"Ahhhhhh!"
The scream ripped from his throat even before his eyes fully opened. He struggled to sit up in bed, his body covered in cold sweat. Shock coursed through his bones as the memory returned like a blade: Ling Wei, the arrogant young master of the Sword Sect, his sword descending in a perfect arc, severing his head.
The sect that should have protected him and guided him on the path of Dao... was the same one that sold him as a guinea pig to a demonic cultivator.
"I... didn't die?" he murmured, panting, his eyes trembling with disbelief.
The door slid open with a soft creak. A man entered, wearing strange white clothes, with a symbol he didn't recognize embroidered on his chest.
"Fortunately, you're alive, Mr. Hyuuga."
'Hyuuga?' His gaze narrowed, cold, suspicious. 'Is he mistaking me? I should be dead... did they capture my soul? Can't I even have a peaceful death?'
Instinctively, he tried to retreat, but his body responded with weakness. It felt heavy, strange, as if it wasn't his own.
"Don't worry," the man in white continued, without even turning his face, his attention focused on a box beside the bed that beeped at regular intervals. "You're safe in the hospital. Nothing will happen to you here."
Those words seemed unreal, coming from a reality that didn't belong to him. But before he could question, a searing pain shot through his head. He brought his hands to his forehead, screaming in agony.
"AAAAHHHH!"
The throbbing pain in his head finally subsided, leaving him gasping, his fragile body trembling with cold sweat.
He opened his eyes, panting, staring at the white ceiling. The memories still burned in his mind like embers. Images that weren't his, but were now etched into his soul.
A boy smiling innocently beside his father.
The pain of grief when he lost him.
The feeling of living marked by a cruel seal on his forehead, a burden that accompanied him every step.
And finally... the duel against the girl Hinata, his cousin. Blind rage. The blow that almost killed her. And then... the man named Hiashi, the clan leader, activating the cursed seal that exploded his mind in pain until everything faded.
He pressed his fists against the sheets, gritting his teeth.
'These memories... are of the boy named Neji. He... I... we... died.'
For an instant, a heavy silence fell over his mind. And then, he realized.
'This body... is his. But the soul... is mine.'
His eyes lifted, cold, still teary from the effort of the pain. The cultivator who endured tortures and massacres, the heretic who never chose to be, was now trapped in the broken destiny of a Hyuuga.
"Neji..." he murmured softly, testing the sound of the name with his own mouth.
The memory of Ling Wei, the sword descending, mingled with Hiashi's gaze and the pain of the seal on his forehead. Two different worlds. Two unjust deaths. Two destinies crushed by the hands of others.
'So this is it. Heaven likes to play with me. Two lives, two chains. But it doesn't matter.'
He took a deep breath, feeling his chest ache, but also the warmth pulsing in his veins, at least he was alive.
His chest still heaved, his forehead covered in sweat, when the sudden sound of hurried footsteps echoed down the corridor. A burst of vibrant energy entered the room along with a firm voice, laden with urgency.
"Neji! Are you alright?!"
Might Guy practically burst through the door, his body still covered in sweat from incessant training. His eyes widened at the sight of the boy sitting up, breathing heavily.
"I heard you screaming!"
Neji blinked, surprised by the sudden presence. The man with thick eyebrows and a warm smile didn't seem like a threat, but his energy overflowed overwhelmingly, almost like the pressure of a high-level cultivator. Instinctively, he recoiled, trying to pull away, but his body didn't respond.
Before he could say anything, more footsteps sounded. This time more restrained, but equally heavy with authority.
A calm old man entered first, followed by a blond man with long hair tied in a ponytail, and behind them, with a serious and icy gaze, was Hiashi Hyuga.
Neji's heart — or rather, the soul inhabiting his body — constricted at the sight of him. Even without fully understanding, the newly incorporated memories pulsed in his mind. That man was both the figure who gave him identity and the chain that crushed his freedom.
The old man cleared his throat, his voice firm.
"Calm down, Guy. Fortunately, the boy woke up."
Guy stepped forward, his expression filled with relief. "Hokage-sama, I insisted many times. Neji had been unconscious for days, I couldn't just ignore it!"
The blond man behind the Hokage — Inoichi Yamanaka — crossed his arms, his attentive gaze analyzing every movement of the boy in bed. "He screamed... it seemed like mental pain, not physical."
'So... that's it. The Hokage. The leader of this village. And that... Yamanaka... seems to see deeper than he should.'
Neji kept his face rigid, but inside his heart burned. If he were a cultivator in his world, Inoichi would be the kind of enemy capable of devouring his soul.
"Neji."
Hiashi's cold voice cut through the silence, as sharp as Ling Wei's sword in his memory. It was the same tone of authority that carried the chains of the mark on his forehead.
He raised his eyes, facing him directly. The cultivator who died amidst persecutions, and the young clan member marked by servitude, now shared the same body.
A slight smile curved his lips, but his eyes burned with a determination that no one in that room would recognize.
"Yes... I'm fine."
But within himself, the truth echoed differently.
'I'm alive... and this time, I won't be anyone's slave. Neither of the Dao. Nor of the seal.'
Inoichi took a step forward, his expression grave. The silence in the room weighed like a blade on the boy's throat.
"Neji... do you feel anything strange? Any pain, or confusion?"
The boy raised his eyes, taking a deep breath. His voice came out firm, but tinged with calculated hesitation:
"My memories... were hazy. But I remember the last thing... me attacking Hinata... and then a strong pain in my head... then... everything went dark."
Yamanaka narrowed his gaze, clearly surprised. He approached the bed, his hand carefully raised.
"Don't resist, Neji. I need to check your mind. This can help us better understand what happened to you."
The cultivator's heart trapped in that body pounded.
'He... will probe my soul? No\! If he touches what I truly am...'
Without thinking twice, he erected a barrier in his mind. Fragile, unstable, but enough to hide the memories and essence that did not belong to Neji Hyuuga but to Li Shang; hiding was the first form of survival.
'This is the most I can do with this body without cultivation.'
Inoichi placed his hand on his head, closing his eyes. There were a few moments of silence, the air heavy in the room.
Neji maintained a neutral expression, but inside his mind was a silent battlefield, sustaining that barrier with everything he had.
Finally, Yamanaka removed his hand, opening his eyes with an intrigued expression.
"His memories are fragmented due to trauma."
He slowly turned to Hiashi, and for a moment the mask of professionalism broke. Inoichi's gaze carried something close to contempt.
"It's a miracle he remembers anything, Lord Hokage."
Silence fell once more over the room. Neji, inside, just squeezed the sheets tightly, keeping his face impassive.
'For now... I survived.'