Fake

"Hm?"

After hearing what her Shadow Clone had experienced, Yui found it rather bizarre, too.

The little white mouse in the laboratory had awakened an ancient bloodline? That was certainly something new.

But now was not the time to discuss any of that.

There was something she wanted her Shadow Clone to verify.

"Nai Hyuga hasn't come to see me for days. Could you go check whether something has happened to her?"

Hearing this, Yui's Shadow Clone nodded.

"Mm... I'll investigate inside the Main Family." The Shadow Clone considered it for a moment, then answered, "Oh, and I'll find a chance to remove this seal for you."

"Master... I can't... hold on much longer!"

The little white mouse spoke in a trembling voice.

Watching the vortex gradually disappear, Yui called out one last thing from inside the room.

"Oh, and find me a ninjutsu scroll for the Summoning Technique when you have time."

As her words fell, the vortex in the center of the door collapsed with a crash, reverting to rows of sealing symbols.

"Phew-"

The little white mouse collapsed on the floor from exhaustion, the golden markings on her body flickering dimly before disappearing.

Seeing her like that, Yui picked her up.

"Are you all right...?"

Only after holding her did Yui realize how much weight the little white mouse had lost.

Now she felt like little more than skin and fur.

Yui knew the little white mouse truly regarded her as her master.

"Master... cha... chakra." The little white mouse's eyes were half closed.

Yui did not hesitate and immediately fed her chakra.

After all, she had done a great deal.

"Ah... that feels so good..." Bathed in chakra, the little white mouse murmured softly.

Only when she saw the little white mouse's condition improve did Yui breathe a sigh of relief.

She had regained some weight, too.

"Master, I might need to sleep for a while."

Before Yui could react, the little white mouse darted into her pocket.

"Hey, hey, hey..."

Finding this a little odd, Yui pulled the restless little white mouse out of her pocket.

"You didn't ask..."

Yui was about to lecture her, to tell her it was rude to crawl into someone's pocket without her master's permission.

But when she saw that the little white mouse was already asleep, she put her back in her pocket.

"I'll let it slide this time!"

With that, Yui's thoughts returned to Nai Hyuga.

"Nai..."

Murmuring her name, Yui headed toward Nai Hyuga's home.

Inside the Hyuga Main Family's underground laboratory.

"Ahahaha! As expected, unparalleled power!"

Hyuga Feng lay on an operating table with a strip of black cloth covering his eyes.

"I haven't even opened my eyes yet, but I can already feel this immense power."

Hyuga Feng was excited, thrilled, almost euphoric.

"Power, power, power..."

He was growing somewhat deranged.

Seeing Hyuga Feng like this, Sano began to tremble with fear.

"Sedatives, sedatives." Sano's movements became frantic.

"Then... congratulations on acquiring new power, Clan Head."

Even as he searched for sedatives, Sano did not forget to offer a few soothing words.

But rather than calming Hyuga Feng down, those words only made him more excited.

"Sano, you're right. Power! I've gained new power!"

Seeing this, beads of cold sweat broke out on Sano's forehead, and his hands grew increasingly clumsy.

In a corner he failed to notice, a figure suddenly flashed past.

The laboratory was in such chaos that no one noticed.

After his search proved fruitless, Sano finally turned his gaze toward another operating table.

A young girl lay on that table.

Her eyes were tightly shut, blood seeping through the gaps between her eyelids.

Sano suddenly noticed a syringe inserted into the girl's arm.

He hesitated at the sight of it, then turned back to Hyuga Feng and saw that his condition was getting worse.

"Power, power! All those monsters can die!"

As Hyuga Feng spoke, he tore the cloth off his eyes.

"Damn it." Hearing Hyuga Feng's voice, Sano cursed under his breath and pulled the syringe out of the girl's arm.

"Thank goodness, there's still half left." Seeing how much remained in the syringe, Sano immediately sighed with relief.

Then he hastily changed the needle and injected Hyuga Feng.

"Damn it, that woman used so much of the sedative that there's only half a syringe left."

"If anything happens to the Clan Head, you'll die with him!"

He did not know why the Clan Head was having such a severe reaction to this eye transplant.

Without the sedative keeping her under, Nai Hyuga's consciousness gradually returned.

She tried to open her eyes, but when she lifted her eyelids, there was only darkness and wave after wave of stabbing pain. The discomfort made her instinctively shut them again.

The clamor around her reached her ears, along with Sano's incessant talking.

Thinking of what they had done to her, Nai Hyuga could not understand.

The Clan Head already possessed the Byakugan, so why did he want hers?

"My... eyes!"

"What have you done with my eyes?"

Bewildered, Nai Hyuga demanded, "Clan Head, why would you do this to me?"

"Hahaha! Why? Why?"

"Aren't you the head of the Hyuga Clan? Why would you treat me like this?"

She addressed those words to Hyuga Feng, who lay on the table.

Hyuga Feng said nothing, keeping his mouth firmly shut, but his gaze was scornful as he looked at her.

"Cough, cough, cough." Suddenly, Hyuga Feng coughed heavily several times.

Blood slowly began to flow from his eyes.

Feeling the agonizing pain in his eyes, Hyuga Feng closed them in discomfort.

"Clan Head, Clan Head, you have to hold on!"

Sano spoke in panic, bandages in hand as he wrapped Hyuga Feng's eyes.

Only after a long while did Hyuga Feng's condition stabilize.

"You were merely a vessel I used to cultivate these eyes."

"These eyes never belonged to you."

Hyuga Feng spoke disdainfully.

"Hmph..." Hyuga Feng said, "Since you're no longer of any use, I might as well tell you some of the truth."

"After all, if I want someone dead, I should at least let her know why she's dying."

After pondering for a moment, he continued, "These eyes never belonged to you."

"They belonged to my younger sister. She died before she even turned three."

"Originally, I only intended to keep them as a memento, but I never imagined they would be so pure."

"And at the same time, I found a method of fusing the Byakugan."

"The result is a pair of eyes that can destroy heaven and earth," Hyuga Feng said excitedly.

"And you?" Hyuga Feng said flatly. "You're just an orphan with decent chakra talent whom I happened to find."

"I gave you every part of your identity, whether your name, your status, or your parents."

"You could say it was all fake. Hahaha..."

After hearing Hyuga Feng's words, Nai Hyuga stared blankly in the direction of his voice.

"Fake?" Nai Hyuga murmured to herself. "It was all fake?"

She no longer knew how to feel about any of this.

"Fake, fake, all fake."

At that moment, she completely broke down.

In truth, Nai Hyuga did not place much importance on her parentage or the Hyuga surname, nor did she feel any attachment to them. After all, they had been fabricated.

What mattered to her was that she had been deceived, utterly and completely.

She had once naively believed she could change the rotten Hyuga Clan.

Now, it seemed that was nothing but a joke.

The Hyuga were rotten to the core. Could they recover? That was impossible!

Suddenly, a figure flashed through her mind.

She spoke softly in Hyuga Feng's direction. "What about Yui Hyuga? Surely she isn't someone you planted around me, too?"

Nai Hyuga felt uneasy. She feared that Hyuga Feng might say something she could not bear to hear.

Hyuga Feng fell silent for a moment.

Only after a long while did he answer.

"Hmph... her."

"You two certainly are close." Hyuga Feng spoke disdainfully. "I don't know why someone from the Main Family like you would befriend someone from the Branch Family."

"She has good talent. I'll just wait for her to carry on the Hyuga Clan's bloodline in the future!"

"That way, her talent won't go to waste."