The Main House's Warning

Hyuga Xiao knelt on the bluestone slabs in the Main House courtyard.

The stones beneath his knees had been baked scorching hot by the afternoon sun, burning through the thin fabric against his skin. Several cherry trees in the courtyard cast mottled shadows, while the cicadas buzzed louder and louder, irritating him beyond measure.

Hiashi Hyuga stood beneath the veranda, looking down at him from above.

"A Branch House member touching the Main House is an overstep." Hiashi's voice was calm, as calm as a bottomless pool. "Today is merely a minor punishment. If there is a next time, it will not be as simple as kneeling for three hours."

Xiao lowered his head, his fringe concealing his eyes.

"Yes, Clan Head."

His voice was so obedient that no fault could be found with it, even carrying just the right amount of fear. Yet his hands hanging at his sides had already dug their fingertips deep into his palms.

Pain.

Not the pain in his knees, nor the pain in his palms.

It was the faint, intermittent sting from the Curse Mark on his forehead—the Caged Bird Seal reminding him that his life and death were currently at the mercy of the man before him.

Hiashi stared at him for several seconds, then turned and left.

The sound of wooden clogs against the corridor gradually faded, eventually vanishing into the depths of the estate.

Only Xiao remained in the courtyard.

He maintained his kneeling posture, his back perfectly straight. It was the bearing the Hyuga Clan had trained into its members from childhood. Yet no one saw the pure white in the depths of his pupils slowly, almost imperceptibly, begin to turn.

He was observing.

At the turn of the left corridor, a guard passed by every fifteen minutes. At the small gate on the right leading to the inner residence, the guards changed shifts on the hour. On the second floor of the main building directly ahead, the third window from the left—that was Hinata's room.

When Hiashi had been reprimanding him just now, the curtain at that window had moved.

The corner of Xiao's mouth lifted almost imperceptibly.

Three hours.

From afternoon until dusk.

The sun slowly sank westward, and the shadows stretched long. The burning in his knees turned to numbness, then to a needle-like ache. Sweat soaked through the clothes on his back before the evening breeze dried it, leaving behind an unpleasant, sticky discomfort.

Xiao did not move.

He even adjusted his breathing, keeping his heartbeat at a steady rhythm. It was a habit carried over from his previous life—the harder things became, the more he had to remain calm. Only with calmness could he think. Only with calmness could he remember.

He memorized every interval in the guards' patrols, the few seconds of opening during shift changes, the height and material of the outer walls of the Main House Estate, which places had ninja barriers, and which merely had ordinary surveillance.

Most importantly, he remembered the fleeting contempt in Hiashi's eyes as he left.

Xiao was all too familiar with that look.

In his previous life, when those high-ranking executives looked at low-level employees, they had worn the same expression—you were not a person, but a tool. Once worn out, you could simply be replaced. You were not worth a second thought.

A tool.

The Hyuga Branch House had been the Main House's tool for generations.

Xiao closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, the last trace of turmoil in his gaze had settled.

At dusk, the final ray of sunlight vanished beyond the horizon. Stone lanterns in the courtyard were lit, their dim yellow glow spreading through the twilight.

A guard approached him.

"Time's up. You may stand."

Xiao slowly rose to his feet.

A fierce numb ache shot through his knees. He staggered, but quickly steadied himself. As he moved, he glanced at the window on the second floor—the curtain shifted again. This time, the gap was wider, and he could see a pair of pale eyes flash past in the darkness.

Hinata was watching him.

Xiao lowered his gaze, bowed toward the main building, then turned and limped toward the area where the Branch House lived.

Every step was steady.

Even though his knees hurt as though they might split apart, his back did not bend in the slightest.

Only after he had completely left the Main House Estate and entered the low, crowded cluster of Branch House homes did Xiao stop at an empty alley corner.

He leaned against the wall and slowly let out a breath.

Then he raised a hand and touched the Curse Mark on his forehead.

"Caged Bird Seal..."

When he murmured those three words, a trace of icy chill finally seeped into his voice.

Just then—

[Ding!]

[The host has successfully survived the first conflict. The system has officially activated.]

[Main Quest Issued: Prevent the "Hinata Kidnapping Incident"]

[Quest Description: Seven days from now, the Hidden Cloud Envoy Delegation will visit Leaf Village under the pretense of signing a peace treaty. At night, a Hidden Cloud Elite Ninja will infiltrate the Hyuga Main House Estate and attempt to kidnap Hinata Hyuga, using her to coerce Leaf Village into handing over the secrets of the Byakugan. The host must prevent the kidnapping before or during the incident.]

[Quest Reward: Byakugan purity +5%, Caged Bird Seal removal progress +0.1%]

[Failure Penalty: None. However, the original plot will proceed along its original course. Hinata will be kidnapped, Hizashi Hyuga will die in his brother's place, and the status of the Hyuga Branch House will deteriorate further.]

[Time Limit: 7 days]

Xiao's pupils suddenly contracted.

The Hidden Cloud Kidnapping Incident.

In the original story, this incident had directly led to Hizashi Hyuga's death—the Branch House member who, like him, bore the Caged Bird Seal. Hizashi had been forced to die in Hiashi's place in Hidden Cloud Village. When his corpse was returned, even his forehead had been carved away to prevent the secrets of the Caged Bird Seal from leaking.

And what had Hiashi done?

He had hidden in the Main House Estate, shed a few tears before his younger brother's corpse, then continued serving as Clan Head, continuing to use the Caged Bird Seal to control every member of the Branch House.

"Heh..."

Xiao gave a low laugh.

The sound echoed through the dim alley, carrying a chilling undertone.

0.1% removal progress.

It was very little.

But this was the first time the system had given him a clear path toward removing the Caged Bird Seal.

And besides—

Xiao lifted his head and looked toward the Main House Estate.

While kneeling in the courtyard just now, he had observed those gaps in the defenses, the openings in the guards' patrol routes, and the weak points in the barriers... They all had meaning now.

That was the route the Hidden Cloud ninja would use to infiltrate.

The system was not asking him to blindly protect Hinata. It was giving him an opportunity—an opportunity to gain rewards, map out the Main House's defenses in advance, and perhaps even earn "merit" before Hiashi.

One arrow, three targets.

"Seven days..."

Xiao murmured to himself.

Time was tight.

He needed a plan.

First, he had to ensure that he could move around near the Main House Estate that night without arousing suspicion. Branch House members were forbidden from approaching the Main House's core area without permission. That was an iron rule.

Second, how could he "just happen" to encounter the Hidden Cloud kidnapping operation? If he appeared too early, he would be suspected. If he arrived too late, it would be too late to stop it.

Finally, and most importantly—after stopping it, how should he handle the aftermath?

Kill the Hidden Cloud ninja outright? That would trigger a diplomatic crisis. To smooth things over, Leaf Village's higher-ups would most likely sacrifice him, a mere Branch House member.

Let him go? Then the quest might not count as completed.

Xiao's brow furrowed slightly.

Footsteps sounded outside the alley. Other Branch House members were returning from a day of labor. Xiao immediately concealed every expression and stepped out from the alley corner, his face returning to that gentle, even somewhat timid look.

"Xiao? Why are you here?" A middle-aged Branch House member saw him and froze for a moment. "I heard the Clan Head punished you by making you kneel today?"

"I accidentally touched the young lady." Xiao lowered his head, his voice carrying just the right amount of shame. "The Clan Head was right to punish me."

"Ah..." The man sighed and patted Xiao on the shoulder. "Be more careful in the future. The Main House... is not something people like us can touch."

"I understand."

Xiao nodded obediently and walked with the man toward the depths of the Branch House settlement.

Along the way, he listened to the idle chatter of the other Branch House members—how exhausting training had been that day, what new orders the Main House had issued, which Branch House child had performed well and received praise, and which had been punished over some minor mistake...

Trivial, oppressive, and filled with helplessness.

This was the Branch House's daily life.

Xiao listened quietly, occasionally offering a few responses, while his mind raced.

After returning to his cramped room, he shut the door and lit an oil lamp.

The dim yellow light illuminated the bare walls—a bed, a table, a chest for clothes, and nothing else. The Branch House's treatment was only enough to sustain the most basic existence.

Xiao sat on the edge of the bed and took a small notebook from his clothes.

He had secretly prepared it after transmigrating, using a simple code he had learned in his previous life to record important information. Several pages had already been filled with notes about the Hyuga Clan's internal structure, the habits of Main House members, and the guards' patrol patterns.

Now, he flipped to a new page and began to write:

[Hidden Cloud Kidnapping Incident Countdown: 7 days]

[Known Intelligence:]

[1. The Hidden Cloud Envoy Delegation will arrive in seven days. The peace treaty signing ceremony will take place in the evening, followed by a banquet at night.]

[2. The kidnapping operation will take place during the banquet, when the Main House's guards will be spread thin.]

[3. Infiltration route: Third section of the western wall (weak barrier) → rear courtyard cherry grove (15-minute patrol gap) → left corridor on the second floor of the main building (Hinata's room)]

[4. Perpetrator: One Hidden Cloud Elite Ninja, skilled in Lightning Release and stealth.]

At this point, Xiao's pen paused.

Part of this intelligence came from his memories of the original story, while part came from his observations while kneeling in the courtyard today.

But it was not enough.

He needed more precise timing. He needed to know exactly where the Hidden Cloud ninja would climb over the wall, and confirm the distribution of guards inside the Main House Estate that night...

He could only learn those things through continued observation over the next seven days.

Xiao closed the notebook and blew out the oil lamp.

In the darkness, he lay on the bed with his eyes open, staring at the ceiling.

His knees still throbbed faintly, a mark left behind by the three-hour punishment. But clearer than the pain was the faint sense of restraint emanating from the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead.

Like an invisible chain looped around his neck.

The other end of that chain was held in Hiashi Hyuga's hand.

"Seven days..."

Xiao repeated the time once more.

Then he closed his eyes.

When he opened them again, all the obedience, weakness, and fear had vanished from those pale pupils.

Only an almost cruel clarity remained.

He rolled over, sat up, and silently walked to the window, pushing it open by a narrow crack.

The night was already deep, and the Branch House settlement was silent. In the distance, several lights still shone in the Main House Estate, like floating stars in the darkness.

One of them came from Hinata's room.

Xiao stared at that point of light for a long time.

Then, in a voice only he could hear, he said:

"Lady Hinata."

"I'll take your fate."

"In exchange—"

"I'll show you what this clan truly is."

The wind rushed in through the window, stirring the loose hair over Xiao's forehead.

Moonlight fell across his face, illuminating his Byakugan, faintly glowing in the darkness.

It also illuminated the birdcage-shaped Curse Mark in the center of his forehead.

Caged Bird Seal.

One day, he would shatter this cage with his own hands.

And it would begin seven days from now.