"Don't forget what you promised me..."
Yugao Uzuki's voice was hoarse and broken, each word forced up from somewhere deep in her throat.
She stood at the doorway, already dressed again, though her collar still sat crooked. Her long purple hair hung in disarray over her shoulders, and a few strands clung to her cheeks. Her eyes were still red-rimmed, with damp tear tracks caught on her lashes.
Even so, those violet eyes were filled with stubbornness and resolve.
"Otherwise... I'll kill you."
After throwing down those words, she turned and ran.
Her steps were unsteady, as if she were walking on cotton, each one carrying the weakness of someone who had just endured too much. Her ANBU uniform wrapped around her slender figure, and her back flashed once at the end of the hallway before disappearing around the corner.
Teizawa leaned against the headboard, the blanket draped across his waist, exposing his lean, powerful upper body.
He looked at the closed door, shook his head, and a faint smile rose at the corner of his mouth.
"You say that like you could actually kill me."
His voice was very soft, almost like he was talking to himself.
For a long while, he did not get up.
He was still savoring it.
Yugao was different from the women he had known before. Kurenai was alluring and supple, gentle as a pool of spring water. Shizune was inexperienced and flustered, like a flower bud drenched by rain.
But Yugao was different.
She mainly trained in Konoha-style swordsmanship.
Day after day of swinging, slashing, and thrusting had filled her body with a sense of strength. Not exaggerated muscle, but a tight, flowing kind of power, lines like a leopard's. Every inch of her seemed to hide explosive force.
Even the way she moved carried the sharpness and precision unique to a swordswoman.
Teizawa closed his eyes.
Images from earlier surfaced in his mind...
The way she bit her lip and forced herself to stay silent. The way her body still trembled despite her will. That suppressed, unyielding stubbornness was far more captivating than any deliberate attempt to please him.
Only after quite some time did he slowly rise.
He reached for the clothes by the bed and put them on one piece at a time, his movements unhurried.
When he was tying his belt, he suddenly paused and looked out the window.
The setting sun was sinking below the horizon, and the edge of the sky burned with dark red twilight. Lights began to flicker on one by one through Konoha's streets and alleys.
The villagers who had worked all day were starting to return home. The ninja who had spent the day on missions were gradually coming back to the village.
Everything was peaceful, warm, and quiet.
"It's time to leave Konoha."
Teizawa murmured the words and tightened the knot of his belt.
He walked to the window and looked at the distant sky stained red by dusk, but his thoughts had already drifted elsewhere.
He wondered whether Neji would make his choice.
In truth, he was not worried at all.
Because he knew perfectly well that Neji had no choice.
The Caged Bird Seal had been undone. The mark was gone.
Revolving Heaven was no longer a flawed technique with a blind spot inside its three-hundred-sixty-degree defense.
That was fact.
Neji had already verified it himself.
Once he returned, the first thing he would have to face was how to explain it to the main family.
He could not remove his forehead protector, because the moment he did, the truth would be exposed.
He could not fight at full strength, because the moment he did, people would realize his blind spot had vanished.
He would have to stay vigilant, keep pretending, and live in fear at every moment, terrified that someone would one day discover his secret.
And once it was discovered, what awaited him would be having the curse seal carved onto him again, followed by imprisonment.
Even worse...
He was the first branch family member to have the Caged Bird Seal removed.
Once that news spread, what would the other branch family members think?
They would go mad. They would riot. They would do whatever it took to find him and beg him to remove the shackles on their foreheads too.
At that point, how would the main family treat him?
How would the branch family treat him?
He would belong nowhere.
No path to the heavens. No door into the earth.
So what Teizawa had given Neji had never been a choice.
From the moment Teizawa said, "I have a way to remove the Caged Bird Seal," Neji's fate had already been rewritten.
He could only follow Teizawa. He could only go to Sunagakure.
That was not a choice.
It was the only road left.
Teizawa turned around, picked up the sealing scroll on the table, and tucked it into his robes.
Danzo's eye was still inside.
Shisui's Mangekyo Sharingan, along with the dozen or so other Sharingan, were all his spoils.
He walked to the door and pulled it open.
The hallway was empty.
Moonlight spilled in through the windows, shining across the polished floor like a layer of silver frost.
He stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him.
His boots landed on the wooden stairs with a steady, rhythmic sound.
Downstairs in the inn, Suna's ANBU were already waiting.
When they saw him come down, everyone stood up straight in unison, their eyes filled with awe.
"Let's go."
Teizawa's voice was soft, but it clearly reached every one of them.
He strode toward Konoha's gate.
Behind him, the last edge of sunset sank below the horizon, and the twilight gradually faded as night descended.
Konoha's lights came on one by one behind him, like countless eyes watching him leave.
He did not look back.
After leaving Konoha's gate, Teizawa did not rush to continue on the road.
He stopped by the roadside.
His dark-gold robe fluttered lightly in the night wind. Moonlight fell across him, casting a long shadow on the ground.
The Suna ANBU spread out and stood guard around him like a group of silent ghosts.
He did not have to wait long.
A figure walked over from Konoha's direction.
His pace was neither fast nor slow, but there was a resolute certainty in every step.
Moonlight shone over him.
A white branch family uniform. Long dark-brown hair tied into a ponytail behind his head. A Konoha forehead protector tied across his brow.
Neji Hyuga.
Teizawa leaned against a tree by the road, hands tucked into his sleeves, watching the figure draw closer.
The corner of his mouth curved slightly upward.
"Not bad. Right on time."
Neji stopped in front of him.
Moonlight fell across his cold, composed face, and Teizawa's reflection appeared in his Byakugan.
He gave a bitter smile.
There was helplessness in that smile, self-mockery, and a strange kind of release he himself could not quite name.
"Do I still have a choice?"
His voice was very soft, almost like a sigh.
Teizawa straightened and walked up to him, then reached out and patted his shoulder.
"Trust me." His voice was calm and certain. "Only by following me can you truly change your fate."
Neji said nothing.
He only lowered his eyes and remained silent for several seconds.
He thought Teizawa was only saying these things to win him over, to make him serve Sunagakure.
A branch family genius.
To any village, someone like him was precious military strength.
Perhaps this Kazekage had his eye on exactly that.
That was what Neji thought.
He did not refute it, nor did he agree.
Teizawa suddenly laughed.
"Still... it looks like your mind really is somewhere else."
Neji raised his head and looked at him in confusion.
"What do you mean?"
"You didn't even notice the tail behind you."
Teizawa's gaze passed over Neji's shoulder and settled on the darkness behind the trees.
(End of Chapter)
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