The Caged Bird Bond Quest

That night, Zuo Hao went to Konoha Back Mountain.

He had only meant to take a walk and get some training in while he was at it.

With his hands in his pockets, Zuo Hao strolled along a forest path, thinking about the Chunin Ninja Exams.

Orochimaru would disguise himself as a Grass Ninja to infiltrate the exams. There were the Sand Ninja's plan, the Sound Ninja's ambush, and the Third Hokage, whom he had to kill with his own hands.

As he thought, the muffled sound of fists and feet cutting through the air came from a clearing ahead.

Zuo Hao stopped. The Sharingan appeared in his eyes almost by instinct, its Three Tomoe turning slowly as he pinpointed the source of the sound through the trees.

A boy in white stood in the clearing. His long, dark-brown hair was tied into a neat ponytail, and a Konoha Forehead Protector was fastened around his brow.

He was practicing Gentle Fist alone beneath the moonlight. Every palm strike carried the distinctive chakra fluctuations of the Hyuga Clan, squeezing the air into visible white spirals.

Neji Hyuga.

Zuo Hao recognized his face.

A genius of the Hyuga Branch Family, the top graduate in the previous year's Ninja Academy Graduation Exam, and the most gifted young member the Hyuga Clan had ever produced.

Of course, that claim about his talent needed a qualifier now. Zuo Hao knew what the Caged Bird Seal on Neji's forehead meant.

No matter how brightly a Branch Family genius shone, he was still the Main Family's dog.

The son of a scapegoat was destined to be a scapegoat himself...

Neji abruptly drew his palms back. His body made a near-perfect turn in midair, and chakra burst from all 361 of his tenketsu at once, forming a spherical barrier around him.

Eight Trigrams Palms: Heavenly Spin.

An absolute defense.

Zuo Hao narrowed his Sharingan slightly, recording the path of Rotation's chakra flow deep in his eyes.

The Hyuga Clan's Gentle Fist and Rotation both demanded exceptionally precise chakra control. Only with the Byakugan's ability to see through objects and across great distances could they reach their full power.

Even if an ordinary ninja obtained the instructions for Gentle Fist, they would get nowhere. The Byakugan Kekkei Genkai was the foundation of it all.

Just as Zuo Hao was about to turn away, a system notification rang out in his mind.

[Ding! Key story character detected: Neji Hyuga!]

[Caged Bird Bond Quest triggered.]

[Quest description: He is a genius the Hyuga Clan has not seen in a century, yet because he was born into the Branch Family, he was branded with lifelong shackles. A bird in a cage, a man in a cage—his fate was written from the start. But you know better than anyone that so-called fate is nothing more than a lie the strong use to enslave the weak.]

[Quest objective: Get to know Neji Hyuga and help him break free of his predetermined fate during the Chunin Ninja Exams.]

[Quest rewards: Link with Neji Hyuga, Pseudo-Byakugan, Gentle Fist: Eight Trigrams Sixty-Four Palms.]

Zuo Hao stopped in his tracks.

Pseudo-Byakugan?

Gentle Fist?

Both were valuable, especially the Byakugan, though he had no idea how much weaker the Pseudo-Byakugan was than the real thing.

But as someone who had crossed over into this world, Zuo Hao knew the Byakugan was a dojutsu of the Ōtsutsuki Clan. Its potential was immense, certainly no less than the Sharingan's.

He turned back, his gaze passing through the trees to settle on the boy in white in the clearing.

Caged Bird Seal.

Zuo Hao repeated the words to himself.

It was the seal the Hyuga Main Family used to control the Branch Family. Anyone branded with it lived under the Main Family's control from birth until death.

Once the seal on their forehead was activated, a Branch Family member would suffer pain worse than death as their brain was directly damaged. At best, they would lose consciousness. At worst, they would die on the spot.

More cruelly still, after death the Caged Bird Seal automatically sealed the Byakugan, ensuring that no outsider could obtain the Kekkei Genkai from the corpse.

In the Main Family's eyes, Branch Family members were nothing but tools from birth to death.

Tools while alive. Worthless once dead.

Zuo Hao stepped out of the shadows.

His footsteps were light, but in the stillness of the night, the rustle of fallen leaves beneath his feet was clear enough.

Neji looked up almost at once. His white pupils glimmered almost transparently in the moonlight.

The Byakugan.

The Hyuga Clan's Kekkei Genkai.

It granted a nearly 360-degree field of vision, could see through objects and perceive chakra flowing through the body's network, and had a range far beyond the Sharingan's.

"Who's there?"

Neji's voice was quiet but steady, with a composure beyond his years.

He straightened and naturally raised his hands into a Gentle Fist stance.

Zuo Hao had no intention of hiding.

Hands still in his pockets, he walked out of the shadows at an unhurried pace. Moonlight fell across his face, illuminating his scarlet Sharingan.

Three Tomoe.

Neji swept his Byakugan over Zuo Hao, his pupils contracting slightly.

It was not because of the Sharingan. It was because of the amount of chakra he saw.

Twelve years old. A Genin. Yet he had so much chakra that Neji could not gauge its full extent.

That was a Kage Level amount of chakra!

And its color was purple, threaded with faint traces of red.

That was the color of Indra's Chakra mixed with Nine-Tails Chakra.

Neji's brow furrowed almost imperceptibly.

"Uchiha... Zuo Hao?"

A hint of uncertainty entered Neji's voice.

He had seen Zuo Hao's name in the Ninja Academy records: the top graduate of this year's Graduation Exam and one of the surviving members of the Uchiha Clan.

But the records had been clear. Zuo Hao's performance at the Ninja Academy had been unremarkable. He was no genius. His younger brother Sasuke was supposed to be the real genius.

"You know me?" Zuo Hao wore an easy, familiar smile as the Three Tomoe turned slowly in his eyes. "Then I can skip the introduction."

"Neji Hyuga, right? Top graduate of last year's Graduation Exam. The Hyuga Clan's genius."

Neji's frown deepened.

He lowered his hands from the Gentle Fist stance and stood straight, his white eyes resting calmly on Zuo Hao.

"What do you want?"

"Nothing." Zuo Hao shrugged and sat on a large rock at the edge of the clearing. His hands remained in his pockets, and he crossed one leg over the other, lounging as if he were relaxing in his own yard. "I was passing by, saw someone practicing Gentle Fist, and thought I'd watch."

Neji looked at him in silence.

A member of the Uchiha Clan appeared alone on the mountain in the middle of the night, found a Hyuga Branch Family genius practicing, then sat down and claimed he merely wanted to watch.

Who would believe that?

Neji said nothing more and turned to leave.

Zuo Hao watched him, then suddenly spoke. "Your Rotation has a weakness."