Creak.
The wooden floor let out a teeth-grating sound as Hyūga Neji pushed himself upright with both hands.
The alarm clock by his bedside read 2:00 a.m., and the room remained dim and hazy.
Instinctively, he turned toward the window—
—and saw a figure standing silently before it, radiating a profound sense of loneliness.
Neji, whose emotions were still unsettled, startled at first, but quickly recognized the face illuminated by moonlight, filled with quiet melancholy.
"Father?"
His confused voice pulled Hyūga Hizashi back from his reverie. He turned away from the night outside and looked at his son.
"Did you have a nightmare?"
Hizashi's gaze was complicated, but he still forced a gentle smile and reached out to ruffle Neji's hair.
"I don't think… it counts as a nightmare."
Neji frowned slightly and raised a hand to press against his throbbing temple.
He tried to recall the details of the dream, but everything slipped away like snow melting under the morning sun—his memories like grains of sand clenched in his fist, constantly leaking through his fingers and scattering into the wind.
Unwilling, he opened his hand again.
Only a few grains remained.
The eerie nursery rhyme in the ruined shrine.
The terror and unwillingness of becoming a "scapegoat."
Those impossibly beautiful blue eyes.
And finally, the golden light that split the night sky.
"Father."
Clutching tightly to those remaining "grains," Neji looked up at Hizashi and asked instinctively,
"Is it possible for the Hyūga clan to possess eyes other than the Byakugan?"
Hizashi froze for a moment, glancing at him in confusion, but still answered,
"If the bloodline isn't pure enough, some people may never awaken the Byakugan at all. They'll have eyes no different from ordinary people."
He paused, as if recalling something, then added,
"Actually, there's a collateral offshoot of our clan known as the Ko-Hyūga. Their bloodline has thinned so much that none of them have ever awakened the Byakugan."
(Referenced from Itachi Shinden)
"Of course," he continued calmly,
"if any member of the Ko-Hyūga were to awaken the Byakugan, they'd be brought back immediately—engraved with the Caged Bird Seal and absorbed into the Branch Family."
"So…"
Neji pressed his lips together, murmuring,
"It really was just a dream?"
Everything pointed to it being nothing more than a dream, yet the image of that figure emerging from the flames with a severed head—and those magnificent eyes—felt burned into his mind.
He could even recall the starlike halos within those eyes, and the terror of that golden radiance cleaving through the clouds as it descended.
"What happened before that…?"
Neji frowned deeply, trying to remember—but failed.
Still, he felt that whatever he was forgetting was incredibly important.
The dream had felt too real.
So real it didn't resemble a dream at all.
So real that it made his heart tremble.
If I could possess that kind of overwhelming power… could I also…?
Neji said nothing more.
Hizashi didn't press him.
Silence settled between them.
Clearly, both father and son were lost in their own turbulent thoughts.
One unknowingly gave birth to a trace of determination and forbidden longing;
the other clung obsessively to memories of fleeting freedom.
And what they shared—
was a growing desire for the same figure.
Yet neither of them realized that those emotions had been planted by one and the same person.
System Notifications
[Ding! Your lie has been judged as: Bluffing, Mental Manipulation, Luring into a Trap.
Hyūga Hizashi has experienced intense emotional fluctuation, reaching the state of "Absolute Obedience."
You have gained 600 Reality Points.]
[Ding! Your lie "The Death of the Hyūga" has been judged as: Fabrication, A Fleeting Dream.
Hyūga Neji has experienced intense emotional fluctuation, reaching the state of "Birth of Delusion."
You have gained 1600 Reality Points.]
[Remaining Reality Points: 11193]
"So two achievements can yield a thousand more points than three?"
Inside the room, a shadow clone burst apart with a poof of smoke.
The black robe dissolved like liquid and flowed into the shadow at another figure's feet, gradually revealing Hyūga Y Gin's thoughtful expression.
"As expected—only truly absurd lies yield higher returns."
After manifesting the Shadow Robe, Y Gin had originally been left with 10293 points.
Removing Hizashi's Caged Bird Seal for ten seconds had cost only 300 points, while plunging Neji into a fabricated dream had cost 1000 points.
This time, however, Y Gin had no complaints about the system being stingy.
After all, only by manifesting even a fraction of the Tenseigan's power could that scene be burned so deeply into Neji's mind—making it easier to spin even greater lies later on.
"Break-even at worst. Massive profit overall."
Y Gin changed clothes and sat at his desk, pulling out his "diary" from a drawer.
As he wrote completely unrelated diary entries, he reviewed his actions for any possible flaws—and considered how to spend his points next.
His current strength was still insufficient.
Despite how submissive Hizashi appeared before Hyūga Hiashi, within the clan Hizashi was among the strongest, with far more real combat experience than the Main Family head.
Only a lunatic like Y Gin would dare to openly appear before Hizashi—pushing him to the brink of eruption, threatening him, even deceiving him outright.
If not for deliberately choosing Hizashi's residence…
If not for deliberately projecting calm, overwhelming confidence…
If not for deliberately creating an atmosphere of suffocating oppression…
If not for appearing in the dead of night…
If not for exploiting Hizashi's concern for Neji…
If not for knowing Hizashi so thoroughly…
Any one missing element would have exposed him instantly.
On the surface, it had seemed effortless—but in truth, a single misstep would have made escape impossible.
Even now, replaying it all, Y Gin marveled at his own recklessness—
and at the same time, felt a deep, visceral thrill.
"I need to be more careful in the future. Build up my strength first. I can't do this again."
He nodded solemnly to himself.
Yes.
Next time, for sure.
[Ding! Your lie has been judged as: Self-Deception.
Hyūga Y Gin has experienced minor emotional fluctuation, reaching the state of "Saying One Thing, Meaning Another."
You have gained 1 Reality Point.]
"…I'm not even going to respond to something this brainless."
Black lines appeared on Y Gin's forehead as he silently muttered,
"Manifest Ninjutsu—Lightning Release Chakra Mode."
[Cost: 1000 Reality Points. Confirm manifestation?]
"That expensive? I'm about to dip below ten thousand!"
He ground his teeth.
It wasn't that he was stingy—he just hoarded resources like a hamster.
Seeing his points drop below five digits made him feel inexplicably unsafe.
So he hesitated, considering whether to develop it himself instead.
But before he could respond—
A faint cat's cry reached his ears.
"Meow~"
It blended into the chorus of shrill insects, nothing unusual for the mating season.
Yet Y Gin's gaze paused.
A faint, knowing smile surfaced on his face.
Ah.
Free points, delivering themselves.