This pain, as if ten thousand shuriken were stabbing his brain, was something Hizashi had experienced not long ago.
It happened when he was watching Hinata's training. Overwhelmed by intense killing intent toward the prodigious Hinata, he was noticed by Hiashi, who then activated the Caged Bird to punish him.
And it had been done right in front of Neji.
'But why did this mysterious man know the hand seals to activate the Caged Bird?'
'This was one of the Hyuga Clan's most closely guarded secrets, never leaked in hundreds of years, passed down only orally through successive clan's heads and elders.'
'No one outside the main family could possibly know it!'
'Moreover, in the centuries since the Caged Bird was created, there had never been any record of an outsider being able to activate it!'
However, this man before him had repeatedly shattered Hizashi's understanding of the Hyuga Clan's traditions!
As Menma finished forming the hand seals, the splitting headache tormenting Hizashi gradually subsided.
"You… are not from the Hyuga Clan!" Hizashi gasped, staring warily at the mysterious figure. This was the only thing he could be certain of.
"And you are not one of those who slaughtered my clan in the past!" Unconsciously, Hizashi had already accepted the 'historical truth' that Menma had shown him.
It wasn't as if the Hyūga clan had never lost their Byakugan before… for example, the Kirigakure's Ninja, Ao, had stolen the eyes of a Hyuga Clan's main family's member during the Third Great Ninja War, earning him the title of [Byakugan Killer].
But such incidents were extremely rare, nowhere near enough to justify the Hyuga Clan's widespread adoption of the Caged Bird.
Therefore, the only plausible explanation was the existence of an enemy so powerful that even the Hyuga Clan could not resist them, forcing the creation of the Caged Bird.
"Your goal… is that giant eyeball fused from countless Byakugan, isn't it?!" Hizashi recalled the terrifying power of that colossal eye, his voice trembling slightly.
He was no fool. On the contrary, Hizashi was intelligent… intelligent enough to willingly leave behind a so-called 'suicide note' before his forced death, telling Neji not to resent the main family.
But that letter had remained in Hiashi's hands until the Chunin Exams, when it was finally given to Neji.
Wasn't this, too, a way for Hizashi to protect his son?
"You're sharp. That's one of the reasons I chose you over your brother." Menma admitted without hesitation.
The existence of the Giant Tenseigan was akin to a strategic orbital weapon, capable of striking the Ninja World directly from the moon with no means of retaliation.
Such a devastating weapon was something Menma naturally desired to control.
When he was in the Limited Tsukuyomi World, he also looked for traces of the Giant Tenseigan and the 'Otsutsuki Clan' on the moon, but unfortunately, despite scouring the Hyuga Clan's archives in that world, he found nothing.
Hearing himself compared to his brother, Hizashi clenched his fists until his knuckles turned white.
"You are no less capable than him. I can tell you've already mastered the essence of the Sixty-Four Palms technique. So why didn't you use it in our earlier fight?" Menma continued to provoke Hizashi with his words.
Indeed…
Thinking back to the battle, if not for the overwhelming sense of death when the mysterious masked man attacked his blind spot, Hizashi would never have resorted to use Rotation.
"I… am no less than him…" Hizashi murmured to himself.
This had been his psychological burden for over twenty years.
Just because he was born a mere ten minutes later, as the younger twin, he was condemned to the branch family… branded with the Caged Bird, barred from learning the Hyuga Clan's advanced Gentle Fist techniques and secret arts.
Even his child, and all his descendants, would forever bear the mark of the Caged Bird!
"Pledge your loyalty to me." Menma, wearing his white three-eyed fox mask, stepped closer to Hyūga Hizashi and extended his right hand, forming a single-handed hand seal.
[Caged Bird: Suppression] As the hand seals were completed, Menma pressed his palm against Hizashi's forehead.
A surge of dark, violent Chakra flooded into Hizashi's brain, temporarily sealing away the Caged Bird.
In that instant, Hizashi felt a clarity he had never known before… and freedom.
Though the Caged Bird's mark on his forehead was not completely erased, it had faded significantly.
The lingering pain vanished, and the blind spot at the back of his head disappeared. His Byakugan's 360-degree vision was restored!
Tears welled up in Hizashi's Byakugan, streaming silently down his cheeks.
He had almost forgotten what it felt like to see the world without restrictions.
This long-lost taste of freedom reignited the fire in Hizashi's heart… a fire that had been smothered for over twenty years, resigned to his fate. Now, it burned fiercely once more.
"This technique will only last for 24 hours." Menma withdrew his right hand.
This was a seal he had specifically developed in the Limited Tsukuyomi World, leveraging the Uzumaki Clan's innate talent for Sealing Techniques to counteract the Caged Bird.
In truth, the principle was simple. Cursed Seals like the Caged Bird were primarily a fusion of Sealing Techniques and chakra… akin to parasites, latching onto their host and feeding on their Chakra to sustain themselves.
Therefore, as long as one is proficient in the Sealing Technique and conducts specialized research, they will naturally be able to develop a Sealing Technique to temporarily seal the Caged Bird.
But it was only a temporary solution.
As for completely erasing the Caged Bird, Uzumaki Menma had at least three methods… three!
Unfortunately, none of them could be tested in the Limited Tsukuyomi World.
And yet, despite the simplicity of such a Sealing Technique, who would dare research it?
The Uzumaki Clan, who were masters of sealing, had been annihilated, their nation destroyed. Within Konoha, the number of Ninja truly skilled in Sealing Techniques could be counted on one hand.
And any Hyuga Clan's member who showed even the slightest inclination toward Sealing Techniques would be swiftly stopped by the main family.
Hizashi raised a hand to touch the Caged Bird's mark on his forehead, savoring this fleeting taste of freedom.
"Do you want to be a coward for the rest of your life… or a hero of the branch family, even if only for a few minutes?" With those words, Menma dispelled the Genjutsu Space and vanished from Hizashi's sight.
Hizashi found himself back in the hospital room, the harsh sunlight streaming through the window casting an almost surreal glow.
After enduring multiple layers of Genjutsu, he could no longer tell whether this was reality or another Genjutsu.
Activating his Byakugan, Hizashi reveled in the restored 360-degree vision, a sensation more exhilarating than anything he had ever experienced.
'Is this… the scent of freedom?'
His thoughts turned to his child.
When Neji had screamed in agony during the Caged Bird's branding ceremony, he, as a father, could only kneel helplessly on the sidelines, watching in silent despair.
He thought of all the branch family's members who bore the Caged Bird, their dulled eyes concealing deep-seated resentment.
And he thought of his own twin brother, Hyuga Hiashi, who, simply by being born minutes earlier, had been destined to stand above him forever!
'A coward for life… or a hero for a few minutes?' The mysterious man's whisper coiled around Hizashi's heart like a venomous snake.