Hyuga Aokawa fell silent this time.
He was deliberating.
The power of a Quincy originates from Yhwach's blood and Soul. He can bestow Quincy abilities upon others by sharing a portion of his Soul Power.
This Soul Power was strong enough to even erase the "Caged Bird Seal" seal on the Soul level.
However, this was a form of absolute dominance.
Once the gift was accepted, the recipient's life, power, and Soul essentially belonged to him. If he wished, he could reclaim everything at any time through "Auswählen," and the recipient would die instantly.
How was this any different from the Caged Bird Seal?
It was even more absolute than the Caged Bird Seal.
"Say something!" Hyuga Ryosuke urged, seeing him remain silent for so long. "As long as I can learn this, I don't care if the price is high! Do you want money? Or..."
He paused, then slapped his thigh. "I'll even give you my life!"
Hyuga Aokawa raised his eyelids and looked at his best friend, whom he had grown up with since childhood.
"Correct."
"What?"
"To learn this, you have to give me your life." Hyuga Aokawa's tone was flat, without a hint of joking.
Hyuga Ryosuke's mouth hung open in shock, his expression frozen on his face.
Hyuga Aokawa didn't give him time to process this and continued, "Remember when I told you before that the Caged Bird Seal isn't just a physical imprisonment, but is also etched into the Soul?"
Hyuga Ryosuke nodded, looking somewhat dazed, not understanding how the topic had jumped to this.
"I can bestow a portion of my Soul Power upon you to fill and cover the gaps in your Soul, thereby erasing the Caged Bird Seal Cursed Seal."
"Really?!"
Hyuga Ryosuke stood up abruptly, knocking his chair over with a loud bang.
Breaking the Caged Bird Seal.
This was the nightmare of all Branch House Ninjas, and a luxury they didn't even dare to dream of.
"Isn't this a wonderful thing?" Hyuga Ryosuke was so excited he was incoherent. "Then why do you look so hesitant? Is sharing Soul Power damaging to you? If it hurts your body, then forget it, I..."
"The damage isn't that significant."
Hyuga Aokawa interrupted him, his gaze deep. "However, this Soul Power originates from me. Since I am the one giving it, I can take it back at any time."
He leaned forward and lowered his voice, like a demon's whisper.
"When it is reclaimed, the recipient will lose their power and their life."
"In other words—death."
The tent fell into a dead silence.
Only the faint sound of patrolling Ninjas' footsteps could be heard in the distance.
To possess power and break the Caged Bird Seal, but to hand the switch of life and death to someone else.
This was jumping from one cage into another.
Hyuga Aokawa looked at Hyuga Ryosuke, waiting for his withdrawal or anger.
"Pfft."
A stifled laugh broke the silence.
Hyuga Ryosuke clutched his stomach as if he had heard a hilarious joke.
"That's it?"
He waved his hand with an indifferent expression. "I thought it was something serious. This kind of thing is just like changing the remote control, isn't it?"
"It's not the same." Hyuga Aokawa frowned. "Your life will be in my hands."
"What's the difference?"
Hyuga Ryosuke spread his hands and pointed to his forehead.
"Before you help me break the Caged Bird Seal, whose hands was my life in?"
"In the hands of those old fogies of the Main House, in the hands of some young master I've never even met, and in the hands of a bunch of people who do nothing but boss us around."
Hyuga Ryosuke walked up to Hyuga Aokawa and looked him seriously in the eyes.
"Before, my life was held by a group of people who saw me as a tool and could send me to my death at any time."
"Now, my life is held by you alone."
"You're my brother."
"And I'm certain that while you're a ruthless and black-hearted fellow, you wouldn't actually harm me."
Hyuga Ryosuke grinned, revealing a row of white teeth. "Any way you look at it, I'm the one coming out ahead in this deal. I get power and a reliable boss to boot. Isn't that a win-win for everyone?"
Having said that, he paused and looked Hyuga Aokawa up and down.
"Besides, with your current strength, if you really wanted to kill me, would you even need such convoluted methods? I'd be gone in a minute."
Hyuga Aokawa was stunned.
He was a transmigrator, with the pride of a modern person in his bones, unable to accept having his fate controlled by others.
But he had forgotten that for Hyuga Ryosuke, and for the natives of this world—especially those of the Branch House—having one's fate controlled by others was a common occurrence.
"You certainly have an open mind." Hyuga Aokawa chuckled, and the slight internal conflict he had felt vanished.
"What does this have to do with the Bloodline Limit we mentioned earlier?" Hyuga Ryosuke pressed.
"When I bestow Soul Power upon you, you will receive a'seed' of my power."
Hyuga Aokawa explained, "Of course, you won't be as strong as me at first. But this seed will grant you the ability to manipulate high-density spirit particles. As for how far you can develop it, that's up to you."
This was equivalent to granting Hyuga Ryosuke the potential of a Quincy.
Even if it was just the most basic "Archer" ability, combined with the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan, it would be enough to bring about a qualitative change in him.
"Can it really work?" Hyuga Ryosuke's eyes were shining.
"Have I ever lied to you?"
"Awesome! Then what are we waiting for?"
Hyuga Ryosuke rubbed his hands excitedly, looked around, sat right down on Hyuga Aokawa's bed, and patted the sheets beside him.
"Come on, hurry up!"
He lay back, spreading his limbs in a star shape, looking expectantly at Hyuga Aokawa with a face full of determination and anticipation, as if offering his body as a sacrifice.
"..."
Hyuga Aokawa's face darkened, a vein throbbing at his temple.
"A procedure is a procedure; stop with these weird antics!"
"And put your pants back on! Who told you to undo your belt?!"
"Ah? I don't need to take them off? I've seen those Medical Ninjas make patients strip for surgery..."
"Get up and sit properly! This is Soul surgery; it has nothing to do with your backside!"
Hyuga Ryosuke sat up cross-legged. Although he was still talking nonsense, his back was as tense as a fully drawn bow.
"Hold your breath and focus."
Hyuga Aokawa's voice echoed in the small tent with a strange resonance. He raised his right hand, fingers spread, palm facing Ryosuke's forehead, which was marked with the green Cursed Seal.
There were no hand signs and no violent fluctuations of Chakra.
But within the vision of Hyuga Ryosuke's Byakugan, a shivering white Spiritual Pressure erupted from Aokawa's palm.
"Bear with it; it will feel very bloated."
Before he had even finished speaking, Hyuga Aokawa's palm slammed onto Hyuga Ryosuke's forehead.
Boom!
Hyuga Ryosuke felt as if a red-hot iron had been forced into his brain.
That white power brutally crashed through his mental defenses, following his meridians and rushing straight into the depths of his Soul.
The Cursed Seal, which used to cause intense pain with just a slight touch, now let out a fearful tremor in the face of that white torrent.
"Ugh, aaaaaah!!"
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