The Direction of the Spearhead

"What happened?"

"It's fine, just a routine investigation." Ning Qi brushed past Neji and walked straight into the kitchen.

"Did someone else go missing again? Then Sister Tsuki, she..." Neji trailed off.

He was very smart. From Takizawa Yamaaki's questions earlier, he had already inferred many things.

Every so often, members of the Hyuga Branch Family would mysteriously disappear or be killed. It was not frequent, but as the number of disappearances increased every six months, many branch family members had begun to sense that something was wrong. They sought help from the clan head, but received no response they wanted. They sought help from the Hokage, and Sarutobi had even sent people to investigate, yet no clues were ever found.

More and more people were disappearing. Now, it had actually spread to someone close to Neji.

"Do you like her that much?" Ning Qi lit the stove and heated the oil, glancing at Neji in surprise.

"Hasn't she always treated us well? And she likes you too, Brother..." Neji secretly watched his brother's expression.

Why did Brother not seem sad at all?

Was this a ninja's mental fortitude...?

"Listen carefully, Neji." Ning Qi looked indifferent as he prepared dinner ingredients and began lecturing him. "It isn't that ninjas must be cold and heartless, but compared to ordinary people, the greatest difference in a ninja's temperament lies in one word: 'endure.'"

"To achieve your goals, you must endure. To carry out your plans, you must endure."

"To avoid showing weakness to the enemy," Ning Qi said as he sliced potatoes, turning his head to stare at Neji for emphasis, "you must endure your grief even more."

Neji looked around. There was only him and his brother in the room, no so-called "enemy." Then what was the point of "enduring grief"?

"Brother, you've really been lecturing a lot lately." Neji did not argue. He merely rested his chin in his hands and complained, yet somehow, his sadness eased a little.

"I know you can't take it in now, but I wasn't saying it for the current you." Ning Qi spoke casually as he put the potatoes into the wok, though his gaze drifted toward somewhere outside the window.

There stood a utility pole, with a crow perched atop it, its head tilted as it silently watched him.

How annoyingly persistent...

Before the Byakugan, no concealment method could avoid detection. The crow clearly understood that as well. After waiting for a while, it flapped its wings and flew away.

"Why are you wearing such oversized clothes?" Ning Qi came back to himself. The potatoes were done, and he suddenly looked at Neji and asked.

Seeing Neji's flustered expression, Ning Qi smiled faintly.

"Got into a fight?"

Neji froze for a moment, then immediately nodded. His brother was very smart, and lies were easily seen through. It would be better to let him misunderstand the injuries on Neji's body as the result of an ordinary "fight."

Ning Qi was Neji's only family. He was Neji's pride, the glory of the Hyuga Branch Family, and one of Konoha's Twin Prodigies.

Neji had no intention of telling Ning Qi about what had happened today. Although Ning Qi was strong, he too was a member of the branch family. He too bore the Caged Bird curse mark. If Neji saw Ning Qi being forced to kneel before Hyuga Ling, his activated curse mark restraining him while he was freely humiliated because of Neji, Neji felt he would be guilty to death.

"What does it matter if you lost a fight? Just win the next one." Ning Qi's unconcerned manner made Neji relax slightly.

"I... I'll definitely get revenge!" Neji said seriously, clenching his fists.

Although he still had no idea how to counter the Caged Bird, perhaps... he really should endure for now?!

"Good. Go train first. I'll call you when dinner is ready." Ning Qi waved him off. As he watched Neji's departing back, his gaze gradually deepened.

Neji's lie was full of holes. The taijutsu Lion Fang he had taught Neji was enough for him to beat down the entire Ninja Academy. How could he possibly have lost a fight against children his own age?!

Moreover, the traces left behind after the Caged Bird curse mark was activated were far too obvious. Those eyes that occasionally reddened and twitched could not possibly escape Ning Qi's notice.

As a genius who had risen from the Hyuga Branch Family, Ning Qi had also experienced being humiliated with curse marks by psychologically unbalanced members of the Hyuga Main Family. Of course, those who had offended him back then had gradually become corpses beneath the ground, their eyes becoming nourishment for the advancement of Ning Qi's Byakugan.

"I've completely adapted to the third stage of the Byakugan. Next, I can begin preparing for the final stage of advancement."

Ning Qi looked at the birds outside the window, his expression calm.

The evolutionary nourishment his Byakugan needed next was not something one or two pairs of Byakugan could provide...

His recent actions had clearly drawn the vigilance of Konoha's higher-ups and certain others. There was no shortage of smart people in this world. They had begun focusing their suspicions on him. This was the effect of Ning Qi's earlier rash actions, but he did not care much.

If not for the fact that each advancement of his eyes required time to adapt, creating a rather agonizing window of vulnerability, he would never have allowed anyone to find such a flaw.

That ANBU member named Takizawa Yamaaki had clearly followed the clues here after Hyuga Tsuki's corpse was exposed.

Fortunately, the only things that could be considered flaws during this period were Hyuga Tsuki's corpse and Takizawa Yamaaki, who had come to the Household for a surprise inspection while Ning Qi was away.

—It wasn't too troublesome.

As fate approached its final moment, Ning Qi's heart grew ever calmer. He watched the steam rising from the wok, but his memories returned to that night four years ago.

His father, Hyuga Hizashi, had committed suicide at home. Ning Qi had been the first to push open the door, yet his father's Byakugan, which should have been destroyed by the Caged Bird, transformed into a purified essence and flew into Ning Qi's eyes.

That was the first time Ning Qi's Byakugan had evolved. He went blind for two days because of it. The clan members all believed Ning Qi had cried himself blind over his father's death, and even clan head Hyuga Hiashi had come personally to comfort him.

But only Ning Qi himself knew that he was far from so filial. He had known Hyuga Hizashi would die the moment he transmigrated, since he knew the plot. When it happened, he had merely been saddened by the fact that he had ultimately lost his protection. But that level of sorrow was not enough to squeeze even a single tear from him.

Yet the instant his father's Byakugan turned into purified essence and entered his eye sockets, when he realized that his eyes were so special that they could absorb the Byakugan of his kin to evolve, Ning Qi had even been unable to stop himself from laughing wildly at Hizashi's funeral!

Father...

If not for your death...

How long would it have taken me to realize that I was born to kill all of you?

It was precisely Hyuga Hizashi's death that caused Ning Qi's bleak life, once bound only by the Caged Bird, to suddenly seem as though its sturdy gate had been shaken open by a crack. A beam of light shone in through the gap, allowing Ning Qi to see that he still had such a path to choose.

The gate was tightly locked.

The key required the blood of all his kin to forge.

The strongest spear defending the Hyuga Main Family had, from that moment onward, already pointed its spearhead at the Hyuga clan.