Chapter 188: Erasing The Caged Bird Seal
The Takarai Clan’s station was deep within the mountains stretching along the Border of the Land of Fire, shrouded in thin mist during dawn and dusk.
Hizashi Hyuga brought his wife and child through that bamboo grove dotted with dewdrops when Clan Head Hitomi Takaribe personally escorted them to the end of the mountain path.
Hitomi Takaribe’s figure was as slender and sturdy as bamboo, wearing gray-green clan robes, the clan crest mark on his back faintly visible in the white mist.
He asked nothing, merely placing one hand on Hizashi’s shoulder.
“Fog is even thicker over in Konoha.” Hitomi Takaribe’s voice was like two dry bamboo stalks rubbing together: “You… just make sure you’ve seen the path clearly.”
Hizashi bowed deeply. This friend far from Konoha had ultimately given him space to breathe.
“Take care.” Hizashi’s reply was short and firm, saying no more.
He turned, took his wife’s warm hand, and steadily placed his hand on little Neji’s tender yet upright shoulder, merging into the winding mountain path leading down to Konoha.
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Konoha’s Hyuga Clan Territory was serene and solemn.
At the gate of the clan territory, Hiashi Hyuga wore the Main Family’s traditional plain white long robe, standing atop the stone steps, with several branch family members in strict expressions standing behind him, their headbands bearing the grayish curse mark.
Sunlight was sliced apart by his upright figure, casting long, distinctly bordered shadows that extended all the way to Hizashi’s feet as he approached.
Hizashi’s wife instinctively pulled little Neji slightly behind her.
Neji’s Byakugan eyes lifted, carrying the unique clarity of a child, colliding into Uncle Hiashi’s bottomless heavy whiteness.
A moment of silence, only the sound of wind rustling Hiashi’s wide sleeves and the strands of hair on Hizashi’s forehead.
“Safe return is good.” Hiashi’s voice was steady and unwavering, showing no ripple of emotion.
He stepped forward, his movement carrying a sense of ceremony, personally brushing nonexistent dust from Hizashi’s shoulder.
His fingertips grazed the fabric, the subtle sensation clearly conveying the stern divide of master and servant.
Hiashi’s gaze, under the Byakugan’s insight, swept over Hizashi’s entire body, confirming no injuries, that gaze finally landing on Hizashi’s left shoulder, seeming to linger for an instant, or perhaps it was just an illusion.
Only then did he turn to his sister-in-law and nephew, his tone slightly gentler, nodding as he said: “You’ve had a hard journey.”
After the simple welcome, Hizashi brought his wife and child back to their independent courtyard in the branch family area.
The room was as neat as when they left, even the incense scent in the air unchanged, yet an intangible coldness had already permeated every inch of wood and tile.
That night, Hizashi sat alone at the desk in his study.
The room lit only by a short lamp, its bean-sized flame flickering on his face, illuminating the “Caged Bird” on his forehead half in light and half in shadow, like a living thing coiled on pale skin.
On the desk was not a scroll, but a thin sheet recording the roster of branch family members’ names.
His fingertips brushed over those familiar names, without hatred, only worry for the Hyuga Clan’s future.
Having witnessed the remnants of the bloody purge between the Otsutsuki Main Family and Branch Family on the Moon, seen the unprecedented war erupted due to disagreement over Ancestor Hamura’s will, and ultimately the Otsutsuki Branch Family that fused countless Byakugan to create a Giant Tenseigan.
Facing his brother Hiashi’s dignified yet equally bound by Main Family rules layer upon layer face, Hizashi’s heart oddly couldn’t ignite much flame of hatred.
It was merely another cage; Hiashi was just a higher-grade prisoner within it.
But this realization brought not comfort, but heavier hatred.
Toward this Main Family and Branch Family system itself that bound the soul from birth to death!
Toward that bone-deep hatred for the system that used bloodline as chains, dividing people into hierarchies, generation after generation stripping away freedom and hope!
Every name on the roster could lead to freedom, or to a fathomless abyss.
Just as his fingertip hovered over a certain young branch family ninja’s name.
The candle flame beside him swayed extremely slightly yet exceptionally clearly once.
Not blown by wind.
The air in the sealed study congealed like solidified oil in an instant.
The next second, the candle flame burned steadily again.
He jerked his head up!
Outside the window, under the thick night, a figure had silently stood there at some unknown time.
No trace of approach, as if appearing out of thin air in the narrow balcony moonlight outside the window.
The wide black robe nearly fused with the shadows, only the hem swaying slightly with the night wind, its edges outlined by faint moonlight into blade-edge sharp folds.
The white three-eyed fox mask on his face was cold and smooth, behind the mask’s eye holes, two gazes calmly fell on him, penetrating the dim lamp-lit study, like a basin of ice water poured from above!
Shura!
Hizashi felt his heart tighten.
He hurriedly stepped out from behind the desk, kneeling on one knee.
“Lord Shura!”
His voice carried a hint of faint hope and slight tremble.
In his lowered gaze, he could only see the shoes on the windowsill.
Why had Lord Shura come to find him so soon again?
Had something gone wrong on the Moon trip?
Or…
Menma did not enter the study.
He stood under the narrow balcony moonlight by the window, like a non-human silhouette cut from the night.
Without a single superfluous word, the left eye under the mask spun three-tomoe madly, forming a strange Rin’ne pattern.
Then, Menma slightly raised that hand wearing black fingerless gloves, palm facing the kneeling Hizashi Hyuga, fingers spread in an extremely simple, web-brushing smooth motion.
Dojutsu: Rin’ne!
Hum—
An extremely subtle, almost imperceptible spatial ripple silently spread.
Hizashi’s entire body tensed abruptly!
Not sharp pain, but a very strange sensation!
Forehead, at the Caged Bird curse mark position!
That mark accompanying him half his life, as if grown into bone and flesh, vanished completely in a single instant!
No sting, no discomfort, as if it had never existed, only the phantom pain from past Caged Bird activations lingering in memory.
In its place, an indescribable… emptiness.
A absolute sense of relief!
The death restraint looming deep in his brain, like a sword hanging overhead at all times, vanished without a trace!
Hizashi slowly raised his hand, trembling, touching his forehead!
His trembling fingers urgently groped repeatedly over the originally grayish skin branded with the “Caged Bird.”
It was smooth, flat!
Aside from the skin’s natural subtle textures, nothing else!
That “Caged Bird” curse mark symbolizing restraint and life-and-death control…
Was gone!
Thoroughly… erased!
As if it had never appeared!
An indescribable torrent of intense emotions instantly shattered the heart defenses Hizashi Hyuga had built over years!
Like a prisoner sealed in a dark prison for most of his life suddenly thrown into boundless sunlight, the massive shock blackened his vision, blanked his mind!
Ecstasy?
No, deeper was the vast bewilderment and uncontrolled anguish after despair’s sudden redemption!
Tears surged out like a breached dam, impossible to stem, spilling unrestrained through the gaps of his fingers pressing hard on his forehead, sliding down, smashing dark water spots on the cold floor.
A suppressed to the extreme, beast-on-verge-of-death choke escaped his clenched teeth, then swallowed back deep into his throat, leaving only his shoulders shuddering uncontrollably.
By the window.
The gaze under the white three-eyed fox mask seemed utterly unmoved.
“This is the reward gifted to you.” Menma’s voice penetrated the darkness, cold as ever, without the slightest emotional ripple.
“The mark is removed, traces self-erased. As for how to explain or hide it…”
The figure outside the window paused slightly, the moonlight-outlined contour seeming to adjust imperceptibly, like observing an experimental subject just freed from shackles learning to walk again.
“You handle it yourself.”
The voice’s aftertone lingered, Menma’s right hand that had just wielded invisible power casually dropped back to his side, the black sleeve sliding down, returning all to formlessness.
“The timing for the branch family’s escape is nearly ripe. Quickly sort the roster.”
At the instant the words fell, the moonlight on the balcony outside rippled like water waves.
That still figure, along with the moonlight area it occupied, melted like ice and snow, vanishing instantly from the spot, leaving only the empty balcony outside the window.
Night wind brushed past, stirring the few bamboo leaves just frozen in midair by invisible force, letting them flutter anew.
“Yes, Lord Shura…” came the hoarse, low response.
The study returned to silence.
Only the short lamp’s bean-like faint candlelight remained, and on the ground, that figure kneeling prostrate, trembling soullessly, hands dead pressed to his forehead.
Hizashi Hyuga’s fingers dug deep into the now flawlessly smooth forehead skin, feeling that unprecedented skin sensation without curse or restraint, tears mixing with sweat and immense unreality, flowing endlessly.
He deeply inhaled the still cool air, somehow carrying freedom, as if to suck this never-before-felt relief into every corner of his lungs.
He slowly raised his head, Byakugan fully activated! Sensing the 360-degree field of view without blind spots!
“Haha~! Hahahaha!!!”
Hizashi Hyuga suddenly burst into mad laughter.
“Hiashi! I won! I won!”
Hizashi Hyuga seemed to transform into a madly laughing Uchiha, his laughter carrying a hint of madness and pathos.
That roster originally meaning great risk, after the intangible heavy pressure of the “Caged Bird” abruptly vanished, its meaning quietly reversed.
