A chilling atmosphere once again enveloped the Barracks.
Aokawa's original body looked at the four of them, his voice calm and rippleless.
"Who's first?"
Before his voice had even faded...
"I'll go first!"
Hyuga Go took a sudden step forward, tearing off his headband without hesitation to reveal the Bird in a Cage Curse Seal beneath.
He grinned, a light of burning bridges flickering in his eyes—a resolve that staked his entire life and future.
Exerting all his strength, he roared out.
"Either I see the light of day again!"
"Or I die right here!"
"Don't fear death; if you're afraid to die, you'll never have the chance to live."
Aokawa looked at him calmly and nodded.
"Good."
He didn't waste another word.
The original body stepped back, yielding the space to the Shadow Clone.
The Shadow Clone took out disinfectant alcohol and a clean white cloth from a nearby scroll, skillfully wiping his hands and several metal instruments that were about to be used.
Hyuga Go took a deep breath and, following Hyuga Zetsu's previous example, lay flat on a makeshift wooden bed.
Ryosuke and Hyuga Kamon silently walked to his side, each pinning down one of his arms.
Hyuga Shin, meanwhile, held down his legs.
This was both to prevent him from struggling due to intense pain during the procedure and a form of silent support.
The air inside the Barracks seemed to solidify into something tangible.
Aokawa's original body walked to the side of the wooden bed, his hands covered in a faint blue Chakra glow.
"Beginning."
His voice was soft, yet it struck everyone's heart like a heavy hammer.
Hyuga Go closed his eyes, then snapped them open again.
In those Byakugan, there was no fear, only a burning determination.
Aokawa's fingertips, carrying precisely controlled Chakra, carefully probed into the back of Hyuga Go's neck, bypassing layers of nerves and blood vessels.
In his world of perception, that severed and long-atrophied nerve ending lay there quietly, like a withered tree root.
Found it.
The next moment, the Chakra at his fingertips sharpened abruptly.
Cut!
"Ngh—!"
Hyuga Go's body suddenly went rigid, like a bow pulled to its limit!
An indescribable, agonizing pain exploded from deep within the back of his neck, instantly sweeping through his entire body!
The veins on his neck bulged, his muscles knotted, and his face turned the color of pig liver.
The three holding him—Ryosuke and the others—could clearly feel the frantic, trembling power within his body.
But he gritted his teeth so hard his lips broke, blood trickling down the corners of his mouth, yet he didn't make a single sound.
He couldn't scream.
This was the path he had chosen, the first door to freedom.
He wanted Lord Aokawa to see his resolve!
The cutting was complete.
Aokawa did not pause for a second; the Chakra at his fingertips instantly shifted from the sharpness of a blade to the warmth of healing.
A glimmer of emerald light, concealed by the Shadow Clone, lit up from his palm.
Mystical Palm Technique!
Guided by his spirit particles perception, the warm and vast life energy acted like the finest embroidery needle, beginning to carefully guide, reconnect, and nourish those two nerve segments that had been severed for over a decade.
Washed by this warm current, Hyuga Go's tense body gradually relaxed.
The Soul-tearing pain was receding, replaced by a comfort like rain after a long drought.
He could feel that 'defect'—the void that had been numb for so long—being filled by a brand-new power.
Time passed, minute by minute.
In the Barracks, there was only the sound of Hyuga Go's increasingly steady breathing.
Finally.
Aokawa slowly withdrew his hand, a layer of fine sweat beads appearing on his forehead.
This kind of surgery was extremely taxing on his Mental Energy.
"It's done."
He stepped back, his voice carrying a hint of exhaustion.
Hyuga Go bolted upright from the wooden bed and immediately activated his Byakugan!
The next second...
His entire being froze.
An unprecedented sense of clarity flooded into his brain.
The world had never been so transparent.
More importantly... behind him!
That blind spot that had existed since he could remember, like a maggot on a bone... it was gone!
Three hundred and sixty degrees!
A complete, panoramic view without a single dead angle was clearly presented in his perception!
He sat there dazed for a full ten seconds.
It was as if he needed to confirm this wasn't an illusion.
Then...
"Haha..."
"It's a success! I've done it!!"
"Hahahahahaha—!"
A burst of wild laughter, suppressed to the extreme before completely exploding, poured from his throat, making the entire Barracks hum.
In that laughter was the humiliation suppressed for over a decade.
The ecstasy of being reborn.
The release of breaking free from shackles!
And even more, the infinite longing for the future!
The laughter stopped abruptly.
Hyuga Go flipped off the bed and, under the shocked gazes of Ryosuke, Hyuga Kamon, and Hyuga Shin...
He knelt on one knee before Aokawa without hesitation.
He lowered the head that, until moments ago, had carried the mark of shame, his voice trembling violently from extreme excitement.
"Lord Aokawa!"
"From this day forward, my life, Hyuga Go's life, belongs to you!"
"Through fire or water, I am at your command!"
Aokawa looked at him and didn't immediately help him up.
He knew what this kneel represented.
It wasn't just gratitude.
It was a ritual of offering loyalty.
"Stand up."
He spoke calmly. "We are comrades."
"No!"
Hyuga Go looked up, his eyes filled with an unprecedented fervor and determination.
"You are our hope!"
Ryosuke and the other two stared blankly at the transformed Hyuga Go, looking at the light that was almost overflowing from his eyes.
The string in their hearts called 'reason' was completely plucked.
The effect... was this good?
It wasn't just as simple as restoring his vision!
They could clearly perceive that at this moment, Hyuga Go's entire Chakra Aura had become more solid and harmonious.
It was a sublimation after his life level had been completed!
The three exchanged a look.
In each other's eyes, the initial shock had turned into extreme, extreme longing.
Hyuga Shin licked his dry lips: "I... I'll go too!"
There was a hint of trembling in Hyuga Shin's voice—not from fear, but from an irrepressible excitement born of intense desire.
He looked at the now completely different Hyuga Go, as if seeing a door leading to a new world.
Aokawa wasted no words, simply nodding to Hyuga Shin.
With the first experience, the Shadow Clone's operation became even more proficient.
Sever, connect, heal.
The entire process was as smooth as flowing water, taking nearly a third less time than Hyuga Go's surgery.
When the emerald light was withdrawn from the back of Hyuga Shin's neck...
Hyuga Shin didn't even wait for Aokawa to speak; he sprang up from the wooden board, the veins at the corners of his eyes bulging instantly.
Byakugan, activate!
The next moment, a scene identical to Hyuga Go's played out once more.
Hyuga Shin froze in place, his body trembling slightly.
A few seconds later...
"Haha... Hahahaha!"
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