthrough.  

Beyond intimidation, the hollow mesh reduced drag while enhancing tensile strength. Less brute force, more precision.  

Now, " Hikari" was obsessed—testing every shape imaginable.  

Of course, chakra consumption skyrocketed.  

Luckily, the original’s Eight Gates training compensated.  

Before the Gate of Injury, the technique doesn’t harm the body—just harnesses wasted vitality.  

Her reserves had swelled from low-Jōnin to mid-Jōnin level.  

Open the Gate of Injury, and she’d surpass…  

Kakashi Hatake.  

…Wait.  

A grimace.  

All this—tailored beasts, Eight Gates—and my chakra’s barely on par with the series’ most stamina-starved ninja?  

Pathetic.  

Knock. Knock. Knock.  

The classroom door interrupted Iruka’s lecture.  

"Come in."  

The hinges creaked.  

A drenched, shivering Hinata shuffled inside.  

Iruka’s irritation melted into concern.  

"Hinata, what—?"  

"I—"  

Her eyes darted to the back row.  

To her.  

" Hikari" grinned behind her bandages, fangs glinting.  

A silent threat.  

One wrong move, little rabbit.  

Hinata’s voice cracked.  

"I… slipped. At the sink."  

Iruka eyed her soaked clothes.  

(Her pallor. Her shaking.)  

But her meek demeanor wasn’t unusual.  

"Do you need to go home and change?"  

"No!"  

Too sharp. Too fast.  

Hikari’s orders were clear: Deliver the manual today.  

Going home meant disappearing on the way.  

Hinata scurried to her seat.  

The damp fabric clung, cold as the gaze drilling into her spine.  

Beside her, Ino frowned.  

"You okay?"  

"F-Fine."  

Hinata ducked her head, flipping open a notebook.  

Eight Trigrams Palms.  

Page after page, her pen scratched secrets into treason.  

Three classes passed.  

The bell rang.  

Through the chaos, only two remained still:  

The scribe.  

The overseer.  

Scritch-scratch.  

Finally—  

Click.  

The pen capped.  

Hinata stared at the filled pages.  

This much… It’s all I remember.  

If the clan found out…  

Disowned. Executed.  

A tear splattered the paper.  

She wiped it away, stood, and turned.  

The entire class watched as she approached Hikari.  

"H-Here."  

The notebook trembled in her hands.  

Hikari took it, smiling sweetly.  

"Thank you."  

Leverage secured.  

Even if Hinata recanted now, the evidence was undeniable.  

Her father, Hyūga Hiashi, would face scrutiny.  

She was trapped.  

"You did well, Hinata."  

The praise—something she’d craved from her father—now tasted like ash.  

"Keep it up."  

"Y-Yes…"  

Her voice was hollow.  

Defeated.  

(✧ω✧) 

Chapter 52: The Forest of Death  

4:00 PM  

The sky was choked with leaden clouds, a fine drizzle casting shadows over the stone visage of Hashirama Senju’s monument.  

A kilometer away from the Ninja Academy, a plain-looking middle-aged man stood alone on the street, holding a blue umbrella. Raindrops pattered against the fabric as he waited—patient, unmoving.  

Beneath the disguise of a Transformation Jutsu, Hikari watched the academy gates with cold focus, her Byakugan tracing every movement from a distance.  

For days, she’d been searching for the right moment to approach Neji Hyūga.  

But the academy was too crowded, too exposed.  

After school, Neji always headed straight for the Hyūga Compound without lingering. Hikari had kept herself just outside the Byakugan’s maximum range, avoiding detection—but it also meant she’d found no chance to corner him alone.  

The Hyūga Puzzle 

Neji and Hinata were the only Hyūga in the academy.  

Hinata, under the "Academy Hikari" (her shadow clone)’s "guidance," had become increasingly obedient, supplying pages of the Eight Trigrams Palms diagrams daily.  

So far, 63 pages had been collected—nearly half of the full 128.  

Memorizing them wasn’t the hard part. The real challenge was applying them—calculating chakra flow, adjusting body mechanics, merging energy and motion into seamless strikes.  

Compared to the brute-force Strong Fist style of Konoha, the Gentle Fist was surgical precision disguised as taijutsu. Its difficulty rivaled even high-level ninjutsu.  

Hikari’s progress was… acceptable. Not fast, but steady.  

With Hinata already under control, securing Neji would mean both future leaders of the Hyūga Clan—Main and Branch Families—would be hers to manipulate.  

No more risks of exposure. No more loose ends.  

And most importantly—access to every Hyūga secret.  

She hadn’t forgotten the Hyūga’s threat. As long as the Byakugan existed, they would always be a problem.  

But for now, she needed to bide her time.  

By the time she graduated, reaching Elite Jōnin-level strength would be trivial.  

And once she mastered the Eight Gates?  

The Hyūga would be wiped out in minutes.  

The School Gates Open 

At the academy entrance, students trickled out in small groups.  

Konoha’s ninja program was exclusive—chakra wasn’t something just anyone could wield. The entire student body was smaller than a single grade in her past life’s schools.  

Hikari’s Byakugan locked onto her shadow clone, laughing and chatting with friends.  

The clone had done well maintaining her social ties.  

Secret techniques? Impossible to obtain through friendship alone.  

But she had extracted some useful intel:  

• From Chōji Akimichi: 

• "Yang Release isn’t just about strength—it’s life itself." 

• It encompassed absorption, release, healing, enhancement, motion, balance… every trait of living beings. 

• The Akimichi specialized in absorption, release, and enhancement—but their training was tailored for their clan’s secret techniques. Useless without them.  

• From Shikamaru Nara: 

"Yin Release turns imagination into reality. If your mind’s strong enough, you could erase someone from existence." 

He’d rambled about myths—like a Nara ancestor who vanished after being swallowed by his own shadow. 

But Shikamaru was vague, unlike Chōji. Probably still distrustful. 

"See you tomorrow!"  

Her clone waved cheerfully at her friends—Ino, Shikamaru, Chōji, and a lovestruck Naruto.  

Hikari smirked.  

Naruto’s puppy crush was amusing, but irrelevant.  

Her goal wasn’t romance—it was godhood.  

Becoming the Sixth Paths Sage was all that mattered.  

Even if it meant shedding her humanity, she’d do it.  

Let Naruto marry Hinata. Let Boruto be born.  

She’d see what this so-called "Jōgan" and Kāma were all about.  

As her clone headed home, Hikari’s gaze shifted to Neji.  

And then—her eyes narrowed.  

Instead of turning southwest toward the Hyūga Compound, Neji was walking northeast.  

Where was he going?  

Channeling chakra, Hikari sharpened her Byakugan’s focus, compressing its 360° vision into a telescopic line of sight.  

A unique ability born from her Byakugan-Kaguya hybrid physiology.  

Neji moved fast, his path growing more desolate.  

And then—  

The Forest of Death.  

"Why is he going there?"  

A chilling realization struck her.  

"Is he… already stealing the Main Family’s techniques?"  

If Neji was training secret Hyūga jutsu in secrecy, this was perfect.  

A remote location. No witnesses.  

And if he refused to cooperate?  

Well… accidents happened in the Forest of Death all the time.  

Smiling behind the umbrella, Hikari followed silently.  

The hunt had begun.  

Chapter 53: Neji* 

The Forest of Death. 

Eastern outskirts, a clearing.  

Rain fell in a fine mist, dense as fog.  

Hyūga Neji shook the dampness from his clothes and tossed his bag under a tree for shelter. Alone, he walked toward a scarred, battered trunk.  

His palm faced upward, fingers taut.  

Beneath the white cloth tied around his forehead, his Byakugan shimmered with fury so intense it felt tangible.  

"At least it wasn’t the main family."  

Those were the exact words spoken by Hyūga Mirai—the three-year-old son of the Hyūga clan’s elder, Hyūga Kage.  

"Who taught you to say that?" 

"Everyone says it."  

A child’s innocent voice, devoid of malice, simply stating a cold, unchangeable truth.  

It was despair.  

The rain soaked through his headband.  

The icy droplets did nothing to dull the searing pain of the Caged Bird Seal. Just as the cloth could never hide his "inferior" status.  

A roar of rage burned in his chest.  

Chakra surged violently into his palm.  

"DIE!!!"  

His glowing hand slammed into the tree. Concentrated chakra erupted from his tenketsu points.  

BAM!  

A dull thud echoed from within the trunk.  

Another crack split the already battered wood.  

Not enough.  

Byakugan— Activate!  

Veins bulged around his eyes as chakra flooded his body.  

Gentle Fist Art: Sixty-Four Palms of the Hakkeshō!  

His shoulders tensed.  

Killing intent transformed into a storm of palm strikes, each blow landing faster than the falling rain.  

BAM! BAM! BAM!  

Bark splintered. Leaves scattered.  

Chakra flared through the mist, blasting apart wood and water with every strike.  

Sixteen—thirty-two—forty-seven—  

SLAP!  

His palm hit the trunk again—but this time, the chakra dispersed weakly, producing a hollow, unfocused sound.  

The leaves stopped falling.  

The tree stood unmoved.  

"Hah… hah…"  

Neji’s palms burned red. His arms trembled. His chest heaved.  

Forty-seven again.  

Sixteen strikes were the bare minimum to qualify as proficient. Thirty-two was the limit for most branch family members. Only those deemed worthy by the main family were even taught the full sixty-four.  

And legend had it that Hyūga Hiashi, the clan head, could unleash one hundred twenty-eight palms in a single barrage—enough to reduce a taijutsu specialist to pulp.  

I’m still far behind.  

Gritting his teeth, he clenched his fists to steady the shaking.  

He widened his stance, assuming the Gentle Fist’s opening form once more. The tree before him—its yellow core exposed from relentless training—was proof of his effort.  

Why do I push myself like this?  

To break the Caged Bird Seal?  

No matter how strong he became, the seal would never vanish. Every branch family member knew that. The stronger they grew, the more useful they became—as tools for the main family.  

Some rebelled by refusing to train. He’d seen it himself—a former prodigy, broken by the seal, reduced to mediocrity. That same boy would even mock others for training.  

(Of course, that boy’s fate had been… gruesome.)  

A genius who could’ve been a jonin without effort, writhing on the training grounds, screaming as the Caged Bird’s curse tore through his skull.  

His father’s sacrifice. The prodigy’s begging.  

Those were the nightmares that haunted him.  

Blue chakra flared around his hands again.  

His swollen tenketsu stung—a small pain, but one that dulled the agony in his heart. Even if freedom was an illusion, he wouldn’t stop.  

How strong do I have to be to break the seal?  

He didn’t know.  

But he did know this: If he stayed weak, there’d be no hope at all.  

The Neji of his childhood still dreamed of freedom. He wasn’t yet the "genius trapped by fate."  

Again.  

His eyes hardened. The glowing palms of the Hakkeshō struck the tree once more.  

BAM! BAM!  

The rhythmic pounding resumed.  

Deep in the forest…  

A man stood under an umbrella, his pupils glowing faintly.  

Through his vision:  

A black-haired boy in soaked white robes, unleashing his fury on a tree. Chakra still flowed, but his muscles were pushed to their limit.  

Good.  

Hakurai watched, impressed by Neji’s flawless technique.  

Forty-seven palms at this age? Far better than that talentless fool who can’t even memorize the diagrams.  

(Yes, he meant Hinata.)  

While she struggled to recall a dozen stances, Neji was already combat-ready. No wonder Hiashi was disappointed. Even Hakurai had to lower his opinion of her after seeing this.  

Perfect.  

This kind of talent… was worth recruiting.  

Neji’s rage was obvious.  

Hakurai smirked. This’ll be easy.  

Emotions were the hardest thing to control—and the easiest for others to exploit.  

He didn’t know why Neji was angry.  

But it had to be about the branch family. The main family. The Caged Bird.  

And Hakurai?  

He was the only non-main-family member to ever escape the seal.  

If Neji wanted freedom, he had no choice but to cooperate.  

Once Hakurai collected the full Hakkeshō scrolls, he’d need a sparring partner. Neji would do nicely.  

With his Byakugan and Kekkei Genkai, Hakurai learned quickly.  

He’d always considered himself a genius.  

Until he hit a wall with Wind Release training. That was when he realized how much of his "talent" was just cheating.  

The Hyūga’s Gentle Fist couldn’t be faked.  

This was his chance to test his real skill—against the strongest prodigy of Konoha’s next generation.  

BAM! CRACK!  

Wood chips flew.  

"Hah… hah…"  

Neji braced himself against the tree, drenched in sweat and rain, his hair clinging to his face.  

Rustle…  

The wind carried the sound of snapping twigs.  

CRUNCH.  

Something heavy moved through the undergrowth—like a bear.  

Neji froze.  

His head snapped toward the noise.  

A figure emerged, holding a blue umbrella.  

Then—  

The umbrella dropped.  

Yet the rain avoided the man, as if afraid to touch him.  

Not a single drop landed on him as he stepped forward.  

Neji instinctively retreated.  

The man’s aura was dangerous—so oppressive it made Neji’s chakra writhe.  

A smile curled on the stranger’s lips. His eyes were calm, yet unsettlingly hollow.  

"Hyūga Neji. Let’s talk."  

"About the Hyūga. The branch family. The main family. The Caged Bird Seal."  

"And your Sixty-Four Palms."  

(＾▽＾) 

Chapter 54: The Caged Bird  

BOOM!  

A flash of light split the sky.  

Dark, leaden clouds rumbled with thunder.  

In the damp expanse of the Forest of Death, a drenched young man stood firm, his body poised in the Gentle Fist’s opening stance. His Byakugan—pale and unblinking—locked onto the man before him, who stood unwavering in the rain like a god.  

"I don’t converse with those who hide their faces."  

"Then what do you want to know?"  

"Your identity. Your purpose. And—your true face."  

Neji’s milky-white pupils constricted, his Byakugan fully fixated on the man.  

Through the Hyūga’s all-seeing eyes, the stranger’s body radiated a deep blue chakra glow, obscuring his internal chakra pathways and muscle structure.  

Clearly, a transformation jutsu.  

This was one of the Byakugan’s greatest weaknesses.  

Despite its unparalleled penetrative vision, dense chakra could still block its sight. The village had even installed small-scale barrier seals in certain areas specifically to counter the Byakugan’s Perspective.  

The principle was similar here—the transformation jutsu wrapped the user in a thick layer of chakra, appearing as a blinding luminescent shell to the Byakugan.  

Neji could tell the man was disguised, but not what lay beneath.  

He came prepared.  

Neji’s caution deepened.  

Many knew sealing techniques could thwart the Byakugan, but few were aware that even a basic transformation jutsu could achieve the same effect.  

Someone this knowledgeable about the Hyūga’s weaknesses was either an ANBU elite… or one of their own.  

A heavy weight settled in Neji’s chest.  

As a branch family member, he was only permitted to learn up to the Thirty-Two Palms of the Eight Trigrams. Mastering the rest required the main family’s approval.  

If the Hyūga elders discovered him training in secret…  

The memory of another branch family prodigy—once reduced to sobbing in the training grounds—flashed in his mind. His fingers tensed.  

"Who are you?"  

"Only two kinds of people learn my identity."  

The man’s voice was deep, almost muffled by the rain.  

"And those are?"  

Neji pressed.  

"Friends… or corpses."  

The man’s gray eyes met Neji’s, their hollow gaze carrying an unspeakable stillness.  

"So, Hyūga Neji—which will you choose?"  

CRACK!  

Thunder roared overhead.  

The downpour intensified.  

Neji swallowed hard.  

The threat was clear: if he learned this man’s identity and refused allegiance, he wouldn’t leave this forest alive.  

"Perhaps you should state your business first."  

His Byakugan flickered to the man’s sinister chakra, then to his own exhausted body—muscles aching, chakra nearly depleted.  

A quick assessment of their power difference made him reconsider his earlier declaration about "not speaking to those who hide."  

A faint smile curled on the man’s lips.  

Talent. Nerve. Pragmatism.  

Neji had everything needed to succeed—everything except luck.  

Compared to Hinata, who struggled to even memorize clan techniques, Neji was a diamond in the rough.  

"I need you to gather intelligence on the Hyūga clan."  

"You want me to spy?"  

"Yes."  

Neji’s eyes widened.  

This was not what he expected.  

"Why me?"  

"You resent the main family. Don’t bother denying it—I can tell."  

The man cut off Neji’s protest with a wave, then raised a finger.  

"I have an irreconcilable conflict with the Hyūga elders. Help me dismantle them, and I’ll grant you one wish in return."  

"A… wish?"  

"Anything."  

Silence.  

Only the patter of rain filled the forest.  

"Can you… remove the Caged Bird Seal?"  

Despite knowing the odds, Neji’s gaze burned with hope.  

"Not yet."  

The man shook his head.  

Only the clan head and elders knew how to undo the seal—something even Hinata couldn’t access.  

The light in Neji’s eyes dimmed.  

"But… I will be able to."  

The man’s voice brimmed with certainty as he studied Neji’s delicate features.  

His ambitions stretched far beyond the Hyūga—beyond Konoha, even.  

The Shikotsumyaku. The Byakugan. The Eight Gates. Tailed Beast chakra.  

He had already transcended the ordinary.  

The Hyūga were merely a stepping stone.  

Recruiting Neji wasn’t about intelligence—it was about ensuring his own growth went unnoticed until he was ready.  

Neji’s breath hitched.  

The man’s confidence was undeniable.  

For the first time, the nightmare of the Caged Bird Seal seemed… breakable.  

"Can…"  

Neji hesitated, struggling to voice his request.  

What if this was just another cruel illusion? Another false hope?  

"Can you… show me this future you speak of?"  

His voice trembled—less a demand, more a plea.  

The Caged Bird had broken him.  

And now, like a drowning man clutching at straws, his heart was already leaning toward this stranger.  

"Gladly."  

With a single raised hand—  

Three glowing green points ignited within the man’s body.  

His chakra core devoured life energy, and an ocean of indigo chakra erupted from him.  

BOOM!  

Lightning split the heavens, twisting like silver serpents.  

Neji’s Byakugan widened in disbelief.  

Above him—  

Every raindrop hung frozen in midair.  

The world itself seemed to pause.  

Through his Byakugan, the man’s chakra had fractured into countless strands, painting the sky like a constellation of deep blue stars.  

"This…"  

Neji stood paralyzed.  

To command the rain itself—this was power befitting a god of the storms.  

If he can do this… then surely…  

Surely he can free me.  

Logic fought against soaring hope, leaving only one final question.  

"Will you truly release me from the Caged Bird?"  

The man almost laughed.  

Neji’s yearning was palpable—a fire so fierce it could scorch the heavens.  

No more words were needed.  

With a burst of chakra smoke, the disguise shattered.  

Before Neji stood a silver-haired girl, one hand outstretched toward the suspended rain, the other unwinding the black cloth covering her eyes.  

Her deathly gray irises met his Byakugan.  

The bulging veins around their eyes connected them—bound by blood, by fate.  

She stepped forward.  

Two fingers pressed gently against Neji’s trembling forehead.  

Black and white cloth fluttered between them.  

In Neji’s awestruck gaze, she stood—a girl holding up the sky.  

"Neji, don’t be afraid."  

Her voice, soft yet resolute, echoed through the trees—through his very soul.  

"We share the same desire. The same dream."  

"Freedom."  

Tears welled in Neji’s eyes.  

For the first time since the seal had burned into his skin—  

He believed.  

And the light of hope had never shone so bright.  

Chapter 55: Hyuga Ameki  

A rainy night.  

The crescent moon had been completely swallowed by dark clouds, leaving no trace of light behind.  

The heavy downpour had weakened, leaving only scattered droplets pattering against the leaves, creating a soft rustling sound.  

Beneath a massive, battle-scarred banyan tree, two boys with a shared goal sat cross-legged on the ground. A black cloth lay across one’s lap, while the other bore a white one.  

Ashen eyes met milky-white.  

An umbrella stood between them, shielding them from the occasional raindrops that slipped through the branches.  

Neji stared at Hikari’s unnaturally pale Byakugan, unable to suppress the excitement surging within him.  

He had already heard her story—how she was descended from a Hyuga "criminal," forced to flee to avoid being branded with the Caged Bird Seal. To evade the Hyuga main family’s pursuit, she had disguised herself as a blind girl, her eyes perpetually wrapped in black cloth.  

As long as the Caged Bird system existed, she would forever be an enemy of the main family.  

Just like him.  

But unlike him—already marked by the cursed seal, robbed of any chance to resist—Hikari still had the power to fight back.  

She wasn’t just his hope. She was the hope of every branch family member.  

If the Hyuga clan discovered her existence, both the main and branch families would descend into chaos.  

"What… do you… plan to do?"  

Neji trembled, his words quivering with barely contained emotion.  

For the first time in centuries, the branch family’s desperate wish seemed within reach. The feeling was indescribable—like a bird trapped in a cage, staring at the sky for years, only to finally spot a crack in the lock.  

This girl—unmarked, unbroken, a genius untouched by the Caged Bird—was nothing short of a miracle.  

Fate had finally extended him a lifeline.  

Hikari met Neji’s burning gaze and spoke slowly:  

"Gather intelligence on the Hyuga main family—their secret techniques, historical records. Recruit capable members from the branch family. Once my body is fully developed, we’ll storm the Hyuga compound, dismantle the main family, and erase that damned Caged Bird Seal."  

She narrowed her eyes in warning. "Until then, you will tell no one about me. If I die—or if they brand me—this chance, a thousand years in the making, will be wasted."  

Neji clenched his jaw. "I’d sooner die than betray you."  

If he became the reason her plan failed, he’d be the greatest traitor in the branch family’s history. Even in death, he’d never be able to face his father.  

Right now, he feared the Caged Bird sealing Hikari more than she did.  

"Hikari… Hyuga Hinata is in your class, isn’t she? She’s awakened her Byakugan. You can fool others, but not the eyes of the Hyuga."  

Worry laced his voice. He was already thinking ten steps ahead for her.  

A faint smile touched Hikari’s lips.  

Now she was certain—Neji was truly hers.  

"I’ve already handled her."  

"Handled…?"  

Neji blinked.  

He knew Hikari was dangerous. He’d heard the rumors—how she’d hospitalized a jōnin, Fūma Koshi, as a mere academy student. Even across different grades, her reputation as the top prodigy was legendary.  

But… had she killed Hinata?  

The thought sent a chill down his spine.  

Hinata wasn’t branch family. If she died, the entire Hyuga clan would mobilize. Hikari’s identity would be exposed, and their hope of breaking the seal would vanish.  

Though he’d only met Hikari once, she already meant a hundred times more to him than the main family’s fragile heiress.  

"Not completely. But she has a weakness I control. She won’t talk."  

"Are you sure?"  

Neji leaned in, his expression eerily similar to that of an underworld informant.  

"Not entirely. That’s where you come in."  

"What do you need?"  

"I can’t get close to the Hyuga compound. You’ll monitor Hinata for me. Report any suspicious moves."  

"Understood."  

Neji adapted instantly. No hesitation, no questions—just absolute obedience.  

With her goal achieved, Hikari glanced at the darkened sky, picked up the black cloth on her lap, and tied it over her eyes as usual. She stood, ready to leave.  

"Wait—"  

Neji’s voice stopped her just as she lifted the umbrella.  

"What else?"  

She turned, the umbrella resting on her shoulder.  

"Aren’t you going to ask me about Hyuga intelligence?"  

For a first-time spy, Neji was oddly eager.  

Hikari brushed a strand of hair from her forehead.  

Truthfully, she didn’t expect much. As a branch member, Neji’s access to secrets was limited. Most techniques could be extracted from Hinata anyway.  

This "intelligence gathering" was just a pretext. As long as Neji kept her existence hidden, her goal was met.  

But since he was offering…  

"Go ahead."  

She tilted her chin, granting her new spy permission to speak.  

Neji studied her face carefully before continuing:  

"A few days ago… two branch family brothers went missing."  

Hikari didn’t react.  

After a long pause, Neji added:  

"The main family’s elder swore to investigate, but the search team was quietly recalled. It seems… the matter will be dropped."  

His words were a test. Anyone who knew about the missing branch members would immediately suspect Hikari—especially after seeing her Byakugan.  

But she remained unfazed.  

"If you have something to say, say it plainly."  

Neji took her lack of denial as confirmation.  

"I once heard my father speak of… Hyuga Ameki."  

Hikari’s grip on the umbrella tightened slightly.  

"During an ambush in Kirigakure, she had a chance to retreat. But the enemy’s target was her. To save the branch family guards protecting her, she chose to draw the enemy away alone—and destroyed her own Byakugan before capture."  

Neji’s voice softened with memory.  

Hikari stood silently in the rain, listening.  

She had never known the details of Ameki’s capture. No one had ever told her.  

So that’s why Ao only has one Byakugan.  

She must have crushed the other herself.  

"The surviving guards brought back news of her death. But for abandoning a main family member and losing the Byakugan, they were… brutally punished."  

Neji’s expression darkened, as if channeling his father’s grief.  

"For the first time in a thousand years, the Byakugan was lost. Her actions split the clan. Some called her a fool—a traitor who sacrificed the clan’s pride for a handful of branch members. Others saw her as a hero who died protecting her kin."  

"The fighting grew so fierce that the elder, Hyuga Kage—Ameki’s own father—had to intervene. His judgment was final:"  

Neji’s voice dropped to a whisper, heavy with grim authority:  

"‘Hyuga Ameki’s failure led to the loss of the Byakugan. Her crime is unforgivable. She is stripped of her main family status and name. Henceforth, she shall be known only as the Criminal, banished from the Hyuga clan—and her name shall never be engraved upon Konoha’s Memorial Stone.’"  

A distant roll of thunder echoed as the rain began to fade.