Hizashi Hyuga, Tell Me Your Choice (Please Vote Monthly)

"Who is it? Get out here!"

The moment that voice reached his ears, Hizashi Hyuga activated his Byakugan without hesitation.

But to his astonishment, aside from Neji, there was no one else around him within his perception.

There was only the sound of wind rustling the branches and leaves, along with his own breathing and heartbeat. It was so quiet that even the insects seemed to have fallen silent.

Hizashi Hyuga scanned the area with his Byakugan, but he could not find the source of that voice anywhere.

"Where are you looking?"

That ethereal voice came again.

This time, Hizashi Hyuga heard it with perfect clarity. He whirled around toward the sound behind him.

But there was still no one there.

Trees stood silently before him, their dense branches and leaves swaying in the wind, shadows flickering as though countless figures were hidden among them.

Then, slow and light footsteps gradually approached.

Even just by listening, he could hear the ease and leisure in their owner's steps. Though they walked through the Hyuga Clan grounds, filled with Byakugan users, they sounded as though they were taking a leisurely stroll through a garden.

A moment later, a figure emerged from the shadows. Its ink-black form spread out within Hizashi Hyuga's Byakugan vision.

The shadow stopped in front of him. Hizashi Hyuga narrowed his eyes at the face beneath the black robe, as though he wanted to see through it and make out every inch of flesh beneath the hood.

But beneath that hood was only a dense, churning shadow that writhed like a living thing, chewing up and swallowing his moth-to-flame gaze of inquiry without even granting him the mercy of spitting back a scrap.

A monster like the Abyss.

The thought suddenly surfaced in his mind, and cold sweat ran down Hizashi Hyuga's temple.

Someone who had slipped silently into Konoha, treated Konoha's Perception Barrier as if it did not exist, and had even infiltrated the Hyuga Clan grounds—a person who could ignore the Byakugan's perception.

The other party was standing right in front of him, yet he could not sense them at all.

If they had not spoken, then even if they stood behind him and slit his throat with one stroke, he probably would not have noticed anything.

Was this some kind of secret technique?

Or some sort of Kekkei Genkai?

Even Tōton could not do this, could it?

"Who are you?"

As Hizashi Hyuga frantically analyzed the information in his mind, he spoke to stall for time and slipped a hand into his robe, intending to send out a signal that an enemy had invaded.

"The moment you send that signal, I can slit your throat. Before reinforcements arrive, I can kill that child too."

The cold, calm words carried an undeniable killing intent.

Hizashi's body stiffened instinctively, and the movement of his hand stopped at once.

The strange way this person had appeared, along with the calmness in their voice, left Hizashi Hyuga unable to doubt the truth of those words in the slightest.

With the other party's bizarre ability to block perception, if they truly possessed the power to kill him instantly, they could indeed leave this place safely and silently. Even afterward, no one would be able to find any trace of them.

So did they possess the strength to kill him instantly?

"..."

Hizashi Hyuga withdrew his hand from his robe and stared fixedly at the shadow before him. "What do you want?"

That was right. He did not dare gamble.

The person before him was far too strange.

Whether he lived or died did not matter, but Neji was right behind him.

And since the other party had not attacked him directly, it meant they might not necessarily intend to kill him.

But Hizashi Hyuga had no way of guessing that the shadow he feared and dreaded was actually someone he had met not long ago.

The shadow—Hyuga Yunchuan—did not answer Hizashi Hyuga's question. He merely looked at him calmly.

The silence between them returned. Only the rustle of wind through the leaves could be heard, along with Hizashi Hyuga's increasingly heavy breathing and even his gradually quickening heartbeat.

Just as the suffocating atmosphere reached its peak and Hizashi Hyuga's fingers twitched, unable to resist making a move any longer—

"You said that all the suffering that child endured would become the treasure that made him stronger?"

The shadow before him finally spoke. Though the voice remained raspy and terrifying, Hizashi let out a breath of relief.

They stood at eye level, yet he felt as though they were looking down at him from above. Their deep gaze swept over him inch by inch.

It was as though an invisible black hand had seized every inch of his skin and slowly tightened its grip, as if it meant to squeeze him into a puddle of blood.

"What are you trying to say?"

The last remnants of his will to resist quietly faded away. Hizashi Hyuga frowned and spoke in a low voice.

"You're deceiving yourself," Hyuga Yunchuan said calmly. "Suffering is suffering. It isn't worthy of praise, nor is it some precious treasure."

"Suffering only drains a person's flesh and blood, making them sensitive and extreme."

At that point, a faintly mocking smile entered his voice. "Just like what your parents once did to you."

"They shattered your values, then crammed into your mind the values, life, and world they approved of."

"They wanted you to obey. They belittled you in every possible way. They said this was right. They said this was your fate. You wanted to struggle, to resist, but their expressions changed. They shouted at you. They cut off your hands and feet. They locked you in a cage."

"They beat you, cursed you, persuaded you, begged you—yet they alone refused to let you go. They said this was wrong. They said they were right. They said, 'I'm doing this for your own good.' So you surrendered. You joined them."

Watching Hizashi Hyuga's expression grow increasingly grim, Hyuga Yunchuan's words became sharper and more mocking. "Much later, you discovered that your child was just like you once were. You thought he would be like you, kneeling like a dog to accept his fate, so you—"

"Enough!"

A low roar, nearly impossible to suppress, cut off Hyuga Yunchuan's next words.

Those sharp words were like knives, carving strips of flesh from Hizashi Hyuga's heart again and again, making his whole body tremble.

Every sentence made him recall the past—recall the two faces that had already blurred in his memories, recall the words those blurred faces had spoken.

"What do you know?!" He no longer cared about fear or wariness. Gritting his teeth, he said, "I... I did it for..."

At that point, the final words seemed to stick in his throat, making his Adam's apple bob faintly.

For Neji's own good?

Wasn't that exactly what the other person had said?

"Cough! Urgh!"

At that thought, Hizashi Hyuga's face suddenly turned pale. Covering his mouth, he was seized by a powerful urge to vomit.

How disgusting.

He was not disgusted by anyone else, but by himself.

He was unwilling to admit it, but he truly could not understand Neji's thoughts. He could not understand why Neji harbored such Resentment. It was he who had shown killing intent toward Hinata. He was the one in the wrong. He was the one who...

Now, he could no longer understand the rebellious person he had once been.

He had been born only fifteen minutes after his elder brother, Hyuga Hiashi. Yet those short fifteen minutes had made him a member of the Branch Family, branded him with the Caged Bird Cursed Seal, and robbed him of himself and his freedom.

He had once resisted and questioned it, but now, all he could think was, wasn't this simply "fate"?

When had it started?

What exactly was he doing?

"Some birds cannot be caged. Every feather on them shines with the light of freedom. They were born to belong to the sky."

Hyuga Yunchuan raised a foot and slowly walked toward Hizashi, stopping at his side. His words were full of temptation. "Hizashi Hyuga, tell me your choice."

"Will you choose to become a cruel executioner, personally breaking the wings that carry the bird toward the sky?"

"Or will you choose to become a father?"