The Mad Branch Family

"Rika, I love you." After saying this, the man kissed the woman on the cheek.

Hyuga Shun watched the sleeping Rika, pulled up his pants, and stepped out of the house under the cover of night. He stood silently in the darkness, motionless, lost in thought.

After a long while, Hyuga Shun finally moved. He held an object that looked like a water cup, placed it before him, frowned, and then threw it onto the ground.

He began weaving hand signs to perform a Fire Style technique, burning the cup to ashes. He then disposed of the ashes and the soil, ensuring no traces remained on the surface.

This clone doesn't have much chakra left. I need to finish things quickly and make sure Rika doesn't notice anything wrong, or my plan won't be able to proceed, Hyuga Shun thought to himself before turning back into the house.

The next morning, Hyuga Shun and Rika packed their luggage and continued toward the capital of the Land of Waterfalls. During this time, they had set out from the Land of Grass, carefully avoiding various interrogations and inspections, and had finally arrived in the Land of Waterfalls.

A few days later, they reached the capital. Hyuga Shun spent his own money and effort to rent a shop for Rika, allowing her to continue her work as an herbalist.

That night, Rika leaned into Hyuga Shun's embrace, while he held her with one arm. His eyes stared blankly ahead, as if he were contemplating something.

Indeed, Hyuga Shun belonged to the branch family of the Hyuga Clan. When he was very young, the Caged Bird seal was carved into him. From that day on, he had been like a bird trapped in a cage, having lost his freedom.

The lives of branch family members were held in the hands of the main family.

Through the Caged Bird seal, the Hyuga main family could destroy the brains and Byakugan of the branch family members. They claimed it was to prevent the Hyuga Clan's bloodline limit, the Byakugan, from being coveted by outsiders, but in reality, the branch family were merely slaves to the main family!

The current clan leader of the Hyuga had twin sons. Because they were born only a short time apart, one became the heir to the clan leader, while the other was branded with the Caged Bird seal and relegated to the branch family.

Hyuga Shun was only a few years older than those brothers at the time, but he had watched clearly as this child's-play decision changed their fates.

He saw the three-year-old younger brother transform from a cute, cheerful child into someone cautious, servile, and pathetic—just like himself.

Although Hyuga Shun harbored intense dissatisfaction and hatred toward the Caged Bird system, he never expressed it on the surface. Instead, he played the role of a branch family member loyal to the Hyuga Clan.

However, Hyuga Shun never gave up on trying to break the Caged Bird. He studied sealing techniques diligently, but found no way out. The main family was unhappy with his study of sealing arts, but due to his usual behavior, they had no excuse to punish him.

Most members of the branch family dared not speak out against the Caged Bird system. They looked upon Hyuga Shun's "loyalty" to the main family with disdain, privately calling him the "main family's house dog."

The main family's wariness, the branch family's contempt, and the despair of failing to break the Caged Bird—Hyuga Shun was caught between these emotions, tortured to the point of madness!

That was until he met Rika.

"Shun, what are you thinking about? You're so lost in thought," Rika's voice sounded by his ear.

Hyuga Shun snapped back to reality and said to Rika in a gentle tone, "I was thinking about our time together. Being with you makes me feel so much lighter. If only I weren't a ninja, if I were just an ordinary person! Being with you is when I am happiest."

Hearing his words, Rika wore a sweet smile and buried her head deep in Hyuga Shun's chest.

Looking at Rika's joyful expression, Hyuga Shun felt a surge of shame. It was all a lie! Hyuga Shun did not love Rika at all; he only wanted to use her.

Near the end of the Second Shinobi World War, Hyuga Shun had collapsed from severe injuries in front of Rika's village, and she, being a doctor, had saved him.

Through their conversations, Hyuga Shun recalled that during a previous mission, he had passed through this village and happened to save Rika and the villagers from bandits.

From that moment on, Rika had fallen in love with him.

Seeing the look in Rika's eyes—the exact same look his own fiancée gave him—a truly insane idea had popped into Hyuga Shun's mind in that instant.

He would have a child with Rika, a child with the Hyuga bloodline but without the Caged Bird, and let that child replace him to break the curse.

Hyuga Shun didn't just think it; he acted on it. In the time just after the war ended, the clan's attention was diverted elsewhere, and his plan had progressed smoothly; it was already half-finished.

Thinking of this, the guilt in Hyuga Shun's eyes hardened into coldness. I'm sorry, Rika. I hope you won't blame me, he thought silently.

Hyuga Shun thought of his fiancée again. Their gazes were so similar. His fiancée was also a member of the Hyuga Clan, but he didn't love her either; his heart was filled only with the Caged Bird.

His fiancée had numbly accepted her fate. Regarding the oppression of the main family, she chose to submit, just like the vast majority of the branch family.

Whenever he thought that he might end up like his fiancée and most of his clansmen, Hyuga Shun felt absolute despair. Living like a walking corpse was worse than death.

Hyuga Shun knew his actions carried great risk. If discovered, he would face certain death, and he would implicate innocent people as well. Yet, he still did it.

"Perhaps I have already gone mad."

The next day, Hyuga Shun said goodbye to Rika. He made her a false promise that he would come to visit her often.

Rika was just an ordinary person, ignorant of the affairs of ninjas. Influenced by the "passionate love" she believed they shared, she did not notice anything amiss in Hyuga Shun's words.

Finally, Hyuga Shun said to her, "Rika, I really must leave now. With Taro here to protect you, I can rest easy."

After saying this, Hyuga Shun turned his head to glance at the large yellow dog standing beside them.

Rika looked at Taro, then gazed at Hyuga Shun with lingering reluctance before finally nodding.

Hyuga Shun left. After walking some distance, he looked back to see Rika standing in the same spot, lost in thought. After a long while, she finally snapped out of it and began tending to her shop.

Watching her movements, a complex expression crossed Hyuga Shun's face. He walked to a place where no one could see him and wove a hand sign. With a "poof," his clone vanished into a cloud of smoke.