The Bird That Wanted to Escape Its Cage

Hyuga Miyuki pressed a hand to her eye, feeling the stinging pain radiating from it.

Suppressing her excitement, she cleaned up the traces she had left at the scene and directed the clues toward the Yamanaka Clan. She ignored the bodies and left at once.

The Caged Bird seal of the Hyuga Clan damaged a ninja's neural tissue. Even the Yamanaka Clan would have a hard time extracting information from the corpses of Hyuga Branch Family members.

On top of that, many Military Police Force members were only temporary recruits, leaving gaps in their patrols.

So, thanks to the Byakugan, Hyuga Miyuki had attacked ten people without being discovered.

That's right—ten!

She had absorbed the eye power of ten Byakugan!

At first, absorbing eye power had simply increased her Chakra and, along with it, her physical strength, speeding up her progress.

But this tenth Byakugan seemed to mark a qualitative change.

She felt a surge unlike anything she had ever experienced!

"Byakugan, activate!"

Back home, Hyuga Miyuki waited for the pain to pass, then activated her Byakugan.

Buzz!

The air trembled.

The desk, wooden chairs, and other objects around her gave a faint shudder, as if crushed beneath a heavy weight. Cracks even appeared on the fragile surface of a wooden chair.

"The Byakugan's range has expanded to a three-kilometer radius, and my Chakra has tripled!"

Wrapped in dense blue Chakra, Hyuga Miyuki felt joy well up inside her.

Before, she could only hold her own against a Jonin. Now, she could try her hand even against an elite among the Jonin!

It took Hyuga Miyuki a long while to come back to her senses. She walked to the table, picked up a mirror, and examined her eyes.

Her once-pure-white eyes now held a hint of sky blue.

The bulging veins around her eyes were also less noticeable when she activated the Byakugan.

"I'll have to use the Transformation Technique to disguise myself before activating the Byakugan from now on. Sky-blue eyes are far too conspicuous."

Hyuga Miyuki tamped down her excitement.

Suddenly, her gaze sharpened.

"Who's there?!"

A breeze drifted in through the window. Her Byakugan showed no one nearby.

"Was it my imagination?"

Hyuga Miyuki shook her head, unwilling to believe her instincts were wrong.

She had definitely sensed someone watching her.

"The first change appeared at ten?"

Hyuga Hane quietly made a note.

"Her Chakra has increased nearly threefold and grown twice as concentrated. The increase in the Byakugan's range is unclear, but the change resembles the Sharingan's evolution into the Mangekyo."

"However, unlike the powerful ocular techniques granted by the Mangekyo, the Byakugan's evolution improves the user's fundamentals."

"Hyuga Miyuki's Chakra is now incredibly condensed. If she uses the Gentle Fist, its power will multiply. She's at the level of an Elite Jonin..."

As he recorded this, Hyuga Hane sensed Hyuga Miyuki's vigilance. He stopped observing her with the Byakugan and continued writing.

"Of course, the Byakugan's improvement won't be as explosive as the Sharingan's, directly raising her to a level comparable to a Kage."

"But the Byakugan has its advantages. It has no ocular techniques that consume massive amounts of eye power; it simply improves a ninja's fundamentals. It probably won't cause its user to lose their sight like the Mangekyo."

"Stability... It really is the Byakugan's most fundamental trait."

Was it designed this way because the Byakugan was the foundation of the Ōtsutsuki Clan?

With a few ideas taking shape, Hyuga Hane put away his research notes and stored them in his Special Scroll.

If Hyuga Miyuki's Byakugan remained stable after a little more observation, he would need to act.

The Byakugan's evolution had increased Hyuga Miyuki's Yin Release Chakra, and even her soul had grown stronger. Her instincts had become much sharper.

Simply observing her with the Byakugan wouldn't work. He would have to get close to her in person.

And he would need overwhelming strength to do that.

Hyuga Hane chuckled.

"We can't let this go on, Hiruzen!"

Danzo said coldly, "Eleven people from the Hyuga Clan have died recently, and the killer has left all sorts of misleading clues. If I hadn't controlled the rumors, Konoha would be in an uproar by now!"

"Put the Hyuga Branch Family under control. The killer is likely one of them!"

"No. The new Caged Bird seal is complete, and it's going to be inscribed on the Branch Family soon," Sarutobi Hiruzen insisted. "I'll take charge of the investigation!"

"Hiruzen, you!" Danzo glared at Sarutobi Hiruzen, unable to understand what he was so determined to protect. "The village is short on manpower, and Root and Anbu members are gathering intelligence on the battlefield."

"We can't waste manpower on infighting within the Hyuga Clan!"

"You're the one who doesn't understand, Danzo."

Sarutobi Hiruzen looked exhausted. "How many members of the Hyuga Branch Family do you think hate the Hyuga Main Family?"

Danzo's brow twitched. "You mean..."

"Just before you came to see me, three more people were attacked... including a Hyuga Main Family ninja!"

"Well, that's an unexpected bonus."

Hyuga Hane watched the frightened, unsettled boy before him, recalling what he had just witnessed.

Inside the room, an old man lay face-down on the floor, his face frozen in terror and despair. Blood from his neck had pooled beneath him.

Hyuga Meijian, an elder of the Hyuga Main Family, had been killed by the boy standing before him!

"Why did you do it?"

The calm, even voice gradually settled the boy.

If this clan member hadn't helped him, wouldn't the guards who had reacted in time have caught him already?

With that thought, he said quietly, "My little sister is only five. I thought this upheaval might keep her from being marked with the Caged Bird..."

"But, of course, it won't."

The boy gave a self-mocking smile.

"You can understand, can't you? The village and the Main Family treat us like dogs—useful dogs that wag their tails as soon as they're thrown a few scraps!"

"I hate them, but I don't have the courage to fight back! But now someone else has struck first!"

He bit his lip and said in a low voice, "I don't know who he is, but he's killing ninjas close to the Main Family. It's left them terrified, and they've sent their own guards to investigate."

"What's the Main Family without its guards? What good is the Caged Bird?"

"It's the Branch Family that looks after them! It's the Branch Family that prepares their food! How hard can it be to poison them and strike from the shadows?"

"They have no experience, no ability. They've forgotten everything about being ninjas in their privileged lives! Without those traitors from the Branch Family, would it really be so hard to kill a bunch of useless Main Family members?"

The boy stared at Hyuga Hane with bloodshot eyes.

"A bunch of arrogant good-for-nothings—what gives them the right to rule over us?"

"If the village can't change the Hyuga Clan, then why not just kill off the Main Family?"

A hint of a smile suddenly appeared on Hyuga Hane's calm face.

"Killing them all won't change anything. You'd still be a bird in a cage."

The boy's excitement stiffened.

"But that's all right. I know a way to help you fly out of that cage."

"Along with improving the Caged Bird seal, research into breaking it is now underway."

"You're not strong enough yet. And you don't have enough allies."

Watching the boy's eyes widen, Hyuga Hane asked softly, "Can you become a bird that flies out of its cage?"