Hunting

Lunchtime...

He habitually headed up to the rooftop.

To his surprise, someone was already there. Hyuga Neji leaned against the rooftop railing, seemingly waiting for him.

When Ning Xue came up, Neji turned around. His pale eyes rested calmly on him as he spoke without preamble. "I heard what happened in the classroom."

Ning Xue didn't respond. He went to the shady spot where he usually sat, took out the lunch he'd prepared, and silently opened it.

Neji sat beside him and opened his own lunch. As usual, silence settled between them. But today, it felt heavier than ever.

After a few bites, Neji broke the silence again. His voice remained calm, though there was a hint of curiosity in it. "Your eyes... have they awakened?"

Ning Xue's chopsticks paused for the briefest moment before he resumed eating. He gave a quiet, noncommittal "Mm."

"Because of what happened to Uncle Hyuga Ning?" Neji pressed. He'd always been observant, especially when it came to Ning Xue.

This time, Ning Xue was silent for longer. He raised his head and looked toward Kage Rock in the distance. His newly awakened Byakugan looked especially clear in the sunlight, yet also especially cold.

"...You could say that."

"I'm sorry."

Then, changing the subject, he took the rare initiative of asking a question.

"Neji, tell me... What's the difference between sacrificing yourself to protect something important and being sacrificed as a tool that can be discarded at will?"

Neji was taken aback. He looked at the coldness and confusion in Ning Xue's eyes, unsure how to respond.

He had a vague feeling that Ning Xue's father hadn't simply died in the line of duty.

And Ning Xue seemed to have already learned the cruel truth.

After considering his words for a moment, Neji replied,

"One sacrifices themself to protect someone they love. The other is nothing but a tool."

As he said it, he thought of his father, Hizashi Hyuga. He had taken the blame to protect the Main Branch and preserve peace within the Hyuga Clan. They had branded him with the Caged Bird, then sent him to his death like a sacrificial lamb.

How similar that was to the tools Ning Xue spoke of, discarded at will!

He fell silent.

Then a long-suppressed anger and resentment stirred deep within Neji, rekindling a tiny flame in his heart. As a child, he'd always been told that this was his father's fate, the destiny every member of the Branch Family had to accept.

He had accepted it and devoted all his energy to becoming stronger, determined to prove that the Branch Family was no weaker than the Main Branch.

But now, what had happened to Ning Xue made him wonder: was it really fair that more members of the Branch Family would suffer the same fate? Why were they destined to be tools from the moment they were born?

"Tools... Why did we become tools?... What if we don't want to be tools?" Neji murmured, his fingers clenched so tightly they turned white.

"Then we need the power to break free," Ning Xue replied. His voice was still cold, but there was now a note of shared understanding in it. "Power enough to break the chains, power enough to make those who see us as tools... pay the price."

Though he made it sound easy, pursuing his revenge would cost him dearly.

Danzo... was a towering figure lurking in the shadows of Konoha's power. Taking revenge on him meant making an enemy of Root, and perhaps even of Konoha itself.

But Ning Xue had already prepared himself for that.

Neji exhaled heavily, as if trying to expel all the pent-up frustration in his chest.

He gazed into the distance, his eyes seeming to pierce the walls of Konoha and glimpse the Caged Bird that bound the fate of every member of the Branch Family.

"The Caged Bird... the Caged Bird." He murmured the name of the Cursed Seal. His voice no longer carried resignation, only uncertainty about whether it could be broken. Then that uncertainty gave way to conviction.

"Perhaps it isn't unbreakable."

At that moment, on the rooftop, the two boys found their hearts connecting in some way, bound together by similar pain and the cruel reality that their loved ones had been sacrificed like tools.

Ning Xue had planted the seed of revenge against Danzo, while Neji had rekindled his resolve to defy fate and break the chains of the Caged Bird.