"My child has finally broken free from the Caged Bird Seal~~"
Hyuga Neji's mother smiled calmly at that moment.
In this way, she could finally go to the Pure Land to meet the departed Hyuga ancestors.
Life as a Hyuga had been too hard.
If there were a next life, she did not want to be born as a Hyuga again.
"You've broken free from the Caged Bird Seal!"
Neji nodded through tears, his voice filled with hope.
"Mother, you can also be released from the Caged Bird Seal. This time, I've come to take you with me!"
"I… I'm afraid…" Neji's mother began to speak, but her words were broken and faint.
She was losing strength, and the tension in her heart slowly loosened.
Her thoughts began to drift.
"Hmph, release the Caged Bird Seal? How ridiculous. If the Caged Bird Seal were so easy to break, the Hyuga clan wouldn't have the division between the main house and branch houses!"
While Neji spoke with his mother, Eighth Elder finally spoke up from beside them.
To him, Neji was just telling lies to comfort his dying mother.
The Caged Bird Seal was a forbidden seal of the Hyuga clan.
If it were truly that easy to remove, it would not have trapped the branch families for so long.
"Hmph, if the Caged Bird Seal could be easily broken, it wouldn't be called the Caged Bird Seal!"
"Neji, you're lying, aren't you!"
"You're trying to fool us by drawing a lotus mark on your forehead to hide the Caged Bird Seal, just to deceive your dying mother!"
"No, maybe he wants to trick us with the mark so that we won't use the Caged Bird Seal on him!"
"Hmph, then I'll catch him in the act!"
As someone spoke, they began forming hand signs to cast the Caged Bird Seal on Neji.
The branch family members who had heard about a possible way to remove the seal initially brightened with hope.
It meant that the Hyuga branch might finally find freedom.
But when they heard the words of the main family, their excitement faded.
They were right. The Caged Bird Seal could never be so easily removed.
It seemed they would remain forever as dogs under the main family.
"Is there really no hope?"
Hyuga Sanmei felt the small spark of light in his heart vanish completely.
When he first heard Neji say those words, he had wanted so badly for them to be true.
But seeing the certainty in the eyes of the clan elders, that tiny bit of hope in his heart was utterly extinguished.
"Neji~~ hurry and leave, get out of this place of misfortune!"
Neji's mother pushed him with all her strength. Whether it was real or not, she desperately wanted him to leave.
But her frail body had no power to actually move him.
"Huh? Why can't I lock onto his Caged Bird Seal mark anymore?"
At that moment, the clan disciple who had been preparing to use the Caged Bird Seal Curse on Neji panicked.
He had been able to easily lock onto the Caged Bird Seal marks of everyone present.
Except for Neji's mother, whose spiritual power was weak and her mark faint, there was no other Caged Bird Seal mark!
"No mark? That's impossible."
Eighth Elder looked at the young disciple's anxious expression and snorted coldly.
"Seems like it's time to properly train you all. If you can't even master such a simple curse mark, one day you'll be hurt by these rebellious ones."
Eighth Elder glanced at the flustered clan disciple again and began forming hand seals.
If he couldn't find Neji's spiritual imprint, he would search for it himself. It was time to properly teach these young clan members.
Neji had been right—these clan disciples had grown slack from years without missions.
They needed guidance, or else… the clan could truly fall into ruin.
However, as he formed the seals, Eighth Elder frowned.
He still couldn't find Neji's Caged Bird Seal mark.
How could this be?
That mark was always so obvious in the spiritual world, yet Neji's seemed to have completely vanished.
"What's wrong with Elder Eight?"
The other elders saw Eighth Elder's shocked expression and the sweat beginning to drip from his brow. A terrible premonition stirred in their hearts.
Could it be… that what Neji said was true?
They tried to check for Neji's Caged Bird Seal Curse themselves, but still… they found no trace of it.
Neji's Caged Bird Seal mark had truly disappeared.
Several people exchanged glances, their eyes filled with shock.
How could there be a method capable of erasing the Caged Bird Seal?
It couldn't exist, and Neji couldn't be allowed to leave alive.
If Neji left alive, the Caged Bird Seal would be completely freed, and the status of the Hyuga main family would be completely jeopardized. There was no way Neji could be allowed to survive.
"Neji has endured this long without making a sound?"
"His willpower is too strong!"
"Didn't you know? Neji crippled Hyuga Sōsuke under the pain of the Caged Bird Seal back then!"
"His endurance is incredible."
"Look, his eyebrows don't even furrow!"
"That's not right."
"The Caged Bird Seal is so painful, no one's expression could remain unchanged. Could it be that Neji actually found a way to free himself from it?"
"Look at the lotus on his forehead. It doesn't seem drawn on—it's truly engraved like the Caged Bird Seal itself!"
"You know, it really does look like it."
As they whispered, someone activated the Byakugan, intending to see through Neji. But just opening it left him completely shocked.
"Impossible. How could his chakra be so immense, and how is it gathering so much in his eyes? It's even brighter than his Chakra Storage!"
"His eyes?"
"His eyes are so strong, and that lotus seems to be continuously absorbing chakra, nourishing them!"
One person observed with the Byakugan, followed by a second, a third, and a fourth.
Members of the Hyuga branch family all noticed Neji's change. It was truly different—clearly unlike the Caged Bird Seal.
"Hmph, he's only temporarily masking it with some unknown trick. You don't actually think a kid like him could crack a tradition as old as the Caged Bird Seal, do you?"
The Great Elder listened to their discussion, harboring some suspicion but speaking to calm the branch members:
"Ignorant fools. His method might allow a temporary escape from the Caged Bird Seal, but the cost will not be small!"
Indeed, as soon as he said this, the excited branch members gradually calmed down.
Just as the Great Elder said, the Caged Bird Seal had been passed down for so long; countless predecessors failed to overcome it, let alone a single boy like Neji.
Seeing everyone settle down again, the Great Elder breathed a sigh of relief. These people were easy to deceive; just a few words from him and they were cowed.
"Who says it's fake?"
At that moment, Hyuga Aomatsu emerged from the crowd, stepping into the center of the branch members, calmly facing his clan.
"I, Hyuga Aomatsu, have also removed the Caged Bird Seal."
****
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