Chapter 10 The Truth About The Caged Bird

Inside Konoha Hospital.

Hizashi tossed and turned in his hospital bed for most of the night before exhaustion finally dragged him into sleep.

In his dreams, Hizashi faintly felt the sound of wind.

When he opened his eyes again, he found himself standing in the Hyuga Clan's meeting hall, illuminated by flickering candlelight.

"Konoha no longer has the strength to continue the war with Kumogakure. The Hyuga Clan must give Kumogakure an explanation..." Hiashi knelt at the main seat, his shadow stretching long under the candlelight.

The elders of the Hyuga Clan's main family and the Ninjas of the branch families below were all stunned.

"Why?! It was obviously that Kumogakure who kidnapped Hinata-sama!" A branch family's Jonin protested angrily.

"Because we can't afford to keep fighting." Hiashi's voice was heavy with reluctance.

But now, the pressure from the entire Konoha was bearing down on the Hyuga Clan.

The hall erupted into murmurs. One of the main family's elders, his white eyes glinting in the shadows, asked:

"What are Kumogakure's demands?"

'Indeed, why was Kumogakure being so aggressive? What did they want?'

The Hyuga Clan's ninjas in the hall, whether from the main or branch families, all turned their eyes toward the main seat.

"A murderer." Hiashi's answer froze the air.

As his words settled, the murmurs in the hall grew louder.

Neither the main nor branch family's members could accept such terms.

It was clearly Kumogakure's envoy who had infiltrated the Hyuga Clan's compound to kidnap the clan's heiress… only to be killed on the spot. Yet now, the victim was being forced to hand someone over?

"The head need not involve himself. If all they want is a murderer, then we can simply provide one." The main family's elder's white eyes gleamed coldly as he turned his gaze toward Hizashi, who is seated among the branch family.

Hizashi was about to say: "What about that mysterious man from last night?"

But he found his body moving against his will. He stood up, stepped forward, and knelt before Hiashi: "Let me go, brother."

"The purpose of the branch family is to protect the main family. As the head of the Hyuga Clan, you cannot afford to be compromised."

'No! This isn't right!' Hizashi felt as though his soul had left his body, watching helplessly as his own cold, detached 'self' spoke these words.

"What about that mysterious man? He was there! Just pin the blame for the death of the Kumogakure's envoy on him!" Hizashi shouted at 'himself' from the side.

But none of the Hyuga Clan's Ninjas in the hall seemed to notice him, continuing their discussions as if nothing was wrong.

Hiashi seemed about to say something, but 'himself' stepped forward and punched him, demanding he uphold his duty as the head of the main family.

Next, Hizashi watched 'himself' say the last words to his son, Neji, before willingly walking to his death.

As the Hyuga Clan handed over the murderer who 'killed the Kumogakure's envoy', Kumogakure could no longer press the issue.

Hizashi could only watch, powerless, as 'himself' marched toward execution. At his funeral, his wife and child clung to each other, weeping uncontrollably. A bone-deep chill seeped into his soul.

'No! This must be a Genjutsu!'

'It's fake! All of it is fake!'

The intense emotional turmoil made Hizashi realize something was wrong. He tried disrupting his Chakra flow to break free.

But no matter how he struggled, he couldn't escape from this place.

Suddenly, everything went black, and Hizashi found himself back in Konoha Hospital.

He jerked upright in bed, drenched in cold sweat, his bandages soaked through.

"Was it... a dream?" Hizashi panted, raising a hand to his forehead.

"It's not a dream." Suddenly, a cold voice came from the side.

Hiashi stiffened, turning his head to see a mysterious figure in a long robe, wearing a white three-eyed fox mask, leaning against the windowsill. Pale moonlight glinted off the mask, casting an eerie glow.

"It's you!" Hizashi tensed, trying to rise from the bed to confront the intruder… but his body refused to move, as if bound to the mattress.

'Still trapped in Genjutsu?!' Beads of sweat rolled down Hizashi's forehead, 'Only Elite Jonin could wield layered Genjutsu like this.'

Thud-

Menma stepped down from the windowsill and slowly approached Hizashi.

"Who are you?! What do you want?" Hizashi continued struggling, but no matter how he disrupted his Chakra, he couldn't break free from this Genjutsu World.

"How pitiful…" Menma stopped before Hizashi and said, "What you just saw… that is your fate, had I not intervened."

Hearing this, Hizashi shook his head, trying to refute him: "Impossible! Even if you weren't there, the Kumogakure's envoy kidnapped the heiress of the Hyuga Clan and was killed! His death was justified..."

As he spoke, Hizashi suddenly stopped, feeling as though he had been plunged into an icy abyss.

Even a top Ninja like the White Fang had been driven to suicide. What hope did he, a mere branch member of the Hyuga Clan, have of escaping being used as a scapegoat?

"You see, deep down, you've already accepted this fate." Menma's voice was low, tinged with sorrow.

"That's why I said… how pitiful."

"The original purpose of the Caged Bird Seal was to protect the Hyuga Clan. Yet now, it has turned most of its members into lower-class slaves."

Hizashi instinctively retorted: "What do you know?! The Caged Bird exists… The branch family exists to..."

"Do you want to know?" Menma cut him off.

"The truth behind the Caged Bird." The three-eyed fox mask slowly approached Hizashi.

Menma reached out, pressing a hand against Hizashi's forehead.

A surge of violent, Dark Chakra invaded Hizashi's mind.

In an instant, Hizashi saw a different scene.

On a large empty battlefield, two armies bearing different banners stood in tense confrontation before clashing in brutal combat!

Hizashi stood at the center, watching as the enemies around him slaughtered one another. They wore strange clothing, their features slightly different from those of the Land of Fire. But what shocked Hizashi most was that every single warrior on that battlefield possessed the Byakugan.

The scene shifted.

Across the Ninja World, Ninja wearing Warring States-era attire, their backs marked with the Hyuga Clan's crest, were being hunted down en masse. The perpetrators are one of the two warring factions from before.

Countless Hyuga Clan's members were slaughtered, their Byakugan gouged out before the mysterious assailants vanished without a trace.

The vision changed again.

As two armies faced off once more, one side had their eyes tightly shut, relying solely on their mind's eye for perception.

From their ranks, a towering structure was wheeled forward. At its peak, an eyeball-shaped stone was bound by chains of sealing formulas.

With a wave of the commander's hand, the stone emitted a blinding light… a violet beam erupted, sweeping across the charging enemy forces.

Where the beam passed, explosions erupted in its wake!

Thousands of soldiers were obliterated in an instant.

"This… this is…!" Hizashi watched in horror as the victorious army looted the Byakugan of the fallen, embedding them into the stone. His mind reeled from the revelation.

"This is the truth behind the Caged Bird Seal."

As Menma's voice echoed, the battlefield around Hizashi transformed once more.

Now, he saw rows of Hyuga Clan's members… each bearing the unmistakable mark of the Caged Bird on their foreheads.

"Lies! All lies!" Hizashi roared in fury. Decades of indoctrination made it impossible for him to accept such a truth.

"These are illusions you fabricated! None of this is real! I know the difference! I know!!!"

"Don't even think about alienating the relationship between the main family and the branch family!"

Inside the Genjutsu Space, Hizashi was nearly hysterical in his denial.

"Then how about this?" Menma appeared before Hizashi in the Genjutsu, forming a single-handed seal.

A pulse of chakra radiated from Menma's body, striking Hizashi with precision.

"Arghh-!" In the next instant, Hizashi's brain felt as though it had been pierced by a thousand blades. Excruciating pain wracked his mind.

The Caged Bird was activated.

"Why… can you…?!" Hizashi clutched his head, his face twisted in agony. His white eyes widened in shock and terror.