Neji nodded and admitted frankly, "Yes, Clan Head. I do have questions."
Hinata gave a slight nod too. Gentle by nature, she rarely compared herself with others, but as the heir to the Main Family, she could hardly be unaware of a matter concerning the clan's fundamental power.
"It is no wonder you have questions."
Hyuga Hiashi's voice remained steady, though it seemed to carry a distant echo. "In fact, even I had similar doubts before I became clan head and gained access to our most closely guarded scrolls."
"Until Urashiki's eyes appeared on the Canopy Screen."
He drew a small breath, as though the words to come weighed heavily upon him.
"It seems the ancient records were no mere tales. The Hyuga clan's Byakugan is not the end of its evolution."
"Just as the Sharingan can evolve into the Mangekyō Sharingan, the Byakugan has a higher, more ultimate form."
"It is called..."
Hyuga Hiashi spoke the name one syllable at a time, clearly enunciating a name long buried in the Hyuga scrolls, one that seemed to carry forbidden power:
"The Tenseigan."
"The Tenseigan?!" Neji murmured. His pale eyes suddenly shone with startling intensity, as though flames had ignited within them.
It was not merely the prospect of greater power. A far more burning thought struck him: if the Byakugan could advance, if a higher form of Kekkei Genkai existed beyond the Byakugan they knew...
Then could the Caged Bird Curse Mark, built around the current Byakugan, still fully bind that transformed power?
Hope pierced the fate he had long believed was shrouded in darkness, like the first sharp ray of sunshine breaking through thick clouds.
Hyuga Hiashi's gaze seemed to see straight through the storm raging in Neji's heart. He continued:
"According to scattered records, awakening the Tenseigan also