Hidden Compartment

Hiashi did not lack the courage to die for a righteous cause, especially when Ning Qi still needed him alive to lure in more Hyuga clan members. Without him, this crucial captive, Ning Qi—bearing the Caged Bird Seal—would see the efficiency of his Naraka Technique greatly reduced, while the risk of exposure would rise sharply. His python-swallowing-an-elephant plan to wipe out the clan would become a distant prospect.

So even if Hiashi wanted to die, Ning Qi would not let him off. The hinged restraints from the interrogation division had been designed from the start to leave prisoners no room for suicide. Once his chakra points were sealed, even a Shadow Level expert could only die with regret.

This old man Hiashi did not care about his own life, but that did not mean he did not care about the lives of others.

From the moment he gave up information on several clan elders outside Konoha for the sake of his daughter Hinata, he had lost the ability to keep resisting Ning Qi.

One step back led to another. During the days before Ning Qi defected from Konoha, this Hyuga clan head's fate was to be squeezed dry, flesh and bone alike.

For instance, everyone knew that the matter of him and his daughter Hinata exchanging eyes was merely an excuse Ning Qi had found to extort him. Even without this matter, there would have been another. Yet Hiashi had no way to argue. His spine had already been broken, and he could only let Ning Qi take whatever he wanted, hoping that he might show a little mercy and go easy on his daughter Hinata.

Hinata walked in with tiny, hesitant steps and immediately buried her face in Ning Qi's chest. Only then did she secretly peek through the gap at the scruffy man sitting before the desk.

"You don't recognize him?" Ning Qi did not react at first.

"My father was sitting there before. He told me many things and told me to endure the pain. I endured it... then... then my father disappeared!" Hinata did not continue, but her meaning was already clear.

Watching Hinata throw herself into Ning Qi's arms, the very culprit behind everything, Hiashi felt indescribably bitter.

After Hinata had received one of his eyes and seen through the illusion, she had immediately run away from his side.

She clearly could not connect the graceful, refined father from the illusion with him in reality... By now, Hiashi had been tortured beyond recognition by Ning Qi. It was understandable that she did not recognize him.

And if she could not recognize him, then so be it. What mattered was that she had heard what he told Hinata before the eye exchange: even if she could not escape the illusion, she was to dig up her mother's corpse and leave it somewhere conspicuous in the courtyard.

Yet... looking at his daughter leaning against the enemy's chest, he shook his head.

Hiashi knew that his daughter had not been living well within the clan lately. No one cooked for her, no one bathed her, and she had suffered greatly. It was a disaster this young lady, who had been pampered since childhood, had never experienced. She was as pure as a blank sheet of paper.

Perhaps because of that, she had retained her spiritual awareness within this illusion longer than the others. That was also why Hiashi had chosen his daughter Hinata rather than Natsu Hyuga or the others.

But it seemed that his final effort as clan head to save his people had still failed in a place he had never anticipated.

Hinata, the young lady of the main house, truly had no particular talent or ability after all...

After a long silence, Hiashi sighed.

Sigh.

She was still of the main house bloodline. It was fine if she lacked talent. There was no need to speak of revenge anymore; she could live out her life peacefully... The Hyuga clan would have another chance to flourish in the future.

Hiashi looked Ning Qi directly in the eye. This time, he did not argue or leave behind any harsh words. Instead, he decisively conceded defeat.

Since you wanted payment for her life, then he would give it all to you.

"There is a hidden chamber in the wall to the left of my study. To prevent it from being detected by the Byakugan, it must be summoned through hand seals. The sequence is Tiger, Ox, Boar... There are three hidden compartments inside, along with a great deal of gold, silver, and money. You can take all of it."

→

Unlike the Hyuga clan's communal properties, such as shops and forests, the wealth in that hidden chamber was clearly the private property of the main house. Ning Qi would indeed need such an unexpected fortune when he traveled the shinobi world as a rogue ninja. He could not afford to be short on funds; constantly robbing and looting was too low-class and would not get him far.

"Mm." Ning Qi nodded faintly, signaling for him to continue.

"There are some summoning scrolls in the second hidden compartment. They contain many ninja tools and emergency supplies."

This should have been the supply reserve the Hyuga clan had left for survivors in the event of a clan-destroying crisis.

Unfortunately, the Hyuga ancestors who had planned ahead could never have imagined that the greatest threat to the clan would come from within...

Ning Qi said lazily,

"That's not enough to buy her life."

For the first time, Hinata showed hesitation.

She could hear the true conversation between the two men, and she could sense that something about their words was wrong.

What is Brother Neji talking about?

Using what?

To trade for whose life?

"I know. Don't rush."

Hiashi paused, gave Ning Qi a meaningful look, and then said calmly,

"In the third hidden compartment... there are more than a dozen pairs of Byakugan passed down from Hyuga ancestors."

Hm?

Ning Qi's eyes widened abruptly.

The Byakugan of the Hyuga branch house would be destroyed by the Caged Bird Seal the instant their owner died. In other words, those Byakugan had all belonged to deceased members of the main house throughout the generations...

More than a dozen pairs!!

The main house actually had such a stockpile?!

If I had known about this earlier, why would my progress have been so slow all these years?

"You knew I was collecting Byakugan. Why didn't you hand them over sooner?" Ning Qi gritted his teeth. If he had not happened to return, would all that Byakugan Essence not have been left underground to gather dust?!

At that thought, Ning Qi felt incredibly fortunate.

Hiashi really did have potential. Without pushing him, one would never know where his limits lay.

"I don't know what you intend to do with so many Byakugan, but now that I've told you this, can you kill a few fewer people?" Hiashi asked, a trace of pleading in his gaze.

Ning Qi considered it. More than a dozen pairs of high-purity main house Byakugan—even accounting for the loss of vitality from being preserved for so long—should provide at least most of the Byakugan Essence he needed. Perhaps during next week's clan extermination operation, he truly would not need to kill every remaining member of the Hyuga clan?

No.

The moment that merciful thought arose, Ning Qi crushed it completely.

Since he was doing this, he might as well do it thoroughly!

He would be a rogue ninja afterward. Whether he could ever return to Konoha was still uncertain!

With so much Byakugan Essence right before him, ready for the taking, he had to consider whether this might be the only opportunity he would ever have in his life.

Ning Qi faintly had a feeling that even after his eyes reached their final stage, Byakugan Essence would still have great uses.

"I can spare her." Ning Qi stroked Hinata's head.

She still looked utterly confused and helpless.

Hiashi nodded. That answer did not surprise him.

Insatiably greedy—this was the Ning Qi he had come to know over the past few days.