Patter... Patter...
Crimson, warm blood splattered onto the ground covered in rubble and dust. The sound was unnaturally clear and jarring.
In the flickering light of the golden Karmic Flame, Hyūga Kawa and Neji Hyūga stared at each other.
Neji Hyūga's eyes, tinged with a faint azure blue, met a pair of eyes filled with savagery and towering rage.
Those eyes were locked tightly onto him. Neji Hyūga clearly saw a deep, serene blue light surging and flickering in the depths of those eyes.
Almost instantly, the same heart-stopping thought popped into the minds of both Neji Hyūga and Aoi Hyūga.
The Tenseigan?
Hyūga Kawaalso has the Tenseigan?!
However, Aoi Hyūga, due to Neji Hyūga's lie, believed that the Tenseigan, like the Mangekyō Sharingan, was awakened by powerful talent combined with extreme emotional stimulus.
Neji Hyūga, however, knew the true conditions for awakening the "Tenseigan" actually required a pure Byakugan and the so-called Ōtsutsuki bloodline.
He had learned this from the ancient text in the Forbidden Scroll Library, a visit that was originally guided by Hyūga Kawa.
Could it be, could it be...
"No, that's not right!" Neji Hyūga's mind was a mess. "The ancient text that Hyūga Kawa asked me to read didn't mention any information about the 'Tenseigan'."
[The Ancestral Rite, the heavenly order is in chaos, the lowly rise up, the servant slays his master...]
[The Main Family's blood stained the Ancestral Shrine, almost completely extinguished in this battle...]
[The dead's eyes were gouged out, their whereabouts unknown...]
[Conceal their name, erase their traces...]
These four lines were all he had read in the ancient text. Thus, this must have been the content Hyūga Kawa wanted him to see.
At the time, he was drowning in hatred and helplessness over his father's death.
He hated the Main Family but didn't know what to do, resorting to self-harm, using physical pain to mask his inner suffering.
Hyūga Kawa told him to calm down, and not to expose his hatred and anger while weak.
The content of that ancient text was likely just to tell him that the Main Family was not invincible, and that a Branch Family member had once killed the majority of the Main Family.
The ancient text's role was merely to connect its content with that dream, thereby prompting him to act against the Main Family.
The revelation of how to awaken the Tenseigan didn't come from the ancient text; it came from the dream, the figure that appeared within the dream.
Hyūga Kawa, having only read the ancient text, couldn't possibly know about the Tenseigan.
So...
"Why? Why?"
Neji Hyūga's mind felt blank. He instinctively tightened his grip on the tachi named 'Anger.'
Where did Hyūga Kawa get the pure Byakugan, and where did he get the Ōtsutsuki bloodline?
Could Hyūga Kawa's eyes not be the Tenseigan but another kind of eye? Could the Byakugan truly evolve into another eye through emotional stimulus?
Or, did Hyūga Kawa possess the pure Byakugan and the so-called Ōtsutsuki bloodline all along?
"Neji Hyūga!!"
A furious roar suddenly exploded, interrupting Neji's thoughts.
The voice, trembling with anger and disbelief, struck Neji Hyūga with a mountain-like force!
"You!"
Hyūga Kawa glared intensely at the nearby Neji Hyūga, every word squeezed out from between clenched teeth. "What exactly have you done?!"
"I know you always harbored resentment towards the Main Family, but every fighting force is vital to the Leaf Village right now! You shouldn't have swung your blade at the Main Family, or even the Branch Family!"
"Just wait one more year... No! Just wait six more months, and I could have completely removed the Caged Bird Seal without bloodshed!"
His demeanor was that of a mentor who saw his once-promising junior stray onto the wrong path, enraged by heartbreak and disappointment.
Neji Hyūga felt Hyūga Kawa's gaze was like a red-hot branding iron, threatening to pierce and scorch his entire body!
"I..." Neji Hyūga's throat bobbed.
He was seconds away from blurting out an explanation, wanting to rage that the Main Family had moved against the Branch Family in his absence, that they had forced their hand, that they had imprisoned and tortured Komon Hyūga!
He and the other Branch Family members were forced to preemptively strike the Main Family in self-defense.
But...
Neji Hyūga's gaze swept toward the nearby Hinata Hyūga, whose face was full of fear yet tinged with anger, and Aoi Hyūga, whose expression was one of troubled surprise.
He couldn't speak.
Because Hinata and Aoi were still here.
If he spoke the truth, his and the Branch Family's sacrifices, and even his father's death, would become meaningless.
The surviving members of the Main Family, including Aoi Hyūga, Hinata Hyūga, and the other women and children, would see the Branch Family as enemies, and the feud between the Main and Branch Families would be passed down to the children.
The price then would not just be the lives of a few Main Family members. One side would surely be utterly exterminated from the ninja world; all the Main Family's women and children would have to die.
Therefore, he couldn't speak. Not now, and not ever.
From this moment on, he would carry the burden of lies and the infamous reputation of kin-slayer and traitor, flying alone toward the distant sky.
This was the price that had to be paid to break free from the cage and gain freedom and power.
"You are too weak," Neji Hyūga said, his voice dropping. "The evil the Main Family did to me, and to the Branch Family, can only be repaid with blood."
He raised his eyes, meeting Hyūga Kawa's, which were surging with a serene blue light, and spoke slowly, word for word: "This is my choice."
The Severing
The moment his words finished, the look of inner conflict in Hyūga Kawa's eyes completely vanished. The serene blue light instantly surged with his anger!
His free left hand gripped the tachi at his waist.
He drew it.
Clang!
A clear, cold sword-ring sounded. The Kanmaki tachi was unsheathed and thrust straight at Neji Hyūga, appearing vicious and utterly merciless.
Puch!
The muffled sound of a blade piercing flesh echoed clearly in the secret room.
Warm blood sprayed out!
Neji Hyūga's other hand had grabbed the blade thrusting toward him.
His palm was also sliced open, and blood seeped and dripped from between his fingers.
Patter... Patter...
Hyūga Kawa and Neji Hyūga glared at each other, each holding the blade thrust toward them.
"From now on," Neji Hyūga said hoarsely, "let us hate each other."
As the words fell, he suddenly took a step forward!
Puch! Puch!
Two muffled sounds of blades slicing into flesh rang out almost simultaneously!
With that step, he pushed the 'Anger' tachi he held forward, slicing through Hyūga Kawa's tightly clenched hand and fiercely plunging into Hyūga Kawa's shoulder blade!
At the same time, because of that forward step, the 'Greed' tachi in Hyūga Kawa's hand also ripped through Neji's grip and stabbed into his own shoulder.
Neji Hyūga had used this nearly suicidal method to embed both their blades into each other's bodies.
The instant 'Anger' plunged into Hyūga Kawa's shoulder.
Vwoom!
The golden Karmic Flame wrapped around the blade surged up, instantly spreading along the blade, engulfing the nearby Hyūga Kawa, covering his shoulder and arm.
Hyūga Kawa's eyes flashed, his expression suddenly changing. He made a decisive move, instantly letting go of the sword.
Shwick!
His figure retreated backward like a ghost, instantly putting distance between himself and Neji Hyūga.
He looked down at his shoulder and arm, which were wrapped in the golden flames, his muscles tensing.
However, the agonizing, bone-searing pain did not come.
Instead, a gentle warmth spread through him, like sunlight in winter, rapidly dispelling the initial cold, stinging sensation.
Wrapped and 'scorched' by the golden flame, the puncture wound on his shoulder and the laceration on his palm healed at a visible, astonishing speed.
New flesh rapidly grew, severed blood vessels reconnected, and broken bones were repaired. Even the chakra he had expended rushing here was quickly recovering.
"This..."
Seemingly shocked by the unexpected situation, Hyūga Kawa displayed the right amount of astonishment, abruptly looking up at Neji Hyūga.
Neji Hyūga showed no intention of pursuing. He didn't even glance at his own shoulder, which was bleeding from the Kanmaki tachi puncture.
He simply brought the tachi 'Anger' across his body in a sweeping horizontal slash.
Shsssh!
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