You Have Your Schemes, I Have My Calculations—Counterkill!

"Over the past three years, I observed a total of 1,206 of your surgeries. Through my records, I learned exactly how much chakra each of your ninjutsu and every surgery consumed, depending on their difficulty—down to the reconnection of every single nerve.

"And these eyes of mine can see chakra. If any deviation appears, I can correct it in time.

"Your first surgery consumed 15% of your chakra. The second consumed 45%... I know you very well. You absolutely, absolutely could not resist the temptation of Nine Million. Just as you could not resist me."

Hyuga Ken stood over Uchiha Kin, a triumphant gleam of calculation fulfilled in his frost-silver eyes.

As the "masterpiece" he had plotted and arranged step by step finally took shape and succeeded, he was seized by the urge to boast.

He had to make someone listen—especially Uchiha Kin, a man as sinister, cunning, cold-blooded, and ruthless as himself.

"You must have guessed it already, right?" Seeing Uchiha Kin's lips move, his expression grew even smugger. "That's right. I arranged both of those surgeries specifically for you.

"And I calculated every surgery in meticulous detail. After all, I needed you to retain precisely enough chakra to transplant my eyes for me. Once both eyes had been replaced, your remaining chakra would no longer be enough to support the use of ninjutsu.

"Neural manipulation... I have to admit, aside from being unable to awaken your eyes, you really are a genius!

"I never expected you to create something like this. Tsunade is practically a little brother compared to you... Heh, speaking of which, that is rather regrettable."

"It is rather regrettable," Uchiha Kin's voice suddenly rang out. Fine nerves spread across his neck, linking the severed gap together.

A thin line of tender new flesh had already grown over the wound. With his mask on, Uchiha Kin's expression could not be seen.

Still, he was probably sneering. "That knife of yours can't even kill someone."

"Your chakra clearly... How is that possible?"

"The reason people can see objects is because light enters their eyes. The reason the Byakugan can see chakra and see through things is because the structure of the Byakugan itself includes Chakra-Sensing Cone Cells within the inner wall of the eyeball.

"If something's own light does not scatter—or rather, if it scatters at the same intensity as its surroundings—and your cone cells are only of a single type, then you will not be able to see it.

"And Chakra-Sensing Cone Cells happen to be exactly like that.

"If I refuse to let you see, how could you possibly see?" Uchiha Kin sat there, looking up at Hyuga Ken.

Hyuga Ken suddenly let out a miserable cry. His entire body stiffened, then he fell straight backward onto the ground—already dead.

Uchiha Kin had only done one thing: he severed every bridge he had created in Hyuga Ken's nerves, forcing them to return to their original pathways.

After receiving the command, those nerves gradually withered away and dissipated in the time it took to speak.

The moment the nerves were severed—

The Caged Bird immediately lost its source of ocular power. It treated the situation as though Hyuga Ken's eyes had been gouged out, activated its self-destruction mode, and ruptured deep within his brain.

Nerves extending from the Caged Bird seal grew and parasitized wildly within his brain like brambles.

And the man died with them.

Originally, Hyuga Ken's two eyes would have died as well, but Uchiha Kin's surgery had severed the connection between the eyes and the Caged Bird, allowing them to survive.

Uchiha Kin rose and removed his gloves. Dark shadows stretched out from one hand, dividing into two clusters and probing densely into Hyuga Ken's eye sockets, extracting his eyes. The two eyes emerged trailing nerves behind them, like a pair of jellyfish.

Then, dragged by Uchiha Kin's large clusters of dark shadows, the two eyes returned into his body.

After that, he also took the eyes from the two jars of nutrient solution.

"Hyuga..."

He looked at Hyuga Ken again, seeming to weigh something. In the end, he reached out. The nerves throughout Hyuga Ken's body were corroded and assimilated by his black shadows, blue-black patterns spreading across his entire body in an instant.

Those dense patterns were gradually pulled out along Uchiha Kin's hand. Beyond their thick main trunks were countless branches, resembling the roots of wild grass.

If Hyuga Ken had still been alive, he would certainly have recognized this as the Shadow Secret Technique unique to the Nara Clan.

It was simply being used by Uchiha Kin in a very un-Nara-like way.

No imitation, no strangulation, no control.

Instead, he used shadows to assimilate Hyuga Ken's nerves with his own.

This was a very common method among "release techniques."

Water Release: Water Body Replacement, Earth Release: Decapitation Technique, Earth Release: Subterranean Voyage, and so on all operated on the same principle. Most ninja used it in various Body Flicker Techniques. It was the largest of the three major categories of Body Flicker Techniques, known as the Ninjutsu Body Flicker Technique.

Of the other two categories, one followed a spatial route, while the other was the Taijutsu Body Flicker, relying entirely on an explosive burst of speed—like Might Guy.

Uchiha Kin glanced at Hyuga Ken and sighed. "What a hassle."

Two people had entered, but only one would return. Explaining that clearly would be troublesome. Still, Hyuga Ken had probably made arrangements long ago.

Before leaving, Uchiha Kin gave Hyuga Ken one more look, an indescribable feeling welling up inside him...

This "Caged Bird" seemed somewhat tragic. Yet more often than not, people were bound by the Caged Bird not because the cage was unbreakable, but because the cage was worth a fortune.

Flying out of the cage meant facing the wind and frost alone, giving up the identity and status granted by the Hyuga Clan. Yet staying in the cage made one feel imprisoned.

"The Caged Bird's cage was built by the birds inside it themselves. It was not powerful at first. On the contrary, it was weak. As long as its nourishment was cut off, it would be unable to grow stronger, nor would it have the power to self-destruct. For members of the Hyuga Clan—

"As long as they give up using the Byakugan and stop developing it, this seal cannot absorb much ocular power from their eyes at all. Its level of threat is roughly equivalent to a headache.

"Only the branch families who strive ever harder will be firmly bound by the cage—because they constantly train and develop their Byakugan. At the same time, the Caged Bird is nourished as well. Naturally, the cage becomes increasingly solid and deeply rooted, gradually gaining the power to take lives."

At that thought, Uchiha Kin suddenly smiled. He walked out of the cave, and one of the four Byakugan within his body was activated.

The scenery within a ten-kilometer radius came flooding in layer upon layer. His first experience with this kind of vision was deeply uncomfortable.

But he was in an excellent mood.

"Fame and profit... what are they? You bring neither with you at birth, nor take them with you in death..." he murmured, before vanishing into the forest.