"You…"
The words whispered into his ear carried an unmistakable air of temptation.
Hyūga Hizashi jolted violently out of his daze, instinctively stumbling back a step—nearly losing his footing.
"What are you?" he asked, scalp tingling, his voice trembling despite himself.
"Why are you telling me all this?"
"I'm merely pruning pests," the black-robed figure replied calmly,
"while waiting to see what kind of flower will bloom."
Though Hizashi couldn't see the face hidden in shadow, he felt as if he were staring into a pair of eyes—
Eyes harboring a deep, quiet malice.
It wasn't blazing, nor overwhelming.
It simply flickered—silently, patiently.
This man didn't care what his fire burned.
Didn't care what it reduced to ash.
Hizashi—the Branch Family head—was nothing more than kindling.
He fell silent.
"The Main Family is the root of the Hyūga," he recalled.
"As long as the root remains, it doesn't matter whether the branches wither or flourish."
That was what his father, the clan head, had drilled into him from childhood.
Yet now, the image of Hinata during training—hesitant, riddled with openings, painfully weak—rose unbidden in his mind.
Dark thoughts began to surface, unstoppable.
"With Neji's talent, he should have become a pillar of the Hyūga," Hizashi thought bitterly.
"Yet because he's Branch Family, he's branded with the Caged Bird Seal—stripped of freedom, forced to live forever under the shadow of the Main Family…"
"And that frail, cowardly Main Family girl gets everything handed to her.
She's protected by Neji, sheltered by his life, as if it were only natural."
As a father—
To personally strip one's own child of freedom—
That was nothing but incompetence.
Hizashi could choose to die humbly, just for a fleeting illusion of freedom.
But he wanted Neji to live.
To live freely.
To live as a person of flesh and blood.
Not as someone's accessory.
Not as a slave to so-called destiny.
"Believe me," Hyūga Gin said softly,
"selling your soul to the devil isn't shameful."
"What's shameful," he continued,
"is selling it cheaply."
"…What can you do?" Hizashi asked hoarsely after a long silence.
"And what do I have to pay?"
"I can grant you the power to break free from the cage," Gin replied calmly.
"And in return—you give me everything."
"Your name.
Your future.
Your life.
Your soul."
"You—" Hizashi froze, then blurted out, "That's not a fair trade!"
"Devils aren't fair," Gin said without the slightest embarrassment.
"So—what's your answer?"
Hizashi's breathing grew ragged.
He knew the malice was real.
He knew the danger.
And yet—
He found himself unable to refute a single word.
It was as if the devil before him had stripped him bare, dissected him piece by piece, weighed his desires on a scale, and priced them down to the last ounce.
After a long pause, Hizashi clenched his teeth and shook his head.
"I don't believe you can free Neji—or me," he said.
"And I don't believe anyone can."
As long as the Caged Bird Seal existed, Neji could never truly escape.
Even the Main Family head could only activate the seal—
there was no known way to remove it.
"I see."
Gin showed no irritation. He merely nodded, extending one arm from the shadows of his robe.
"Then let me give you a taste."
At the same time, he spoke silently in his mind:
Manifest—temporary removal of the Caged Bird Seal, ten seconds.
[Cost: 300 Fulfillment Points. Manifest?]
"As expected," Gin thought calmly.
"Ten seconds, without providing a removal method, isn't expensive."
Manifest.
Hizashi froze as two fingers were extended toward his forehead.
For a split second, it felt as though all the blood in his body had stopped flowing.
He instinctively tried to step back—
But the fingers halted just before his skin.
Then—
A tremor surged through his mind.
It was as if a fissure had opened in his forehead, allowing a clear spring to pour in—splitting into countless streams that washed through every clogged corner of his brain.
He heard it.
The sound of invisible shackles shattering.
The veil covering his vision was slowly lifted.
The world—
Had never been so clear.
Hizashi's pupils shook violently.
His first conscious reaction was instinctive.
Veins bulged around his eyes.
"Byakugan—activate!"
Gone.
The blind spot was gone.
The cursed 360-degree dead zone—
It was truly gone.
"How… how is this possible?!"
He couldn't believe what he was experiencing.
Yet a grin—wild, manic—spread across his face.
"Hahahaha—!"
So this was freedom?
Light.
Clarity.
Exhilaration.
Every sensation flooded his limbs and bones.
It felt as though a hidden lock had been undone, as if the entire world had suddenly brightened.
Hizashi forgot all decorum.
His laughter was unrestrained, hysterical—tears spilling from the corners of his eyes.
No one else could understand this feeling.
To have once possessed freedom—
to have it cruelly torn away—
to live every moment knowing your life rests in another's hands—
And then, to reclaim it, even briefly.
But just as suddenly—
The faded mark of the Caged Bird Seal on his forehead darkened again.
The perfect, unblemished vision vanished.
Behind the first thoracic vertebra, the blind spot reappeared—spreading outward.
The world dimmed once more.
"What… what happened?"
The ecstasy froze on Hizashi's face, replaced by confusion and pain.
Then he remembered.
This had only been a trial.
"You—!"
Hizashi grabbed the man beside him by the arm, desperation flooding his voice.
"What do you want me to do?!"
Gin was unhurried.
Instead, he asked, "You and Hyūga Hiashi are identical twins, correct?"
"…Yes."
"I need you to become Hyūga Hiashi," Gin said calmly.
"And for Hyūga Hizashi to die."
"What?!" Hizashi's pupils shrank. "Impossible!"
Fake his death?
Replace his brother?
That was madness.
"You can do it," Gin said softly, prying Hizashi's grip from his arm.
"You only need to obey."
Moonlight cast their shadows onto the ground, swaying among the trees.
"…Fine," Hizashi growled, desire crushing his resistance.
"I'll do it."
Gin smiled inwardly.
A bird that had once lost its freedom—
that had tasted the open sky again, even briefly—
How could it ever willingly return to a narrow cage?
Of course—
Hyūga Hizashi was only a supporting piece.
The truly important chess piece…
Gin's gaze shifted toward a distant, silent estate.
(End of Chapter)