The dead silence in the secret room was heavy and palpable, suffocating anyone within it.
There was only the subtle crackle of the oil lamp wick in the distance and the increasingly faint, blood-flecked sound of breathing.
"Cough! Cough!"
Hyūga Hiashi slumped against the wall... No, he should now be called Hyūga Hizashi.
Hyūga Hizashi suddenly coughed up a large mouthful of blood. The blood dripped down his chin, staining his tattered clothes with new crimson marks.
That sound instantly broke the frozen state of Hyūga Neji's mind, pulling him out of the blank terror that had consumed him!
"Father!"
A hoarse cry, bordering on a scream, was squeezed from deep within Neji's throat, laced with undisguised panic.
He lunged forward to Hizashi's side, his knees slamming hard onto the ground, yet he seemed to feel no pain. Looking at the ceaselessly flowing blood from his father, his trembling hands hovered in the air. He wanted to touch Hizashi but feared accelerating his father's final moments. He was utterly helpless.
All his previous composure and resolve collapsed completely in this moment. He felt like the child he once was, who could only watch his father's cold corpse, his eyes filled with pain and fury, yet powerless to change anything.
"Cough! Neji..." Hizashi spoke in a barely audible whisper. Every inhale seemed to cost him all his strength, and every exhale carried the heavy stench of blood.
"I... I will save you! I will save you!"
Neji seemed not to hear the faint voice, only repeating his disjointed words in panic. His trembling hands finally reached out, unfastening Hizashi's blood-soaked collar. When he saw his father's sunken chest, his eyes instantly turned blood-red, the veins spreading until they looked ready to weep blood.
"Neji..." Hizashi spoke again, his voice slightly louder.
But Neji kept shaking his head, his gaze unfocused, murmuring deliriously, "No, no, what have I done? How could this happen, I..."
"Neji!"
Before he could sink further into his terror, Hizashi summoned a surge of unknown strength, abruptly raising a bloody hand and fiercely gripping Neji's wrist. The force was so great that Neji actually felt pain.
Hizashi gasped violently, each breath a terrible, frothing sound, but his eyes, fixed on Neji, were frighteningly clear.
"Listen to me." Every word he spoke was incredibly difficult, yet distinctly clear. "I don't have much time."
Hearing this, Neji's body jolted, finally stopping his meaningless mumbling. He looked up, trembling, into the pair of Byakugan eyes that were slowly dimming but still gentle.
"Don't be sad." Hizashi's voice was weak but strangely calm. "This was my own choice."
"...Father," Neji's voice shook uncontrollably, his tone pained and confused. "Why? Why did you do this?"
"Why did you hide this from me? Why this way..."
"Silly boy."
Hizashi's voice was hoarse, tinged with resignation. "Did you think that your actions against the Main Family went unnoticed because you were lucky or your plan was flawless?"
"Years ago, when the Main Family wanted me dead, I chose to resist. The body handed over to the Cloud Village was actually the result of a feigned death... the true Hyūga Hiashi..."
"The details are too complicated. I cannot tell you. In short, from that moment on, I, the one who lived, took his place and became 'Hyūga Hiashi'..."
"I'm sorry I couldn't be there for you during those most difficult years, leaving you to face it alone," Hizashi's words conveyed deep guilt.
Tears streamed uncontrollably from Neji's eyes, blurring his vision. He shook his head repeatedly, wanting to say "I don't blame you," wanting to say "it wasn't your fault." But his throat felt constricted, unable to utter any sound, dissolving into even more violent trembling.
Hizashi interrupted his attempt to speak and continued, "However, I have always been watching you."
"I knew you snuck into the Forbidden Scroll Archives. I knew you saw the fragments of information about the Tenseigan."
"I knew you constantly wished to break free from the destiny of the Caged Bird, and I knew you, driven by accumulated resentment and a yearning for freedom, raised the slaughtering blade against the Main Family..."
"All of this, I knew. I saw it all."
"Tenseigan?" Neji subconsciously mumbled the unfamiliar word.
"Yes, the Tenseigan." Hizashi continued. "It is the evolved form of the Byakugan. The conditions for awakening it are the Ōtsutsuki Clan bloodline and a sufficiently pure Byakugan."
"It truly does hold the power to break the Caged Bird Curse Mark. It can allow you to truly escape the cage that binds you, so... cough! cough!"
He broke into a violent coughing fit, large amounts of blood gushing out, making Neji's heart twist in agony.
"So, I chose to do what a father should do."
Hizashi endured the intense pain, gripping Neji's hand fiercely, and said hoarsely, "To pave the final path for you with this broken body. But, I am so relieved..."
"Truly relieved that you didn't strike out against the innocent, driven by your desire for freedom and hatred for the Main Family. You didn't become an executioner like Itachi Uchiha..."
"No, no, Father, stop talking, please stop."
Neji shook his head constantly, cautiously reaching out to try and help Hizashi up. "I'm taking you to the hospital. You'll be fine. Lady Tsunade will surely find a way..."
But before his hand could touch Hizashi's body, a sentence spoken by Hizashi instantly froze Neji in place, as if his blood had turned to ice.
"Then, what about the Branch Family outside?"
Hizashi slowly shook his head, his gaze seemingly piercing the walls of the secret room, seeing the slaughter unfolding outside.
"What about those people? They were used, guided, and implicated by you and me. They trusted your choice, risked their lives, and swung the slaughtering blade against the Main Family with you. What about them?"
"They are also facing their own blood relatives. Their fear and sacrifice are no less than ours."
"Are you going to let yourself, let me, and let their sacrifice be for nothing?"
"You must leave. You must bear this entire burden and fly to a higher, more distant sky, a sky no one can reach. This is the price you and I paid..."
"Only then will all the sacrifices tonight not have been in vain. Only then can you and the Branch Family truly achieve freedom..."
His father's words weighed heavily on Neji's heart, making his entire body tremble.
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