"Ahhhhhh!"
The scream ripped from his throat before his eyes had even fully opened. He scrambled up from the bed, his body covered in cold sweat. Shock coursed through his bones as the memory came back like a blade: Ling Wei, the arrogant young master of the Sword Sect, his sword descending in a perfect arc, cutting off his head.
The sect that was supposed to protect him and guide him on the path of Dao... was the same one that sold him as a guinea pig to a demonic cultivator.
"I... didn't die?" he murmured breathlessly, his eyes fluttering in disbelief.
The door slid open with a soft creak. A man entered, wearing strange white clothes, with a symbol he didn't recognize embroidered on his chest.
"Fortunately, you're alive, Mr. Ryuuga."
'Ryuuga?' His gaze narrowed, cold, suspicious. 'Is he confusing me? I should be dead... have they captured my soul? Can't I even have a peaceful death?'
Instinctively he tried to pull back, but his body responded with weakness. It felt heavy, strange, as if it weren't his.
"Don't worry," the man in white continued, without even turning his head, his attention focused on a box beside the bed that beeped at regular intervals. "You're safe in the hospital. Nothing will happen to you here."
Those words seemed unreal, coming from a reality that didn't belong to him. But before he could question them, a searing pain shot through his head. He clapped his hands to his forehead, screaming in agony.
"AAAAAHHHHH!"
The throbbing pain in his head finally subsided, leaving him gasping for breath, his frail body shaking with cold sweat.
He opened his eyes, gasping, staring at the white ceiling. Memories still burned in his mind like embers. Images that weren't his, but now seared into his soul.
A boy smiling innocently next to his father.
The pain of grief when you lost him.
The feeling of living marked by a cruel seal on his forehead, a burden that accompanied him at every step.
And finally... the duel against the girl Hinata, his cousin. The blind rage. The blow that nearly killed her. And then... the man named Hiashi, the clan leader, activating the cursed seal that blasted his mind with pain until everything was blacked out.
He pressed his fists against the sheets, gritting his teeth.
'These memories... are of the boy named Neji. He... I... we... died.'
For a moment, a heavy silence filled his mind. And then, he realized.
'This body... is his. But the soul... is mine.'
His eyes lifted, cold, still teary from the exertion of pain. The cultivator who had endured torture and slaughter, the heretic he had never chosen to be, was now trapped in the broken fate of a Ryuuga.
"Neji..." he murmured softly, testing the sound of the name with his own mouth.
The memory of Ling Wei, the sword descending, mingled with Hiashi's gaze and the pain of the seal on his forehead. Two different worlds. Two unjust deaths. Two destinies crushed by the hands of others.
'So that's it. Heaven likes to play with me. Two lives, two chains. But it doesn't matter.'
He took a deep breath, feeling his chest ache, but also the heat pulsing through his veins, at least he was alive.
His chest was still heaving, his forehead covered in sweat, when the sudden sound of quick footsteps echoed down the hallway. A burst of lively energy entered the room, accompanied by a firm, urgent voice.
"Neji! Is everything okay?!"
Maito Gai practically broke down the door, his body still covered in sweat from his incessant training. His eyes widened when he saw the boy sitting there, breathing heavily.
"I heard you screaming!"
Neji blinked, startled by the sudden presence. The man with the thick eyebrows and warm smile didn't seem threatening, but his energy was overwhelming, almost like the pressure of a high-level cultivator. Instinctively, he backed away, trying to get away, but his body wouldn't respond.
Before he could say anything, more footsteps sounded. This time more subdued, but equally heavy with authority.
An old man with a calm demeanor entered first, followed by a blond man with long hair tied in a ponytail, and behind them, with a serious and icy look, was Hiashi Hyuuga.
Neji's heart—or rather, the soul within his body—constricted at the sight of him. Even without fully understanding, newly embodied memories pulsed through his mind. This man was at once the figure who gave him identity and the chain that crushed his freedom.
The old man cleared his throat, his voice firm.
"Calm down, Gai. Luckily the boy woke up."
Gai stepped forward, his expression filled with relief. "Hokage-sama, I insisted several times. Neji had been unconscious for days, I couldn't just ignore it!"
The blond man behind the Hokage—Inoichi Yamanaka—crossed his arms, his gaze scrutinizing the boy's every movement on the bed. "He screamed... it sounded like mental pain, not physical."
'So... that's it. The Hokage. The leader of this village. And that... Yamanaka... seems to see deeper than he should.'
Neji's face remained rigid, but his heart burned inside. If he were a cultivator in his world, Inoichi would be the kind of enemy capable of devouring his soul.
"Neji."
Hiashi's cold voice cut through the silence, as sharp as Ling Wei's sword in his memory. It was the same authoritative intonation bearing the chains of the mark on his forehead.
He looked up, staring at him. The cultivator who had died amid persecution, and the young man from the clan marked by servitude, now shared the same body.
A faint smile curved his lips, but his eyes burned with a determination no one in the room would recognize.
"Yeah... I'm fine."
But inside him, the truth echoed differently.
'I am alive... and this time, I will be no one's slave. Not the Dao. Not the seal.'
Inoichi stepped forward, his expression grave. The silence in the room weighed like a blade on the boy's throat.
"Neji... do you feel anything strange? Any pain, or confusion?"
The boy looked up, taking a deep breath. His voice was firm, but tinged with calculated hesitation.
"My memories... were hazy. But I remember the last thing... me attacking Hinata... and then a sharp pain in my head... then... everything went dark."
The Yamanaka narrowed his eyes, clearly surprised. He walked over to the bed, his hand carefully raised.
"Don't resist, Neji. I need to check your mind. It might help us better understand what happened to you."
The heart of the cultivator trapped in that body raced.
'Will he... probe my soul? No! If he touches what I truly am...'
Without a second thought, he erected a barrier in his mind. Fragile, unstable, but sufficient to conceal the memories and essence that belonged not to Neji Ryuuga but to Li Shang. Hiding was the first form of survival.
'This is the most I can do with this uncultivated body.'
Inoichi placed his hand on his head, closing his eyes. There were a few moments of silence, the air heavy in the room.
Neji kept his expression neutral, but inside his mind was a silent battlefield, holding that barrier with everything he had.
Finally, the Yamanaka pulled his hand away, opening his eyes with a puzzled expression.
"His memories are fragmented due to the trauma."
He slowly turned to Hiashi, and for a moment the mask of professionalism cracked. Inoichi's gaze held something close to contempt.
"It's a miracle he remembers anything, Lord Hokage."
Silence fell once more over the room. Neji, inwardly, just clutched the sheets tightly, keeping his face impassive.
'For now... I survived.'
[Author's Note:
This story was originally written in Portuguese, so there may be some translation errors. If you notice any, please let me know so I can fix them. Thank you for reading!]