Neji

At this moment, the crowd heard a childish voice.

"Father!"

The high-pitched sound rang out from behind the crowd, and the people automatically parted to create a path.

Four-year-old Hyuga Neji was being led by a member of the Branch Family, stumbling as he ran forward. His face still held a look of confusion and lingering sleepiness; he had clearly been brought here in a great hurry.

He pulled his hand away from the Branch Family member and stumbled toward his father.

"Father, what is happening? Why is everyone looking at us like that?"

He looked at the crowd, and for some reason, everyone was watching him with a gaze of pity. This feeling made him very uncomfortable and vaguely uneasy, as if some terrible event were about to unfold.

Hyuga Hizashi lowered his head to look at his son's young face. His usually stoic and serious expression finally flickered with a trace of extreme tenderness, though it was a tenderness deeply buried beneath reluctance and pain. He slowly crouched down and gently stroked Neji's hair, his movements uncharacteristically soft.

"Neji," his voice was low and steady, as if he were merely going on a long journey, "look up at me."

Neji followed his father's instruction and looked up, but he immediately froze. In his memory, his father had always been stern, solemn, and devoid of smiles; now, he saw tenderness in his father's eyes.

This discovery made him even more anxious.

"Listen carefully to every word I say next, and remember them."

Hyuga Hizashi's tone became incredibly solemn.

"I am not dying because of an order from the Main Branch."

Neji's eyes widened, and his small body began to tremble slightly.

The word "die" was far too heavy and terrifying for him.

Hizashi did not pay attention to Neji's expression, but continued to speak calmly, as if he had already accepted his impending fate, while also making a declaration to all the silent members of the Branch Family.

"I choose to accept this fate to protect my brother, Hyuga Hiashi, to protect the Hyuga Clan, and to protect the Leaf Village, so as to avoid unnecessary war."

His voice was deep, heavy, and resonant, like a giant hammer striking Neji's heart.

His fingertips gently touched Neji's smooth forehead, where the Caged Bird seal had long been carved—the mark used for subjugation.

"And even more so... to protect you, Neji."

This sentence caused Neji's psychological defenses to collapse completely. He asked his father in a broken voice.

"Why...?" Neji's tears finally spilled over, his voice choked with sobs, "Why must it be Father..."

He roared the last sentence toward the sky, simultaneously questioning why the Main Branch would demand this.

In his heart, he wondered why it had to be his father, why it had to be the father who praised him as a genius? The father he loved so dearly.

Was it just because he was Hiashi's younger brother?

Faced with such a question, Hizashi gave his response, his eyes reflecting Neji's image with a look of profound reluctance.

"This is my... fate... the path I have chosen for myself."

Hyuga Hizashi's voice remained calm, yet carried an unquestionable power. "Do not resent anyone. Especially... the Main Branch."

After saying these final words, he took one last deep look at Neji, as if to imprint this sight into his mind, into the deepest part of his soul.

But after that look, he stood up resolutely and turned to leave without looking back.

His back was no longer as straight as before, and his footsteps were not as steady or solemn as Neji remembered; instead, they were hurried.

He dared not look back, for fear that he would regret his decision.

He followed the person who had come to lead him, step by step, toward the final outcome. His silhouette appeared exceptionally desolate in the morning light, lonely and determined.

Neji's heart-wrenching cries echoed through the oppressive clan grounds. He tried to chase after him, but was held back tightly by the adults beside him.

The surrounding Branch Family members remained silent, but beneath that silence lay a grief and a sense of utter powerlessness that was ready to burst forth.

Shortly after, the Main Branch used the Caged Bird seal to knock Neji unconscious and took him away.

Ning Xue stood beside his father, and seeing this scene, he felt deeply distressed.

Watching that back as it walked toward certain death, he had long known the cruelty of this world, but witnessing such a direct and cold sacrifice—especially one carried out in the name of protection—brought him an unprecedented shock.

He touched the Caged Bird seal on his forehead, which was covered by bandages; this weight made him remember the moment even more vividly.

The sound of the Main Branch's gates closing echoed, making the atmosphere for the Branch Family members present even heavier.

If the Hyuga house was a birdcage, then was Hizashi, who was about to meet his death, not a bird flying out of the cage?

The people gradually dispersed from this heavy atmosphere, each step feeling incredibly burdensome.

Back home, the doors and windows were shut tight, but they could not lock out the heavy mood.

Hyuga Neji sat in the corner without a word, his fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles turned white. Seeing her husband like this, Hyuga Yuki could only silently prepare a simple meal.

Ning Xue sat on his small mat, head bowed, his small hands unconsciously rubbing the bandages on his forehead.

Beneath them, the Caged Bird seal felt as if it had come alive, radiating a bone-chilling cold that constantly reminded him of everything he had witnessed today.

This was not a story, nor a tragedy recounted by a friend, but a reality that had occurred before his eyes, within his clan, to a member of the Branch Family who, like him, possessed the Byakugan and the Caged Bird.

He decided that he would hide his strength and conceal his talent.

Otherwise, he feared that the next scapegoat would be him.

He finally understood his friend's words.

The Hokage's son remains the Hokage, while the scapegoat's son remains a scapegoat.

But at the very least, for now, Hyuga Neji was still the son of Hiashi's younger brother.

He, however, was not.

The scene returned to Hyuga Neji.

When he woke up, the sky had already begun to darken, but he did not care about the time at this moment.

He was still unable to move past the loss of his father; his mind was filled with the words his father had spoken to him that morning.

"It was even more so to... protect you, Neji." He touched his forehead.

"This is my... destiny... the path I chose myself. Do not resent anyone, especially... the Main Branch."

Neji clutched his head in agony as he recalled the memory, then muttered to himself.

"Father, how can you expect me not to hate?" He slowly lowered his hand.

The veins at the corners of his eyes bulged quietly. At this moment, his face was twisted with ferocity as he spoke, word by word.

"I will prove that I am stronger than the members of the Main Branch... and I will abolish the Caged Bird. There shall be no distinction between the Main and Branch families."

At only four years old, Neji solidified his ninja way in that moment, determined to break these rules in the future.