Moonlight poured down like flowing silk from the exit of the Hyuga Clan's secret chamber, spreading a cold silver carpet across the bluestone path.
Neji walked upon it, feeling no weight in each step.
The Caged Bird mark on his forehead, which had bound his entire childhood and adolescence, was gone. An unprecedented sense of ease flowed through every limb and bone, as though a thousand-pound burden had been lifted. His body was free.
Yet he was not all that happy.
Hyuga Hiashi's final hoarse "I'm sorry" replayed in his mind again and again.
He knew those words were not entirely devoid of warmth.
But there was not much of it.
Perhaps because he had spent so much time with Naruto, Neji could keenly see that it was a compromise made under immense pressure—an investment intended to protect the future of his biological daughters. Hyuga Hiashi was not apologizing to him. He was bowing to the power Naruto represented, clearing away future obstacles for Hinata Hyuga and Hanabi Hyuga.
He, Neji Hyuga, was merely a bargaining chip in this cold transaction.
"Fine."
Neji said it to himself. He raised his head with a bitter smile, feeling the vastness of heaven and earth.
This was good. No hypocritical warmth, no cheap forgiveness—only a naked exchange of interests. This was the world's true face.
Commissar Naruto had never offered him a single word of concern. He had merely given him a gun and a target.
That was more sincere than any apology.
Neji's steps did not pause in the slightest, nor was there any trace of confusion. Instead of heading toward the branch family's compound, he turned without hesitation at a fork and headed into the deepest shadows of the village.
Moonlight illuminated the road ahead of him.
*At least one round