On the spring morning of Year 58 of Konoha Calendar, the chill had not completely faded, but the massive compound of the Hyuga Clan was already awake.
The meticulously maintained garden was swept clean, without a speck of dust. The dry landscape garden exuded a silent Zen-like atmosphere in the morning light, yet it also carried a trace of an inescapable, stern mood.
In a certain Japanese-style room within the branch family's living quarters, Hyuga Neji slowly opened his eyes.
Those pure white eyes, identical to the main family's, seemed, at the moment they opened, to possess a calmness and maturity beyond his years.
He got up neatly, changed into his clean training clothes, meticulously straightened his lapels, and after washing up, stared blankly for a moment at the green Caged Bird Seal on his forehead in the mirror.
Only then did he leave the room.
In the hall, his father, Hyuga Hizashi, and his mother were already seated formally.
Neji walked forward, knelt down respectfully, and performed a standard bow, "Father, Mother, I wish you a peaceful and healthy new spring."
Hizashi looked at his son, his gaze particularly complex when it fell upon the eye-catching Caged Bird on Neji's forehead.
He nodded, his voice as steady as ever, "Hmm, get ready. It's time to pay respects to the main family."
Neji's mother gently straightened Neji's already neat collar, her eyes full of affection.
Neji waited in silence.
He knew that on the first day of the New Year, the branch family must pay respects to the main family.
This was a rule that had been passed down for who knows how many years, a hierarchy of respect and inferiority carved into their very bones.
But as he grew older and witnessed the pain of branch family's members having the Caged Bird carved onto them, Neji's hatred for the main family accumulated more and more.
Arriving at the more magnificent main family's estate, the atmosphere was distinctly different.
The air was filled with a faint scent of sandalwood and the aroma of food, but it was also permeated with an invisible pressure.
Many branch family's members had already arrived, waiting quietly under the corridor.
Neji saw at a glance his cousin, the main family's young lady, Hyuga Hinata, following timidly behind her father, Hyuga Hiashi.
She was wearing a gorgeous New Year's kimono, her small face looking somewhat nervous.
Finally, it was Hizashi's family's turn to enter the main hall to pay respects.
The hall was laid with thick tatami mats. In the seat of honor, Hiashi sat upright with a stern expression.
Slightly behind him on both sides sat four elders of the main family.
Neji's sharp eyes noticed that these four main family elders, whom he hadn't seen for a long time, were all wearing black eye patches, covering their eye positions!
'The rumors circulating privately among the branch family are true after all-' Neji's heart sank sharply, followed by an indescribable surge of emotion.
'That mysterious Shura actually, under the noses of the Hokage-sama, Father, and so many of Konoha's elite Jonin, took the eyes of the four main family elders as easily as reaching into a bag to take something!'
'What kind of strength was this?'
'What kind of recklessness?!'
'The entire Konoha Village couldn't do anything about him!'
This concept struck Neji's young but already deeply contemplative heart like a heavy hammer.
He felt a complex, hard-to-define emotion towards that [Shura] who had once granted him a day of freedom, but deeper down, there was a reverence he hadn't fully realized himself, even a trace of yearning.
The process of paying respects was mechanical and silent.
Hizashi led his family in bowing, offering auspicious words. Hiashi nodded slightly in response, asking a few ritualistic questions.
Throughout the process, the four blindfolded elders remained silent, like four mute statues, yet exuding a suffocating authority.
After the respects were paid, it was time for the New Year's morning banquet hosted by the main family.
The banquet was set in a larger hall, but the seating arrangement was clearly demarcated, like an invisible chasm.
The main family's head, Hiashi, and the four elders naturally sat in the seats of honor at the very top, with the best view and the most exquisite food.
As for the branch family's members, only a very few families had the qualification to sit at the banquet, and they were all arranged in lower seats far from the main seat, near the entrance.
Hizashi's family, because Hizashi was the branch family's head with relatively high strength and status, managed to get a seat at the very end.
More branch family's members didn't even have the qualification to enter this banquet hall.
Neji knelt behind his parents, head bowed, taking small bites of the food in front of him. It tasted like sawdust.
He could clearly feel the faint, scrutinizing gazes from above.
Main family and branch family, just because of different births, were destined from the moment they landed on the ground to be worlds apart.
This omnipresent hierarchical oppression made his chest feel tight. A trace of unwillingness and hatred flashed deep within his white eyes.
The atmosphere of the banquet was superficially harmonious, but actually oppressive.
It wasn't until near the end that Hiashi seemed to remember something and cast his gaze towards the Hizashi family at the lower end, more precisely, towards Neji.
"Neji," Hiashi's voice rang out in the hall, carrying the authority of the family head, "I heard your grades at the academy have always been excellent, and you never slack off in your physical arts and Gentle Fist training."
Neji immediately put down his chopsticks and bowed his head respectfully in response, "The head praises me too much. I do not dare to slack off and still needs to work hard."
Hiashi nodded, seemingly satisfied with his attitude, then looked at the somewhat nervous Hinata beside him, "Hinata, you should also learn more from Neji. As the main family, you must lead by example."
"Yes, Father," Hinata responded softly, her head hanging even lower.
Hiashi seemed to be in high spirits and continued, "Theory alone is useless… true knowledge comes from practice. It's the New Year today, so let's have you two youngsters have a spar. Let the elders see the style of the younger generation of our Hyuga Clan. How about it?"
These words seemed consultative but actually left no room for rejection.
The several blindfolded elders also nodded slightly, indicating agreement.
Neji's heart jumped.
'A spar with the young lady Hinata?'
He instantly realized the subtle and danger in this.
Although his own strength had long surpassed Hinata, who was a year younger, and under normal circumstances, as long as her second personality didn't emerge, he could win easily.
But could he win?
What would be the consequences of winning against the main family's young lady?
His father's silent, suppressed gaze, the main family's strict rules, instantly tightened around his heart like invisible shackles.
But if he deliberately held back and lost too obviously... not to mention his own pride wouldn't allow it, everyone present were elites of the Hyuga Clan, especially the clan head and those elders. How could they not see through it?
If he was discovered harboring disrespect towards the main family, the consequences could be even more severe.
In a flash, Neji had already made a decision.
A difficult and frustrating decision, yet one that suited his mature mind.
"Yes, Head."
"Yes, Father."
Neji and Hinata responded simultaneously.
Everyone moved to a spacious training room.
The wooden floor was clean, and the air was filled with the faint smell of moth-repelling herbs.
Neji and Hinata stood opposite each other, forming the seal of confrontation.
"Begin!" Hiashi commanded.
Hinata looked somewhat nervous, adopting the Gentle Fist's starting stance, tentatively advancing to attack.
Her movements were standard but lacked power and experience, with quite a few openings.
Neji took a deep breath, instantly activating his Byakugan. The world around him became extremely clear.
He could easily see through every slight movement Hinata made, predicting her next step.
He had countless opportunities to win with a single move.
But, he couldn't.
He suppressed his body's instinct to counterattack, controlling his own strength and speed to a level 'slightly higher than Hinata's, but not enough to form an absolute suppression'.
He precisely blocked Hinata's attacks, occasionally making calculated counterattacks that flustered Hinata, yet always 'missing by a hair's breadth' at the critical moment, unable to truly hit a vital point, or being 'luckily' dodged by Hinata.
He turned his own fight into a meticulously controlled performance.
A hard-fought battle that both displayed his 'excellence' as a branch family's genius and absolutely would not threaten the main family young lady's 'face'.
On the surface, the two fought back and forth, Chakra colliding weakly, palm winds whistling.
Hinata went all out, her small face flushed red, sweat beading on her forehead.
Neji, on the other hand, had a calm expression and a focused gaze, but only he knew the struggle and humiliation in his heart.
He felt like a puppet controlled by strings, every movement unfree.
His desire for strength, his desire to break this invisible cage, became unprecedentedly intense during this oppressing spar.
From the corner of his eye, Neji could see his father, Hizashi.
His father still knelt silently to the side, his face calm and unrippled, but Neji could feel that beneath his seemingly calm gaze lay pain and helplessness similar to his own, perhaps even deeper.
And above them, Hiashi and the several main family's elders nodded slightly while listening to explanations from their relatives, seemingly quite satisfied with this 'evenly matched' match.
In their view, this branch family's genius Neji indeed had good strength, but was clearly deeply bound by the [Caged Bird] and the concept of the main family's supremacy.
He had measure, knew when to advance and retreat, and was a 'qualified', reassuring tool.
"Alright, stop." Hiashi finally spoke.
Neji and Hinata simultaneously jumped back, forming the seal of reconciliation.
Hinata was panting, her face showing a trace of fatigue but also some excitement, seemingly thinking she had performed rather well.
Neji, on the other hand, had steady breathing, slightly lowered his head, acting somewhat apprehensive.
Hiashi first went to Hinata, instructing her on several problems exposed just now. His tone was strict but held concern.
Then, he walked to Neji and patted his shoulder, "Not bad, Neji. Your basics are very solid, and your grasp of battle opportunities has improved. You truly live up to being Hizashi's child and have not disgraced the Hyuga name. Continue to work hard and become a solid force for protecting the main family in the future."
This 'praise' was like the most piercing mockery, striking Neji's heart word by word.
'Protect the main family.'
'Was this the destined life of the branch family?'
He lowered his head, answering in as steady a voice as possible, "I will remember the head's teaching. I will definitely work hard."
The morning banquet and spar finally ended.
Neji followed his parents and silently left the suffocating main family's estate.
Walking on the way home, the New Year's spring sunlight shone on them, but they couldn't feel any warmth.
Even during the holiday, Neji's schedule was packed.
In the afternoon, the instructor his father Hizashi had hired for him, the young Jonin of the Hyuga Clan, Hyuga Hoheto, arrived on time.
Hoheto was born in the branch family but, relying on outstanding talent and effort, became a Jonin at a young age and was quite famous within the clan.
His personality was relatively cheerful, and he took good care of Neji, this genius junior.
After conducting routine physical arts and Gentle Fist instruction, the two took a short break.
Neji looked at Hoheto, who was drinking water, and that long-suppressed thought emerged again.
He hesitated for a moment but finally mustered his courage and asked, pretending to be casual, "Hoheto-sensei, I heard some time ago, a mysterious person called Shura broke into our clan grounds?"
Hoheto's action of drinking water paused, his expression instantly turning grave.
He put down his water cup, looked around, and lowered his voice, "Neji, you've heard about it too?"
Neji nodded, an expression of curiosity and a trace of fear appeared on his small face at the right time, "Hmm... I heard it was terrifying, even the elders-"
Hoheto sighed, a look of lingering fear on his face. He didn't hide it because of Neji's young age… instead, he felt it necessary to let the junior know about the dangers outside and the Hyuga Clan's enemies.
He said in a deep voice, "More than just terrifying... That night, I was on the scene."
A flash of fear passed through his eyes, as if he had returned to that night, "That Shura was like a demon in the dark night, appearing silently in the core of the clan's compound! So many Hyuga Clan's Ninjas, plus the Hokage-sama, Kakashi-senpai, and other Konoha's elites who arrived promptly... actually... actually couldn't stop him at all! His speed was unbelievably fast, his strength terrifyingly powerful, and he had a strange ability never seen before that could interfere with our Byakugan!"
Hoheto's tone carried a slight tremble, "We even needed to deactivate our Byakugan to see his figure, and he also had nine powerful summoned creatures comparable to Elite Jonin with various strange abilities... and then the four elders... Well!"
"His summoned creatures used some kind of barrier to isolate us, and right in front of all of us, took the elders' eyes, and then, he vanished along with those nine summoned creatures like ghosts!"
"The whole process was clean and efficient. So many of our Elite Jonin didn't even manage to touch the hem of his clothes much! It was such a despairing display of overwhelming strength!"
Neji listened, his heart racing, palms sweating.
Although he had heard about it before, hearing it described firsthand by someone who was present at the time was a completely different kind of shock and impact.
The image of Shura became even taller, more mysterious, and more... desirable in his heart.
'What a free power that was!'
'It could ignore all rules, crush all obstacles!'
Hoheto didn't notice Neji's subtle emotional changes and continued, his tone becoming more serious, "Also, Neji, you might not know. Earlier, I also participated in a reconnaissance mission to Hoshigakure."
"Hoshigakure?" Neji timely showed confusion.
Hoheto explained, "It's the village controlled by that Shura!"
"At that time, our team had three people, all experienced Jonin! But..." A look of humiliation and lingering fear appeared on Hoheto's face, "We didn't even get to see Shura's face! We were intercepted near the border by one of his subordinates... a woman."
His voice lowered, "That woman was strong, very strong! The three of us were defeated with almost no resistance... That kind of strength still makes my heart palpitate when I think about it now!"
Recalling that near-death experience with Shisui and Hayama that day, and those two giant figures like gods, Hoheto still felt lingering fear, but after thinking for a moment, he still concealed more details like that woman having the Sharingan.
Hoheto suddenly grabbed Neji's shoulders firmly, staring into his eyes, extremely solemnly saying, "Neji, remember this! Shura, and the Hoshigakure's Ninjas under his command, are the most dangerous enemies of our Hyuga Clan, and even the entire Konoha Village!"
"They are powerful, cruel, and have no bottom line! If you ever encounter anyone related to the Land of Stars on a mission in the future, remember to retreat and report immediately. You must never fight head-on! Understood?"
Neji looked at the sincere worry and warning in his teacher's eyes, but turbulent waves completely opposite to it surged in his heart.
'Enemy?'
'The most dangerous enemy?'
'But it was this 'enemy' who had once briefly given me a freedom he had never experienced since the Caged Bird was carved onto me!'
Neji remembered that night, when that mysterious figure quietly appeared in his room, lightly tapping his forehead with a finger.
At that moment, the cursed [Caged Bird] mark on his forehead, the mark that constantly reminded him of being a branch family's member, a caged bird, actually temporarily lost its sensation!
That feeling of being unbound, the soul seeming to become lighter, although brief, was like the most potent poison, deeply branded into his soul!
And all of this clashed violently with the concept of 'mortal enemy' his teacher was instilling.
But he couldn't show any of it.
He could only lower his head and answer in a submissive tone, "Yes, Hoheto-sensei, I will remember."
However, deep within his lowered eyes, the flame named hatred burned even more fiercely towards the decaying clan system around him…
And towards those high and mighty main family's members who decided the fate of the branch family!
Worship for Shura and yearning for his power grew wildly in his heart-
But he also knew that he was currently too weak.
Too weak to even bear the qualification for that 'freedom', too weak to even see the path to pursuing that power.
Shura's pity, for him, was like stars in the sky, distant and unattainable.
This realization made him crave power even more, desire to become strong, desire enough to break this damned cage!
And his resentment towards the main family's hypocrisy, towards fate, also grew flourishly like a sapling under the nourishment of this desire!
After the instruction ended, Neji bowed respectfully to Hoheto to say goodbye.
The figure turning to leave the training ground was even more lonely than when he had arrived.
Returning home, Neji didn't see his father. His mother was fiddling with a potted plant on the engawa.
"Mother." Neji went forward, knelt, and sat in seiza, his gaze falling on the potted plant.
"Ah, Neji, you're back." Neji's mother smiled, putting down the scissors in her hand, and said to Neji, "Your father has gone to attend a clan meeting. He probably won't be back until evening. We'll eat lunch by ourselves. Wait a moment."
After saying this, she stood up and walked towards the kitchen.
Neji remained in the seiza position, his pure white eyes fixed on the potted plant, his gaze somewhat dazed.
He saw a tender sprout growing flourishly from the cut part.
Neji picked up his mother's scissors, looking thoughtfully at the old and diseased branches that had been cut off beside the potted plant, as if seeing this similarly decaying and sickly Hyuga Clan.