Byakugan

In Leaf Village, life seemed to flow along its established rhythm.

Hyuga Ningxue lived a repetitive, seemingly peaceful life, moving in a triangle between school, the training grounds, and home.

However, after his father's departure, the house felt much quieter, and behind the smiles of his mother, Hyuga Yuki, there always lurked a trace of imperceptible worry.

One afternoon a few days later, just as Ningxue finished training with Neji and was preparing to head home, he felt something and stopped involuntarily, looking toward the setting sun.

"What is it?" Neji noticed his abnormality.

"...It's nothing."

Ningxue shook his head, suppressing the unease in his heart, dismissing it as fatigue from training.

A few days later, he went about his routine as usual: school, coming home, and sparring with Neji.

Yet, it was clear his state was not as good as usual; he seemed distracted, and during these past few days, a foreboding premonition had been threatening to burst from his chest.

When he stepped through his front door this time, he saw his mother, Hyuga Yuki, slumped on the floor, her face devoid of color and her eyes hollow, as if her soul had been extracted. In her hand, she clutched a formal notice that had just arrived, stamped with the seal of the Leaf Village high command.

Jonin Hyuga Ning, while executing a classified mission abroad, heroically sacrificed his life to cover his comrades' retreat.

Seeing this scene, Ningxue's ominous premonition grew even stronger.

"Mother! Are you alright?"

Ningxue hurried to help his mother up, but was met only with her incoherent muttering.

"No... impossible..." Hyuga Yuki whispered, her voice shattered.

"Ningxue... your father... he... he... no, this cannot be."

Before she could finish, the intense grief caused her vision to blacken, and as her body began to collapse again, Ningxue rushed to support her.

After dragging his mother to the sofa to lie down, he picked up the document to read it.

His hands trembled slightly as he lifted it to his eyes, his fingers unconsciously gripping the corners of the letter tightly.

By the time he finished reading, that trembling had transformed into a more violent rage.

"Sacrificed in the line of duty... covering comrades..." These words spun wildly in his mind. His intuition told him this was a lie; in his memory, Danzo had always been a ruthless man, and going on a mission with him never led to a good outcome.

Therefore, he did not believe this report! He did not believe it at all!

In the following days, the pension arrived, but the house remained shrouded in a deathly, sorrowful silence.

How ridiculous; could a pension replace a living, breathing loved one?

Due to the overwhelming grief and shock, Hyuga Yuki's body grew weak, and she spent most of her time bedridden.

Ningxue silently handled the chores and cared for his mother. His face, usually devoid of expression, was now covered in a layer of cold frost, hiding the turmoil within. Only his tightly pressed lips and occasional vacant gaze betrayed that he was not indifferent.

A few days later, the body of Hyuga Ning was transported back to the village by the department responsible for post-war processing and placed temporarily in the morgue at Konoha Hospital, awaiting confirmation from the clan and subsequent arrangements.

Upon learning the body had returned, Hyuga Yuki hurriedly dragged Ningxue to Konoha Hospital, still clinging to the hope that Ning was not dead.

But when she pulled back the white sheet and her fantasies were completely shattered, she collapsed entirely. She did not wail; she simply stood dazed for a moment before fainting once more.

As for Hyuga Ningxue, he remained silent upon seeing his father's corpse, and when he saw his mother faint again, he was at a loss for what to do.

With no other choice, he used his own money to buy a wheelchair and brought his mother home.

Within the Hyuga Clan, neither of them was well-regarded, so they had no one to accompany them on this trip.

After settling his mother back home, Ningxue looked at her face, once so gentle, now haggard and lined with wrinkles, her silver hair appearing dry and brittle.

He looked around the room, feeling that the change was far too immense.

Just then, he heard a knock at the door.

Ningxue left the room to open it and saw standing outside another member of the Hyuga Branch Family who had gone on the mission with his father: Hyuga Lan.

His face was gaunt, his eyes darting around, shadowed by heavy dark circles and an unconcealable guilt.

Seeing that it was Ningxue who opened the door, he did not try to deceive him, but spoke cautiously.

"Ningxue..." Hyuga Lan's voice was dry and hoarse, and he dared not meet Ningxue's overly calm white eyes. "I... may I come in to talk?"

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

Hyuga Lan stood in the center of the living room, his hands clenched into tight fists, his body trembling slightly as if undergoing a massive internal struggle. Finally, as if he had made up his mind, he looked up abruptly, his eyes filled with guilt.

"Ningxue... your father... he is not like what was written in the report..."

Hearing this, Ningxue's heart constricted, but his face remained expressionless, his gaze only growing sharper, piercing Hyuga Lan like an icicle.

Under his stare, Hyuga Lan swallowed with difficulty, but continued in a fragmented voice.

"They... they were abandoned... Lord Danzo... he obtained the intelligence... and led us to retreat immediately... he didn't care at all about Brother Ning and the others who were still fighting... those three Anbu... they... they committed suicide on the spot... Brother Ning... he was left alone to face so many enemies... he fought until the very end..."

He was the one who had seen it most clearly, for with his Byakugan, he had seen everything to the end.

He spoke incoherently, but the core meaning was clearly conveyed: it was not a heroic sacrifice, but a heartless abandonment—he had been sacrificed as a pawn to draw fire.

Despite having suspected it, hearing the bloody truth from a survivor made Ningxue feel a chill rush from the soles of his feet to his scalp, his blood seemingly freezing in an instant.

He stood where he was, his body swaying imperceptibly, and he had to steady himself against the wall. He did not roar, nor did he question; he only clenched his fists so tightly that his knuckles turned white from the pressure, his nails digging deep into his palms until blood seeped out, though he did not notice.

"...I understand."

After a long silence, Ning Xue squeezed these three words through his teeth, his voice so low and hoarse it didn't sound like his own.

"Thank you for telling me the truth."

Watching him in this state, Hyuga Lan felt his guilt deepen. He opened his mouth as if to say something more, but in the end, it only dissolved into a powerless sigh. With his head bowed, he fled the suffocating place as if escaping. (He was a ninja who had rarely experienced the brutality of slaughter; he wasn't cold-blooded like most others. After all, being around Danzo was already stressful enough—when had he ever seen someone sell out their own teammate so directly?)

After Hyuga Lan left, Ning Xue stood in the same spot for a long time, and by now, the sky had already darkened.

After standing there for so long, he finally rose to his feet. At that moment, the veins around the corners of his eyes suddenly bulged like spiderwebs. A searing, stinging pain erupted from the edges of his eyes, slowly creeping toward his eyeballs until his field of vision suddenly expanded, and he lifted his head.

Half of his face was buried in shadow, while down the other half, illuminated by the moonlight, tears slid silently.

He had broken the seal and successfully awakened the Byakugan. This should have been a joyous occasion, but there was no excitement in the young man's eyes—only a gaze filled with the flames of vengeance.