The grand courtyard, high walls, and deep corridors, filled with lush greenery and colorful flower clusters, could not hide the desolate loneliness.
The Hyuga Clan had always been this traditional; even with numerous members, it felt devoid of warmth.
Hitomi hated this place.
And she hated the man before her even more.
Hyuga No Tenjin.
His figure no longer possessed the towering and imposing presence Hitomi remembered; the man lying on the sickbed was merely a dying falcon.
He could no longer soar in the sky.
Though, in Hitomi's memory, this man was like a falcon with a broken wing, never having flown again.
Inside the spacious Japanese-style room, the man lay on a tatami mat covered by a thin blanket, while Hitomi knelt expressionlessly a distance away.
Sunlight streamed into the room, and tiny dust motes danced in the air, as both father and daughter remained silent in the shadows.
Since her Ninja Academy days, Hitomi often didn't come home at night, staying either at Miki's or Chiri's house.
After graduating from the Ninja Academy, with an income of her own, Hitomi completely escaped this home she detested.
No longer did she have to face the person she disliked.
This was their first meeting in four years, and she hadn't expected it to be under such circumstances.
He was dying.
Unable to pinpoint if it was sadness or something else, Hitomi only felt a suffocating ache in her chest.
"Hitomi…" Finally, the man spoke weakly.
Hitomi did not respond.
The man continued on his own.
"My name is Hayabusa."
"Since I was a child, my father hoped I would become a raptor like a falcon, capable of soaring across the sky."
"He was a dull and taciturn man; instead of lecturing, he would only act."
"Therefore, he often pushed me off cliffs, making me desperately flap my wings."
"But I didn't want to fly like a falcon."
"The sky is too cold and too lonely."
"As a child, I often envied the carefree little birds in cages."
"They were meticulously cared for, didn't have to worry about the elements, and had companions to play with."
"When I was young, I didn't understand, so I often hated him."
"It wasn't until I stepped onto the battlefield at six that I understood why my father wanted me to desperately flap my wings."
"The birds in the cage are protected."
"And I am the falcon that protects the caged birds."
"You can hate me, Hitomi."
"Just as I still hate my father."
"Even if you say that, can the Cage Bird Curse be undone?" Hitomi said coldly, "My fate is in someone else's hands."
"I know…" Hyuga No Tenjin said, "It's already a done deal."
At that time, no one could have imagined a monster like the Mushi-Hime appearing.
With her support, Tsunade might sweep across the Ninja World in the future.
Hyuga No Tenjin believed this.
"The Cage Bird Curse can be opened."
Upon hearing this, Hitomi couldn't help but concentrate, sitting up slightly.
"Break free of the restraints with your own Byakugan power," Hyuga No Tenjin said, "but in the history of our clan, no one has ever managed it."
"Ultimately, we don't even know how to enhance our Byakugan power."
Hyuga No Tenjin said.
"Hitomi, next I will tell you the final secret transmission."
"The Hyuga Clan's power is incomplete."
"It lacks something important."
"As a Byakugan clan, the Uchiha's Sharingan is Yin Release, with multiple evolutionary stages, and at its final stage, it will possess power comparable to a god's."
"As a Bloodline Limit, there is no fundamental difference, so why does the Hyuga Clan's Byakugan not have an evolvable form?"
"With this question, I discovered this."
As Hyuga No Tenjin reached out, a bone spur pierced his skin.
Hitomi couldn't help but widen her eyes, staring at the bone spur in Hyuga No Tenjin's palm.
She gasped, "Corpse Bone Pulse!"
"That's right, the Kaguya Clan are distant relatives of the Hyuga Clan; the Kaguya Clan's bloodline flows within our clan, deeply etched into our genes."
"This bloodline, I activated it."
"But it comes with a huge side effect."
"A terrifying toxin," Hyuga No Tenjin said, "with my abilities, I cannot control it; the more I use it, the closer I get to death."
"Your illness is—!" Hitomi asked urgently.
"Hitomi, listen to me quietly."
"To fight against Uchiha Madara, I constantly thought about how the Hyuga Clan could grow stronger. After discovering the terrifying nature of the Sharingan, my first thought was to stimulate myself with immense negative emotions."
"I killed my father, but it was useless."
Upon hearing this, Hitomi's pupils constricted, realizing for the first time how terrifying the man before her was.
"Then, I dug out my father's eyes and fused them with my own Byakugan."
Hyuga No Tenjin spoke of the cruel past.
"It succeeded."
"I could feel my Byakugan power strengthening; compared to my clansmen, I could see further and more clearly."
"But this alone was far from enough!"
"There was no fundamental change at all."
"Naturally, I thought of the eyes of my clansmen."
"But the Cage Bird Curse protected the clansmen and stopped me."
"Unwilling to give up, I set my sights on the infants within the clan."
"Pure Byakugan that hadn't yet been confined by the Cage Bird Curse."
"As I was about to kill my child, I hesitated."
"Bunjin survived, and I have always felt guilty towards him, having failed to be a qualified father."
Hitomi was now shivering all over, truly not expecting that her elder brother, whom she had disliked since childhood, had almost been lost.
"Unable to go through with it, I could only think of other methods."
Hyuga No Tenjin spoke deeply, reminiscing.
"I targeted the Corpse Bone Pulse."
"But I didn't succeed."
"The Kaguya Clan had moved far away to the Land of Water, and at that time, I couldn't leave the battlefield."
"I thought it would end there, and I wouldn't think about awakening my Byakugan again, but by chance, I made an incredible discovery."
"To enhance my own strength, having nowhere further to advance, I naturally thought of developing Earth Release."
"But I despairingly discovered that I couldn't use any Earth Release."
"Water, Fire, Earth, Wind, Lightning—none could be successfully cultivated."
"Having always relied on Gentle Fist, I had never thought about Earth Release until I started training, only to realize that my clan could only rely on Gentle Fist."
"That is, without the use of elemental Chakra."
But why can I use it?
Hitomi thought of this; both Wind Release and Fire Release nature training had gone very smoothly for her.
"Why can you train it? Because you are my daughter, inheriting my power."
Hyuga No Tenjin said.
"I thought of Yin Release and Yang Release. The Uchiha's Sharingan is Yin Release, so I dedicated myself to cultivating Yin-Yang Release. This time it went smoothly, but there always seemed to be an invisible barrier; no matter what I did, Yin Release and Yang Release could not fuse with my eyes."
"Finally, I made up my mind to fuse both eyes into one."
"And activated this eye."
Hyuga No Tenjin opened his Byakugan.
It was not beautiful, with pure black sclera and pure white pupils.
It looked like a pale sun hanging in a pitch-black sky.
Hitomi stared blankly at this eye.
"Do you remember the oppressive pressure you felt as a child?"
"That is one of the abilities of this eye."
"Yin Release, influencing reality with spiritual energy."
"Along with it, this Corpse Bone Pulse also activated."
"Sarutobi Sasuke was skilled in five elemental Earth Release, which was well-known during the Sengoku period, but few knew that he was actually skilled in all elemental Earth Release, including Yin-Yang Release."
"He had one particular Earth Release that was especially unique; its characteristic was that it could break anything, even Uchiha Madara's divine power, Susanoo."
"What was destroyed would decay and rot as if withered branches had aged over years."
"Its manifestation was exactly like my Corpse Bone Pulse."
"Therefore, this toxin, produced by the fusion of seven elements, made it impossible for me to easily engage in combat."
"Sasuke was like me; the more he used it, the closer he got to death, only able to watch those two monsters establish the ridiculous Five Great Villages, even though they had the power to sweep the Ninja World…"
Hyuga No Tenjin was somewhat resentful, then sighed and said.
"Now you know where your elemental affinity comes from, don't you?"
Hyuga No Tenjin said softly.
"Why are you telling me this?"
Hitomi asked.
"After I die, secretly dig out my eye; only you in the clan can withstand the power of this eye."
"Also, protect the Cage Bird Curse."
"Protect the Hyuga Clan."
"In Konoha, the Hyuga Clan doesn't need me to protect it," Hitomi said coldly.
"Hitomi, I can feel it; the Byakugan is resonating. There is a giant Byakugan in the sky watching me."
"It is full of greed for my eye."
"It wants my eye."
"It wants all the Byakugan of our clan."
Hitomi stared blankly at her father.
Faintly, she seemed to see a falcon soaring in the sky, its sharp eyes scanning the earth as it flapped its wings, protecting a group of young birds.
He had always been flying in the sky…
Hitomi wanted to become a bird like that, which was why she desperately flapped her tiny wings.
"Hitomi, fly…"
Hyuga No Tenjin weakly reached out a hand, then let it drop.
"Don't fly too far…"
Today is Wednesday, it will be available on Friday.
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