"The Caged Bird Seal! Why does such a vile thing even exist?!"
"I hate this! I can't accept it..."
Sitting on the tatami, Hizashi Hyuga, head of the Branch Family, listened to the Main Family elders' explanation. He was consumed by anger, grief, and despair.
Like a piece of cargo, he had been offered up by the Main Family elders as a bargaining chip to appease the Hidden Cloud Village.
The elders and Danzo were chatting away, and not one of them had even asked what he thought.
"Main Family? Branch Family? Ha... Why? Just because I was born two minutes later?" Hizashi seethed inwardly, filled with resentment and hatred for the Main Family.
He clenched his fists until his nails dug into his palms, and scarlet blood dripped down.
He wanted to fight back, to stand and roar, to tear the ugly faces of the Main Family elders to shreds!
But when he saw his elder brother Hiashi Hyuga sitting across from him, one hand forming a seal, it was as if his backbone had been ripped away in an instant.
It was the hand sign that activated the Caged Bird Seal.
With just one hand sign and a thought, Hiashi could strip him of all power to resist.
The cold, heartless look in his own brother Hiashi Hyuga's eyes pierced him like a blade, leaving him riddled with wounds.
Hizashi wasn't someone who failed to see the bigger picture. The outcome was impossible to change, but all he wanted was a few words of comfort.
An apology. A kind word about little Neji.
Even some hollow reassurance would have been enough.
Yet Hiashi Hyuga wouldn't even give him that cheap comfort.
All he ever did was coldly raise his fingers and activate the Cursed Seal.
"Family bonds? Ha... How could the Hyuga deserve something so precious?"
Hizashi accepted his fate.
He knelt on the tatami without listening to what the elders and Danzo were saying. None of it mattered anymore.
The only thing on his mind now was his four-year-old son, Neji, who had been marked with the Caged Bird Seal not long ago.
"My son, Neji... I'm sorry. Your father was powerless."
"If I'd been a little more fortunate and been born a few minutes earlier, you'd be the future head of the Main Family. You wouldn't have had to be marked with the Caged Bird Seal."
"This is fate. No one can fight it."
"I'm sorry, Neji."
Hizashi's eyes were dull and lifeless. Thinking that Neji would one day become a sacrifice to the Main Family just like him, his guilt and grief nearly spilled out of him as something tangible.
The hatred he'd built up toward the Main Family over the years grew ever deeper.
If I were part of the Main Family... A fanciful thought suddenly crossed his mind, but it vanished in an instant.
Hiashi across from him hadn't lowered his hand from its seal.
The Caged Bird Seal was always poised to strike—a single blow, fatal.
Meanwhile, the political maneuvering between Danzo and the elders had come to an end.
Everyone's eyes turned to Hizashi. They saw how dejectedly he'd accepted his fate, but each wore a different expression.
The Main Family elder lorded over everyone. As the one who controlled the Cursed Seal, he had never cared what Hizashi thought.
Danzo's old face was creased with wrinkles. A sinister light flickered in his one eye as his fingers moved slightly, rubbing against his cane.
Hiashi was still holding the hand seal, though much of the sorrow had faded from his face.
As for the remaining three, the two Root Organization members, including Aburame Ryoma, were unfazed. They had personally put an end to useless things like emotions many years ago, when they passed Root's final trial.
Only Kazama Kaguya let out a quiet sigh. "Brothers turning against each other. What a pitiful joke. That's why you're better off keeping your life and livelihood in your own hands. Even if you die, at least don't go out like this, helpless and humiliated."
Now, everything had been decided.
Danzo had attended as Konoha's representative. After giving the Hyuga Clan a slap, he naturally had to offer them a sweetener as compensation.
He forced a smile and offered Hiashi some reassurance. "Hiashi, starting tomorrow, the village will set aside an entire commercial street for the Main Family to manage. The rewards for the Hyuga Clan's missions will also be increased significantly. The village still needs you to continue leading the clan in its service."
As he spoke, he handed his cane to Aburame Ryoma, stepped forward, and lightly patted Hiashi on the shoulder. In a kindly tone, he said, "Don't blame the Third Hokage. He's old and can't hold back public opinion. I hope you'll understand."
Kazama Kaguya, standing nearby, rolled her eyes and grumbled inwardly, That old geezer still can't resist taking a jab at Hiruzen Sarutobi. Just how badly do you want to be Hokage?
But Danzo's performance wasn't over yet.
Putting on a kindly expression, he first offered enticing benefits, then patted Hiashi on the shoulder to comfort him. Finally, he glanced at the dejected Hizashi and turned to the Main Family elder. "Elder, though the matter has been decided, we still need to follow the proper procedures. How about this: I'll supervise Hiashi while he carries it out. Afterward, I'll take Hizashi's body and deliver it to Hiruzen."
The Main Family elder had no suspicions. He had no interest in watching the unpleasant sight of someone's eyes being gouged out, so he nodded.
"Then I'll have to trouble you, Lord Danzo. I'll go prepare some tea. Please stay for a while afterward. After all, the commercial street will bring in considerable profits, and we'd like to donate some of them to the Root Organization. Quietly cultivating talent for the village must take a great deal of resources, Lord Danzo."
The old hand knew just what to say to make someone happy.
Danzo paused, then smiled even more broadly. "Ha ha, certainly, certainly. I've yet to sample the fine tea the Hyuga Clan keeps in its collection."
Soon, the Main Family elder left.
Now, apart from Hiashi and Hizashi, everyone in the room belonged to Danzo.
Hiashi's expression was conflicted, and his fingers trembled slightly. He seemed reluctant to gouge out his own younger brother's eyes.
Danzo narrowed his eye and gave a signal. Two Root Organization members went behind Hizashi, held his shoulders, and lifted his head.
Hizashi still had a vacant look in his eyes, like a walking corpse. He didn't resist at all.
Danzo walked over to Hiashi and formed a hand seal. "Hiashi, I know it's asking a lot to make you gouge out your own brother's eyes. How about I do it instead?"
Hiashi relaxed at his words. "Then I'll have to trouble you, Lord Danzo."
Killing his own brother was nothing like the usual punishments.
He forced a grateful smile at Danzo, and his tense body relaxed completely.
But before that stiff smile had even faded, it was frozen in place forever.
"Ninja Art: Self-Exerting Curse Binding Seal!"
A murderous intent flared. As Danzo spoke in a cold voice, black markings suddenly appeared across Hiashi's body, the head of the Main Family.
They rapidly spread, binding his body and sealing the flow of his chakra.
His face still wore that stiff, grateful smile. His heart lurched, and before he could react, the two Root Organization members who had been holding Hizashi suddenly used the Body Flicker Technique to rush over. One reached toward his eyes with both hands, while the other formed a Chakra Scalpel and thrust it toward his cervical spine.
"???"
As he watched the fingers rushing toward him, Hiashi's mind went blank.
Before he could make sense of what was happening, pain tore through his eyes. Then the world plunged into darkness.
Squish!
Aburame Ryoma gouged out both of his Byakugan.
But that was only the beginning. The next moment, Hiashi felt a sharp pain in his neck, then lost all sensation and control of his body.
Tanuki had used a Chakra Scalpel to sever the nerves in his cervical spine.
He hadn't just gone blind—he'd also been paralyzed from the neck down.
It had all happened in the blink of an eye.
Through a trap laid in advance, precise timing, and flawless teamwork, the three Root Organization members had carried out a perfect ambush—a textbook display of the art of killing.
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