Pledge Your Loyalty to Me!

This pain, as if ten thousand shuriken were stabbing into his brain, was something Hizashi had only experienced recently.

While watching Hinata train, he had revealed deep killing intent toward the exceptionally gifted girl. Hyuga Hiashi, standing nearby, had noticed and activated the "Caged Bird" to punish him.

And it had been done right in front of Neji.

But why did this mysterious man know the activation hand seals for the "Caged Bird" Cursed Seal?

This was one of the Hyuga Main House's most closely guarded secrets. For hundreds of years, it had never been leaked, passed down only orally from clan head to clan head and among the elders.

No one outside the Main House could possibly know it!

Moreover, in the hundreds of years since the "Caged Bird" Cursed Seal had been created, he had never heard of anyone outside the Main House being able to use it!

Yet the man before him repeatedly shattered Hizashi Hyuga's understanding of Hyuga Clan traditions!

As Uzumaki Menma finished forming the hand seals, Hizashi's splitting headache finally eased considerably.

"You're not from the Hyuga Clan!" Hizashi Hyuga panted, staring at the mysterious man before him with lingering fear. That was the only thing he could be certain of.

"And you aren't one of those people who once slaughtered my Hyuga Clan!" Without realizing it, Hizashi Hyuga had already accepted the "historical truth" Uzumaki Menma had fed him.

It was not as though the Hyuga Clan had never had a Byakugan stolen. For example, Ao of the Hidden Mist had seized the Byakugan of a Hyuga Main House ninja during the Third Shinobi World War, earning himself the title of Byakugan Killer.

But such incidents were exceedingly rare, nowhere near enough to justify the Hyuga Clan widely implementing the "Caged Bird."

Therefore, only an external enemy so powerful that even the Hyuga Clan could scarcely resist could explain how the Hyuga Clan's "Caged Bird" had come into existence.

"Your target is that eye formed from the fusion of countless Byakugan, isn't it?" Hizashi Hyuga recalled the immense power of that giant eye, his voice trembling slightly.

He was no mediocrity. On the contrary, Hizashi was clever—clever enough to willingly leave behind a so-called "suicide note" after being forced to take his own life, telling Neji not to resent the Main House.

Yet that letter had remained in Hiashi's hands until the first Chunin Exams, when Hiashi finally gave it to Neji.

Was that not also Hizashi's way of protecting Neji?

"You're very smart. That is one of the reasons I chose you instead of your brother." Uzumaki Menma did not deny his ambition.

The Giant Tenseigan was equivalent to a space-based weapon. It could launch attacks directly upon the Shinobi World from the moon, while the people of the Shinobi World had no means of striking back.

Naturally, Uzumaki Menma wanted such a terrifying weapon in his own hands.

While in the Limited Tsukuyomi World, he had searched for traces of the Giant Tenseigan and the Otsutsuki Clan on the moon. Unfortunately, even after scouring the Hyuga Clan's records in that world, he had found nothing.

Hearing the other man compare him to his brother, Hizashi's knuckles turned white.

"You are no worse than him. And I can sense that you have already grasped the essence of the Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms. So why didn't you use it in the earlier battle?" Uzumaki Menma continued provoking Hizashi with his words.

Yeah...

Thinking back to that battle, if the mysterious man had not attacked that blind spot and given him a sense of impending death, Hizashi would never have used Rotation.

"I... am not inferior to him..." Hizashi muttered.

This had plagued him for more than twenty years.

Simply because he had been born over ten minutes later, he, despite being a twin, could only become a member of the Branch House. Not only had the Caged Bird been carved onto his forehead, preventing him from learning higher-level Gentle Fist techniques and Hyuga Clan secret arts.

Even his child, the descendants of his line, would be branded with the "Caged Bird" for generation after generation!

"Pledge your loyalty to me." Wearing a White Three-Eyed Fox Mask, Uzumaki Menma approached Hizashi Hyuga, extending his right hand and forming a seal one-handed.

"Caged Seal!" After completing the hand seal, Menma pressed his right hand against Hizashi's forehead.

A dark, violent chakra surged into Hizashi's mind, temporarily sealing the "Caged Bird" Cursed Seal.

In that instant, Hizashi Hyuga felt a clarity he had never known before—and—

Freedom!

Though the "Caged Bird" Cursed Seal on Hizashi's forehead had not been completely erased, it had dimmed considerably.

The lingering pain vanished in an instant. The blind spot behind his head was gone as well, and his Byakugan vision had returned to a full three hundred and sixty degrees!

Tears flowed from Hizashi Hyuga's Byakugan and slowly slid down his cheeks.

He had nearly forgotten what it felt like to see with the Byakugan's full three hundred and sixty degrees.

That long-lost freedom stirred Hizashi Hyuga once more, after he had spent over twenty years in silence and had nearly resigned himself to his fate.

"This technique will only last for twenty-four hours." Uzumaki Menma withdrew his right hand.

This was a sealing technique he had specifically developed in the Limited Tsukuyomi World, using the Uzumaki Clan's talent for sealing arts to target the "Caged Bird."

The principle was actually very simple. Cursed Seals like the "Caged Bird" were mainly a combination of sealing techniques and chakra. Such Cursed Seals were like parasites, clinging to their targets and feeding on chakra to sustain themselves.

So long as someone proficient in sealing arts conducted dedicated research, they could naturally develop a sealing technique capable of temporarily suppressing the "Caged Bird."

But it could only suppress it temporarily.

However, Uzumaki Menma had at least three methods—three!—for completely erasing the "Caged Bird."

Unfortunately, none of those methods could be tested in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.

And even for such a simple sealing technique, who would dare research it?

The Uzumaki Clan, famed for its sealing arts, had lost its homeland and been wiped out. Within Konoha, ninja proficient in sealing arts were few and far between.

Whenever a Hyuga Clan ninja had even the slightest opportunity to come into contact with sealing arts, the Main House would stop them immediately.

Hizashi Hyuga raised a hand and touched the "Caged Bird" on his forehead, savoring this rare freedom.

"Will you be a coward for the rest of your life, or will you become a hero of the Branch House? Even if it is only for a few minutes." Uzumaki Menma dispelled the genjutsu space and vanished from Hizashi's sight.

Hizashi found himself back in the hospital room. Yet the blinding sunlight streaming through the bright window gave him an unreal feeling.

After experiencing multiple genjutsu, he could no longer tell whether this was reality or another illusionary world.

Hizashi activated his Byakugan and felt the restored three-hundred-and-sixty-degree field of vision. He had never felt so exhilarated.

"Is this... the scent of freedom?" Hizashi thought of his child.

When Neji had wailed in agony during the ceremony where the "Caged Bird" Cursed Seal was carved into him, he, Neji's father, could only kneel nearby and watch in worry.

He thought of the Branch House clansmen branded with the Caged Bird, of those Byakugan that hid resentment beneath numbness.

And of his elder twin brother, Hyuga Hiashi, who was destined to stand above him simply because he had been born first!

"A coward for a lifetime, or... a hero for a few minutes?" The mysterious man's whisper coiled around Hizashi's heart like a venomous snake.