Creak.
The wooden floorboards let out a teeth-gritting groan as Hyūga Neji pushed himself upright with both hands. The alarm clock by the bedside read 2:00, and the room remained steeped in dim, hazy darkness.
He instinctively turned to glance out the window, only to see a solitary figure standing silently by it, radiating an aura of profound loneliness.
Still riding the waves of his turbulent emotions, Neji startled at first, but quickly recognized the face bathed in moonlight, etched with melancholy.
"Father?"
At the sound of his son's puzzled voice, Hyūga Hizashi snapped out of his distant stare into the night sky and turned his gaze toward Neji.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
Hizashi's eyes held a complex look, yet he offered a gentle smile and reached out to ruffle his son's hair.
"It probably… wasn't exactly a nightmare."
Neji's small face tightened slightly as he pressed a hand to his throbbing temples.
He tried to recall the details of the dream, but everything in it was fading like snow under the morning sun. The memories slipped through his fingers like fine sand, scattering irretrievably in the wind.
Opening his palm in reluctance, he found only a few grains left.
Fragments remained: the eerie nursery rhyme in a dilapidated shrine, the terror and resentment of being made a scapegoat, a pair of breathtakingly beautiful blue eyes, and finally, that golden light slicing through the night sky.
"Father."
Neji clung tightly to those remaining 'grains' of memory and looked up at Hizashi. "Is it possible for the Hyūga clan to possess eyes other than the Byakugan?"
Hizashi paused, giving him a puzzled glance, but still explained, "If the bloodline isn't pure enough, one might never awaken the Byakugan. Their eyes would be no different from an ordinary person's."
He paused for a moment, as if recalling something, and added, "Come to think of it, there is actually a collateral branch of our Hyūga clan that uses the surname 'Kohinata.' Their blood has grown so thin that none of them have ever awakened the Byakugan." (Reference from the Itachi novel)
Of course, if any member of the Kohinata line did awaken the Byakugan, they would be immediately brought back to the main Hyūga clan, branded with the Caged Bird Seal, and incorporated into the branch family.
"So…" Neji licked his dry lips and murmured, "It was just a dream?"
Everything suggested that what he'd experienced was nothing more than a dream. Yet the figure emerging from the flames carrying a severed head, along with those magnificent eyes, felt burned into his mind.
He could even recall the star-like rings within those eyes, and the shocking moment when the golden light pierced the clouds and came slashing down.
"What happened before that?"
Neji furrowed his brows, trying to remember, but the memory refused to surface. He only had a vague sense that it was incredibly important.
The dream had felt far too real—real enough that it didn't seem like a dream at all, real enough to make his heart pound.
If I could possess that kind of terrifying power too… could I also…
Neji said nothing more, and Hizashi didn't press him. A brief, heavy silence fell between them.
Clearly, both father and son were lost in their own complicated thoughts.
The former harbored a faint determination and longing he himself hadn't yet noticed. The latter was endlessly reliving that brief taste of freedom and craving it. What they shared was a growing desire for the figure from their minds.
Neither realized that the thoughts stirring in both their hearts had been sown there by the very same person.
————————
[Ding! Your lie has been judged as [Bluff][Heart Manipulation][Luring into a Trap]. Hyūga Hizashi experienced intense emotional turmoil, reaching the level of [Complete Obedience], granting 600 Realization Points.]
[Ding! Your lie [The Death of a Hyūga] has been judged as [Fabrication][Fleeting Dream]. Hyūga Neji experienced intense emotional turmoil, reaching the level of [Delusions Taking Root], granting 1600 Realization Points.]
[Remaining Realization Points: 11193]
"Two achievements gave me a thousand points more than three?"
In the room, the shadow clone burst apart with a soft "poof," dissolving into smoke. The black robe flowed like liquid into the shadow beneath another figure's feet, gradually revealing Hyūga Kumokawa's thoughtful expression.
"As expected, only truly bizarre lies yield more points."
After manifesting the "Shadow Robe," Kumokawa had 10,293 points left. Removing Hizashi's Caged Bird Seal for ten seconds had only cost 300 points, while trapping Neji in the dream he had personally crafted took 1,000.
This time, however, Kumokawa didn't complain about the system being stingy.
After all, only by manifesting a trace of the Tenseigan's true power could he etch that scene deeply into Neji's heart, paving the way for even grander lies in the future.
"Anyway, I've broken even. No loss—actually a huge profit."
Kumokawa changed into fresh clothes and sat at his desk. He pulled out his "diary" from the drawer.
As he wrote entries completely unrelated to the night's events, he pondered whether there were any flaws in his actions and what he should use these points for next.
His current strength was still insufficient. Hizashi might act subservient before Hiashi, but his power ranked among the top in the clan, and his practical combat experience far surpassed that of the main house head.
Probably only a madman like himself would dare appear openly before Hizashi, not only pushing him to the brink of losing control but even threatening and deceiving him.
If he hadn't deliberately chosen Hizashi's own residence, if he hadn't projected an aura of calm power.
If he hadn't created an atmosphere of extreme suppression, if he hadn't appeared on that lonely night.
If he hadn't exploited Hizashi's concern for Neji, if he hadn't understood Hizashi so thoroughly…
Every detail of his plan had been essential.
It had looked effortless, but the slightest mistake would have tipped Hizashi off. At that point, escape would have been impossible.
Even now, reviewing it all, Kumokawa couldn't help but marvel at his own audacity. At the same time, he felt a deep, genuine thrill from the excitement of it.
"I need to be more cautious in the future. Raise my strength first. I can't take risks like this again."
Kumokawa nodded to himself, silently making up his mind.
Yeah. Next time for sure.
[Ding! Your lie has been judged as [Self-Deception]. Hyūga Kumokawa experienced mild emotional fluctuation, reaching the level of [Saying One Thing, Meaning Another], granting 1 Realization Point.]
"…Not in the mood to deal with you, you brainless thing."
Hearing the system notification in his mind, a few dark lines appeared on Kumokawa's forehead. He mentally chanted, "Materialize Ninjutsu—Lightning Release Armor."
[Spending 1000 Realization Points. Proceed with materialization?]
"So expensive? That would drop me below 10,000, wouldn't it?" Kumokawa ground his teeth.
He wasn't some miserly cheapskate, but like a hamster, he had a habit of hoarding.
Seeing his points about to fall below 10,000 left him feeling insecure.
He really didn't want to spend them and was hesitating about trying to develop it himself.
But before he could respond in his mind, a soft cat's meow reached his ears.
"Meow."
The sound blended in with the loud chorus of insect calls. In this season when animals were in heat, it wasn't anything unusual.
Yet Kumokawa's gaze paused. A faint, elusive smile appeared on his face.
Hah. The "points" had delivered themselves right to his door.
***
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