Stuffed from the barbecue, the three of them and the three dogs waddled out. Inuzuka Hana waved goodbye with her hounds and left.
Rokuro escorted Hyūga Hizashi down to the basement. The walls were covered in dense sealing sigils; Hizashi, equal parts shocked and comforted, stared at them.
"Team Leader Hizashi, I'll study the Caged Bird as fast as I can," Rokuro said. "But for now you should avoid missions. If you can't, take only ones close to the village so I can handle things with shadow clones."
"No problem — I'll cover you," Hizashi answered.
Rokuro smiled easily. "Don't worry. I may be young, but I'm confident with sealing arts. An old technique like the Caged Bird won't stump me. Still, for safety you must provide as many samples as possible — this concerns your clan's lives. We can't be careless."
"I understand. I'll try to persuade them. But Rokuro — this is dangerous. If it's exposed… I care about my life, yes, but you—" Hizashi stopped.
Rokuro waved him off. "I'm the Uchiha clan's prodigy. The Hyūga can't touch me that easily. And don't keep speaking about death — you have a son. Neji's only three. If something happens to you, will you let him grow up under the Branch House's control?"
Thinking of his obedient, brilliant little boy, Hizashi's resolve hardened. He could not allow Neji to become a Caged Bird — without freedom for his whole life.
Reality, however, was harsher than wishful thinking.
No sooner had Hizashi gotten home than the Main House's agents arrived and seized Neji by force. Hizashi knew exactly why they'd taken his son, but he could not resist. One wrong move, one showed hesitation, and the Caged Bird mark on his forehead would punish him. He could only watch his son disappear, helpless and furious.
Two hours later, a bandaged Neji was returned. Hizashi's hands trembled as he unwound the wrappings. When the cursed Caged Bird sigil revealed itself on Neji's brow, tears fell down Hizashi's face.
"Father, what's wrong?"
The tear drops woke Neji. In all the three years of his life he had never seen his father so fragile. To Neji, his father was a Konoha jōnin, the head of a Branch family — a hero. Heroes didn't cry. Yet now…
"Neji… Dad was just thinking about a comrade who died. Sorry I woke you."
"It's okay, Father. Your comrade was a hero too, right? He died for the village?" Neji asked solemnly.
Hizashi nodded. "Yes. He gave everything for the village and the clan… but he's still gone." He clenched his teeth until they clicked, then forced his breathing steady. "All right, go rest, Neji."
"You too, Father. You just came back. Sleep early."
Watching his son fall asleep, Hizashi's last hesitation melted away. He did not sleep. Instead he went to see an elder jōnin of the Branch, the man who'd once been Hizashi's teacher: Hyūga Taiki — a respected authority among the Branch.
"Good to see you back, Hizashi. How did the mission go? Any injuries?" Taiki asked.
"Teacher Taiki, I need to talk about something that will affect our Branch's fate," Hizashi said, his face uncommonly grave. Taiki took him seriously.
Meanwhile, Rokuro had dinner with his mother and Uchiha Kei, then returned to check on the lab.
"The lab expansion with Earth Release is done. Power comes from the battery you invented — one charge lasts about ten days. The new litter of lab mice are almost ready," Kei reported.
Rokuro's family now had the funds; many long-theoretical devices were buildable. The battery combined Lightning Release with sealing techniques — a high-capacity, slow-aging storage unit ideal for a secret underground lab with no external power. The lab mice had been bred in sterile conditions for biological work.
"Perfect timing — I just received a project. We can start experiments immediately."
That night the three of them went out beyond the village to the underground lab. The facility was mostly Earth Release expansion with only a few ventilation holes above ground. The combination of Earth Release construction and Rokuro's sealing work made the site practically invisible.
If he wanted an easier life, Rokuro could have become a contractor and gotten rich rebuilding post-war infrastructure worldwide. But he'd chosen another route.
Inside, most equipment had been salvaged from Orochimaru's lab, including a desktop computer used to log experiments. They powered it up and the dark room flooded with light. Rokuro created a folder named "Reincarnation Eye."
"My medical knowledge has improved a lot over the past months," he mused. "I'm not yet Orochimaru or Kabuto, but I can start experiments."
In Rokuro's view, Orochimaru and Kabuto had technical mastery, but they lacked the right research direction. Orochimaru's biological work eventually produced great things — even the 'Sage Kabuto' result — but it wasn't the full solution. If Kabuto had fused more Hyūga or Uchiha genetics instead of his choices, the outcome might have been different. The Reincarnation Eye, Rokuro suspected, could be engineered by accumulating Byakugan units and applying advanced biotech. A Reincarnation Eye would rival the Rinnegan.
If Kabuto could obtain a Reincarnation Eye, who would then stand against him?
The things Kabuto couldn't achieve in the canon — Rokuro intended to try.
"Kei, get me one lab mouse. Mom, help me fit the medical tools. This is the first experiment on the Reincarnation Eye — begin!"
END OF CHAPTER
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