Caged Bird Seal

Year twenty of Konoha.

The Hyuga Clan... the Main Family.

"Yui Hyuga... from now on, you're a member of the branch family. Make sure you fulfill your duties as a branch family woman."

"After all, because of the war, the branch family has lost quite a few men."

"But you're still young. Once you turn sixteen, you'll have to fulfill your obligations."

People of all ages stood inside the spacious house: children, adults, and elders, though young children made up the majority.

Some belonged to the branch family and others to the Main Family, but they had all gathered today for a Cursed Seal called the Caged Bird Seal.

They all shared the same pure-white eyes, for they were Konoha's Hyuga Clan, the strongest clan, possessing Konoha's strongest visual jutsu, the Byakugan.

Branch family children over the age of three would have the Caged Bird Seal branded onto them, while Main Family children would be taught how to control it.

On a raised seat, an aged-looking man pronounced the future of the little girl below him.

On the floor, a child of about six clutched her head, her eyes squeezed shut and her face twisted in pain.

But she held back the cries threatening to escape her lips.

She stubbornly refused to make a sound.

Yui Hyuga was the sole exceptional case in today's ceremony.

She had not been born into the branch family. She had been born into the Main Family.

Her appearance set her apart from everyone present. Everything about her was white, from her skin to her hair and eyes.

She looked like someone who had been dead for a long time.

Her mother had died giving birth to her, and her father had always wanted to abandon her.

But for the sake of her mother, who had died in childbirth, her father had kept her and raised her.

Because of her appearance, however, the clan elders did not like her.

Their eyes held prejudice, disgust, and indifference whenever they looked at Yui Hyuga.

They regarded her as a calamity and even claimed she had killed her mother.

Out of respect for her father, however, the clan elders had never laid a hand on her.

Until she reached the age of six.

That year, the First Shinobi World War broke out. Despite being a member of the Main Family, her father was sent to the very front lines.

As expected, he died on the battlefield.

With her father's death, Yui Hyuga lost her only protection in this world.

The elders demoted her to the branch family, and at today's ceremony, she was branded with the Caged Bird Seal, which could control her brain.

Because of the war, many of the branch family's men had also died on the front lines.

But the Main Family had no men to spare.

Thus, the duty of this generation's branch family women was to bear children, replenishing the clan's fighting strength within twenty years.

They were forbidden from learning any ninjutsu or taijutsu.

They were not even allowed to learn the Hyuga Clan's greatest art, the Gentle Fist.

All they could learn were the rules and etiquette expected of a woman, and how to become a gentle, virtuous wife.

But how could Yui Hyuga possibly accept her fate? She had tried to resist, but with her child's body, it had been utterly useless.

Instead, it had only brought her greater suffering.

A cold gleam flashed through the old man's eyes as he watched the girl below him struggle bitterly, still refusing to cry out.

"Let's see how long you can endure..."

"Nai Hyuga... come here..."

The old man pointed at a little girl in the corner.

Nai Hyuga shrank back when he called her name.

Like Yui, she was an orphan with neither father nor mother, but she had not been demoted to the branch family.

They shared the same circumstances, yet their fates were different.

All because of a difference in skin color.

Nai Hyuga could not understand this practice. Was it really right to control others with a Cursed Seal?

She looked at Yui suffering on the floor, her heart aching a little.

She had seen this white-skinned little girl a few times before, but whenever she saw her, the girl always wore a worried expression.

And she was always staying alone in her room.

"What are you waiting for, Nai Hyuga?" the old man urged.

"We brought you Main Family brats here so you could learn how to control the Caged Bird Seal."

Hearing this, Nai Hyuga knew she could not avoid it today, but she did not know how to control the seal's intensity.

She was terrified that she might hurt the other girl so badly that she died.

She raised her trembling little hands, pressed two fingers together, and slowly formed hand seals. Then she closed her eyes, unwilling to watch.

As the incantation left her lips, Yui Hyuga felt another needle-sharp stab of pain in her brain, but it soon eased.

She wondered why the pain had lessened.

She opened her eyes a sliver and saw the little girl standing before her.

The girl's brows were tightly knitted, as though she were enduring something herself.

At that sight, Yui Hyuga understood.

Well, if it means a little less pain, why not?

She simply began screaming at the top of her lungs.

"Aaaah... it hurts... it hurts..."

Clutching her head, she rolled across the floor and screamed.

She looked utterly pitiful.

Seeing this, the old man nodded in approval. This child could be taught.

Nai Hyuga, however, was startled. Thinking she had used too much force, she began reducing the intensity again.

But no matter how much she reduced it, the girl before her showed no sign of stopping.

She still lay on the floor, crying out in pain.

Nai Hyuga was frightened. She was already using the lowest intensity possible. Any lower, and the seal would deactivate.

While the incantation was being recited, the other person's Caged Bird Seal would emit a blue-green glow.

This glow indicated that the Caged Bird Seal was active. If it disappeared, that meant the seal had stopped working.

By now, Nai Hyuga was panicking, and cold sweat began to bead on her forehead.

More and more screams rose around her, ringing in her ears and making her feel deeply uncomfortable.

"All right, all right... everyone stop..."

"You've practiced long enough. The branch family members can go back now."

Nai Hyuga no longer remembered how much time had passed. It might have been fifteen minutes, or thirty, or even longer.

Once the end was announced, she ran out on stumbling steps.

She seemed unwilling to spare the girl below her even a glance, afraid the girl would remember her.

Watching Nai Hyuga leave, the old man sighed helplessly.

Many of the other branch family children had passed out on the floor from the pain. Seeing this, Yui Hyuga, who was still conscious, did not dare move either.

She pretended to have fainted as well.

In the end, they were all carried back to the branch family on stretchers.