Late at night, the Hokage building was ablaze with lights.
Third Hokage Hiruzen Sarutobi had changed into his full battle gear, his armor glinting with a cold, metallic luster under the candlelight. After Hiashi Hyuga delivered the "Advance Notice," Shikaku Nara took charge of the meeting, meticulously analyzing its contents.
Shikaku's fingertips traced the dark patterns on the parchment, the furrows between his brows deepening. Koharu Utatane and Homura Mitokado exchanged hushed conjectures, while Inoichi Yamanaka sat with eyes closed, sensing the residual chakra fluctuations left by the handwriting. Choza Akimichi's hulking silhouette stood by the window, a silent wall of defense.
When the pendulum kisses the twelfth stroke,
The moonlight shall pity the door without a lock.
Amidst the sighs of the caged bird,
I shall take Hamura's gift.
— Shura
"I have ordered the first division of the ANBU to support the Hyuga. To avoid interfering with their Byakugan detection, they are stationed at the perimeter," Hiruzen announced, tightening his wrist guards.
"The Military Police Force will handle the village outskirts. The second ANBU division will patrol the interior. Inoichi, Choza, Shikaku—lead the Jonin squads and the main force. Be ready to support the Hyuga compound at a moment's notice."
Unsure of how the enemy intended to infiltrate, Hiruzen didn't spread his forces too thin. He placed the Uchiha on the perimeter, the ANBU inside, and concentrated his elite Jonin near the Hokage building. To prevent a diversionary tactic, he ordered all clans to heighten their internal security—if Shura was spotted, signal flares were to be launched immediately.
"Has the analysis of the notice yielded anything?" Hiruzen asked, his eyes as sharp as a hawk's.
Shikaku spread the scroll out. "Hokage-sama, based on our collective assessment: the first line, 'When the pendulum kisses the twelfth stroke,' refers to the twelfth hour of the traditional clock—the Hour of the Rat, which is 11:00 PM to 1:00 AM."
"The second line, 'The moonlight shall pity the door without a lock,' has two interpretations: it could refer to a specific moonlight exposure, or more literally, the main gates of the Hyuga compound."
"As for the third line..." Shikaku paused, looking toward Hiashi. To outsiders, the Caged Bird was a classified clan secret; Shikaku was tactful enough to stop there.
"The 'caged bird' refers to the Hyuga clan as a whole," Hiashi said in a low, heavy voice.
Koharu took over. "Then the final line: 'I shall take Hamura's gift.' What does that mean?"
'Hamura' was clearly a name, but no one in the room—not Hiruzen, the advisors, nor the brilliant Shikaku—had ever heard of it. They knew of the Hagoromo clan, a group that had once opposed the Senju but had long since faded into obscurity.
"I have scoured my clan's ancient records," Hiashi stated, not lying. "I found only fragments. It appears Hamura is a distant ancestor of the Hyuga."
Over a thousand years, the descendants of Hamura Otsutsuki had split into various branches. With the main lineage residing on the moon, the records left for the terrestrial descendants like the Hyuga and Kaguya clans were sparse at best.
"But for the enemy to know this name..." Homura adjusted his glasses, his expression grim.
This single notice proved Shura possessed a profound, perhaps even ancestral, knowledge of the Hyuga.
"So," Koharu looked at Hiashi, "what exactly is 'Hamura's gift'?"
They had never heard of the Hyuga possessing a legendary weapon or artifact. The only thing truly considered a "treasure" in that clan was the Byakugan itself. Hiashi knew this well; it was why he had consolidated the Main House members in one central location for protection.
The Hyuga Compound.
In the Branch House quarters, the halls were unusually empty. Many Chunin and Jonin-level Branch ninjas had been moved to protect the Main House or assigned to perimeter patrols.
Five-year-old Neji Hyuga tossed and turned, unable to sleep. A sense of impending doom gnawed at him. He sat up and looked at the full moon outside, remembering his father's warning.
'Tonight, do not go anywhere.' Those were the last words Hizashi had said before being summoned by the Elders.
Young Neji didn't know the details, but he knew it was serious—reminiscent of the kidnapping of Hinata-sama and the attack that had nearly killed his father a year ago.
A night breeze drifted through the window, bringing a sudden chill. Neji blinked. Sitting on the windowsill was a silhouette.
Long black robes fluttered in the wind. A white fox mask glinted coldly under the moonlight.
"Shura!" Neji stood up on his bed, his small face filled with wariness. As the son of the Branch House head, he knew exactly who this was. This was the man who had crippled his father.
"Sharp perception," Menma said from the windowsill. He tilted his head slightly, his gaze falling on the Caged Bird seal on Neji's forehead. The genius of the Branch House.
"Byakugan! Open!" At five, Neji had already mastered the activation of his eyes and basic Gentle Fist movements.
But as Neji opened his Byakugan to alert the guards, he froze in shock. In the grey-and-white world of his vision, the windowsill was empty!
"He's... gone?" Neji deactivated the Byakugan.
The man was still there, leaning against the frame in the exact same posture, watching him.
"How is this possible!" Neji turned pale. Since the day he gained his sight, he had never encountered this. The man existed in physical space but was invisible to the Byakugan's primary sensory spectrum.
"The taste of the 'Caged Bird'... it's bitter, isn't it?" Menma stepped down from the sill, walking slowly toward Neji.
Paralyzed by the overwhelming aura radiating from the intruder, Neji stood rooted to the spot, cold sweat pouring down his back.
Menma reached out and pressed his palm against Neji's forehead.
"Secret Technique: Cage Seal!"
A surge of violent, dark chakra flooded Neji's mind, specifically targeting and overlaying the Caged Bird seal, temporarily suppressing its restrictive functions.
Suddenly, Neji felt a strange, tingling sensation. His Byakugan vision, usually hindered by a 1-degree blind spot at the nape of his neck, snapped into a perfect, 360-degree panorama.
For the first time since he was branded at age three, Neji felt a glimpse of true freedom. The feeling was so overwhelming he began to tremble with excitement.
Menma nodded, satisfied. Though Neji was young, it was never too early to start carving this particular chess piece.
"Do you want to understand the meaning of freedom? Do you want to truly... live?"
Leaving those cryptic words behind, Menma vanished from the room.