Byakugan

In Konoha, life seemed to flow on according to its familiar rhythm.

Ningxue traveled between school, the training ground, and home, repeating a seemingly peaceful life.

Yet after her father left, the house seemed much quieter. Behind her mother Hyuga Yuki's smiles, there was always a trace of barely noticeable worry.

One afternoon several days later, Ningxue had just finished training with Neji and was preparing to head home when she seemed to sense something. She unconsciously stopped and looked toward the setting sun.

"What's wrong?" Neji noticed something was off about her.

"...Nothing."

Ningxue shook her head, suppressing the unease in her heart and dismissing it as post-training fatigue.

One afternoon a few days later, she went about her usual routine, attending school, returning home, and sparring with Neji.

But her condition was clearly worse than usual. She seemed absent-minded, and over the past few days, a sense of impending doom had nearly burst from her chest.

Then, when she stepped through the front door this time—

She saw her mother, Hyuga Yuki, collapsed on the floor. Her face was bloodless and her eyes hollow, as though her soul had been ripped away. In her hand, she tightly clutched a formal notice that had just arrived, bearing the seal of Konoha's upper echelon.

Jonin Hyuga Ning had heroically died in the line of duty while carrying out a classified mission outside the village, covering his comrades' retreat.

At the sight of this, Ningxue's ominous premonition intensified.

"Mother! Are you okay?"

Ningxue hurriedly helped her mother up, but all she received in return was her mother's incoherent muttering.

"No... impossible..." Hyuga Yuki murmured, her voice shattered and ragged.

"Ningxue... your father, he... he... No, that's impossible."

Before she could finish, the crushing grief made her vision go dark, and her body began to collapse again. Ningxue hurriedly caught her falling body.

Only after carrying her mother to the sofa and laying her down did she pick up the notice again.

Her hand trembled slightly as she raised it before her eyes and carefully read it, her fingers unconsciously tightening around the corner of the paper.

When she finished reading, that trembling turned into even fiercer rage.

"Died in the line of duty... covering his comrades..." Those words spun madly through her mind. Her instincts told her it was a lie. In her memories, Danzo had always been a ruthless man. Anyone who went on a mission with him would never meet a good end.

So she did not believe this report! Not at all!

Over the next few days, the compensation payment arrived, but the house was shrouded in deathly grief.

How laughable. Could compensation bring back a living family member?

Hyuga Yuki's body weakened from excessive grief and shock, and she spent most of her time bedridden.

Ningxue silently handled the housework and cared for her mother. Her face, which had always shown little expression, was now covered in a layer of icy frost that hid the turmoil within her heart. Only her tightly pressed lips and the occasional distant look in her eyes revealed that she was far from unmoved.

A few days later, Hyuga Ning's body was transported back to the village by Konoha's department responsible for postwar matters. It was temporarily placed in the underground morgue of Konoha Hospital, awaiting confirmation from the clan and further arrangements.

When she learned that the body had returned, Hyuga Yuki hurriedly took Ningxue to Konoha Hospital. She had always believed Ning would not die, clinging to that last shred of hope.

But when she lifted the white sheet and her illusion was utterly shattered, she completely broke down. She did not wail; after standing there blankly for a moment, she fainted again.

Hyuga Ningxue fell silent at the sight of her father's corpse. When she saw her mother faint again, she was at a complete loss.

With no other choice, she used the money she had on her to buy a wheelchair and took her mother home.

Within the Hyuga Clan, neither of them was particularly welcome, so no one accompanied them on this trip.

After settling her mother back at home, Ningxue looked at her mother's once-gentle face on the bed. It was now haggard, marked by a few wrinkles, while her silver-white hair had become somewhat dry and brittle.

She looked around the room and felt that the change was far too great.

Just then, she heard knocking from outside the courtyard.

Ningxue left the room and opened the door. Standing outside was Hyuga Lan, another member of the Hyuga Branch Family who had gone on the mission with her father.

His face was haggard, his gaze evasive. Deep dark circles hung beneath his eyes, along with guilt he could not conceal.

Seeing that Ningxue had opened the door, he did not try to brush her off. He merely spoke cautiously.

"Ningxue..." Hyuga Lan's voice was dry and hoarse. He did not dare meet Ningxue's overly calm white eyes. "I... can I come in and talk?"

Ningxue stepped aside to let him in, then closed the door. She said nothing, merely signaling for him to continue with her eyes.

Hyuga Lan stood in the middle of the living room, his hands clenched tightly into fists and his body trembling slightly, as though he were enduring an immense internal struggle. At last, as if he had made up his mind, he abruptly raised his head, his eyes full of guilt.

"Ningxue... your father... he didn't die the way the report said..."

At those words, Ningxue's heart suddenly tightened. Yet her face remained expressionless, while her gaze became sharper, stabbing into Hyuga Lan like an Ice Cone.

Under her stare, Hyuga Lan swallowed with difficulty, but he still spoke in broken fragments.

"They... they were abandoned... Lord Danzo... he got the intelligence... then led us away immediately... He never cared about Brother Ning and the others, who were still fighting... Those three Anbu... they... they killed themselves on the spot... Brother Ning... he faced so many enemies alone... He fought until the very end..."

He had seen it most clearly, because with the Byakugan, he had clearly witnessed the end.

His words were incoherent, but their meaning came through clearly. It had not been a heroic death in the line of duty. He had been ruthlessly abandoned, sacrificed as a disposable pawn meant to draw enemy fire.

Though she had long suspected it, hearing this bloody truth firsthand from a survivor still made Ningxue feel an icy chill shoot from the soles of her feet to the crown of her head. Her blood seemed to freeze in an instant.

She stood where she was, her body swaying almost imperceptibly. Only by bracing herself against the nearby wall did she steady herself. She did not roar or question him. But her clenched fists had turned white at the knuckles from the force, and her nails dug deep into her palms until blood seeped out, yet she did not notice.

"...I understand."

After a long while, Ningxue finally forced out those three words through clenched teeth, her voice so low and hoarse it barely sounded like her own.

"Thank you for telling me the truth."

Seeing her like this, Hyuga Lan felt even greater guilt. He opened his mouth as if to say something more, but in the end, it only became a helpless sigh. Lowering his head, he fled from the suffocating place as though escaping. He was a ninja who had rarely experienced killing, not as cold-blooded as most. Danzo alone had put immense pressure on him—when had he ever seen someone directly sell out their own comrades?

After Hyuga Lan left, Ningxue stood there for a long time. By then, night had already fallen.

After standing there for so long, she finally moved. At that moment, veins abruptly bulged around her eyes like a spiderweb, and a searing stabbing pain erupted from the edges of her eyes, slowly spreading toward her eyeballs. Only when her field of vision suddenly broadened did she raise her head.

Half of her face was buried in shadow, while silent tears slid down the other half beneath the moonlight.

At that moment, she had broken the lock and successfully awakened the Byakugan. It should have been something worth celebrating, but there was no excitement in the young girl's eyes—only the blazing fury of revenge.