Chapter 85: Bird in a Cage
Seeing the puzzled expressions on the two ninjas' faces, Ayaan smiled and motioned for them to look at each other.
Hyuga Hizashi frowned and glanced at the Aburame ninja, noticing a deep mark on his forehead.
"A caged Bird seal...how is this possible?!" Hyuga Hizashi shouted in surprise. Then, as if he had remembered something, he reached up to touch his own forehead—but he felt only smooth skin.
"Could it be…could it be…?" he stammered, trembling with excitement. He closed his eyes, inhaled deeply, and forced a few strands of chakra from his already depleted reserves—a move dangerous to his body and used only in desperate moments. But he no longer cared. He formed hand seals and poured chakra into his eyes.
"Byakugan, activate!"
Veins bulged at the corners of his eyes, a sign that the Byakugan had been fully reactivated. For a moment, Hyuga Hizashi's chakra reserves drained completely, and his Byakugan closed—
Yet, he didn't care. His face was pale from the exertion, but his joy was unmistakable.
"I saw it. I really saw it! A full 360-degree field of vision! The 'caged Bird seal' seal is truly broken!"
The Caged Bird Seal, applied to branch-family of Hyuga, creates a tiny blind spot in the otherwise 360° Byakugan—hidden just behind the spine. If that missing slice is restored, it means the seal is truly shattered.
Hizashi trembled with excitement, as if he'd woken from a dream.
The Aburame ninja, now marked with the same seal on his forehead, stared at it in shock:
"Σ(っ°Д°;)っ..."
There was no avoiding the truth. Although Ayaan's Baku Baku no Mi could transform objects—human bodies, rocks, trees—and even transfer cursed seals, it couldn't create new matter or make objects vanish. He needed a host for the Caged Bird Seal, and he'd used the nearest ninja.
Orochimaru's eyes gleamed. "Incredible. I now believe you truly have a Kekkei Genkai that modifies bodies. You can transfer, graft, bestow Kekkei Genkai, chakra—even cursed seals at will."
"With such power, even an average ninja could be elevated to god-level. I wonder, though—what are the limits of this transfer? How much can the human body handle?"
Ayaan nodded with approval. Orochimaru's assessment was spot-on. Though the Baku Baku no Mi transformation is powerful, the human body still has limits. Even with a newly granted bloodline, one could at best reach Jōnin-level strength. Someone like Sarah, a rare prodigy, was on a different tier altogether.
Even Ayaan himself—despite being a fruit user—couldn't instantly swallow something like the Outer Path Demon Statue. But as his physical capacity grew, especially as his knowledge of Otsutsuki bloodlines improved, he believed it'd soon be possible.
He'd hoped that after acquiring the Rinnegan, the world of Naruto would become his base world. But so far, things remained unchanged—traveling across dimensions still wasn't enough to stop Kaguya Otsutsuki escaping from the moon. Ayaan believed that if he could completely digest the Outer Path Demon Statue, that would truly reshape the world.
Without it, Kaguya couldn't descend the Divine Tree and consume the planet's energy and humanity.
As Orochimaru's words sank in, every ninja present was shocked—especially Jiraiya. He was taken aback by Ayaan's power and had other concerns, too.
Ayaan had just freed Hizashi from the seal. But if he could release one Hyuga branch member, he could do the same for hundreds. He could shatter the clan's inner control and win over most of the branch family.
Before Jiraiya could think further, Hizashi suddenly fell to his knees before Ayaan. "Lord Black Shadow Ninja, accept the loyalty of our Hyuga branch. We pledge ourselves as your strength."
"Have you gone mad, Hyuga Hizashi?" growled a ninja from the Inuzuka clan. "Have you thought about the consequences? You're jeopardizing your own clan!"
Hizashi gave a cold glance. "I know the consequences. But I'd rather break away than remain a slave within the Hyuga clan."
"You're Hiashi Hyuga's younger brother," the Inuzuka ninja replied unwillingly. "You weren't like this before."
"You're right. I wasn't. Though the Hyuga clan's rules are strict, Hiashi is still my brother. I never intended to rebel."
"Then why—?"
"Because I have a son!" Hizashi declared. "Do you understand? I have a son—Hyuga Neji, a genius far surpassing me… and many in the clan!"
"But because of this rule—this damn Caged Bird—he must spend his entire life defending a branch weaker than himself. He'd risk everything, but for what? Because I was born minutes later than my brother!"
"I can live my life as a caged bird. But I refuse to let my son live his."
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