The Man May Die, but the Way Lives On

"So, are you going to take my eyes as well today?" Hiashi asked.

"Of course."

After nearly being exposed tonight, there was naturally no way Ning Qi could leave Hiashi's eyes in the head family residence.

Ning Qi nodded and was about to act.

"If you're going to do it, can you let me?"

Hiashi shook the shackles on his body and looked at Hinata, who was still unaware of the approaching danger in Ning Qi's arms.

Ning Qi blinked, understanding what Hiashi meant. For the sake of those dozen or so pairs of Byakugan, he gave a slight nod.

"No problem, as long as you don't damage my eyes."

He had long regarded Hiashi's eyes as his own possessions.

After his last hope had been shattered, Hiashi became exceptionally cooperative. He nodded, indicating that he would be careful.

Then he beckoned to his daughter. His dislocated hand, limp as boneless flesh, swayed through the air.

"Hinata, come here."

Although she had already been hurt once by the disheveled man before her, Hinata was obedient and kind. She raised her head, looked at the man, then looked at Ning Qi.

"Don't you want to know where I sent your father?"

"Come here."

"I'll tell you."

Hinata did not sense even the slightest malice in the man's gentle words, and besides...

She looked at the chains wrapped around him. After hesitating for a moment, she slowly moved closer.

She truly wanted to know where her father had gone.

She wanted to know why her mother had died.

Why their home had become so filthy and chaotic.

She had too many questions she wanted answered.

"Do you really know where my father went?" Hinata asked softly.

"Yes. Come a little closer, and I'll tell you." Hiashi was like the evil wolf luring Little Red Riding Hood.

She looked back at Ning Qi. Seeing no reaction from him, Hinata gathered her courage and stepped forward.

"I'm sorry, my daughter," Hiashi said apologetically.

All the suffering the Hyuga clan would face in the future was because he, as clan head, had been too weak.

All the pain his daughter Hinata had suffered so far was likewise because he had failed as a father.

His heart had long been as dead as ashes... but he could not die yet.

There were still things he had to finish.

He slowly stretched out his hand. Just as Hinata sensed some strange yet familiar emotion from the man before her—

The next instant, blue light flashed.

Squelch!

Blood spurted.

Hinata's left eye, beneath the bandage, was easily removed by Hiashi.

"Ah—"

The girl was pressed onto the desk, writhing in unbearable pain.

Hiashi presented the removed eye to Ning Qi with one arm, while using his other arm to desperately pin down the struggling Hinata on the table.

"This is the left eye," he said.

Earlier, in order to let Hinata see the illusion clearly, Hiashi's left eye had been switched with Hinata's. Since Ning Qi wanted Hiashi's eyes now, all he had to do was switch them back.

After Ning Qi accepted the eye, chakra shot from Hiashi's palm once more, like threads of silk. He dug out the left eye in his socket, which had originally belonged to Hinata, then returned it to its owner and pressed it into Hinata's terrified left eye socket.

Thud.

Hiashi released the arm restraining Hinata and let her roll onto the floor.

Expressionless, he repeated the process, using chakra fired from his palm to remove his only remaining eye.

"This is the right eye," he said.

Ning Qi took out a small portable cultivation container and placed both of Hiashi's eyes inside.

Hiashi was not dead yet, and the Byakugan still possessed a certain vitality. For the time being, Ning Qi could not absorb the essence of the Byakugan within them.

That was also why Ning Qi could not merely take the eyes. He had to kill the owner as well.

Looking at Hinata writhing in agony on the floor, Ning Qi shook his head. If Hiashi had not tried to be clever, she would not have needed to suffer such pain. The responsibility lay entirely with Hiashi.

"You can be quite ruthless," Ning Qi said. "Aren't you afraid she'll hate you for the rest of her life?"

"Even so, it's better than having her hate you for the rest of her life," Hiashi said calmly.

After losing his eyes, his world was nothing but emptiness. At least he would not be devastated by the sight of his daughter suffering.

"This can't be hidden. In the future, she'll definitely blame everything on me and hate both you and me—though I truly am the chief culprit behind her suffering. Still, if she comes to take revenge on me someday, I won't hold back either."

Ning Qi shrugged. He did not think much of the actual effect of Hiashi's actions.

How could the hatred of a slaughtered clan and a ruined home be redirected so easily?

Even his own younger brother, Neji, would surely hate Ning Qi to the bone because of what he had done, let alone Hinata, the eldest daughter of the Hyuga main house.

"If I can redirect even a little, that's enough," Hiashi said.

Having done all he could and cast off every burden of responsibility, he felt as though even the shackles on his body had become a little lighter.

"Besides, Hinata has a gentle nature and average talent. She probably won't have much chance to seek revenge on you."

Ning Qi shook his head. No matter how gentle and obedient Hinata was, such a drastic upheaval in her Lineage would inevitably change her personality completely. Besides, her talent was not average at all.

Hiashi wanted to preserve the Hyuga clan's inheritance and have the younger generation promised survival temporarily forget their hatred. He thought far too highly of himself.

Ning Qi did not continue the subject. He merely stared at Hiashi's palm. Just now, chakra threads had shot out from there.

"You..."

"Are you wondering how I can still use chakra when you clearly sealed my chakra points?" As though sensing Ning Qi's gaze, Hiashi tilted his head and spoke.

"Release your Transformation Technique, then take Hinata to get treated. I'll tell you."

"Fine."

Ning Qi knew this was also part of Hiashi's attempt to ease Hinata's hatred toward him.

It was merely the futile scheming of a dying father. Ning Qi did not care and readily agreed.

"You definitely never properly studied the Gentle Fist, nor have you truly made use of your eyes," Hiashi declared. "Your talent is very high, but you wasted it on other useless techniques. The inheritance of my Hyuga clan is clearly the strongest!"

Ning Qi found that hard to agree with. He looked up at the sky. It was precisely this technique Hiashi deemed useless—the This-Realm Naraku Technique—that had turned every member of the main house into Ning Qi's hunting ground.

"Your genjutsu has a fatal flaw. It can't last long. How can it compare to my Hyuga clan's Gentle Fist? You know that yourself," Hiashi said.

After being imprisoned for so long, he had already understood the operating principles of the This-Realm Naraku Technique. Whenever he thought of how he had stumbled over such a flawed technique and doomed his entire clan, he became especially furious. Thus, he did not hold back in his criticism.

"No matter how unwilling I am to admit it, your bloodline cannot be faked. You are Hizashi's biological son. You are a member of the Hyuga clan. Even if you become a rogue ninja, you are still a rogue ninja who came from the Hyuga clan. I will never allow you to disgrace the Hyuga clan's name!" Hiashi said.

"You've suddenly become rather open-minded," Ning Qi said with an indifferent smile.

"I have indeed figured it out. The Caged Bird System should have been abolished long ago. Otherwise, how could we have brought about today's disaster?" Hiashi sighed. Unfortunately, he had realized it far too late.

"If no one from the main house survives, what inheritance is there to preserve? This world can exist without the main house, but it must have the Hyuga!"

"Since you have already planned things this far, no one will be able to stop you anyway. I'll just pretend you are a reformist within our rotten Lineage who advocated abolishing the Caged Bird System, launched a transformation at the clan assembly, and only wished to establish a Hyuga clan free from the oppression of the Caged Bird System."

Ning Qi did not care what kind of reputation others attached to his extermination of the clan. To a certain extent, this truly was an internal struggle within the Hyuga Lineage.

"No matter which side of us succeeds in the end, the true inheritance of the Hyuga clan must still be passed on. So listen carefully, Ning Qi." Hiashi's voice turned solemn.

Ning Qi crossed his arms. He wanted to hear what grand theories this defeated clan head had to offer.

As though he had forgotten that the boy before him was the enemy about to destroy the entire Hyuga clan, Hiashi calmly explained his understanding of the Hyuga family inheritance.

"The Bloodline Limit—the Byakugan—is often our Hyuga clan's greatest advantage when facing enemies. Seeing the flow of chakra through the body's meridians, or seeing through all obstacles to detect hidden enemies, is merely the most superficial use of the Byakugan."

"Since the laws governing the operation of everything in the world cannot hide from our eyes, what we should truly do is not describe the present."

"But summarize the future..."

Ning Qi's brows gradually furrowed. This old man seemed to be serious?

Hiashi truly had figured it out. Just as he had said moments ago, the man might die, but the way would live on.

Though Ning Qi could now be called utterly wicked, his sons and grandsons would eventually return to the Hyuga inheritance and perhaps even establish a new Hyuga clan.

A flowing stream does not compete to be first; it competes to flow without end.

On the scale of a Lineage's continuation over a thousand years, similar crises would occur once every few centuries. A hundred years from now, Ning Qi's actions would ultimately be no more than a single line of small writing on the wall of an ancestral hall.